The 2026 season has not gone according to plan for the Boston Red Sox, and they even made a managerial change at the end of April. But Alex Cora’s departure hasn’t exactly worked wonders for the Red Sox as they remain in last place in the American League East at 25-33.
By now, they are seemingly buried in the AL East, though they are only three games back of the third wild card spot, which is currently held by the Toronto Blue Jays. This means that they could be an interesting team to watch at the trade deadline.
Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report gave a few ideas for what the deadline could look like, and one of his predictions is that Boston will add rather than subtract, given that they don’t have a lot of players on expiring contracts.
He also predicted that Boston could target former batting champion Luis Arraez to solve their second base issues.
“Boston has just three unrestricted free agents at the end of this season, and no one is exactly going to be calling them day after day about Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Danny Coulombe or Patrick Sandoval.”
Luis Arraez Named Fit for Red Sox
Arraez is a three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and three-time batting champion. The Giants added him last offseason, but even though he has performed well, that hasn’t helped them much.
The 29-year-old infielder is hitting .321/.365/.421 with two home runs, 23 RBI and a .786 OPS. The Red Sox have a lot of problems with their infield at the moment, especially after losing Alex Bregman in free agency. But adding Arraez could take care of some of that. He could take over at second base as Miller alluded to or even play a little third base. The Red Sox would have a lot of options, and though they don’t have much power in their lineup, they could still find other ways to score runs.
Arraez obviously is not known for his power, with his career high in homers being 10 back in 2023. However, he still could give the Red Sox lineup a big boost down the stretch, and this could allow them to gain some ground in the wild card race.
Wild Card or Bust
Boston is already 11 1/2 games back in the AL East, so unless something drastic happens, they are likely not going to win their first division title since 2018. However, the wild card is still very much in play, and there is a lot of time left in the season.
Adding somebody like Arraez could shore up the infield and give them the offensive boost that they need in order to snatch one of the three wild card spots. The Red Sox were the second wild card team last year, winning 89 games during the regular season.
Despite their struggles, a couple of additions such as this could have them pointed in the right direction.
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