BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox weren’t quiet leading up to the Major League Baseball trade deadline, but many expected the team to be more aggressive.
The Red Sox first acquired veteran infielder Eduardo Nunez in a trade with the San Francisco Giants, and followed that up with Monday’s acquisition of Addison Reed in a deal with the New York Mets.
And while Boston addressed its needs of third base and bullpen help with the pair of moves, the Red Sox did not bring in an additional bat to bolster the offense. But with Nunez’s hot start coupled with Rafael Devers’ exciting arrival to the big leagues, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski didn’t feel the need to go out and acquire offensive help, which might not have even been available, to begin with.
“It’s amazing how when you don’t get a guy on the deadline day that people forget that you got him,” Dombrowski told reporters Monday. “We identified third base as an area that we wanted to address. We’ve done that with Devers and Nunez, with Nunez being able to play multiple different positions. I don’t think we really came close to doing anything else. We didn’t feel there were really any other impact bats out there that made us significantly better.”
There’s no denying the Red Sox need to spark their offense if they have any hope of playing in the postseason. But as Dombrowski noted, the offensive revival simply can come from players breaking out of their respective slumps.
“Sometimes your own club has to step up,” Dombrowski said. “We know that some of the guys are better than how they’ve been playing. They’re good players, and we look for them to step up over the next couple of months.”
Boston certainly needs to step up for the sake of its postseason aspirations, but even more so due to the New York Yankees’ current surge and series of big trades.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
