BOSTON, MA – JULY 6: Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom of the Boston Red Sox looks on before a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 6, 2022 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
The Boston Red Sox are in an early-season tailspin, and there’s plenty of blame to go around.
The Sox are right games back in the American League East thanks in part to the Tampa Bay Rays 13-0 start to the season. Boston was the victim of a four-game sweep at the hands of those same Rays earlier this week.
The Sox held their own against the Orioles to start the season, but since then have suffered some rough series defeats. At 5-8, Boston finds themselves in a familiar position — last place, just as they finished last season.
The Red Sox front office made some very tough offseason decisions to (ideally) avoid this fate, but they have yet to pay off in the win column.
Red Sox to blame: Chaim Bloom
The Red Sox let Xander Bogaerts walk this offseason in what Chaim Bloom coined a complete disaster. Bloom was emotional, as was the entire Boston front office when Bogaerts took more money and signed with the San Diego Padres. Who could’ve ever seen that coming?!
Boston did a decent job picking up the pieces, signing the likes of Masataka Yoshida, Justin Turner and more — but it hasn’t been enough to fill the void left by Bogarts, not by a long shot. John Tomase of NBC Sports Boston, for one, has seen enough:
“But when your starting shortstop is a sub-par defensive first baseman, and when your starting center fielder is your former starting shortstop who was previously your starting center fielder as the snake eats its own tail, and when the first man up in the infield is a waiver claim who barely attended spring training, and you have one of the highest payrolls in baseball, I’ll repeat the question: What the hell are we watching?”
We’re watching failure, and unless the Sox turn things around quickly, this season could turn into a tailspin.