Red Sox’s Slow Trade Deadline Showed Commitment To ‘Young Core’

The Boston Red Sox didn’t make any splash moves at the 2023 Major League Baseball trade deadline, electing to stand pat and keep the group together for their stretch run toward a potential American League Wild Card spot.

Yes, Boston added a utility infielder, but that was about it. Why? The Red Sox didn’t want to break up the band, instead opting to keep a focused eye on the future.

“They have a really good young core that’s starting to come together that they like. They want to add to that group,” Red Sox reporter Alex Speier said, as seen on “Boston Globe Today.” “This wasn’t a deadline where you could find a lot of players who you would be able to acquire for a couple of years to join that Triston Casas, Jarren Duran, Brayan Bello group.

“Instead, the options were adding rental players that would only be with them for the 2023 season. They didn’t want to give up a lot of their prospects to be able to add to that, but at the same time, they didn’t want to take away from the players who might leave in free agency after this year. Because they’re good enough that they didn’t want to break up the group.”

The deadline approach might have been boring for some fans, but it didn’t exactly put the nail in the coffin of Boston’s season, either. The Red Sox sit just two games out of a wild card spot entering Friday night’s matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays, with the gift of almost two months’ worth of baseball to make up some ground.

The approach keeps the Red Sox in contention, while also setting them up for some added bonuses in the future. In a world where Boston chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom is looking for sustained success, that’s a solid start.

You can watch “Boston Globe Today” on Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. ET with NESN 360.