When the Boston Red Sox traded their highest-paid star, Rafael Devers, on June 15, the team’s chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow assured fans that the team was not “waving the white flag on 2025.â
Breslow, in an online press conference the day after the shocking trade, went on to assert that the Red Sox were âas committed as we were six months ago to putting a winning team on the field, to competing for the division and making a deep postseason run.â
Red Sox Could be Headed for Sell-Off, Despite Breslow
Eleven days and nine games later, the outlook on Breslow’s commitment is looking bleak. On a nine-game west coast road trip, Boston started off well, winning two of three from the Seattle Mariners, and then went to San Francisco where they faced Devers and the Giants.
After banging out a 7-5 win in the opening game, the Red Sox dropped the next two and have now lost five straight prior to Friday’s return to Fenway Park against the division-rival Toronto Blue Jays.
While it may be tempting to blame the Red Sox slump on the controversial trade, it should be pointed out that Devers has not exactly been lighting the baseball world on fire in San Francisco.
In 35 plate appearances over eight games, the 28-year-old in the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract has collected just six hits, including one home run and a double, for an OPS of .608 â almost 300 points lower than the .905 he put up for the Red Sox this season in 73 games.
Tigers Could Make Second Try at Getting Bregman
Of course, the Red Sox have plenty of time to turn things around. They have 80 games remaining to play, and would be hoping to follow the Detroit Tigers’ example from last season.
At the same point in 2024, the Tigers sat eight games under .500 â the Red Sox are currently two games under â but reversed their fortunes to finish the season in a playoff spot at 86-76.
This year, the Tigers have been the best team in baseball, the first to win 50 games and now 20 games above the .500 mark at 51-31. But they are not expected to be content with standing pat, and should make aggressive moves at or before the MLB trade deadline, a little more than a month way on July 31.
According to USA Today MLB insider Bob Nightengale, the Tigers are likely to target one Red Sox star â and possibly, Nightengale hinted, a second.
“The Tigers tipped their hand when they offered Alex Bregman a 6-year, $171.5 million free-agent contract last winter. If the Red Sox shop him, theyâre all in again, still in need of a third baseman. The Tigers realize this is their chance to return to the World Series for the first time since 2012, and win it for the first time since 1984,” Nightengale wrote .
Bregman declined to sign with the Tigers as a free agent, opting instead for a three-year contract with Boston for $120 million, starting at $25 million this season. If the Red Sox drop out of contention, however, they are predicted by ESPN.com and others to look to dump that contract.
But Nightengale added that the Tigers would also “love to add a strikeout pitcher in the bullpen.”
The Red Sox have one of those, too, in Aroldis Chapman who is pitching on a one-year, $10.75 million contract .
If the Red Sox decide to hold a fire sale, expect the Tigers to, as Nightengale says, go “all in” on stripping Boston of those two star players.
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