The Boston Red Sox just can’t seem to get it going.
After suffering a two-game sweep this week at the hands of the rival New York Yankees, the Red Sox sit at 6-13 on the season, which currently serves as the worst record in the American League.
Alex Cora and his team have maintained confidence that the switch soon will be flipped and they’ll start to look like the team that steamrolled to a World Series championship last year. But if things start to get worse, David Price is well-aware of what could happen within the organization.
“If we don’t start playing better, J.D. Martinez, Mookie Betts, maybe myself, we could get traded. We’re, what, 30th in minor league systems?” Price told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. “We’re dead last. We don’t play better, Mookie Betts will be traded, J.D. Martinez will be traded. It will be tough for a while here.”
Price has been around the big leagues long enough to understand the nature of the beast. The veteran southpaw found himself at the center of a mid-season asset haul five years ago, as Tampa Bay traded him to the contending Detroit Tigers as the Rays began to rebuild. Boston’s farm system is fairly weak, as Price noted, and the club has a handful of impact players with expiring contracts that could help replenish its prospect depth via trade, such as Betts and Rick Porcello.
This, of course, is worst-case scenario for the Red Sox, who have played just 12 percent of the season. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played, but Boston still should proceed with a keen sense of urgency as it looks to right the ship.
It’s anyone’s guess as to how severe the struggles would need to become in order for the Red Sox to trade star players during the season, but the franchise surely hopes it never comes close to finding out.
