Boston Red Sox Potential Moves as Pennant Race Heats Up
The Red Sox are set to challenge the A's and Dodgers over their next two series, shaping their playoff hopes and identifying trade deadline priorities.
Video Transcript
Sonny Gray is g- you want to talk about a guy, I don't know if you had him on the bingo card being 12 and two at this point in the season here, Craig.
12 wins.
He, I, did you I did not see that.
No.
But, we're still putting totals up, in double digit range.
I, I just, I think there's, I think the runs have been suppressed a little bit for a reason.
And the Red Sox, I think, have the Dodgers coming up next.
That's right, yeah.
I was gonna say, like, that's the mega series of the weekend.
Red Sox, Dodgers this weekend.
In fact, if you think about it, with the way that the alignment is in Major League Baseball, the American League, like the Red Sox, they'll visit LA this season and then they won't go next year.
So, you would imagine a lot of Red Sox fans will be in LA to watch that series play out this week.
Yes.
And, and maybe, you know, look, I, I, I think that teams know what they're gonna do come next week already, as we talked about yesterday.
But make no mistake about it, the Red Sox can make a major statement.
Nobody has really shined against the Dodgers this season, when you think about it.
There have been teams that have won series against them, of course, they're not gonna win every series, but nobody's really come out of there with, and with me thinking that anybody's gonna beat them at the end of the season.
I, I, I don't see that team that that has happened for.
So, would be imperative for them to get that win tonight.
I think they will.
I can't believe the A's are 17 games under 500.
A month ago w- everyone was saying, "Oh, the A's, how special, how nice.
They're a good team."
17 games under 500, what happened to them?
They're brutal.
So I, I do expect the Red Sox to win tonight.
I probably would even go the minus, one and a half.
I think eventually Red Sox bats will break out.
They might.
They'll get Roman Anthony back, they'll get Ranger Surez back, they'll get Garrett Crochet back.
Doesn't look like Mead will come back, who they just got.
And then they have been, without a doubt, Joe, not just with Miami, the, Boston has been, it seems like, the most talked about trade deadline team thus far.
Scoobell the most talked about name, but the Red Sox to me, it seems like every time I'm going on social media or I'm going to any baseball talk, everyone's talking about what the Red Sox are gonna do.
Maybe they have the most holes, I don't know.
But, yeah, it, it's gonna be interesting to see what they do, Joe, 'cause I'm not convinced the Red Sox are gonna make the playoffs.
They had that great run, but yeah, I'm not positive about that.
Like I, I, I don't know if what we saw was real there.
So interesting dynamic going on there.
I mean, here we are on July 30th.
On July 1st, the Red Sox were 11 games under 500.
That's crazy.
Sonny Gray was guaranteed to be traded, right?
Yeah, and Chapman.
At, at that point he was gonna be on the tra- that, Chapman, everybody was going.
And then they have now won, what, 19 of 22 this month with Still, they got an opportunity to win tonight, right?
So, to rattle off 20 wins in their last 23 games after being 11 games under 500.
Now they're talking about extending Sonny Gray, maybe giving him an extension and keeping him there.
I, I, I just don't s- I mean, what am I missing with him?
I, I mean he has been, he's been great, don't get me wrong.
He's coming off a, looking to bounce back here in one spot against, Toronto, I think it was.
Got him last time out.
But, they're, you're not He's 36, y- are we really extending him now, Boston?
Is that the direction we're going?
But there, you can't argue with the results, and the results for the last month- No, the month's been great and you saw this.
20 wins in June put the Marlins in a whole different category, right Craig?
20 wins in July have now completely changed the direction of the Boston Red Sox.
Yeah, it's true.
But my question, and we talk about this all the time, did you peak too soon here, Boston?
Because the ave- It's a fair question the va- the peaks and valleys are a mess here right now.
Yeah, they're feeling great and, look, there was so much pressure on them to win.
I mean, Trevor Story's another name, he's hurt too.
So they, they- Oh.
Yep do have a lot of players that can come back and, and, and they should fight.
And, and truthfully, in their defense, the American League is brutal, it's awful.
So, they really do have a chance, I think, to make the playoffs.
Boston's not like some of these other teams like Arizona or Miami or Pittsburgh, where it's like you're wondering will they go, will they not.
I fully expect Boston to try and get in and then just, you know, feel like it's the NCAA tournament, and then they could probably think that they could beat everybody.
But I question that.
I don't think so.
I, and, and again, nothing against Sonny Gray, who's had a phenomenal career.
I mean, think about the A's and the Reds and- Yep the Yankees, right?
Didn't he pitch on the Yankees too?
Like, he's pitched on so many different teams.
He seems like he's been good everywhere that he's gone and he never gets any credit.
But he's your game one starter as it stands right now in the playoffs, Joe.
Yeah.
Who's gonna s- if, if it started today, are you kidding me?
With no Surez and no Crochet, you think the Red Sox are gonna win a series?
I don't, I don't think so.
I think, I think a few weeks ago with them as hot as they would, they'd beat anybody.
They were rolling everybody.
They rolled Tampa Bay.
But I, I just don't, see them getting this hot again.
I, I th- I think they'll win tonight.
They could even play well a little bit in LA.
But without getting, to me, massive help, I, I don't think that this is a team that's built to go very deep into the post-season.
In, in fact, between those three teams in the American League East, Tampa Bay, New York, Boston, I think Tampa Bay has the better shot of the three of going deep.
Best shot.
