Merrill Kelly. Zac Gallen. Dylan Cease. Jhoan Duran. Joe Ryan. Ryan O’Hearn. Josh Naylor. Eugenio Suarez. Yandy Diaz. Christian Vazquez. Aaron Civale. Adrian Houser.
Those are most of the names the Red Sox were tied to on the most important day of the trade season. After a 13-1 thumping of the Twins on Wednesday and reclaiming a .500 record post All Star Break, the Red Sox gave the front office every opportunity to invest in this team. They did make some moves, acquiring Steven Matz and Dustin May.
This was still a tremendously wasted opportunity for Craig Breslow.
Hold on, is this not the writer who wrote just last Friday not to overreact to what was going on? Why yes, it is! Still, what transpired this week and on Thursday afternoon is enough to even make me want to pull my hair out.
OK the price for guys was high. Jhoan Duran certainly commanded top end talent. So would have Eugenio Suarez and Bo Naylor.
Craig Breslow just said the Red Sox were willing to deal anyone from their farm system, but they didn't want to compromise the big-league roster by trading from it.
— Gabrielle Starr (@gfstarr1) July 31, 2025
Oh. So why didn’t…
Breslow says Red Sox feel they were "uncomfortably aggressive."
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) July 31, 2025
"Other teams needed to say, 'Hey, that's enough.'"
Oh. So what does this say about the 2025 Boston Red Sox or at least Craig Breslow? Were the packages really enough? Or were the phone calls just incessant enough that other GMs had to tell CB “you need to calm down”? Was he trying to be the clingy girlfriend looking for a dance partner?
Let’s start with Merrill Kelly, who Boston targeted from Arizona. If there were any rental starter to arrive in Boston, I would have wanted it to be him. Then, in the span of five minutes, the Rangers not only were competing but won out against everyone else in the eyes of the Diamondbacks. Ok, one is tough, let’s shake it off. Mackenzie Gore? Not being moved, not even to the Red Sox. What really grinds my gears is the Joe Ryan saga. Seriously, even with the erroneous tweets about the trade and the news they were working at 5:58pm, could you not have been working ANY earlier in the day considering the literal fire sale the Twins had? Do the Twins even HAVE a Major League team anymore?
If a Joe Ryan to the Red Sox trade doesn't become official, this is an all timer! pic.twitter.com/2MRtn55mhJ
— Matthew Gross (@MattGross87) July 31, 2025
It’s not just what the Red Sox did or didn’t do. It’s that every other rival for the division and Wild Card got better. The Mariners completely beefed up their lineup and look like an extremely scary out. The Rangers added Kelly to their rotation along side Nate Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom. The Tigers added Pat Sewald. The Yankees got David Bernard AND Camilo Doval, making their bullpen that much deeper. Even though they lost Isaac Paredes, the Astros reunited with Carlos Correa. Those moves tick the needle much more for everyone else.
Look, the Red Sox are still a good team, don’t get me wrong. Matz will be versatile enough to either give Brennan Bernardino, Justin Wilson or Chris Murphy a break and even possibly jump in the rotation for a spot start. Dustin May links back up with former teammate Walker Buehler—which is apt since both aren’t having great years—but a 27-year-old who should be in his prime may be more moldable by Andrew Bailey and the pitching staff.
It just doesn’t feel like enough for 2025. Alex Cora has publicly and privately called out underwhelming deadlines before, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same today.
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