The Boston Red Sox have had a series of streaks. They have played their best baseball against the Atlanta Braves, sweeping a tw0-game series in late July against the best team in baseball. That series came shortly after they lost two of three games to the lowly Oakland A's.

While they have spent most of the season in fourth or fifth place in the American League East, they are also in prime contention for one of the league's Wild Card spots. Many expected Chaim Bloom to be quite involved at the trade deadline, but the Red Sox stayed largely on the sidelines and only executed one minor deal.

However, there are some changes coming to the Red Sox roster, and at least 2 of the moves could be huge.

They are expecting to add shortstop Trevor Story to the active roster and he will likely return to the starting lineup very shortly. Pitcher Chris Sale, who suffered shoulder inflammation earlier in the year after an encouraging return, has worked a successful rehab assignment and he should be back with the team after one more solid showing.

Additionally, starting pitcher Tanner Houck has a chance to return to the Red Sox after suffering a facial fracture when he was hit with a line drive. He could come back as a reliever or starter.

 Trevor Story will give Red Sox a lift at shortstop

The main personnel thrust of the season for the Red Sox has been “wait until Trevor Story returns to the lineup.”

After losing Xander Bogaerts in the offseason to the San Diego Padres, the plan was for Story to take over at shortstop after recovering from surgery. That should come some time within the next week.

If Story can remain healthy once Alex Cora inserts his name in the lineup, he will be a tremendous upgrade at the shortstop position. Former Red Sox Kike Hernandez was a disaster at the position, and while Yu Chang is quite a bit better in the field, he was injured much of the year. Additionally, Chang offers very little with the bat.

Story demonstrated his athleticism last year when he played a sensational defensive second base for the Red Sox before his season was cut short by injury. He was largely inconsistent with the bat, but he did have one sensational hot streak where he carried the team for a 2-3 week period.

Story's rehab assignment at Triple-A Worcester has seen him pick things up at the plate. He has hit 3 home runs and knocked in 7 runs in 29 at bats while hitting .241.

He should also be a significant upgrade defensively. Story will be one of the best athletes on the team when he returns, but there were questions about whether he could still make the throw from shortstop. Based on his rehab assignment, that does not appear to be a problem, but proving it on a regular basis at the big-league level is quite another story.

Chris Sale will give the Red Sox pitching staff a lift

To say Sale has been oft-injured during his Red Sox tenure is a major understatement. However, after serving on the injured list for multiple seasons, Sale appeared to be rebounding during the early part of the 2023 season.

However, just when he was showing flashes of his old and successful form, he suffered shoulder inflammation that has sidelined him for the majority of the season.

Sale appears to have recovered and he will be returning shortly to the team. He has said he is willing to help the team any way he can. If the Red Sox want him to stay in the starting rotation, he will do that. He is also agreeable to a bullpen assignment. If they want to use him as an opener who pitches 2-plus innings, he says he will do that as well.

If Sale has a decent fastball — 93 to 95 MPH — and his hard-breaking slider, he will help the Red Sox quite a bit.

More than anything, the Red Sox would like to see him stay healthy for the rest of the season.

Tanner Houck should return to Red Sox shortly

Houck was filling a spot in the Red Sox rotation this season, starting all 13 games he had appeared in prior to taking a line drive to the face in June.

Houck's numbers were not great, as he had a 3-6 record with a 5.05 ERA along with 64 strikeouts in 67.2 innings. However, Houck regularly would get off to solid starts by going through the opponent's lineup two times before falling short in the third trip through the batting order.

With a solid fastball and and a hard-breaking slider, the Red Sox will get a lift when Houck returns. He should be back some time in August.