Matz is a good reliever and May provides rotation depth, but neither is the type of high-impact player that makes a team dramatically better.
The Red Sox were linked to some of those players, including stars such as Dylan Cease, Joe Ryan and Eugenio Suarez. However, they failed to reel in any of the big fish that were moved at the deadline.
While Boston’s upgrades were marginal, several of their competitors got significantly better, including the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners.
Accordingly, many Red Sox fans are feeling disappointed after weeks of buildup and hype. Boston’s chief baseball officer Craig Breslow understands their frustration, but says the lack of a blockbuster move wasn’t due to a lack of effort.
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Craig Breslow explains why the Red Sox — despite being “uncomfortably aggressive” — didn’t do more at the trade deadline.https://t.co/Oq9lUvq90R
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) August 1, 2025
“We’re happy with the guys we brought in, with Steven and Dustin, but we also pursued real impact players that we felt like could improve our team in ‘25 and beyond,” Breslow said on a post-deadline Zoom call with reporters, per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. “We were uncomfortably aggressive in trying to pursue them in the players we were trying to put into deals. Ultimately, it wasn’t from a lack of effort.”
Breslow added that Boston’s full farm system was on the table during trade discussions and that no prospects were considered untouchable. He said that he was unwilling to trade anyone on the Major League roster, however, which may have closed off certain deals.
“If fans were in the office during this deadline, they would see that guys we didn’t expect to be willing to talk about going into these conversations, we made available,” Breslow said. “We tried to put the most aggressive offers we could in hopes they were going to end in deals.”
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While Breslow’s front office pushed hard to make a major move, he knows that fans ultimately care about results. There’s no partial credit for trying or almost getting a deal done.
“I understand the frustration and the disappointment because we’re all looking at the last week right now in terms of the trades that were made and weren’t made,” said Breslow. “There’s not a lot of sympathy for how hard we tried to get deals across the line. I understand that.”
