Chaim Bloom: Red Sox signing of Trevor Story not about making big splash

FORT MYERS — Chaim Bloom finally got a chance to open the Red Sox’ wallet.

By signing Trevor Story to a six-year, $140 million contract, Bloom made his biggest free-agent deal since becoming the Red Sox’ chief baseball officer in 2019. Previously, the biggest free agent investment Bloom had made in his Red Sox tenure came last offseason, when he signed Kiké Hernández to a two-year, $14 million deal – which certainly worked out in the center fielder’s first season with Boston.

The investment Bloom made in the 29-year-old Story is certainly significant. Since taking charge of the Red Sox front office, the former Rays executive has stuck to his principles and shied away from handing out larger deals. But Story – who the Red Sox targeted as an ideal fit for them early in the offseason – represented some new ground for the Sox boss.

Bloom is cognizant that this move is flashier than any move he’s made to date – the Red Sox held a press conference for Story in the outfield at JetBlue Park on Wednesday morning – he certainly didn’t do it just for the sake of spending money.

“Obviously this is a big investment in a really good player,” Bloom said. “It’s never been about doing big things just to do big things. It’s never been about making a splash for us. It’s about making good baseball moves. Those can be small moves that no one sees when they happen. They can be big moves that lead to press conferences. It’s not about the size of the move, it’s about is it a good one? Is it a good one for what we’re trying to do now, what we’re trying to do over a period of years? And that’s more important to us than the size of the splash we’re making.

“It’s whether we can look at it and look at all the factors. Look at the player, look at the fit, look at the timing, look at the terms and say this is a good move for the Boston Red Sox.”

For the Red Sox, Story checked every box they were looking for, and that made the money more than worth spending.

“Ultimately, it’s really about Trevor and how we esteem him,” Bloom said. “But he does fit us and he does open a lot of different possibilities for our lineup and just how this thing comes together, the options Alex (Cora) will have as the game unfolds and what his athleticism, his speed, his explosiveness will mean for making life difficult for the teams that play us.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/evzBMoD