MLB trade deadline: Should these bubble teams buy or sell?

 

MLB trade deadline: Should these bubble teams buy or sell?

The countdown to the Major League Baseball trade deadline is on, has been for months now if you’re a real transaction stan. Yet we are now reaching the earnest run-up – T-minus one week and counting – and perhaps the most foundational question has not yet been answered.

Who’s in, and who’s out?

With 12 teams boasting playoff odds hovering at or well above 50% and just six teams – the White Sox, Athletics, Angels, Rockies, Nationals and Marlins – almost certainly out, that leaves a dozen franchises still straddling whether to buy or sell by the July 30 deadline.

That makes this upcoming week of games even more crucial than usual.

With that, a look at 12 teams whose play the next week may answer the buy-sell question and, perhaps more important, to which degree:

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Boston Red Sox

Record, standing: 53-46, two games out of third wild card, seven games out of AL East lead

Playoff odds, per FanGraphs: 34.3%

The final week: At Rockies (2), vs. Yankees (3), vs. Mariners (1)

Outlook: They’ve won 23 of their last 37 to turn another nondescript, perhaps cellar-dwelling year, into a real playoff shot, thanks largely to a rotation whose 3.67 ERA ranks fifth in the AL. But the bullpen has blown five late-inning saves since the All-Star break. At least they know what's needed.

Verdict: Buy. It might behoove Fenway Sports Group to urge a few pickups, if only to make it appear the Red Sox aren’t the forgotten child of this global sports behemoth. Expect some light purchases befitting their uncertain station in life.