Red Sox Nation Caught between a Rock and a Hard Place
Updated: Mar 31
Here we are. Opening day of 2023. A day we have bled for all winter. Everyone in MLB is 0-0. We all went to bed last night dreaming of sugarplums and 162-0 dancing in our heads. But I ask you , yes I come to you with this query. Will you trade an eighty five or eighty eight win season for 4 MORE YEARS? Of Chaim Bloom ?
Because that's what Red Sox nation is facing. If the Sox go .500 and miss the playoffs again, I think we are all in agreement. Bloom is Gone , Adios - Arrivederci - Sayonara - Buh Bye. But if they win ? if they do manage eighty five - eighty six - eighty seven Wins ? if they manage to squeak into the playoffs ? What then ? Even with an early wildcard round exit. Is Bloom’s contract safe ? Will he see the fifth year ? or worse could he be extended ?
When Bloom took over the operation he had convinced the hollow heads that own this team I'm sorry " Are the Caretakers of the Red Sox " he convinced them. He could do as much or more with less. He was their Billy Beane. The Payroll in 2020 was 228.9 million dollars. Twenty plus million over the CBT. Today it sits at a comparatively miniscule 174 million. The CBT threshold this year is 233 million. Do the math people, Fifty plus million in payroll off the books. And from twenty million over the CBT too close to sixty million below it.
We all want the Sox to win. That's the bottom line. Winning. But at what cost ? or what cost cutting i should say. to the detriment of how they win and who we want to see on the field. Are we just reinvesting ourselves in a team that Bloom and Henry will retool again in 5 years for more cheap minor leaguers? Are we doomed to one year contracts given to past their prime free agents? while being distracted by Pretty Locker Rooms. We are all human. We all want the Sox to come out gangbusters and ride a wave of us against the world victories into September and October. But can you deal with repeating everything we have over the past four offseasons ? If the Sox are successful, if they make the playoffs, if Bloom shows his way can hand John Henry a winning team. We may have too.
As always you can follow/give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207