Bloom is being hampered by the tax, of course.
The Red Sox will pay 62% tax on payroll between 228 mill and 248 mill.
So a 4 mill addition is actually a 6.5 mill addition.
If you really want the guy you go full court press. You keep him this year and treat him like gold. Then you take the same attitude in free agency that the Yanks did with Cole - we're not gonna be outbid.
His hands appear to be truly tied at the moment. Henry et al may have decided not to worry about re-setting, but they obviously don't want to spend money this offseason either.
Plus we have little in the way of prospects to trade.
I've accepted the idea of bullpen games, but I don't really get the 'opener' concept, other than it can throw off the other team's L-R lineup strategy.
The message is pretty clear now - they'd like to reset, but not at the expense of the 2020 team being competitive.
On its face, that would rule out any payroll-cutting trades in which we get worse.