BOSTON — Minutes before the 6 p.m. trade deadline, the Boston Red Sox salvaged a disaster of a trade deadline by acquiring a backend starter.
Boston acquired left-hander Dustin May from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for outfielder James Tibbs Jr., a prospect they’d acquired last month in the Rafael Devers deal. On Thursday, the Red Sox made their only other move of the deadline by acquiring reliever Steven Matz from St. Louis.
Still the additions look meager compared to how their competitors upgraded. The asking price for starters was high, according to a source, with pitchers the Red Sox pursued in Zac Gallen, Sandy Alcantara and Mitch Keller all staying with their respective teams. Still, Craig Breslow could have pushed harder. In the end, the Red Sox had a chance to bolster the rotation in a wide open AL and failed.
The Red Sox are 59-51, a season-high eight games over .500, holding on to the second American League wild card spot with 52 games to play. Adding to the rotation and bullpen helped the Red Sox keep pace as their AL East division rivals Yankees and Blue Jays improved and teams across a wide open AL playoff picture added players.
Will their new additions be enough to bolster the club for the stretch run?
1. What will May bring to rotation?
The Red Sox were adamant about adding a No. 2 starter and while May still strengthens the group, he’s more of a mid-to-backend option in the rotation.
Boston traded from an area of surplus to acquire May in sending Tibbs to the Dodgers. The outfielder had little fit on the Red Sox roster with an already crowded big league outfield.
The 27-year-old May, who pitched on Sunday at Fenway when the Red Sox hosted the Dodgers, has immense potential, but has not been able to harness it. Coming off his second Tommy John surgery, May has remained healthy this season, making every start, but has posted a 4.85 ERA through 19 appearances, 18 starts. He is a free agent this winter.
One team source liked May’s stuff, but he doesn’t strike out many with a 21.5 percent strikeout rate while walking 9.5 percent of batters, profiling as a backend option rather than the No. 2 the club needed to slide behind ace Garrett Crochet.
Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello will continue to anchor the No. 2 and 3 spots while Walker Buehler, having a largely disappointing season, May will anchor the back of the rotation.
It’s possible May starts on Friday because the Red Sox pushed Crochet, the scheduled start, to early next week.
2. Is Steven Matz enough to bolster bullpen?
Matz posted a 3.44 ERA in 32 appearances, including two starts, for St. Louis, holding left-handed hitters to a .179 average.
Matz is a fine addition, but on his own doesn’t move the needle much. The Red Sox could have used a shutdown late-inning reliever.
Matz battled injuries the last three seasons, but emerged as a valuable piece of the Cardinals bullpen as a multi-inning setup man. The Red Sox plan to use him in a similar role, with a team source noting he’d continue to be used in multi-inning situations and also as protection for lefty Justin Wilson in late-game situations. To make room for Matz, the Red Sox moved Hunter Dobbins to the 60-day injured list.
Closer Aroldis Chapman anchors the back of the bullpen, but back spasms last weekend highlighted a tenuous situation for the team if Chapman goes down.
Right now, Boston’s high leverage arms include Wilson, Garrett Whitlock, Jordan Hicks and Greg Weissert. Lefty Chris Murphy continues to get bigger roles as well.
Matz’s multi-inning capabilities may be helpful if the Red Sox continue to give Garrett Crochet extra days rest down the stretch as reported here on Wednesday. But a backend arm would have offered the bullpen more protection and strength as they attempt to make a playoff push.
3. Red Sox didn’t trade any pieces of big-league roster
Despite rumors for weeks that the Red Sox may trade Jarren Duran, in the end they held onto the outfielder, along with every other piece of the big league roster.
Could they have gotten a better starter had they opted to trade Duran?
Over the winter, the Red Sox claimed 2025 would be different, pushing for the division. After trading Devers, Breslow said it was not an indication of waving a white flag and that he planned to add to the team over the next month.
In adding a backend starter and middle innings reliever, the Red Sox did not get worse, but compared to the rest of the league, they could have gotten better. It’s been a common refrain in Boston in recent years that the Red Sox were “in” on many deals before players landed elsewhere. That was the case this deadline season as well.
According to sources, the Red Sox remained engaged on top starters up to the end. San Diego hotly pursued Duran, but the Red Sox didn’t see enough return to move him. Boston tried to trade for Eugenio Suarez with the intent of moving him to first base before Arizona sent him to Seattle.
And so, the Red Sox remained largely on the outside of the trade deadline yet again.
Breslow will speak to the media Thursday night and we’ll have more from him on The Athletic later Thursday night.
(Photo of Craig Breslow: Billie Weiss / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)
