Deal for May with LA gives Red Sox pitching depth

BOSTON -- The Red Sox pushed the market to acquire a starting pitcher before the Trade Deadline, and it went down to the wire. Ultimately, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow finalized a deal just in time to acquire righty Dustin May from the Dodgers in exchange for outfield prospects James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard.

The transaction occurred just five days after the Red Sox faced May at Fenway Park and scored four runs on five hits against the lanky righty over five innings in a 4-3 Dodgers loss to Boston.

TRADE DETAILS
Red Sox receive: RHP Dustin May
Dodgers receive: OF James Tibbs III (Boston's No. 5 prospect), OF Zach Ehrhard (No. 27)

May’s potential was noted as he came up through the Los Angeles farm system after being taken in the third round of the 2016 Draft. However, May has been set back by a variety of health issues in his career.

This season, May has been able to take the ball regularly and is already at a career high in innings with 104 while going 6-7 with a 4.85 ERA.

“In Dustin May, we feel like we've got a tried and true and battle-tested starting pitcher coming from an organization that's had a ton of postseason success, and somebody who can step into our rotation and add to our pitching group,” Breslow said.

The Red Sox were rumored to be pursuing some of the top starting pitchers on the market, including Joe Ryan, Merrill Kelly, Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen, Mitch Keller and Dylan Cease.

Reports surfaced within a half hour of the looming deadline that the Sox were making a late push for Ryan. While Breslow didn’t want to get into specifics, he maintained several times in a Thursday night Zoom call that his team’s aggressiveness in trying to acquire premium talent was not an issue.

“We pursued a number of really impact opportunities,” Breslow said. “Obviously, not all of them work out, but it wasn't from a lack of trying to be as aggressive as possible or from an unwillingness to get uncomfortable. But ultimately, it takes two teams lining up for those trades to [happen].”

Ultimately, Boston wound up with a pitcher who hadn’t been involved in many rumors in May, a 27-year-old who is earning $2.135 million this season and is eligible for free agency at the end of the season.

With the Dodgers' rotation getting healthier in recent days, May was going to have a hard time staying in a starting role for the defending World Series champs.

"We had a lot of really respectful conversations with D May, and he's been a huge part of the organization for a long time,” said Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes. “And through those conversations, it was apparent that starting was very important to him. And while we felt like he could have been a contributor out of the bullpen and an impact-type piece, trying to understand the mindset and his desire to continue to start, we took that into consideration. I think it worked out for both sides."

On Wednesday, Breslow acquired veteran lefty reliever Steven Matz from the Cardinals in exchange for prospect Blaze Jordan.

Once that deal was done, speculation immediately shifted to which starting pitcher the Red Sox would acquire. There was also some chatter Breslow would go after another bat, particularly one with experience at first base.

Breslow wasn’t able to find a match.

‘We spent pretty significant time trying to add a bat, but someone that could impact the roster and represent a meaningful upgrade over the guys that we have either on our team or, potentially in Triple-A that we feel like would immediately improve the roster,” said Breslow.

The lone move on Deadline day was adding May, who will join a Boston rotation that includes a legitimate ace (Garrett Crochet), an emerging righty (Brayan Bello), a solid veteran having a bounce-back season (Lucas Giolito) and an inconsistent but championship-proven right-hander (Walker Buehler).

“I think Dustin fits into that group,” said Breslow. “I don't know how much sense it makes to say exactly what he is. Ultimately, what he does over the next two months and beyond is going to define his time here in Boston.”

In 2019, May made his debut for the Dodgers, pitching 14 games. He made 12 regular-season appearances (10 starts) for the 2020 World Series champions, going 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA. He made seven appearances that postseason, going 1-0 with a 4.22 ERA.

May’s time in the Majors has been derailed by two major surgeries on his throwing elbow, as well as an emergency procedure to repair a tear in his esophagus last summer. After everything he has gone through, May became one of the Dodgers' most durable starting pitchers this season.

Breslow doesn’t anticipate May’s workload needing to be scaled down.

“He feels good,” Breslow said. “The stuff has continued to trend in the right direction. We will do everything we can to, provide the recovery and resources and monitor workloads, the same way we would anybody else. But I don't feel like there are any kind of restrictions on usage here.”

Tibbs, ranked as MLB Pipeline's No. 5 Red Sox prospect, heads to L.A. after less than two months in Boston's farm system; the 22-year-old was one of the players involved in the June trade that sent Rafael Devers from Boston to San Francisco. After the trade, Tibbs struggled for Boston’s Double-A Portland affiliate, slashing .207/.319/.267 with one homer and seven RBIs in 116 at-bats.

Erhard, Boston’s No. 27 prospect, was a fourth-round selection out of Oklahoma in the 2024 Draft. The right-handed hitter split this season between High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland, hitting .267 with nine homers and 45 RBIs in 322 at-bats.