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The Red Sox decided to hold firm without making a deal at the deadline, and Lou Merloni is not happy.
He reacted live to the deadline passage on Ordway, Merloni & Fauria, patiently waiting for official word that Boston wasn't making a move, and when word came, Merloni went off.
"If you're Dave Dombrowski, how do you look yourself in the mirror?" Merloni asked aloud. "How do you accept a check every two weeks knowing what you've done to this ballclub this week. The only guy you have is (Brandon) Workman and you're not even counting on him. Everyone knew this had to happen, and he did nothing? He didn't even add one arm? We've got Workman and (Matt) Barnes and that's it?
"They've got nothing. Dave Dombrowski just quit on his baseball team. That's what they did. This thing is over. They're going to get swept out in New York, they're not going to come close to the postseason because there isn't a freaking guy in that locker room that believes they have enough to win. Matt Barnes? Brandon Workman? They should just say you might as well throw me on the IL right now. What am I going to do? Games down the stretch, in the playoff hunt, I'm going to have to throw 45 pitches again?"
It was no secret that the Red Sox desperately needed help in the bullpen, but Dombrowski and Alex Cora decided they had enough, despite having no established closer to lock down high-leverage innings.
"How do you go into the season without a closer, how do you not address the closer situation?" Merloni continued. "How many games do you got to lose in the eighth and ninth inning? Give me seven more games, you're in this thing, you're the best offense in baseball, you know as well as I do Dave that this is Mookie Betts' last year, and you just quit on the year? You didn't give them anything? Can Sale turn it around? Can Price turn it around. Sure. You know when they'll turn it around? The first week of freaking August, and guess what, you're going to have (Marcus) Walden, and (Colton) Brewer, and (Heath) Hembree, just blowing these games. You just quit on the year. I am amazed that Dave Dombrowski with one year left on his deal just packed it in. How do you just pack it in and go home? They don't have enough to win, they don't have enough."
There have been suggestions that Boston was handcuffed a bit by a league-leading payroll and a thin farm system but it was widely expected that the team would make a move. In the end, Cora's rolling with what he has.
"Dave, your team is worth investing in and you quit on them," Merloni said. "It's over. John Henry spent 241 freaking million dollars and you had a hole, a hole the season of I don't even know what in that bullpen, and you never did anything about it? You might as well have just pissed on 241 million dollars, seriously just give it away. How do you put that talent on the field and not address this position?
"This has ripple effects in the locker room, because every guy in that position, aside from maybe freaking Sam Travis, knows that they just don't have enough to win."