Red Sox had opportunity to trade Chris Sale last season (report)
The Red Sox are a mess.
The organization fired Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom on Wednesday, ending his four years with the team.
With Bloom out and no clear successor lined up, the Sox are a ship without a rudder.
To pile on Bloom’s termination, a report surfaced on Wednesday night that the club had an opportunity to trade Chris Sale last season.
According to WEEI’s Rob Bradford, the Sox had an offer from a club to acquire Sale around the 2022 MLB trade deadline.
A team reportedly was willing to take on Sale and the remainder of his contract, but Bloom and his front office turned down the offer.
"Per a major league source familiar with the situation, just before the 2022 trade deadline - and a few weeks after Chris Sale had broken his finger in his second outing of the season - a team approached Bloom about dealing for the lefty," Bradford wrote. "The acquiring club was agreeing to take on all of the money left on Sale's contract (2 1/2 seasons of more than $50 million), while sending some semblance of players. The Red Sox wanted better players than were offered and no deal was done."
A few weeks later, Sale’s season came to an end after he broke his wrist after a bicycle accident.
Through 17 starts in 2023 (86.2 innings), the 34-year-old has a 4.88 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. He missed time during the summer due to left shoulder inflammation.
The opportunity to move Sale and his contract should have been something the Red Sox jumped at, considering his injury history.
Sale has been plagued by injuries since 2019. He’s made only 11 regular-season starts from 2020-22 and hasn’t looked like vintage Sale when healthy enough to take the mound.
There’s no doubt, had the Red Sox moved Sale’s money, the team could have addressed the pitching market differently last winter. It’s unknown if ownership nixed the deal, what Alex Cora’s influence was in the deal or if Bloom was truly holding out for a better return.
Bloom’s inactivity and inability to make a big trade is part of the reason why he’s unemployed.
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I said this at the 2022 deadline. This guy always wanted to be the smartest guy in the room. He was stubborn and could not make a trade unless he thought it was a steal. The roster always had holes in it as he ignored glaring needs. He did rebuild the farm but eventually he would have needed to trade some of those pieces and he struggled in that aspect.
If this is true, then Bloom should’ve
been fired immediately after
confirming. Total incompetence !
Trading for Sale & paying him so
much is the worst move in Sox
history .