Seems like a meaningless comparison to me.
They didn't get under the tax line at the deadline because they thought the team still had a shot with Sale and Wacha coming back.
To me the Story signing seems like a case of "you can't win". People beeched about the lack of big signings and when they finally did one, they beeched about the signing.
Theo had no experience as a GM when the Sox hired him either.
If you always go with experienced guys you basically have to get someone who was just fired by another team, like DD.
The other aspect of this is everyone sees what Friedman has done with the Dodgers. Friedman was part of the Rays Way and now he's Rays Way Plus Money.
I think Henry likewise envisioned the Red Sox could be Rays Way Plus Money.
There's no question that a lot of the support for Bloom comes from the belief that the Rays Way Works.
I'm pretty sure that's why Henry hired him, too.
Reese McGuire has a .906 OPS with the Red Sox. And he's a good defensive catcher. That's one of Bloom's deadline moves that is looking good. And he shed Diekman and his 2023 salary in that trade.
Hoping somebody overpays. It happens.
I think he had a plan. It was a plan that everyone can question, absolutely, but it had some reasoning behind it.
In retrospect a fire sale and 2012-style tank job was the call.
But that would have created a lot of bitterness with fans too.
And what if he did make moves at the deadline and we still miss the playoffs? Then we're even worse off.
The people who say he should have had a fire sale are undoubtedly correct. I wasn't for it, because I thought we still had an outside shot. At the deadline we still thought Sale would be back and Paxton would also be coming. The best laid plans of mice and men and so on.
He was in a classic no-win situation at the deadline.
According to Alex Speier, Bloom did put JD and Eovaldi on the market, but he was asking for a big return, and he didn't get any bites.