Things are really bad for the Boston Red Sox. And currently, everywhere in the media, it only talks about that.
The club don’t seem to be connected with the current market and don’t seem to want to do what it takes to win. And when we read what Ken Rosenthal is proposing to us this morning, it really seems that the organization does not have a clear direction.
It’s Chaim Bloom who is at the heart of the supporters’ anger, but it really looks like the club, without meaning to say it, is preventing him from spending.
He has his faults though (he seems unable to get high hopes out of the deals he does) and his boss, President Sam Kennedy, came up with an interesting phrase.
Leaders usually get too much criticism, but also too much credit.
–Sam Kennedy
Sounds like the words of a guy who wants to pretend to protect his head of baseball operations, but it also sounds like the words of a guy who doesn’t want to see Bloom get his head swollen with his good shots.
Because, in effect, these are team decisions when it comes to the big players. And therein lies the problem of the Sox.
The problem is not not seeing the club spend. Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner and Masataka Yoshida are going to make money in 2023 and Boston will have a good payroll.
But the club constantly eludes its stars. And it doesn’t happen.
Look at the Yankees. Hal Steinbrenner took matters into his own hands after misjudging Aaron Judge’s deal last winter and gave him (too?) much money to keep him in New York.
Why didn’t the Red Sox do this with Mookie Betts, who reportedly took the same offer from the Red Sox he got from the Dodgers?
Why didn’t they do that with Xander Bogaerts, who would have accepted a contract similar to that of Trevor Story last year?
Because according to information from ESPN, Bogaerts would have accepted such a contract (around six years at $140 million) a year ago. But the Sox were far from the goal.
He would have accepted a change of position. He would have accepted Well business, but Boston was still throwing ridiculous offers at him.
At some point he felt insulted and left, not without giving them the chance to give him what he wanted. But as we know, he is gone.
But the problem is that history is repeating itself.
Also according to Joon Lee (ESPN), at this time, Rafael Devers would be light years away from the Red Sox and he fully expects to become a free agent in a year.
If Chaim Bloom really has regrets about the handling of the Bogaerts file, he must learn from that and give money to Rafael Devers.
If he has the OK of the bosses, of course.
Because the problem with Bogaerts has always been that the club misread the situation and let him become a free agent at the base. Hardly anyone blames the Sox for not giving him $280 million two weeks ago because it’s too much.
But the problem is to have let it become free as the air. I said it earlier: last year, he would have accepted a contract twice as small.
Rafael Devers has the big end of the stick and if he doesn’t get what he wants in Boston (his #1 option), he’ll get it elsewhere. There is clearly a team that will give him what he is looking for.
And questioned on the subject, Chaim Bloom (who has to comply with the demands from above) once again seems to be on another planet.
We will do everything to keep it, but there will be limits.
Some people like to bet and if he does, hopefully he can hit 63 home runs next year.
– Chaim Bloom
I don’t know if he thought he was playing the good guy who thinks about the team first, but I can tell you that I find it quite special, as a commentary.
In a year, who knows if Devers’ $300 million will become $400 million? Have the Red Sox really learned nothing at this point? Are the club preparing to trade him so as not to lose him in the free range market?
It’s not like the club has no money. Right now, the bosses have to figure out a way to keep Devers (who has the big end of the stick, again) in town…and that’s by paying him via market value.
If he leaves, the leaders will be the architects of their own misfortune. Simply.
