3 Dream Red Sox Trade Deadline Targets

As the July 30th MLB trade deadline rapidly approaches, the Boston Red Sox have still not taken a clear stance on how they will play the deadline.

All year long, the 2024 edition of the Red Sox have been expected to serve as a bridge team as part of an elongated rebuild. However, an over-performing roster has Boston competing for a playoff spot as the second half of the season has commenced.

Even so, the front office (presumptively driven by ownership's mandates) likely feels as if their projections and long-term strategy have been inconvenienced by this team's record and playoff standing. If they do indeed add at the deadline, it will feel like Craig Breslow and Co. did so almost begrudgingly.

Per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, the Red Sox "haven't ruled out" trading players on expiring contracts, including closer Kenley Jansen, slugger Tyler O'Neill, and starter Nick Pivetta.

Speier also relays the lingering indecision among Boston's baseball operations: "Does that mean the Sox will sell? Not necessarily. Does it mean they won’t buy? Not necessarily." At this point, it feels as if the MLB transaction wire will be the only real indication of Boston's plan.

Boston's reluctance to buy at the deadline is built upon their desire to build this roster through a youth movement (which definitely has nothing to do with the fact that younger players are more affordable). Buying would deviate from the multi-year plan Breslow and the rest of the front office have laid out.

But there is a compromise. There is still a path for the team to add top-end young talent with team control before the deadline passes. There is young talent on the trade block, and Boston could inject proven big league players into their roster without deviating too far from their recent M.O.

All three players on this list would fit that mold. The oldest player on this list is 27, and two of the players are still only 25, yet they have established themselves as big-league standouts.

Here are three dream trade deadline additions for the Red Sox.

1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Toronto Blue Jays

It feels like yesterday that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was climbing through the Toronto minor league system with viral videos of his pure power. However, the Blue Jays' young core has flopped and has been swept in all three of their playoff appearances together.

The promise of that group has been unrealized, which has led to Guerreroand shortstop Bo Bichette landing on the trade block.

Now 25, the four-time All-Star's future in Toronto is clouded. Guerrero is entering the last season of club control in 2025, and the absence of an extension is one of the key reasons his name has popped up in trade rumors.

If the Red Sox somehow landed Guerrero, it would almost assuredly come with a big payday for him. Is Boston's front office finally ready to pay out the contract that a player of his caliber would demand? It would certainly take a philosophical shift from the M.O. that we've seen in recent years from Red Sox baseball ops.

Boston would probably have to overpay to acquire Guerrero as well, as Toronto could be (reasonably) apprehensive about trading him within the division.

An exciting tidbit for Sox fans - Guerrero has put up staggering numbers at Fenway, hitting .350 with 10 home runs and 41 RBI in 40 career games in Boston. As a heavy pull right-handed hitter, his swing would be an exciting match for the Green Monster.

In each of his four seasons, Guerrero has hit at least 26 home runs, including 48 blasts in 2021, when he finished second in the American League MVP voting. He is currently hitting .296 with 18 home runs and 59 RBI through 100 games with the Jays this season.

A Guerrero trade would obviously raise questions about the future of Triston Casas. Likely, one would hold down the first base spot while the other DH's. Boston's lineup and top prospects are left-handed heavy, so it would benefit the Red Sox to add a right-handed bat into the mix.