Boston Red Sox: Ownership has checked out as Sox race back to the bottom

The Boston Red Sox once again seem to be quickly sliding down the slippery slope to irrelevance and sub-mediocrity after a lousy off-season and now terrible start to 2021.

Hope springs eternal and it’s spring, so there’s always hope from the fans. Lots of time to turn things around. I think.

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Unfortunately, though, the dreadful, bottom-feeding offseason of the bottom-dwelling Red Sox seems to have resulted in just more of the same to begin 2021 as the absolutely atrocious entire 2020 season.

If there’s a race to the bottom of the AL East, the Sox are in the lead and soon will be pulling away from the field all alone at the bottom. By the looks of things, they’ll sink to the bottom faster than Seabiscuit could run a mile.

But the clearest harbinger of the continued demise of the once proud and mighty Red Sox of Pedro Martinez, Big Papi, and Manny Ramirez were the words of absolute brilliance of the owners of the Sox last week.

If you missed them, let me refresh your memory. If not, be enlightened as to why the once feared Red Sox have dipped into insignificance in the American League in particular and all-of-baseball generally.

Here are some inspirational words from Red Sox principal owner, John Henry.

"“In 2018, when we won, at that point it was clear to some of us in the organization that if we didn’t pay more attention to the future, we were going to be in trouble,” Henry said. “By the middle of 2019, it was clear we had overplayed our hand, so to speak, in going for it. You can do that for time to time, but if you go for it every year in baseball… the only way you can do that is to have a very strong farm system."

They overplayed their hand? By winning a World Series? That’s like saying you went all-in in a poker game with a royal straight flush, won the tournament, and overplayed your hand.

So, there they go again. Once more, the Red Sox owners are using the unmentioned fashioner of the 2018 Series win, Dave Dombrowski (mentioned or not) as a scapegoat for the Sox current malaise.

One has to stop, scratch one’s head, and just muse aloud and say, “what the heck is this guy talking about?”

Dombrowski did what any baseball general manager aspires to do, win the ultimate prize, win a World Series. And it would seem logical that he did so with the ownership’s blessings.

He did it a mere two seasons ago. So what did that earn him after one very poor season, the heave-ho and thanks for nothing send-off. Don’t let the door hit you in the … on the way out, Dave.

Meanwhile, to seek to justify their newly-instituted parsimonious method of operation, they take the liberty of kicking said Dombrowski whenever there’s someone they need to blame for their current embarrassingly pitiful club.

Chaim Bloom, Boston Red Sox personnel guy is on the hot seat

Henry would continue talking about his great team.

"“(Chief baseball officer) Chaim (Bloom), I think, has done a tremendous job of starting to strengthen the club, especially with regard to depth,”"

Right, strength in depth. “Tremendous job”. The starting lineup contains bargain basement type depth, a far cry from the group three years ago and even further from the teams in the 2000s who feared no team in baseball. Just who are they trying to kid? Not Red Sox fans.

Even the hated Yankees trade with them. They’ve fallen so far that the Bronx Bombers can dust them off like a fly on a hot summer day. No problem there with the dread Sox. They’re toast.

This is not a commentary on Bloom. He’s doing the best he can with what he has at his disposal, which ain’t very much. After the club shipped out a top 3 player in baseball for scraps and replaced him with not very much, because they wouldn’t pay market rate, he’s in way over his head.

Now, they’ve thrown Bloom to the wolves and his legacy in Boston likely won’t be very stellar when they subsequently kick him to the curb like they did Dombro.

And that will be without an illustrious World Series win to his credit, as well.

Then he’ll be back to being an asst. GM or head of player personnel at a third-rate team trying to rebuild his resume after being hoodwinked (or not?) by the Sox leadership that he was actually taking over a big market team.

The pitching staff being employed by the Boston Red Sox in 2021 at present at least, resembles a 4A staff. The Orioles clubbed them up and down Fenway like a baker batting down pizza dough to make a large pepperoni pie.

The O’s, not exactly a powerhouse, belted the Sox around to a fare-thee-well Sunday in a nice hitting display. The Red Sox 4A staff couldn’t get an out on a bet serving up meatball after meatball for a sub to go with that pizza.

So the season starts at 0-3, at home, at Fenway, to the lowly (only above Boston in the standings last season) O’s. What happens when a good team lands on the Red Sox doorway? Wear your construction helmet, it’s not going to be pretty.

But, since there is always a silver lining, keep in mind that the Sox will once again get a high draft pick who’ll likely flop in 2-3 years as per usual. Well, maybe that lining ain’t so silver after all.

One thing is certain, however, the Boston Red Sox ownership has checked out and they should sell the team to an owner who cares, cash in, and do the Fenway faithful a favor.

As Biff said in one of the “Back to the Future Movies”, “Make like a tree and get out of here”. Please.

Since they can’t or won’t act like a big market team in baseball now, let them sell out and act small market in Liverpool with their “football” team. Our loss, their gain. Not.