They did have the a backup to JBJ. His name is Durran. Though most of SOSH might have decreed that he is not a mlb player, I doubt Bloom will come to that conclusion based on 112 ab. They had a backup for Dalbec. His name is Cassas and I believe Franchy was taking reps at first base last year. As cool as it would be to have all stars at every position, in order to remain competitive and not have a massively bloated payroll, Bloom needs to take swings on JBJ and he needs to have a reasonably long leash with guys like Dalbec and Durran. At the end of the day though, signing Pham or some other backup outfielder would not matter. Verdugo, Kike, and Story can't hit their way out of a paper bag. JDM spent a bulk of time on not playing due to an injury and Devers started hot, but has cooled down considerably. There is no way Bloom could have protected the Sox against that.