There were many who surmised there was some frustration in the Red Sox ranks after the trade deadline regarding the team's strategy when it came to adding to its postseason push. Particularly, considering the shock-and-awe approaches by some of the Sox' chief competitors.
It turns out that was the case.
Red Sox ace Nathan Eovaldi appeared on the Greg Hill Show Wednesday morning to explain how his teammates viewed the Sox' trade deadline -- which included acquisitions of Kyle Schwarber, Austin Davis and Hansel Robles -- and how they managed to move forward after the late July/early August doldrums.
"Yeah, I think we were a little frustrated that we didn’t make more moves, but picking up the guys that we did ... Schwarber was a huge pickup," Eovaldi said. "We got Robles who has been huge for us down the stretch, same with Davis. Schwarber, I think, has been the biggest one so far. The energy that he has been able to bring on a day in, day out basis.
"Once it got to the playoffs, we all clicked again. We had that same feeling at the beginning of the season, kind of before the trade deadline. Then we had our struggles at the deadline. And we ran into the COVID issues as well. Everything kind of hit us at once. Once we got kind of separated from each other, dealing with the COVID, everybody came back and we got hot again. It was almost like the game was taken away from us and nobody liked that. We kind of had that same feeling going into Washington. It came down to those last three games and we were able to come out on top with the big sweep of Washington and we were able to take home-field advantage for the Yankees. I think once we got home, with the electricity from the fans and the energy in the stadium, that really sparked us and now we’ve been playing extremely good baseball."
From July 29 until Aug. 12, the Red Sox went just 3-11 while going 1 1/2 games ahead of the Rays and 8 1/2 up on the Yankees, to five back of Tampa Bay and just two ahead of New York.
Most who did criticize Bloom for his strategy at the trade deadline have had to admit the Chief Baseball Officer did alright for himself.
Schwarber has become one of the most valuable pieces of the Red Sox' puzzle, even adequately playing a position - first base - he had never manned before. And both Robles and Davis evolved into relievers Alex Cora has trusted in high-leverage spots throughout the last month.
Conversely, some of the moves many believed the Red Sox should have made backfired for the teams who ultimately did jump in deep for relievers at the deadline. For instance, Craig Kimbrel was a disaster for the White Sox, while Richard Rodriguez didn't make the Braves National League Division Series roster.