Red Sox ‘likely’ to complete a trade before deadline

The Red Sox already made their pre-trade-deadline splash by acquiring starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz as well as a couple of smaller deals to bring Aaron Hill and Brad Ziegler aboard. So, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them sit out Monday’s actual deadline and just roll with the players they have for the last two months of 2016. That’s apparently not the most-likely outcome of Monday, though, with ESPN’s Buster Olney reporting that the Red Sox are among the "most likely" teams to make a deal before the deadline.

Olney goes on to say that Monday’s trade deadline will likely be full of "a flurry of small reliever deals," as well as completed trades for Jonathan Lucroy, Carlos Beltran, and Jay Bruce. The Sox have been connected to Lucroy, though, not since last week, but Beltran is apparently in play even though that would require a trade with the rival Yankees.

Sadly, Olney does not go into detail about what these "likely" trades would be — this seems to be based on what he’s hearing in general, about who is active and working the phones and still looking to add that last piece before the non-waiver trade deadline passes by.

The Sox have players coming back from injury — Craig Kimbrel, Chris Young — as well as players settling into their roles — Clay Buchholz, Eduardo Rodriguez — who could turn out to be all the upgrade Boston needs. They’re apparently still on the lookout, though, just in case something that can help them turns up. That’s not a bad thing, even if it does mean the Sox are likely to send another prospect packing before the day is through. If it gives them a better chance of sticking in a wild card spot or even helps propel them back into the AL East lead -- they're only 1.5 games back -- then that sounds like a worthwhile price.