Article: Red Sox Trade for Dodgers' Starting Pitcher Dustin May

[Nick John]

The Boston Red Sox acquired right-handed pitcher Dustin May from the Los Angeles Dodgers per Jeff Passan.

After missing out on Merrill Kelly earlier in the day, the Red Sox managed to acquire May and add the young pitcher to their rotation. In 19 games this season, May has gone 6-7 with a 4.85 ERA in 104 innings pitched. May was a former top prospect with the Dodgers and will help provide innings after the Sox have seen injuries affect their pitching depth.

May, who missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery and undergoing surgery for an esophageal tear, has been a mixed bag of performances. A free agent after the season, May is entirely a rental for the remainder of the season. This is a pure buy-low opportunity on someone the team may have wanted to sign over the offseason; better to get him in the system now and try to work on an extension than compete with 29 other teams in free agency.

Despite his numbers looking rather pedestrian, batters are only hitting .111 against his four-seamer on the season, the second-lowest mark in the majors this season. The 27-year-old pitcher has a 21.5% strikeout rate thanks in part to that fastball, which has averaged 95 mph on the season. What may work out the best for May with the Red Sox is his 44.6% ground ball rate, thanks in part to the infield defense led by Alex Bregman, Trevor Story and (upon his return) Marcelo Mayer. 

Batters are currently hitting .243 against May on the season with an average exit velocity of 90.8 mph on balls put in play. He's giving up a career-high barrel rate at 8.6% and a career-high hard-hit rate of 43.6%.

As first reported by Robert Murray of FanSided, the Red Sox sent outfield prospect James Tibbs III as the main piece back to the Dodgers. Tibbs was acquired back on Father's Day as part of the Rafael Devers trade with the San Francisco Giants. He was considered the "centerpiece" prospect at the time, but he was heavily blocked in the outfield by the major league roster and top prospect Jhostynxon Garcia.

Joining him to the Dodgers will be 2024 fourth-round pick Zach Ehrhard as reported by MassLive's Christopher Smith. Ehrhard is another outfielder who has split the 2025 season between Greenville and Portland. Another player blocked in the outfield by the major league roster and Garcia, he will now have an opportunity to make it to the majors in a similarly-loaded Dodgers system.

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[Duran Is The Man]

they traded one of the "center pieces" of the Devers trade for two months of a garbage reliever. fire Breslow now; he clearly has no clue.

[jad]

Pretty clear now:  the $30mill/year JHenry saved by getting rid of Devers went right into his pocket.  He could have re-invested it in the team, but, you know, dockage is expensive.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

The message I received from this deal is that Breslow wants to see if Cora can maintain the status quo and get this team into the playoffs.  If not, Cora needs to go.  Watching all the bad managerial decisions has to be frustrating to Breslow so he's hanging Cora out to dry to see if he can finally hire a manager he would want that would be on the same page with him.  

When a team streaks up and down like the Red Sox in 2025, it's clear all the tinkering Cora is doing isn't creating momentum.  That's understandable since the best players don't play daily and the defense isn't being maximized and the batting order as inconsistent as the team.  Lots of instability for a very young team makes for inconsistent results.  The team needs a manager with experience not daily guesswork.  The team needs equal treatment of the players based on performance so guys like Hamilton need to be in AAA and Abreu on the bench for late inning pinch hitting not forcing Rafaela out of his logical position in RF.  So many mistakes daily are being covered up by good performances from guys like Bregman, Duran, Anthony, Crochet and others.  This reminds me of 2021 in that Cora is "winging it" and the crap shoot managerial approach renders very mixed results.  Young players are being offended and stressed out by his idiosyncrasies.  It's obvious he has no master plan of attack; it's simply daily guesswork.  

I say hold Cora's feet to the fire because this team has enough talent in the MLB and MiLB to make the playoffs and maybe win a series, but it looks like Cora will invent ways to lose.  Breslow played the long game on removing Devers and it worked and now I hope he is playing the long game for removing Cora and I think it will work too.  Cora is the Barney Fife of managers and at some point, he'll put his one bullet in his gun and shoot himself in the foot and BOS will have a chance to reclaim excellence in 2026.

[Randy Red Sox]

1 hour ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

The message I received from this deal is that Breslow wants to see if Cora can maintain the status quo and get this team into the playoffs.  If not, Cora needs to go.  Watching all the bad managerial decisions has to be frustrating to Breslow so he's hanging Cora out to dry to see if he can finally hire a manager he would want that would be on the same page with him.  

When a team streaks up and down like the Red Sox in 2025, it's clear all the tinkering Cora is doing isn't creating momentum.  That's understandable since the best players don't play daily and the defense isn't being maximized and the batting order as inconsistent as the team.  Lots of instability for a very young team makes for inconsistent results.  The team needs a manager with experience not daily guesswork.  The team needs equal treatment of the players based on performance so guys like Hamilton need to be in AAA and Abreu on the bench for late inning pinch hitting not forcing Rafaela out of his logical position in RF.  So many mistakes daily are being covered up by good performances from guys like Bregman, Duran, Anthony, Crochet and others.  This reminds me of 2021 in that Cora is "winging it" and the crap shoot managerial approach renders very mixed results.  Young players are being offended and stressed out by his idiosyncrasies.  It's obvious he has no master plan of attack; it's simply daily guesswork.  

I say hold Cora's feet to the fire because this team has enough talent in the MLB and MiLB to make the playoffs and maybe win a series, but it looks like Cora will invent ways to lose.  Breslow played the long game on removing Devers and it worked and now I hope he is playing the long game for removing Cora and I think it will work too.  Cora is the Barney Fife of managers and at some point, he'll put his one bullet in his gun and shoot himself in the foot and BOS will have a chance to reclaim excellence in 2026.

the Sox won't have a chance to compete until John Henry sells the team

[Sox 42]

1 hour ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

The message I received from this deal is that Breslow wants to see if Cora can maintain the status quo and get this team into the playoffs.  If not, Cora needs to go.  Watching all the bad managerial decisions has to be frustrating to Breslow so he's hanging Cora out to dry to see if he can finally hire a manager he would want that would be on the same page with him.  

When a team streaks up and down like the Red Sox in 2025, it's clear all the tinkering Cora is doing isn't creating momentum.  That's understandable since the best players don't play daily and the defense isn't being maximized and the batting order as inconsistent as the team.  Lots of instability for a very young team makes for inconsistent results.  The team needs a manager with experience not daily guesswork.  The team needs equal treatment of the players based on performance so guys like Hamilton need to be in AAA and Abreu on the bench for late inning pinch hitting not forcing Rafaela out of his logical position in RF.  So many mistakes daily are being covered up by good performances from guys like Bregman, Duran, Anthony, Crochet and others.  This reminds me of 2021 in that Cora is "winging it" and the crap shoot managerial approach renders very mixed results.  Young players are being offended and stressed out by his idiosyncrasies.  It's obvious he has no master plan of attack; it's simply daily guesswork.  

I say hold Cora's feet to the fire because this team has enough talent in the MLB and MiLB to make the playoffs and maybe win a series, but it looks like Cora will invent ways to lose.  Breslow played the long game on removing Devers and it worked and now I hope he is playing the long game for removing Cora and I think it will work too.  Cora is the Barney Fife of managers and at some point, he'll put his one bullet in his gun and shoot himself in the foot and BOS will have a chance to reclaim excellence in 2026.

I disagree.  Cora plays what he is given.  Breslow sucks as a GM because he sticks to his computer models and the owners salary restrictions. 

[TedYazPapiMookie]

3 hours ago, Sox 42 said:

I disagree.  Cora plays what he is given.  Breslow sucks as a GM because he sticks to his computer models and the owners salary restrictions. 

I think Cora misplays what he is given.  I think Henry has made unforgiveable mistakes that have ruined the franchise since he fired Dombrowski.  I would love to see his group sell the team.

I think Breslow is trying to replace the talent level given away by Bloom.  Crochet and Bregman have been HUGE wins.  Sale and Priester were HUGE losses. 

In the end, dumping Devers has been Breslow's single greatest feat so far.  It was a masterpiece in politics.  He needs to use that unique knowledge to dump the cheater (CORA) so this team can start fresh, build from within and use the rest of Devers money in the off season to fill the holes after Cora is gone. 

Personally, I hope he balances the roster by trading pieces that are redundant to gain great talent for the 26 man roster.  I hope he works with Miami to add Alcantara in the off-season.  I hope he can sign Valdez or Suarez in the off season with the Devers money.  I hope he signs Realmuto to a 2 year deal so Narvaez can be the back-up catcher because I think he is having a career year and is better suited as a back-up.

The 2026 team could look like this:

C-Realmuto, 1B-Campbell, 2B-Mayer, SS-Story, 3B-Bregman, LF-Anthony, CF-Duran, RF-Rafaela and DH-Yoshida or Abreu if he learns to hit LH pitchers.

Starting Staff - Crochet, Valdez, Alcantara, Houck and Bello 

Plus a Manager who has worked with Breslow in the past and is on the same page like Chris Young and Boche in Texas.  Add a new ownership group with big market money willing to go to the CAP and more if necessary to win the Division and take a shot at winning another ring. 

BOSTON can resurrect the Red Sox which became the Titanic of the AL East when they fired Dombrowski.

[illinoisredsox]

3 hours ago, Sox 42 said:

I disagree.  Cora plays what he is given.  Breslow sucks as a GM because he sticks to his computer models and the owners salary restrictions. 

TYPM has an almost pathological hatred of Cora, so take whatever he says about Alex with a lot of salt.

As for Breslow, I agree with you on the computer model statement but he kinda has to stick to the owners salary restrictions if he wants to keep what I’m sure is a pretty high paying job.

[Deja Doh]

Valdez, Alcantara, Houck?  Valdez likely to resign with Astros.  Alcantra has another year on contract.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

8 minutes ago, Deja Doh said:

Valdez, Alcantara, Houck?  Valdez likely to resign with Astros.  Alcantra has another year on contract.

The idea is to trade for at least one MIA starter among Alcantara, Perez or Cabrera.  Valdez may be a long-shot but he's a free agent and if he wants big bucks, he will go to the highest bidder.  That's not to say NYM, NYY and LAD won't make huge offers but the task being difficult doesn't mean don't do it.  Try and if you fail, no harm no foul. 

The FA pecking order should define who to bid on.  We need SP1 and SP2 type pitchers for the one remaining slot.  Houck needs to get healthy and Bello may be having a career year but maybe with some luck it will be a new plateau for him and a non-repeatable performance.  

The problem with most fans is they don't picture the future; they spend all their time justifying why the team can't do something rather than creating a pecking order wish list.  I say Breslow needs a prioritized plan to fill out the 2026 roster and go after hard like he did with Crochet and Bregman.

[mvp 78]

Looks like May will have his first start on Sunday.

[Duran Is The Man]

i've been very critical of Cora to this point, but from now on, i'm going to lay off because Breslow did absolutely nothing to help the team. nothing. i'll give Brezlow credit for signing Chapman and Bregman but when it comes to trades, he has got to be the worst GM in all of MLB. i just thought Bloom was bad.

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

i've been very critical of Cora to this point, but from now on, i'm going to lay off because Breslow did absolutely nothing to help the team. nothing. i'll give Brezlow credit for signing Chapman and Bregman but when it comes to trades, he has got to be the worst GM in all of MLB. i just thought Bloom was bad.

He didn't want to sign Bregman initially per reports. It was all Cora. There was internal strife over it. 

[moonslav59]

31 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Looks like May will have his first start on Sunday.

This graphic highlights the deadline failure by Brez.

I'm not for firing Brez. He's still been a plus, but those 3 should not be starters for a team on the playoff bubble. Maybe one. Maybe two in a pinch. 3 is sickening.

Also, is there zero faith in Harrison?

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

This graphic highlights the deadline failure by Brez.

I'm not for firing Brez. He's still been a plus, but those 3 should not be starters for a team on the playoff bubble. Maybe one. Maybe two in a pinch. 3 is sickening.

Also, is there zero faith in Harrison?

I think they want Harrison fully formed before promoting him. It's a long term play. 

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

I think they want Harrison fully formed before promoting him. It's a long term play. 

Sounds like you are back to making perfect posts, again, after a brief hiatus.

🤣

 

[mvp 78]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

Sounds like you are back to making perfect posts, again, after a brief hiatus.

🤣

 

I'm always making perfect posts, even when there are extra words not edited out and misspellings. 

[notin]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He didn't want to sign Bregman initially per reports. It was all Cora. There was internal strife over it. 

The story I heard was Breslow wanted Bregman for 3b and Cora wanted him at 2b.  Bregman had previously stated a willingness to play either position, and probably others…

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

I'm always making perfect posts, even when there are extra words not edited out and misspellings. 

...and confusing 2023 with 2025, among other imperfections.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, notin said:

The story I heard was Breslow wanted Bregman for 3b and Cora wanted him at 2b.  Bregman had previously stated a willingness to play either position, and probably others…

Breslow was just upset because moving Bregman out of the 3b column really would have messed up the formulas on the spreadsheet. 

[mvp 78]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

...and confusing 2023 with 2025, among other imperfections.

That was probably undiagnosed ADHD. 🫠

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

Breslow was just upset because moving Bregman out of the 3b column really would have messed up the formulas on the spreadsheet. 

Can anyone seriously argue that Devers at 3B and Bregman at 2B was the right thing to do, even without any spreadsheets hidden from sight?

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

That was probably undiagnosed ADHD. 🫠

We all make mistakes, but you obviously thought Murphy was not doing that well in 2025. It's not like it was a typo. His mistaken 4.91 ERA was the central point of the post.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Can anyone seriously argue that Devers at 3B and Bregman at 2B was the right thing to do, even without any spreadsheets hidden from sight?

It may have prevented us from being forced into posting about fielding percentage ad nauseum a la the movie Sliding Doors. 

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

We all make mistakes, but you obviously thought Murphy was not doing that well in 2025. It's not like it was a typo. His mistaken 4.91 ERA was the central point of the post.

No, my central point was that Murphy had options and Alcala did not. That's the sole reason he'd go down instead of Alcala. 

[moonslav59]

DH Casas (Devers occasionally)

1B Devers (casas occasionally)

3B Bregman

2B Mayer

This was the right call, even if Mayer was in hindsight for some of us.

[Hitch]

54 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Looks like May will have his first start on Sunday.

That looks like a sweep against, that's what that looks like! 

[Hitch]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

DH Casas (Devers occasionally)

1B Devers (casas occasionally)

3B Bregman

2B Mayer

This was the right call, even if Mayer was in hindsight for some of us.

That was the sensible (and obvious to me) alignment, except I had Campbell in 2nd.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

1 hour ago, Duran Is The Man said:

i've been very critical of Cora to this point, but from now on, i'm going to lay off because Breslow did absolutely nothing to help the team. nothing. i'll give Brezlow credit for signing Chapman and Bregman but when it comes to trades, he has got to be the worst GM in all of MLB. i just thought Bloom was bad.

Seriously?  Bloom destroyed a Championship team and Breslow added Crochet and Bregman and dumped $260 Million of a Bloom albatross contract.  We need to keep things in perspective.  The trade deadline is an expensive time to buy compared to the off season.  He still has the money and a plan, but I think he wants to prove how incompetent Cora is because this team has the talent to be in the playoffs and I think he wants the owners to see just how inept Cora is.  Cora didn't need more talent; he needs to use it more effectively.  He needs to STOP over-playing guys like Hamilton and Abreu and start setting a consistent line-up that the players can get comfortable with.  Whether it's Anthony or Duran batting 1st and 3rd, pick one and stick with it.  Play Bregman daily and if he needs a day off, DH him don't sit him so Hamilton or some other slug can play.  

I believe Breslow knows how hard it will be to get Cora fired and replaced with a manager he wants so he's doing this the politically correct way to show his incompetence.  He didn't waste much money at the deadline.  I'm not a May fan but if his pitching coaches believe they can significantly improve him for the very low cost they paid for him, great.  

My suggestion is to let this play out.  I NEVER thought he could get rid of Devers, and he did.  The team only needed two things prior to this season to significantly improve.  They needed to lose Devers and Cora.  The two changes should have brought at least 10 additional wins to a .500 team.  So far, losing Devers is improving the team just as I suspected.  Now let's see if he can double down and clean house by proving Cora's incompetence.

We need the organization to change.  We need to eliminate the bias carried forward by Cora and start letting the performance of players dictate who starts and we need starters to play 150 games a year.  Bench players (like Cora) are LESSER players.  That's why they should only start two times a month at two positions so four games a month.  They can be used as pinch hitters.  They can be used as pinch runners, but their skill level is significantly lower, and they should not be starting as often as Cora starts them.  As he continues to over play his bench, the team will increase their losing despite the excellent roster Breslow provided.  At some point, it should be obvious to the fans, media and ownership that the hap-hazard approach that Cora uses is like an individual trying to play the stock market with no experience.  Sure, they might guess right occasionally but for every right guess there are a dozen wrong guesses.  It's like Devers playing 3B.  The lack of consistency in success will catch up with you and the team will fail.  To remove Cora, his lack of consistency needs to happen otherwise this disaster of a manager will carryover another year and Breslow will be blamed for Cora's ineptitude. 

Breslow needs his own manager and then he needs to be held accountable.  Right now, his ship is being run by the equivalent of a deck hand.

[Hitch]

Interesting tidbit from Dodges GM, Gomes.

I did wonder if May might have a similar role here.

"We had a lot of really respectful conversations with D-May, and he's been a huge part of the organization for a long time," Gomes told reporters, according to Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register. "Through those conversations, it was apparent that starting was very important to him. And while we felt like he could have been a contributor out of the bullpen and an impact-type piece, trying to understand the mindset and his desire to continue to start, we took that into consideration."