Red Sox will barely participate at trade deadline–while barely participating in season
COMMENTARY
Beyond disillusioning their fan base less than two seasons after winning a World Series, the Red Sox haven’t accomplished much of note this season. But we’ve got to give them this, because it’s a hell of a recurring trick: Just when you think they can’t get any worse … they find a way to get worse.
Wednesday night brought the pinnacle — or, maybe, it was the nadir — of their collective, all-encompassing (save the single oasis of hope, Xander Bogaerts) lousiness all at once.
Rick Porcello, signed to an $82-million extension covering the years 2016-19 before he ever threw a pitch for the franchise, allowed six runs in two innings while seizing at least a share of the lead in two American League pitching categories: losses (11) and earned runs (74).
Pablo Sandoval, the plump third baseman signed to a $95-million deal over the winter despite four straight seasons of offensive decline, had to depart with dehydration, a painful reminder that he might want to mix in some Aquafina with his dugout routine.
Oh, and the Red Sox lost for the 12th time in 14 games since the All-Star break, falling 14 games out of first place in the division and the same number of games below .500 (44-58, and are we sure they’ve won 44? I remember, like, 25, tops).
The performance, or lack thereof, wasn’t even the grossest thing to occur at Fenway Wednesday night. One Red Sox fan in an upper deck was caught on camera barfing on a pack of fans below him. If that isn’t the perfect metaphor for this season, I don’t know what is.
But the biggest frustration over the last few days has nothing to do with the Red Sox’ chronically pathetic performance. We’ve all come to grips with that, accepting it as a comedy of errors rather than a source of ruining-our-summah! aggravation.
What stinks most is not just that they are bystanders in the race to October, but that they are bystanders at the trading deadline, when those teams in the pennant race try to enhance their major league rosters by shipping off prospects to also-ran teams.
Just 19 days ago, the Red Sox were 5.5 games out of first place and two behind the Blue Jays. While the Blue Jays have hardly surged – they are 51-51, seven back of the Yankees in the AL East – they are just two games out in the wild card.
The Jays are no sure thing – but man, you have to respect and perhaps even envy that they are going for it, having made blockbuster deals for Tigers lefty David Price and longtime Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in the past couple of days.
The Red Sox? They’re pretty much just hoping some passerby notices their “Free Napoli’’ sign at the end of the driveway and takes him off their hands. Otherwise, they’re only offering a selection of damaged and mismatched trinkets at a yard sale that no one visits. Go ahead, take this Daniel Nava, it’s free. No, really. It’s yours. I just want it out of the garage.
Sox general manager Ben Cherington is in a strange position at the trading deadline. His team is terrible, and yet he has hardly any veteran talent likely to appeal to a contender, other than 40-year-old closer Koji Uehara, the aforementioned Mike Napoli, and set-up man Junichi Tazawa, one of the few prime-of-career players who has done his job well this season despite manager John Farrell’s apparent determination to put him in line for a second Tommy John surgery. And the possibilities of adding an established veteran to help next year’s recovery have been diminished with reports that the Phillies haveagreed to deal Cole Hamels to the Rangers.
At least last year when the Red Sox tanked, Cherington had appealing assets to move, including big-ticket starter Jon Lester, inexpensive John Lackey, lefty reliever Andrew Miller, and even Jake Peavy. He turned those assets into Eduardo Rodriguez and not much else – the Lackey deal, for Joe Kelly and Allen Craig, could be an all-timer of a flop.
The best the Red Sox can do is retain what looks like a promising young core for the future – Bogaerts, Rodriguez, Mookie Betts and Blake Swihart, while perhaps adding a secondary piece who might help next year. The Red Sox are out of the race, and their participation in the trading deadline frenzy will be minimal too.
All we can ask is that they don’t do anything stupid. If everyone at Fenway could just stop barfing all over each other – literally and figuratively – we’d have to consider it progress.
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