Kenley Jansen Makes Trade Deadline Suggestion To Red Sox

The Red Sox are in a tough spot as the Major League Baseball trade deadline approaches.

Boston entered the MLB All-Star break five games above .500, but Alex Cora’s club still resides in the cellar of the American League East. At this juncture, it’s tough to say whether the Red Sox should bring in new pieces to try to make a run at a playoff spot or go into sell mode with an eye toward the future.

Kenley Jansen, for one, believes Chaim Bloom and company should be buyers ahead of Aug. 1. The All-Star closer also has an idea of the kind of player the Red Sox should target on the trade market.

“When I signed my two years here I’m going to have my time invested here,” Jansen said on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast, as transcribed by Boston.com. “I want to be dedicated here. I love this organization. I love this city. I think it’s a great organization. It’s a winning organization, so I don’t think you should break it. Break it and then what? 

“For them to find me and Chris Martin and put those pieces after the last couple of years for this organization, it wasn’t great … You see the 1-2 punch with us. At this point, it’s for them to figure out what’s best. To me, it’s just to put another punch back there with us. We’ve got a good team. We’re just a few pieces away from probably being a very, very good team.”

Bloom recently touched on the Red Sox’s trade deadline approach, explaining Boston tries to stay in touch with the other 29 MLB clubs “at all times” to survey the landscape. The Red Sox’s chief baseball officer also noted how the stove doesn’t start warming up until after the MLB draft concludes.

With the final rounds set for Tuesday, perhaps we’ll soon start gaining clarity on how Boston plans to handle its roster for the second half.