Story signals Sox rolling the dice
Bloom makes first big free agent splash
FORT MYERS — It was a gamble that Chaim Bloom and the Red Sox had to make.
For the first time in his three years as the chief baseball officer in Boston, Bloom put his reputation on the line with a top-tier free agent signing.
Sunday, the Red Sox agreed to terms with 29-year-old shortstop Trevor Story on a six-year deal reportedly worth $140 million. It’ll make Story the third-highest paid second baseman in MLB history, and it’ll give the Red Sox a fighting chance in an American League East that hasn’t had this much collective talent in recent memory.
“It sparks the team,” Opening Day starter Nathan Eovaldi said. “It shows us the front office is … we know that they want to win, but then to add another big piece to the organization like that would be huge.”
It’s hard to remember a more urgent time for the Red Sox front office to make a move. This is a franchise valued at $3.5 billion, with an ownership group worth $10 billion, the third-most valuable in the world, per Forbes. But the player payroll hasn’t stagnated. The Sox hadn’t gone over the luxury tax threshold in three years. They hadn’t signed a player for more than $14 million (Kiké Hernandez) since Dave Dombrowski was still in charge.
Rather than sign franchise player Mookie Betts, who will make an average of $30 million per season from age 27 through 39 with the Dodgers, the Sox traded him away and said it was the best move for the long-term health of the organization.
But this spring, the club arrived at crossroads. Xander Bogaerts, the face of the franchise since Betts departed, Eovaldi, the team’s clear ace, and J.D. Martinez, who ranks among the game’s most productive offensive players since joining the Red Sox, are all eligible for free agency after the 2022 season.
This is their chance to make one last run with their core intact.
One by one, the top-50 free agents started jumping off the market, first in November, then in March, when the lockout was finally lifted. The Sox stood still, with Bloom and team president Sam Kennedy preaching patience. They said teams don’t need to make a big splash to be competitive. Sometimes, the smaller moves can be just as important, they said.
Then on Sunday, with just two elite free agents remaining (Story and Michael Conforto), the Red Sox made their move, adding an elite shortstop who can transition to second base and create a dynamic middle infield.
“It shows that they’re willing to make the moves,” Eovaldi said. “It’s all about the timing with all this stuff and there’s a lot of extremely talented free agents out there.”
Sox lefty Rich Hill was stunned when he heard the news on Sunday morning.
“Wow,” the veteran pitcher said. “It’s a big boost for obviously the clubhouse and the guys in here. The more the better. That’s what I say. Whether it’s in the lineup or in the starting rotation or out of the bullpen, you need as many guys as you can to put together an entire 162 and then (13 wins) in the postseason to procure a championship trophy.”
Prior to this season, Bloom has largely done a fine job since taking over in 2019. Trading Betts couldn’t have been easy to stomach, but it’s believed that wasn’t exactly his decision alone. If John Henry wanted to pay Betts, he would have.
The 2020 season was embarrassing on many levels, and Bloom didn’t seem to make much of an effort to be competitive. He left several talented prospects at the alternate site while promoting journeymen and low-level depth players into impact roles instead. But the awful season allowed the Sox to draft highly-touted shortstop Marcelo Mayer at No. 4 overall the following year.
Bloom took heat for most of the 2021 season, having spent little in free agency while making only incremental moves and relying on freshly-rehired manager Alex Cora to lead the Sox back into contention. It worked; the Sox were arguably the best team in baseball until July, when they fell apart and Bloom took more heat for an underwhelming trade deadline.
He was vindicated in October, when the Sox snuck into the postseason on the last day of the year, then made a surprise run to the
A.L. Championship Series.
Now he’s looking at a farm system that’s ranked No. 11 by Baseball America and a big league roster that, with Story in now in the fold, should be good enough to compete in the deepest division in baseball.
“He’s a guy who is an impact player, adds a lot of thump to our lineup and more than that, adds a guy to our lineup that can steal some bags, which we don’t have many of those guys,” Hernandez said.
It’s a gamble Bloom had to make. Regardless of where this Red Sox season goes, at least the Sox can say they tried. They’ll be over the luxury tax threshold for the first time since 2019. They have one of the game’s best infields. They have an elite manager. They have pitching depth.
They have a chance.