BOSTON — A pair of players the Boston Red Sox traded for over the weekend arrived Sunday in the home clubhouse before Sunday night’s game.
The changes announced earlier in the day: left-hander James Paxton and catcher Danny Jansen added to the active roster; right-hander Chase Anderson and catcher Reese McGuire designated for assignment.
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Paxton and Jansen are quite familiar with Fenway in their own ways, the former having pitched here just last season, the latter having played against the Red Sox for the last seven years as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.
And yet even with these reinforcements, plenty of questions remain for the Red Sox with less than 48 hours until Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline.
Are these the right pieces for this roster? Are they enough to make an impact? Will chief baseball officer Craig Breslow do more? Should he do more after the team’s current 2-7 stretch following the All-Star break?
The Red Sox dropped their second straight game to the New York Yankees on Sunday. This 8-2 loss came after a rocky first inning from Tanner Houck, three errors from the defense and too little from the offense. The Red Sox remain one game back of the third wild-card spot as they prepare to host the Seattle Mariners this week. The Mariners sit 1 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the wild-card race.
“I don’t think a stretch of nine games dictates who we are,” manager Alex Cora said after Sunday’s loss.
Jansen did his part, serving as designated hitter in his first game in Boston. He reached base three times with two singles and a walk against lefty starter Carlos Rodón. Jansen entered the game with a .901 OPS and nine homers against the Yankees. But the Red Sox didn’t muster much else aside from two solo homers from Rob Refsnyder and Connor Wong.
Back-to-back! pic.twitter.com/qR7gdU3WZv
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 29, 2024
Houck struggled with command in the first, allowing three runs, before settling down to pitch six innings. An error from Tyler O’Neill to lead off the fourth led to another run, giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead. The Red Sox came within 4-2 after the homers, but New York tacked on four more runs against relievers Cam Booser, Greg Weissert and Cooper Criswell.
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The Red Sox have lost each of their three series coming out of the break.
“It’s obviously a tough stretch,” Refsnyder said. “Played some good teams, but we just haven’t been able to push through and win series as of late. We got another really, really good team coming in Seattle. I think they’re right behind us in the wild card. So, it’s going to be another tough series, but our schedule the last couple months, there’s nothing easy about it. We got to figure it out and figure it out fast. But I’m confident in the group here that we can do that, so just regroup tomorrow and come out swinging.”
With the deadline looming and moves being made, it also meant subtractions from the roster. And though Jansen and Paxton offer upgrades over McGuire and Anderson on paper, the sting of losing those teammates lingers in a tight-knit clubhouse. McGuire was close with his teammates, and Cora spoke at length before the game about Anderson’s veteran presence for a young team and his thankless job and infrequent use making it tough for him to succeed.
The Yankees seemed to be energized Sunday by the addition of Jazz Chisolm Jr., who arrived about an hour and a half before the game and slid into the lineup. The Red Sox have yet to acquire a similar spark plug as players wonder about their futures.
“I’d be lying to say some guys aren’t thinking about the deadline,” Refsnyder said. “Guys got families here, some roots here. But we’re all professionals. We’ve got to do the best job of just putting that out of our heads, play baseball and win series, and let Craig do his job.”
Nick Pivetta will be on the mound Monday against the Mariners, and Paxton is set to make his 2024 Red Sox debut Tuesday. Jansen, meanwhile, spent several hours before the game Sunday with game planning coordinator Jason Varitek, catcher Wong and pitching coach Andrew Bailey getting up to speed on his new pitching staff.
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Cora liked the addition of the right-handed-hitting catcher and suggested Wong might even see time at first or second base to get both of their bats in the lineup.
“Connor is going to catch the majority of the games, but at the same time, I’ll tell you guys right now, don’t be surprised if you see Connor start taking more groundballs at second base, and at first base,” Cora said, later noting he’d ‘potentially’ start Wong at either spot. “He is that versatile. He’s such a good athlete. And you’ve seen it, close games, he’s played second. We’ll figure it out. We’ve still got a few days for this to be over and we’ll have our team. Whatever it is, it is going to be our team, and we’re going to be ready for it. But I think there’s ways to have them both in the lineup. And it doesn’t have to be DH and catcher.”
Cora noted the difficulty for McGuire to get into a rhythm because Wong was getting more playing time.
“Coming into the season, I expected to play (McGuire) more, but Connor happened, right?” Cora said. “So we got a right-handed bat (in Jansen) that we do believe fits into this stadium. Pull hitter that hits the ball in the air. And when Connor is not playing, we are not so left-handed, it gives us options. When one of the two is not playing, we’ve got a right-handed hitter on the bench instead of a lefty. We can mix and match with the opposition.”
Cora didn’t want to say Jansen offered an improvement over McGuire but that he balanced the roster better and offered more options for the club.
Friday, Breslow suggested there would be more additions, but time is ticking.
One internal addition that’s drawing closer to returning to the roster is Triston Casas, who is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday with Triple-A Worcester.
Cora wouldn’t give a timetable for Casas but said it would be more than just a couple of games.
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With the Red Sox bullpen running on fumes, the club also claimed reliever Yohan Ramirez off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers. He hasn’t been added to the active roster yet but could join the team Monday. In 37 games with three teams this year, he has a 5.98 ERA.
Injured relievers Justin Slaten and Chris Martin began long toss Sunday, with Slaten at 90 feet and Martin at 120 feet. They could get off a mound this week, and Cora was hopeful both could begin a rehab assignment shortly after that.
The reinforcements — internal and external — are needed, but the Red Sox also need to play better overall.
“You’re gonna have your highs and your lows, but just keep showing up every day and doing the stuff that matters and keep putting in that work,” Houck said. “(It’s been a) tough start (to the second half), but that’s OK. We’ve got time to piece it back together and show up.”
(Photo: Eric Canha / USA Today)
Jen McCaffrey is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Red Sox. Prior to joining The Athletic, the Syracuse graduate spent four years as a Red Sox reporter for MassLive.com and three years as a sports reporter for the Cape Cod Times. Follow Jen on Twitter @jcmccaffrey
