The Boston Red Sox open a three-game series Friday night against the St. Louis Cardinals, and Dustin May will be on the mound for St. Louis in the first game. For Boston, it is a quick return to the deal that sent May to the Red Sox in 2025 and now looks like one of the club’s costlier misses.
The Red Sox acquired May from the Los Angeles Dodgers for outfielders James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard, giving up a No. 5 prospect and a No. 27 prospect for what turned into a rental that did not work out. May had a 4.95 ERA in 19 total appearances, including 18 starts, with Los Angeles before the trade, then posted a 5.40 ERA in six total appearances with Boston. The rough fit is now impossible to miss because Boston is facing the Cardinals just as May’s stint with his new team keeps the same shape it had in Los Angeles: uneven, expensive and short on payoff.
That matters today because the prospect return Boston sent away is starting to move. Tibbs has played in 12 games in Triple-A in the Dodgers’ organization this season and has hit.380/.456/.920 with seven homers and 13 RBIs. FanSided’s Robert Murray reported that Tibbs has put himself firmly in the conversation to make his big league debut with Los Angeles this season, which only sharpens the contrast with what Boston got back.
The tension in this story is that Boston bought May for a playoff push, needing one more starter at the time, but the trade is now being judged on what the Red Sox surrendered rather than what they gained. May has a 15.95 ERA in two starts with the Cardinals this season, so Friday night’s opener in St. Louis puts the same player and the same deal back in the spotlight. The questions around the trade are no longer abstract; they are attached to live numbers, a road series and two prospects the Red Sox no longer have.
For Boston, the cleanest read is also the harshest one: the club traded two young outfielders for a rental pitcher, and the return has not held up. The Red Sox vs Cardinals series now begins with that history attached to the first pitch.
