It was the Red Sox' first real controversial roster move for 2021. Fortunately for Chaim Bloom, it was the kind of decision the suggests things are going in the right direction.
Appearing on the Greg Hill Show Thursday morning, the Red Sox chief baseball officer elaborated on why the Sox chose to send Tanner Houck to Triple-A despite his dominance thus far at the major league level.
"This is really about depth," Bloom said. "It’s actually kind of funny to me. Last year we went through a summer where we certainly didn’t have as many capable starters as spots. Now we like feel we have more, and that’s how it should be. That’s not a problem, at all. That’s what championship teams should have and from my standpoint we need to build up even more depth. Sometimes that’s going to lead to somebody who is going to come up and perform really well, having to go back down and wait for another chance to contribute. But those chances are going to be there. He’s going to be a huge part of what we do this summer. We also have a lot of confidence in the other five guys. We felt it was best to keep everybody going and keep everybody in their starting roles. But make no mistake, Tanner Houck is going to be a big part of what we accomplish this year."
Houck was optioned to Worcester Wednesday to make room for Eduardo Rodriguez. The rookie had not only excelled in his only outing of this season -- allowing two earned runs over five innings while striking out 10 -- but his body of work through four big-league starts has been eye-opening.
Thirty-one strikeouts in 23 innings with just three earned runs has made both the Red Sox and major league baseball take notice.
"Yeah, nobody likes to be sent down," Bloom added. "He actually handled the conversation great. I will say it’s a little harder to read reaction with people wearing masks, but that’s just part of playing in the pandemic. But he handled it great. I think he showed a really good understanding of the situation. Of course he was disappointing. Everybody would rather be in the big leagues. But all you can do is be really honest with the player. As much as there are things he can do to get better, that wasn’t why we sent him down. You have to be honest with the player about that. This is where we’re at and right now this is what we feel is best for the club and best the bigger picture of what we want to accomplish for the next six months. Just make sure you’re ready for the next opportunity.
"It’s interesting, when he sent him in camp, halfway through camp, we told him, ‘We’re not going to hesitate to call on you whether it’s April or May or June, whenever there is an opportunity, we will have confidence in. It turned out it was on Day 2 of the season and he was ready and that’s great. That’s going to be the case going forward and I’m sure he will be ready for the next opportunity."