Bloom: Sign Bogaerts and Devers or face the music
Bloom needs to do that if he ever wants to dispel the notion that he’s been trying to turn the Sox into Tampa Bay North, a notion that the former Rays executive has, with some justification, been accused of trying to do since he took over in 2019 and promptly dumped Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers for three average players.
(Sorry, but Alex Verdugo is an average, at best, outfielder and his rightfield defense has been mediocre to awful since he was made a right-fielder after the trade deadline.
Connor Wong may one day make a good catcher, but he’s not there yet, and Jeter Downs is a long way from being a Major League player, based on what I saw of him in Worcester this past season. Those were the three players that the Sox got for Betts in that horrible trade in February of 2020.)
It’s been getting really tiresome, as a longtime Sox fan, hearing the comparison to the Rays every day since Bloom took over. The Rays might make the playoffs often, but they trade away or sell off their best players, and the franchise and their stadium are jokes. They drew a little over 7,000 for one late-season series vs. the Red Sox when the Rays were in the thick of the playoff race.
The Red Sox have a proud tradition of having had so many great players and Bogaerts and Devers, like Betts would have been, are franchise players, so Bloom had better not be just paying lip service when he speaks about the need to keep both players for years to come.
In other areas, the Red Sox desperately need to do the following this off season:
* To spend decent money bolstering their bullpen. Their relievers blew a whopping 28 saves this year. Now, giving the fact that the team had a 26-50 record vs. the American League East en route to finishing in dead-last place in the AL East at 78-84, those numbers are as awful as they are telling.
Here’s why: If their bullpen had saved just half of those games, the additional 14 wins would have made them 92-70, tying them with the Toronto Blue Jays for the top wild card spot. (The Sox were a ridiculous 3-16 vs. the Jays this year, which is an atrocious and embarrassing record).
That’s why the Red Sox can’t afford to take a patchwork quilt approach to restocking the bullpen for the 2023 season.
* Explore either via trades or free agents adding three solid starting pitchers. We cannot rely on retreads and Chris Sale and James Paxton can’t be counted on to fix the rotation next year.
Sale, who pitched just TWO games in 2022 due to a series of injuries sustained by the accident-prone lefty, has one of the worst contracts in Sox history, behind those for Pablo Sandoval and Carl Crawford.
Paxton, who made $6 million for never pitching in a game in 2022, may be available next year, but who knows.
The team should keep Garrett Whitlock in the pen, where he’s a formidable weapon --- starting him in 2022 was a colossal failure. Not only did Whitlock turn into a mediocre pitcher as a starter, but starting him probably led to his hip injury that plagued him the second half of the year and led to his season ending prematurely.
Tanner Houck was an effective closer until he got hurt, and he could be an excellent set-up man if Bloom doesn’t acquire a first-class closer.
* Outfielders are needed. Verdugo, as previously mentioned is mediocre at best both at bat and in the field. Tommy Pham, who came over at the trade deadline, could be a good fourth outfielder, but not a starter, and they could do better than him for a fourth outfielder.
Kike Hernandez, who will return, is a good centerfielder, but he missed a lot of time this year due to injuries and his durability is in question.
* Tristan Casas should be given the first-base job, but either veteran Eric Hosmer, who came over in the trade deadline, or another veteran should be signed to back him up.
* Assuming Bogaerts is back, a healthy Trevor Story should play second, though he played only 94 games in 2022 due to injuries.
* Christian Arroyo is a good utility player and could be the modern-day equivalent to “Super Sub” John Kennedy or the latest version of Brock Holt, an excellent utility man for several years.
Early line: The early line about 2023 hinges on Bloom doing his job and signing Bogaerts and Devers to long-term contract.
The Red Sox aren’t the Rays, Royals or Marlins and must keep those two cornerstone stars.
It's time for Chaim Bloom to wake up and realize that he’s not in Tampa Bay anymore.
That epiphany is way overdue for Bloom.
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