Bogey fallout: Bloom, and maybe Henry, have got to go
Here's one lifetime Red Sox fan's thoughts and reactions to the news that another foundation player, shortstop Xander Bogaerts, one of the few survivors from the 2018 World Championship team, is gone, having agreed to an 11-year, $280 million contract with the San Diego Padres:
* Bloom and Henry have to go: The loss of Bogaerts should be the final straw for chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who has shown that he's never understood or grasped what baseball is all about in Boston since he replaced Dave "World Series or bust" Dombrowski in the fall of 2019.
Don't cite the admittedly lengthy 11-year contract as the reason why Bogey is now a Padre. Sure, the Sox weren't going to match those years, but that's not the main reason why Bogey is gone.
He's gone because the Sox, since the end of the 2021 season, showed themselves to be either too arrogant or too frugal to open up the team's immense wealth to give Bogey a respectful offer.
It wasn't a surprise that many news reports revealed that the Sox weren't even close to matching the $280 million total value of Bogaerts' new contract.
The Sox devalued Bogey's worth from the beginning of the negotiations, offering him a $90 million contract extension before the 2022 season, a deal that was well below market value.
After Bloom traded away Mookie Betts, he had a string of horrible trades --- including dumping Andrew Benintendi for bad prospects and the "immortal" Franchy Cordero (who is mercifully now a Baltimore Oriole minor leaguer).
In addition, Bloom should have been sued for dereliction of duty because of the abysmal bullpen that he left the team with in 2022. The pen blew nearly 30 saves this past season.
The bottom line is that Bloom overall has never grasped the Boston market, instead trying to constantly remake the team into Tampa Bay North, his previous team. Sorry, but the Rays and their horrible stadium and apathetic fans are the last team we should try to emulate.
That's why Bloom should either be fired immediately or be forced to resign.
And, if owner John Henry continues to be a basically absentee owner when it comes to being answerable to the fans, he should be forced out if he's not going to spend some of his billions on improving the Sox instead of on Liverpool (up for sale), the Penguins or another Quixotic quest to buy an NBA team.
Enough, already! Pay attention to the Red Sox!
* Stop insulting players: Henry also should resign, because he, too, doesn't get what it means to own the Red Sox. After all, it was Henry who signed off, pre-Bloom, on lowballing Jon Lester in 2014, and that was a shame.
Lester and Bogey were/ are players who actually "got it" about playing in Boston. Now we're stuck with Trevor "Crybaby" Story, who got upset when the fans booed him for having a lousy start. Story, who may be moved to shortstop, will not be a good fit for Boston over his next five years here. But if he does stay, please keep him at second, where he at least played great defensively. But he showed last year he'll easily buckle under the weight of fans' criticism, and the last thing we need is another Carl Crawford -- who came over from Tampa Bay and was an unmitigated disaster!
* Bloom and Henry have to go: The loss of Bogaerts should be the final straw for chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who has shown that he's never understood or grasped what baseball is all about in Boston since he replaced Dave "World Series or bust" Dombrowski in the fall of 2019.
Don't cite the admittedly lengthy 11-year contract as the reason why Bogey is now a Padre. Sure, the Sox weren't going to match those years, but that's not the main reason why Bogey is gone.
He's gone because the Sox, since the end of the 2021 season, showed themselves to be either too arrogant or too frugal to open up the team's immense wealth to give Bogey a respectful offer.
It wasn't a surprise that many news reports revealed that the Sox weren't even close to matching the $280 million total value of Bogaerts' new contract.
The Sox devalued Bogey's worth from the beginning of the negotiations, offering him a $90 million contract extension before the 2022 season, a deal that was well below market value.
After Bloom traded away Mookie Betts, he had a string of horrible trades --- including dumping Andrew Benintendi for bad prospects and the "immortal" Franchy Cordero (who is mercifully now a Baltimore Oriole minor leaguer).
In addition, Bloom should have been sued for dereliction of duty because of the abysmal bullpen that he left the team with in 2022. The pen blew nearly 30 saves this past season.
The bottom line is that Bloom overall has never grasped the Boston market, instead trying to constantly remake the team into Tampa Bay North, his previous team. Sorry, but the Rays and their horrible stadium and apathetic fans are the last team we should try to emulate.
That's why Bloom should either be fired immediately or be forced to resign.
And, if owner John Henry continues to be a basically absentee owner when it comes to being answerable to the fans, he should be forced out if he's not going to spend some of his billions on improving the Sox instead of on Liverpool (up for sale), the Penguins or another Quixotic quest to buy an NBA team.
Enough, already! Pay attention to the Red Sox!
* Stop insulting players: Henry also should resign, because he, too, doesn't get what it means to own the Red Sox. After all, it was Henry who signed off, pre-Bloom, on lowballing Jon Lester in 2014, and that was a shame.
Lester and Bogey were/ are players who actually "got it" about playing in Boston. Now we're stuck with Trevor "Crybaby" Story, who got upset when the fans booed him for having a lousy start. Story, who may be moved to shortstop, will not be a good fit for Boston over his next five years here. But if he does stay, please keep him at second, where he at least played great defensively. But he showed last year he'll easily buckle under the weight of fans' criticism, and the last thing we need is another Carl Crawford -- who came over from Tampa Bay and was an unmitigated disaster!
* Fans' anger is on the rise: Bloom may be forced out soon. After failing to keep Kyle Schwarber and his more than 40 homers with the Phillies in 2022, and his abysmal trading-deadline performance, when he dumped catcher Christian Vazquez for practically nothing, the fans are fed up with Bloom.
I'm reminded of the scene from Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" when a mob of angry villagers march on the castle, with pitchforks in hand, as they're out for blood. Red Sox fans' anger on the airwaves on Thursday made me think of that scene as they've been wielding metaphorical pitch forks in the angry comments they've directed toward the Sox, and who can blame them for being upset. The Sox are the MOST EXPENSIVE ticket in all of baseball, and team can't even thank the fans for their support by holding on to their homegrown talent!
* "Homegrown" outdated already: Boston Globe writer and author Alex Speier's excellent book about the drafting and developing of the homegrown talent --- hence the name of the book "Homegrown," which was published after the 2018 World Championship, is almost outdated now. Most of the players, thanks to Bloom, are already gone from that team and Rafael Devers is the only player who was in the lineup in Game 5 of the World Series who is left. And, would it surprise you to see Devers be gone, too, after seeing how Bogey was disrespected by the team?
What a waste of talent!
* Williams and Yaz would have been long gone: It's a damned good thing that boring technocrats and stat geeks like Bloom weren't in charge of the Red Sox when Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski were playing or else they would have been traded or let go to for some random utility players.
And I'm not just saying that to be facetious: Bloom clearly lacks the vision needed to keep your homegrown superstars. Sorry, but we're not Tampa Bay or other smaller-market cities. We're used to keeping our top players --- that's why fans go to the park. They don't go there to see players they don't know or prospects.
* "Homegrown" outdated already: Boston Globe writer and author Alex Speier's excellent book about the drafting and developing of the homegrown talent --- hence the name of the book "Homegrown," which was published after the 2018 World Championship, is almost outdated now. Most of the players, thanks to Bloom, are already gone from that team and Rafael Devers is the only player who was in the lineup in Game 5 of the World Series who is left. And, would it surprise you to see Devers be gone, too, after seeing how Bogey was disrespected by the team?
What a waste of talent!
* Williams and Yaz would have been long gone: It's a damned good thing that boring technocrats and stat geeks like Bloom weren't in charge of the Red Sox when Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski were playing or else they would have been traded or let go to for some random utility players.
And I'm not just saying that to be facetious: Bloom clearly lacks the vision needed to keep your homegrown superstars. Sorry, but we're not Tampa Bay or other smaller-market cities. We're used to keeping our top players --- that's why fans go to the park. They don't go there to see players they don't know or prospects.
As one of your former co-workers would say, “Tell us how you REALLY feel, Larry!”
ReplyDeleteYou are right on all counts, but I’m afraid we are going to have Henry and Bloom around for at least another season unless fans stop buying tickets and turn off NESN. I’m not holding my breath, however. — Bill S