Cora: 'We're talking to people' at Trade Deadline

BOSTON -- Eight days after Red Sox manager Alex Cora noted that his team needed to start playing better to make sure president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was a buyer instead of a seller, there was a dramatically different feel to his session with the media prior to Tuesday’s game against the Rays.

With the Sox reeling off five wins in seven games against the Rays and Yankees last week, Cora sounded like a manager anticipating that his team will get a reinforcement or two by Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET -- the one and only Trade Deadline this season.

• Watch MLB Network for around-the-clock Trade Deadline coverage

“We’re talking to people, and there’s a lot of stuff going on. Let’s see what happens,” Cora said. “I think, like I said on Sunday, every team is looking to improve … the teams that are trying to win the World Series, I’m pretty confident [those] teams are going to make trades. We just have to be patient and see what happens.”

What seems most likely to happen is that the Red Sox will fortify their bullpen. Edwin Diaz (Mets) and Ken Giles (Blue Jays) are two of the many relievers who could be dealt.

Cora wasn’t surprised about the lack of trades since the one Sunday in which the Jays sent Marcus Stroman to the Mets.

Once the bottleneck is broken, Cora thinks it will be felt all over the game.

“It’s a different game right now,” Cora said. “There’s no August [deadline]. After this, it’s over. Now, you’ve got [less than] 48 hours, so you’re thinking about a lot of moves. There’s no Justin Verlander at the end of August [like in 2017 with the Astros]. It’s a different ballgame. It’s interesting -- very interesting.”

When the Red Sox upgraded at the Deadline last year by adding Steve Pearce, Nathan Eovaldi and Ian Kinsler, they didn’t have to part with anyone from the Major League roster. What if they have to do so this year to fill their needs in the bullpen?

“There’s also a possibility of that. It’s just the nature of the business," Cora said.

"I’ve been saying all along that there’s different situations, and sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s just, if teams decide they have to give big league pieces to get better, it has happened before, it’s going to happen in the next 48 hours and it will happen next year and the upcoming years. That’s just the nature of baseball. It happens.”

The Red Sox already made one move during trade season, acquiring righty Andrew Cashner from the Orioles two weeks ago. Cashner has given Boston six innings in each of his past two starts, providing the type of stability the Red Sox had been lacking in the fifth spot in the rotation.

Johnson an opener in tuneup
Lefty Brian Johnson worked as an opener for Triple-A Pawtucket on Tuesday afternoon, pitching one inning and allowing one run while throwing 16 pitches. It was Johnson’s final tuneup for his scheduled start against the Yankees in Saturday’s day-night doubleheader.

Eduardo Rodriguez is expected to open the four-game series at Yankee Stadium. Chris Sale will start the other game in the doubleheader. Cora will check with Sale before determining in which order to line up the two lefties for the doubleheader.

David Price is lined up to start Sunday night’s finale in the Bronx.

Johnson, who hasn’t pitched for the Red Sox since June 22 due to a non-baseball medical issue, is stretched out enough to go four or five innings, Cora said.