Red Sox’s offensive collapse proves they need a reload, not a rebuild at trade deadline originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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With the 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays last night, the Red Sox are now 29-41 on the season, and are still 5.5 games behind the final spot in the AL Wildcard. While they are holding in this area, their chance to make the playoffs gets slimmer and slimmer.
What’s costing them these games is their offense, which really only shows up in the ninth inning, but it’s too little too late. While this year may be a wash, it doesn’t mean they need to blow up the team and enter a rebuild.
Boston’s offense has been terrible
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This has probably been one of the worst offenses the Red Sox have ever put together in their franchise’s history. They are 0-38 when trailing going into the ninth, and when they go down by three runs, it pretty much means game over.
What’s funnier is the Red Sox have one of the best offenses in the ninth inning. However, since they don’t do anything in the first eight, it really doesn’t mean much.
On top of that, they are one of the worst when it comes to leaving runners on base. Last night’s game was totally winnable, but Boston left 13 men on base. If they want to win games, they need at least one more consistent slugger to get their offense going.
Reload instead of rebuild
© Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images
Because of this whole season, some people are expecting Boston to just sell everything at the deadline, and rebuild around Roman Anthony, Garrett Crochet, and some of their other young stars. However, while it shouldn’t be the total opposite, it should be near it.
The Sox should trade a few people though, like Aroldis Chapman, and maybe Garrett Whitlock. Those two could command a lot at the deadline, and Boston can use what they get to reload next season. Jarren Duran, Trevor Story, IFK and a few others could round out the list too, all suggested by MLB insider Jeff Passan.
This would give Boston a lot of roster space to work with, and fill in the holes around their stars who really are irreplaceable. If they can get some true studs to help them, they could salvage this season, or they could be totally ready to contend next year.
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