Boston Red Sox are still hamstrung by terrible offseason
The Boston Red Sox are a victim of their own poor decision-making in the 2022 offseason where championships are built.
In the Red Sox case, however, the team’s baseball operation led by Chaim Bloom took an entirely wrong tack last offseason. The result is an inconsistent last-place team destined to ultimately go nowhere.
The story has unfolded as it had to. When you possess a team that shocked the baseball world in 2021 and came within two games of the World Series, there is only one thing to do.
Unfortunately, the Sox took the opposite direction and the results were predictable. They are flawed team destined to fail. What they did and what they should have done will be looked at next.
The Boston Red Sox zigged when they should have zagged
OK, that’s a “funny” line (or not so much), but the essence of the story is that the Red Sox got the whole offseason as wrong as they could have. The result is a team that sits last in the American League East, four games behind the hapless Baltimore Orioles. As we say around Boston, “who’d have thunk it” after the glorious 2021 campaign?
So here is why the Red Sox are floundering. It’s a pretty simple concept based on what seems to be sound logic. When you have a really good baseball club, a la the 2021 Boston Red Sox, that comes close to the big prize, aka the World Series, what should you do? Now, this ain’t rocket science folks, seems simple, you add to that squad to make it better.
So what did the Red Sox do? They subtracted key elements of the 2021 rush to the ALCS and replaced them with, well, very little in the way of talent. In addition, they spent substantially on players who contributed little or even nothing to the 2022 cause.
Now, this topic has been addressed before admittedly in this space, both before they took certain actions and after. So, at the risk of dislocating a shoulder (once again) patting oneself on the back, this space is no stranger to not liking at all what the Boston Red Sox did last off-season. Frankly, it was totally and unremittingly dysfunctional.
The Boston Red Sox’s biggest gaffes in the 2022 offseason
It’s no surprise that this space thought Kyle Schwarber was a terrific addition at the trade deadline in 2021 by Chief Baseball Officer, Chaim Bloom. As has been noted previously, he fit both the team and the city like a proverbial glove. The result was that Boston and another city (Waltham) adopted him as one of their own.
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Now, Schwarber was a free agent. He was going to cost some cash after his solid showing at the end of 2021 and for the mere fact that despite his defensive weaknesses, the man can hit a baseball. He did. The contract he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies was for $79M over four years. That’s not chump change. But he was worth every penny.
Schwarber has once again lit up the National League. He has ripped 34 home runs to date with 69 RBIs. Those were attributes this feeble Red Sox lineup could have dearly utilized. It was a big whiff by Chaim Bloom.
The second major gaffe came in the form of a trade. Once again, Bloom undid what he should have built upon. He traded away another of his best 2021 moves, Hunter Renfroe for a player he had previously allowed to leave as a free agent. Jackie Bradley Jr. and two prospects. What?
Renfroe had hit a “meager” 31 home runs with 96 RBIs and 16 outfield assists to his credit. But stat geeks will say his outfield stats aren’t good enough. Fine, Bradley is a far better fielder but he hit a feeble .163 last season for Milwaukee with six home runs. This season, he hit .212 for Boston with three homers. That was before he was unceremoniously designated for assignment (aka released).
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Disaster is not too strong a word for that trade. Renfroe has 20 home runs and 46 RBIs for Milwaukee. In addition, The Red Sox dished out $10M to James Paxton a pitcher who pitched in one game in 2021 and has been nowhere to be seen in 2022.
To sum all this up, in sports, you are what you do in the offseason. The Boston Red Sox 2022 offseason grade was F. After a disastrous 2022 season, hopefully, they’ll get it right in the 2023 offseason. Hopefully.