James Paxton has been a revelation for the Red Sox this season.
After making just six starts since 2020, including none last season, Paxton worked his way back from injury to be a potential trade chip. However, Boston elected to keep Paxton through the deadline with a playoff spot still within grasp.
Paxton joined WEEI’s Rob Bradford on Audacy’s original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” to look back on the uncertainty of the deadline and what it’s like to be in trade rumors.
“I was trying not to think about it as much as possible because I can’t control what’s going to happen there,” Paxton said (12:12 in player above). “I knew that I was a conversation topic in that. I’m happy to still be here fighting with this team trying to get to the postseason, but it was a weird time there for a couple of days.”
The Red Sox had a rollercoaster month leading up to the August 1st deadline.
They went 9-4 from June 30th to July 17th before dropping three in a row and bouncing back with a five-game win streak. That then led into a three-game losing streak to end the month.
“We didn’t really know what direction the team was going to choose to go in; it wasn’t super clear,” Paxton continued. “I think we were all just waiting to see what was going to happen.”
Waking up on the morning of the deadline during that three-game losing streak, Paxton wasn’t too sure what to expect.
“I thought there was definitely a chance – I didn’t think it was a zero percent chance – I thought there was a chance for sure,” he said. “I didn’t think the chance was really high. We were playing really good baseball at the time.”
Even with that three-game losing streak to end the month, the Sox woke up on August 1st just 1.5 games back of a playoff spot.
“We were really close so I thought we were going to be given the opportunity to go for this thing and that’s ultimately what we were given the opportunity to do.”
The Red Sox have now fallen to five games back of the third wild-card spot in the AL, but Paxton is happy to still be in Boston.
“I understand the team has to do what the team has to do but I am happy to still be here playing in Boston,” Paxton said. “It was a good position to be in for myself, making myself valuable enough to be worth the conversation with other teams. It was definitely a place that I wanted to be coming back this year, you know, be one of those valuable pieces to a ball club.”
Paxton, a pending free agent, is 6-3 with a 3.60 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 14 starts with the Red Sox this season.
Related
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram