The Red Sox ended the 2022 season with a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. But a 78-84 final record means Boston finished at the bottom of the American League East for the fifth time in 11 seasons.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, general manager Brian O’Halloran, president Sam Kennedy, and manager Alex Cora spoke to the media on Thursday in a long-ranging press conference to wrap up the season.
“The bottom line, with respect to 2022, is we didn’t get it done. Period,” Bloom said. “... We expected to be in the postseason. We’re not.”
Bloom also said he expects the Red Sox roster will look different once spring training begins in February.
Here are the key takeaways from the session.
Key takeaways
Re-signing X Ander Bogaerts
“That process is going to start right away from our end,” Bloom said. “We haven’t found that path yet. We still want to. We’re going to work really hard at it.”
Is re-signing Bogaerts the No. 1 priority?
“Yeah, just because of the timing of his free agency. Until after the World Series, there’s a lot of other things we can plan for but not do, you know,” Bloom said. “This is something we can work on right away.”
Do they hope to get a deal done before Bogaerts opts out?
“That’s no different from where we’ve been, our position hasn’t changed on that,” Bloom said.
Cora said Bogaerts can play shortstop “as long as he can [physically] handle it.”
The manger said Bogaerts’s body hasn’t changed for three to four years, and he was able to improve considerably this year.
“He played really good this year making a few adjustments.”
Pursuing a long-term deal for Rafael Devers
“We would like to” explore a long-term deal. “He’s one of the best players in the game,” Bloom said.
Devers will be a free agent after 2023.
Would the Red Sox entertain trading Devers if they can’t reach a deal with him?
“No. 1, first and foremost, he’s a guy we want to build around,” Bloom said. “We hope he’s here not just next year but in the years to come.”
But Bloom also acknowledged that there's "always something that somebody could put in front of you that you’d be stupid to walk away from, but that isn’t on our radar.”
Is it realistic for the Sox to sign Bogaerts and Devers to long-term deals and build the necessary team around them?
Kennedy: “I hope so.”
What is Chris Sale’s future with the club?
Bloom: “There’s no reason, looking at next year, why he shouldn’t be a huge part of this ... You can probably find a lot of instances of me saying that over the last few years.”
Related video: Red Sox celebrating fans in season's final games with "Golden Tickets"
placing golden tickets under random seats for fans to win. Things
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Red Sox celebrating fans in season's final games with "Golden Tickets"
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On the progression of starter Brayan Bello
“This guy has as much upside as any young pitcher who debuted in the big leagues this year,” Bloom said.