3 Bold Red Sox Trade Deadline Predictions

The Boston Red Sox aren't supposed to be here.

After an uninspiring 2023 campaign resulted in a second consecutive last-place AL East finish, all signs pointed to the 2024 season following a similar trajectory. Simply put, there was little done to improve the roster in the offseason; in fact, the team managed to lose multiple key contributors. Justin Turner, Adam Duvall, Chris Sale, James Paxton, and Alex Verdugo all departed, without much in the way of major-league talent coming back in return.

For some perspective, this year's Red Sox had their preseason win total set at 77.5. FanGraphs gave them a 22.9% chance to make the playoffs - lower than teams such as the Miami Marlins and the Detroit Tigers, and the fifth-lowest odds in the entire American League. Everybody and their mother picked Boston to finish last in the AL East, and some even picked them as potential American League cellar-dwellers.

And yet, the patchwork 2024 Red Sox have defied expectations. Despite losing Lucas Giolito in Spring Training, Trevor Story after eight games, and Triston Casas after 22, Alex Cora's men are 48-40, and they sit in the final American League Wild Card spot. FanGraphs now gives Boston a 43.5% chance of making the playoffs, up nearly double from three months ago.

Ask any Red Sox fan, though, and they'll tell you 43.5% feels too low. I'm not ready to call this team a World Series contender, but they feel special. They simply grind out victories; it feels like almost every night there's a different player making impact plays. Whether it's David Hamilton running roughshod on the basepaths or Masataka Yoshida breaking a months-long home run drought with a ninth-inning, two-out game-tying moonshot, these Red Sox never feel like they're out of a game, and more often than not, they really aren't.

However, there are definite holes on the roster. As good as the team's been thus far, the playoff push is a whole different animal, especially for a team fighting for a wild-card spot in a league where margins ought to be razor-thin. Every team around them will be making upgrades, and the Red Sox will have to follow suit if they'd like to keep up.

With that being said, here are three bold Red Sox trade deadline predictions.