With a near-miss march to the World Series now one week in the Red Sox rearview mirror, it’s definitely easier for a more sober and satisfying perspective to settle in. If surveyed back in March, I told you that the 2021 Red Sox would finish just two wins away from a World Series appearance my guess is that you would’ve gladly taken it. At that time, I was getting a little giddy about the arrival of the new Red Sox season myself as written here: Taking stock of this wild time in Boston sports (audacy.com). But that giddiness was based on truly modest hopes.
I figured 85 or maybe upwards of 87 wins, with a stretch goal of contending for postseason through September. Based on the return of Alex Cora, an encouraging spring and some new talent acquired in the offseason that seemed a reasonable goal; not an expectation but a goal. Expectations certainly couldn’t be lower than the year prior that saw a Red Sox team, like its then sleepy manager Ron Roenicke snooze through a pandemic shortened and brutal 2020 season.
That was then and this is now and now things are greatly improved for your Red Sox. After an often exhilarating, equally frustrating, downright maddening and borderline euphoric 2021 season, the Red Sox again won our hearts. Their Chief Baseball Officer, Chaim Bloom, proved that he can find the hidden gems, build a team with an eye towards improved cost efficiency and give us all a team to be proud to root for. It sure feels like the Red Sox turnaround blossomed a year earlier than expected but with 2022 on the horizon, expectations for next year have suddenly skyrocketed.
So here comes the 2021-22 Red Sox offseason and what will clearly be Bloom’s biggest test. Not his biggest test to date, but his biggest test. A test that could very well define his career, reputation, and his professional brand as a prominent baseball executive.
The question: Can Bloom evolve into being a major market GM?
We know he can find talent and build a contender, but with many questions surrounding the Red Sox roster composition for 2022, the future and most specifically, the current championship window the Red Sox exist in right now, that is the question. That’s the question I’m asking and the one that needs to be answered.
If you’re wondering if I am clamoring for a return to the fiscal recklessness that burdened the Red Sox with suffocating contracts for overfed and underperforming ballplayers, I am most certainly not; as well chronicled here: More credit for Red Sox’ success, Alex Cora or Chaim Bloom? (audacy.com). I am however looking for the Red Sox to take a step forward next year and based on this year’s success there’s only one place to step towards, the World Series. To get there, the Red Sox need a couple of things and how Bloom approaches this offseason will tell us a lot in terms of what we can expect and should prepare for during his reign as the Czar of Red Sox Baseball Operations.
Boston is the nation’s 10th largest media market with over 4.4 million people. Red Sox Nation however houses over 7.2 million people, making it the fourth-largest media market in the country. Simply stated, this ain't Tampa Bay, Oakland, Worcester or Pawtucket and as cute and cuddly as the 2021 Red Sox are, reinforcements to ensure the next championship run are required. In this market, that shouldn’t be done on the cheap.
The 2004 World Series Champion Red Sox deployed many of the tenants of Billy Beane’s team building strategy to its own. A strategy that emphasized the importance of on-base percentage. Players like Kevin Millar, 2004 Batting Champion Bill Mueller and Mark Bellhorn were known as patient hitters, happy to take pitches and walks, something Beane’s A’s lived off of. Those key players were added to a roster that was already immensely talented and just one game away from MLB’s grandest stage the season prior. OBP meant something to that team, but the ‘Moneyball’ strategy that Beane needed to use in Oakland to fit them into his salary restrictive culture was not needed here in Boston. They were just added to the mix.
At north of $125 million in annual payroll in 2004, the Red Sox were over $57 million behind the fat wallets of their archrival New York Yankees. Even then though, the Sox were still second in baseball by a nearly $25 million payroll margin.
Today, the Red Sox are in the Top 5 in payroll in baseball, trailing only the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets and Astros and I have no problem with that. As I’ve written before, I appreciate and respect the fact that Bloom was able to untangle the Red Sox fiscal mess and build a contender so quickly. Stick tap to Bloom for that.
We can’t forget though that this was the reason why Bloom was brought to town in the first place. That was the specific skill-set that the Red Sox were after when ownership sought out Bloom as their man in 2019. Fast forward to today though. With a deep and successful playoff run in that same aforementioned rearview mirror, now the stakes are higher and the expectations for Bloom to meet those needs should also be raised.
To level jump the Astros and stay ahead of the Yankees, Rays and even the wildly talented Blue Jays, the Red Sox will need to add. They need innings from a durable starter. They desperately need a closer, a consistent and durable second baseman and probably another bat. With money under the luxury tax to invest my expectation is that Bloom will use every resource he has to deepen the roster and improve the team.
Free agency, trades, what have you; to show his mettle as a major market GM, it will be critical for Bloom to raise his willingness to invest as the stakes for his team get higher, just like his mentor Andrew Friedman did once he left the financial constraints of Tampa Bay for the golden pastures of LA.
The stakes are now higher in Boston and an expectant fan base awaits Bloom’s next move.
