All will be forgiven if they sign Ohtani. I kid!
I think my beef is for a big market team that spends money, they are no fun to watch.
They cannot play defense and Bloom has not stressed defensive run prevention in his team building, not one of Bloom's teams has ranked higher than 18th in team defensive runs saved. This year the Sox are 25th in team defensive runs saved. The Sox only rank higher than the White Sox, Nationals, Cardinals, Royals, and A's. Those teams are heinous this year. This lousy defense obviously strains the pitching staff. BTW Toronto, Tampa, and the MFY are ranked first, fourth, and sixth in team defensive runs saved this year.
The Sox are not made for the new rules, they are slow on the bases. The Rays have three guys in the top ten in stolen bases and lead MLB in stolen bases with 91, 21 more than the second-place team. The Sox have 41 SB, good for 22nd in MLB. Who are the guys taking an extra base on this team? Verdugo, Duran? For the most part, the Sox run like they are carrying pianos.
They are 1-7 against TB. It's easy to see when you watch the games. The Sox plod around in the field and on the base paths and TB plays good defense and runs circles around them.
I remember Theo saying all teams have strengths and weaknesses. If the offense had stayed hot, maybe they carry this lousy defense, and they would be in much better shape but they have cooled significantly in May and June.
Bloom had the mandate to clear the books for new free agents and build the farm for the next contending team while trying to make the playoffs. The injuries hurt but all teams experience injuries. The 2023 offseason has a good free-agent pitching crop (Flaherty, Giolito, Montgomery, Nola, Ohtani, Snell, and Urías). I think he should get one more year but I am open to throwing him in the airlock because whatever this is, it ain't working.