The Red Sox head into the trade deadline looking to deepen their starting staff, and that theres a strong likelihood Boston will be in the mix for left-hander , whom the Dodgers . The Sox are quite familiar with Paxton, who spent the 2022-23 seasons in the organization. Injuries prevented Paxton from taking the mound for the Sox in 2022 and led him to exercise a player option for the 2023 season. He bounced back with 19 starts and 96 innings both his highest marks since 2019 in New York. Paxtons 4.50 ERA wasnt much to look at, though metrics like SIERA (4.11) and FIP (3.77) painted a friendlier picture. He fanned a sharp 24.6% of his opponents last season against a tidy 8% walk rate. Things havent gone as well in a similar workload with the Dodgers. Although Paxtons 18 starts, 89 1/3 innings and 4.43 ERA all generally mirror last years numbers with the Red Sox, the rest of his numbers are markedly worse. Paxton averaged 95.2 mph on his fastball last season, per Statcast, but is down to 93.2 mph on average in 2024. His strikeout rate has plummeted to 16.4%, while his walk rate has ballooned to 12.3%. Paxton is getting fewer whiffs, fewer grounders and yielding far more hard contact in 2024 than he did in 2023. The Jo Adell Jersey primary difference has been the leftys dip in home run rate (9.5% HR/FB, 1.11 HR/9) and a career-low .267 average on balls in play. Even if Paxtons K-BB and batted-ball profiles are diminished relative to his 2023 levels, hes still been a perhaps surprisingly durable arm this year. Hes made all 18 starts asked of him and has yet to land on the injured list. Hed also be highly affordable from a financial standpoint. Hes playing the season on a one-year deal that came with a $4MM base salary, $2MM bonus for making the Opening Day roster and $3MM singing bonus. Paxtons deal also allowed him to earn $4MM off incentives based on games started. The lump sum of that signing bonus, Opening Day bonus and all of his incentives have already been paid out. The Red Sox (or another new club) would only owe him the prorated remainder of that $4MM salary about $1.48MM as of this writing. The Red Sox currently have , , and in the rotation. Righties and have both made starts out of the fifth spot in the rotation. The Sox have lost , and depth starter to season-ending surgeries. is on the injured list and just had a setback. Paxton would at least give the Sox a stabilizing force at the back of the rotation. (The Red Sox have also the Cubs as an option.) Ryan Miller Jersey