The Red Sox are heading into the second half with real momentum, and that changes the conversation fast. Boston comes back Friday for a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays, sitting at 46-48 after winning 14 of its last 16 games. A team that looked buried not long ago is suddenly right back in the playoff race, and with a little more than two weeks left before the 2026 trade deadline, Craig Breslow should be shopping for help.
The biggest question now is which bats make sense for Boston. The club needs offense, and there are a few names that stand out as possible fits.
Gleyber Torres is one of them. The former longtime New York Yankee is now with the Detroit Tigers, and before the All-Star break he was hitting .280/.395/.395 with a .790 OPS, four homers and 18 RBIs.
He’s currently on the Injured List, but he has already started a rehab assignment. Torres would give Boston the kind of right-handed pop its lineup could use, and at 29 years old, he still fits the timeline.
Luis Arráez is a different kind of target, but an appealing one all the same. He doesn’t bring right-handed power, yet he does bring elite contact skills and a track record that speaks for itself.
With three batting titles already, he’s in the mix for another one and is hitting .330 right now. For Boston, he’d be a table-setter near the top of the order and a steady way to get on base.
Then there’s James Wood, the kind of swing-for-the-fences target that would change everything if it somehow became realistic. He’s only 23, already a two-time All-Star, and under team control for four more seasons.
Wood hit 31 homers last year and has 28 already this season in 97 games played. If the Red Sox could land a bat like that, it would solve a lot.
The catch is obvious: prying him away from Washington would take a massive return.
Isaac Paredes is another name worth keeping in the mix. He was linked to Boston more than almost anyone this past offseason, and while the Astros don’t appear to be in sell mode, he still makes sense as a player to check on. Houston did trade Lance McCullers Jr. to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday in a salary dump, which at least leaves the door open for more movement than expected.
In Other News...
Blue Jays Just Got A Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Prediction Nobody Saw Coming
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has not looked like the kind of power bat the Blue Jays usually count on, with only six home runs through the first half after a stretch that has fallen well short of his usual standard. Even so, there is at least one outside voice willing to bet on a turnaround, as Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report floated the idea that Guerrero could wind up leading MLB in second-half home runs.
It is a bold call for a hitter who has spent most of the season searching for more consistent thump, but it is not coming entirely out of nowhere. Guerrero has historically shown a slightly stronger home run rate after the break, and he did manage a small late burst before the All-Star break, which is enough to keep the conversation alive even if the gap between where he is now and where that prediction lands is still a long one. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Fans Instantly Noticed Something Off About Viral Stadium Chaos
A fight at a Toronto Blue Jays game has been making the rounds again on social media, and the clip is drawing fresh attention for the same reason many old stadium videos do: people quickly started picking apart the details. In the footage, a fan in a plaid shirt throws punches at another man in a Donaldson Blue Jays jersey while nearby spectators step in as the scuffle drifts toward the field.
What stood out to viewers was not just the chaos, but the backdrop. Fans pointed to the 2019-era LED screens in the stadium as a clue that the video was from a much earlier game, which helped explain why the scene felt familiar even as it resurfaced online. The renewed buzz has turned a long-ago incident into a reminder of how quickly an old moment can look current again once it starts circulating. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Carter Finally Got His Statue And Blue Jays Fans Know What Comes Next
Joe Carter finally got the kind of permanent home at Rogers Centre that Blue Jays fans have been expecting for years, with the club unveiling a statue honoring his 1993 World Series-winning home run during its 50th season. The celebration leaned hard into the franchises championship history, with members of the 1992 and 1993 title teams back in the spotlight and current players joining in a day built around one of the defining moments in Toronto sports.
For the Blue Jays, the statue is more than a tribute to a single swing. It also feels like a marker for what comes next, because once one iconic moment gets its place outside the ballpark, the conversation naturally turns to which players and memories deserve to stand alongside it. Fans around the team have plenty of candidates in mind, and now the club has opened the door to a bigger display of its history. [Read more 🡒]