ATLANTA, GEORGIA – MAY 11: Rafael Devers #11 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after striking out toend the seventh inning against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on May 11, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Is it time for the 11-20 Red Sox to give up on the season? Not yet, and there are some names on the trading block that can help Boston get back into the playoff race
The Boston Red Sox had high hopes for the 2022 season.
They came two games away from the World Series last October. They won 92 games. Their young stars such as Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers are still in the prime of their careers.
Somehow, just over a month into the season, it’s all gone horribly wrong. The Red Sox are 11-20, already 11.5 games back to the New York Yankees in the AL East, and even two back of the lowly Baltimore Orioles.
There is no one problem plaguing the Red Sox. Their offense has scored just 3.5 runs per game, the third-lowest in the league. It would be the worst offensive performance for the franchise since the Dead Ball Era. Their pitching staff has blown the most saves in the league.
It’s up to Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom to find a solution or risk watching any hope of a postseason berth slip away quickly. “We’ve dug ourselves a hole. There’s no question. We haven’t played well. Panic is not going to help. We have to play better,” Bloom told MassLive.com this week.
“There’s a difference between urgency and panic. And I think we certainly need to show more urgency than we hoped we would be feeling at this point in the season.”
Only twice in the last 50 years, 2020 and 1996, have the Red Sox begun a season this poorly. It’s gotten to the point that there is even talk of the Red Sox potentially trading Bogaerts before the All-Star shortstop hits free agency this winter. But that would be a sign of panic, which Bloom said the Red Sox won’t do. And recent history backs him up.
Just three years ago, the Washington Nationals began the season 19-31. They could’ve begun a firesale and traded away key players like Anthony Rendon, who, like Bogaerts, was also a free agent after that season. The Nationals didn’t do that. Instead, they added to their roster, trading for Daniel Hudson. It was Hudson who, a few months after the Nationals appeared to be going nowhere, was on the mound recording the last out of the franchise’s first World Series title.
Bloom and the Red Sox shouldn’t give up on 2022 just yet. There is still time to salvage something out of the year and get back into contention, but it will require making some bold moves. Here are three players the Red Sox should consider trading for to turn around the season.