The Red Sox are tied for last in the American League East but remain in contention for an AL wild-card spot, which gives Boston viable reasons to be active at the Major League Baseball trade deadline.

Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom revealed this week the Red Sox are interested in adding a starting pitcher and a left-handed hitting infielder. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal added Boston is leaning toward being a buyer at the deadline, so it looks like it will attempt to remain competitive in a tough division.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan echoed a similar sentiment in a Tuesday column that looked at how every MLB team will approach next week’s trade deadline. Passan had every AL East team under his “the teams we think will add” section, so there could be more action outside of which team will make a run at Shohei Ohtani.

“The two most pedigreed AL East teams, New York and Boston, aren’t ignoring the fact that they’re in last place in their division — but because they are in New York and Boston, they’re not punting, either,” Passan wrote. “New York needs a bat and Boston an arm, and both are likely to get them in the coming week.”

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The Red Sox have multiple options at the trade deadline, especially if teams outside of postseason contention decide to run a fire sale.

Boston is 2 1/2 games back in the wild-card race prior to Tuesday’s matchup against the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park.

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