Report: Red Sox Will Be Trade Deadline Buyers; What Will Craig Breslow Target?

The Red Sox are on the clock.

Just six weeks remain until the MLB trade deadline on Thursday, July 31.

As Boston heads into its weekend series against the Yankees, the Red Sox (34-36) find themselves in fourth place in the American League East, 9 1/2 games behind New York.

It’s not much better in the American League wild-card race. The Red Sox are one of six teams within 3 1/2 games of the final spot.

Despite having so many teams blocking their path to the postseason, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden wrote Thursday that Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will be buying before the deadline.

Bowden, former general manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals, said he’s hearing from others in the industry that Boston will be trading as the deadline approaches in order to improve its roster “for the rest of this season and next rather than being typical sellers.”

So what’s on Breslow’s wish list? Bowden said the Red Sox will target starting pitching and a first baseman.

You can never have too much pitching, and with Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck still on the injured list, going after a starter makes sense.

Same for a first baseman, with Tristan Casas sidelined for the rest of the season recovering from knee surgery.

According to FanGraphs, the Red Sox have a 1.2% chance of winning the AL East and a 21.4% chance of being a wild card. As for the World Series? FanGraphs gives Boston a 0.9% chance of winning it all this year.