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The Boston Red Sox are firmly in the thick of the playoff hunt as the second half of the season gets underway, even following a series loss to the formidable Chicago Cubs. They have an incredibly difficult second half schedule to overcome, but they’ve proven in recent weeks that they are able to win games with both their offense and their pitching. Even with some players on the roster emerging as legitimate stars, the team needs to be active on the trade market.
Just how active is anyone’s guess though. In his first trade deadline last year, President of Baseball Operations Craig Breslow made deals on the fringes of the major league roster to try and put the team in a position to make the postseason. He failed pretty miserably. Now, in 2025, Breslow has the firepower to pull off trades that can make the Red Sox surefire postseason players. While we don’t have access to Breslow’s specific player wishlist, the four names below should be squarely at the top of it.
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Edward Cabrera
- The Red Sox have been linked to Cabrera in the past, but that was before he found his footing as a starter in 2025. Now, he’s pitched to a 3.61 ERA with 86 strikeouts and a 3-4 record over 82 1/3 innings. Breslow has said he prefers controllable pitchers over expiring deals and Cabrera checks that box. He’s still arbitration eligible and won’t reach free agency until 2029. That being said, he won’t be cheap. He strikes people out at a 24.8% clip, and his walk rate (8.6%) and ground ball rate (45.5%) are encouraging. He’s considered day-to-day with an elbow injury at the moment, so there could be a bit of concern about his health, but that could help to make him a bit cheaper as the deadline approaches, too. Cabrera isn’t the prototypical No. 2 type starter that the Red Sox have been connected to, but honestly, the team likely doesn’t need to add a co-ace at the deadline. That’s something that can be saved for the offseason when those types of names become available more often.
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Lucas Erceg
- Erceg also fits the controllable profile that Breslow has identified in the run-up to the trade deadline. He won’t reach free agency until 2030, so he’d be expensive for that alone, not even including his dominance on the mound. Luckily for the Red Sox, the Royals are in need of outfielders and Boston has a plethora of them to pick from. He’s an elite set-up reliever and would help prevent the rest of the bullpen from being overtaxed as the season moves through the summer months. His 2.09 ERA would rank him second among all qualified relievers on the roster, behind only Aroldis Chapman’s 1.18 mark. Erceg is an off-speed specialist who would slot in nicely right in front of Chapman, or another closer we’ll get to in a second, as the Red Sox look to close out games on a high note. He induces a ton of ground balls, currently ranked in the 95th percentile according to Baseball Savant, and with the infield defense taking a step forward with Marcelo Mayer shifting to second, he could be a monster in Boston.
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Ryan Helsley
- There’s a bit of a caveat with Helsley, because if the Red Sox were to acquire him, it would likely mean that Chapman has been dealt in a different trade. If the team is looking to capitalize on Chapman’s value, this should be the play they make. Helsley is a year removed from being an All-Star, and though this season doesn’t seem to be a repeat of last, he’s still a dominant closer. The other downside to Helsley is he’s not a controllable arm like Breslow wants. He will become a free agent at season’s end, so it’s entirely possible the Sox are fine to wait for that to happen and sign him when they wouldn’t have to give up prospects and other assets to land him. Helsley is working with a 3.27 ERA on the season, and while that’s not an improvement over what Chapman is doing, Helsley is younger and would be far more deserving of an extension than a reliever having a career resurgence at age 37.
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Christian Vazquez
- The final name here isn’t flashy, but it fixes a glaring problem on the roster. It’s no secret that Connor Wong shouldn’t be long for this team. He’s underperformed more than anyone else on the roster this year, and the backup catcher role has to be addressed at the trade deadline. Sure, you’d like to see a bigger name than Vazquez in the conversation, but he's an upgrade over Wong that wouldn’t cost a ton. He’s slashing .167/.236/.247, so he’s perfectly at home in a backup catcher role, and coming back to Boston could be just the thing that sparks him to add just a bit more offensive firepower to his game. He’s beloved in Boston and would be an incredible mentor for Carlos Narvaez throughout the remainder of the season. Vazquez is a free agent at the end of the year, so the long-term back up catching plan still wouldn’t be crystal clear, but bringing Vazquez back to Boston would help to send him off into the sunset on a high note in front of fans that adore him. He could likely be had on an incredibly cheap contract for next season if he decides to stick around, too.
There are a ton of different ways the Red Sox could go as the trade deadline approaches, but being buyers in some capacity is the correct path forward. The four names listed above would be win-now additions, while some would bolster the team for the future at the same time. If the team looks to capitalize on the value that some rostered players have, they are going to have to supplement the team as those names are traded away. We haven’t seen Breslow make a plethora of trades so far in his role as the President of Baseball Operations, but this season feels like the perfect time to make a handful of high-impact additions as the team prepares to be contenders in October in 2025 and beyond.
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