The Red Sox, who have done little the past two trade deadlines, sit at 33-33. This is the 16th time this season they have had a .500 record.
With 49 days remaining until the deadline, manager Alex Cora was asked Tuesday whether he is confident the front office will add if the team continues to stay around .500.
Boston right now — although the definition of mediocrity — is only two games out of the third and final Wild Card spot.
“Nobody in the dugout, as a manager, would say they want the team to sell,” Cora said before the Red Sox’ game against the Phillies on Tuesday. “But I understand where we’re at as an organization and we’ve just got to keep playing better. We have to play better. Whatever decision is made is going to be the decision that is going to be made and we’re going to respect it and we’re going to keep going. I think Craig (Breslow) has a pretty good idea who we are and what we can be in the upcoming weeks, but at the end of the day, that scoreboard with the standings is going to dictate what we’re going to do later on.”
The Red Sox are two games behind the Twins (35-31) for the third Wild Card. They are 10 ½ games behind Baltimore, which holds the first Wild Card spot at the moment. They are 5 ½ games behind Kansas City, which holds the second Wild Card at the moment.
Boston is 13 games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East standings.
Pitching is a big reason the Red Sox have played .500 baseball despite 18 players combining for 21 IL stints. Boston is sixth in the majors in ERA (3.40).
