The 2024 MLB trade deadline has come and gone, and while it was a fairly tame event compared to years past, teams all across the league were still swinging deals in an effort to either bolster their playoff hopes, or accelerate a potential rebuild. The Boston Red Sox ended up being buyers amid what's been a surprisingly strong season from them, but they didn't exactly blow the doors off with any of their moves.
With a 57-50 record, the Sox are two games behind the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals for the final two American League wild card spots. Ahead of the deadline, they acquired a pair of starting pitchers (James Paxton and Quinn Priester), a pair of relievers (Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia), and a right-handed bat to balance out their lineup in veteran catcher Danny Jansen.
While some fans may have been hoping for bigger moves to firmly push Boston into playoff contender status, realistically speaking, it wasn't what this team needed. Swinging for the fences at the deadline is always fun, but considering the circumstances surrounding the team and the prices that teams were asking for at this deadline, it's safe to say that Craig Breslow and the front office nailed their assignment.
Why Craig Breslow's first trade deadline with the Red Sox was a success
The past few years, the Red Sox have been at the very least on the fringe of contention, only to put together lackluster trade deadline moves. In 2021, the Sox managed to make due with only really acquiring Kyle Schwarber at the trade deadline, but in 2022 and 2023, there was virtually nothing noteworthy that happened. In those years, Boston quickly flamed out after the deadline, much to the dismay of fans.
With Chaim Bloom gone and Breslow in, the hope was that this year would be different, even though it has become clear that Bloom and Breslow were handcuffed to some sort of weird financial restrictions put in place by John Henry and the team's ownership group. Still, the Red Sox were streaking prior to the All-Star break, only to struggle immediately afterwards, making it obvious that reinforcements were needed.
It may not seem like it, but Breslow checked all the boxes on his wishlist at the deadline. The Red Sox desperately needed bullpen help (check), a left-handed starting pitcher (check), and a right-handed bat to give manager Alex Cora some flexibility with his lineup combinations (check). Again, these aren't flashy moves, but for a fringe wild card team, they were reasonable moves that improved the team.
Sure, it would have been fun to see Breslow go out and swing a deal for Jack Flaherty or Tanner Scott, but the price tag associated with those guys was sky high. While Bloom didn't do much during his time with the Red Sox (again, not totally his fault), he did build their farm system back up. If the Sox really wanted to get those aforementioned big names, it would have cost them a pretty penny, and at this stage of the game, it simply would not have been worth it.
The Sox are in a strange spot, as they are exceeding expectations this season, and they could conceivably build themselves back up into a contender in the near future. They have a solid core in place, a strong farm system with several top prospects who are closing in on making it to the majors, and a ton of cap space available for them to use in free agency moving forward.
There are admittedly big question marks surrounding each of those areas, though. Are breakout campaigns from guys like Jarren Duran, Tanner Houck, and Kutter Crawford for real, or are they flukes? Will these top prospects, such as Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel actually pan out in the majors? And will the front office be allowed by the owners to go out and spend big in an effort to improve their championship chances?
Nobody knows the answer to those questions, but by holding onto their best prospects, Boston is giving themselves their best shot at building a consistent winner moving forward. They almost certainly aren't going to win it all this season, but the team has played well enough that the front office was right to upgrade around the margins and see if they could translate it into a postseason appearance.
That's precisely what Breslow did, and rather than getting greedy, he opted to play it safe and hopefully make the 2024 campaign the pivotal building block for future contending seasons. It may not look like much on the surface, but the moves the Red Sox made addressed their current needs, while also giving them the power to maneuver as they see fit in the future.
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