Felger: Chaim Bloom’s trade deadline decision making was “gross”
The Boston Red Sox made one minor move at the MLB trade deadline on Tuesday afternoon and Chaim Bloom said it was related to the odds that they had to make the playoffs. On Wednesday’s Felger and Mazz, Felger gave his thoughts on that reasoning to not make a big move.
The odds played into the decision to not make a big move?
Felger: The dual combination of him telling you that they took the approach they did because they’re “underdogs” and the playoff odds are what they are, to me, is so gross. To me, it doesn’t speak of incompetence, and he clearly is, and he’s clearly not cut out to run a big market baseball team. I get that. But I didn’t get that last night like a lot of you all did. I thought he was a man of conviction. It’s just a conviction to me and it blows me away. I came in here two days ago ranting against Big Jim Murray and the Dan Shaughnessy’s of the world. And those of you who say, “oh, we’re not going to win anyway, so, you know, they’re not winning anything, so sell” when you’re a couple of games out of the playoffs, like, I didn’t understand you people. I don’t understand you people. I am so philosophically in my core opposed to that line of thinking. It’s just not how I’m wired. I love sports. I watch sports. I root for underdogs. I don’t give up until it’s over, over, over! And it’s like that. That’s the best stuff. It’s when no one expects it and you’re coming from behind to win and that’s why I watch the crap. And like for those of you like “well we’re not winning anyway, why should we add? We’re not winning”, you people suck. And Jim Murray said to me, “well, that’s the way the Red Sox feel”, I said, I know. Just sort of giving that lip service, but oh no, that’s how they feel.
Feb 27, 2020; Fort Myers, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox general manager Chaim Bloom takes questions from reporters during the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at JetBlue Park. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports
Felger: That to me is so gross to give up on a team that is in it just because of the odds. The odds? He kept saying odds. Which don’t tell me he means like the DraftKings sportsbook line. I think he’s talking about Fangraphs playoff projection. That would be my guess.
Mazz: Yeah, or even their own internal analytics. Whatever it is.
Felger: It’s all the same. I mean, he worked at Fangraphs, so he brought all the methodologies and algorithms from Fangraphs. So, you know, if you look on Fangraphs right now, the Red Sox have a certain percentage chance to make the playoffs and that’s what he’s talking about. So he’s just going by what the algorithm spits out! And it’s like you just eliminated the funnest part of being a fan of this stuff. That to me is the absolute worst. I despise that line of thinking. Despise it. But I don’t think that shows incompetence or they didn’t know what he was doing. I just think this is how he’s wired and what he believes and what the organization has come to believe.
