For me, I'm still a bit upset they didn't do more at the trade deadline as well because the AL is pretty weak and I think this team could make a run similar to 2021. It didn't even have to be Joe Ryan this deadline if the price was high, but someone like Merrill Kelly I would have loved and he's doing solid for Texas so far. A legit playoff guy too. You could have traded for him AND Dustin May IMO. Nate Lowe has been solid at 1B so far and is hitting/producing for us, but yeah we might have benefitted from a bat at the deadline too (Suarez/Naylor/O'Hearn). But we got lucky Washington literally dumped him and we picked him up for nothing while WAS is paying him.
Like I said though, the AL is weak. NYY is looked at as the "cream of the league" and they look far from it. But I don't consider Detroit, Houston or even Toronto as "invincible" either. I think a lot of these teams are similar and are capable of hot/cold stretches, including the Sox.
Hopefully Slaten comes back in the bullpen to help Whitlock-Chapman in the back-end, and adding Tolle when rosters expand will be huge too. A young, phenom prospect and multi-inning pitcher with high velocity helping in a playoff push? Reminds me of David Price in 2008. Tolle is our best prospect right now too and probably Top-30 in all of baseball. The hype is real + deserved.
