Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom spoke to Boston Globe’s Alex Speier (Twitter thread) and other reporters at the winter meetings today, outlining his team’s extensive plans for the remainder of the offseason. Chris Martin and Joely Rodriguez represent Boston’s most notable additions to date, and Bloom said the Sox could add at least two more helpers to expand the bullpen.
All told, Bloom said the team is looking to add “seven, eight, nine” players to “build the team we want.” This list includes three or four position players and at least one starting pitcher who can bring upside, leadership, and consistency to the rotation and innings.
On paper, it looks like the Red Sox are aiming for a repeat of their first three offseasons under Bloom’s helm, during which the club made a variety of big and small moves to mix up the roster. This semi-overhaul added both everyday players and supplemental pieces to the roster, with an overall emphasis on recruiting controllable players and shorter-term veterans – with the big exception of Trevor storyand his $140 million, six-year pact last March.
Bloom’s tactics have drawn mixed reactions at Red Sox Nation, as the team’s last three seasons have consisted of a trip to the ALCS (2021) and two finishers (2020 and 2022) in the AL East. Some of Bloom’s less-heralded moves have paid off, but some have also failed to bear fruit, and Boston’s relative lack of spending on big-ticket players has also drawn criticism given the team’s traditional wholesale methods. The Red Sox have remained at least a top-10 payroll team through Bloom’s three seasons and even broke the luxury tax limit last year, though many of the team’s biggest spends were signed before Bloom joined the organization.
The Red Sox, of course, have quite a bit of money off the books this winter Xander Bogaerts to be the club’s most prominent free agent. Reports over the weekend indicated that the Sox were not among the key players in the Bogaerts market and that the Red Sox had yet to make “a competitive offer” to the shortstop.
Bloom today fought back that speculation, saying: “We certainly made offers to him, we were engaged and we will remain engaged.” Bogaerts is still a top priority for the Red Sox, although Bloom expected the shortstop to make his first trip into free hands to examine all his options.
Of course, signing Bogaerts and cementing the shortstop position for years to come would have a major impact on Boston’s plans to reshape its position-player mix. Bloom noted that Story or Enrique Hernandez could potentially take over at shortstop if Bogaerts left, but if he stayed Story would likely stay at second base and Hernandez could jump around the diamond and maybe stay mostly in midfield.
Story and Hernandez play everyday roles somewhere, and Raphael Devers has covered third socket and Alex Verdugo will get regular work on one or both outfield corners. However, there is quite a bit of movement elsewhere around the diamond and quite a bit more opportunity to add new faces depending on how much playing time the Red Sox want to give such younger players as Triston Casas, Jarren Duranor Jeter Downs. For example, the Sox technically have many first base/DH candidates in casas, Bobby Dalbecand Eric Hosmerbut the team still put a lot of pressure to sign Jose Abreu before Abreu decided to join the Astros.
The pursuit of Abreu seems to indicate a greater willingness to spend from the front office. A very big contract will obviously be necessary to re-sign and bring Bogaerts Nathan Eovaldi Going back will also likely require a healthy multi-year commitment. Bloom said that acting free agent Eovaldi and Michael Wacha were both still opportunities while the team explored the pitching market.