By: Dan Podheiser, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer

Red Sox GM Theo Epstein did not make any big moves at the trading deadline.

Shipping reliever Ramon Ramirez to the Giants, bringing in once-promising minor league catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia from Texas and acquiring Eric Patterson from Oakland way back in late June were all shrewd moves by Epstein.

But they weren’t earth-shaking. They weren’t the kinds of moves that catapult a team that trails the two other best teams in baseball by over five games into first place.

All that said, Epstein believes that his current roster — which will eventually be healthy — has the ability to make a run at the Yankees and Rays for an AL playoff spot.

I have a tough time following that mindset. Boston is riddled by injuries, so much so that it’s been forced to call up minor leaguers like Ryan Kalish and Daniel Nava well before they probably should be.

So far, you have to give props to Epstein, Terry Francona and all of the Red Sox reserves in 2010 for the tremendous job they’ve done. With a win over the Indians on Tuesday night, Boston improved to 61-45, the sixth-best record in baseball. And that’s with a team that’s made up of half Boston Red sox and half Pawtucket Red Sox.

But it’s not enough, not in the AL East and certainly not in 2010. You’d have to believe that if the Red Sox were healthy, given the way they’ve been playing without many of their star players, they’d be right in the thick of things at the top of the league. But they’re not healthy.

And so, by not acquiring any big names before the July 31 trade deadline, Epstein signaled one thing to Red Sox nation: He’s not going to mortgage the future for a playoff race that may be impossible to win.

Epstein would have had to give up way too much to get an impact player like the Nationals’ Adam Dunn or Philadelphia’s Jayson Werth — who, to Epstein’s defense, became untradeable towards the end. And apparently, even adding a top bullpen arm, specifically one from Toronto (Scott Downs, Kevin Gregg or Jason Frasor), would have cost an arm and a leg.

You can’t really criticize Epstein for the way 2010 has played out, and therefore, you have to believe that his lack of action at the deadline was an adjustment to his initial plan for the season.

It’s easy to sit back and say that the Red Sox should have acquired Dunn or Werth or Downs. It’s even easier to decipher Boston’s inability to pull the trigger on a deal as a signal that this team is packing it in.

But Epstein’s not packing it in. Neither are Francona or the 25 guys who take the field every night, even if it’s a different group of players on a daily basis.

The Red Sox are going into the final two months of the season wounded and unarmed. If they make the playoffs, it will be one of the greatest feats ever by a proud, historic franchise. If they don’t, you’d be hard-pressed to say that the lack of a blockbuster trade before July 31 did them in.

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