{"id":162691,"date":"2022-12-19T23:46:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T23:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/rosenthal-red-sox-ownership-shares-the-blame-for-teams-underwhelming-offseason\/"},"modified":"2022-12-19T23:46:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T23:46:17","slug":"rosenthal-red-sox-ownership-shares-the-blame-for-teams-underwhelming-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/rosenthal-red-sox-ownership-shares-the-blame-for-teams-underwhelming-offseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosenthal: Red Sox ownership shares the blame for team’s underwhelming offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"
I can’t defend Chaim Bloom. Not for his dud of a trade deadline. Not for his uninspired work thus far this offseason. But Red Sox ownership deserves as much if not more blame for the franchise’s current inertia. Bloom, the team’s chief baseball officer, should not be the sole punching bag.<\/p>\n
The Mets are spending heavily because owner Steve Cohen is pushing general manager Billy Eppler. The Padres keep adding stars because owner Peter Seidler empowers GM AJ Preller. The Yankees’ Hal Steinbrenner extended himself to keep Aaron Judge. Even the Cubs’ Tom \u201cLosses of Biblical Proportions\u201d Ricketts awakened from a long slumber to authorize a $177 million agreement Saturday with shortstop Dansby Swanson.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox under owners John Henry, Tom Werner and Co.? They’ve failed to react to a changing marketplace, one in which stars are getting decade-long deals. Dating back to Mookie Betts, the Sox owners have been averse to such contracts. They will need to adjust their philosophy to compete for top talent, including their own third baseman, Rafael Devers. Otherwise, they will need to trust Bloom to thread the needle, which he has not been successful at doing.<\/p>\n
Yet for all that, the Red Sox insisted all is well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain optimistic that we are going to field a very competitive team with a chance to play baseball in October and win a World Series in 2023, absolutely,\u201d team president Sam Kennedy told me Saturday before the Red Sox lost out on Swanson, a player in whom they had interest. (Kennedy is the member of the ownership group appointed to speak for Henry and Werner, who rarely speaks themselves publicly).<\/p>\n
Bloom talked at the Winter Meetings of adding \u201cseven, eight, nine, maybe more players than we had after ’22.\u201d To this point, the Sox have added six \u2014 four relievers plus infielder\/DH Justin Turner, 38, and Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida, 29, whom many in the industry believe they overpaid at $90 million for five years. They struck out on early attempts to land first baseman Jos\u00e9 Abreu and right-hander Zach Eflin. And they were outbid by about $120 million on a player they claimed they wanted to retain, shortstop Xander Bogaerts.<\/p>\n