Mookie Betts' Comments on Red Sox Trade Deadline Proves Players Weren't Thrilled With Front Office
By Michael Luciano
Despite a glaring need in the bullpen (and, let's be honest, the rotation) that once again reared its ugly head in series against the Rays and Yankees, Dave Dombrowski and the Boston Red Sox sat on their hands at the deadline and chose not to add any new players, pitching or otherwise.
The latest quotes from star outfielder Mookie Betts make it sound like plenty of Red Sox were more than a bit perturbed at all this inactivity.
Mookie Betts on whether players were bothered by Red Sox' lack of deadline activity: 'You could say yes, you could say no' https://t.co/lSZHt8FQFX
— WEEI (@WEEI) August 5, 2019
“That’s stuff in the clubhouse we can’t control," Betts said. "It’s from the top. We’ve got a talented group. We’ve proven we can do it. It’s just a matter of going out, executing and taking care of what we can.”
"You could say yes, you could say no." Oof.
The Red Sox have lost eight straight, including a sweep at the hands of the Yankees, in a skid that started three days before the deadline. While their depleted farm system would make trading for anyone monstrous quite difficult, the fact that there seemed to be such little effort on their part to improve is shocking.
Dave Dombrowski admits he would have been more likely to make a trade deadline move if the Red Sox were closer in the standings. https://t.co/CRukEiNRjn pic.twitter.com/mVaMAoIMb1
— NESN (@NESN) July 31, 2019
There's no other way to phrase it. Dombrowski and the Red Sox flopped hard at the deadline while the best teams in the AL continued to stay hot and put some distance between them in the standings.
And yes, the team noticed.