NEW YORK — The Red Sox remained 14 games out of first place with a 3-1 loss against the Yankees on Saturday night.
How about the wild card, you say? They are five games out, which doesn’t sound so bad except they would have to pass three teams to earn a spot.
The Phillies needed 87 wins to claim the third wild card in the National League and the Rays 86 in the American League last season.
The 32-33 Sox have the third-worst earned run average in the American League, ahead of only the aggressively tanking Royals and Athletics. That’s not a blueprint for finishing 10 games over .500.
It’s too early to cash in the season, but as the Aug. 1 trade deadline draws closer, sellers are positioned to make better deals if they act sooner than later. The Sox have plenty of inventory to attract buyers and may want to move fast.
To Chaim Bloom’s credit, he did well trading Jake Diekman and Christian Vázquez last season. Reese McGuire is a solid backup catcher and Wilyer Abreu and Enmanuel Valdez are potentially helpful players.
It could be a much bigger haul this year. Here’s a breakdown of where current players would fit into trade talks:
Untouchable: RHP Brayan Bello, 3B Rafael Devers, LF Masataka Yoshida.
The Sox won’t move their top-end talents. Devers and Yoshida are signed to long-term deals and Bello has shown the ability of a solid No. 2 starter, maybe better.
Former Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski loves to say there is no such thing as an untouchable player because what if you were offered a superstar? That’s true, of course. But it’s highly unlikely any of this trio gets moved.
Never say never: 1B Triston Casas, RHP Kutter Crawford, OF Jarren Duran, RHP Tanner Houck, RHP John Schreiber, OF Alex Verdugo, RHP Garrett Whitlock, RHP Josh Winckowski, C Connor Wong.
It wouldn’t make much sense to trade young, cost-controlled players with fairly high ceilings. But it’s certainly not impossible. If a contender wanted Duran as a pinch runner as part of a bigger deal, why not? It’s hard to imagine Bloom dealing away Verdugo, but the Sox may want to listen given that 2024 is his final year of arbitration.
Untradeable: LHP Chris Sale, SS Trevor Story.
At best, Sale could be ready to pitch in September and that would be after a long layoff. There’s not much choice but to ride out his contract. Story isn’t expected to be ready until sometime around the All-Star break and is signed through 2027. He has no trade value at this point given his elbow surgery.
Veteran position players: INF Christian Arroyo, OF Adam Duvall, INF Kiké Hernández, C Reese McGuire, OF Rob Refsnyder, INF Justin Turner.
The Sox have something for everybody here. Duvall, Hernández, and Turner are perfect additions for contending teams given their versatility, playoff experience, and one-year contracts. They are the players most likely to go. The Sox signed Refsnyder to a one-year extension last week but they’d listen on him.
Veteran pitchers: LHP Richard Bleier, RHP Corey Kluber, RHP Chris Martin, LHP James Paxton, RHP Nick Pivetta.
Bleier and Martin are on two-year contracts, the others have one-year deals. Kluber doesn’t have any value at this point but Bleier (if he can get healthy), Martin, Paxton, and Pivetta do. Pivetta had a 3.09 ERA in his first seven relief appearances after being dropped from the rotation and struck out 14 in 11⅔ innings.
The big prize: RHP Kenley Jansen.
An All-Star closer on a last-place team is like having a shiny hood ornament on a dirty used car. Jansen was signed to a two-year, $32 million deal, so the Sox might have to pick up some of the money to get better prospects in return.
In theory, maybe you keep him around with the expectation the team will contend in 2024. But if a good deal comes up, you have to take it.
Jansen has had a few rocky games but his 2.20 ERA over 59 career postseason appearances would be enticing to contenders.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him @PeteAbe.