I pretty strongly disagree that he would ever think or say that. He could certainly hope that, but baseball is a probabilistic game. It was clear from his comments after the deadline that he felt they were an "underdog" after the deadline. I'm sure he just didn't find any trades that he thought the incremental improvement to the team would be worth the future cost.I would bet that Bloom told ownership in the last 3 off-seasons that the Sox should compete for, and make, the playoffs with the rosters he assembled. I would bet that he reiterated that stance this trade deadline and was confident that the players getting off of IL would help push the Sox to the final wild card. I think Cora disagreed and thought they needed reinforcements.
& in hindsight I tend to agree. Would 67.2 innings of competent pitching from Jordan Montgomery have won them an extra 10 games? Or whatever the lesser equivalent # of innings he would have pitched for us compared to pitching for the Rangers where they had the 6th ranked defense? The Rangers gave up guys who are now the Cardinals' 5th & 9th ranked prospects in that trade, & I'm sure they would do it again in a heartbeat due to all the surplus value having him in their playoff rotation has given them.
But it's also a great deal for the Cardinals because Montgomery pitching those good, but inconsequential, innings for them would have maybe won them a few more games, but it would not have gotten them to the playoffs. Just like it would not have gotten the Red Sox to the playoffs.