The time is now for the Boston Red Sox to make a push to be a true World Series contender
On Tuesday, the Red Sox made their first major move of the hot stove season, as they traded away pitchers Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke to St. Louis in exchange for veteran starting pitcher Sonny Gray.
In Gray, Boston is getting a proven arm who became a reliable righty for both the Twins (2022-23) and Cardinals (2024-25) in recent years. He’s come a long way from the disappointing season-and-a-half he spent in the AL East in 2017 and 2018, where Gray was the No. 1 player Yankees fans complained about on talk radio. After being acquired at the deadline in ’17 from Oakland, Gray went 4-7 in 11 starts for New York. And while he was 11-9 for the Yankees in ’18, his ERA was up near 5.00, and Yankees fans still could not stand the guy.
He will make his return to the division in 2026 with Boston at age 36, coming off a 14-8 season for a Cardinals team that finished six games under .500. That solid season amid mediocrity came one year after going 13-9 with a 3.84 ERA for an 83-win team in St. Louis.
On Tuesday evening, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow joined the media that covers the team on a Zoom call to discuss the move.
He was asked when talks between Boston and St. Louis began to percolate as it relates to Gray.
“Initial interest going back even to the trade deadline, and then as you start to have conversations with free agents, with other teams,” said Breslow. “You can't perfectly dictate timelines, and I think in two short years here, I've learned that when you have an opportunity in front of you that makes sense, you need to act on it.”
It’s that last part that I want to focus on for a second: acting on opportunities in front of you that make sense.
The opportunity to become a true contender in the AL is right now.
The Yankees may have just beaten you in the postseason, but they’re a franchise seemingly in flux with an ownership publicly calling to cut payroll.
The Blue Jays just won the pennant, and yet you never really felt that far off from Toronto from a roster perspective all season long.
After spending most of the season as one of the AL’s best teams, it took the Tigers surviving a late season collapse to even advance to the postseason. And as we sit here on November 26, rumors continue to fly about the potential trade of two-time defending Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.
Mariners are building a beast, there’s no doubt about it. And Cleveland is always competitive. But when you take stock of the teams in the AL that actually have a real shot to win a World Series, it looks more and more like the Fresh Prince empty room meme every single day.
The current state of the American League is the opportunity! There’s a young core here in Boston that has enough talent to win now, not to mention a Cy Young runner-up in Garrett Crochet sitting at the top of your rotation waiting to be joined by a bonafide No. 2. And if you believe Sean McAdam’s reporting (as we always should, he’s a legend) from earlier this month that Red Sox ownership understands it needs to pay the competitive balance tax to build a roster worthy of making a deep playoff run, then all the ingredients are on the table to have a huge offseason.
Feb 15, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow talks with media at George M. Steinbrenner Field. (Kim Klement Neitzel/Imagn Images)Do what you need to do to get Joe Ryan.
Re-sign Alex Bregman.
Bring in a big bat in either Pete Alonso or Kyle Schwarber.
Give this team the last few tools it needs to achieve the ultimate goal of winning its fifth World Series this millennium.
There’s a reason why this team sits where it does in the World Series futures market right now. Both Vegas and bettors realize that this franchise is just a few moves away from being a real threat to win it all.
Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.