Red Sox GM Cherington admits to misreading team's potential

Boston Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington admits this season is a failure.

"I think it's safe to say now at the end of July that we were wrong at the beginning of the season as to what this team could do," Cherington told reporters Friday. "So we've got to figure out, and we've been in the process of trying to figure out why that is, and we've got to fix it and play better baseball."

Despite the Red Sox sitting in last place in the division, Cherington opted to stand pat during Friday's trade deadline,

"There was some interest," he said. "It just didn't get to a level where we felt compelled to do anything."

The Red Sox were projected to contend after signing Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez to lucrative multi-year deals in the winter, though both sluggers have struggled to live up to their contracts in their first year with the club.

Cherington's decision to construct a rotation with mid-tier arms has also failed to amount to any success, as Boston's starters own the third-highest ERA in the league.

"Look, obviously the results are the results and that means the team we built is not as good as what we thought it could be," Cherington said. "We're all responsible. I'm more responsible than anyone for that, but we're all responsible."

There is, however, some semblance of a silver lining for Cherington on the season. Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Brock Holt, and Blake Swihart have taken meaningful steps in their development and the GM hopes to use the next few months to further evaluate other young players in Boston's system.

"I just know that we have to use the next two months in the most productive way possible and that likely means a combination of playing time with certain guys," Cherington said.