The Red Sox’s miserable week continued tonight, as they dropped the first game of their weekend set against the Blue Jays by a 9-0 score. The Sox have lost seven of 10 since trading Rafael Devers and are riding a six-game losing streak — tied with Kansas City for the longest active mark in MLB. They’ve fallen three games below .500 at 40-43.
Poorly as they’ve played of late, the Sox are only three games out of a playoff spot. They’re one of six teams within five games of the Mariners, who currently hold the final Wild Card position. The muddled American League leaves every team aside from the White Sox and A’s with at least some hope of getting hot and playing their way out of selling at the deadline. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow maintained immediately after the Devers trade that the front office still expected to operate as buyers. He took a similar approach this evening.
“I think we’ve talked a lot about looking to the future, (but) at some point, the future has to be now,” Breslow told Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. “We went into 2025 expecting to compete for the division and expecting to make it to the playoffs. We haven’t played as well as we’re capable of, but that goal still exists, and we’re not so far away that we should be thinking about 2026 or 2027.”
Breslow added that the front office is focused on “(identifying) the needs that we have” over the next month. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported that Boston was in the market for both a first baseman and rotation help. Neither is surprising. Their first base plans have been up in the air since Triston Casas sustained a season-ending knee injury. Kristian Campbell has begun playing there in Triple-A, but it’s an unfamiliar position and he hadn’t hit for two months before he was optioned. Journeyman Abraham Toro is holding the role for now. He’s hitting .278/.307/.459 with five homers across 140 trips to the plate while posting below-average defensive grades.
The rotation has been an issue outside of Garrett Crochet’s starts. Brayan Bello has managed a decent ERA despite a poor strikeout/walk profile, which continued tonight. Every other Sox starter has posted an earned run average of 4.21 or higher. Richard Fitts has an ERA pushing 5.00, while Lucas Giolito has yet to post a sub-4.00 mark in any month. Signing Walker Buehler to a one-year, $21.05MM free agent deal has proven a major misstep. Opponents have teed off on the longtime Dodger for a 6.29 ERA across 13 starts. Buehler has allowed five or more runs in four of his past five appearances.
Kyle Harrison has begun his organizational tenure on optional assignment in Triple-A. Kutter Crawford probably won’t be back this season. Hunter Dobbins recently went down with an elbow strain. Tanner Houck had an ERA north of 8.00 over nine starts before landing on the injured list with a flexor pronator strain. He began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Worcester last week. Houck didn’t complete two innings in either of his first two minor league starts. He gave up a combined five runs on as many hits and four free passes (three walks and a hit batter) while recording just two strikeouts.
The Sox announced today that Houck’s next rehab appearance will come out of the bullpen following an opener. Breslow told WEEI’s Rob Bradford that the decision doesn’t signify a long-term role change, saying they’re simply hoping to “(change) the situation a little bit, (change) his mentality a little bit.” Regardless, it has hardly been an encouraging start to the righty’s rehab work and only increases the urgency to add to the rotation as long as they still feel they’re viable contenders.
*Sigh.
That is all
DBH – I concur. Even though we all saw this disaster coming, it still sucks.
Even though I know it’s their responsibility, I really wish Breslow and Cora would stop talking to the media. It’s all smoke and mirror BS, we know that.
We remember last year.
“Hey fans, we will be buyers! We will acquire starting pitching, relief pitching and a right-handed bat! We are GFIN!!”.
And then they acquired crap. Paxton, Hill, Ramirez, Simms, Jansen.
This year is looking like a repeat.
Sigh.
Probably shouldn’t have traded your franchise player in the middle of a season you planned on contending in. That might have been a mistake……
I am ok with the trade as the contract was approaching the bad years. I would however have liked to see Cora, Bailey, Breslow, Kennedy, and Henry traded away, also.
Snakes and Brewers are still in wild card mix. Otherwise, Eugenio, Naylor and Hoskins would all be good short-term gets.
What about the Sox year so far encourages you to think they should give up prospects for rentals?
I’m a Jays fan and I don’t think he was in the bad years at all, if he can stay healthy he earns that contract compared to other young stars that need to be locked up long term to not test free agency, like Vlad but not paid until he’s forty.
Gomer – You are correct. Even last year Devers had a Top 3 OPS until the shoulder injury became too much.
Take away the first week of this season, he’s right up there again despite all he’s been put through.
Devers is 28, turns 29 after Freddie Freeman turns 35, and that guy is still hitting. Think “approaching the bad years” could be a bit of an overstatement
have you looked at the body types of Freeman and Devers? No comparison. He won’t age the same.
Devers can’t even run the bases right. He has made so many outs just on the base paths… people forget to remembrr this
DBH – Ya know Devers is only 28 and having his best season ever, right? ;o)
Totally agree with your trade wishes though! They traded Theo, they can trade Breslow and Kennedy etc.
I’m just not feeling it with these guys anymore. Too much dysfunction. Too many communication issues. There is a toxic undercurrent that befouls the entire franchise.
‘befouls’, how Shakespearean of you.
Or, they just are currently a mediocre team playing like a mediocre team?
Their best player from last year has not been carrying things offensively like he did a year ago. Their big offseason addition to the lineup, who started the year as their best performer, has been out a while now. They’ve had other guys in and out with injuries at times, and their two recent high end prospect talent call ups have struggled same as the vast majority of high end talent has this year. The bullpen like many pens has been inconsistent, and the SPing has as well outside of their ace.
Toxicity not necessary for that team profile to flash between good play and poor play for average overall results.
Long – It’s a combination, but much of their issues are self-inflicted.
For instance they totally abused and mishandled Campbell, who is now striking out 4 times a game in AAA and will be relegated to first base.
But the damage they caused with Devers will have longterm repercussions.
The offense is pitiful – and that is being generous. The hitting coach, assistant hitting coach and anyone advising the players about hitting needs to be fired yesterday. Cora won’t be fired, unfortunately, so you gotta shake things up somehow. Send Anthony down and bring up Trayce Thompson – can’t do much worse.
Anthony and Meyer will be fine. It’s better that they go through the growing pains now when the season seems lost then in a true race. Besides, if they had start the season with the team instead of held back to manipulate service time, they’d already be producing.
You don’t have the slightest evidence whatsoever that Boston manipulated their service time, and it’s pathetic that you declared it anyway. That doesnt meant they definitely didnt, but you can’t pretend speculation is fact.
The FACT is that they did have a roster jam, and Mayer at least begged additional minor league work with his good-not-elite minor league hitting and missed time last year. Anthony certainly did well enough to make the team, but OF was where the jam was worst.
Darn, there is an alternative explanation to your declaration that just as well fits the facts…guess you have to go to work looking for actual direct evidence now.
Trayce Thompson can be worse
So, you’re saying that no team was offering a big league ready starter prospects with good minir league track records or even mlb ranked prospect arms in exchange for Devers? I get that they wanted him to go, and very arguably, needed to go, but the return for him, in my mind, was mediocre to pitiful. I could be eating my words later, but I honestly don’t see the value of a terrible number 5/swing pitcher, a number 5 lefty who hasn’t lived up to his draft pick number, an outfielder who can’t really run and an unknown pitcher with no info. But that’s just my humble lifetime Sox fan opinion
Most everyone who actually has prospect and player eval cache spoke about it as a solid to good return. Everyone who calls it mediocre or pitiful seems to be declaring that with no good basis.
To answer your question, there might have been few other (or no other) teams willing to take on his entire contract and give up a real talent package. When one has limited options, one takes what one can get. Harrison is obviously key to the deal, and just because Boston wants to work on things with him in the minors to start things off doesn’t mean he’s trash – it means it would rather focus on certain things there rather than try to make that happen in games that count.
They wanted to fully move on from Devers the person and contract, and despite that writing being on the wall they got a real talent package back. Like any talent package that isn’t built around set MLB players, we can’t judge much whether they took on an impactful return until it has a chance to unfold. The talent is real, and the talent is also far from a given to work out, and so we wait.
This article tries to tie the losing streak to the Devers trade, which misses 3 key facts:
1) Boston won 3 of its first 4 post-Devers games, so that throws direct causality out the window
2) The team’s pitching has been awful during this losing streak, including 3 games allowing 9 runs. Devers obviously has nothing to do with that
3) Boston’s lineup was already scuffling WITH Devers right before the trade – despite a 5 game winning streak prior to the move, the team was only 3 runs scored a game
In other words, Boston was set up for this losing streak with or without Devers. Fact is, they’ve been yo-yoing all year, unable to sustain any momentum. They’ll probably start to heat up again before long, and then they’ll hit the skids again after that.
I don’t disagree but it’s hard to quantify the effect of moving a franchise player and arguably the best hitter on the team when you’ve already been yo-yoing with a playoff spot…
We have been yo-yoing a playoff spot for THREE years, with or without Devers. The problems with this team go much deeper.
Cora has to go at this point…
Devers had 134 wrc+ so far this season, that was after an awful start.
It’s a small sample size since the trade, so yes it’s very possible the Sox would have been 3-7 in those 10 games regardless but the overall point is that as of today they are a worse team with out him
You had a first baseman that you treated poorly and then traded away..
What?!
Actually, we didn’t. Has Devers played first fir the Giants yet? He may not even be successful at that
I looked at the lineup tonight, They have No Hitters. ! Trading Devs was Stupid.
Devers was a cancer in the clubhouse and could not hit a fastball 94+ up in the zone. His bat speed has diminished and will only get worse. His best years are behind him. It was smart for the Red Sox to get rid of him and his contract.
Why didn’t they ask for Wilmer Flores as part of the return. He’s low salary and can play 1st base
We don’t know that they didn’t but odds are the Giants would have said know as that would have left them with only Dom Smith at 1B.
There is once again no fight in this team’s offense and even if Bregman and Yoshida were activated tomorrow they probably aren’t enough without a legitimate power threat joining them
If you want power,sign Rowdy Tellez.Only thing he can do.His position is 1st base.
Even with a legitimate power threat, there’s no gurantee of anything.
Remind me, What did sox get for devers?
2 low level prospects and a bowl of clam chowder?
Arenado + Fedde and cash consideration for Jhostynxon Garcia
Don’t do it, Craig, don’t do it…
You and I both know selling is the way to go. Rotation and first base are already clogged… where are one or two extra guys really going to get us?