Some Boston sports media types — the same ones who authored those horrendous takes a few months ago — recently began criticizing the Red Sox for something they’ve neither done nor talked about.
Specifically, they’re condemning the organization for using the impending return of Chris Sale as reason for not pursuing pitching help at the trade deadline, or something. Basically, they created a boogeyman for their audiences.
Obviously, nobody — including the Red Sox — knows what Boston will do at the July 30 trade deadline. However, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom on Thursday offered some insight into how Sale will impact the organization’s strategy at the deadline.
“It’s definitely something you have to factor in just like any time you’re looking at potential deals,” he said during an appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” as transcribed by Rob Bradford. “You look at the team and the players that you have. And he’s really close to being part of that. But at the same time, whoever we come out of this deadline with that’s who we’re going to have the rest of the way, whether it’s at the big league level or depth for us in Triple-A.
“It’s not just enough to say, ‘Hey, we have 26 guys that we like, let’s go.’ We need to make sure that we still have enough to withstand the bumps and bruises that are likely to come in some form or another. He’s part of the picture, obviously, and we need to factor that in and we need to consider him. But I don’t think that just because he’s coming back we sit there with our arms folded and say we’re good.”
So, relax everyone. Let’s wait and see what happens. Plus, fans and media weren’t exactly doing cartwheels over the Steve Pearce, Nathan Eovaldi and Ian Kinsler acquisitions in 2018 — and look how that turned out.
As for Sale, it’s fair to have reservations about what he’ll be able to offer this season. You never want to put all your eggs in the coming-off-Tommy-John basket. Usually, it’s not until Year 2 that a pitcher shows pre-surgery (if not better) performance.
That said, the ace lefty has looked like, well, Chris Sale in his two rehab starts, which admittedly were against minor-league competition.
He’ll make at least one more rehab start for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. And, unless he suddenly jumps from 49 pitches, which he threw Tuesday night, to 85-ish pitches Sunday night, the Red Sox probably will ask him to do another start, if not two more.
One thing we know for certain: The Red Sox will give us a lot to talk about over the next couple weeks.
