Tomase: Five Red Sox storylines entering momentous winter meetings originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Forget about the end of the honeymoon period — Chaim Bloom could be served divorce papers.
Baseball’s winter meetings open Sunday in San Diego, and the chief baseball officer of the Red Sox is the man under the microscope. Now entering his fourth full season, Bloom oversees a last-place roster with a staggering number of holes and only one winter to fill them.
Red Sox ownership has a tendency to back its general managers right up until the day it fires them, and Bloom is already nearing the expiration dates of predecessors Dave Dombrowski (four years) and Ben Cherington (three-plus years). Not even a World Series title could save either of them.
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All Bloom can hang his hat on is a run to the American League Championship Series in 2021 that screams “outlier.” In many ways, the team’s rebuild is just beginning, which is a precarious position for a fourth-year executive in a major market to find himself.
With Bloom focused on strengthening the farm, the big-league roster has suffered, and he’s running out of time to fix it. Waiting out the market will not work this winter, not with the Red Sox hemorrhaging high-end talent.
The stakes for Bloom couldn’t be higher. His job may very well hinge on how he handles the next three months. Here are five things to watch as the meetings begin and the offseason kicks into overdrive.
1. Does anyone want the Red Sox?
Of all the free agency developments so far, the most shocking is this — the Red Sox aren’t a destination.
Two free agents have already spurned them. First, former White Sox slugger and clear Red Sox priority Jose Abreu signed a three-year, $60 million deal with the champion Astros. Then right-hander Zach Eflin shopped Boston’s three-year offer to the Rays and took the same money ($40 million) to play closer to his Florida home, per multiple reports.
The Red Sox have never struggled to attract talent, which makes it so jarring to see someone decide he’d rather play for the Rays. It suggests that if Bloom identifies a target, he’s going to have to pay more than he’d like just to get in the door.
This is what happens when you’re a last-place team in a loaded division. Players who prioritize winning look elsewhere. Red Sox ownership can’t love that.
2. The Trea Turner market
It’s clear that a number of teams in the market for a shortstop consider…