The Red Sox Continue To Disappoint
It is no secret that the Red Sox have holes in many areas of their team, most noticeably though is pitching. Not to be overlooked tho, it is also second base. That has been a giant weakness for us ever since Manny Machado decided to be a huge A-hole and take Pedroia out with a slide. Both areas continue not to be fixed in the slightest by Bloom. Instead, he has been passed over as a finalist 2 or 3 times already this offseason. While that’s good to know that they are aggressive in free agency, it still doesn’t change anything. You are the Boston Red Sox. You have money now. SPEND IT!
Who They Have Lost Out On
Tommy Kahnle: Kahnle is a relief pitcher now for the LA Dodgers. He was previously with the Yankees, Cubs, and Rockies throughout his past 7 years of big-league experience. His career ERA is 3.82 while appearing in an average of 68 games each year. While he may not set the world on fire, he is a dependable relief pitcher to come out of your pen. In case you live under a rock, the Red Sox don’t have anyone of that category.
Ha-Seong Kim: Kim is an infielder out of the KBO league who quickly burst onto the scene showing off his great power and fielding ability. Kim is only 25 and has been playing in the KBO since he was a teenager. Since 2019, Kim has batted.307 with 49 home runs, 62 doubles, three triples, and a 56-for-62 showing in stolen base attempts. His primary position is second base, but he has the ability to play short and third as well.
What is the big deal?
Both of these players chose places where they don’t know what their playing time or position would be over the Red Sox, who would have a clear answer for them. Kim would be our second baseman or at least in a battle with Chavis for it, while Kahnle sets up nice as our 7/8th inning guy. The Dodgers bullpen is loaded with talented arms, and the Padres infield is absolutely stacked with players. The moral of the story, do players actually want to come here, and is Bloom making as big of a push to get these guys as he should?
Conclusion
On paper, it flat out looks like they don’t want to play here for whatever reason. We will never know the amount of money that the Sox were offering or how the negotiations went down. We know it was reported for both players that the Sox were a finalist to land both of them, and it didn’t happen. The “finalist” part could be tricky though, is it a 30 team race and we came in second or a 2 team race? Two completely different meanings. Bottom line, the Sox need to step it up before it’s too late. There are still very talented players left on the market, and it’s time we start spending that money we so desperately said we couldn’t spend last year.
-Kevin Perdios (@Perdios95)