The Boston Red Sox went out and did absolutely nothing this deadline. They didn’t add pitching or offense, nor did they even make a minor league trade.
The Red Sox stood pat at the trade deadline Wednesday, as Dave Dombrowski had alluded to last month. There was little noise from the Boston camp while teams like the Washington Nationals and the Tampa Bay Rays went out and addressed needs.
Going into this stretch of games against American League East opponents, Tampa Bay and New York, there were questions if the Red Sox would go as far as even to sell. A 5-3 record over the past eight games has landed them in buy mode. Or so we thought.
There had been reported interest in Arizona Diamondbacks lefty Andrew Chafin on Tuesday, but there was little to no word on that on Wednesday.
After scrolling through Twitter, this deadline was a disappointment for Red Sox fans. They sat back while Shane Greene and Chris Martin went to the Atlanta Braves. David Phelps went to the Chicago Cubs. Then Daniel Hudson, Roenis Elias, and Hunter Strickland all went to the Nationals for beatable packages.
The Houston Astros also got better as well. They added Zack Greinke, Aaron Sanchez, and Joe Biagini at the last second, they may as well just win the World Series now.
The Red Sox bullpen has a 5.18 ERA (83 1/3 innings, 48 earned runs) and 1.51 WHIP in July.
— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) July 31, 2019
Dealin' Dave has 16 minutes.
They sat back after watching the pitching staff give up another lead to the Rays, who they are trying to best in the Wild Card race, just days after watching Chris Sale get shelled by the Yankees. Since the All-Star break the Red Sox pitching staff has a 5.66 ERA through 18 games. In no universe is a team ERA above five a sustainable way to win. They messed up here, plain and simple.
They went from being “confident they can add an impact bullpen piece” to sitting on their hands while the competition improved.
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Other teams directly competing with them got better, and they did not. The Rays picked up another offensive piece in Jesus Aguilar. The Cleveland Indians surrounded Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez with other bats in Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig, in the trade that sent Trevor Bauer to the Cincinnati Reds. The lack of an addition to the bullpen is eye-opening.
Keeping 13 pitchers limits their bench to just three players, which creates a lack of flexibility for manager Alex Cora to make late-game moves and rest starters when they need it. Having a three-man bench also means that they cannot option players, as Sam Travis, Brock Holt, and Sandy Leon are all out of options.
This is a bad day for Red Sox fans and a telling move by Dave Dombrowski and the ownership. The lack of any movement is either a sign of blinding confidence or lack of insight into this team. Both can easily lead to an early exit to the offseason. For all of Red Sox Nation let’s hope this lack of activity works out.