The trade deadline has come and gone, and now the Red Sox have only around six weeks to play before the playoffs begin.
How is the club set up for October? And are there any more reinforcements who could still shore up the roster before the postseason? We answer your questions in today’s Red Sox mailbag.
Where do you put Sonny Gray, Payton Tolle and a healthy Garrett Crochet in the league’s top starting rotations? — Brandon C.
It’s a shame we probably won’t actually see this trio healthy together at the same time. At the moment Payton Tolle joined the rotation on April 23, Sonny Gray had just gone on the IL two days earlier with a right hamstring strain, and days after Tolle’s first start Garrett Crochet made his last before hitting the IL with left shoulder inflammation.
Crochet is in the early stages of a throwing program, so while it’s possible he could still return in some capacity later this season, time isn’t on his side and it’s more likely he pitches out of the bullpen. As for beyond this season, Gray is likely to become a free agent this winter, so while I’m sure the Red Sox would consider bringing him back, there’s no guarantee he’ll return in 2027.
So how good is that trio? And let’s toss Ranger Suarez in there, too. Certainly at full strength the Red Sox rotation would rank among the best in MLB. But even with Crochet sidelined the rotation is pretty good and should match up favorably against most of the other postseason contenders.
Here is the Red Sox’s top three along with the likely playoff rotations for each of the other American League clubs they’re most likely to face in either the AL Wild Card Series or beyond.
Red Sox: Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez, Payton Tolle
Yankees: Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried
Rays: Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez, Shane McClanahan or Freddy Peralta
White Sox: Sean Burke, Davis Martin, Anthony Kay
Astros: Hunter Brown, Peter Lambert, Hayden Wesneski or Cristian Javier
The Red Sox rotation is definitely better than the White Sox and Astros, and they probably have an edge over the Rays too, though Rasmussen and Martinez have both had great seasons and Peralta obviously has a high ceiling despite his disappointing 2026. The Yankees, however, could be a real problem. Schlittler is the current frontrunner to win the AL Cy Young Award and Cole and Fried are both established aces who’d be obvious No. 1 starters on most other teams.
The trouble for New York lately is that without Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup, the Yankees offense has been practically non-existent.
The most likely scenario for the Red Sox in October is a rematch with the Yankees in the AL Wild Card Series, but if they can get through them they should have a starting rotation edge over everyone else they’d face until the World Series.
Then they might have to contend with a Dodgers club that could trot out Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and possibly Shohei Ohtani, or potentially a Brewers rotation led by Jacob Misiorowski, a Braves staff led by Chris Sale or a Phillies team featuring Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo and Zack Wheeler.
But that’d be a good problem for the Red Sox to have.
The Red Sox haven’t worn their yellow City Connect uniforms over the past two Saturday home games like they typically have. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Why aren’t the Red Sox wearing their yellow uniforms on Saturday anymore? I really like them and they seem to play well in them. — Linda R.
This was a great catch by Linda. I hadn’t noticed the Red Sox skipped wearing their yellows before her email showed up in my inbox, and sure enough the Red Sox didn’t wear the yellow City Connects in either of their last two Saturday home games, when they typically would.
I reached out to the Red Sox and the explanation I got was that there isn’t any real reason and the uniforms haven’t been retired or anything.
The first time they didn’t wear yellow on July 25 it was because of Hall of Fame weekend. That day the Red Sox wore a special hat with a retro “B” logo and a Hall of Fame patch, one that was clearly designed to be worn with the standard home white uniform and which would have clashed with the yellow and light blue alternates.
Makes sense, but what about the club’s last home Saturday game this past weekend? In that case it was just team preference. The Red Sox liked wearing white and at the time they were riding a nine-game winning streak, so why rock the boat when things were going well?
It’s probably worth mentioning that the Red Sox lost both of those games, so for the superstitious among us that might seem like a good reason to bring back the yellows the next Saturday the club is in town. That would be Aug. 22, by the way, when the Red Sox are scheduled to host Rafael Devers, Marcelo Mayer and the San Francisco Giants at Fenway Park.
Top Red Sox prospect Franklin Arias could be a potential candidate for a September call-up. (Courtesy of the Worcester Red Sox)
Who’s the shortstop in October? — Matt S.
Am I crazy for thinking it might be Franklin Arias?
Craig Breslow has already shown he’s comfortable tossing rookies into the deep end if he thinks they can help the team in October. Last year he called up Payton Tolle and Connelly Early for the stretch run, and the club even gave Early the ball in the do-or-die Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series. They each had just a small handful of starts at Triple-A Worcester before their promotion, so the fact Arias was only called up to the WooSox a couple of weeks ago shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
Arias is also better defensively at shortstop than Andruw Monasterio and if his monstrous numbers in the minors even somewhat translate to the majors, he could at least approximate his production at the plate too. Perhaps exceed it.
Monasterio has been a steady hand throughout the Red Sox recent turnaround, however, so the club would have to be really confident in Arias’ ability to move the needle if they were going to make a change.
The wild card, of course, is Trevor Story.
The veteran appears to be approaching a point where he could begin a rehab assignment, and if he is able to return to full health before the end of the season the Red Sox will have a decision to make.
On one hand, earlier this season Story was statistically among the worst everyday players in MLB on both sides of the ball. But on the other hand, he was dealing with his sports hernia throughout the entire stretch, so it’s reasonable to imagine that the injury played a sizable role in his struggles.
If Story can get back to being the player he was last season then the Red Sox would be foolish not to insert him back into the starting lineup. But that’s no sure thing, and even if Story is healthy they might have to at least consider the possibility of shifting him to second base if Arias really is ready for primetime.
Red Sox right-hander Johan Oviedo only made one appearance for Boston before going on the injured list with a right elbow strain. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
What are the chances we see Johan Oviedo in a Red Sox uniform again this season? — Craig M.
It’s not impossible, but I wouldn’t count on it.
The last update we got on Johan Oviedo from Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy was from a couple of weeks ago, and at that point Oviedo was still throwing off flat ground at 120 feet. According to a Red Sox source, Oviedo has since progressed to throwing bullpens, which is a notable step but still several stages short of an eventual return to the active roster.
Oviedo will still have to build up his pitch count, face live hitters and eventually go on a rehab assignment. Even if we assume Oviedo didn’t encounter any setbacks there’s no guarantee he’d have enough time to complete his ramp up in time for the end of the regular season.
Realistically, even if he did, Oviedo wouldn’t be a candidate for the Red Sox’s playoff roster at this point.
Presuming Garrett Whitlock returns from his stint on the IL and the club doesn’t sustain any other major injuries down the stretch, Boston’s pitching staff for the AL Wild Card Series would probably feature Gray, Suarez and Tolle as the starters, a bullpen featuring Aroldis Chapman, Whitlock, Justin Slaten, Erik Miller, Tyron Guerrero, Jovani Moran and Greg Weissert, and probably Jake Bennett, Patrick Sandoval and Brayan Bello as additional arms.
If Crochet can make it back he’d presumably squeeze out one of the three depth starters for a spot, but would Oviedo warrant a playoff roster spot over any of the other arms I just listed? Probably not.
But there is one other injured pitcher who might.
In the same update on Oviedo’s latest progress, Tracy also revealed that Tanner Houck has come a long way in his recovery from Tommy John surgery and had been throwing multiple bullpens a week as of the start of August. According to a source he is now scheduled to face hitters for the first time this coming week, so it’s not crazy to imagine he could pitch in 2026 after all.
If that happens and Houck looks anything like the guy who earned All-Star honors over a dominant first half in 2024, he could potentially be an impact weapon out of the bullpen come October.
Maybe that’s still a long shot, but it’s a possibility worth keeping an eye on.
Red Sox outfielder Kristian Campbell has spent the entire season playing at Triple-A Worcester. (Ashley Green/Worcester Red Sox)
Kristian Campbell is having a great second half in Triple-A. Has he really figured it out? — @motowntitan on Bluesky
Kristian Campbell has certainly begun showing some promising signs over the past two months in Worcester.
Through the first three months Campbell batted .214 with two home runs, 10 doubles, 22 RBI and a .631 OPS over 64 games, which was a far cry from the production he enjoyed following his original promotion to Triple-A late in the 2024 season. But over 19 games in July he batted .379 with two home runs, four doubles, 11 RBI and a 1.059 OPS, and so far in August he’s batting .306 with a home run, five doubles, seven RBI and a .923 OPS through his first 10 games.
His production has been backed up by some much improved under-the-hood metrics, so that’s obviously a great development. But as good as he’s been lately it’s still unlikely he’ll get another opportunity to prove himself at the big league level until at least next year.
With the recent additions of Jahmai Jones and Eli White, the club has already addressed its need for additional right-handed outfielders off the bench, so from a roster perspective there isn’t really room for Campbell right now in the majors.
The big league outfield will only get more crowded when Roman Anthony eventually returns from the injured list, so for the time being the best thing Campbell can do is keep putting in good at bats, hitting the ball hard and building a case that he should be part of the equation in 2027 and beyond.