Chaim Bloom stuck to his playbook for most of the offseason, before finally making a surprising splash on one of the last remaining marquee free agents.
Major League Signings
- Trevor Story, SS/2B: six years, $140MM (can opt out after four years, but club can negate opt-out by adding seventh year to make it a $160MM total.)
- James Paxton, SP: one year, $6MM (plus two-year, $26MM club option and $4MM player option, meaning it’s a $10MM guarantee over two years)
- Jake Diekman, RP: two years, $8MM (includes $4MM club option with $1MM buyout)
- Michael Wacha, SP/RP: one year, $7MM
- Rich Hill, SP: one year, $5MM, plus incentives
- Matt Strahm, RP: one year, $3MM
2022 spending: $45.5MM
Total spending: $173MM
Options Exercised
Trades and Claims
- Claimed OF Tim Locastro off waivers from Yankees; later non-tendered
- Acquired OF Jackie Bradley Jr., IF Alex Binelas and IF David Hamilton for OF Hunter Renfroe
- Claimed SP/RP Kyle Tyler off waivers from Angels; later lost on waivers to Padres
- Claimed RP Ralph Garza off waivers from Twins; later lost on waivers to Rays
Notable Minor League Signings
- Rob Refsnyder (later selected to 40-man roster), Christin Stewart, Michael Feliz, Taylor Cole, Roberto Ramos, Yolmer Sanchez, Tyler Danish (later selected to 40-man roster), Darin Gillies, Silvino Bracho, Dan Altavilla, Derek Holland, Deivy Grullon, Travis Shaw (later selected to 40-man roster), Hansel Robles (later selected to 40-man roster)
Extensions
- Garrett Whitlock, RP: four years, $18.75MM, plus 2027 club option of $8.25MM with $1MM buyout and 2028 club option of $10.5MM with $500K buyout
Notable Losses
- Kyle Schwarber, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jose Iglesias, Garrett Richards, Martin Perez, Adam Ottavino, Brandon Workman, Danny Santana, Yacksel Rios, Brad Peacock, Stephen Gonsalves, Jack Lopez, Yairo Munoz, Raynel Espinal, Jeisson Rosario
Since taking over the reins in Boston after the 2019 season, the Chaim Bloom regime has been focused on the future. Mookie Betts and David Price were traded to clear payroll and restock the farm. The remainder of that offseason saw the club sign eight players to major league deals, all for a single year. After finishing last in AL East in the shortened 2020 campaign, it was much the same in the next offseason: seven MLB deals, five of them for a single year, with only Enrique Hernandez and Hirokazu Sawamura getting a second. Few prognosticators expected a huge breakout from the Sox in 2021, but it came nonetheless. The club won 92 games, earning a Wild Card spot and eventually playing its way into the ALCS. Would that lead to a more aggressive offseason or more of the cautious tactics of the Bloom era?
Before the offseason began, the Boston sports world was given some very sad news as longtime broadcaster and former player Jerry Remy passed away in late October. A Massachusetts native, Remy started his career with the Angels but was traded to the Red Sox in 1977. He stuck with his hometown team for the remainder of his career, becoming a fan favorite before jumping into the broadcast booth in 1988. He became a fixture of Boston games on NESN and also wrote several books about baseball. Red Sox baseball surely won’t be the same without him.
As the calendar turned to November, the World Series ended and it was time for business. Kyle Schwarber declined his half of a mutual option for 2022, which was a part of his one-year deal he signed with the Nationals. The club declined options on Garrett Richards and Martin Perez, sending them to the open market. Perhaps most important of all, J.D. Martinez decided not to opt out of the final year of his contract, staying with the Sox for one more year, with a salary of $19.35MM. Eduardo Rodriguez received a qualifying offer, which he rejected. Finally, the club exercised its club option on Christian Vazquez, keeping him around for $7MM.
Once the free agency floodgates opened, Boston was reportedly open to a reunion with Schwarber. They were one of the teams who attended the Justin Verlander showcase and among the known suitors for Seiya Suzuki. They also made a multi-year offer to retain Rodriguez and reportedly had interest in fellow southpaws Steven Matz, Robbie Ray and Andrew Heaney. Javier Baez was also a rumored target, as were Jeurys Familia and Marcus Stroman.
Despite the reported interest in those high profile options, most of them signed elsewhere before the lockout. The Red Sox went into the transactions freeze having accomplished more mild maneuvers. They exercised the 2023-23 club option on manager Alex Cora. Michael Wacha and Rich Hill were signed to one-year deals, worth $7MM and $5MM, respectively. James Paxton was signed to a convoluted deal that reflects his uncertain status after undergoing the second Tommy John surgery of his career in April of 2021. He’ll make $6MM in 2022, a season in which he likely won’t join the team until midseason. Then the club will get to decide on a two-year option for the 2023-24 seasons that will pay him $13MM each year. If the team declines, Paxton will have a $4MM player option for 2023.
Just before the lockout kicked in, the club made one more significant move, trading Hunter Renfroe to the Brewers for Jackie Bradley Jr. and a pair of prospects. Bradley was coming off a dismal 2021 season where he slashed .163/.236/.261, 35 wRC+, making it clear this deal was about subtracting from the big league team to build the farm.
It seemed like yet another classic Bloom offseason: modest short-term deals for the big league team while keeping the focus on the future. During the lockout, there were rumors connecting them to Carlos Correa and Trevor Story, though it seemed hard to believe Boston would make such an aggressive move, given their recent history. The $14MM guarantee for Enrique Hernandez was the largest they had given to a free agent since Nathan Eovaldi’s $68MM in late 2018.
After the lockout ended, the modest additions kept coming, with Matt Strahm being the club’s first signing after the transactions freeze lifted. That was followed by Jake Diekman being added to the bullpen. Then it was announced that Chris Sale had a stress fracture in his right rib cage and wouldn’t be available for weeks. Minor league deals were given to Travis Shaw and Hansel Robles, who would both eventually return to Boston’s 40-man roster.
On March 23rd, just two weeks before Opening Day, the big splash finally came. Although the club was also hovering around the Carlos Correa and Freddie Freeman markets, Bloom and his staff broke the mold for Trevor Story. The $140MM guarantee was ten times higher than the largest contract previously given out by this front office regime. The deal also has a complicated structure that could take it to $160MM. Story can opt out after the fourth year of the deal, but the Sox can negate the opt-out by preemptively exercising a $25MM club option for the 2028 season. That option comes with a $5MM buyout that’s already included in the $140MM guarantee, so it’s a net add of $20MM to the life of the contract.
For that significant investment, the Red Sox are getting a player who can provide value on both sides of the ball. Both Story’s offense and defense have been above average for his career. However, there are question marks in both departments. Story slumped at the plate in 2021, finishing exactly league average with a wRC+ of 100. On the defensive side of things, a nagging elbow injury seemed to be impacting his arm strength, as he made 11 throwing errors in 2021, easily the most of his career. As he lingered on the free agent market through the winter, there were some who suggested he would be best suited for a move to second base, as his arm wouldn’t need to be as strong there as at short.
Despite those concerns, he makes a lot of sense for the Red Sox. Plugging Story in at second allows Hernandez to move to the outfield on a full-time basis instead of bouncing back and forth between the two roles. Secondly, the club has a potential hole at shortstop looming over the horizon, as Xander Bogaerts can opt out of the final three years of his contract after the 2022 campaign. Barring some catastrophic injury, that seems quite likely to happen. The club can use this season to evaluate Story and his arm strength before deciding how to proceed with their middle infield. If Story is deemed capable of returning to the left side of the diamond, then they can let Bogaerts walk. If not, they can try to re-sign him or turn their attentions to one of the other available shortstops in this winter’s class. (Trea Turner and Dansby Swanson will be there, and they’ll more than likely be joined by Correa, who has an opt-out in his deal with the Twins.)
There is a financial element at play in all of this also, as the Story deal has pushed the Red Sox beyond the luxury tax line for the first time since Betts and Price were sent to L.A. Their luxury tax number is currently sitting just under $239MM, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. Under the new CBA, the lowest tier of the luxury tax system begins at $230MM.
That won’t lead to a huge financial penalty, since the Red Sox would be a “first time” payor and only responsible for a 20% tax on spending between $230MM and $250MM. In this case, the tax would be around $1.7MM. However, even a small overage can have compounding effects, as the penalties increase for team’s that pay the tax in consecutive years. For instance, the Padres went just barely over the line in 2021 and paid a $1.29MM tax bill. However, they then seemed determined to not cross the line again in 2022, spending much of their offseason trying to move Eric Hosmer’s contract and not upgrading in the outfield corners despite a bevy of available free agents.
For the Red Sox, it’s possible that they’re not so worried about crossing the tax line for a second consecutive year due to the fact that they have a lot of money coming off the books after this season. Martinez ($19.375MM), Nathan Eovaldi ($17MM), Vazquez ($7MM), Hernandez ($8MM), Wacha ($7MM), Hill ($5MM), Strahm ($3MM), Robles ($2.25MM), Kevin Plawecki ($2.25MM) and Shaw ($1.5MM) are all in the final years of their respective deals, accounting for $72.375MM coming straight off the books. If Bogaerts opts out, that’s another $20MM. Bradley has a $12MM mutual option for 2023 that has an $8MM buyout. Sawamura also has a complicated option for 2023 that could see him hit free agency. (The Red Sox hold a club option valued at $3-4MM depending on performance escalators and milestones. Should they decline their half, Sawamura would have a player option valued between $600K and $2.2MM.) There’s also the aforementioned Paxton situation.
Complications aside, the club will have somewhere between $72.375MM and around $100MM coming off the ledger in a few months. Of course, that also means that they will have plenty of holes to fill, but the club is surely hoping to fill as many as possible in-house so that they don’t need to go back out and spend over the CBT line again next year. Bogaerts could be replaced by Story. Martinez’s bat could be replaced by Triston Casas emerging and joining Bobby Dalbec in the first base/designated hitter mix. Eovaldi, Wacha and Hill departing will strip the rotation down to Chris Sale, Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck, but Paxton could potentially take one spot, with youngsters like Kutter Crawford or Connor Seabold maybe taking another. Hernandez and Bradley being subtracted from the outfield creates a couple of holes, but maybe Jarren Duran can take a step forward this year.
As Spring Training wound down, the club agreed to an extension with Garrett Whitlock — another future rotation candidate. However, the Sox failed to do so with Bogaerts, Eovaldi or Rafael Devers. It’s possible for a huge amount of roster turnover a year from now, and that’s only the beginning of the uncertainty facing the team. The club is in a stacked AL East where any of the four non-Baltimore teams could be seen as the frontrunner or the fourth-best.
The Red Sox are facing a few months with dozens of potential outcomes, both on the field and off. They could fall out of contention and trade away some of their expiring contracts, thus ducking back below the CBT line. But it’s also possible they’ve cobbled together a squad that can hang with the other contenders in the division, just like they did last year. Either way, a handful of guys will likely be wearing a different uniform next year. Martinez, Eovaldi and Bogaerts would all be qualifying offer candidates, but the QO system could be scrapped if MLB and the MLBPA can agree to an international draft framework before this summer. There’s no shortage of uncertainty around this Red Sox roster, in what figures to be yet another wild year in the AL East.
If Devers want 300 trade him for 4-5 prospects! X-Man no more 120 millons/6 if more trade him2! Dalbec 1b- Yorke 2b- Casas 3b and Story SS/ Verdugo,Kike and another Rf
The AL East winners…Boston
Division title could happen, but a lot of things would have to go just right.
Nice summary by Darragh, and it was very cool to include a paragraph on Remy.
BTW – The pregame ceremony tonight was amazing with everyone who showed up. But where was John Henry and why was Don Orsillo not there or even in a video tribute? He could have missed doing one Padre game, hard to believe it was his choice to not participate in any way. Fifteen year partner of Remy’s, the Red Sox can’t take that away no matter how hard they try.
The homogenized guy they have doing play-by-play on TV broadcast now is so plastic that I have to listen to Joe on the radio feed when I watch the Sox.
As for Don Orsillo, the Padres keep sticking him with different partners that are not funny….but what’s worse, they think they are.
Remy and Orsillo were as unique and pleasurable to listen to a game with as Tom “Wimpy” Paciorek was when broadcasting with Hawk Harrelson for the White Sox. In both cases it took me a bit to figure out what language they were speaking in. Didn’t matter if the game was good or not, it was hard to shut those 2 broadcasting teams off. Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow with the Giants are toned down quite a bit in comparison, but almost as enjoyable.
Yeah I hafta agree, Dave O’Brien lacks the personality and passion needed to be a top notch play by play guy. Too bad Orsillo can’t come back and team up with Eck, they would make a great duo.
Joe’s a treasure. We’re lucky to have him and he’s around 75. I’d never say ‘I have to listen to Joe’. I’d say ‘I get to listen to Joe’.
A lot of, “subtracting to potentially do this or that”. Anyways, Red Sox have moved pieces to get pieces. Signed pieces to keep the door open for “in house” prospects. It’s crazy to think they are thinking like a small market team, but not afraid to spend additional money for the future or temporary fix. I think they are taking the book from Rays and Dodgers. One (Rays), replenished system and the other (Dodgers), spend as needed. I am curious how this works out for the Red Sox. Do they have the patience for prospects like small market teams do? Or do they blow it up and become mega spenders and dealers that we witnessed for a few decades?
Great article. Thanks. $16M for David Price will also come off the books after this season.
Too bad the Price contract and the Sale extension aren’t the chains forged in life that Dombrowski must drag behind him like Jacob Marley.
Three division titles and the greatest World Championship season in Red Sox history, not to mention many great moves such as the Xander extension and JDM contract.
You’ll have a hard time painting Dombrowski’s tenure as anything less than highly successful. Bloom has some big shoes to fill.
Part of the Dombrowski hammering comes because he was doing exactly what Ilitch wanted.. Trying to bring a WS crown to detroit before he passed away AND retain his best players, with Ilitch’s blessing any way he could.
giving the 30yo and imobile Cabrera was with his blessing for 10y, something John Henry pretty sure will not do for anyone be it Betts, Devers, Bogaerts.
Spending money in Boston hasn’t been a problem, but he has never been keen on throwing away money on what becomes obvious dead years.
Looking back at John Henry’s tenure, there really wasn’t any player that falls into that “worthy of a 8-year contract” category except Pedroia, Mookie and now maybe Devers.
Sure those contracts often convert into dead money, as Pedroia’s did, but these days if you want to retain a young homegrown superstar you’ll have to give at least 8 years. Otherwise you risk alienating the fanbase, which in turn costs you money with a decrease in revenue.
Fever Pitch Guy;
The Sox will barley notice a decrease in revenue if they don’t sign those guys – so long as they keep fielding contending teams. In my experience traveling around the country on business and visiting relatives, the 2 craziest sports towns are Boston and Chicago. It’s impossible to explain the environments to people that haven’t been there.
I do think they’ll keep Devers. The problem there is that like X he’s pretty much a DH that’s trying to play the field. Once the shift goes away next year they’ll have to cover their positions again. And trust me – you don’t want Devers playing 1B, he’ll mess up throws from the other infielders. So do they pay him what a real 2 way player gets? We’ll see.
Boston fans also don’t understand the Rays (and other teams) methods. It’s not about depth charts and finding all-stars at each position. It’s about bringing players in; having them work with the coaches on parts of their games; and having the manager use them in situations that they can produce in. Tampa’s position players work off of Franco; Milwaukee’s off of Yelich (if he gets back); Cleveland’s off of Jose Rameriz , etc. – in the same way that successful Cardinals teams worked off of Stan Musial, Dick Allen, Will Clark, George Hendrick, Albert Pujols, and others. Expect Chaim to migrate to a much better all-around defense; much better pitching – including starters only needing to throw 3-5 innings while turning it over to a deep bullpen.
While many Boston fans are entitled (though nothing like Yankee fans) there are a lot of smart ones that will be the first to see what’s happening and get behind it.
Everyone says Devers needs to move to DH, and I leaned that way as well, but he’s been fantastic this season so far (I know it’s early, but marked difference on both throws and range). I think he stays at 3B for at least a few more seasons and is an average defensive third baseman.
rsoxbob – You can count on taxes, death and Devers errors!! That’s a fact.
If a player goes 10 games without an error it’s a normal thing to most players but for Devers it’s always a sign that he is getting better people said that back in 2014 (8 years ago) when he was playing in the Gulf Coast League but he proved everyone wrong EVERY TIME they said it.
Any long streak of games without an error is followed by a bunch of errors compacted into a short time period to bring his average back to an error every five games. His .935 fielding percentage isn’t a lie. It happened not just in the majors but in the minors too.
Guys have been pointing out his improvement since I first complained in 2017 when he made 14 errors in a month and a half. Things aren’t going to change. What do you call watching the same event happen over and over and expecting a different outcome? Yep, insanity!!
Jeffrey Loria sold the chains for scrap after the first fire sale
I know this is the wrong spot to post this but what’s up with dodgers fans booing Jansen last night? After all those years and all he’s done for the franchise he gets disrespected like that. Smh, that’s a classless move by fans who usually are not like that.
Tooth Pick – It’s common for fans to boo former players that chose to sign elsewhere for more money, call it Jilted Lover Syndrome.
This is why fans don’t really root for players. In the words of The Great Seinfeld, fans root for laundry. They will immediately go from love to hate, or vice-versa, based purely on the uniform. It’s quite irrational.
FPG = Great quote!! Toothpick is right it is a classless move considering all he has done for the organization and they failed to make him an offer while focusing their efforts elsewhere. To me, it seemed like Friedman wanted him to opt out and go somewhere else.
His move is on Friedman not Jansen. For me, both Freeman and Jansen moved because their own team wasn’t doing anything to keep them.
Why? Because the dodgers wanted to wait and sign Jansen late into spring training so they could move around money? How long is a guy who spent a decade playing for the dodgers supposed to wait. The braves were his back up plan, kenely wanted to stay with la.
The remy tribute was AMAZING, but as most i was heartbroken don orsillo wasnt shown, or mentioned? how could jerrys co captain, friend who called 4 no hitters next to Remy, not be their? San diego couldnt get someone else to do todays game? heartbreaking… it was amazing otherwise, esp seeing how strong his wife is.
But the dark horse in the room is Nick Pivetta, he is just not doing it for this team, hes getting hit way to hard and just isnt the guy, esp when the team already has basically no pitching, i truly hope he figures it out now when the seasons brand new, otherwise i dont them doing much this year, after these first few weeks i can safely say this team is average, i see nothing so far thats blowing me away, kinda makes you realize outside of story, how little they did this offseason.
Remy’s wife is extremely strong, she has to be after all she’s been through with both Jerry and Jared.
Tom Caron mentioned Orsillo, btw
Dave O’Brien is truly awful, he has NO personality and is terrible as a fill in time/hang out with guests type personality, and i watch them nightly, you think 5 minutes is bad, try almost 4 hours, whats worse? orsillo left cause they wouldnt give him more money.
We’re almost ready for our next selloff… we’d be happy to unload some of our talent to the Sox for pennies on the dollar during this season’s Summer Clearance Sale.
remys a legend, ill always regret not meeting him, ive met some red sox legends such as varitek and nomar, but always wanted to meet jerry, never was given the chance, atleast not in this lifetime.
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Amanda, I’m sorry to say you probably didn’t miss out on much. Likewise, I was a huge Remy fan. I had seen him play as a very little boy. Then, as a teenager, I had, what I thought was great fortune to run into him in public. Just the two of us. I tried my best to not babble on, but told him what an honor it was to meet him after watching him as a little boy. He was so dismissive and rude to me, I was in shock. Now, many years later, I’m guessing he was probably having a bad day, or in a rush, but the little boy in me was crushed at the time. I never had the pleasure to meet Nomar or Varitek, but for both of them, have heard how welcoming and gracious both of them have always been to fans. Those two are legends, and deservedly so.
the red sox arent gonna ‘ sell off’ will they trade guys this july if they are COMPLETELY outta it? yes, of course, but they wont rip the team apart, trust me i want another 2012 dodgers trade scenario more than anyone, it just wont happen.
I’m not frustrated about exercising some fiscal restraint or taking a moment to rebuild a depleted farm system. What I find frustrating is that the core of this team in 2021-2022 is better than the product of most rebuilding/retooling cycles. It’s a place you’re typically supposed to be pushing chips in. There are a lot of players potentially leaving this coming offseason, and while the farm is now comfortably in the top half of MLB, it’s a year or two behind where it would need to be to capably fill several of the large group of holes. Half a lineup and half a rotation is a tall task. This year could be the best shot for a little while.
rhswanzey – Great observation!!! I’m known for not being positive but I lived through roughly half of the 86 years of drought. A once great team in their prime has been reduced to rubble so Bloom can claim a complete victory when the team wins again. That’s insane.
The 2018 team had six big contracts. Price who was brought to Boston to establish a strong #1 pitcher to compete with the Yankees, Sale, who turned out to be an even better #1 than Price, JD who was Papi’s replacement and did a great job after the obvious hole appeared after Papi retired, Bogaerts who took a team friendly contract, Betts who was the face of the franchise and Eovaldi who jumped from $2MM to $17MM because he was to replace Kimbrel as the closer.
By the start of next season, Price, Betts, Bogey, JD and Eovaldi will likely be gone. Sale could be if he gets healthy and pitches like Sale can and sees all his team mates leaving due to ownership not spending the money to keep the team competitive. So by 2023 all six big contracts could be gone and the next big contract that was to happen (Devers) too!!
Naturally, when you see a team win a championship in 2018 spending roughly $185MM on it’s players (Over $40MM was for previous mistakes prior to DD) and you hear that possibly all six top contracts will be gone providing over $143MM in payroll to be spent you have to wonder how Bloom could be using more than the $20MM over the old cap to put together such a mediocre team in 2022 AND what does that mean for 2023?
C – 2022 Vazquez 2023 Unknown
1B – 2022 Dalbec A cheap controlled player 2023 Casas or Dalbec
2B – 2022 Story an inappropriately positioned SS 2023 Arroyo, Kiki or who knows?
SS – 2022 Bogey A homegrown all-star 2023 Story
3B – 2022 Devers Worst fielding 3B in Red Sox history 2023 Who knows?
LF – 2022 Verdugo 2023 Verdugo
CF – 2022 Kiki a 2B playing out of position 2023 – Likely Kiki
RF – 2022 Arroyo a weak hitting 2B 2023 = who knows?
DH – 2022 JD one of the top DHs in baseball 2023 – Casas? Dalbec? who knows?
Bench – JBJ at $12MM
The offense is almost a complete uncertainty except Story at SS, Verdugo in LF
The pitching will be more stable. Sale will likely be back, Houck and Pivetta will be back, I think we’ll be stuck with Paxton and who knows how many starts he’ll give the team and since he hasn’t pitched in years who knows how good they’ll be.
So I am every bit as skeptical about the future of the Red Sox under the Bloom Plan (which actually seems to be lacking!!) Some people snark at DD but he had a plan and never exceeded the CAP with his active roster and won three divisions and a Ring in 4 years. To me that’s a HUGE step up from where the Red Sox are today or have been since Bloom arrived. It’s like the fan base doesn’t realize the team has been flushed down the toilet and after 3 years they keep looking up toward the light but the dark is quickly swallowing them as they exit the bowl and start to swirl into the dark sewage pipes below!!!
How’s that for an accurate yet very negative look at what’s coming? Hey, but the already fine farm system is better so it won’t be that many decades before the team will win the division again, let alone a ring!! Bloom and Cora have gotta go if winning is to be part of the Red Sox immediate future or even their long term future!!
DD does what DD does, very well. Under Cherington, the Sox developed a large group of positional players who graduated into regular roles. So as good as the acquisitions you mentioned were, they had Xander, Devers, Betts, JBJ, Vazquez and Benintendi all starting regularly or fairly regularly, all in pre-arb or arb years. I mean, that’s a phenomenal development success, to hit on all those players at once.
The Sox have a couple players in AAA ready to step into roles here next year, but nothing like that wave. That takes time.
KD17
RF – 2022 Arroyo a weak hitting 2B
=======================================
KD, I thought you’d have known this, but JBJ is our RF.
rhswanzey – I agree with your points but I have a slightly different perspective. As a GM, you evaluate what you have right now, what you have coming and what your prioritized needs are. I believe DD took advantage of the quality farm system players and allowed them to graduate, he took the players he felt might not translate into quality MLB players and dealt them for resources he needed immediately. Sale is the perfect example since Boston was short on pitching when DD arrived. Moncada was the #1 prospect but DD felt he was expendable since Devers played 3B as well and maybe he saw something in Moncada that suggested to him his #1 ranking was too high so dealing from a place of strength he used that over-stated ranking to get an elite pitcher. I thought it was brilliant on his part.
He had Betts, Bogaerts, Benny as young outstanding players who would improve over time. He had Papi in his last season. That season ended too early because of a need for a quality SP so he went out and got Sale. Without Papi, the 2017 Red Sox made the post season and lost to the cheating Astros so who knows if they would have won another ring if Houston hadn’t cheated. Clearly, there was a hole in the line-up so DD went out and got JD. He identified the issues and address them.
That’s why Bloom frustrates me so much. We’ve all identified the need for a SP after Price was let go. We all realize our hitting took a huge hit losing Mookie, the ideal lead=off man and gold glover in right field. Bloom did nothing to fix those two holes and still hasn’t. $73MM dropped off the payroll since he arrived and he didn’t dedicate a major portion of it to replace two all-stars he let go. There are two holes in the roster than have existed since January 2020. Not fixing those holes is a huge issue with the success of this GM. He basically took over a team in their prime and with more talent than almost every team in baseball. Nearly three years later, the best players are those he inherited and the once great team is a shadow of it’s old self. Left field has been down=graded, center field has been left empty but is being plugged by a 2B, right field where Mookie played is empty and being filled by a weak hitting 2B. 3B still sees the worst fielder in Red Sox history playing there. Shortstop is rock solid except he doesn’t want to keep him because he drafted a guy who he thinks can fill his shoes. The odds are against it but it could happen. 2B was supposed to be Pedroia in DD plan and now Bloom fills the spot with a temporary SS converted to 2B until his SS leaves guy while putting his mediocre fairly inexpensive 2B in Centerfield and his back-up 2B in right field.. I’ve lost count now, how many bandaids are being used right now?
DD planned a player at each position and if Machado doesn’t take out Pedroia that team could have been a dynasty for many years. Bloom appears to have no plan other than using HIS draft picks at SS and 2B when they are ready. Other than that I can’t name a player that I have confidence will be the player at a position going into the future. I’d like to think Dalbec will be the 1B or worst case the DH in the future but that’s not clear right now. Will Devers remain at 3B? Lets hope not but who knows if he decides to make him an offer he could be along with his two dozen errors. Heck, Eovaldi has done great but I have no confidence he’ll be back in 2023.
This is the problem. There is no plan. Also, as you pointed out there are some AAA players who could come up and help or not. First, will they get the Devers treatment or the Chavis treatment. That will dictate whether they will stay up. I think Casas is on the Devers treatment path so Dalbec will be moved without justification. Duran seems to be more of a Chavis treatment path guy who will be asked to play out of position and then cut after failing at his utility role.
Whatever happens with those AAA players, they won’t be stars soon and the guys behind them that are so highly touted are years away from being day to day players let alone all-stars.
We are in the tunnel seeing a light and it’s an oncoming train!!!
I would make the argument that Sale has been the starters pitching problem since signing that extension which has, to this point, been an unmitigated disaster. Sale went down before the start of the 2020 season after all the free agent signings so Bloom was left holding the bag. Yes there can be an argument that the Red Sox could of traded some prospects for pitching but in a shortened season it wasn’t prudent to do that. They knew that Sale was out in 2021 and there could be an argument that getting another starter would of been the prudent move at the deadline but still the Red Sox made it two games away from the World Series last year so something went right. Lets fast forward to this year Sale goes down right before the season again after all the best free agent pitchers have signed. once again an argument can be made that the Red Sox can deal from there farm system and didn’t at least not yet. The bottom line this teams starters look a lot better with a healthy Sale but that isn’t happening until at least June and who knows how he is going to look.
Its also important to remember the Red Sox aren’t the only team out there looking to improve in the offseason. There is a ton of parity in the baseball these days and lots of teams looking to improve its not as easy as going out and getting someone lots of teams unless you have a blank check like in Mets land and Dodgers land. Guess what DD isn’t exactly finding it easy in Philadelphia in getting the guys he wants. I just don’t think its easy as you think to get players unless you want to be the Mets and have a 300 million dollar payroll. The reality is the Red Sox are dealing with a budget and until this year Bloom really hasn’t had much room to deal with. A ton of money comes off the books next year lets see how the team is built next year so far he seems to be doing what I think he was brought in to do.
Bruin1012 – When Boston needed outfield this off season DD landed Castellanos and Schwarber. It still seems pretty easy for him to patch the holes that Bloom can’t patch.
If you can really call them outfielders they are really DH’s they are terrible fielders. I might if bought into Castellanos in left at Fenway defensively but he’s so bad defensively. You complain about Devers who has been bad but Castellanos has been unbelievably poor defender in the outfield.
Ignore KD he’s a troll.
Bruin1012 – I agree. Not my first choices but I’d rather have them than JBJ and Arroyo. Also, from a frequency of chances department, Bogey gets over 500 chances per year, Devers gets over 400 per year at .935 fielding percentage, Center field gets about 350 chances, Verdugo gets about 230 chances and Renfroe got about 280 chances. The position that gets the fewest chances is LF. based on 2021. Historically, on average, the shortstop fields twice as many chances as each outfielder with the 2B close behind then the 3B at about 100 less than the SS. Thus, Devers fielding percentage if applied to JD in LF would impact scores far less than Devers.
You can’t put the worst fielder at the 3rd most chances position. In Fenway, the weakest fielder would impact the team least playing LF. So if it’s a choice of Castellanos in LF or even JD in left field or Devers at 3B, the superior choice is playing a bad left fielder over a bad 3B.
It’s not Devers per se, it’s the fact that Devers plays a position with a lot of total chances and his fielding percentage impacts the team 3rd most. That’s not smart baseball. Philly needed people to protect Harper and now they have it. Problem identified and solved. We needed a #2 SP, we needed a 3B, we needed a Center Fielder, we needed a right fielder. NONE of the problems were solved by our GM. That’s my frustration. Like Belichick always says, DO YOUR JOB!! Bloom isn’t doing it from where I’m sitting.
ya but he wasnt PSYCHICALLY shown, or their, i didnt think john henry was either untill they showed him in the upper boxes.
Amanda, physically
i agree,
and while i hate to say it, they do need to sign a big free agent, not an aging 30+ i mean a GREAT player, like correa, while story is good to average, hes no superstar, that was 1 thing i liked about dave, he may have traded alot, but he went out and got EXACTLY what was needed, his mind set was, lets not worry about guys who might be good 6 years from now, ill trade them, get a superstar and we will win a championship.
and as i keep saying, the guys he traded to the white sox have done absolutely nothing
Bloom put together a pretty good team. We all know the offense is going to be good that’s probably a given. The outfield defense should be excellent and with the improvement of Bobby D on first base defense then that should really help the infield defense as well.
I think the relief pitching is going to be pretty good as well especially as they determine whom can be trusted but I see some pretty good arms out there. The starting pitching is a pretty big worry at this point but not really for what did in the offseason but it really comes down to Sale. Losing Sale before the start of the season really hurt the team. Evo has been great but the starting staff looks a lot different without Sale. A healthy Sale makes this a formidable rotation I would put up with any in the AL East but without him probably 3rd or 4th if healthy he makes that much of a difference. I’m not really sold on the rest of the AL East starters either so it will be interesting to see which staff emerges in this division it is probably the team who wins the division.
I do think the Red Sox have quite a bit of potential help and depth on the farm I don’t think they are quite Tampa yet in that area but there appears to be quite a bit of legitimate depth there. I really think Bloom is building that quite well.
Overall I give Bloom a B for what he did this off-season but this is with the caveat that he also appeared to keep an eye on the future by continuing to build that farm. The one big problem I see for all teams in the AL is there are so many good teams. I don’t see any great teams in the AL but there aren’t many pushovers either for this reason I could easily see the AL East teams beat each other up and a couple of them miss the playoffs I highly doubt that 4 teams from the East make the expanded playoffs. I think that whichever staff in the ALEast that is the least healthy out of Boston, NY, Toronto, and Tampa probably misses the playoffs this year.
Good post, covered a lot of my points so ill spare the board my own post
Id give him an A- in all honesty taking into consideration the induced cap from above
Some real smart inks here- Whitlock -amazing ext
Story- Will look like a steal after next year when the 6~7 big Ss deals are all inked and finalized
I think the 2023 Red Sox will be centered around pitching and D….They will give the young bats every opportunity they can to claim everyday roles. Some of it will be outta necessity and the rest will be apart of the plan to field a team that gives the Red Sox financial flexibility so they can beast when its time to beast. Teams on the up Imo I dont get the fans claiming cheap or the Bloom hate one bit
Id give him an A- in all honesty taking into consideration the induced cap from above
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I agree. This looks like a continuation from last year, where he is trying to win and build for the future, but without any high-risk long-term signings.
Bruin1012 – I give Bloom an F for FAILURE!!!!! He sucks at his job.
His off season was worse than the previous ones and they were terrible.
He over paid for Wacha, He overpaid for Paxton who won’t be any help this year. He grossly over paid for JBJ and gave up a much, much better player making 1/4 the payroll paid JBJ. These are all incredibly dumb decisions.
A GMs job is to give the Manager a set of resources that give him a chance to win. Bloom failed to do that for the third year in a row!!
C – No upgrade
1B – Didn’t need to do anything which is perfect since he never does
2B – Had 2 2Bs but chose to spend $23MM to get a lesser replacement at SS in 2023 AND having acquired a SS who can play 3B and finally retire the unused glove of Devers he has his numbskull manager put the new guy where they don’t need anyone, at 2B!!! HORRIBLE decision another GIANT F.
SS – One last year of Bogey then Story to fill gap to Mayer
3B – DID NOTHING when this was the BIGGEST NEED AREA on the team!!! He gets a F- for not moving Devers off 3B. I guess he figured why upset the immature kid by moving him when he’s not coming back.
LF – Needed nothing and did nothing. Again perfect for Bloom.
CF – Needed a real CF who could bat lead-off but chose to use a lifetime .241 hitter who plays 2B who is a square peg that he pounded into a round hole with a sledgehammer!!! This is a F for Bloom and an F- for Cora for not playing him at 2B and batting him 8th or 9th.
RF – Dumped the 4th best hitter in 2021 who only costs $3MM per year for the next two years for NOTHING!!! Yes another F for not getting a right fielder. Arroyo a weak hitting 2B is now a weaker hitting RF with no experience but Cora likes him so he plays.
DH – Need to move Devers here and didn’t so an F to both Bloom and Cora
That’s just the hitting – A complete bust by Bloom and Cora.
The only redeeming factor here is that Bloom inherited all-star level hitters in JD, Bogey and Devers. Take them out of the equation and Story is the only decent hitter unless Verdugo can continue on his hot start. The opportunity for upgrades were there from a need stand point and an available money stand point and Bloom failed miserably.
Pitching – Yep he made moves all right but they were bad ones. Wacha, Paxton and Hill for $22MM when Story cost $1MM more and is an all-star shows how badly he’s allocated his payroll. 1 player provides more value than three cheap ones for the same price!!
The core of the staff is Sale, Eovaldi, Houck and Pivetta so ONE good pitcher was needed along with some cheap depth. I’m talking under $5MM per year cheap depth not guys like Wacha and Paxton. BIG NEED was for a closer – DIDN’T HAPPEN!! Now the best stress pitcher Boston has had in recent memory has to close and all the mid game nightmares won’t be vanquished by Whitlock in 2022. I guess he saved money and downgraded the relief corp. Brilliant!! What a fine GM to not only fail on the SP side of the staff but to also drop the ball on the relief side of the staff.
Again the pitching is an F for Bloom meaning FAILURE!!!
You can spin things however your rose colored glasses choose to portray them but those of us based in reality see a big step down from a mediocre team in 2021. These teams of Bloom’s are like minor league teams compared to the DD years. And remember,
IT IS CRITICAL TO NOTE THAT BLOOM IS ACTUALLY SPENDING MORE MONEY FOR HIS TEAMS THAN DD DID!!!!
Yes, take away the Core DD Players and Bloom’s additions are negligible from a talent standpoint and contribution standpoint.
Your grade of B for Bloom what a joke!!! F for FAILURE is what any baseball fan would see without rose colored glasses. Trying to pump up the fans with make believe comments is noble of you but they deserve the hard truth!!
KD yes I absolutely agree with you if your vision is win at all costs right away then Bloom has failed. He hasn’t gone out and added the best free agent pitcher and hitter like DD did. If that is your measuring stick then yea Bloom failed.
I like DD and have never argued against him putting the team over the top he won a championship for crying out loud. DD was brought in to do a job and he did it. Bloom has been brought in to a much different job and he is doing that. I think he has a plan and he is executing it. I think he is doing a good job of keeping a competitive team on the field while building a juggernaut of a farm system that will have depth and be able to help the big league club on a very consistent basis very soon.
I like DD but the fact remains that DD spent over the lux tax 3 out of the 4 years he was in charge including the largest payroll in baseball in 2018. Arguing that Bloom is spending more then DD is a poor argument since salaries have skyrocketed and let’s face it owners like the Red Sox only care about the Lux Tax level of payroll. So poor argument there KD.
Let’s also not forget that Blooms team was a couple of wins away from the World Series last year he’s clearly doing something right. I don’t care how lucky you think they got the fact remains they nearly made the World Series.
I also think teams and I mean all teams are getting smarter and smarter making for a lot of parity in baseball. I mean even with the expanded playoffs teams like the Red Sox could miss the playoffs.
I don’t know what you have against Bloom and why it seems to be either your a DD guy or a Bloom guy but I think you just can’t see the forest through the trees.
Bruin1012 – Your facts are wrong about DD’s payroll and I’ll be happy to detail the each salary because RETAINED Payroll put the team over the limit not the spending DD did to fill his active roster. Let me know because i have a spreadsheet with the details. Facts that can’t be changed by your statement which is error.
To suggest last year’s team had a chance against a far superior Houston team is silly. The team last year far over-performed mostly due to the carryover players who were all-stars and the fact that they beat TB should make everyone ecstatic because they were the far lesser team.
Spending more than DD is a fact not an argument. It’s not debatable!! Inflation of salaries isn’t the issue because Bloom spent all that money on guys making less than $12MM until Story. Your argument is a misdirect and skews the real facts. Bloom is an out of control spender in a K-mart player pool. Your argument that inflation caused him to spend more is really silly considering the guys he’s acquired..
The forest I can’t see burned down with the Mookie deal. Let’s face it your argument for Bloom’s approach is that he will win eventually after everything is in place. Will he win One year? Two years? Do you really believe waiting 5 to 10 years for Bloom’s vision to happen is worth a single ring when you could do the same thing in 1 year with just a little bit of experience like DD had.
Why wait to win? It’s not noble. It’s not rewarding. It’s not logical to miss out on that many chances for a ring simply to pretend your farm system is somehow more virtuous than the one that produced so many great players over the last decade. It’s a total waste of time.
I suppose wasting a decade wouldn’t mean as much if I was in my twenties but wasting the last three years means a lot to me. The team may have done better than expected in 2021 but it’s basically the same team that won the equivalent of 67 games in 2020. The only upgrade from the 2020 team was Whitlock and now Story. This year is no lock to be like last year. It could resemble 2020 more because the events of the year dictate the outcome.
Take a World Champion and add a bad manager who screws up Spring Training and a few key injuries and a team far greater than the one today had a terrible year and then got completely dismantled as a potential dynasty. Just remember if the remaining all-stars from that potential dynasty hadn’t helped pull up the slugs that Bloom brought to the team there is no way the 2021 team sees the post season!!, Now, think about how great the 2021 would have been with the original stud team that won in 2018? Yep, 2021 could have easily been another ring with the original crew. Bloom gets no credit for improving things to make the playoffs.
Some people in life are doers and some are planners. Bloom is a planner and apparently you are too. I’m not. I like guys who get things done like DD did. Bloom had his chance and blew it. He got back $73MM of payroll that rolled off the books or he traded away and he used every bit of it for crap players. His first quality acquisition in his 30th month as GM was Story. That alone should convince you he’s doing a bad job. Who spends 2 1’/2 years researching cars before they buy one? Or a house? Or pretty much ANYTHING? All I ask is that he do his job NOW not some time in the future. He gets no points for being methodical in a fast paced baseball environment.
Seriously KD you are going to make the argument that DD was saddled with a high payroll and Bloom wasn’t. I know you think that DD walks on water but I have news for you Bloom was saddled with a high payroll when he took over and the fact remains that this is the first year that Bloom has gone over the Lux tax. Its also a fact that DD was over in three out of 4 of the years he was the Head of Baseball operations its not arguable its a fact. Its also a fact that DD and Chaim were hired to do different things. DD inherited a good farm and did what ownership wanted to do and that was win a championship. Bloom is doing what he was hired to do he was hired to build a self sustaining team he is doing what ownership wants. You don’t have to agree with it and obviously you don’t and that’s OK but there is more then one way to skin a cat. Last year was the first year really, I completely discount the 2020 60 game season, that Blooms team was on the field and they made it two games from the World Series and that’s a fact. The year that DD won the World Series the Red Sox had by far the biggest payroll and that is a fact.
I know it doesn’t matter what I say you have made up your mind so lets agree to disagree.
Bruin1012 – Lets at least end with the facts correct about the payroll.
2018
ACTIVE PAYROLL – $167,955,780
INJURED PAYROLL – $18,074,000
TOTAL PAYROLL under DD control – $186,029,780.
Retained Payroll PRIOR to DD’s arrival – $41,210,860
Deferred Payroll PRIOR to DD’s arrival – $2,003,389
The number you reference for spending in 2018 $227,240,640
Now these are facts and DD was well under the first threshold of $208MM. You stand corrected.
Not sure how to do the Bloom numbers because 2020 everything got prorated or eliminated in the case of the $16MM for Price.
According to Spotrac the equavalent number for Bloom contolled money spent including his trades that led him to pay a dozen player’s salaries who weren’t on the team is $209,596,928 less Peddy’s retained salary and Peddy and Manny’s deffered salary of $13,750,000 and $4,018,452 for a Bloom spent figure for 2021 of $191,828,476.
DD 2018 – $186,029,780
Bloom 2021 – $191,828,476
So last year’s team cost roughly $5MM more than the World Championship team of 2018. If we compared the rosters I believe we would find that DD’s big six contracts worked better than Bloom’s big four contracts because he spent less and had more talent.
My concern is 2022.
As of April 22, Bloom spending is at:
$243,748,301 which is $13,748,301 over the first threshold
Trading a big contract will need to happen to get back under the CAP.
Bogey or JD seem the most likely but the longer they wait the less that will fall off the books and they need over $13MM to fall off the books.
Last point but this scares me more than 2022!!
2023 – Boston has only
Sale at $25.6MM
Bogey at $20MM until he opts out
Story at $23.33MM
Barnes at $9.375MM
Diekman at $4MM
Whitlock at $4.688MM
That’s roughly $85MM WITH BOGEY.
So the team will be roughly $135MM under the first threshold
Of course, all controlled players would be paid from that amount reducing it by $20MM or so and arbitration players would also be paid out of that so until Bloom signs players for 2023 the team will have over $100MM of available money under the cap.
This is why I wanted to give Bogey a 1 time bump of $30MM to finish his current contract with his last 3 years being at $30MM. Then, when Mayer comes up the Red Sox can trade Bogey whose AAV would be $20MM due to the one time bonus rather than a raise. Team would give much better prospects for a $20MM Bogey versus a $30MM Bogey.
Because Bloom shares nothing, nobody knows where this team will be going in 2023 or whether the money will be spent. If we assume it will be spent will the historical trend of $12MM or less be the norm or will we do like other big market teams and go for all-stars not cheap guys.
The future is very scary. I hope we can put the money debate to rest. Bloom is spending very high amounts of money but has only one all-star to show for it. He can bring back the entire team next year if he wants to but I don’t get the sense that he does. Do you think he will? It appears Story has replaced Bogey in 2023 at SS. If so, does it make sense to continue killing the pitchers with Devers’ defense? Will Devers take a 6 year deal? If so, will it be an over-pay above $25MM per year for a DH?
Thanks for the chat. I know we don’t agree on much but I think we both want whats best for the team.
i agree with alot of that, but please DONT give bloom credit for pivetta, hes not good and not for this division, hes getting absolutely slammed, im not sure what happened to him, he wasnt that good last year but this has been a disaster
like i said the red sox so far have been nothing but mediocre, im glad its early, but so far they are nothing but a beatable 2nd wildcard team, my expectations werent that high this year anyways
im not a blue jays fan, yet i have them winning the division
A lot of people have the Blue Jays going from not making the playoffs one year to winning the WS the next. Really? I’d be more temperate with those predictions; that’s not something that often happens. I’d wait until the Blue Jays show they can actually make the postseason before I’d predict them winning there.
I have the Div going
Sox,
MFY (WC),
Tor/TB tossup,
Baltimore.
The Red Sox are interesting. If they hover around .500 this season will they give in to fan pressure and buy, or stay the course and build for the future? That leads into next offseason when they will have some tough decisions to make on home grown fan favorites who are getting expensive. I believe a lot of eyes will be on them as the first successful, large market team to truly buy into this approach. If it works, other organizations are sure to follow. If they fall flat, business as usual will continue in the large markets and the Rays mystique will only grow.
DonOsbourne – Let me ask you since you finished with a TB comment. If TB was genius before Bloom left and they are genius after Bloom left and Boston won 3 Divisions and a Ring before Bloom arrived and have been very mediocre for 3 years under Bloom, WAS BLOOM THE GENIUS in TB or is he the guy that attends Harvard and graduates at the bottom of his class with an IVY LEAGUE credential?
People keep talking up the guy but the team’s talent level is down, their spending is up and their success has disappeared so I’m thinking that’s not a good thing. Am I wrong? Shouldn’t we have expected great moves like TB is still making when Bloom showed up in Boston and how many years of not seeing them does it take to get rid of the guy?
KD17;
The logic of your putdown comment about Chaim could also fit Click in Houston, or Matt Arnold – the Brewers ass’t GM.
I don’t think you understand how Tampa’s FO works…..
They use a Total Quality Management (TQM) type of style in which all department head-type people discuss issues and try to reach a consensus about decisions (which they also clear with ownership when large amounts of money is involved). Chaim has brought that form of management to the Red Sox. He’s no more sitting around giving orders to underlings than Neander is. The have an ORGANIZATION.
The people employed by them are constantly modifying and perfecting their processes. What the Rays do the Dodgers do not; nor do the Red Sox or Astros. Because each organization is working with its people who are working with their people – coaches, scouts, analytic people, etc. who in turn are constantly perfecting their processes.
Ignore KD!! He is a troll.
Samuel – Very familiar with TQM from my years at Anheuser Busch and IBM. There are benefits to be gained by using such an approach. I assume what you said is true and if so that helps explain why their collaboratve approach has helped them compete against teams with more money.
Having watched TQM installed at two fairly large organizations it will be interesting to see if Bloom can last through the experience. It did not happen over night in either company. As a fan who just watched the team win 4 times in 15 years it is difficult to wait for the transformation to happen while the non=winning continues. It’s especially hard since during the success of the Red Sox the Patriots provided years of winning as well. The 86 year drought certainly impacts those of us who lived through a major portion of it more than those who experienced 4 rings in their first 20 years of life!!
Great response. Thanks; I didn’t know about the TQM approach in TB.
Well none of the larger market teams operate like the Rays really, because they don’t have to. Tampa’s model includes fantastic player development and a ruthless (call it cheap if you want) commitment to never get stuck paying for a players down years. The Rays utilize their players during their mid to late 20s, and they never get stuck paying for and playing aging players, because aging players eventually all lose their skills, the rare player who excels late into their 30’s notwithstanding.
The Rays excel in trading players at the right time and identifying prospect returns that have talent they can use. They follow the model that it’s better to trade a guy a year too early than a year too late. They rarely have superstars at any position, but they are 3 or 4 deep in quality options at almost every position, so if a guy doesn’t produce, gets hurt or gets moved for prospects they just plug the next guy in with little or no downgrade. It’s a different way to build your roster, but it works great.
This is the key to the Rays success, accumulating masses of quality prospects by trading valuable starting players. Most teams won’t trade their players while they’re at peak value, where you often see the Rays trading in-demand guys who have success initially with their new teams. This way they cherry-pick the prospects they want from other teams, since they are willing to offer the fully-developed players that are in high demand. The larger market teams can pay the guys the Rays developed full price for a good season or two before they decline, while the Rays get back multiple guys who can contribute to the major league roster and cost the minimum. They’re just playing a different game than most of baseball, and it works.
GinaNCRaysFan;
The Rays owner made his fortune on Wall Street. He understood the philosophy of when to buy and sell.
As J.P. Morgan once said when asked how he made so much money in the markets, he replied:
“I never bought at the bottom or sold at the top. I always bought near the bottom and sold near the top. I figured the other guy could make some money too”.
People that buy at the top are referred to as “bagholders”. The fits A.J. Peller perfectly.
I look back at things that I sold too early to see if there are lessons to be learned. But I never lament the fact that I didn’t wait for top dollar. Too much can go wrong. For every time you miss another 20% run-up, there will be a time that you also avoided a reversal.
And there are times that you sold, and missed the 20% run-up. But also invested the proceeds in something that did even better.
Chaim made some smart moves with a bunch of upside 1 year deals, and a cheap 2 year for Diekman.
In addition to smart moves, he signed Trevor Story.
Best SN Ever – If you don’t win during the 1 year deal what makes it great?
Likewise, if you don’t win during Diekman’s 2 years why is it a great move?
Both guys will play such a minor role on a mediocre team calling it great or smart seems like an exaggeration of it’s importance..
Wouldn’t you prefer to bundle all the low cost deals into a single acquisition like Starling Marte because we needed a CF and leadoff hitter or Castellanos because we needed a corner outfielder or Kimbrel since we needed a closer.
I believe one all-star is worth more than the 5 slugs Bloom contracts for the same price. Back-fill with cheap guys but build your foundation with all-stars and the money will take care of itself. I’ve shown many times how it’s effective to spend 2/;3 of your money on six legitimate all-stars and then fill with the farm system guys and inexpensive guys like Pillar or Renfroe.
Story wasn’t exactly a smart move. Don’t get me wrong, I love that we got Story because he’s a perfect fit for 3B but we are letting Devers play 3B so throw the season out the window because we aren’t trying to compete with that clown playing 3B. He’s not even a good HS 3B after 8 years in professional baseball.
Also, Trevor is a cheaper way to buy time until Mayer arrives. Basically, Bloom has put everything on hold until HIS guys arrive. Yorke and Mayer are his future but in the meantime we the fans are getting screwed with mediocre inexpensive players who lack talent. Story has been the exception but they still screwed it up by not playing him where we need him most. Also, the Story deal sealed Bogey’s fate. Rather than bump Bogey to a fair salary, they got a guy willing to take a contract with low pay early in the contract and an opt out when Mayer is ready. So Story is a temp too. All so HIS GUY can be the star on the team in 3 years, hopefully long after he is fired.
KD17
His off season was worse than the previous ones and they were terrible.
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So you predicted 65 wins last year, and you think this off-season was worse than last off-season. So what’s your prediction for this season?
You left out that KD spent the entire 2021 season bashing Cora for moves that turned the 65 win talent into 92 wins,
KD is a troll who needs to be ignored.
Jmi – agreed! KD is a troll who is always WRONG! He predicted 65 wins (which was 27 wins short of what they accomplished plus an ALCS). KD wanted to “spit in Cora’s face”. KD troll is wrong nearly 100 percent of the time! Lol troll.
When you say that a team stinks, and they don’t, you’re wrong.
Let’s see what happens over more than 12 games. OK?
Last year was one missed strike call from going big up on the Astros. Don’t forget that.
They didn’t stink last year and they don’t stink this year.
Give it time.
Go outside.
Take a walk.
Whistle a tune.
Step away from the computer.
KD is a troll ignore him.
whyhayzee – I don’t want them to stink but lets be fair, it’s relative. They aren’t Baltimore bad but for a Red Sox team they stink. Compared to 2018, they stink. Last year’s aberration was just that, a group of guys inherited from DD that carried a bunch of slugs bargained for by Bloom to the post season. Good fortune allowed them to slip past an unsuspecting TB team and then the hammer came down when a much better Houston team clobbered them. If they play them ten times I don’t think they win one series. Not because I’m a Houston fan but because Houston had FAR more talent. Now if Bloom had replace Mookie with a comparable player and got a #2 SP to replace Price and a LF to replace Benny (it’s so hard to match up which Bloom guy to match with Verdugo) I tend to match Mookie because Verdugo was to play RF but Renfroe played there and Cordero who Benny was traded for wasn’t even on the team by the time they were in the playoffs. So, bottom line, if the talent level was comparable to 2018 they would have beaten HOU but it wasn’t and isn’t in 2022.
As a fan, that’s all I want. Don’t deplete the resources and promise winning. I wanted Bloom to add to the team when he took over not tear it down like he did. We all know it wasn’t a money issue so Bloom should tell the public he’s doing things his way so he can take credit if on the long shot something good happens. Unfortunately, he tore down a dynasty type team in their prime to do it his way. He and I still have the same number of rings so I’ll take DD over him any day. It’s 3 years later and his way doesn’t work.
Price is another DD contract that hasn’t aged very well. I’m not going to disparage DD because he won 2018 but that Price contract didn’t age well either. More importantly it was clear that when things turned in 2019 he didn’t want to be Boston, if really ever wanted to be, it was clear he wasn’t going to pitch in 2020 and he wasn’t good in 2021. That was an albatross contract as well as the Sale extension has been so far. Let’s be real Price hasn’t been worth the 16 million that the Dodgers have paid for him getting the Dodgers to eat half that contract certainty hasn’t worked out for the Dodgers. It’s at best a push for DD and he had to overpay to get him and no one not even you can argue that contract aged very poorly. It’s hard to add another number two when you have 46 million a year wasted on a poor extension and a contract that aged badly. That isn’t on Bloom but it surely handcuffed him.
I’m going to let you know what really happened because I remember it well. Eckersley was doing a the broadcast and Erod was doing a rehab start in AAA he got shelled and Eck simply said yuck when reading his pitching line from that game. Price took offense to that and went after Eck on the team plane. Price was apparently sticking up for his teammate and verbally attacked Eck asking him who he is he’s just announcer that sort of thing. I don’t think Eck responded with any kind of racist comment but the running joke was apparently Price didn’t know Eck was a hall of famer. So basically he attacked Eck for saying Yuk to Eddie’s pitching line. Price is a complete jackass never wanted to pitch for Boston, Boston had to overpay to get him to come there and he.basically quit in the team 2019. He forced his way out in 2020. His contract has aged very, very poorly.
KD there was no fixing that incident Price went after a Red Sox institution and hall of famer after that he was done. No coming back from that. I choose Eck 100 out of 100 times over that whiny little girl Price. I’m pretty sure most of Red Sox nation would.
I like Price. He seems like a stand-up guy. Maybe he didn’t pursue the best possible course of action, but I applaud him for standing up for a teammate.
And he seems like a bright guy, so I assume he know Eck was a HOF player.
That said, it was genius to dump his contract on LAD.
I also was watching that game. and many others. Eck liked E-Rod and was ready to say something positive but wasn’t prepared for such a bad showing . When you listen to Eck talk about Eck you get the idea he never got anyone out.
Bruin1012 – Did the comment by Eck happen in 2017 and then it got rehashed in 2019? Was the plane ride in 2017 or 2019?
Again more unhinged and baseless attacks on Devers. Then giving a full throated defense to Price. How you can say what you are saying non ironically and essential blame others for Price’s actions and decline is pretty ridiculous KD. again everything you say is the height hypocrisy.. When Devers allegedly “underperforms” in your eyes it’s all his fault but when price does so it’s everyone else’s fault from ownership down to the manager.
Ignore KD he is a troll.
Better still, turn on your screen and watch Tanner and the Sox win today against the ‘powerhouse’ team.
Red Sox had great momentum at the end of 2021, but instead of resigning Jose Iglesias and Schwarber, Bloom decides to wait until everybody else is gone and spend his money on an overrated shortstop who has been hitting reasonably in the thin air of Denver. Until Bloom is DFA,d Boston will be nothing more than mediocre. Wake up John Henry!