Red Sox ‘Badly Could Have Used’ This Deadline Miss, Says Insider

The Boston Red Sox are in a familiar spot as the season enters its final stretch: fighting for a playoff berth while facing questions about past decisions.

Since the trade deadline, the Red Sox have played well, going 8-5. If the playoffs started now, they’d be in. Still, it’s fair to wonder if Boston’s front office was too careful and missed a huge chance to improve the club’s pitching.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today brought up this issue on Sunday. In his column, he questioned whether the Red Sox were already regretting their cautious approach at the deadline.

“You don’t think the Boston Red Sox wish they had … (acquired) Minnesota Twins ace Joe Ryan, making them as powerful as any team in the American League?” Nightengale wrote.

“They had a chance to go for the gusto and acquire … Ryan, but instead refused to push in their chips, acquiring only starter Dustin May and lefty Steven Matz from the Cardinals. They badly could have used another starter, and a right-handed reliever, too, but passed.”

“This is a team that hasn’t had a winning record after the trade deadline since 2018, and must monitor ace Garrett Crochet,” Nightengale continued. “Crochet has already pitched 152 ⅓ innings this season, six innings more than his career high, with about eight more starts remaining. He has a career 5.26 ERA in the month of August. Well, so far, so good, the Red Sox are 8-5 since the deadline and will be in the playoffs if the season ended today.”

Nightengale makes a ton of good points. Ryan could have been the perfect addition to a pitching staff that’s heavily reliant on Crochet, whose workload is a concern. The fact that he passed his previous high in innings so early in August raises worries about him getting tired or hurt.

Boston’s decision not to push in their chips, as Nightengale says, is similar to what they’ve done since their 2018 championship season. How aggressive was chief baseball officer Craig Breslow in pursuing Ryan around deadline time? Reports have differed in that regard.

Looking ahead, if Crochet suffers from fatigue or the other members of the rotation struggle in September, questions about not getting Ryan will only get louder for the Red Sox.

Boston can quiet all of the noise by stacking wins over the next six weeks, especially in seven games against the New York Yankees.