Cora wants Red Sox to 'get greedy' at trade deadline

Red Sox manager Alex Cora hopes Boston's front office is more aggressive at the trade deadline than in years past.

"There's three ways you can go: you buy, you sell, you stay put. And, when you stay put, there's going to be other teams that added and they're going to be better than you," he said, per NBC Sports Boston.

Boston is 14-8 in June after a tough May, a stretch Cora believes better reflects the team's capabilities - and warrants reinforcements.

"I know we've been talking about the wild card and all that stuff. Let's get greedy. There's teams ahead of us that are not playing good baseball."

He added: "This brand of baseball we can maintain, the way we're playing. Let's not settle for the third wild card. Let's go higher and see where the season takes us."

The Red Sox entered Wednesday third in the AL East with a 43-37 record. The club sits 8.5 games back of the first-place New York Yankees but is only a half-game behind the Minnesota Twins for the second wild-card spot.

Boston reached last season's trade deadline with a 56-50 record before crumbling down the stretch after losing outfielder Jarren Duran and first baseman Triston Casas, among others, to injury.

"We played well until Jarren got hurt last year, and Casas," Cora said.

"But that was it; we didn't have more. We'll see what happens in a month, month-and-a-half. We've just got to keep playing better baseball."