What Red Sox Must Do Before MLB Trade Deadline: ‘Better Days Ahead’

The clock is ticking.

With Memorial Day in the rearview mirror, it’s full speed ahead to the Fourth of July, meaning the MLB trade deadline is fast approaching.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will have some pretty big decisions to make between now and July 31st.

Boston sits in fourth place in the American League East, nine games behind the first-place New York Yankees. The Red Sox (33-36) are one of six teams within 3 1/2 games of the final AL wild card.

But what the Red Sox need to do before the deadline is pretty simple, according to ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle: Get healthy.

“Garrett Crochet has largely been a one-man show for Boston’s disappointing rotation, though the Red Sox can hope for better days ahead for Walker Buehler, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito,” Doolittle says. “In the meantime, they’ve called up Roman Anthony, who didn’t look like someone who had much more to learn in the minors. The 497-foot shot Anthony hit last week might have landed in the Charles River had he been playing in Fenway. The Red Sox need to get hot soon if they want to be in position to add in July. Maybe Anthony will be the spark.”

Anthony was a difference-maker Tuesday night, driving in a pair of runs in the Red Sox’s 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. The first-inning double was Anthony’s first big-league base hit.

However, he and the Red Sox face long odds of making it to the postseason this year. FanGraphs gives Boston a 1.1% chance of winning the division and 17.9% chance of being a wild card.

As for the World Series? The Red Sox have a 0.8% chance of winning it all, according to FanGraphs.