Exhale, folks. The trade deadline has come and gone, and the rapid refreshing of Twitter, Bluesky, or wherever you get your news from can cease. The roster you look at now is more or less what you’ll see for the rest of the season, save for a well-timed DFAs for cost-cutting purposes, à la Nathaniel Lowe in 2025.
It was an eventful day for Craig Breslow, who successfully executed four trades before the clock struck 6 pm EST:
So, where do we stand now? Personally, I’m focused on the 2026 Red Sox. I haven’t watched a postseason game at Fenway Park since 2021. Selfishly, I’d like to do that again. Aside from Carlos Narvaez and maybe Connelly Early or Marcelo Mayer, none of those were going to help the 2026 Red Sox. Now, future Jake might (also selfishly) wish Eyanson or Witherspoon were on the team, but future Jake doesn’t exist right now, so screw that guy.
The 2026 Red Sox got better. That’s it. There is more major league-ready talent in the organization today than there was yesterday. Curtis Mead immediately getting injured put a damper on things, and Adley Rutschman isn’t ready to return from injury just yet, but the point remains. Erik Miller is a left-handed reliever who has pitched well against both sides of the plate, and should be able to handle higher leverage innings.
We’ll start with Rutschman; he’s the biggest name, after all. The Red Sox have hardly got anything from the catcher position. As a team, their 72 wRC+ from behind the plate ranks 26th in baseball. They have just four home runs from the position, and their strikeout rate is over 26%. Defensively, they’re in the middle of the pack with -3 catching runs per Baseball Savant. A more detailed look reveals they’ve been good at blocking balls in the dirt, but just okay at framing pitches and throwing out base stealers. They’re also 22nd in using ABS, though they’ve been much better of late after a rough start to the season.
Offensively, Rutschman is solid. He’s a switch hitter who takes great at-bats, striking out at a low rate while taking his walks. He started his career hot, posting wRC+ over 130 in each of his first two seasons. Since then, he hasn’t been quite the same hitter. Last season, injuries limited him to just 90 games, in which he hit .220 with 9 home runs. This season, the injuries have returned. He’s had three separate stints on the injured list with three different injuries. When healthy, he’s been solid. His xwOBA (a measure of contact quality) has been above average for most of the season. He went out with a concussion on June 19th, and his results upon return were less than stellar, but began trending in the right direction before he hurt his wrist.
The wrist is the big question. If he can return from injury and continue to provide offensively, the Red Sox lineup will look much stronger. Wrist injuries are tricky though, and it might be difficult for him to produce right away. Hopefully, it’s not an issue upon return and he provides offense from a spot in the lineup that wasn’t providing any.
Defensively, Rutschman shines. He’s a strong thrower who leads baseball in caught stealing percentage. He’s also near the top of the league in blocking, framing, and challenging pitches behind the plate. Catcher defense wasn’t a glaring liability, but Rutschman is among the best in the game. Again, say what you want about the return. Future Jake will get back to you on that one.
The other major addition is left-handed reliever Erik Miller. Miller is a unique arm that provides a combination of both strikeouts and groundballs, while also having a massive walk rate. Against lefties, he’s lights out. Lefties have a .269 wOBA with just five extra base hits and a strikeout rate close to 33%. It’s thanks to a sinker that has 18 inches of horizontal break from a fairly high arm angle that earns strikes and jams lefties, and a hard slider with a 25% swinging strike rate. Against righties, the strikeouts remain, but walks are an issue. His sinker isn’t the same bat-breaking offering, while his slider isn’t in the zone often, leading to walks. He also uses a four-seamer and a changeup against righties that don’t have many redeeming qualities. The changeup in particular is one I’d expect the Red Sox to eliminate from his arsenal. I don’t see an obvious path forward against righties, though I could see the Red Sox try to get him in the zone more with his slider. Either way, the strikeout rate alone is enough to be excited about with Miller.
There are some areas of concern, however. The lack of an addition to the rotation is one. The group has been a strength of the team for most of the season, but the lack of experience presents a potential issue. Payton Tolle is already eight innings past his total from last season, while Jake Bennett is 15 over his career high for a season. Like it or not, young arms are managed carefully, and Tolle and Bennett will likely be no exception. On top of that, Patrick Sandoval is in his first season back from multiple injuries, and isn’t the type to pitch deep into games due to his low strike rates. That puts a lot of pressure on Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez to get into the sixth and seventh inning regularly to keep bullpen arms fresh. Since the start of July, the Red Sox have just 9 quality starts in 27 games. Without the all-star break, bullpen fatigue and protecting leads might have become problems. The addition of Erik Miller represents another high-leverage arm to help the pen, but Garrett Crochet is still a long way from returning, and Johan Oviedo, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford don’t seem particularly close. An innings-eater would have been a helpful addition to keep the team afloat through September and into the postseason.
Adding Eli White is also bit perplexing from a roster functionality perspective. As it stands, the Red Sox have six outfielders on the roster if you count Masataka Yoshida. Both White and Jahmai Jones are right-handed outfielders with no minor league options remaining. Both hit lefties better than righties, with Jones providing more thump and White adding defensive versatility in the outfield and speed. They’re not the same player, but they do feel a bit redundant off the bench. With only Andruw Monasterio having significant experience at shortstop, it’s a peculiar way to utilize the roster.
All in all, the team is better today than it was yesterday. They upgraded at catcher, brought in a leverage reliever to help against lefties, and acquired a speedster with a good glove. Sure, there’s something to be desired, but with the way the Red Sox have been playing and some players potentially returning from injury, the roster appears to be in a pretty good spot. There’s 16 games over the next 16 days, so that roster will be put to the test from top to bottom in short order.
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