3 trades Chaim Bloom didn’t make that killed the Red Sox season
The Boston Red Sox are falling all the way out of playoff contention and Chaim Bloom deserves the lion’s share of the blame for his trade deadline dud.
The Boston Red Sox are dead. Sure, in theory, they could make up the five-game deficit that’s grown in the wild card race over the remaining 50+ games and get into the playoffs. But based on what we’ve seen since the trade deadline, that seems wholly unlikely. And Chaim Bloom deserves every finger to be pointed at him.
Speaking with the media after the trade deadline, Bloom talked about the Red Sox being underdogs, which colored a quiet deadline in Boston where they added a pair of fringe relievers in Mauricio Llovera and Nick Robertson along with infielder Luis Urias. Yet, if this roster is an underdog, then Bloom is saying that like Tim Robinson in a hot dog costume, trying to find the guy who did this.
Let me clear up the drama: It was Chaim Bloom. He failed to adequately fix the entirety of the bullpen and constructed a pitching staff (and arguably an infield) that was unable to weather any injuries. That’s what landed the Red Sox in this spot of mediocrity, disappointment and bordering on irrelevancy.
Sure, Chris Sale, Trevor Story, Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and more are coming back from injuries. But at this rate, it’ll be too late when that happens for the Red Sox to truly save the season and get back in the thick of the playoff race.
That could’ve been remedied at the trade deadline, though. Yet, Bloom did nothing of substance to improve this roster, even with Rafael Devers pleading for help. So looking back, here are the three mistakes at the trade deadline that killed the Red Sox.
Red Sox: 3 Chaim Bloom trade deadline whiffs that killed the season
3. Failing to trade Alex Verdugo was malpractice for the Red Sox
It’s become extremely clear over the past few weeks that the relationship between Alex Verdugo and manager Alex Cora (in addition to possibly the Red Sox front office) might be beyond repair.
The outfielder who was arguably the centerpiece of the Mookie Betts trade to the Dodgers — which is another Chaim Bloom failure in its own right — had been in the midst of a breakout season early in 2023, but had since leveled off. Now he’s being benched for mysterious reasons that appear to be hustle or character related and he’s only under team control through the end of next season.
As such, with Boston having a glut of outfield depth on this current roster thanks to the immediate impact of Masataka Yoshida and breakout of Jarren Duran, it wasn’t wholly surprising to see Verdugo floated as a potential “surprise” trade candidate for the Red Sox. And with several contenders looking for left-handed outfielders and bats, it would’ve been easy to get a valuable haul in return for Verdugo.
Instead, Bloom and the Red Sox sat on their outfield depth and did nothing to help improve the rest of the roster. This could even be extended to someone like Adam Duvall, who would’ve netted a lesser return than Verdugo, but still had plenty of interest.
Boston now moves into irrelevancy with a bevy of good outfielders, too many to take the field at the same time on the same day while other parts of the roster are exceptionally weak. That includes a player in Verdugo’s case who may simply want out. To not capitalize on that for a player or asset that could actually help this team is malpractice.