Red Sox Need to Decide Soon if They’re In or Out on Postseason Run

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Monday, July 13, 2015

Patrick Sargent, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Following Sunday’s loss to the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox find themselves in a peculiar situation being 6.5 games out of first place in the AL East and the July 31 MLB trade deadline quickly approaching.

With Baltimore and Toronto losing on Sunday as well, the Sox are only three games out of second place behind Tampa Bay at the All-Star break and six games out of contention for the second wild card playoff spot.

In the next few weeks, the Red Sox front office needs to decide whether or not they’re all-in at making the postseason or if they’re going to start selling off pieces with an eye towards 2016.

Pitching Needed to Continue Winning

The Sox ended the first half of the season winning four of their last five series and 12 of their last 20 games. If they continue to win at that pace, a postseason birth wouldn’t be much of a reach.

However, with Clay Buchholz being placed on the 15-day disabled list, and Wade Miley taking a step back in Sunday’s loss, can the Sox put a rotation behind Eduardo Rodriguez together solid enough to even compete?

On the surface, it wouldn’t appear so. The Sox can’t count on the inconsistent Rick Porcello and the oft-injured Justin Masterson to keep things rolling.

If the Sox really want to compete they need to go after starting pitching depth - probably in the form of the Phillies’ Cole Hamels or Reds’ Johnny Cueto.

Hamels is controlled through 2018 and is the more attractive asset of the two. Cueto will be a free agent after this season and giving up top tier prospects for him may not pay in the end.

Young Sox Hitters Keep Hitting

Even with centerfielder and lead-off hitter Mookie Betts failing miserably in two key spots with men in scoring position in Sunday’s game, the outlook for the Sox’ young offense isn’t nearly as bleak as it’s pitching looks. Betts has 13 stolen bases to go along with 43 RBIs and 10 home runs.

Hanley Ramirez has seemed to rediscover his swing the past 20 games and has 19 home runs on the season. In-season addition Alejandro De Aza is hitting .318 since joining the Red Sox with three homeruns and 18 RBIs after being released by Baltimore.

Shortstop Xander Bogaerts is blossoming as a timely hitter and is improving as each game goes by. He’s currently hitting .302 with 42 RBIs and an All-Star game snub.

The Sox are averaging nearly five runs per game in the month of July and are 14th in the league averaging 4.2 runs per game this season.

With the offense doing its part, the Sox need to get their pitching in order. If they want to make a run at the postseason, they will need to start giving up prospects in order to obtain a pitcher like Hamels or Cueto. Other starting pitchers that might be available on July 31 include Oakland's Sonny Gray, and a pair of Chicago White Sox starts - Jeff Samardzjia and Jose Quintana. In a lesser move, the Sox could look to shore up the back end of their rotation and obtain Dan Haren from the Miami Marlins.

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