The next 10 days are going to be pivotal for Chaim Bloom and the Boston Red Sox, with significant short- and long-term issues at stake.
Bloom and the Sox find themselves in an interesting position ahead of the July 30 MLB trade deadline. Boston exceeded expectations through the first half of the season, and the American League East leaders are gearing up for a stretch run that they hope results with playoff baseball.
The Red Sox chief baseball officer, however, must balance the potential of upgrading this season’s team — in an attempt to win the World Series — with fulfilling his pledge to reclaim yearly sustainability for the ballclub. Before actually having to make the difficult decisions on possible trades that impact that decision-making process, Bloom and his team are making sure they have all the information they can gather in the countdown to deadline day.
“Right now we’re in the stage of trying to know every possible option that’s out there, which means being really active in conversation,” Bloom told The Athletic. “It means expressing interest and having conversations on a lot of players. That’s the only way to figure out what’s real and what’s not, and it’s the best way to make sure you’re not missing any opportunity to help you win a championship — whether that championship is this yea,r next year, or the year after.
“I don’t know what it’s going to look like once the bell rings, but I think the amount of conversation that we’re going to have, hopefully, it will be as much as we can so that we have access to the whole menu of options.”
That probably means we’re going to hear a whole bunch of rumors in the next week-plus about the Red Sox being linked to a host of players. That Boston faces a bit of a 40-man roster crunch — which Bloom spoke about in the interview with The Athletic — also is something to consider. There are players within the organization on whom Bloom will make tough decisions not just ahead of the deadline but in the offseason when it comes to protecting — or exposing — players for the Rule 5 draft. Perhaps those players become a little more expendable at the deadline if it means acquiring players who can help the big league roster not just this year but in the seasons to follow.
It all just means we’re looking at a fascinating 10-day period for the Red Sox, one that could go a long way in determining not only the fate of the 2021 club but variations of the club for years to come.
