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Mike Cole is a Newsweek contributor based in Boston, Mass. His focus is professional golf and MLB content. Mike has been with Newsweek since July 2025 and previously worked at the New England Sports Network (NESN.com). He’s a graduate of Springfield College. You can get in touch with Mike by emailing m.cole@newsweek.com.
Mike Cole
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Boston Red Sox positioned themselves like a team that was going to buy at the MLB trade deadline to reinforce a stated preseason goal to win 90 to 95 games and contend in the American League East.
Instead, they traded for Dustin May and Steven Matz.
Forget all of the rumors, whispers and speculation. When the chips were down, and the trade deadline came and went, Boston found itself in a familiar position: on the outside looking in, as teams around them all improved.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow insisted he and his staff did all it could to get uncomfortable and make a deal using its heralded farm system. Breslow also said he wasn’t willing to part with anything from his major league roster.
Regardless, the Red Sox aren’t much better than they were the day before the deadline, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal absolutely took them to task for that. Rosenthal, who also does sideline work for FOX Sports, shredded Breslow and the Sox on his “Fair Territory” podcast.
“Epic fail. Comes off as an epic fail last year with Craig Breslow, and this was an epic fail, as well,” Rosenthal said on the show.
Rosenthal pointed to Boston’s supposed pursuit of Minnesota Twins ace Joe Ryan as a major miss. Despite some reports (and misguided social media activity), Rosenthal doesn’t believe the Red Sox ever came close to prying Ryan out of the Twin Cities, despite Minnesota’s impromptu fire sale.
“My understanding is any talks with the Twins were feeble at best,” Rosenthal added. “They didn’t come at them hard. The Red Sox were one of many teams that use modeling and try to figure out what the best values are on and its’ all about efficiency and getting the best deal and this and that and the other thing. But at some point, you’ve gotta fire.”
Rosenthal also chided the Red Sox for failing to upgrade at first base. He was the one who reported Boston was in on Eugenio Suarez — with the idea to play him at first base — before Arizona traded the slugger to Seattle. Put a different way: another missed opportunity.
Rosenthal believes the Red Sox better be careful. The spin out of Jersey Street almost certainly will revolve around not wanting to sacrifice too much of the big league core for next season and beyond. That’s risky business, though, for a team that is competing for a playoff spot now.
“This is a team that is on the rise,” Rosenthal said on the podcast. “They might say ‘We’re going to be better next year, our young guys will be that much better.’ Yeah, but that’s what the Orioles were saying a year go. There’s no guarantee in this sport or any other.”
The Orioles, of course, entered August nine games under .500 and were sellers at the deadline.
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