At some point, New England is going to be stop being fooled by the Red Sox annual empty promises. When Boston salary-dumped Rafael Devers, they chose a deal that freed them of all of his contract instead of maintaining salary and getting back better prospects.

In the immediate aftermath of the deadline, it doesn't feel like the Red Sox did much of anything, let alone enough to solidify them as a serious playoff team.

Baseball chief Craig Breslow said the failure to land any big names wasn't for lack of trying: 'We pursued a number of impact opportunities.'