The Red Sox said all the right things Thursday.Now it’s time for action.
And the hour of talk at Fenway Park will certainly prove to be cheaperthanthe next few months.
More:Here's what's wrong with the Red Sox, who were eliminated after Sunday's loss
Boston enters what will be the defining offseason of Chaim Bloom’s tenure. The club’s chief baseball officer could cement himself in the job for the next decade or lose it in the next year based on his comingseries of critical choices.
More:Red Sox brass and players differ on how to build a team
Even the most loyal Red Sox fans won’t tolerate much more of what happened in 2022. Boston must deliver on its promise of annual contentionand demonstrate genuine ambition to appease simmering frustrations in the grandstands.
“It just comes back to making good decisions,” Bloom said in a morning press conference. “I do think we’re in a position right now where we know we have a lot to tackle.”
October went out with a whimper despite a three-game sweep of the Rays, a team bound for the playoffs witha modest 86-76 record. That was good enough to secure the final American League wild-card berth — the Red Sox, eight games behind, weren’t within shouting distance. They suffered a fifth last-place finish in the A.L.East over an 11-yearspan.
Bad decisions = bad results at Fenway
Bloom’s extended effort to build payroll flexibilityhas led to a place where the club might have even less of a choice regarding its general direction. It feels like Boston must spend its way out of trouble through free agency or adding salary via trade. Cot’s Contracts estimates the Red Sox could have upward of $133 million in space before crossing the final threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax.
It’s been a series of mistakes that has delivered Bostonto this point. Roster evaluation entering 2022 was poor. That was partly created by inaction last offseason — unless you think signing Michael Wacha, James Paxton, Jake Diekman and Matt Strahm was the work of an aspiringcontender.
Trevor Story earns his own separate category — and for concerningreasons. His batting average, on-base percentage (by 60 points) and slugging percentage (by 120 points) have declinedevery year since 2019. Storyaccumulated less WAR at his position in 2022 than Kolten Wong,ThairoEstrada, Gavin Lux andJazz Chisholm— and the exciting young Marlins starplayed a total of 60 games.
Based on what to date is a glaring swing and miss, has Bloom really earned your faithto spend at or near the top of the market? Story’s deal in free agency was six years, $140 million — $50 million more than the revised packagereportedly offered to Xander Bogaerts in spring training and $2.3 million more in average annual value than what was reportedly offered to Rafael Devers at the same time. Both are considerably superior players who have already proven their worth in the BackBay.
Wasn’t spending more efficiently thegenesisof this pivot from former president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to Bloom? Each of the86 Red Sox wins in 2019 cost roughly $2.83 million. The club just paid roughly $3.1 million for each of its 78 wins in 2022, and it’s on the hook for nearly $1 million in penalties after going over the final threshold of the CBT.
Can Red Sox rekindle fan interest?
Three years of this nebulous path finally seems to have frustrated one of the sport’s most passionate followings. Bostondrew 2,625,089 patrons this season, itslowest total in a non-COVID season since John Henry purchased the franchise in 2002. The Red Soxannounced 19 home crowds of less than 30,000 — theydrew only eight such totals from 2002-19 —and hosted the four worst-attended games of Henry’s tenure.
That’s real money going out of ownership’s pockets — an even 10% downturn fromthe last pre-restriction full season in2019. It translates to more than eight figures in lost ticket revenue alone. Boston wasvalued by Forbes at $3.9 billion in March 2022 — the club isin no conceivable danger of real financial trouble — but any noteworthy loss like that on the balance sheet will raise eyebrows.
Perhaps this was due to difficult economic times, you might say. The last significant recession in America lasted from 2007-09, and the Red Soxtopped 3 million fans in every season from 2008-12. The difference, of course, is obvious — those were star-laden, compelling, generally successfulteams with a majority of players who were worth watching every night.This is a roster bothtoo anonymous and too clearly lacking in quality to be considered the same.
Boston hasn’treached those box office heights again since the disaster thatwas the Bobby Valentine season in 2012. Ittouched off a period where theRed Sox haveemployedfour different managers and traded a generational superstar in Mookie Betts. Multiple championships in that span make the turmoil here more worthwhile than steady contention and a lack ofwinning in other markets, but there will always be a tipping point.
We seem to have arrived.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
