James Paxton talks trade deadline
James Paxton was going to be nothing than a bonus. Depth. A guy who fell in the lap of the Red Sox after unexpectedly exercising his $4 million option for 2023.
Throughout the years there had been plenty of Red Sox reclamation projects that simply couldn't find the finish line. John Smoltz. Rocco Baldelli. Grady Sizemore. Not apples to apples, but you get the idea.
A guy who was once dominant, hit a career roadblock due to injury and now was trying to find his way back.
Well, Paxton may be becoming the best story of them all.
Not only has the lefty emerged from his Tommy John surgery-induced hiatus as a viable pitcher once again, he has become something most had thought to be a permanent thing of the past - the 2017 version of James Paxton.
At least that's the image portrayed in his dominant outing Friday night in Toronto, in which Paxton pitched seven shutout innings, giving up just three hits while striking out seven. It lowered his ERA over nine starts to 2.70. (For a complete recap of the Red Sox' 5-0 win over the Jays, click here.)
In case you forgot, that pitcher from six years ago represented one of the most dominant starters in the American League. Pitching for Seattle, Paxton finished the 2017 season with a 2.98 ERA over 24 starts.
But since the beginning of the 2020 season, Paxton had made a total of six starts, missing all of last season and even getting off to a late start this time around due to a hamstring injury suffered in his first spring training start.
In other words, even with the February buzz about how electric his stuff looked, expectations were low. No longer.
"I feel great. My stuff feels really good. It's obviously a little bit different than it was back then, but not much," Paxton told the 'Baseball Isn't Boring' podcast regarding 2017. "The fastball feels pretty close to the same. I feel like I have a better mindset on the mound than I did back then, and I think I feel better than I did back then, in that sense."
Paxton has become one of the most important pieces of the Red Sox equation, a reality that was felt when the southpaw's knee limited his previous start to four innings. If there was no James Paxton, the already uncomfortable Red Sox lot in life would become dramatically more uneasy.
In terms of the Red Sox actually trying to win games and stay in the Wild Card hunt, Paxton represents a must-have. There is no Chris Sale or Tanner Houck until August, leaving the team with just four starters and little depth behind them.
And then there is Paxton's value if the Red Sox do become sellers toward the end of this month. The club sits 4 1/2 games out of the final Wild Card and one game under .500, lumping them in with the collection of teams that don't exactly know what they are with four weeks to go until Deadline Day.
Yet, if the Red Sox deem themselves in the wait-until-next-year grouping, this version of Paxton could get a legitimate piece of the club's future foundation. The way the market is shaping up, with not a lot of viable starting pitchers thought to be available, the combination of performance and price tag should have suitors lining up for Paxton.
For now, Paxton - whose fastball topped out at 98.2 mph - will represent one of the most important pieces of the Red Sox' current puzzle, which is one that hasn't quite been pushed apart.
“His stuff is really good,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters. “Stuff-wise, I believe tonight was his best one. You can see the feedback from the opposition: check swings, late on the fastballs. The slider-cutter thing was really good. He was under control. He worked hard during the week to be able to make this start and it paid off.”