Friday night at Rogers Centre, Boston Red Sox lefty James Paxton continued his resurgent season with 7 2/3 electric innings against the Toronto Blue Jays (BOS 5, TOR 0). Paxton held Toronto to three singles and two walks, and struck out seven. He did not allow a run and now has a 2.70 ERA through nine starts and 50 innings.
Here's Paxton mowing through the Blue Jays on Friday, at the same ballpark where he threw his 2018 no-hitter:
"This is great. Just being healthy and being able to go to work on pitching stuff is the best," Paxton told the Boston Globe about his bounceback season recently. "I'm feeling really good about where my body's at, where my mechanics are, my mindset on the mound. I'm trying to keep that going."
Now 34, Paxton blew out his elbow in his first start with the Seattle Mariners in 2021, and missed the rest of that season as well as the entire 2022 season with Tommy John surgery and subsequent setbacks. The Red Sox signed him to a one-year, $10 million contract last offseason, and Paxton exercised a $4 million player option to remain with the team in 2023.
Paxton joined the Red Sox on May 10 after going down with a hamstring issue in spring training. His performance in his nine starts this season are on par with his peak years with the Mariners and New York Yankees from 2017-19. Check it out:
2017-19
3.54
3.26
1.16
30.1%
7.3%
1.11
88.9 mph
2023
2.70
3.24
0.96
31.1%
6.6%
1.08
89.9 mph
This is prime Paxton, basically. In some respects he's been even better than he was at his peak. Given all the arm trouble he's had throughout his career, this is a rather impressive comeback for the veteran lefty. The Red Sox have needed Paxton too with Chris Sale injured and others like Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock battling injuries and inconsistency.
Friday's win improved the Red Sox to 40-42. They are 14.5 games out in the AL East and 4.5 games out in the wild-card race. Boston isn't completely out of the postseason race, but they're all far enough back that trading Paxton at the deadline has to be under consideration. In fact, given his injury history, it would behoove the Red Sox to move him sooner rather than later.
Unless someone unexpected hits the market, the best starting pitcher trade candidates this summer are Chicago White Sox righty Lucas Giolito and St. Louis Cardinals lefty Jordan Montgomery. Both are better bets to stay healthy than Paxton, though Paxton is outpitching both right now, and he possesses the sort of power bat-missing stuff teams crave in October.
Should the Red Sox make Paxton available at the deadline, there would be a robust market, though reaching common ground could be difficult given the injury history. Still, high-end pitching is always in demand and Boston has a high-end starter to offer. A year ago at this time Paxton was an afterthought. Now he's pitching like an ace, and could really spice up the trade deadline.
