Announcer Warns That Red Sox Must Get ‘Uncomfortable’ At Trade Deadline
With the MLB All-Star Game officially in the rearview mirror, the July 31 Trade Deadline is only a few weeks away.
After finishing the first half on a 10-game winning streak, the Boston Red Sox have put themselves in playoff position and appear poised to add at the deadline.
One name the Red Sox have been linked to is Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan, who just made his first All-Star team. Not only is the 29-year-old righty in the midst of a career season, but he’s also still under team control through 2027.
Accordingly, acquiring Ryan will be costly and will likely force Boston to part ways with serious talent, warns Worcester Red Sox radio announcer Mike Antonellis.
“I get #redsox fans are emotional with their team and prospects. But to get someone like Joe Ryan at the deadline, you’ll have to get uncomfortable. Crochet deal is not comparable,” Antonellis wrote in an X post on Wednesday.
Boston traded four prospects to the Chicago White Sox for Garrett Crochet last December, including top catching prospect Kyle Teel. While losing Teel hurt, Crochet’s elite production at the top of the rotation has made it worthwhile.
Antonellis thinks Ryan may be even costlier, presumably due to his superior durability and longer track record. Whereas Crochet had just 32 career starts under his belt before being traded, Ryan’s made 102 starts and is more of a known commodity.
The bidding war for Ryan is expected to be intense, so the Red Sox will likely need to go above and beyond if they want to beat out the competition. They have plenty of young talent to build a compelling trade package with, so they may need to sacrifice some of it to help their team in the present.
To his credit, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has shown a willingness to get uncomfortable, from acquiring Crochet to trading Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. Many of Boston’s top prospects and young stars weren’t drafted under his watch, so he may be more aggressive in shipping some of them out to meet his goal of adding starting pitching.