by Prior to Thursday’s trade deadline, the Boston Red Sox strengthened their roster by acquiring Dustin May, a right-handed starter, from the Dodgers and Steven Matz, a left-handed reliever, from the Cardinals.
However, Boston’s failure to acquire a genuine game-changing player on Thursday remains a missed opportunity for Craig Breslow and his staff, especially considering the lack of a clear challenger in the American League this season.
Boston’s chief baseball officer addressed the frustration expressed by fans regarding the Red Sox’s failure to acquire a big fish to assist with their current playoff drive in a statement made on Thursday, one hour after MLB’s trade deadline had ended.
“We’re all looking at the last week right now in terms of the trades that were made and weren’t made, so I understand the frustration and the disappointment,” Breslow said. And I see that there isn’t much empathy for how difficult it was for us to close agreements. Our focus is on our young, talented, and exciting squad because we think they can continue to compete at this level and have a chance to make it to the postseason.
Additionally, some judgments taken at this time were not motivated by a reluctance to use force. They weren’t motivated by adopting an emphasized or supported perspective of 2026 or 2027. In 2025, we were actively seeking acquisitions that might benefit us. They were not in line.
The Red Sox have a number of resources at their disposal to improve their squad before Thursday’s deadline, including a pool of blue-chip prospects in Boston’s still abundant farm system and big-league players like Jarren Duran.
Boston might have added an impact big-leaguer with years of team control, like Twins righty Joe Ryan, by acquiring a top prospect like Franklin Arias or even Kristian Campbell, even if presumed franchise mainstays like Roman Anthony were ruled off-limits in trade requests this week.
However, no deal was reached beyond the Red Sox’s acquisitions of Matz and May, despite Boston being linked to Ryan once more in the last minutes of the trade deadline.
According to Breslow, the Red Sox’s reluctance to put trade chips on the market had nothing to do with Boston’s inability to add an impact bat or a top-of-the-rotation pitcher.
According to Breslow, we went after several opportunities that had a significant impact. Of course, not all of them are successful. It wasn’t because they didn’t want to be uncomfortable or because they weren’t attempting to be as forceful as they could be. In the end, two teams must align for those transactions to occur.
We are pleased with the individuals we added, including Dustin and Steven, but we also looked for players who will have a significant effect and help our squad in 25 and beyond. Our pursuit of them in the players we were attempting to sign to deals was uncomfortably pushy. It wasn’t a lack of effort, after all. “Hey, that’s enough,” other teams had to remark. It goes too far. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to discuss our entire system.
Breslow acknowledged that the Red Sox were hesitant to move assets on the big-league roster, with Duran and Wilyer Abreu tabbed as two viable trade candidates in the weeks preceding the trade deadline, despite his statement that the team wasn’t considering their prospects as untouchable if a deal was to be made.
In order to try to repackage or repurpose in a way that would have helped the future, we weren’t willing to take a hit to our big league team and possibly affect the 2025 season, Breslow stated. We felt it was best to leave that group as is and try to leverage what I believe to be a strong and deep system to try to develop the team because there weren’t really any options to both trade off our big league squad and improve our 2025 outlook.
As of Thursday night, Boston’s 59-51 record, which has them second in the AL Wild Card race, keeps them in the playoff picture.
However, the players already in Boston’s clubhouse will have to carry the burden of getting the team to the finish line in August and September after failing to pull off a blockbuster deal for the fourth consecutive deadline.
Some of these discussions weren’t handled as if any players weren’t welcome. Breslow stated that we were unable to line up. We have many impact players in our sights. Teams functioning as sellers, on the other hand, were attempting to balance several ideas. We couldn’t line up for whatever reason.
The squad has been playing well and is now in a situation where they can easily make it to the playoffs. We felt compelled to attempt to strengthen the team in whatever way we could. I believe I’ve expressed that rather openly. We went after as much as we could.
Since 2023, Conor Ryan has worked as a staff writer for Boston.com, covering the Boston Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.
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