Boston Red Sox: Should Chaim Bloom become a seller at trade deadline?
The Boston Red Sox topsy-turvy season is continuing with the team back in fourth place in the American League East.
With the team teetering on the brink of collapse, it may finally be time to do what needs to be done and sell at the trade deadline. It’s always risky business to think that any Chaim Bloom team managed by the irrepressible Alex Cora is ever out of a race.
Yet, this Red Sox team has had more ups and downs than Frank Sinatra in the song, “That’s life”. And while this is a qualified suggestion, it may be high time to cut ties with some players at the trade deadline and move on to 2023.
One might ask, what a difference a week makes? It has and there’s no telling if, in another week, this team will find a way to get “right back in the race” as Frank Sinatra sang. But is the Chris Sale “you’ve got to be kidding me” broken finger just another signal that this season is on the ropes? Let’s explore this in a bit more detail.
The Boston Red Sox can’t seem to get the consistency they need
The recent weekend series loss and the Sunday blowout bashing by the Yankees again showed the team is incapable of beating an AL East team in a series.
FINAL: Yankees 13, #RedSox 2
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 17, 2022
The Sox are 0-10-1 in series against their prime opponents. This is from Clutchpoints.com,
"Yes, the Red Sox haven’t won a series against their division rivals, marking the first time in franchise history that they will head into the All-Star break with such a disappointing record, per ESPN Stats & Info."
That’s historically bad. The Sale in jury and the “where is he?” situation of $10M pitching acquisition James Paxton are contributing factors. There’s a lot in salaries tied up in those two players and they’ve received nothing in return from either.
Frankly, Sale’s signing is beginning to look like a colossal bust. He can’t stay on the field. Injuries to key players like Trevor Story also just seem to keep piling up one after the other. One returns and another goes down. This is usually a signal that this may just not be the Boston Red Sox’s year.
Boston Red Sox’s poor 2022 offseason is making itself felt
To some extent, the offseason chickens are coming home to roost for Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer, Chaim Bloom.
Bloom is a master of finding talent from the scrap heaps of major league baseball. He mastered that skill working for Andrew Friedman at Tampa Bay. The problem is, when he does, he hasn’t had the perspicacity to keep them around.
The best example is the non-signing of Kyle Schwarber in the offseason. Schwarber was a great fit in Boston. It was as close to a no-brainer, risk-free signing as it gets. Not doing so was a monumental whiff, a complete and unadulterated disaster.
Schwarber is now conveniently bashing like there’s tomorrow with 29 home runs already for the Phillies. No Red Sox other than Rafael Devers is likely to hit that many for the season. It was a colossal blunder by the team.
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Schwarber is going yard in historic proportions for Philadelphia. He’s also an All-Star. Nice signing by the Phils, and a monumental gaffe by Mr. Bloom. He also traded Hunter Renfroe, another home run basher (31) for the 2021 Boston Red Sox for Jackie Bradley Jr., his great glove and noodle bat. He paid $12M per for the privilege.
Renfroe has 13 home runs in 54 games for Milwaukee. 29 and 13 come to a nice round number of 42 dingers that the Sox dusted from last season’s squad. Add those gaffes to the pitching mess that is the Sox staff and the dollars poorly used in assembling it, and it adds up to a need to sell at the deadline.
Names like J.D. Martinez (an All-Star, sell high), Kike Hernandez, almost any pitcher not named Garrett Whitlock, Bradley, Alex Verdugo, and if he waives his no-trade clause even Xander Bogaerts should be on the block. Get some good young major league-ready prospects in return.
Next. Boston Red Sox Rumors: 3 core players to sell at MLB Trade Deadline. dark
It’s not saying here that the season is toast quite yet, but another poor week and it should be considered all but burnt. Then, it will be time to sell and time to bring up the kids for a good long look-see to get a glimpse of who might have the right stuff to fit in next season.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for the Fenway Faithful, and it may be just a tad premature. But it’s looking more and more like it’s rummage sale time at Fenway Park. If so, just admit it and get on with it. It’s the right thing to do.