The acquisition of Andrew Cashner looks like the answer to whether the Red Sox are going to be MLB Trade Deadline buyers or sellers. Boston's shot at earning a Wild Card spot has only gotten more challenging with the A's vying for position, the Indians currently set as second Wild Card team and the Rays leading the charge. Couple the standings with the Red Sox' season-long up-and-down play and it wasn't out of the question for Boston to sell.
Cashner helps a starting rotation that's struggled to fill Nathan Eovaldi's spot — who's bound for the bullpen when he returns. And Cashner's right about in the same category as Eovaldi. He throws hard, but he's never been a strikeout pitcher. He's battled injuries here and there throughout his MLB career, though he's never torn his UCL, like Eovaldi, or had shoulder surgery. (Cashner did have surgery on his right thumb earlier in his career to repair a lacerated tendon. It was a result of a hunting accident.)
But Cashner may not be where things end for the Red Sox.
On MLB Network's "MLB Central," Joel Sherman of the New York Post expressed the Red Sox could still be in the market for another arm.
"I think before too long there will be another pitcher, whether it's a reliever or a starter, on that roster," he said when discussing the Red Sox.
Currently, Boston's starting rotation is Cashner, David Price, Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez and Rick Porcello. Porcello is the only one who could be moved, but that'd only be if the Red Sox were sellers. (There could be an unlikely case where it's not a seller's move. The Red Sox could package Porcello with prospects for a player who's contract expires after 2020, where the team doesn't think they can retain the player. But, again, don't bank on that happening.)
Even with Eovaldi set to come out of the bullpen, that's the area where the Red Sox clearly need as much help as they can get.
