Sam Kennedy takes us inside the trade deadline
For two days, Alex Cora’s front-row seat has allowed for images and memories that the Red Sox manager will not forget anytime soon.
Getting the chance to witness a Fenway Park Friday night walk-off – which presented itself this time thanks to Roman Anthony’s 10th-inning game-ending fly ball – always sticks. It’s an instance that is, and was, made even more notable thanks to the calendar and standings, which now show Cora’s team four games behind Toronto for first place and a half-game behind the top wild-card spot.
“Today was tremendous,” Cora said after the 2-1 win over the Astros. “It was loud. They were into every pitch the last two innings. It’s Aug. 1, and they know it. And some of them love their team. Others like their team. But at the end of the day, this is what it’s all about, winning games and making this place uncomfortable. And I think they accomplished that tonight. A few years ago, it was the yellow uniforms. Now it’s the green ones. Whatever it is, just make it fun again here, make it a madhouse. The louder the better. And I tip my hat to them, because that was a fun atmosphere.”
Cora walked out of Fenway Friday night with a feeling of hope and accomplishment. Those were easy emotions to muster. Just the day before, with nobody milling about Jersey St., the manager had exited the premises carrying a far more complicated vibe.
That was thanks to a very complicated, and enlightening, experience, having witnessed the inner-workings of a trade deadline.
“It was interesting,” said Cora. “I’ve never been in the room while that’s going and it was a great learning experience. (There were) a lot of people.” He added, “People freaking grind, man,” he said. “I just saw part of it and they’ve been grinding for weeks. A lot of phone calls, a lot of moving parts. It’s crazy, to be honest with you. It was fun to watch. I didn’t have to make decisions; I was just sitting on the couch and looking at people. It was a good learning experience.”
While Cora played the role of participant during Friday night’s chaos, the day before he was an observer. He wasn’t alone, sitting right next to him on that couch was team president Sam Kennedy.
“It was great Alex was in the room. We all there, more like cheerleaders,” Kennedy said on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast. “Bres and his team are doing the hard core evaluations and decision-making on which guys to include in packages and which teams to call back and go after aggressively. So (owners) John Henry and Mike Gordon and myself and AC, and Theo (Epstein) was in the room adding his perspective as a mentor and as a coach … It was all hands on deck.”
Ultimately, the common thread between the two days and moments was the uneasy unknown that was presenting itself.
Against the Astros, it was having to potentially keep walking up the hill of hope with yet another post-deadline downturn. Thanks to Anthony – and seven innings of one-run ball from starter Cooper Criswell – that didn’t happen.
The day before, it was riding out that final hour of trying to deliver on a mission to secure a starting pitcher who could be dropped into the top of the starting rotation for a postseason run.
What Cora, Kennedy and other onlookers were witnessing in that scene Thursday was a focus on two names: Joe Ryan and Sandy Alcantara.
The idea of prioritizing rentals, such as Merrill Kelly, had been pushed aside by the time 5 p.m. came around, with Breslow peppering the front offices of Minnesota and Miami with packages that might be able to pry either pitcher away. What the Red Sox thought they might have going for them was that both organizations seemingly had little interest in major league talent, which was perfect for Breslow and Co. since they had no intention of including players from the current roster in these deals.
There was also the rare willingness to include anybody and everybody from the Sox’s minor league system in the deals. Payton Tolle. Jhostynxon Garcia. Franklin Arias. Two of the three, in different combinations, were offered up together as part of packages that also included members of the Sox’s Top 10 prospect list.
When Breslow mentioned immediately after the deadline that his group had gotten “uncomfortably aggressive,” this is what he was talking about. In the eyes of some involved, the proposals had reached a level that even topped the package delivered to secure Garrett Crochet last offseason.
The problem was that while the offers kept evolving, the asks didn’t.
For instance, while Minnesota had been supremely motivated throughout the deadline – particularly when it came to offloading Carlos Correa’s contract thanks to the impending team’s sale – moving Ryan served as a luxury item. With two more years of control on the pitcher after this season, the Twins were going to gauge exactly how desperate the Red Sox were willing to get and act accordingly.
Ultimately, Minnesota never acted, not informing the Red Sox chief decision-makers what level of offer would be needed to pull off the rarest of trade deadline transactions – a move for a controllable ace starting pitcher.
Ryan wasn’t moved, and neither was Alcantara. It left with a few more pieces that would certainly help in pitchers Steven Matz and Dustin May. But with about 12 minutes to go before the deadline closed, the reality set in that the goal the front office had set out to accomplish hadn’t been achieved.
Breslow thanked his front office, as did Henry, before the group adjourned for what would be a sleepless night for many of them.
Friday, the next goal was set forth: Turning the page under the weight of more trade deadline criticism than the organization had experienced in some time.
The reset started with Breslow meeting with his group, with Cora and others making sure the players’ mindsets were in a proper place heading into the regular season’s final two months.
They wanted to avoid the clubhouse murmurs of dissatisfaction, or thoughts that the front office didn’t believe in them to the level of their American League competitors. The feeling was that, despite the relative inactivity compared to other clubs, in this edition, the Red Sox were fine with what they had.
“I think the team is a lot different than the last three (years),” Cora said prior to the series opener. “We’re more complete, we’ve pitched better, our bullpen is in a great place.”
Fortunately for everyone in that meeting room the day before, affirmation wasn’t all that far away. They pitched well. They got the hit from Anthony. And, to top things off, the team just in front of them – the Yankees – which had gotten universally praised for bringing a wave of useful relief pitchers, saw their optimism do an about-face. The combination of Jake Bird, David Bednar, and Camilo Duvan would allow nine runs in 2 1/3 innings on the way to a walk-off loss to the Marlins.
What a difference a day (and a game) made.
“Yeah,” Cora reflected, “we’ve got a good baseball team.”