As 6 p.m. inched closer on July 31, the Boston Red Sox scrambled to add a pitcher before the trade deadline.
The Minnesota Twins were unlikely to move their ace Joe Ryan while he has two and a half years of control on his contract, but the Red Sox tried to trade for him anyway. They were ultimately unsuccessful and ended up with Dustin May, a longtime Los Angeles Dodger. Boston chief baseball officer Craig Breslow considered his trade deadline pursuits as "uncomfortably aggressive," while MLB insider Ken Rosenthal deemed his attempt to land Ryan as "feeble at best."
The Red Sox's offer revealed that Rosenthal is correct. Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic revealed that Minnesota's ideal return package centered around Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu. Boston refused to include either of its big league outfielders in the trade, and any chance of a deal disappeared. McCaffrey also reports that top outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia was in the mix.
The Red Sox's refusal to trade from a position of depth is confounding. Boston has so many outfielders that it limits their playing time, and the surplus occasionally forces sure-fire Gold Glover and multiple-time game-saver Ceddanne Rafaela into the infield, where he's defensively much weaker. The Red Sox are going to have to trade at least one of their infielders over the coming offseason anyway, and Breslow's reluctance to pull the trigger on a trade that would have made his current team better while eliminating a logjam is pure trade deadline malpractice.
Red Sox refused to trade from outfield logjam to land Twins' Joe Ryan before the deadline
Ryan would have been everything the Red Sox needed and more for their rotation to compete in the second half. He would have slotted perfectly into the No. 2 spot, and he and Garrett Crochet would have been a deadly tandem at the top of the rotation. Ryan has posted a 2.82 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP with 137 strikeouts and 24 walks over 121.1 innings.
Fortunately for Boston, trade deadline conversations can often lead to resumed trade talks over the offseason. Rob Refsnyder will become a free agent after this season, but Garcia may ascend to the big leagues, fully re-establishing the Red Sox's outfield logjam, so they'll still have outfielders to spare to make a trade.
But, given Ryan's body of work this year, there will be plenty of competition for him on the offseason trade market. Breslow and the Red Sox can't afford to skimp on their return in any future negotiations, and if they do, it may cost them their Crochet-esque dream trade target, as it already did at the deadline.