Red Sox president Sam Kennedy says team has ‘blessing from ownership' to be buyers at the trade deadline
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'If it's a fit that helps us get to where we want to go, absolutely,' Kennedy said. 'We have the same mindset right now that we had in November, December, January, February, and March, that led us to what we felt was a very productive and aggressive offseason. So full-stop, simple answer.
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'But there is a second part of that answer that we have to be realistic. If we don't go out and do the right things, work, and win baseball games over the next couple of weeks, we're not going to be in a great position. So we need to start playing better baseball, get back to .500 and winning series to put ourselves in a position to add to this club at the deadline and go take a run at it.'
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When the Red Sox made the move to trade Devers in June, one of the selling points was that
Because Devers was on Boston's roster for nearly half the season, though, a good portion of that cap hit counted against the first luxury tax threshold. Following the trade, it's believed that the Red Sox are 'relatively close' to the $241 million luxury tax threshold for the 2025 season,
Typically, teams that are around the luxury tax threshold and are below .500 at the trade deadline tend to be sellers. The Red Sox have hovered around .500 for the vast majority of the season, and Kennedy didn't want to say if the team would be buyers even if they had a losing record in late July.
'It's just hard to say,' Kennedy said. 'I don't want to pick a lane and then have you, you know, play a sound clip in my face for the next six months. So I don't really have any desire [to say right now].'
Following their three-game set against the Nationals, the Red Sox will host the MLB-worst Rockies for a three-game set beginning on Monday. But they've got a slew of matchups against playoff hopefuls and contenders after that, including the Rays, Cubs, Phillies, and Dodgers. Boston's three-game set against Los Angeles is its last full series before the July 31 deadline.
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If Boston isn't able to climb back into the playoff picture in the coming weeks, it could be in a position to sell at the deadline. Third baseman Alex Bregman, outfielder Jarren Duran, reliever Aroldis Chapman, and starting pitcher Walker Buehler have been speculated as some of the top players who could possibly move later in July.
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