SAN DIEGO -- By now, it's become an all-too-familiar scenario: the Red Sox identify a free agent who intrigues them, make an offer, and learn that they missed out, finishing second -- or third, or lower -- to the winning bidder.
It's happened several times already this season. The Sox swung and missed on Jose Abreu, Zach Eflin, and more recently, Tommy Kahnle and Andrew Heaney. It's a tiresome development, and fans and some media have dubbed them "The Interest Kings'' -- meaning, yes, the Red Sox had interest in a free agent, but failed, in the end, to land him.
Chaim Bloom senses your frustration and feels your pain.
"Totally, I understand it,'' said Bloom on the second full day of MLB's WInter Meetings. "I'd feel the same way if I were a fan, sitting there watching it all unfold. I do think, especially in this type of period, where the activity is so frenzied, that's going to happen and when it happens to the Boston Red Sox, it's likelier to be in the news than when it happens to just about everybody else. The reality is, this type of stuff is more common than people think. (There are) different reasons why it happens. There's some instances, including even this year, when that type of stuff goes in your favor. Of course, people don't hear about that -- they just see that you got the player.
"So I totally get it. At the end of the day, we're going to keep pursuing players we like. If we aren't occasionally pursuing guys that we don't get, then we're not in on enough guys. So, what matters is ultimately how it ends and how it looks at the end of the offseason. There's been a couple that, sure, in the moment are a little frustrating. And there's others where it's just kind of how it is.''
Indeed, only a small percentage of free agents are off the table, and it's not even mid-December, in an era when it's not uncommon for major free agents to sign in January or even February.
But for a Red Sox roster in need of major upgrades following a last-place finish, with lots of needs to fill, every unsuccessful chase of a free agent is an opportunity lost. And there are only so many impact guys available in a given winter.
Rightly or wrongly, some believe the Red Sox' failures in the market stem from being too cautious in their approach, or worse, too cheap to offer what the market is dictating.
"They're just not out in front on anything,'' said a major league executive with another club.
Along the way, the Red Sox examine their approach and tactics each time.
"In some cases, it's isn't that you lost out; it's that the player had different preferences,'' said Bloom. "That's just the situation. Twenty-nine teams are in this hotel doing the same thing, involved in a lot of different things. Sometimes you're involved in something and it doesn't happen and you're happy about that because of what comes next. Sometimes, you're not and you've got to look at it all and constantly re-calibrate as the offseason goes on.''
It's become enough of a storyline -- the Sox perhaps lacking aggressiveness in the free agent market -- that the club is willing to address that industry speculation with players they're pursuing.
"When we do talk to players, we like to make it pretty easy for them to ask us those questions and get in front of things that might be on their minds,'' Bloom said. "We don't think that should be a concern and if they do, we want to talk about why.''
At bottom, Bloom said, the Red Sox are not only intent on putting a better, more competitive product on the field, but they're also sensitive to what fans want.
"We're in the entertainment business,'' said Bloom. "If we're not factoring that in, we're not doing our jobs. We have incredible fans and we want them to be happy. Now, if we do something that will make them happy because we made a move and it's not going to help us win, and it's not going to make us as good as we expect to be, that's not a good way to do business. So hopefully, they intercept. We just have to make sure that, at the end of the day, they help us win baseball games.''
Job No. 1, for the Red Sox this winter, is getting the team out of last place.
But first, in their efforts to improve the roster, they have to find a way to avoid second place, too -- time and again.