2023 Red Sox Season Thread

[Vermont Green]

Wow.

Jen McCaffrey
@jcmccaffrey
·
1m
Red Sox have announced they’ve fired Chaim Bloom

There's got to be a scapegoat.  I haven't been all that impressed by Bloom, but I assume it wasn't his decision for one of the richest teams in baseball (ranked 3rd in valuation, 3rd in operating income) to have the 13th highest payroll.  The Yankees are outspending us by $90 million; the Mets by $140 million.

It is interesting that the two examples you offer both have worse records than the Sox.  These teams are exactly what the Sox are trying not to be.  Overspending on stale players that don't help you win.  Kind of like the Sale contract.

I am guessing that Bloom told the owners that they could still win while they went through rebuilding.  They really weren't that far off from the playoffs a few weeks back.  Had they hung in, maybe Bloom doesn't get fired.  But they didn't.  They crashed and burned.  Bloom didn't deliver what he probably said he would.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Wow.

Jen McCaffrey
@jcmccaffrey
·
1m
Red Sox have announced they’ve fired Chaim Bloom

There's got to be a scapegoat.  I haven't been all that impressed by Bloom, but I assume it wasn't his decision for one of the richest teams in baseball (ranked 3rd in valuation, 3rd in operating income) to have the 13th highest payroll.  The Yankees are outspending us by $90 million; the Mets by $140 million.

It is interesting that the two examples you offer both have worse records than the Sox.  These teams are exactly what the Sox are trying not to be.  Overspending on stale players that don't help you win.  Kind of like the Sale contract.

I am guessing that Bloom told the owners that they could still win while they went through rebuilding.  They really weren't that far off from the playoffs a few weeks back.  Had they hung in, maybe Bloom doesn't get fired.  But they didn't.  They crashed and burned.  Bloom didn't deliver what he probably said he would.

This was two straight years where Bloom did basically squat to help the team at the trade deadline, when on both occasions the team still had a decent shot at making the playoffs.

[Vermont Green]

Wow.

Jen McCaffrey
@jcmccaffrey
·
1m
Red Sox have announced they’ve fired Chaim Bloom

There's got to be a scapegoat.  I haven't been all that impressed by Bloom, but I assume it wasn't his decision for one of the richest teams in baseball (ranked 3rd in valuation, 3rd in operating income) to have the 13th highest payroll.  The Yankees are outspending us by $90 million; the Mets by $140 million.

It is interesting that the two examples you offer both have worse records than the Sox.  These teams are exactly what the Sox are trying not to be.  Overspending on stale players that don't help you win.  Kind of like the Sale contract.

I am guessing that Bloom told the owners that they could still win while they went through rebuilding.  They really weren't that far off from the playoffs a few weeks back.  Had they hung in, maybe Bloom doesn't get fired.  But they didn't.  They crashed and burned.  Bloom didn't deliver what he probably said he would.

This was two straight years where Bloom did basically squat to help the team at the trade deadline, when on both occasions the team still had a decent shot at making the playoffs.

I agree with this. Had they gotten one decent starter? It may have made the difference. They may still be in the hunt for the playoffs. And I doubt that would have totally squashed the prospect development.

[Phantom255x]

Just to be clear, I'm not losing any sleep over this and frankly, I don't really care one way or the other. Only thing I'll say is, it kinda feels like they just didn't trust him to make big moves this offseason. But what's odd is, they basically told him in 3 of the years to not go past the luxury tax, and I put more of the Bogaerts/Betts, etc situations on ownership not willing to pay those guys at the time (until they finally decided on Devers). I guess they only wanted Bloom here for 2-3 years to build the farm system back up.

But whatever. Honestly this team right now is just so boring and mediocre so I'm willing for change.

I'll also add, I love that they're keeping Cora. I don't blame him at all for this putrid, injury-prone and fickle roster he was handed especially the pitchers. That's not on Cora at all. This was also the 2nd straight year the team was well in the mix for the postseason, and Bloom practically did nothing at the deadline (or in 2022, did "both" but stayed above the LT and didn't trade away guys like Bogaerts, etc. who ended up leaving for nada)

The timing overall is a bit weird. You would think with the farm built up, and luxury tax reset this would be the offseason for Chaim to "spend and prove himself", but maybe they just didn't believe in him to do that. BUT then why even keep him this long, and not fire him last offseason? They let him build another mediocre team in 2023 and yet again, they did nothing at the deadline to even remotely help them try to get a wild card spot

[boscel33]

Chaim takes the fall for doing what he was brought in to do, rebuild the minors and cut the Sox payroll.  Mission accomplished!  Henry is as bad as Wyc, not interested in winning, only interested in the bottom line.  Can't believe Bruin's ownership is better than these two right now.  Didn't think I'd ever say that!

[BringToughnessBack]

What a mess of franchise we have become in baseball. Have our owners become Steinbrenners of the 70's but without trying to outspend anyone and blaming everyone but the reflection of the mirror in front of them. This all began when they chased Theo out, Francona out and let Betts leave .

Ironically, they had the best GM ever years ago and his name was Theo, even that they blew. We had a great manager back at that time too..pushed him out the door. Theo said he would not go anywhere near this franchise again....guess why, the owners.

So, the owners ended the curse and for that, I am thankful but they are turning our team into a franchise now that is getting ready for a long drought of not winning it all again. Maybe its time to move on from this team and sell them. Mission accomplished on multiple titles....but mission failed on current state of our franchise.

I have literally lost almost all interest in this team. My favorite players are have been jettisoned or retired and they probably gave the 350M to the wrong player as well. What a mess. This all comes from the top...not the GM but the Owners...

Wild how Owners can succeed and fail at the same time..

Thankfully though for us all, we got our titles and no longer need to deal with the curse. We have now become spoiled and expect a long term sustainable plan.

[kraidstar]

We'll be contending again in a couple years. This team needed a reset from the Dombrowski era, and a chance rebuild the farm system and move on from the lingering toxic contracts.

I have no problem with ownership not going "all in" with the current roster. The younger guys are not ready. And, believe it or not, we are only $16M under the luxury tax.

Where I get annoyed is where we sign a dog like Corey Kluber while letting Eovaldi walk because we didn't want to give him 2 years, $34M. This makes no sense unless ownership plans on making a splash this offseason and wanted the extra flexibility. With Evo on the team we probably make the playoffs and get the kids some postseason experience.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

We'll be contending again in a couple years. This team needed a reset from the Dombrowski era, and a chance rebuild the farm system and move on from the lingering toxic contracts.

I have no problem with ownership not going "all in" with the current roster. The younger guys are not ready. And, believe it or not, we are only $16M under the luxury tax.

Where I get annoyed is where we sign a dog like Corey Kluber while letting Eovaldi walk because we didn't want to give him 2 years, $34M. This makes no sense unless ownership plans on making a splash this offseason and wanted the extra flexibility. With Evo on the team we probably make the playoffs and get the kids some postseason experience.

It also made no sense to lowball a healthy and productive Bogaerts but hand a huge contract to an injured and declining Story.

[kraidstar]

We'll be contending again in a couple years. This team needed a reset from the Dombrowski era, and a chance rebuild the farm system and move on from the lingering toxic contracts.

I have no problem with ownership not going "all in" with the current roster. The younger guys are not ready. And, believe it or not, we are only $16M under the luxury tax.

Where I get annoyed is where we sign a dog like Corey Kluber while letting Eovaldi walk because we didn't want to give him 2 years, $34M. This makes no sense unless ownership plans on making a splash this offseason and wanted the extra flexibility. With Evo on the team we probably make the playoffs and get the kids some postseason experience.

It also made no sense to lowball a healthy and productive Bogaerts but hand a huge contract to an injured and declining Story.

The Story contract has been a fiasco so far.

Agree on Bogaerts. Yes, maybe it's an overpay. But he liked it here and could handle the pressure etc. Same with Eovaldi.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

We'll be contending again in a couple years. This team needed a reset from the Dombrowski era, and a chance rebuild the farm system and move on from the lingering toxic contracts.

I have no problem with ownership not going "all in" with the current roster. The younger guys are not ready. And, believe it or not, we are only $16M under the luxury tax.

Where I get annoyed is where we sign a dog like Corey Kluber while letting Eovaldi walk because we didn't want to give him 2 years, $34M. This makes no sense unless ownership plans on making a splash this offseason and wanted the extra flexibility. With Evo on the team we probably make the playoffs and get the kids some postseason experience.

It also made no sense to lowball a healthy and productive Bogaerts but hand a huge contract to an injured and declining Story.

The Story contract has been a fiasco so far.

Agree on Bogaerts. Yes, maybe it's an overpay. But he liked it here and could handle the pressure etc. Same with Eovaldi.

The thing is, they wouldn't have had to give him a massive overpay (like the Padres did) if they'd extended him a year or two ago.

[kraidstar]

We'll be contending again in a couple years. This team needed a reset from the Dombrowski era, and a chance rebuild the farm system and move on from the lingering toxic contracts.

I have no problem with ownership not going "all in" with the current roster. The younger guys are not ready. And, believe it or not, we are only $16M under the luxury tax.

Where I get annoyed is where we sign a dog like Corey Kluber while letting Eovaldi walk because we didn't want to give him 2 years, $34M. This makes no sense unless ownership plans on making a splash this offseason and wanted the extra flexibility. With Evo on the team we probably make the playoffs and get the kids some postseason experience.

It also made no sense to lowball a healthy and productive Bogaerts but hand a huge contract to an injured and declining Story.

The Story contract has been a fiasco so far.

Agree on Bogaerts. Yes, maybe it's an overpay. But he liked it here and could handle the pressure etc. Same with Eovaldi.

The thing is, they wouldn't have had to give him a massive overpay (like the Padres did) if they'd extended him a year or two ago.

Yeah.  By overthinking things and trying to outsmart everybody they outsmarted themselves.  So we're going to end up wildly overpaying other people's free agents instead of slightly overpaying ours.

[Phantom255x]

I think the biggest issue with Bloom was, while he had a plan and stuck to it, he basically made the entire Red Sox organization and brand irrelevant. I mean, this is just my experience recently, but me and some friends were walking by a bar and noticed the Sox playing on a TV, and while I knew who they were playing my friends were like, "wait they are playing the Yankees today?". 5+ years ago we'd look at BOS-NYY as some marquee, cant-miss game. Nowadays, people in August and September here are like, "who cares, season is over anyways and ownership doesn't care either".

I fully agree Bloom had some restraints to deal with, notably the payroll and keeping it under the LT. But he's not blame-free either. He's had some real duds at the deadline in both 2022 and 2023 (when we were firmly in the mix for a postseason spot and should have been buyers), and same with the offseasons. Let Bogaerts, Schwarber, Eovaldi, etc. all walk, didn't get any marquee FAs and basically signed a bunch of Rich Hills, Klubers, etc. For every Whitlock he acquired in a small transaction, there were like 100s of Joe Jacques, Ort, Godley, Matt Hall, etc. and we were losing many games because of it too.

He also had a chance to get under the LT and reset it in 2022, notably with the Chris Sale trade offer from Texas, and he said no. Not only that, he kept all of Eovaldi/JD/Bogaerts who left in FA anyways and they didn't reset the tax. That's on Bloom.

Bloom did a fantastic job building back the farm system. But you also need to manage the big league club and supplement that, and he simply didn't do that. And not only that, but in the process he made the Sox a mediocre, irrelevant product in Boston. The Red Sox were clearly 4th in "power rankings" of all Boston teams in terms of interest/contention, and arguably even 5th behind the Revolution maybe. That's how bad it got. TV ratings, fan attendance all being down too.

I still think this ownership group can be sleazy. Now 4 GMs fired in a span of 11 years. But it's telling that even they decided to fire the GM and probably are setting up for a big offseason this winter. I do hope Bloom can find a job somewhere and I think he will. Seemed like a great, friendly guy.

[johnnygreen]

When the secondary market is selling Red Sox home games against the Yankees for one dollar, then you hit rock bottom and something needed to change. It was time for Bloom to go.

Yes, he helped to rebuild the farm system. However, I doubt Bloom would have traded any of those guys to help the MLB team. I have a bigger problem with his offseason decisions, than his lack of trade deadline moves. The foundation for the season starts in the off-season. If you don't grab the fanbase before the season starts, then it's tough to generate interest with any trade deadline move short of trading for a superstar.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm tired of these short term deals, because it's tough for the fans to form a bond with these guys. By the time you get to like them, they're gone.

One thing I would like to see ownership do, is for them to invest back into the fans. If I recall correctly, the games were virtually all on NESN, except maybe Friday night, when it was on a channel that everyone had access to (for me, it was channel 38). As someone who lost NESN because of the negotiations with YouTube TV, I would like to see this come back. If I'm going to find another way to pay for NESN, I want to see the Red Sox product a few times before making that commitment again.

[Vermont Green]

It is hard to know as fans, what marching orders the owners game Bloom, but you can go through his big moves and for the most part, they did not work out.

He didn't sign the contract with Sale, but it sounds like he had a chance to trade him but passed.  D-

The decision to trade Mookie may have already been made, I think the Dodgers were going to out bid the Sox in any case, but the players that he got back in the trade have not panned out.  C-

I feel the Padres overpaid for Bogaerts. This is linked to signing Story.  Together, the end result is a bad result.  D+

Signing Corey Kluber over Nathan Eovaldi was an absolute fail.  F

JD Martinez has not been all that much better than Justin Turner so I give that a wash.  C

As to the past 2 trade deadlines, acquisitions of Ausin Davis, Tommy Pham, Eric Hosmer, Corey Rosier, Max Ferguson are all really not much to show for it.  On the plus side, he got Reese McGuire, Enmanuel Valdez and Wilyer Abreu were all good pick ups.  This trade deadline, I feel they should have gotten some starting pitching to help the team now, but didn't.  C-

I am probably missing some things, especially if you go back further, but all in all, this is not a very good track record for a GM of a prime market team and it is reflected in the W-L record.

[ozgod]

So far the following potential candidates for the Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer role have all said they are not interested:

Theo Epstein (Cubs)
Mike Hazen and Amiel Sawdaye (Diamondbacks)
Brandon Gomes (Dodgers)
Sam Fuld (Phillies)
Derek Falvey (Twins)
Michael Hill (Marlins)
Jon Daniels (Rays, Rangers)
Raquel Ferreira (Red Sox)
James Click (Blue Jays, Astros)

According to Joe Sherman one of the reasons that nobody wants the job is because:

Joel Sherman, estimable reporter for MLB Network and the New York Post, wrote Tuesday, “The Red Sox have had difficulty recruiting top candidates to replace Bloom … There is a sense within the game that ownership has become more absentee as it pursues other business avenues and also that manager Alex Cora has growing influence on personnel decisions. That has potentially chilled the market.”

Sherman’s info echoes an email I received from a longtime former GM who wrote of “word apparently spreading across the baseball industry that the last two to hold that Red Sox position [Dave Dombrowski, Bloom] accomplished what they were asked to do … and yet were dismissed.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/18/sports/dan-shaughnessy-red-sox-baseball-operations/

The search continues...