Red Sox president gives fans hope of potential big deadline

In May, the Boston Red Sox couldn't seem to find their way to a winning record. A few losing streaks and a few winning streaks balanced each other out, and the ball club entered June with a 29-29 record. Since then, the team has caught fire. They climbed MLB standings with a 15-10 record in June, and they've gotten off to a scorching 6-2 start in July.

Boston suffered a 5-2 loss to the Oakland A's on Wednesday, but it was only their second loss this month. The team's success has culminated in a 50-41 record. Although they are still in third place in the competitive American League East division, the Red Sox have closed the gap behind the Baltimore Orioles to just 6.5 games.

The Red Sox hold the lead for the third and final AL Wild Card spot at the moment, but their roster still has plenty of holes to address.

Red Sox are open to additional salary in trade acquisitions

With questions continuing to linger over the team, Boston's leadership will have to make some difficult decisions — particularly regarding how aggressive they want to be ahead of the trade deadline on July 30.

Ultimately, Boston's approach to the trade market will depend on Red Sox owner John Henry, who has drawn the ire of Red Sox fans for his team-building approach.

During pregame coverage on Wednesday, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy was asked about potentially adding pieces before the trade deadline even if it meant adding on salary.

“Without question,” Kennedy said. “[This ownership group] has proved time and time again in our two-and-a-half decades that resources will not be a problem when it comes to doing everything we can to be a winning championship team for [this season] and for the long term.” 

It's a slightly different message than the one Kennedy had heading into June, when he claimed the team had underperformed.

The Red Sox have strung together two five-game winning streaks over the past month, and they've dropped consecutive games just four times since the beginning of June. The team has put itself in a position to buy at the deadline to ensure they can contend for the postseason.

"We'll see what happens in a month or month and a half," Cora said in late June. "We just need to keep playing better baseball. I know we've been talking about the Wild Card and all that stuff. Let's get greedy," said Cora. "There are teams ahead of us that are not playing good baseball. I know, probably, one of them, it's only for five days. But there's more out there. I think this brand of baseball, we can maintain the way we're playing. Let's not settle for the third Wild Card. Let's go higher and see where the season takes us."

After wrapping up the series against Oakland on Thursday, the Red Sox will face the Kansas City Royals for a three-game series before finding time to regroup during the All-Star break.