Ex-Red Sox Star Confused Over Missed Deadline Opportunity

As the Major League Baseball trade deadline drew to a close on Thursday afternoon, a former Boston Red Sox star expressed confusion.

Six-time MLB All-Star and World Series champion Jonathan Papelbon took to X and wondered aloud why his former club hadn’t acquired a certain Arizona Diamondbacks hurler.

“Can anyone explain to me why Merrill Kelly is not a @RedSox player yet??” Papelbon wrote.

Multiple sources, including The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey, have indicated that the Red Sox are pursuing Kelly.

“Boston has continued to pursue Arizona starters Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen and Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller as options for the front of the rotation,” McCaffrey reported on Thursday afternoon.

Earlier on Thursday, NESN’s Lou Merloni expressed his fondness for Kelly.

“I would have liked Beiber but he’s a better fit (with the Toronto Blue Jays),” Merloni wrote. “Sox need a given and this year he just isn’t. He’s a gamble. I’ll stay the course. Give me (Dream) Joe Ryan, Mitch Keller, Sandy or Cabrera. Rental? I want Merrill Kelly.”

Kelly, 36, entered Thursday with a 9-6 record, a 3.22 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP and 121 strikeouts in 128 2/3 innings pitched in 2025 (22 starts). Kelly is on an expiring deal that pays him $7 million this season.

Did the Red Sox miss out on Kelly, or is chief baseball officer Craig Breslow about to surprise Papelbon, Merloni, and the rest of Red Sox nation with a big deal? We are about to find out.