Alex Verdugo’s name surfaced in trade rumors around the deadline, with at least one unknown AL team reportedly having interest in the Red Sox outfielder. WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports that the Yankees and Astros had some talks with the Sox about Verdugo, but naturally no deal was completed. The Astros instead focused on adding pitching (Justin Verlander and Kendall Graveman) at the deadline but have gotten a lineup boost from Michael Brantley’s return from the injured list, while the Yankees only made a couple of lower-level bullpen additions. While it has been an inconsistent season for Verdugo, New York’s decision to not add any batting help backfired, as the near team-wide hitting slump in August sunk the Yankees’ playoff chances.
Boston’s deadline strategy over the last two seasons has been the subject of criticism, and undoubtedly factored into the team’s decision to fire chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom earlier this week. With the Red Sox on the outskirts of the wild card race in both seasons, Bloom didn’t pursue a clear selling-or-buying direction in either year, opting for a more cautious approach rather than going all in on contending or moving any high-profile names.
Most surprisingly, Bradford also reported that Bloom turned down an unknown club’s offer to acquire Chris Sale and all of the remaining money on Sale’s contract at the 2022 deadline. “The Red Sox wanted better players than were offered and no deal was done,” Bradford writes, yet an argument can certainly be made that getting Sale’s salary off the books would’ve represented enough of a win for the Sox that the player return might have been a secondary concern. Sale is making $27.5MM this season and in 2024, with a $20MM club option for 2025 that looks very unlikely to be exercised given how Sale has struggled with injuries over the last few seasons.
Here’s more from around the AL East…
- The Yankees placed left-hander Anthony Misiewicz on the seven-day concussion IL today while reinstating righty Ian Hamilton from the 15-day IL. Misiewicz was carted off the field yesterday after being struck in the head with a Ji Hwan Bae line drive, but manager Aaron Boone told the YES Network today that Misiewicz was released from hospital and “all things considered, I think he’s doing pretty well.” More will be known once Misiewicz undergoes further testing, and while there is no timetable for concussion-related symptoms, it would seem like Misiewicz’s season might be over. The southpaw has a 9.00 ERA over 11 total innings with the Diamondbacks, Tigers, and Yankees this season, and Friday’s game marked Misiewicz’s third game in the pinstripes since being claimed off waivers from Detroit back in July. Hamilton returns after a minimal 15-day absence due to a groin strain.
- Ryan Mountcastle isn’t in the Orioles’ lineup today, and hasn’t played since leaving Wednesday’s game due to left shoulder discomfort. Manager Brandon Hyde told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters that Mountcastle was feeling “just okay” when trying to take some swings yesterday, and was hopeful Mountcastle might be available to pinch-hit in today’s game.
- Blue Jays reliever Adam Cimber will start a Triple-A rehab assignment today, manager John Schneider told The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath and other reporters. A pair of shoulder-related injuries have limited Cimber to 20 2/3 innings this season, and he hasn’t pitched due to June 18 due to an impingement in his right shoulder. This lengthy stint on the 60-day IL means that Cimber will need a few rehab games to ramp up, but he should be able to return to the Jays’ bullpen before the season is through. After posting a 2.53 ERA over 142 1/3 innings with the Marlins and Blue Jays in 2021, Cimber has only a 7.40 ERA this year, though his shoulder issues have likely contributed to those struggles.
After I mentioned here the Sale trade proposal twice, it’s finally written about. Haha!
The “unknown club” was the Rangers.
Was Scherzer a fallback for Sale or were the Rangers trying to acquire both?
Larry – It was last year’s trade deadline. They were looking for an ace heading into this season, when the trade didn’t happen they turned to deGrom in the offseason.
Hard to believe they wouldn’t unload the Sale contract. I am not a big fan of reports based on anonymous sources.
Suit – In this instance I will defend Bloom by saying it’s bullcrap how the Sox front office has a habit of leaking negative reports about those who have left the organization.
The Sox radio announcers reported it on air at the start of today’s game, and used it as a reason to justify Bloom’s firing. I’m not a Bloom fan, but kicking him on the way out was low. They had over a year to release the report, but waited until now? Disgusting.
BTW Remember Bloom refused to trade JD to the Mets for the same reason. His negotiating skills suck, hence one reason why teams didn’t bother dealing with him after 2020.
Fever: Spot on regarding the timing of this. Didn’t this type of thing happen to Francona on the way out too?
Suit – Yes, addicted to painkillers and living in a hotel separated from his wife because of his affair. Both true, but releasing the info was low.
I still can’t forgive Lester for the beer and chicken. After all Tito did for him. I expected it from Lackey. Tito is a great guy. He deserved better from many people.
There is nothing about this that is true…. just more made up speculation…. if it was true it would have come out long ago and from multiple sources. And of course, Jon Heyman would have been the first to report…. lol
Coop – If nobody from the Rangers or Sox front office leaks the story, how would it possibly come out? Most leaks occur when players or agents have the information, I doubt Sale or his agent were ever told.
Does the President of operations do all the legwork? I always thought that was the GM’s job and the PoO just signed off on it.
Fun – The GM and other front office members do the legwork, then it’s presented to the POBO for decisionmaking. The POBO makes all the final decisions, the GM position is now a shell of what it used to be.
Before the GM was the highest baseball ops position, now it’s 2nd-highest.
Why it says it was last year. The rangers weren’t looking to add last year were they. I could see this year but the report about sale is for last year
Pauly – Rangers obviously had Sale targeted for this year, considering they made the offer 2 weeks after he broke his finger.
Sale goes no where unless “He” wants to. Full No trade clause in his contract.
Fun – True, but usually NTC are a way to receive additional compensation. Sale likely would have accepted the trade if the Rangers agreed to pick up the option without the vesting stipulation.
Man, if this is true, then bloom needs to rehired just so they can fire him again
And what’s the logical outcome if they had accepted the trade last year? Having off-loaded Sale’s salary and created an opening in the rotation they likely would have gone after a replacement on the free agent market, with the likeliest pitcher they would have gone after being Carlos Rodon. So the end result wouldn’t have improved the Sox one but this year, and likely saddled them with a high priced questionable pitcher for multiple years into the future instead of the one they currently have remaining with Sale.
Ken – It’s impossible to go “what if”. One thing is certain, Sox would have been in a better draft position and been better able to sign free agents because they would have been under the threshold last year. But I can’t picture them signing Rodon. More likely someone such as Heaney.
Right. You can’t see Rodon because you know he had a horrible season. That’s the problem with most of the after the fact criticism Bloom got, it all comes with knowing how things turned out and blaming him for not knowing that before hand. Rodon most certainly would have been who everyone wanted the Sox to go after in this scenario. Heck, even without trading away Sale many were clamoring for them to sign Rodon.
Just like your fantasy scenario in the article on here about Bloom being let go where you said he could have not traded Betts, signed him to an extension and still gotten under the CBT limit in 2020. That was NEVER a possibility. If they kept Betts they would have been over the limit that year.
King – Your facts are incorrect.
The Red Sox were at $328MM for 2020 when Bloom was hired. He had JBJ who could have been non-tendered for $11MM dropping the number to $317MM. Then when Price opted out due to COVID the total dropped by $32MM to $185MM. So whether DD was in Boston or Bloom was in Boston COVID and Price made getting under the CAP a GIVEN in 2020. The premature dealing of Mookie didn’t allow for anyone to know they were going to be under the CAP no matter what. If Bloom plays his cards differently, like an experienced GM he deals Mookie at the deadline to the desperate NL teams fighting it out for resources to edge out the other two. LAD got Mookie in FEB giving them the edge and a RING. We got didley because the three slugs are no better than other slugs making comparable money so there was no added value whether they had 1 year of control or 20 years of control. If comparable or better players are available at the same price or cheaper then there is no value on the Boston side of the deal.
Also, in 2018 BOSTON made over $330MM in profits and by 2020 they had made close to $2.5 billion in the previous decade. The luxury tax at $328MM is $10MM due to it being the 3rd year and 50% tax. The JBJ contract would have saved $11MM if he had been non-tendered in DEC 2019 so that savings was more than enough to cover the luxury tax if BOS couldn’t reduce their payroll from $328MM.
You are thinking like a consumer not a big market team. I’ve mentioned this many times before. The luxury tax to the billionaires that own the Red Sox is as financially impactful to them as the sales tax is to you for a pizza. It simply isn’t even a consideration because the money is insignificant in the big picture.
Fever – If in fact the Sale potential trade actually existed and Bloom didn’t think he was getting enough then he either believed Sale would come back as the old Sale or he simply didn’t like the slugs being offered because they weren’t from Friedman. We’ve already seen that he has no ability to deal for good slugs so the deal would have been a money dump and maybe he didn’t want to look as stupid as he did in the Mookie deal.
Frankly, the Sale deal should have been taken if we knew for sure Bloom would have been fired the following SEP because the extra money can be used by a knowledgeable GM.
I was hoping Texas would try to deal for Sale because their pitching coaches are far superior under Boche than the Red Sox pitching coaches. He might have come back throwing better than ever and Boston would have had money to buy two free agent top of the rotation starters.
In 2022 Boston for the first time since 2020’s reset went over the CAP. I didn’t understand what you meant about being about to sign better free agents if they had been under the threshold last year.
My view is that Bloom, not money, stopped the signing of quality free agents. Going over the CAP in year 2 would have been even dumber than going over the CAP in year 1 and finishing last in the division if the team once again finished last in 2023. The penalties though are insignificant from a money perspective and even a draft pick perspective in Year 2 of going over the CAP. So what exactly did you mean?
To put the loss of a draft pick into perspective, the Res Sox only selected 1 star player with draft picks in the last 10 years (unless Casas or someone else DD picked turns out to be another Mookie) so losing a draft pick if you go over the CAP too many times is like losing a lotto ticket. Yes, the ticket could have won you millions or provided you with a star player but the odds are so stacked against it that the real value of that pick is minimal.
As long as Bloom was running the show, there was no need for money to get quality players because that was against his religion. No top dollar expenditures for quality players. He made an exception or was forced to make an exception with Devers and Boston will regret that deal for at least half a decade. He went big with Story which made absolutely no sense considering he had Bogey and Story was hurt and he spent big on Yoshida despite knowing he couldn’t field.
Bloom had a terrible track record when spending big money so freeing up Sale’s $25.6MM for two years wasn’t going to land a great pitcher, he would have got six or seven Kiki equivalents!! That was his wheelhouse. Cheap crap that MIGHT play above the depressed payroll amount. Dumpster diving. He loved it. .
@Kingken, I can’t see Rodon because there is no way Blooms signs a big contract.
King – Wow, this is too funny. You are apparently oblivious to the fact I actually defended Bloom in my first sentence by saying it’s impossible to go “what if”. Bloom was betting that Sale would have a strong comeback this year, I don’t fault him for that. I also believed it was a possibility.. If Sale did, would the rejected trade have been announced yesterday and painted as a good move by Bloom? Of course not.
BTW – I don’t think Sale’s strong performance yesterday was a coincidence, he was probably pissed how the announcers painted the rejected trade offer as a bad thing. Sale didn’t even have a good fastball yesterday, staying mostly around 89-90 MPH.
As for Rodon, my comment had nothing to do with hindsight and everything to do with the fact that Bloom wouldn’t have engaged in a bidding war for his services. That’s a fact. If Sale was traded I would hope Bloom would have pursued Senga, but again he was never one to engage in bidding wars.
And BTW I mentioned Heaney in large part because he was cheaper and Bloom was infatuated with his peripherals. You don’t believe me? Here’s proof of Bloom’s interest in him, now don’t you feel silly:
mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/andrew-heaney-has-three…
@Fever, You mentioned his pitch speed. This is at least 2 games in row where his velocity is down. I think there’s a red flag there!
King – Your last sentence about needing to trade Mookie to get below the tax threshold that year is a flat out lie that Bloom spread to try and justify the trade. As I said before, they could have traded someone else – Xander or JD for example – along with Price at 50% and still gotten below the threshold.
Mookie earned $27M that year.
Red Sox were $23M below the threshold.
Add Mookie’s $27M and subtract either JD’s salary of $22M or Xander’s salary of $20M and they would STILL be under the threshold. Heck, even if they didn’t dump any of Price’s salary they’d STILL be under the threshold.
It saddens me when people such as you blindly believe everything you’re told by the Red Sox front office. It didn’t click in your head that maybe, just maybe, Bloom was telling lies for PR purposes? Seriously?
And BTW another Bloom lie was “We need to reset the LT payroll in 2020 so we can spend again in 2021”. That led fans to believe 2020 would be the only year they go cheap.
But guess what? They didn’t spend in 2021 either, staying below the threshold yet again despite the fact they had one of the best records in MLB right up thru July. So Bloom can blame himself for not adding more talent to the 2021 team, they likely would have won a World Championship if he had done so.
Yeah it’s not often I feel Bloom should be defended, but with the Sale trade he definitely should be. Like I said to King, if Sale had a strong rebound season the announcers never would have mentioned the rejected trade. It’s clearly a front office leak to discredit Bloom, something which quite honestly is not needed with all of his real blunders that are well documented.
DBH – Exactly, the bidding got way too high for a pitcher with a history of injuries.
DBH – Agreed, the inflammation is probably still there and he’s trying to pitch through it.
Great post!!!
To answer your question, there were several penalties for the Sox going over the threshold last year … including losing their 2nd and 5th picks in this year’s draft if they had signed a free agent who had rejected a QO (one of the reasons Bloom wouldn’t have signed Rodon).
nbcsportsboston.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/tomase-sox-…
In exceeding the threshold for the first time since 2019, the Red Sox will incur a series of penalties. They’ll be taxed 20 percent on their overage, which works out to roughly $900,000. If they lose a free agent who rejected a qualifying offer — this may only apply to Bogaerts — they’ll receive a fourth-round pick instead of a second-rounder. If they sign such a free agent, they’ll lose their second and fifth picks in the draft. They’ll also lose $1 million in international bonus money.
Right you are! If signing big name players puts a team over the threshold, it doesn’t matter as long as the team’s net income increases.
I keep telling everyone here, first and foremost John Henry is a businessman whose main priority is making as much money as possible. Bigger profits is what he views as “winning”, not division championships or World Series titles. They just happen to go hand in hand for the Red Sox.
Sorry @ Fever Pitch but home run Heaney would have been eaten at Fenway….
The trade I heard between the Yankees and Sox was Verdugo for Schmidt.
Joe – Would have been funny seeing Verdugo in pinstripes at Yankee Stadium considering past issues of crap being thrown at him there.
I thought the same thing when I heard it.
I read why Cora benched Verdugo twice and it seemed weak. I’d be champing at the bit to get out of Boston if I were Verdugo.
nosake – Was it Verdugo showing up late, or did you read something different?
Showed up 2 hours before a game rather than the customary 5. The other “violation” was failure to show enough hustle in the field.
Wit Merrifield saved the Witless V.G.jr. from perhaps costing the Jays the game. What a hoot. Thank god they have that start on second in extras.
Prck – Perhaps Sox fans should lay off calling Rafaela an “elite” centerfielder, as he cost today’s game by totally botching that play. But it won’t show in defensive stats because it was ruled a triple thanks to new MLB rules on scoring.
Not from me man. JbJ made errors too, he was still best defensive cf I ever saw.
Ceddanne is elite i cf
DBH and Fever – A 20 year old making an error sounds fixable. Watching the kid play, he looks to have Mookie type potential. Same for Anthony. I haven’t been this excited about a future outfield since BETTS< BENNY and JBJ or YAZ, Smith and Tony C.
Duran, Rafaela and Anthony has a nice ring to it!!!
Fred Lynn, Dewey, and Jim Rice.
Yaz sometimes too! Hah! Loved watching Yaz try to crash through the Monster and then yelling at Zimmer for even thinking of coming out of the dugout to check on him.
And you Yaz, Rice and Dewey had CANNONS! Lynn didn’t need one, he was a human vacuum cleaner out there.
oh, i think i am getting a woody hehe
The Killer Bees were fun to watch, too.
But Rice, Lynn, Dewey??? Ya, I’ll take them any day!
DBH – JBJ is the reason Rafaela shouldn’t be called “elite”, because JBJ was truly elite and made very very few errors. Rafaela totally misplayed the ball, coming in several steps before realizing the ball would go far over his head. I can never, ever recall JBJ making that kind of egregious mistake.
All too often fielders are mislabeled as “elite” because they can make spectacular plays. However truly elite players make the ordinary plays 99.9% of the time.
And when I say errors, I don’t mean just official scoring errors and here’s one example why:
mlb.com/news/jackie-bradley-charged-with-tough-err…
The catch probability was 6%.
He had to go 80 feet in 4.2 sec.
Most OFs don’t get close enough to have the chance to miss.
Yeah no worries here. I’m still very high on Rafaela, just saying he shouldn’t be hyped so much as a CF’er.
Duran made that horrible play last year, he certainly improved his game over time.
Duran will probably never win a GG. He cares more about his tats and going to the gym then getting better playing D I feel.
While I’m at it. Raf did misplay that ball but looking at it again, the batter didn’t swing hard…I mean from a defensive perspective it looked like it was not hit hard….like he was fooled on the pitch but it hit the sweet spot…..Jusy from my humble point of view
DBH – I’m with you on Rice, Lynn and Dewey and I’m guessing you aren’t old enough to have watched Yaz, Smith and Tony C. Dewey and Tony C had cannons and nobody was more form perfect than Yaz charging a fly ball to catch the ball and throw to home in a perfectly smooth textbook form. As much as I loved Freddie Lynn I can also remember some incredible catches by Reggie Smith. Outfield has long been a strength of the Boston mystique.
The future is bright once again. The next generation of killer Bees is poised to take over in the near future.
Fever – JBJ was a great defender but Mookie played right field and many think RF is more difficult. I like Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF with Anthony in LF but they are all so young, things could change as they grow into their bodies and their arms get defined for accuracy and arm strength.
It’s so great that we can argue about such positives after having Bloom for four years and having to focus on the negatives. It’s like a massive weight has been lifted. I know someone wrote that the other day and it’s so true.
FunGhoul – Duran has come a long way from his early mistakes. Your tats reference seemed a bit out of context. If he’s adding muscle that doesn’t impact his ability to catch fly balls, it may help his arm strength and his leg work might make him faster. I can’t see a reason to be negative about any of the young outfielders. It’s been 10 years since we have had such a great group of athletic defenders and they are all better hitters than JBJ.
Wait until you see Anthony hit. He may be better than Rafaela. I think back to Bogey coming up and him being so good, then Mookie, then Benny then Devers. We may be seeing something similar with Casas, Duran, Rafaela and Anthony. If so, that means lots of money to improve the pitching since four of nine hitters will be cheap for several years.
@Troll, I am old enough. Old enough to be one of the hundreds of kids who learned to switch hit just so we could use Yaz’ lean-forward stance, with the accompanied 3 swirls of the bat lol
DBH – You ever watch the Batting Stance Guy videos? He is awesome!!
No. Youtube?
And Bobby Doerr taught him to raise his hands higher to get more power. And the elbow twitch just before the pitch (not as bad as Joe Morgan). But he maybe been the worst base runner I ever saw. Worse than Frank Malzone and Dick Stewart. That’s how far back I go.
Yeah here’s his Red Sox one.
youtu.be/8m0cyvfvMK0?feature=shared
Fever Pitch Guy
JBJ didn’t have elite speed like Duran, Muki, or Rafaela, but he read routes very well.
Imagine if Bradley Jr. also had elite speed…
Your problem is that you kick young guys only they will make an error.
Rafaela will be fine, I advise you to look at his plays in the minor leagues for 2022-2023.
It’s not for nothing that he receives such ratings in defense from experts.
Until this moment you kicked Casas, now you decided to kick Rafaela.
The ending of that Yankees/Pirates game was hilarious, MLB doing everything possible to get the Yankees in the wildcard race.
If baseball was rigged like you’re insinuating the Yankees would’ve for sure won the 2001 World Series.
They did the best they could, all those homeruns late in games, Jeter, Brosius, Martinez, Mariano just choked in Game 7.
Changed – BH Kim was a headcase, nothing more. He couldn’t handle pressure situations. And yet Theo traded for him, go figure.
Nah, Holderman just sucks when he’s asked to be in a save situation, and not the 8th inning.
Nah, I don’t blame him, umpires have flipped a switch on the Yankees strike zone because they are in full panic mode about their season. They’ve almost equaled their team walks from pre-All Star break in 30 less games since the All-Star break. Their pitchers can’t miss the zone and their hitters have no zone.
I blame him. He always gives up a ton of hits and walks that the 9th inning. This might be his first 9th inning meltdown, but the way he pitches when hes asked to take the ball in the 9th, it was only a matter of time until je had a blowup outing. He also got some extremely favorable calls, and Bae should have also turned that double play. When he missed, he either missed way outside or down the middle. I don’t know if you watched that 9th inning, but 95% of that loss is on Holderman, the other 5% was on Bae.
Whatever, enjoy watching the Yankees walk 20+ times in these 3 games while the Pirates walk less than half that many.
Knifing Chaim on his way out the door, eh? Smells like CYA from Sox ownership and probably not exactly true.
Bloom did a great job hanging on to high end prospects, but he left glaring holes in the lineup and rotation the last two years. If filled the Red Sox quite probably make the playoffs the last two years.
Soren – I think it’s probably true, but even still … can’t blame Bloom for expecting Sale to have a big comeback year.
JC – I assume the great job hanging on to the high end prospects are the DD prospects he inherited and the early round picks he got when the team failed. The difference between Bloom and DD is that DD dumped guys who were over rated and got things the team needed to win. Guys like Moncada, Kopech and Espinoza. Bloom kept his good prospects AND bad prospects and didn’t trade them to help the team he DFA’d them instead. No better example than Jeter Downs the key player in the Mookie giveaway. #44 ranked prospect. He trades him before people see how bad he is and he could have got relief help when the team needed it in 2021. He was a bad GM the record shows it. It’s never easy taking over for a legend but Red Sox fans deserved a more qualified GM and they deserved a faster recognition of his BS about how he was creating a better future when all he was doing was tearing down a dynasty.
I have a hard time believing Bloom did not trade Sale when the other team would have picked up the entire contract! It certainly makes it more clear why Bloom was fired along with the mistake at the deadline in 2022 when he could have traded JD and gotten under the CBT, which would have reset for this year and given the Red Sox 2 second round picks instead 2 fourth round picks for the 2 QO players lost in free agency.
Bloom also left RF and the bullpen weak in 2022, and he left the rotation weak in 2023 with too many starters returning from injury. I was a strong supporter in 2021, as Dombrowski left the team cash strapped so much so Betts could not be retained. 2020 was on DD, but 2022 and 2023 are on Bloom.
Arb year 1 for Oriole’s Mountcastle in 24. He’s the centerpiece in a trade for a TOR SP this off season?!
That liner that hit Misiewicz looked absolutely brutal man. Hope he recovers quickly and without any lingering damage.
Def the Phillies looking to acquire Sale. Dombrowski loves his ex players.
Betts for Verdugo was a fair trade. I can’t decide which team came out on top.
Darren – My guess is the team that got the HOF player for his entire career not the three completely replaceable slugs that Friedman forced on his protege.
Let me suggest you don’t hang pictures for a living since it seems you have issues with determining when things are level.
Betts isn’t even the best player on Dodgers from Redsox… that would be my pal…. Brasier…
oimtiant – Wouldn’t it be kiki?
1A….lol
JC – 2020 WAS NEVER ON DD.
Wake up. There were no significant issues when DD was fired. The team had an off year due to Cora screwing up Spring Training and several key injuries. Injuries happen so 3 great years and one down year is not a bad record at all. 104 games over .500 counting the bad year!!!
In 2020 the $328MM payroll would have cost $10 in luxury taxes. DD would have had the whole year to offer Mookie the fair market value he was seeking and keep him. It would have been an $8MM raise for Mookie. That’s peanuts to an organization as big as the Red Sox. The $10MM in fines is less than the inflated salary paid to JBJ ($11MM) in 2020.
The alleged financial crisis DID NOT exist. This team might have made $10MM less in profits in 2020 but the World Championship roster would have still been in tact if ownership would have allowed DD to offer Mookie the $35MM he was seeking. It is foolish to not give an $8MM raise because of ownership pride. There is more to the story that we will probably never know the details of but clearly ownership wanted Mookie elsewhere.
DD had a plan that any moron could have followed that showed great success after 4 years. All Bloom had to do was not mess with the great plan. Keep the players that won a ring until 2022 ended only swapping out complimentary parts not the foundation of the club and this team had the talent to win more division titles in 2021 and 2022. The road map to success that DD built had a checkpoint at the end of 2022. At that time all the big contracts could be evaluated to see who gets kept and who gets replaced. DD would have used the $32MM from Price to find a new top of the rotation pitcher. He would have had Benny, Duran and Betts in the outfield with JD being evaluated as the future DH and I’m guessing that would have been the time to move Devers to DH and let JD go. He would have used JD’s money to get a 3B. He would have had Bogey at SS. He would have found another complimentary 2B like he had used since Pedroia got injured (Duran, Holt, etc). He may have hung on to Moreland until Dalbec or Casas was ready. He had a ton of young pitchers on the way so his Price, Sale, Eovaldi, EROD top of the order would have been revamped with Sale and Eovaldi staying and guys like Houck and Mata working their way towards being new starters. At that time, Mata’s surgery hadn’t happened pushing his career start out two years.
This team would have been far better than what we’ve endured the last four years if Bloom hadn’t varied from the outstanding plan DD laid out for the 2016 to 2022 time frame. Bloom needed to read the blueprint and follow it but he didn’t so NOTHING after 2019 can be blamed on DD. The roadmap was clear and only a moron would have varied from it considering the success from 2016 to 2019. Bloom was that moron who chose to go in a new direction away from success and sustained winning despite claiming he was heading in that direction.
Bloom’s time in Boston is like a Shakespearean tragedy!!!
Excellent post! For Bloom the bell tolls!
@Trollfree
Much though I think DD looks like the late Leslie Nielson, there is no one else better at working with a large budget, not ever Friedmann at the Dodgers. DD seems to be carrying four fluid plans at once…
Been a fan of Sale since he began with Chicago, but turning down a deal that would have cleared a ton of money off the books and considering Sale’s a free agent soon anyways reinforces the belief that Bloom is, indeed, an idiot.
milt – If Sale came back strong this year the Rangers would have had a #1 starting pitcher for 3 years at a combined $71M including the 2025 vesting option (Mark didn’t mention the vesting part).
Bloom took a reasonable gamble,we don’t know the prospects involved so it’s hard to criticize him.
Fever – You know I love Sale but I think ANY deal to move him would be a win-win if Cora is going to manage going forward.
The Rangers got deGrom instead so the Mets got the payroll relief rather than Boston. Neither provided much value and it will be interesting to see if either provides value in 2024. I believe both will provide value in 2025 and Sale could provide value in 2024 if Cora is gone so long term, Boston should have cleared their books if Bloom was leaving but since Bloom was the guy doing the deals that wasn’t in his best interest.
Bloom should also have traded Devers once he realized what an albatross contract he was forced into by ownership. He became a big time scapegoat/patsy with that deal. Boston will regret that contract far more than Hanley and Manny combined. Heck throw in Crawford too and the Devers deals hurts the team more for at least 4 years.
Add Yoshida and Story to the list of guys that should have been traded by Bloom and hopefully will be by the new GM.. That would give the new GM complete flexibility to go after quality players like Yamamoto, Snell and even Ohtani. The fan base could use a booster shot from adding several big time players after four years of dumpster diving hell.
Fantastic post! But not sure why you included Manny? Sox didn’t regret his contract at all. Despite all his baggage, he earned his contract more than just about any other player in MLB. All he did was produce for the entire 8 years, and the Sox would have won another championship in 2008 if they had kept him and he was happy. Sure he had “help”, but so did plenty of other ML players.
Story is absolutely pitiful. he has the 10th-worst OPS in all of baseball. If not for a gift dropped popup in today’s game, he’d probably have the 7th-worst. That contract could end up being the worst in MLB history.
If the reported trade offer for Sale is true, Bloom’s failure to make the trade was professional malpractice.
Bloom flew by the seat of his pants. The big canary in the coal mine was Jensen. They needed a closer coming out of the lockout. The Braves got Jensen on a one year deal. He then signs him a ear later for the same yearly rate the Braves got him for. Why didn’t he just go sign Jensen for 3 years? He also didn’t even negotiate with Schwarber.
The big problem is the sitting on his hands at the trade deadline. Either be an active seller or an active buyer. Making one or two small deals is NOT active.
The only thing Bloom seemed to focus on was the draft and holding onto every prospect no matter what.
He’s been around for like 15 years, his name is Jansen.