The Red Sox look like sellers in the basement of the AL East. At 51-52, Boston is 18 games back of the league-best Yankees, but only 3.5 games back of that added Wild Card spot.
While the Red Sox may be written off by some, the team has been dealt a tough hand with injuries over the past few weeks and their play on the field hasn’t helped that. However, the team just wants a chance to compete.
Rich Hill joined Audacy’s The Bradfo Sho to discuss his thoughts on the looming trade deadline and final months of the season.
“The main piece to all of it is winning,” Hill said (2:57 in player above). “We have maybe 30 games against the AL East and a very controllable part of the season that could put us in a very good position to get into the playoffs.”
Could the Red Sox just want one final chance to prove themselves?
“That would be, obviously, the consensus throughout the clubhouse, there’s no doubt about that,” Hill said.
Hill mentioned the rash of injuries that the Red Sox are dealing with. Kiké Hernández has been out since early June. Rafael Devers is slated to return soon but has missed some time. Trevor Story was just diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his wrist. And the list goes on, including Hill himself, who hasn't pitched since July 1st.
Those injuries have hindered the Red Sox over the past month or so, but they could also be viewed as a reason for hope in the final months of the season. Getting Devers back will go a long way, as will Hernandez in center field.
“Looking at it from that perspective, yeah, everybody is saying let’s give us a chance here for the next two months to pull something together and put us in a better position to get into the playoffs.”
The Red Sox are on the fence and could go either way at the trade deadline and beyond. Hill has been there before and knows that the team can only focus on what it can control. From there, the rest of the season will play out.
“You can’t have that pack-it-in mentality. It’s still 60 games left or whatever it is in the season,” he said. “I think it would be really not the best decision to kinda have that mindset because you never know what could happen. You gotta keep fighting to the end. That’s why we play 162.”
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