Welcome to Bloom’s Basement
What the hell is going on?
Loser: Red Sox
Weird deadline for the Red Sox, who sold while also buying halfheartedly. They traded away stalwart catcher Christian Vázquez, yet imported Tommy Pham and Eric Hosmer in hopes of staying afloat in the wild card race. The Padres are paying most of Hosmer's salary and the Red Sox did get prospects in the trade, but Hosmer is one of the worst hitting first basemen in baseball, and he hits too many ground balls to really benefit from Fenway Park's hitter-friendly dimensions. Not necessarily a bad deadline for the Red Sox, but a weird one, and certainly not one that would land them in the "winner" category. SOURCE
Honestly Chaim? What’ s the plan. Become the Filene’s Basement of the MLB?
There were four moves made by the Red Sox at the trade deadline. Not one of them addressed either the bullpen or starting rotation. All of them were made on the cheap.
Move #1: Christian Vazquez trade to Houston Astros for No. 12 prospect in Houston’s system Enmanuel Valdez and No. 21 Wilson Abreyu
What an unmitigated cluster fuck this was.
Can you think of a more perfect example to describe a disjointed if not disfunctional organization? Not a single representative from management was in Houston to tell the Manager, player, or club house that the longest tenured Red Sox and anchor to you pitching staff is being shipped across the field to play against you tomorrow. Hearing you’re being traded from the media is a joke. Chaim Bloom holding a press conference from Boston while the game is being played. Busch League.
Not to mention Vazquez has been one of the top performers this season and a massive loss in the Sox club house.
Bogaerts: “The one for Vázqy, I mean, if you ask me, yeah,” Bogaerts said. “No one saw that coming. You obviously saw a lot of stuff coming out, but it doesn’t kick in until it really happens. And obviously, Diekman obviously going to the White Sox, so that was two pieces going out and nothing coming in.”
Does he see it as waving the white flag?
“I don’t want to say it waves the white flag, but that’s a big piece going out before all of us expected or hoped someone was coming in,” Bogaerts said. “I don’t want to say in particular the white flag, but it was a big move. He was a big piece of the team, but it was at least trending that direction.” SOURCE
Move #2: Sox trade for Tommy Pham from Reds for later considerations. Tommy Pham was good in 2017. At this point he is a platoon player in a position of need granted, but still a platoon player. Most likely splitting time with Mr. Mendoza himself, JBJ. So I guess it’s an upgrade? One they needed in like April.
Move #3: Sox send Jake Diekman’s $4 million salary to Chicago and in return get back up catcher Reese McGuire aka McJerky.
Diekman has sucked this season. Seeing him go is no big deal, but again it’s the motive. This was a salary dump and a convenient return because you have “Plaw Dawg” Kevin Plawecki hitting .170 and jack shit else at the catcher position after the Vazquez deal. Spoiler alert Diekman was not replaced with an upgrade for the bullpen.
Move #4: Red Sox trade Jay Groom to Padres for Eric Hosmer, cash considerations, and 2 minor leaguers.
Okay. Eric Hosmer is a professional baseball player that can make a catch at 1st base. Something they have needed for a year and 1/2. Can’t really hit anymore, but that is still a significant add at a position of need. How did it come to be? Not because Bloom identified a need and a player. If that was the case we would not have had to sit through the Dalbec/ Franchy experiment. No, Hosmer is a Red Sox because
1. The Nats were on his no trade list, the Sox weren’t.
2. The Padres are eating ALL of the money.
3. They scored a couple more sick prospects out of the deal.
So where do we stand? Are they better? Worse? If they had just kept Vazquez you could have looked at this deadline and called it net positive. Not a full on empty the kitchen sink approach like the Yankees, but it would have certainly made the team better.
Winner: Yankees
The Yankees have enjoyed a dream season to date, but they came into the second half with several obvious needs, and they were not shy about addressing them at the trade deadline. They needed another starter, specifically a difference-maker rather than a back-end innings-eater, an outfielder to replace Joey Gallo, and bullpen depth. At the deadline they acquired:
Andrew Benintendi, the best available rental outfielder
Frankie Montas, the second best controllable starter available behind Luis Castillo
Harrison Bader, an elite defender in center field (currently on the injured list)
Scott Effross, a sneaky-great high leverage reliever
Lou Trivino, a serviceable depth arm
Yankees GM Brian Cashman managed to do that without surrendering top prospects Anthony Volpe, Oswald Peraza, and Jasson Domínguez and while giving up just one piece off his MLB roster (Jordan Montgomery). In fact, the Yankees traded eight prospects in their three trades and exactly one was drafted before the fourth round (lefty TJ Sikkema, a former supplemental first-round pick who was part of the Benintendi trade).
The Yankees sought to improve their roster for October -- August and September aren't a big priority given their MLB-leading 70 wins -- and they were able to do that while keeping their best prospects. That's some nifty tradecraft. SOURCE
These 4 moves just don’t make any fucking sense! They don’t add up.
Here’s my conclusion. Bloom is not a leader. He is not a team builder. He is an acquirer of talent. Similar to Danny Ainge in the sense that he hunts down the best deal possible and won’t make the deal unless it’s a win. No matter what the fallout is on the actual team and product. Listen to his press conference after the Vazquez trade. This guy is a West World Host trying to be a human being. He lacks the fundamental ability to understand emotions. He sees this entire job as the freaking Matrix.
Ultimately this roster will not have enough talent to push through and win it all. If winning a World Series is not the goal when you are in a possible playoff position then what’s the point? Bloom as acquired nearly 30 minor leaguers in his tenure. I don’t think we can say definitively he has made one move specifically to win a championship. Internally staff and players have lost faith in their Chief Baseball Officer. Externally the fans are begging for more sense of urgency. No one can pin down the true direction of the franchise. The Red Sox are a rutterless basement bin shopper and it’s embarrassing.