McAdam: As deadline passes, question lingers: Were Sox unable - or just unwilling - to upgrade?

For a man who had spent untold hours on his phone for the past week, all for naught, Dave Dombrowski arrived at a press conference late Wednesday afternoon in a surprisingly jaunty mood.

As is typical for such occasions, Dombrowski took his seat at the table and told the assembled reporters that he had no announcements to make ("We did not make any trades,'' he said, though that had been evident for some time) but helpfully offered to take questions.

He smiled broadly. He did not seem overly bothered by his own inaction.

For nearly the next half-four, Dombrowski took questions and offered answers as to why the Red Sox, currently lodged in third place and two games out of the wild card chase, would come away with no improvements.

That was particularly odd, given that three other teams in the wild card race -- Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Oakland -- each made multiple moves in the final 24 hours before the deadline.

Dombrowski began by recounting that the Sox had received plenty of trade proposals, but none was to his liking, all, presumably, requiring too much in return.

"We'd like to get better any time you can,'' said Dombrowski. "We had an opportunity to make a lot of trades if we wanted to and it really came to down to, we just felt the demands for what we were going to receive, that we didn't want to pay.

"We just didn't feel that the deals, with guys -- either their ability, the role they would play, the service time that they had -- merited giving up the type of players  (we were asked for).''

Here, Dombrowski's logic seems faulty. The Toronto Blue Jays, for instance, traded reliever Daniel Hudson -- whom the Sox were known to have some interest in -- to the Washington Nationals for a reliever (Kyle Johnston) who was recently ranked as the Nationals' 24th-best prospect. He's 23 years old and currently at Single-A.

Even allowing for the fact that the Jays might have had a slightly higher asking price to make a deal within their division, the Red Sox couldn't have gotten Hudson for, say, Travis Lakins?

But then came the telltale qualifier:

"Especially under the circumstances that we're in.''

And here's where the narrative began to turn: Especially under the circumstances that we're in.

What Dombrowski was getting at here, is that if the Red Sox qualify for the postseason at all -- surely no guarantee -- they're only going to be a wildcard, and all the attendant issues that come with such a spot.

"You look at that a bit differently as far as what you're willing to do and the risks you're willing to take,'' said Dombrowski. "I think if we were closer to first place, I would have been more open-minded to the to some of the other things. ... We just haven't reached a point where we'd give up a premium young player for a guy who was going to fill a certain role for us, where we are right now.''

Again, telling: where we are right now.

Translation: Who are we kidding? This team, if it reaches October, isn't hanging around very long.

Again and again, Dombrowski made reference to believing in the talent with the added proviso that they have to stay playing up to their capabilities. That, quite obviously, hasn't been the case for much of the year. Otherwise, the Sox wouldn't currently be on the outside looking in at the playoff structure.

Other than the acquisition of Andrew Cashner two weeks ago, there's been a whole lot of waiting around on the part of Red Sox management since the start of the year, wishing and hoping that the roster will eventually perform as expected.

Alex Cora again reiterated Wednesday that he still believes in his team and believes that it will improve. But when I reminded him that Tuesday's loss marked exactly the two-thirds point of the season, he allowed that there was some urgency now involved.

"You start thinking about time,'' acknowledged Cora. "At the end, you have to do it on the field. Now, it's full blast all the way to the end.''

In other words, the margin for error is small. The Red Sox can't afford any more backsliding, like they experienced Tuesday, blowing a lead in the sixth inning and losing a game to a team it's trying to chase down from behind.

What Dombrowski did Wednesday -- first with his inaction, and then with his words -- was challenge the players who are here and have underachieved through the first four months.

"The reality (a word Dombrowski used frequently through his session) is we have a very talented group of players,'' he said. "The reality is, we're going to have to do it with the guys we have.''

Here's another reality: they haven't done it yet, so what reason is there to believe that August and September will be any different?

But ultimately, here's what doesn't make sense: the Red Sox have already spent approximately $240 million on payroll this year, which is the top payroll in the game and, in fact, the most money ever spent by any team in any one season.

Doesn't it make sense to keep going at this point? And I'm not talking about adding salary, but rather, supplementing the roster and filling needs. You've invested a ton in this group already and that money can already be regarded as a sunken cost.

So, why stop now? Why not go for it?

"We are going for it,'' insisted Dombrowski. "It's just that, every year, you got for it as much as you can. We're in. We're all in. The all-in is, to me, with what you have.''

And we've seen where that has gotten them.