Front office fails to help as Red Sox continue to flounder
BOSTON — It’s the nebulous timeline that probably irks you most.
Any hopes of a postseason berth feel like they’ve been slipping away from the Red Sox since the first week of July. Wouldn’t it have been prudent for Boston to get out ahead of its current malaise and make some fresh additions to its roster?
The Mariners certainly thought so, and they found themselves holding an American League wild-card spot late Wednesday night. The Red Sox continue to stagger, having dropped eight of their last 10 contests heading into Sunday afternoon's game against Milwaukee.
After a 7-6 loss last week to Cleveland (no thanks to a hat trick of errors by Franchy Cordero at first base), Alex Cora’s postgame remarks lasted for about two minutes. Nathan Eovaldi confirmed most clubhouses he’s called home over the course of his career would respond to worthwhile additions from the outside ahead of the trade deadline. Boston continues to meander toward Tuesday with no clear course of action in sight.
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“To get too specific is not something that I think is appropriate to do,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said. “The best thing I can say is we’re not doing our jobs if we’re not considering all possibilities.”
What does that mean, exactly? Bloom offered several different versions of that sentiment. Credit him for facing the assembled media, but his cards were held tighter than you might find at the World Series of Poker.
What we know so far — Seattle and the Yankees have both been bolder. New York is running away with the A.L. East and still brought in old friend Andrew Benintendi from the Kansas City Royals for three minor leaguers. They have every expectation of playing deep into October and are preparing accordingly.
But it was the addition of Carlos Santana by the Mariners that really touched off the race for one of the bottom three playoff spots. First baseman Ty France had just gone on the injured list for the second time this season when Seattle sent a pair of minor-league pitchers — neither a top-30 prospect in its system — to Kansas City for a veteran replacement and cash considerations. The Mariners were on a 19-4 binge after Santana’s walk-off sacrifice fly clinched a victory late Tuesday night.
“We understand as players that it’s part of the business and things are out of our control,” Eovaldi said last week. “At the same time, to have the front office show the faith that they believe in us — they’re going out there and getting guys who we need to better ourselves down the road — definitely gives us encouragement.”
Bobby Dalbec hasn’t been that player outside of his blazing August last season. And Cordero — previously designated for assignment by the club — has hurt the team with his lack of defensive proficiency.
“One thing you can say about our media contingent and certainly about our fans is they can smell BS,” Bloom said. “So I try not to give that to them.”
No need for a test — the numbers at Baseball Reference say Boston is among the bottom-five teams in baseball in its outfield as a whole and at first base in runs above average. That’s nearly half the lineup, and the Red Sox didn’t suddenly arrive there over three bad weeks. It was apparent coming out of spring training that some combination of Dalbec, Travis Shaw, Christian Arroyo, Jackie Bradley Jr., Kiké Hernandez and Alex Verdugo wasn’t going to cut it when compared to perceived contenders across the league.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got big-name guys coming in here left and right,” Eovaldi said. “Right now, we’re talking about getting rid of our big-name guys, and we definitely don’t want that to happen.”
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Bloom and club president/CEO Sam Kennedy both said last week that there have been no discussions to trade Xander Bogaerts or Rafael Devers. There is no such guarantee regarding pending free agents like J.D. Martinez, Christian Vazquez, Hernandez or Eovaldi himself. The possibility of being a seller hangs like toxic smoke over most teams — Boston has seemingly choked for breath since rallying to split a four-game series with the Yankees here from July 7-10.
When might this be put to an end by either strengthening the roster or moving on from 2022? The unknown has proven to be a rather troublesome proposition for Red Sox fans at the moment. This week could signify the end of something — or, worse, just the beginning.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Boston Red Sox hopes of a postseason berth slipping away in July
