Shane Victorino isn’t looking for a way out.
The Red Sox’s playoff hopes are slim — Boston entered Friday with a 4.6 percent chance of making the postseason, according to FanGraphs — and Victorino is among those whose name undoubtedly will be tossed around in trade speculation leading up to Major League Baseball’s July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. But the veteran outfielder is remaining hopeful about this season. He wants to stick it out.
“What can we do in this however many days before the deadline? I don’t want to go anywhere,” Victorino told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford this week in Houston. “I don’t think any of the guys in here want to go anywhere. Let’s go make it hard on (the front office).
“You look at things and say, ‘Which way am I going to be a part of?’ Am I going to make things difficult for our organization, letting them see we’re showing them signs?”
The Red Sox have done anything but show signs of life of late. They entered Friday’s series opener against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park in the midst of an eight-game losing streak. The Sox began the second-half with an 0-7 road trip against the Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros, dropping Boston to 12 games back of the division-leading New York Yankees in the American League East.
Victorino is a logical trade candidate because he’s in the final year of a three-year contract he signed before the 2013 season. The 34-year-old has made a minimal impact over the last two seasons because of injuries, though, so it’s unclear how much interest there will be in Victorino on the trade market, especially since he’s still owed about $5 million for the remainder of this season.
Either way, Victorino is hoping to make an impact in the days leading up to next Friday’s deadline.
“I still plan on to this day being here at the end. That’s what I’m focused on,” Victorino told Bradford. “I think we can do it. I know we can do it. This is it for me.”
Victorino, a key contributor in the Red Sox’s 2013 World Series run, entered Friday hitting .247 with a home run, four RBIs and a .330 on-base percentage in 101 plate appearance over 31 games this season.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
