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Red Sox management seems to struggle with trades and decisions
MCMLVTopps
Posts: 4,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
I think Chaim Bloom is way over his skis!!
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MCMLVTopps
Posts: 4,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
MCMLVTopps
Posts: 4,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
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Now that all the major free agents are signed, I thought it would be nice to look back on what Bloom has done so far this winter:
If I'm not missing something, he's added five new players, Yoshida and four relief pitchers.
From what I understand, there is considerable doubt as to whether Yoshida can play defense at a major league level or hit as well as Seiya Suzuki has (and I don't see great value to a DH who has an OPS of .770).
Last year the four pitchers combined for a total of 0 RAA. Martin 4, Familia 3, Mills -1, and Rodriguez -6. ESPN ranked the top 50 free agents. Martin was 38, Familia was 40.
Also, the Sox have traded for, and parted company from Hoy Park, and lost three players to the Rule 5 draft and parted company with Cordero, Downs, and Hosmer. I have no idea how much Bloom valued Groome, but this just makes that whole trade even more puzzling to me.
As I said with Betts and Bogaerts, if he doesn't intend to sign Devers to a long term contract, he needs to trade him. As poorly as the Betts trade has worked out, getting a draft pick not in the top 150 for Bogaerts is far worse, and I don't see how this team contends for fourth place with or without Devers.
Maybe Bloom has something in mind to make this a very good team, but I just have not yet seen it.
I think Daltex has said it much more eloquently than I. Another point...as I surf Boston sports news, there was some rah rah about getting Dansby Swanson from the Braves, Swanson just signed with the Cubs, so he's gone. For what Bloom signed Yoshida for (an UNKOWN) commodity, I am really puzzled that an option he might have looked at was bringing up a AAA, AA or even an A ball player with proven talent to the major league level, and maybe saving a ton of $$.
The Devers issue is clearly the elephant in the room, and I agree that he should either trade him or really reach out to sign him. As I read Boston blogs, it appears Devers is seriously pi$$ed that Bogaerts is gone. I wouldn't be surprised to see Devers in pinstripes with the short porch in right field, wouldn't that be a thrill? I can just see key HRs against the Red Sox and the crowd booing will be heard throughout New England. Devers will want the moon to sign.
Christian Vasquez wanted very much to return to Boston after his stint with the Astros, but, crickets from Bloom. Vasquez has now signed with the Twins. I suspect his first appearance in Fenway will result in a huge standing ovation, mostly a middle finger to Bloom.
The Red Sox are in disarray, and I think John Henry looks at the goings on with his team as not a priority in his world. I also think the Red Sox will continue to be a mediocre team and not be contenders for anything other than "wait till next year".
I can't argue with those observations.
Sign Devers or trade him now as he is gone next year for nothing.
He wants to play for whatever team Bogaerts is playing with and will end up getting there next year.
Henry is responsible for what Bloom is doing and might as well sell the team if he can't afford to man it properly.
Now add Justin Turner, ESPN's number 50 free agent. Some talk of moving him to 1B, perhaps overlooking that he's played as many innings there as at pitcher since 2015.
Boston is adding a lot of people who were very good a long time ago. I suspect they'll sign Jack Morris next.
Yes, the Red Sox got into that pattern many years ago in the late 1980s. I remember when “their big signing for the year” was Andre Dawson from the Cubs. It would have been great if they had signed him five years earlier, but by then his knees were shot. He could be an effective DH, but the attempts to play him in the field only made matters worse.
I think I read somewhere in all the stuff I read on the Sox and Bloom that Bloom is a big sabermetrics guy. Well, IMO, sabermetrics are ok, but all that data doesn't formulate a winning team. Another comment by Bloom was that "we want players who want to play in Boston". So, how does he discern a potential player's attitude about wanting to, or not wanting to play in Boston?
Bloom is slowly but steadily putting the Red Sox in a deep hole of bad signings, or worse yet, losing known, well performing players.
Boston can be a bear of a place to play. Maybe it's different now, but when I lived there, the radio talk shows hosts were brutal. If a player didn't perform, they torn him to pieces. If he listened to them, and they got under his skin, that player was done.
I remember Carl Crawford was a nice little player when he was with Tampa. He signed with Boston, and I think the pressure got to him. His average fell to something like -240, and it was all down hill from there.
John Henry is buying an NBA franchise in Vegas according to reports for $4 billion dollars.