BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 25: Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom of the Boston Red Sox addresses the media during an end of season press conference on October 25, 2021 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Coming into this season, the Boston Red Sox were a bit of a question mark.
In theory, the front office had added to a team that defied the odds and went deep into the postseason in 2021. CEO Sam Kennedy says they added, anyway. There was more pitching; not exactly great pitching, but more pitching. But they’d also lost two sluggers in Kyle Schwarber and Hunter Renfroe, and signing Trevor Story didn’t exactly make up for that.
By now, it’s clear that the theory did not actualize on the field. The Sox are careening towards mathematical elimination from the Wild Card race. Injuries decimated the roster all summer, especially in the pitching department. Chris Sale began the season on the Injured List and returned to it almost immediately. Some of their best hitters have seriously underperformed. As the kids say, the vibes are bad.
And as the organization’s Chief Baseball Officer, Chaim Bloom shoulders a significant portion – if not the majority – of the blame for these decisions. While ownership can veto his decisions, he leads the charge on ideating and constructing a contending roster, and failed to do so.
Here are the three biggest mistakes of the year:
The Jackie Bradley Jr. trade and release
In theory, the Jackie Bradley Jr. trade made sense. The Sox could sell high on Hunter Renfroe after his great 2021 season and get prospects and a Gold Glove-caliber outfielder with postseason experience in return. Taking on the remainder of Bradley’s contract was a pricy decision, but if it panned out the way they planned, it would be a great homecoming for the homegrown talent.
Unfortunately, their strategy of only using Bradley in the most optimal pitching matchups fell apart almost immediately when his teammates started getting injured. Losing Kiké Hernández, in particular, forced the Sox to make Bradley an everyday starter again. He hit well at Fenway Park and continued to be a plus-defender, but his struggles in virtually every other ballpark hurt the team.
The Sox made a bad situation even worse right after the trade deadline when they DFA’ed and released Bradley while still under obligation to pay the remainder of his salary. Instead of optioning Jarren Duran to Triple-A – which they ended up doing two weeks later – they got rid of Bradley, a better defender by a marathon’s length. The Toronto Blue Jays quickly snatched him up, and he returned to torment the Sox at Fenway last week. Worst of all, the Sox paid him to play against them.
FORT MYERS, FL – MARCH 16: James Paxton #65 of the Boston Red Sox poses for a portrait on Major League Baseball photo day on March 15, 2022 at JetBlue Park at Fenway South on March 16, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images) /
Signing James Paxton
Signing James Paxton to a one-year deal with a two-year option was another strategic move that failed to make the jump from theory to reality.
While making his first rehab appearance since his April 2021 Tommy John surgery earlier this month, Paxton suffered a Grade 2 lat strain, ending his season after making only two outs.
The Sox always knew that Paxton would miss a significant portion of the season, but they gave him $10M in guaranteed money anyway, banking on the hope that he’d return and pitch like he had for the Seattle Mariners in the mid-2010s.
It’s bad enough that the Sox just gambled $10M away, but Paxton’s agent, Scott Boras, negotiated what he calls a “swellopt” deal that included a two-year, $26M club option. And if the Sox decline that, Paxton has a one-year, $4M player option for 2023, which he would likely exercise, given that many teams won’t want to give him a chance after so much missed time.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – AUGUST 14: J.D. Martinez #28 of the Boston Red Sox watches the pregame ceremony before a game against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park on August 14, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images) /
Not trading JD Martinez
Hindsight is 20/20, but Martinez was already struggling before the trade deadline earlier this month.
After hitting .302/.368/.481 in the first half of the season, he’s hitting .188/.256/.268 since the All-Star break, with only two home runs, unheard of for the prolific power hitter. Between 2018-21, he homered 28+ times in each full season. He homered more in the shortened 2020 campaign than he has this year.
While Martinez says he knows why he’s not producing at the plate, the knowledge hasn’t seemed to translate into much improvement. He finally hit his tenth home run of the season over the weekend, after a 143 plate appearance drought, the second longest of his entire career.
For whatever reason, Bloom’s asking price was very high in Martinez trade talks, and teams eventually moved on to other prey. So now, when the season ends, the struggling slugger will reach free agency
