The Boston Red Sox didn't make any substantial additions to their roster before the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline despite being just a couple games out of a wild card playoff spot in the American League.
Not only did the Red Sox fail to address any roster weaknesses, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom didn't show a ton of confidence in his players during his press conference on trade deadline day, calling them "underdogs."
This comment, and the press conference as a whole, drew quite a reaction from the fans and media.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Jonathan Papelbon wasn't a fan of Bloom's remarks, either. The former Red Sox closer and current studio analyst for NESN didn't hold back when discussing the subject on a recent episode of the "Bret Boone Podcast."
"If your general manager is saying you’re underdogs and why should we add on, how do you think everyone else feels around here?” Papelbon said. “So to me, the statement says everything, and that puts the mood is, ‘Oh well, we’re not going to win.’ So what else do you expect? If the general manager’s going to create that mood around here and in this city, why should you expect them to be in the playoffs?"
More Red Sox coverage
There are many ingredients to a winning team. One of them, according to Papelbon, is management supporting the players.
"You do not win a championship or you do not go far in the postseason without management having your back, not only in the media but on the team," Papelbon explained. He later added: "If you don’t have front office, staff, and players all protecting each other, having each other’s back, trying to do something special – you just don’t win."
If the roster isn't as good as it could be, how are the Red Sox still within striking distance of a postseason berth this late into the season? Papelbon thinks Alex Cora has done a tremendous job managing this team.
"Alex Cora, to me, has done the most amazing job of any manager this year given what he’s had to work with," Papelbon said. "The amount of shuffling that he has had to do this year.
"Look, they got guys coming up from the minor leagues who I got to get briefed on. Who’s this guy today? Who’s this guy tomorrow? I don’t even know who these guys are, some of them. His job, to me, has been excruciating and hard, and, to me, the front office has made it that way."
The Red Sox entered Thursday three games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the third and final wild card spot. FanGraphs gives them a 16.8 percent chance of reaching the postseason. So, the Red Sox do have a chance to return to the playoffs, but they will have to overcome some genuine roster weaknesses and one of the most difficult remaining schedules in the league to accomplish that goal.