The Boston Red Sox currently maintain first place in the American League East and, despite preseason exceptions, look like a team on its way to contend for a championship.
It's prompted some writers and analysts around Major League Baseball to wonder what moves chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom & Co. could make ahead of the July 30 trade deadline. It's made others wonder if Bloom, who has done wonders replenishing Boston's farm system in short order, could opt out of trading assets now with long-term sustainability in mind.
Bloom on Tuesday told The Athletic the Red Sox were "really active in conversation."
Red Sox manager Alex Cora also noted his mindset regarding the current makeup of the team, and how he feels with the deadline inching closer.
"I have my feelings, they change on a daily basis," Cora said with a smirk during a video conference before Wednesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays. "But, one thing is for sure, having Jarren (Duran) and Tanner (Houck) here already, Chris (Sale) whenever he comes here and hopefully some of those kids that have been battling injuries throughout the season, we're going to be in good shape.
"Every team has question marks and every team, I think, needs to add something to get better. I look around the standings and there's a lot of teams in contention, right?," Cora continued. "I don't know how the market is going to move in the next few days, or a week and a half. You start looking in our division, the (AL) East, the NL west, there's a lot of teams in the hunt. With the two wild cards, it's a lot different than back 10 years ago, 15 years ago, whatever."
Cora, though, expressed full confidence in Bloom and the Red Sox front office.
"We're talking, as you know. Our front office, they're going to do their homework," Cora said. "There's been questions about players, there's been names thrown around. We just got to be -- sometimes it's not the huge move that helps you win the World Series. It's getting a (2018 World Series MVP) Steve Pierce, right? And all of a sudden he becomes a hero. Good teams benefit from good baseball moves and I do believe we're going to make some good baseball moves, if Chaim feels like it, and we're going to improve."
Perception has it that if a contender doesn't improve at the deadline it has a negative impact on the clubhouse. Cora doesn't seem to completely agree.
"I don't know. I've been on both ends," Cora said. "I just feel like you still have to play good baseball if you're a good team, it's just a matter of how you finish your season. I don't think you need a savior, to be honest with you, but sometimes there's a few things you have to get better.
"I think the fanbase, they're the ones who get very high or very low depending on who you get. But at the end of the day you have to play a game and you know what you need to win ball games and you need the pieces that you need to keep getting better. That's the way I see it. I don't think it has that effect in the clubhouse as much as people think."
We'll find out what Bloom and the Red Sox decide to do in the coming days.
