This team was designed to win it all — yes, even without David Ortiz, who evidently won’t be walking through that door.

They go into Tuesday night’s game at 19-18, and they’re better than this. They know it.

ST. LOUIS — The Red Sox are in quicksand, looking for rope, something to drag them out.

We’ve opined before that the return of David Price will help stabilize the rotation, if Price is the effective, dominating pitcher he has been throughout his career. If he isn’t, that would be another blow to this team.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski wanted to clear up one misconception that he feels media people like me have perpetuated: He does have payroll room to make a move to improve the team if he feels he has to, though he would prefer to stay under the luxury-tax threshold.


Dombrowski is not with the team here in St. Louis. He has not been on the last two road trips, which is rare for him. Instead he has spent time monitoring his minor league organization, first in Double A Portland last week and this week in Salem, Va., evaluating the Single A team. He may even stop in to Greenville, S.C., to take a look at the low Single A affiliate.

“I did this last year as well,” Dombrowski said. “Just looking at our kids. I was very impressed with our talent in Portland and I’m looking forward to seeing our kids here in Salem.”

Dombrowski likes to see players who might come up in trade talks. It doesn’t mean he’s trading anyone, but he wants to see for himself what depth he has at every position.

One thing he didn’t dispute was the uneven nature of the Red Sox’ performance — or Bill Parcells’s famous line, “You are what your record says you are.”


The silver lining right now is that the Red Sox started Tuesday’s action only four games out of first place in the AL East, with plenty of time to be what they ought to be — the best team in the league.

At some point, this team will need outside help. How significant a player could it acquire?

“I never speak about payroll,” Dombrowski said. “I will say we’re not under any restrictions to improve the club if need be.”

Maybe not, but at some point you’ll cross the luxury-tax line, which is something the Red Sox owners don’t want, so they can reset that tax threshold in upcoming years.

Dombrowski doesn’t sound like someone who would risk the team not making the playoffs just to stay on a budget. Nor would that go over with the fan base.

The Red Sox seem to be committed to their $17.5 million third baseman, Pablo Sandoval, who is on a rehab assignment, at least until John Farrell can’t take anymore. It’s awfully tempting to promote 20-year-old Rafael Devers, who has a .984 OPS in Portland, which is doubly encouraging since it’s happened amid the miserable weather of the Eastern League.

Dombrowski was cautious about Devers’s immediate future, saying, “He’s only been at Double A for a short time.” Dombrowski is impressed with Devers’s talent but feels he needs the seasoning that Double A will afford him.

Asked if he had to promote Devers should there be an emergency at third and whether he could handle it, Dombrowski said, “I don’t think you ever know the answer to that.”


Dombrowski is looking for Sandoval to return healthy and for Price to take his spot in the rotation. He expects Drew Pomeranz, who got a clean bill of health after some triceps tightness in his last start, to be consistent.

In this interleague series against the Cardinals, the Red Sox have a chance to pull themselves out of that quicksand that seems to be pulling them toward .500 with nearly a quarter of the season gone.

It’s not quite to the point where in-team evaluations are beginning in earnest. That usually comes around June 1, when there’s serious introspection about what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong.

At that point, you look at everything.

Is the manager getting the most out of his players?

Are the coaches doing their best to improve the players who are struggling?

What would jump-start the team? A trade? A call-up like Devers or Sam Travis? A shuffle in the lineup? The benching of a star player?

Or maybe the best option is to do nothing at all.

There’s the thought that the team will automatically get better simply because it hasn’t hit full stride. The Sox have not been able to execute their game plan of having the Big Three at the top of the rotation, and their rotation at first base/DH with Hanley Ramirez, Mitch Moreland, and Chris Young. They have not gotten the best out of Jackie Bradley Jr.


But there seems to be no panic in Dombrowski’s voice. He appears confident that things will get better, and if they don’t, he’s just as confident that he can do something about it.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickcafardo.