The 2019 season thus far hasn’t gone as planned for the Boston Red Sox, but they’re not throwing in the towel.
It’s been an up-and-down campaign for the Red Sox, who entered Thursday 11 games back of first place in the American League East and two back of the second wild-card spot. Given Boston’s iffy playoff prospects, many have wondered if the reigning World Series champions would go into full-on sell mode leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.
The short answer? Probably not.
Longtime baseball reporter Peter Gammons recently spoke with a National League general manager who is fairly confident the Red Sox will march on with their current group.
NL GM:"The Red Sox are not selling. Fans may not love this team, but they're not buying giving up when they're a couple of games out of the wild card sposts"
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) July 24, 2019
Selling the house would be a dramatic move by Boston. The club is unlikely to win a fourth straight division crown, but either of the wild-card spots are very much in play. And should the Red Sox not only reach but win the play-in game, the sky would be the limit for a club that shined on the biggest stage just last year.
The next 11 days will go a long way in determining Boston’s fate this season. The Red Sox open a seven-game homestand Thursday which includes a four-game set against the first-place New York Yankees followed by a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Boston then will wrap up its long stretch of division play with a four-gamer in the Bronx beginning Aug. 2.
