RED SOX LAND JAMES PAXTON AFTER SURPRISING DODGERS OUSTER

The Red Sox recently committed to being buyers — and now they have their first reinforcement.

Boston, ahead of an important three-game set with the Yankees, acquired lefty James Paxton from the Dodgers after Los Angeles surprisingly designated him for assignment.

Paxton spent the last two seasons with the Red Sox, albeit only appearing in games during the 2023 season, before signing with the Dodgers this offseason.

Los Angeles landed infield prospect Moises Bolivar in the trade.

There had been questions about whether Boston would be sellers, buyers or a combo before the July 30 trade deadline and Red Sox general manager Craig Breslow recently declared his intent to buy.

Recently extended manager Alex Cora has often spoke of how the Yankees — and to some extent the Orioles — have the left the door open in the AL East, giving reason for Boston to go for it.

Paxton, 35, is having a down year despite being 8-2 with a 4.43 ERA.

He’s struggling to strike out batters this season with a career-worst 6.4 strikeouts per nine innings, and his walks and hits per innings pitched is 1.455.

He’s tied for the third-most walks in baseball with 48.

Those underlying statistics likely factored into why the Dodgers felt comfortable moving on from the southpaw with Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow on their way back at the time.

Paxton now joins a Red Sox team that enters their home series with the Yankees one game behind the Royals for the third and final wild-card spot.

Boston is 4.5 games back of the Yankees and 6.5 behind the Orioles in the AL East.

The Red Sox had been rotating through pitchers for their fifth spot in the rotation, with Cooper Criswell and Josh Winckowski making recent starts.

2024-07-26T16:28:39Z dg43tfdfdgfd