The Red Sox are maintaining a defiant stance that the players they have — the ones who have gotten them this far — are good enough.

The Boston Red Sox are trying to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2021, but it seemed the team fell short of making the big splash it wanted to at Thursday's trade deadline. "I understand the frustration and the disappointment.

Trading Jarren Duran, whom the Red Sox rebuffed offers for, likely wouldn't have made the Red Sox better. And Ceddanne Rafaela at second base has cleared up a messy bottleneck.