Red Sox ‘Flirting With Disaster’ According to MLB Writer

Bleacher Report’s MLB writer Zachary D. Rymer published an interesting piece on Thursday that listed eight teams “flirting with disaster,” and it somewhat surprisingly featured the Boston Red Sox.

“The Red Sox are another one for the “They’re Not Really Having a Bad Offseason” folder, and it has to do with how they’ve pilfered the NL Central,” Rymer wrote.

“In three separate trades, they scored Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras from the St. Louis Cardinals and Johan Oviedo from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Gray and Oviedo are part of a deep well of starters, while Contreras profiles well as a Fenway Park hitter.”

“But just as the Cubs have a Kyle Tucker-shaped hole in their lineup, the Red Sox have an Alex Bregman-shaped hole in theirs,” Rymer continued. “Bregman’s clubhouse presence would be sorely missed if he left.”

Rymer also clearly spelled out what Boston can do to escape disaster. “There are alternative options if it doesn’t work out, and not just Bo Bichette on the free-agent market,” Rymer wrote. “Given their wealth of pitching, the Red Sox might line up better than any team on a trade for Ketel Marte.”

Contrary to the last part of Rymer’s diagnosis, reports indicate that the time for a Marte trade might be running out. That would imply that it’s going to be either Bregman or Bichette for the Red Sox (or bust) when it comes to adding another bat.