Longtime MLB insider Ken Rosenthal did not hold back last week when it came to doling out criticism toward moves the Red Sox made ahead of the trade deadline.
Despite Boston's evident need for a No. 2 starter and an impact bat before the July 31 deadline, Boston was unable to seal the deal on a blockbuster move for Twins star pitcher Joe Ryan. As the minutes ticked down toward the deadline, Boston's only moves were adding a lefty reliever in Steven Matz and a backend starter in Dustin May.
Given the Red Sox's clear needs, Boston's recent surge up the standings, and the inability to add game-changing talent, Rosenthal didn't mince words about Craig Breslow's performance on July 31.
"Epic fail," Rosenthal said last week on "Foul Territory" about the Red Sox' results from the trade deadline. "Comes off as an epic fail last year with Craig Breslow, and this was an epic fail as well. ... "The Red Sox, I don't get it. I don't understand it, and there's going to be some people in Boston -- a lot of people in Boston -- questioning what the heck they did."
In particular, Rosenthal pushed back against any reports of the Red Sox coming close to a deal to acquire Ryan from the Twins.
"My understanding is any talks with the Twins were feeble at best," Rosenthal said. "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 it's all about efficiency and getting the best deal and this and that and the other thing. But at some point, you've got to fire."
But on Tuesday, Rosenthal opted to take back some of his vitriol toward the Red Sox -- at least when it came to Boston's efforts to acquire Ryan, but he didn't completely leave Breslow and his staff off the hook.
"All right, I might have been too harsh when I said on my "Fair Territory" show that the Boston Red Sox's pursuits of Twins right-hander Joe Ryan was "feeble at best" and that they didn't "come at (the Twins) hard," Rosenthal wrote in The Athletic on Tuesday. "Still, consider what happened.
"The Red Sox did not push for Ryan until the final hour. And though it was later reported they made various offers with multiple Top 100 prospects, none of their proposals included a major-league outfielder. And the bottom line is, the Sox did not sufficiently entice the Twins.
"If the Twins were going to part with Ryan for three pennant races, it was not unreasonable for them to want one of the Sox's outfielders, either Jarren Duran (three additional years of control) or Wilyer Abreu (four)."
If the Twins were asking for a big-league talent like Duran or Abreu, the odds of getting Ryan were seemingly slim for Boston -- given Breslow's comments last week about keeping the big-league roster intact.
"We weren't willing to take hit to our major league team and potentially impact the 2025 season in favor of trying to re-package or re-purpose in a way that might have improved the future," Breslow said. "There weren't really opportunities to both trade off our major league team and improve our 2025 outlook so we felt it was best to leave that group as it was and try to use what I think is a strong and deep system to try to improve the team."