Trade rumors and chatter are at an all-time high for the first half of May across Major League Baseball.
Outside of the surprise deal between the Cleveland Guardians and San Francisco Giants for Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey last weekend, there hasn't been a whole lot of action on the transactions log. But reports are seemingly dropping every day with word that teams are thinking seriously about trades much earlier than usual, and Alex Speier of The Boston Globe name-dropped the Boston Red Sox in one of those reports on Tuesday.
According to Speier, the odds of the Red Sox making a splash deal in the short term "remain unlikely," but the trade conversations we might imagine chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to be having -- well, they're almost certainly playing out behind the scenes.
"The Sox, like other struggling teams, are spitballing both big and small trade ideas within their own walls, and there has been more industry-wide chatter than is typical at this stage of the season," wrote Speier. "But the teams amidst the most disappointing starts (including the Sox, Mets, Angels, Astros, and Giants) can still squint and see a path to contention — and in multiple cases, have front offices that may be fighting for their jobs.
"As such, even if teams made difference-making players available, they’d likely hold out for incredibly high returns."
The Red Sox's needs aren't hard to spot. This offense is averaging just 3.7 runs per game, and there are three qualified hitters (left fielder/designated hitter Jarren Duran, third baseman Caleb Durbin, shortstop Trevor Story) carrying OPS figures below .600. Completely unsustainable, and indicative that no move to improve the offense is implausible due to positional constraints.
Any move that clears up the logjam between outfield and designated hitter would have to be on the table as well. The Red Sox also have a wealth of pitching prospects, seemingly out of nowhere, but there's less justification to trade young talent when the team is struggling to stay afloat in the playoff race.