Red Sox Front Office ‘Dodged A Bullet’ At Deadline, Writer Claims

Did the Boston Red Sox front office have a better trade deadline performance than people think?

Various MLB experts graded Boston’s front office poorly for allegedly not doing enough at the deadline. It remains to be seen, come October, whether or not chief baseball officer Craig Breslow should have been more aggressive. On the other hand, he may have avoided a bad acquisition or two.

On Saturday, FanSided’s Brian Burrows indicated that Breslow was wise to stay away from a Miami Marlins ace. According to Burrows, Breslow called the Marlins about this former Cy Young winner but ultimately didn’t go after him.

“Sandy Alcántara was one of many controllable starting pitchers not moved at the trade deadline,” Burrows wrote.

“The former Cy Young winner picked up a little steam heading into the deadline with back-to-back scoreless outings for the Fish and was someone the Sox called about. The righty seemed like the poster child for being a “change of scenery guy”, with most analysts predicting that a new team may help him rediscover his former self after struggling coming back from Tommy John.”

“It seems like the Sox (as well as most teams around the league) dodged a bullet with this one,” Burrows continued. “In his two August outings, Alcántara has allowed six runs in seven innings and five runs in five innings, pushing his ERA up to 6.55. Now, it’s looking like the right move not to have forked up the capital needed to try and acquire and then fix the almost 30-year-old during a playoff race.”

Who knows if Alcántara would have indeed accessed the best part of his pitching self in a new environment? The point is, the Red Sox had no reason to want to find out, especially given the price tag most likely attached to Alcántara. Boston has the makings of a strong playoff rotation headlined by Garrett Crochet but also featuring sturdy Game 2 and Game 3 options in Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello. 

An arm that Breslow did snag at the deadline, Dustin May, could also factor into that rotation if he can continually mimic the quality of his last outing.

At the end of the day, Alcántara represented a risk (for Boston and any other club interested in the right-hander).

Breslow estimated that the 2025 Red Sox are too good to qualify for such a risk, and that decision is looking solid at the moment.