So basically what you're saying is that Bloom's hands were tied? There was absolutely nothing he could have done to make this team better. At all. That's a way at looking at building a baseball team, I'll give you that.
It wasn't about the players not having faith in their teammates, it's more like they needed help and their pleas went unanswered. Have you ever been in a situation at your job where management has cut staff and there's too much work to be done by the current staff? You request more headcount because there's too much going on. It has nothing to do with a lack of faith in yourself or your teammates to get the job done, but you can understand that you're not equipped to do the job as it needs to be done with the current headcount. That's what Devers and Cora were asking for, better pitching; more headcount.
As far as making the playoffs, looking at this roster in March I never thought they'd sniff the postseason but they were three games out of a playoff spot at the end of July. You keep saying that this is my argument (which it really isn't) my argument is that Bloom left the team high and dry pitching wise for the entire month of July confident that Sale, Whitlock, etc. will right the ship. They needed pitching, he did nothing. You're insinuating that this was the right call but with the way that they played in August and September I'm not sure how you can say that. It was the wrong move, I'm not sure why you're even arguing this point.
I said the baseline team that Bloom assembled was not good enough to make buying at the deadline a good investment. I don't attribute 100% of that to Bloom as I feel that his hands were tied in certain ways (poor pipeline of cost-controlled talent when he arrived, it being a reset year for tax purposes, building toward the '24 window, not selling at previous deadlines which may be a Bloom issue or an ownership issue), but he also made poor choices in several areas that were clearly under his control (Kluber, Hernandez, Jansen, etc.).
All the analogies you give don't really relate to baseball. Could he have made the team better? Of course. But this isn't real life where increased productivity directly ties to the end goal. Like yes, I bet he could have made the team 5 wins better. But making the team 5 wins better
does not accomplish anything. You have an 83-79 team that also misses the playoffs by 5 games instead of 10 games, just with a worse draft pick. & in order to make the team 5 wins better, you have to literally sacrifice increased odds of future success. It's not like you can just buy pitchers off the street, give them a raise, & have that increase in productivity for your team translate to more revenue.
I don't think I have once during this conversation said what your argument is (nor do I understand what you are saying I am saying your argument is). & the reason I'm arguing the point is that the goal is not to win 5 more baseball games. It's to win the World Series, or at a minimum be a consistent playoff team. I don't think buying would have accomplished either of those goals.
When you buy, you pay a premium. It's the value of having something now vs. in the future, & it works in a similar way to most other economic things. If you need something now that will pay off, it could certainly be the smart choice. Buying at a premium to not accomplish anything meaningful now at the expense of future happiness is not smart, though.
A pretty straight-forward sports example (because I don't feel like getting into the economics side with mortgages, credit card interest, time value of money, etc., etc.), is in the NFL when teams will trade a pick this year for a pick a round earlier the next year. Yes, it could help the team doing it now. Maybe it will put them over the top or this guy is
the guy. But you're paying the premium to do it now. & teams that pay the premium to do it now, when they aren't in a position to capitalize, almost always regret it.
The "right" call, especially with the power of hindsight, was certainly selling, not buying.