The Boston Red Sox brought back a familiar face Friday, acquiring left-handed pitcher James Paxton in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Could more old friends join Paxton in Boston before the MLB trade deadline?

The clock is ticking, with the deadline set for Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET, but there are several former Red Sox players being tossed around in trade rumors. And a few might even make sense for Boston, which is looking to add pieces, per chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.

Let’s examine five ex-Red Sox who theoretically could make a triumphant return to Fenway Park to help with Boston’s 2024 playoff push.

Justin Turner, IF/DH, Toronto Blue Jays
Turner is 39 years old. And he hasn’t been great this season. So, maybe he’s washed. But what if he isn’t? Turner was an excellent fit in Boston last season, when he slashed .276/.345/.455 with 23 home runs and 96 RBIs. The Red Sox need a right-handed bat, and Turner checks that box in addition to being a respected clubhouse leader and an amazing postseason performer. This works, on and off the field.

Tommy Pham, OF, Chicago White Sox
The Red Sox don’t necessarily need another corner outfielder. Pham also brings a volatile personality, though he seemingly didn’t ruffle any feathers during his brief stint with Boston in 2022. This all goes back to the Red Sox’s desire to add a right-handed hitter who can help with their struggles against left-handers. Pham entered the weekend with an .848 OPS in 61 plate appearances versus southpaws. His career mark sat at .834.

Nathan Eovaldi, RHP, Texas Rangers
There’s no guarantee the Rangers sell. They’re still in the playoff hunt — 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Houston Astros in the AL West — and have reinforcements joining the fray. But if they do, every contender should have eyes for Eovaldi, a bulldog who typically performs best when the lights shine brightest. He’d be a perfect fit for the Red Sox, with whom he spent parts of five seasons (2018-22) and won a World Series title (2018).

Zack Littell, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays
OK, now we’re digging a little deeper into the Boston bloodline. Littell only made two appearances for the Red Sox in 2023 before being designated for assignment and landing with the Rays. If you sneezed, you missed his Boston tenure. But the 28-year-old since has evolved into a serviceable starting pitcher, which could appeal to the Red Sox as they look to bolster their rotation depth, especially since the cost of acquisition shouldn’t be too high. Littell is under club control through next season, and the Rays are in sell mode.

Jalen Beeks, LHP, Colorado Rockies
Beeks walked so Littell could run, so to speak, thriving at times in the Tampa Bay pitching factory (in various roles) before landing in the high altitude of Denver. Like with Littell, Beeks’ time in Boston was brief. He made just two appearances with the Red Sox before (coincidentally) being traded to the Rays for Eovaldi in 2018. But the 31-year-old is a low-cost, lower-tier trade option, if nothing else, given that he’s a lefty who doesn’t walk a ton of guys and is capable of generating ground-ball outs.

The Boston College football program went through multiple changes this offseason, mostly on the coaching staff. In spite of the changes, the Eagles returned numerous players including 15 starters for the 2024 season.

At the wide receiver position, ten of the 12 players on the Eagles spring roster returned from last season, Lewis Bond, Jaedn Skeete, Dino Tomlin, Dante Reynolds, Nate Johnson, Reed Harris, Montrell Wade, Ismael Zamor, Jay Brunelle, and Luke McLaughlin. 

The room also picked up two players out of the portal in Jerand Bradley (Texas Tech) and Jayden McGowan (Vanderbilt). 

Projected Depth Chart: 

X: Jerand Bradley, Reed Harris, Montrell Wade. 

Z: Lewis Bond, Jaedn Skeete, Ismael Zamor. 

F: Jayden McGowan, Dino Tomlin, Nate Johnson, Dante Reynolds. 

It seemed like deja vu all over again.

For the sixth time in seven games to start the second half, the Red Sox bullpen blew a lead in the seventh inning or later. This time the collapse was particularly noisy, as Zack Kelly allowed back-to-back home runs — including a 470-foot three-run moonshot by Aaron Judge — to turn a one-run lead into a three-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh.

It could have been the latest in a string of ugly losses, but instead the Red Sox flipped the script on the Yankees and pulled out perhaps the defining win of their season so far.

After falling behind late the Red Sox rallied for five unanswered runs over the last three innings to stun the Yankees 9-7 in Friday’s series opener. Wilyer Abreu tied the game with a pinch-hit RBI double in the bottom of the eighth, and Masataka Yoshida came through with the go-ahead two-run single to put Boston ahead for good.

“It’s big, these guys never give up,” said closer Kenley Jansen, who pitched a scoreless ninth to lock up the win and earn his 20th save of the season. “They keep fighting, putting good at-bats, and that’s what we need.”

Manager Alex Cora described the win as one of the crazier games he can recall against the Yankees in a while, noting that the sellout Fenway Park crowd had a special kind of buzz.

“It felt like the back and forth the last three innings, it was what it used to be here. That’s the way it should be,” Cora said. “That’s the reason we’re here, that’s one of the reasons we decided to stay here, because we love this. Sometimes I get chills because looking around at what’s going on.

“There’s a big difference between what’s going on here right now compared to early in the season, early in the season, with all due respect, it felt like a museum, the Fenway Experience,” he continued. “But now they’re into it, they like the team, they understand who we are and what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Before the late-inning theatrics, things started off encouragingly enough for the Red Sox, who overcame their struggles against left-handed starting pitchers by making Yankees lefty Nestor Cortes’ evening a nightmare. Right from the beginning the Red Sox put pressure on Cortes, who allowed four runs and 13 total baserunners over his 4.2 innings of work.

Boston loaded the bases in the first and took an early 1-0 lead on a Tyler O’Neill sacrifice fly, scored again on a Rafael Devers RBI single in the third, got an RBI double from lefty-killer Rob Refsnyder in the fourth and finally another sacrifice fly from Masataka Yoshida in the fifth.

Despite all that traffic, the Red Sox also let a lot of golden opportunities slip by the wayside. They collectively went 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight men on base through the first five innings, including men at second and third in the bottom of the fifth when reliever Tyler Kahnle struck out Jamie Westbrook to clean up Cortes’ last mess.

Meanwhile, Brayan Bello continued struggling with his command.

Usually dominant against the Yankees, Bello’s pitch count ballooned early and he allowed New York to come from behind and tie the score twice. He allowed a solo home run to Anthony Volpe in the second that knotted the game at 1-1, and in the fifth he allowed three straight hits to start the inning, including an RBI double by Trent Grisham, before serving up a game-tying sacrifice fly to Alex Verdugo.

Bello ultimately went five innings and allowed three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four. He threw 80 pitches, only 47 for strikes.

Still, the last run against Cortes in the bottom of the fifth put the Red Sox back ahead 4-3, and for a little while it looked like that might be enough.

The Red Sox denied New York a tantalizing scoring opportunity in the sixth when shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela made an incredible throw home on an infield grounder to gun down Austin Wells at the plate. That helped Cam Booser and Josh Winckowski combine for a scoreless inning, but in the bottom of the sixth the Red Sox stranded two more runners, and then all hell broke loose in the top of the seventh.

Brennan Bernardino came on to start and allowed a single, drew a lineout and then walked Juan Soto to put two on with Judge coming to the plate. Alex Cora then summoned the right-hander Kelly to face Judge, who sent the first pitch he saw into the stratosphere for the go-ahead three-run bomb.

Austin Wells added insult to injury moments later with his solo shot to right, which sent O’Neill tumbling over the short wall in right field trying to make the catch. O’Neill was OK, but the damage was done as the Red Sox suddenly found themselves looking up at a 7-4 deficit.

From there, the comeback was on.

Boston answered New York’s haymaker with a big shot of its own in the bottom of the seventh, when Rafaela clobbered a Luke Weaver fastball over the Green Monster for a two-run shot. Then after Bailey Horn kept the Yankees off the board with a scoreless eighth, Rob Refsnyder singled and Connor Wong drew a 10-pitch walk to put two men on with nobody out in the bottom of the frame, bringing Devers to the plate.

Weaver was able to stave off the big hit by getting Devers to fly out to left, but then Yankees manager Aaron Boone summoned his closer Clay Holmes, and the embattled All-Star couldn’t get the job done. Cora pinch hit O’Neill for the rookie Abreu, who delivered with the tying hit, and then Yoshida followed with another big hit to help pull out the win.

“For Alex to give me the opportunity in that moment, it means a lot to me,” Abreu said via translator Carlos Villoria Benítez. “Even more when I was able to come through for the team.”

“Being able to win in a game like this, that’s why I came here,” Yoshida said via translator Yutaro Yamaguchi.

With the win Boston improves to 55-47 and now trails the Yankees (60-45) by just 3.5 games in the AL East standings. The two rivals will face off again on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

Originally Published: July 26, 2024 at 10:22 p.m.