The first rule of Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is that it’s never quite as close as it seems. Sure, we’re just four days away from the July 30 6 p.m. ET buzzer, but a slow and uninspiring market means we are once again urging you to touch grass for most of that time.
hypotheticals that run the risk of sowing false hope. We’re glad we can help.
Matching tradeable player and contending team at the trade deadline is like playing full-contact Jenga in a tornado, especially with inventory this tight. That said, let’s break down six marriages waiting to happen among trade candidates and contenders as
The surprise AL wild card possessors really need bullpen help, but so does almost everyone else, and first-year GM Craig Breslow has indicated on multiple occasions a righty bat is a priority. Foolish as it is this time of year, we’ll take him at his word.
You can see the logic: Tyler O’Neill is once again going off – with 20 home runs, and on a 10-for-23, four-homer binge in five games since the All-Star break – but could use another righty stick to balance the lineup. Import another bat and Boston could be an impossible late-inning matchup with a three-batter minimum rule: Jarren Duran (L), New Guy (R), Rafael Devers (L), O’Neill (R), Masataka Yoshida (L).
The Red Sox farm system is middle-of-the-pack and lacks the pitching prospects selling teams covet. But that makes them not unlike virtually every contender, and years of non-contention means the pantry is full enough to win the bidding for a power bat just entering his arbitration years.