BOSTON -- With six days to go before the Trade Deadline, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski doesn't sound like he anticipates making any big acquisitions for a team that still has nearly all the same players from last year's World Series-winning team.
"There's not a lot of needs, per se, that we have with the club, because we're leading the league in runs scored. You can always get better," Dombrowski said in an interview with WEEI, the team's flagship radio station, on Thursday. "We've got five starters going out there, they can always get better."
Dombrowski felt he did what he needed to for the rotation, acquiring Andrew Cashner earlier this month to fill the problematic No. 5 spot. Chris Sale and Rick Porcello getting back to their expected levels would be a bigger cure for the Sox than any trades Dombrowski could make. Sale is coming off two consecutive solid starts, so that's an encouraging sign.
The biggest area of scrutiny the Red Sox have had all season is the bullpen, which lost Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly to free agency and didn't replace them.
With Nathan Eovaldi back on the roster and set to pitch in high-leverage spots and potentially become the closer, Dombrowski thinks the bullpen can become more effective down the stretch. In fact, Eovaldi looked overpowering while recording the final three outs in Thursday's 19-3 thrashing of the Yankees, throwing four pitches that purred in at 100.4 mph or harder.
"With Eovaldi coming back, that helps us," Dombrowski said. "I know he didn't have a good outing the other day, but we feel very comfortable with him out there. I'm not sure how much we would buy in [the bullpen] that point. But I guess we'll just sit back here over the next couple of days. We've got a big weekend series with the Yankees, probably one of the couple of best teams in Major League Baseball. They've beaten us up pretty good this year, but we'll sit back and see what happens."
The Red Sox were impressive on Thursday, as the Yankees finally played at Fenway for the first time in 2019. The Sox trail their rivals by 10 games in the American League East, but they are just 1 1/2 games back for the second AL Wild Card spot.
Unless there is a drastically bad turn of events in the six games prior to the Deadline, it is unlikely Dombrowski would go into a seller's mode.
If he did, Boston's most attractive commodity would figure to be slugger J.D. Martinez, who has an opt-out clause in his contract after both this season and next season. Dealing Martinez could land the Red Sox a premium prospect or two to help bolster the farm system. Again, though, it's unlikely to happen with Boston in the thick of playoff contention and with a chance to become MLB's first repeat champion since the Yankees in 2000.
Jackie Bradley Jr., a free agent after 2020, and Porcello, who is in his walk year, are other players who could be placed up for grabs if Dombrowski decided to become a seller.
Though All-Star Mookie Betts has made it clear he will exercise his right to become a free agent after the 2020 season, there seems just about no chance he would be traded -- especially during this season.
"Is it likely? Well, most likely not," said Dombrowski. "But, again, you can never tell what happens with any particular player. I think he likes Boston. I think he would like to stay here, but I think that everybody also understands there are finances that are involved in every decision every free agent makes."
Cora not hopeful on protest
A day after putting the final two innings of a 3-2 loss to the Rays under protest, Red Sox manager Alex Cora wasn't holding out much hope that it would be upheld.
"I think it's going nowhere," Cora said.
Dombrowski echoed those sentiments in his radio interview.
The confusion started when Rays manager Kevin Cash had reliever Adam Kolarek face pinch-hitter Sam Travis, then move him to first base when Betts came up and then brought Kolarek back into pitch when Rafael Devers came up. Cora didn't feel that crew chief Angel Hernandez properly reset Tampa Bay's batting order once the switches happened.
Chavis to reappear Friday
When Brock Holt got ejected in the third inning on Thursday for arguing balls and strikes, it gave Michael Chavis the chance to get back in the mix. And he came out raking, belting back-to-back RBI doubles and going 2-for-4.
Chavis didn't start on Sunday or Monday due to back spasms. The last three days, it was more of a manager's decision that he didn't start. With Mitch Moreland back on the roster after a lengthy stint on the injured list, Chavis figures to get most of his starts against lefties for the time being.
Before Moreland's injury, Chavis had been filling in for Holt at second base. Holt is also back in the mix and is having a solid season.
"I mean, he's not playing today because I want to play Brock today," said Cora prior to the game. "There's two lefties coming up. Brock is swinging the bat well. Michael will play the next two days. We'll see what happens Sunday. That's why he's not playing today."