MLB Trade Deadline 2012: Red Sox Must Not Be Sellers at the Deadline

Yes, it seems highly unlikely the Boston Red Sox will catch the New York Yankees and win the AL East this season. That's not happening.

But the team is still very much in the Wild Card hunt, which makes it unbelievable to me that the squad would contemplate becoming sellers before Tuesday's trade deadline. Yet according to Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com, the thought has crossed the team's mind:

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The Sox, say those sources, are waiting to see where they stand in the playoff race early next week before determining whether to buy or sell. Between Wednesday afternoon and next Tuesday, the Sox play five games against three of the better teams in the American League (Texas, New York, Detroit) and how they fare—and how others in the race with them also fare—will be a key factor in the approach.

In preparation, the Sox are already engaged in a number of ongoing trade discussions. This is Ben Cherington's first trade deadline as GM of the Red Sox, but he's apparently conducting himself much like his predecessor, Theo Epstein, who often engaged teams in multiple scenarios at once, preparing for various outcomes.

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After last year's epic collapse, can this team really afford another disappointing year, highlighted by a fired sale? Shouldn't the front office show a little more patience in a team that has been crippled by injuries throughout?

This team has suffered through long injuries to Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford and Andrew Bailey, and seen key players such as Josh Beckett, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Clay Buchholz all lose time to injury this season.

And through it all, the team has managed to hit, even without last year's MVP candidate Ellsbury and last year's big free-agent signing, Crawford. Ortiz has been incredible and young star-in-the-making Will Middlebrooks has been a revelation.

Plus, while Adrian Gonzalez and Pedroia haven't been chopped liver this year, they also haven't put up the numbers we're accustomed to seeing from them. If they get hot late, an already solid Red Sox offense—alongside the returns of Ellsbury and Crawford—should tear the cover off the ball each night.

Shouldn't the front office give this roster a chance to go on a late-season run?

It seems to me the focus should be on improving the pitching staff, not looking to sell pieces away. This is a roster still capable of competing for a Wild Card spot—to simply give up and wait for next year would infuriate me if I was a Red Sox fan.

And as a baseball fan, I know a late-season run by the Sawx would be good for baseball. If we can have another regular-season finish as exciting as last year's was, I'm all for it.

So stay in the race, Red Sox—your fans, and baseball, need you gunning for a Wild Card spot.

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