Red Sox rebuild: Chaim Bloom shouldn’t overreact to brutal 2020 | Matt Vautour

MassLive.com

Chaim Bloom has a managerial vacancy, money to spend and a franchise to remake.

Boston’s Chief Baseball Officer has had the title that was created specifically for him for less than a year now. But he already has a huge, albeit enviable, task in front of him. For better or worse, this will be Bloom’s team whenever the 2021 baseball season begins.

The 2020 “season” is mercifully over. There were some bright spots at the end, but 24-36 with a -59 run differential was unpleasant to endure and there has to be an inclination to get as far away from it as possible. The worst thing Bloom can do is hurry and overreact.

Don’t make a big mistake, a Pablo Sandoval sized mistake, in an attempt to get competitive fast. This should be about being very good in 2022, 2023, 2024 and beyond. It’s not impossible for the Red Sox to be competitive next year, but it shouldn’t be expected.

All of that should be obvious. But Tom Werner is selling a different message. The Boston chairman, who mocked the media for predicting the team would be lousy this year (they were worse than lousy), has never grasped the concept of underpromise and overdeliver. Werner likes to predict good news, but he’s not the one who’ll be blamed if the Red Sox don’t live up to his airy prognostications. His promise that Red Sox are “going to be back next year" should be treated as a hopeful rambling of a filterless optimist not the mandate of the boss.

The Red Sox are freed of their competitive balance tax concerns. They can spend big again. But that doesn’t mean they have to give a lucrative deal to the best guy or guys willing to take it. They should bid on the right free agents. But if they can’t get George Springer or Trevor Bauer or whoever, don’t overspend on the 2020 version of Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez and Justin Masterson.

Spending big money to buy guys to look like they’re buying guys to chase a NESN ratings boost with increased ad revenue, would be a disaster. Save the money.

It’s not a great free-agent class for Red Sox needs. J.T. Realmuto and Marcus Semien would be redundant assets. After Bauer, there’s a lot of pitchers whose medical histories should raise red flags. For the right price there might be outstanding bargains, but after Bauer, nobody is worth breaking the bank for. And Bauer, who has pledged a career of one-year contracts might not be worth a heavy investment even for one season given the uncertain health of Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez.

Marcus Stroman might be great somewhere. But here’s an ace who picked verbal fights with Alex Cora and Dennis Eckersley while with the Blue Jays, and has all the makings of someone who might not enjoy the spotlight of the Boston baseball experience.

Bloom has been smart so far. His return for Mitch Moreland, Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree looks better than expected and if he had to deal Mookie Betts, Alex Verdugo and Jeter Downs both seem like solid pieces for the future.

The future doesn’t have to be that far off, if the Red Sox are even a little patient. Improvement and progress will be enough in 2021.

Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.

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