It seems as though the Red Sox are at least prepared to spend some money this offseason if the right opportunities arise.
When asked during a Zoom call with the local media Wednesday afternoon, Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom said the team wouldn't be shying away from talking with players with the qualifying offer attached. Some who fall under that classification include pitchers Trevor Bauer, outfielder George Springer and second baseman D.J. LeMahieu.
If the Red Sox signs a player who has been offered the one-year, $18.9 million qualifying offer than they will have to forfeit their second-highest draft pick along with $500,000 of international bonus pool money.
"I think it’s are responsibility on everything that can fit us," Bloom said. "Obviously when you’re talking about somebody that has a qualifying offer them the cost to us in signing them is greater and you have to factor that on some level. I don’t like ruling us out on anybody."
As for exactly how much money the Red Sox will be willing to spend, that seems still somewhat up in the air due to the uncertain economic times in the game.
"We’re talked about it in general terms," Bloom said of the team's allocation of resources. "The course we chart this offseason may be based on what opportunities are there. Also how things fit into our larger goals, which you all know is to build a sustainable championship contender, so that isn’t just focused on 2021, that’s also focused on longer term opportunities. We just want to try and look at everything in the context of that. Not just how it helps us now but what it might mean for us down the road. It’s a difficult question to answer directly. We just want to make sure everything we do is consistent with that goal."
Bloom also discussed the dynamic now that Alex Cora is back in the fold when it comes to identifying potential acquisitions this offseason.
“I love the conversation and having the manager involved in those things, that’s what I’m used to," he noted. "It’s what I’ve been used to really my whole career. I think it’s a positive when you have someone — I think this would apply to really any manager given the importance of the position, but especially when you have someone with as active of a mind as Alex, you want them engaged, and we talk about this as a partnership and it really is. That applies to a lot of aspects of what we do, so you want them engaged in that process and thinking along with you and offering input and being a sounding board for ideas that you may have.
"I think as far as where we are directionally, and I said it at the outset, I think it’s really important we just have to make sure we continue doing the right things towards our goal, and I think if we start trying to dramatically change that because of one ... we’re just going to get ourselves in trouble. We need to just make sure we’re relentless about doing the right things with that endpoint of we want to have a club that’s in position to compete for division championships and therefore world championships on an annual basis. Anything that pushes us towards that is something we need to go after and it’s exciting to have Alex as a partner in those conversations now.”