Red Sox Named by MLB Insiders as Potential Suitors for Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen

Red Sox Named by MLB Insiders as Potential Suitors for Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

With the Boston Red Sox 1.5 games up in the AL wild card, the MLB trade deadline in a week is a very important time. To further bolster the roster for a postseason push, the Red Sox are likely to look for starting pitchers.

According to MLB insiders Will Sammon and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, the Red Sox are among many teams "that could play" in a specific subset of the starting pitcher trade market: the pair of former aces available at the deadline.

The two former aces that Mooney and Sammon are referring to are Miami Marlins' Sandy Alcantara and Arizona Diamondbacks' Zac Gallen.

"With both Gallen and Alcantara," Sammon and Mooney write, "it will be a question of whether their respective teams would trade them for what they are now, or what they once were at their peaks."

While the Red Sox may be interested in both, the potential that the Marlins and Diamondbacks demand a return for what they once were could make a trade very difficult to accomplish.

Of the two, Alcantara's fall from grace is the most drastic. In 2022, he was the NL Cy Young winner with a 2.28 ERA, 8.0 WAR, a 14-9 record, 207 strikeouts, and 50 walks in 228.2 innings pitched.

But, after struggling in 2023 with a 4.14 ERA, and then missing the entire 2024 season due to injury, Alcantara has come back and been as bad as he's been in his career. He has a 6.66 ERA in 20 starts and leads the league in earned runs allowed.

Gallen, meanwhile, hasn't been nearly that bad, but is still struggling mightily compared to before. From 2022 to 2024, Gallen had a 3.20 ERA, which included an impressive 2.54 ERA season in 2022 and an All-Star nod in 2023.

But, this season, through 21 starts, Gallen has a 5.58 ERA, a 7-11 record, and has allowed the most home runs, 23, in the National League this season.

Both Gallen and Alcantara are former aces, but have been struggling a lot this season. Their trade deadline markets will be interesting, as, typically, they wouldn't fetch a strong return.

But a team like the Red Sox, that is looking for a strong No. 2 to pair with Garrett Crochet, could pay up in hopes that once in Boston, either Gallen or Alcantara can get back to their ace versions of themselves.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 24, 2025, where it first appeared.