3 Midseason Chaim Bloom Decisions That Have Killed the 2023 Red Sox
By Tyler Maher
With August winding down, the Red Sox still aren’t in great shape in terms of playoff positioning. They remain behind the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners for the final Wild Card berth, and with little more than a month remaining in the regular season, they are running out of time.
Of course, Boston probably wouldn’t be in this predicament if Chaim Bloom had acquired real reinforcements at the trade deadline. Instead, he mostly stood pat, trading away Enrique Hernandez and bringing in Luis Urias but not doing much to address the pitching staff.
Considering that big names like Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Michael Lorenzen, Aaron Civale and Jordan Montgomery changed teams, there were certainly moves to be made. Bloom just wasn’t the one making them.
Looking back now, it’s easy to see where Bloom went wrong this summer, and it could end up costing him his job. Here are three of his midseason decisions that doomed the 2023 Red Sox.
3 Chaim Bloom Decisions That Killed Red Sox
1. The Trade Deadline
We already covered Bloom’s failures at the trade deadline earlier in the month, but the whole thing still makes my blood boil.
At the time, the Red Sox were coming off their best month of the season after going 15-8 in July. That they managed to do so despite the mounting injuries in their starting rotation was nothing short of miraculous.
The Sox were only a couple of games behind the Blue Jays for a playoff spot, too, so Bloom’s trade deadline strategy should’ve been pretty obvious: acquire a starting pitcher to shore up the rotation, and maybe add a reliever as well. Even Rafael Devers — the face of the franchise himself — requested a starter.
Instead, Bloom did nothing of the sort. He tinkered with the infield in an effort to improve the team’s terrible defense, but did nothing substantial to upgrade the rotation, the bullpen or the lineup.
Bloom’s inactivity immediately backfired, as the Sox were swept at home by the Blue Jays the weekend after the trade deadline. They’re still trying to dig themselves out of that hole, and at this point they may never recover.
If only Bloom had been more aggressive and actually made a helpful move or two, perhaps that wouldn’t be the case.