Alex Cora keeps pushing for Red Sox to add at the deadline
BOSTON -- Despite a Wednesday night loss to the lowly Athletics, the Red Sox remain right in the thick of the MLB playoff race. As Boston keeps pushing for a spot in the postseason, Red Sox manager Alex Cora keeps pushing the front office to make a move ahead of the July 30 trade deadline.
Cora has been pleading with the Boston brass to hit the "buy" button on this team, pushing for the organization to "get greedy" a few weeks ago. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has been somewhat non-committal on the front office's stance, but it does sound like he's open to adding to this team.
Cora continued his push ahead of Wednesday's 5-2 loss to Oakland at Fenway Park during a radio appearance on WEEI, and expressed some optimism that his message is being heard.
"I had a conversation with Craig three days ago, this whole thing with ownership and front office that they want to lose so we can trade people to improve the future of the organization, I think it's wrong," Cora told WEEI. "We just gotta be patient. We put ourselves in a great position. Ten games over .500 is important. We talked about it two weeks ago: win this series. Win the next one. Look around the league we've been one of the best teams in the big leagues the last month and a half. "
Even with Wednesday's bump in the road, the Red Sox have won seven of their last 10 games and 17 of their last 24. Boston is 28-17 over its last 45 games, tied with Cleveland for the best record since May 19. It has the team currently sitting at 50-41 -- half-a-game up on the Royals for the final Wild Card spot and 4.5 back of the Yankees for the first Wild Card in the American League.
Cora believes this run is sustainable thanks to the team's offensive versatility and strong pitching. The door is wide open to make a run at October baseball and beyond, and Cora would like a little help from the front office.
"I feel like whatever window it was two weeks ago, now it's bigger," he said. "Think big and see what happens."
The Sox could use another arm in the rotation and some more pop in the lineup, even with Triston Casas potentially returning soon from his rib injury. Earlier this week, Breslow said that he will "pick a lane" soon, and his choice will be made a lot easier if the team keeps racking up wins.
"The lane that we pick is going to be dictated by a host of considerations and none more meaningful than what is happening on the field," Breslow told The Fenway Rundown podcast. "So I'm still adamant and committed to picking a lane. We're going to get more and more information over the next couple of weeks. But the one thing that we can do that helps steer that direction is to win as many games as possible on the field."
