It’s hard to quantify how the Red Sox’s relative inactivity at the trade deadline impacted them during this dismal road trip. Was Nathan Eovadli thinking about the lack of reinforcements as he surrendered seven runs against the Blue Jays in the fifth inning on Friday, or is the organization’s maddeningly conservative approach the reason why J.D. Martinez has left an entire team stranded on the bases over the last 10 games? Probably not.
But there’s no ignoring this point: the Red Sox have gone 2-8 since ownership abandoned them. There must be some sort of correlation, or else this is one of the biggest coincides in baseball history.
It looks like baseball players are human beings after all, and not just cyborgs with statistics meant to be plugged into formulas.
Before I go further, it’s only fair to recognize the data-driven explanations for the Red Sox’s slide: an overachieving starting staff was bound to regress to the mean; losing streaks are largely unavoidable during a long 162-game season. It’s also fair to point out that the Red Sox’s slide was underway before July 30. They went 9-9 from July 5 through July 29.
So yes, their struggles predate the deadline. But that’s another reason why ownership should’ve done more than add an injured outfielder and two bad relief pitchers.
The Red Sox played their asses off through the first three-and-a-half months, punctuating their success with come-from-behind wins and improbable victories. For the first time in three years, there was genuine excitement around the team.
Once again, Fenway Park became a cool place to be.
But instead of getting rewarded, the players were deserted. Now all of their flaws are being exposed. This is maybe most evident in the bullpen. As we saw Sunday, Matt Barnes isn’t the same pitcher he was from April-June. The hard-throwing closer has a 3.48 ERA since July 1.
The Red Sox could’ve added a closing-partner-in-crime, such as Craig Kimbrel. Instead, he went to the White Sox.
With Hirokazu Sawamura exiting Sunday’s game due to elbow tightness, the Red Sox are clearly one high-leverage arm short in the bullpen. As our Rob Bradford notes, it was telling that Alex Cora didn’t have anybody warming up Sunday while Adam Ottavino was laboring through his longest outing of the season.
That’s one quantifiable area where another dependable pitcher would’ve helped.
Professional athletes play off their emotions, just like regular people. On “The Greg Hill Show” Monday, Andrew Raycroft mentioned how the Bruins’ midseason acquisitions of Sergei Gonchar and Michael Nylander at the 2004 deadline instilled confidence in the locker room heading into the playoffs.
“They made that deal at the deadline. We thought we were good, but we were like, ‘Eh, you know,’” he said. But the organization made those deals, and the next day I remember going to the rink like, ‘We’re going to the Finals. Let’s go.’ We could’ve been that Red Sox team where if a deal doesn’t get done and nothing happens, and the Montreal Canadians or Toronto Maple Leafs make that deal, we could’ve gone in and been like, ‘Wow, they don’t believe in us anyway.’”
We’re seeing this example play out 3,100 miles west in San Francisco. The Giants, much like the Red Sox, overachieved through the first four months. They added Kris Bryant, and have continued to win. They’ve gone 7-3 over their last 10 games.
It’s possible to simultaneously rebuild the farm system and be aggressive. The Red Sox could’ve added an impact player without surrendering Triston Casas or Jarren Duran. Sometimes, prospects are more valuable as trade bait than as players. Look no further than Michael Chavis.
If the Red Sox traded him last year, they surely could’ve netted more than Austin Davis.
The worries about Chaim Bloom turning the Red Sox into the Rays are unwarranted. Ownership controls the levers here. If John Henry was comfortable going over the luxury tax, we probably would’ve seen Bloom be more aggressive.
But for whatever reason, Henry didn’t deem them to be worth investing in. The players are responding in kind.
