Minutes before the MLB trade deadline, the Red Sox made a deal to bolster their starting rotation, acquiring righthander Dustin May from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In exchange, the Red Sox are sending outfielder/first baseman James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard. Tibbs was acquired from the San Francisco Giants in the massive five-player deal that sent Rafael Devers to the Bay Area in June. Ehrhard, an outfielder, was a fourth-round pick in 2024 and was playing at Double A Portland.
May, who is eligible for free agency after the season, will turn 28 in September. This season, May has started 18 games and gone 6-7 with a 4.75 ERA. He pitched against the Red Sox at Fenway last weekend when the Dodgers visited, allowing four runs on five hits over five innings while taking the loss in a 4-3 win by the Red Sox.
May’s career has been hampered by injuries. He missed all of 2024 due to a problem with his esophagus which required emergency surgery. He’s also undergone Tommy John surgery twice.
The 104 innings he’s pitched this season are easily a career high. Until this year, he had never pitched more than 56 innings in a season. Of his 65 career appearances, 52 have been starts.
In parts of six major league seasons, May is 18-16 with a 3.71 ERA. He’s also 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA in nine postseason appearances, six of those coming in relief.
It’s assumed that May will slot into the back end of the Red Sox rotation. The team’s starting pitch has been depleted in recent weeks as it was learned that Kutter Crawford, Hunter Dobbins and Patrick Sandoval would not be contributing the rest of the season. It’s also likely that Tanner Houck is done for the year.
May was in danger of losing his spot in the Dodger rotation as LA readies to get a number of injured starters back from the IL soon.
The Red Sox were rumored to be bidding for a number of other veteran starters as the deadline approached, including Arizona’s Merrill Kelly, Washington’s MacKenzie Gore and Minnesota’s Joe Ryan.
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