A player's perspective of trade deadline season
It has now been two weeks since the Rafael Devers trade.
With apologies, this was the understood agreement: If the Red Sox win, we stop talking about it, if they don't the conversation lingers. It is lingering.
While the players have moved on from the Devers-less plane ride, living the life that is right in front of them, the words that echoed exactly two weeks ago in the T-Mobile visitors clubhouse still serve as a reminder. In a nutshell, the messaging focused on needing to prove that subtracting in the short term would be palatable as long as the Red Sox were hell bent on adding when trade deadline season kicked in.
It's feeling like rubber-meeting-the-road time when it comes to that distinction.
If the Red Sox aren't able to win Monday's series opener against Terry Francona's Reds - with Garrett Crochet going against highly-touted rookie Chase Burns - Alex Cora's club will be four games under .500 on the first day of July. In comparison, last season on July 1 it was four games over .500.
The Sox are eight games behind the first-place Yankees and three in back of the final Wild Card spot. Two weeks ago, they were in a playoff spot, living life two games over .500.
It is what it is. And what it is, as the calendar gets ready to flip to July, is more uncomfortable than anyone in this organization could have imagined when the big trade was made.
"I think there are these benchmarks in the calendar when June becomes July, everybody gets the memo that it's time to have pre-deadline initial conversations. People start to reach out and start doing these check-ins," Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told WEEI.com Friday.
The problem is that those check-ins have become complicated.
A microcosm of the Red Sox' conundrum popped up in their 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays Sunday at Fenway Park. Walker Buehler once again wasn't the pitcher the team was counting on, giving up four runs over four innings to put his ERA at 6.45. So, what now? Cora said Buehler is staying in the starting rotation, a decision made at least partly because there are few alternatives.
Tanner Houck's rehab stint continued to be less-than-ideal, giving up four runs on seven hits over 3 2/3 innings. They don't seem quite ready to call up newly-acquired Kyle Harrison. And Hunter Dobbins remains on the injured list.
"Yeah, I think I'm fighting for my spot in the game honestly," Buehler said when asked about how he viewed his spot in the rotation. "I think at some point, the way that I’ve thrown, there’s not a lot of places for seven ERA starting pitchers in the big leagues. I don’t know what the next step is, and obviously I want to take the ball every fifth day and keep going and keep fighting."
Welcome to the world of both Walker Buehler and the Boston Red Sox.
The words coming from the starter might as well have been echoed by the entire team. It's a group that is intent on fighting with what they have, clinging to viability. That's all they can do for now.
The time is coming, however, where they are all going to pick their heads up, look around and deal with their reality.
On Sunday, a quick look around Fenway Park offered some hints of what we're dealing with. An offense that is still starved for the addition of Alex Bregman (whose return won't be until after the All-Star break) and Masa Yoshida (who starts his rehab assignment Tuesday). A lineup that is counting on the likes of Roman Anthony (who had his first hit against a lefty) to emerge as the top-of-the-order presence they have banked on him being. A bunch of bats who can do better than 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
And then there was the ultimate sign that an adjustment is quickly needed: The droves of fans that exited Fenway before the Red Sox even got to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, despite their team being down by just two runs.
For now, the what-might-have-beens aren't going to go anywhere.
You can point out the need for a presence like Devers (who is in one of his ruts again, having struck out eight of his last 11 at-bats). Or maybe you want to bring up Quinn Priester, managing a 2.51 ERA in his 11 starts with the Brewers, including a seven-inning, one-run, 11-strikeout gem Friday.
All fair game. But at least for the next few weeks, for better or worse, it's here-and-now season.
"We’ve got a lot of people hurt, so we just have to get healthy," said Cora.
Desperate for a healthier roster. Desperate for a healthier conversation.