Red Sox Mostly Quiet At Trade Deadline

When Boston acquired All-Star OF Kyle Schwarber from the Nationals earlier this week, it looked like the first of a few major moves for the first-place ballclub. The Red Sox had needs for a power-hitting first base bat, as well as rotational help and relief support. At one point just weeks ago, it looked as if they were contenders to land either Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, or both. Leading up to the trade deadline today, the Red Sox were reportedly eying Minnesota’s Jose Berrios and the Cubs’ Craig Kimbrel, but landed neither, with Berrios going to Toronto and Kimbrel headed to the White Sox. By day’s end, all of the ‘multi-team deal’ and ‘bonkers relief market’ chatter for the Red Sox was just that—mostly empty chatter.

To be fair, the Red Sox were right up against the $210 million collective bargaining tax threshold and would likely need to move salary to stay under it. But this is also an over-performing team that could very likely steal an AL pennant with just a few key additions. The reluctance by Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom to spend past the threshold will certainly be a storyline if the Red Sox stall in October.

The Phillies acquired two potential Sox targets from the Rangers (Kyle Gibson and Ian Kennedy), and another target, lefty J.A. Happ, is going from the Cardinals to the Twins.

Though the Red Sox didn’t participate heavily in this year’s deadline madness much, it was still nothing short of amazing for baseball fans. Fun fact: 10 players who were All-Stars this year have been traded, the most ever. Joey Gallo, Nelson Cruz, Kyle Gibson, Adam Frazier, Eduardo Escobar, Kyle Schwarber, Max Scherzer, Craig Kimbrel, Trea Turner and Kris Bryant all played in the 2021 ASG, and have since been moved. Wow.

JUST IN: The Red Sox did indeed make some small adjustments to their bullpen with the additions of LHP Austin Davis and RHP Hansel Robles. Davis was picked up via Pittsburgh for utility player Michael Chavis, and Robles comes via Minnesota along with cash considerations for RHP Alex Scherff.