PHOENIX — As the Red Sox scramble to line up their rotation in the final weeks of the season, there’s potential to lament what they did and didn’t do at the trade deadline.
Twins star Joe Ryan, of course, was the elusive prize. But he wasn’t the only target for the Sox before they acquired Dustin May, who is 1-4 with a 5.40 ERA in 28⅓ innings since being dealt to Boston.
The Sox, like every contender, checked in with the Diamondbacks about righthanded starters and free-agents-to-be Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen.
Kelly ended up going to the Rangers in a strong three-prospect package. He’s 2-1 with a 2.98 ERA for Texas. Gallen, meanwhile, ended up staying with the Diamondbacks, with teams hesitant to give up significant prospects after he struggled through the first four months of the season. He was happy about the outcome.
“To be able to spend the last two months here, I was super stoked,” Gallen said. “That’s what I ultimately wanted.”
Still, that result wasn’t a foregone conclusion. According to multiple sources, the Sox expressed interest in both pitchers, but their conversations with Arizona were mostly about frameworks.
The Diamondbacks made clear that to trade either pitcher, they’d need more return value than the compensation pick they’d receive at the back of the first round of next year’s draft by retaining the players, making them a qualifying offer, and potentially having them leave as free agents.
The Sox expressed a willingness to deal lefthander Brandon Clarke as the anchor of a package, but balked when the Diamondbacks sought lefthander Connelly Early (now in Triple A).
Gallen is 11-13 with a 4.77 ERA in 168 innings, but 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA in seven starts spanning 41 innings since the deadline, looking like the pitcher who finished in the top five in the NL Cy Young voting twice.
The opportunity to be a source of regret is not lost on Gallen, who sat down with management after the deadline to learn how teams valued him in the trade market.
“[Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen] did share some things with me that might have been kind of motivating in a sense,” said Gallen. “There would be nothing more gratifying than to right the ship at the end of this year with hopefully being able to lead us back to the playoffs and potentially knocking out some teams that thought they maybe had some things wrapped up in July. That would be a lot of fun.”
A plan for Payton?
Lefthander Payton Tolle probably will not start Wednesday against the Athletics — when his turn in the rotation comes around — but might be a factor out of the bullpen, manager Alex Cora said.
The series finale in Sacramento would be the fourth time in 2½ weeks the Red Sox don’t have an announced starter until the night before. The Sox are hesitant to start Tolle because he has not pitched on regular four days’ rest this season.
“There’s a lot of things going on right now, so we just have to wait and see,” Cora said. “We can go [planning the rotation] as far as the Sacramento series at home [Sept. 16-18], then we can make decisions on the fly for the Sacramento series on the road [this week]. That’s where we’re at right now. It’s September. It’s a different roster than two weeks ago.
“Obviously, there’s a plan in place. Communication is a must, not only with him but with everybody else. Whenever we make a decision, we’ll talk to him and go from there.”
If Tolle pitches Wednesday, it would line up the Sox’ trio of steady starters this weekend against the Yankees — Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello, and Garrett Crochet.
Harrison pops up
Lefthander Kyle Harrison presents an enigma amid the Red Sox’ rotation issues. He pitched one inning for Triple A Worcester on Sunday, giving him four innings across two starts in the past 19 days. He was dealing with an ankle issue that never landed him on the injured list and had appearances pushed back to preserve him as an option for the major league team . . . Wilyer Abreu (right calf strain) had a scheduled day off Sunday after running the previous two days, Cora said . . . Masataka Yoshida (0 for 4) batted leadoff for the second game in a row Sunday, a 7-4 win over the Diamondbacks, but Cora made no commitment beyond that. Initially, the manager said he expected to roll with Jarren Duran atop the lineup against righthanders in Roman Anthony’s absence, but now “we mix and match, see how we feel about it that certain day, and go from there,” he said … Rob Refsnyder left the game after laying out in right field trying to catch Gabriel Moreno’s double in the sixth inning. Cora said Refsnyder was “a little banged up.”
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey. Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.