I think just like the buy/sell absolute discussion misses way too much nuance so to does the “Bloom sucks / Bloom is awesome” discussion. There is a lot of middle ground.
I don’t think of myself as a detractor or an apologist for Bloom’s front office, more that I have questioned (and still do) if he is the right GM for the Boston Red Sox. To be clear, I do think and have always thought he is in the top half of execs in the game. I still don’t know if he’s in the top quarter (call it top 7) that I think a team with the resources of the Red Sox should have.
As of now, I equate Bloom to someone like Antonelli or Jerry DiPoto. I think he’s proven he can build an ALCS team (clearly) and a nice cost controlled core. I think there is still a question of if he can evaluate other team’s prospects, and his own prospects, well enough to move up to Cherington level. Can he do it long enough and consistently enough to move up to DDski or Alex A level. We don’t know yet. (I refuse to talk Epstein bc asking him to be that is like asking Bello to be Pedro, it’s entirely unfair and unrealistic).
To the deadline, I like to grade things, so his 2020 deadline I give an A+ to. That was handled absolutely brilliantly.
2021 I’d give a B to. Schwarber was a master stroke, Robles was a good add. Davis was a shot that was fine to take. I thought that team needed another SP, and I do think not adding one was a miss. I’m not calling it a “mistake” because we don’t know what was offered. If he could have gotten Scherzer for Downs and Jimenez, it was a mistake. If he turned down Kyle Gibson for Bello it obv was not. I do think it was a missed opportunity not to add a Rich Hill / JA Happ type. Would they have won a WS, prob not. But if you add that stability to a team that was around 1 game back of the best record in the AL do they have a better Aug and Sept and get Houston with HFA and win the pennant - possibly. It’s obv unknowable.
2022 was an F for me. He should have sold and gotten under the tax then. He didn’t. But I think the 2022 team and 2023 team are nearly polar opposites. That was a team with tons of expiring deals leading the way, this is a team with a young core leading the way.
So far, getting anything for Kike was a win. I like swapping out a single A ~150 system prospect (per
@JM3) for a bullpen shot. Since the off season, I’ve thought this team needed a stabilizing rotation presence and a starting middle infielder. I still do. (To be fair, I thought they needed a middle of the order bat in the off season and Turner has been one.) If we make no other moves, I’ll be upset, if we make other moves (buy or sell) I’ll likely be pleased.
So 2023 is “incomplete.”
I will say, I’m VERY interested to see what he does the next few days. Giolito was never a real option. Robertson would’ve helped - but I admittedly have no idea on what Miami gave up. I thought Lynn could’ve been.
I really hope that moves ARE made to add to the core. If that isn’t possible, I really hope for a 3/4 starter and an upgrade to the non-Story IF position. If those are both impossible, I hope they sell… but I think he will do one of the former in some capacity.
If he does, I’m going to praise him for it, but I will be upset if he doesn’t; I think this team is worth investing at least something in.