Chaim Bloom calling Red Sox 'underdogs' should frustrate fans

Going into the trade deadline, the Boston Red Sox were sitting virtually all by themselves as one of the hottest teams in baseball and were only 2.5 games out from the third American League Wild Card spot. They were linked to numerous players, and were poised to make a big move to propel them into the postseason with a big, defining move.

Unfortunately, that "big, defining move" for the Red Sox consisted of acquiring Luis Urias from the Milwaukee Brewers.

After the trade deadline Red Sox, Chief Baseball Officer, Chaim Bloom addressed the media and answered questions about the inactivity from the team at the deadline. In place of reiterating the message of belief that he has in the team, Bloom, instead referred to his team as "underdogs this season".

I'm sorry, what?!

Red Sox as 'underdogs' a laughable claim

I mean, yes, mathematically, Boston sits as the underdogs, but after winning the ball game the night of the trade deadline, the Red Sox now sit 1.5 games back of the third Wild Card spot, That's nothing to sneeze at, and, yet, Bloom still has the audacity to call the team an underdog? Considering the tools, or lack thereof, that he has surrounded this team with they have done surprisingly well.

If Boston was to sneak into the group of Wild Card teams, and hold onto that third spot it would be set to play the winner of the American League Central. At this time the Central is led by the Minnesota Twins, a team they took four out of six from in the regular season series, an encouraging sign going into the playoffs.

In the month of July, Boston was one of the best teams in baseball, posting a +33 run differential, and even won 15 out of a total 23 games. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like an underdog team to me. That sounds more like a team favored to go on a roll.

Given his trade history, and history in free agency, Bloom calling the Red Sox an underdog team is something that should frustrate fans left and right.

While we're on the topic of trade history, Bloom also mentioned that: "Just because someone would be a great addition doesn't mean that the trade that it would take to acquire him is a good trade."

I'll say it again, WHAT?!

I mean, seriously, that kind of terminology applies when you are a small-market team like the Rays or the Oakland Athletics, but when you have a pool of prospects like Boston does, and you have all kinds of money to spend, you can afford to make farm-compromising or luxury tax-compromising trade every once in awhile.

The Red Sox are in contention for a deep postseason run, they had the pieces to trade to upgrade their team dramatically at the deadline and even make the team better, but all they could muster up was basically a lateral move for more middle infield depth, the last thing any Red Sox fan needs to see.