It doesn’t sound like urgency and/or desperation will drive any of the decisions the Boston Red Sox make this offseason.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told reporters Sunday the team doesn’t have any “specific” areas of need to address as it looks to build its roster for the 2022 Major League Baseball season. Bloom believes the versatility Boston’s roster currently contains represents a “safety net,” which allows him and his staff to focus their energy on adding talent in the coming weeks and months.
“I think one of the nice things about where we are and some of the different guys that we have who can move around on our roster is that I don’t think that there is a specific area that we circle in it, you know, we don’t do anything there that we will we will have no safety net,” Bloom said in a Zoom press conference. “I think we’re positioned where we can and we want to go out and add talent. That’s true on the pitching side.”
Bloom spoke to reporters shortly after the 5 p.m. ET deadline for teams and players to decide whether to exercise contract offers or make $18.4 million qualifying offers to free agents. The Red Sox were busy Sunday as they picked up catcher Christian Vázquez’s option, extended a qualifying offer to pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez and learned slugger J.D. Martinez has opted to stay in Boston for the final year of his contract. The Red Sox also declined options for pitchers Garrett Richards and MartÃn Pérez.
While Bloom didn’t reveal what moves the Red Sox plan to pursue, we can presume the players Boston adds this offseason will be expected to boost the squad as a whole, instead of filling a gaping hole.
