Ken Rosenthal is backtracking a bit on his report that the Boston Red Sox made a “feeble at best” attempt to pry starting pitcher Joe Ryan from the Minnesota Twins.
“All right, I might have been too harsh when I said on my ‘Fair Territory' show that the Boston Red Sox’s pursuits of Twins right-hander Joe Ryan was ‘feeble at best' and that they didn’t ‘come at (the Twins) hard,'” he wrote for The Athletic on Tuesday.
It turns out, per Rosenthal, the Red Sox did make a strong push for the first-time All-Star. It was just too little, too late.
“The Red Sox did not push for Ryan until the final hour,” he continued. “And though it was later reported they made various offers with multiple Top 100 prospects, none of their proposals included a major-league outfielder. And the bottom line is, the Sox did not sufficiently entice the Twins.”
The Red Sox certainly had the prospects to spare — it was just a matter of whether they wanted to part with them. Boston currently has three prospects ranked in the MLB top 100, along with several rookies who were on that list at the beginning of the season. Given Rosenthal's report that the Red Sox were not willing to part with a Major League outfielder, that would mean Roman Anthony was (probably rightfully) off limits.
“In defense of the Sox — and the Chicago Cubs, another team that failed to land an impact starting pitcher — very few starters actually were traded,” Rosenthal added. “Merrill Kelly, Shane Bieber and Charlie Morton were probably the best ones moved.”
From Boston's perspective, not landing an impact starter is a disappointment, but by no means the end of their season. The Red Sox remain on an absolute tear that began before the All-Star break. They've won six in a row and eight out of ten, moving into the top Wild Card spot in the American League and within striking distance of the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the AL East.
