![]() Sources say that once Boston's season is over - perhaps at the end of the regular season, or, if the team somehow rebounds from its recent descent, after the playoffs - it will attempt to reignite extension talks with Bogaerts, who signed a team-friendly extension in 2019 because of his preference at that time to play his whole career with the Red Sox. "We're going to be in a position to be aggressive," one organizational official said. If Bogaerts opts out of his deal, the team will have only two significant contracts remaining on its books - the last two years of Sale's deal, for $27.5 million annually in 20, and the bulk of the $140 million investment in Trevor Story, signed this spring. And Bloom's predecessor, Dave Dombrowski, who was fired less than a year after the Red Sox won the 2018 World Series, knows this.īloom will soon learn whether Henry's support for him is intact, or if he will change course again, in an offseason in which the Red Sox could have more flexibility than they've had in years. ![]() Ben Cherington, who was demoted despite constructing one championship and shaping the foundation of another, knows this. Theo Epstein, who built the first of his Hall of Fame credentials with the Red Sox but departed, knows this. Grady Little, the manager fired after a crushing loss in the 2003 AL Championship Series, knows this. The more pertinent question could be: How will the ownership group, led by John Henry, react to the backlash of an increasingly unhappy Red Sox Nation? Because even through Henry has had many successes, he has demonstrated he will veer sharply in his planning. Both will demand high prices, but since Boston's signing of Chris Sale early in the 2019 season - executed before Bloom took over - the Red Sox rank 13th among the 30 teams in free agent spending, according to the research of ESPN analyst Paul Hembekides.Ī top front-office official from another team echoed a question similar to one that has reverberated among Boston fans and bounced around the clubhouse: "What the hell are they doing up there?" Rafael Devers, the team's best offensive player, does not have a long-term contract and could be a free agent after next season. Bogaerts can opt out of his contract after this season, and might well become a free agent. The Red Sox again have one of the highest payrolls in baseball, to the degree that they will pay a luxury tax for their spending in 2022.īut the team that traded away Mookie Betts for a package of young players - none of whom turned out to be difference-makers - is in jeopardy of losing two more of their homegrown stars in the next 15 months. Sources high within the franchise say the modus operandi has never changed: The ownership that has supported four championships in the past two decades wants Chaim Bloom, the team's head of baseball operations, to do what he can to construct a roster that can consistently contend for a championship, considering the front office sturdily resourced to do so. Since the deadline moves, the Red Sox slump has deepened, six losses in eight games, and the fog over the direction of the team has thickened as the team has drifted into last place in the AL East. "I wouldn't say we got better because we lost ," Bogaerts said. The Red Sox had added veterans Eric Hosmer and Tommy Pham, but traded longtime catcher Christian Vazquez, prompting shortstop Xander Bogaerts to say out loud to reporters what others in the organization felt. The confusion in the clubhouse remained even after the deadline. Alone with his thoughts, the player wondered: If the front office dealt away players, how extensive would the teardown be? If they added to the roster, would it be enough to help? "I'm not sure how much support we're going to get," he said, with a resigned wave of disgust. Buy? Sell? He was unsure, and no one from the baseball operations department had made the trip to Houston to ease players' concerns. ![]() He expressed uncertainty about the front-office's plans. On the eve of the trade deadline, a Red Sox player sat on a table inside the visitors clubhouse in Houston, glancing at his phone and scrolling for news, waiting for some indication of the team's plans. 'What the hell are they doing up there?' Making sense of the Boston Red Sox in 2022 and beyond You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser ![]()
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