The Red Sox have spent much of the season fighting the same old storyline, but the last two weeks have started to push back against it. Boston has won nine of its last 11 games and suddenly looks like a team that can hang around the American League Wild Card race, not just watch it from a distance.
That turnaround has come from the formula the front office built in the first place: pitching and defense. The rotation has been giving Boston a chance almost every night, and the offense has finally stopped dragging the whole operation down.
It still needs more punch, especially from the right side, but it’s no longer performing like the worst lineup in baseball. Over the last 15 days, the Red Sox are 10th in the league in runs scored with 64.
For the season, though, they’re still 28th with 365 runs in 89 games played.
That’s why the trade deadline conversation points so clearly toward Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams. Boston is 41-48 and four games back in the Wild Card picture, and it has already climbed past teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Athletics, and Kansas City Royals in the race. The next step is obvious: add a bat that changes the shape of the lineup.
The most obvious places to help are in the middle infield, with catcher also mentioned as a possible area. An outfielder or corner infielder would be a surprise.
Anthony Seigler has earned more time at second base, and if Boston were to land a second baseman instead, the club could shift Seigler to shortstop. But if Abrams is available, he fits the cleanest.
He would let Seigler stay put at second, take over shortstop himself, and give the Red Sox a much-needed jolt without forcing a chain reaction.
There’s also the bigger roster picture. Trevor Story is expected to get healthy eventually, and when that happens Boston could use him at second base or designated hitter.
Marcelo Mayer could also factor at second base once he’s healthy. That kind of flexibility matters, but the immediate issue is power.
Boston has just 80 home runs, which puts it last in baseball. Twenty of those belong to Willson Contreras.
Jarren Duran is next with 13, and Wilyer Abreu is the only other player on the roster in double figures with 10. That’s a thin margin for error, even with the recent surge.
Abrams would bring a very different profile. He has 19 home runs in 89 games and is on pace for more than 30.
He’s 25 years old, under team control for two more seasons, and is hitting .276/.354/.509 with an .864 OPS. Add in 65 RBIs, 15 stolen bases, 16 doubles and 55 runs scored, and you’re looking at the kind of player worth paying a premium for.
He’s also the kind of player Boston could envision as part of a longer-term core. An infield built around Abrams and Mayer in the middle, Contreras at first base and Caleb Durbin at second base has real upside. Story could still be part of the mix as a DH and occasional second baseman, while the future in the outfield would center on Roman Anthony and Ceddanne Rafaela.
Abrams has been in trade conversations since the offseason, but a move this summer may not be likely because the Nationals have been better than expected. Even so, ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel ranked him as the No. 6 overall potential trade chip in baseball and gave him a 15 percent chance of being dealt. If Boston wants the move that can shift this team from interesting to dangerous, Abrams is the name to chase.
In Other News...
James Wood Just Delivered The Kind Of Week Nationals Fans Craved
James Wood spent the week of July 6-12 doing exactly what the Nationals have been hoping to see more often from the middle of their lineup, and the league took notice. The 22-year-old was named National League Player of the Week after piling up a .500 batting average, five home runs and a run scored in every game he played, a burst that put him atop the league in several offensive categories for the stretch.
What makes the surge even more eye-catching for Washington is that it was not a one-off hot streak. Wood entered the All-Star break leading Major League Baseball in runs scored, walks and extra-base hits, a sign that his production has been as broad as it has been loud. For a Nationals club still searching for a consistent offensive identity, the bigger question now is how much of this version of Wood can carry into the second half. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Sweep Left Nationals Fans With One Big First Half Debate
The first half closed with a reminder that the Nationals are still a work in progress, even after a stretch that put them in rare company. A three-game sweep by the Yankees at Nationals Park left Washington heading into the All-Star break with 48 wins, a total that matches one of the better pre-break marks in franchise history and reflects how far the club has come since the early part of the season.
James Wood and CJ Abrams have given the lineup real traction, but the bigger question has not gone away. Washington keeps running into the same issue when the games tighten, with the bullpen and the lower half of the order making it hard to protect leads or answer back, and the Yankees series offered another sharp look at how much depth the Nationals still need. [Read more 🡒]
James Wood Just Gave Nationals Fans Another Reason To Dream
James Woods breakout summer keeps finding new ways to raise the bar for Nationals fans. The outfielder was named National League Player of the Week after a six-game stretch that showed just how dangerous his bat has become, adding another bright marker to a season that has already put him among the leagues most productive hitters.
Woods recent surge only reinforces the bigger picture in Washington, where he now leads the NL in runs, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS and OPS+. It is the kind of all-around offensive profile that gives the Nationals a legitimate centerpiece to build around, and it is starting to feel less like a hot streak than the emergence of a star. [Read more 🡒]