The Boston Red Sox and their Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom are in the critical offseason when championship teams or also-rans are built. What he’s actually doing is a topic of conjecture.
The 2021 Red Sox seemed to be cobbled together with string and chicken wire but somehow emerged as a participant in the ALCS Championship series.
While they flamed out in six games, led by Alex Cora once more, they have to be considered a true surprise 2021 team and one that exceeded expectations by a mile.
Bloom’s 2022 game plan for the Boston Red Sox is unclear
After a very fine season in 2021, one might have expected Chaim Bloom to solidify what he had and then add pieces to shore up deficiencies. He hasn’t.
He’s certainly done more already than tinker around the edges of his team. Let’s take a look at some of the moves and try to ascertain what Mr. Bloom is trying to do.
First, in a truly surprising (if not a shocking) move, he unloaded a nice player he had picked up last offseason, Hunter Renfroe. In the process, he reacquired Jackie Bradley Jr. and his $9.5M salary.
Renfroe had 31 home runs in 2021 and 96 RBI’s to go along with a .259 batting average and 16 outfield assists. That’s a nice season for anyone who is not a true star outfielder.
Yet, Bloom cut the cord with Renfroe to pick up a couple of prospects and Bradley who hit a paltry .163. So where’s the beef?
Now, Bradley is one of the best defensive center fielders anywhere, no argument about that. But he can’t hit and didn’t last season in Milwaukee, at all. Renfroe, the guy he pawned off, can hit.
So does that mean carrying this atrocious hitter in your lineup just for defensive purposes? That’s fine, but not at a hefty salary of $9.5M per year.
Renfroe can hit, hit for power, and can unleash heck with that cannon of an arm of his, as well. That move undid one of Bloom’s best moves in 2021. It made no sense whatsoever here.
Why undo one of your best moves in a sterling 2021 to re-acquire a player you let leave in free agency the year before and then assume his large cap hit in so doing?
Boston Red Sox starting pitching acquisitions are puzzling
It would probably be a consensus that the Boston Red Sox needed to augment their starting pitching rotation in 2022.
That became especially compulsory when Eduardo Rodriguez who once won 19 games for the Red Sox left early in free agency for Detroit. Their starting pitching was thin.
Once again, the moves Bloom made in this area are bewildering. He signed former Yankee James Paxton for $10M. Paxton is coming off Tommy John surgery.
Who knows when he’ll be able to pitch. In fact, it isn’t even clear if he will be able to pitch in 2022 and at what level of effectiveness.
So why in thunder did Bloom toss $10M his way with all these questions? Again, this is baffling at best and mystifying at best.
Bloom also acquired 41-year-old pitcher Rich Hill and paid him $5M. Hill is fine, but where’s the plan in signing on a 41-year-old? It’s not long-term planning for certain.
Boston Red Sox Chaim Bloom’s plan is not discernible
So to sum up the offseason work to date, it’s hard to comprehend what Chaim Bloom is trying to do, or if there is any concrete plan at all. Will he spend more, or go back to the bargain basement?
The logical moves would have been to lock in or replace what was lost and augment the team where it needed additional help.
Instead, Bloom has seemingly allowed key players to leave in free agency like Rodriguez (and possibly even Kyle Schwarber) or sent them packing like Renfroe and really not done much at all to replace them and better the club.
That’s not a good optic for the Chief Baseball Officer. One has to speculate on exactly what Bloom’s plan is based on his mandate is from the team’s ownership, the Fenway Sports Group.
Is he to build a championship team on the cheap? Is he to grow a champion from within? Just what is the mandate? No plan frankly is evident at all.
Weakening an already competitive team and not doing much to replenish it doesn’t seem to be the answer to any of these questions.
If this space were to grade the offseason for the Boston Red Sox to this point, it would be a D-. For a team that should be bolstering itself for a championship run, it’s just not good enough.