Where have you gone, Dave Dombrowski?

Red Sox Nation turns its lonely eyes to you, Ben Cherington.

Theo Epstein has up and gone away.

Hey, hey, hey.

The rose is long off the Bloom.

Red Sox fans were left holding a fistful of thorns after the trade deadline passed Tuesday evening.

Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom didn’t make a splash. He didn’t stir the pot. He barely caused a ripple.

The Red Sox acquired Luis Urias from the Milwaukee Brewers organization and sent him to Worcester.

Cue the Duck Boats.

For the next group of tourists.

Even before the 6 p.m. trade deadline, the Red Sox had become an obligatory inconvenience. They were not the story of the day. Top billing continued to be focused on the doings at Gillette Stadium.

Some of us even celebrated the first anniversary of sports betting being passed by the state legislature.

Over 76.5 wins is all we ask of this team.

The post-mortem spin hit 35,0000 RPM on NESN. No less than a minute after the deadline passed with no action, the name “Trevor Story” was dutifully dropped.

The same sold Story, indeed.

A video from 2004 showed up in my Twitter feed the other day. It was a clip of the NESN Red Sox broadcast from July 31 that reported the news and analysis of Nomar Garciaparra’s trade.

A vibrant Don Orsillo and tastefully attired and animated Jerry Remy delivered unflinching commentary about the deal that blew up the Red Sox. We are told in the clip that the Red Sox, who were 56-45 at the time, had to do something to shake up the roster.

Fast forward to 2023.

The Red Sox were 56-50 before Tuesday’s game.

Yep, the same number of wins they had when they traded Nomar.

This time they are in a world with three American League wildcard teams.

In the 2004 clip, Remy says the Red Sox improved their defense, “which has been terrible through the first part of this season.”

That sort of analysis was once common on the State-Owned Television Station.

Don and Jerry interviewed Epstein during the broadcast. Theo had yet to deliver the Red Sox from the Evil Empire, end the ugliest curse in sports history in Chicago, or save baseball by pushing for the pitch clock.

The boyish GM looked as if had just walked home from Brookline High School with his BFF Sam Kennedy. A white T-shirt was visible beneath a button-down grey dress shirt.

Theo talked about how the Red Sox addressed their biggest flaw – defense – and doing that could give them a chance to win the World Series.

All three prophetically talked about Dave Roberts running. And how the defense of Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera would shore up the infield.

Theo took “responsibility” for the terrible defense that had the Red Sox 7.5 games behind the Yankees.

The chatter about Roberts’ ability to steal bases was downright visionary.

“That’s another dimension we were missing in the clubhouse in addition to speed was defense. Sometimes the two go hand-in-hand,” Theo says. “Dave Roberts has stolen 33 bases. He’s only been caught once. Forty-plus in each of the last two years. He gives Tito that added element of speed for pinch-running late in the game.”

Roberts’ swipe in Game 4 against the Yankees was the Red Sox version of the Immaculate Conception.

Mientkiewicz caught the final out of the 2004 World Series.

After a bizarre two-year ordeal, that piece of contested horsehide and twine ended up in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

No one on the 2023 Red Sox will share the burden of what to do with the ball that comes with the final out of the World Series.

It could be caught by Mookie Betts of the Dodgers, or Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies, or Xander Bogaerts of the Padres, or Nathan Eovaldi of the Rangers, or Christian Vázquez of the Twins.

In all-but opting out at the trade deadline, the Red Sox party line immediately focused on the return of Chris Sale, Tanner Houck and Story.

Sometime this season, they will be enough to provide any boost the team could have received by dealing at the deadline.

So say sources paid by John Henry or Tom Werner.

With Bloom still employed as of this writing, it has never been more evident that he is following the lead of ownership, in both paring payroll and avoiding any sort of contract that would add an unnecessary burden to the Fenway Sports Group bank account.

That Bloom has a long leash is undeniable given how tightly he has held onto his much-touted prospects.

If the Red Sox indeed had to win right now, why would they keep so many assets that cannot pay dividends until 2025 and beyond?

“We’ve got to do deals that make sense. We were engaged in a lot of different players,” Bloom said Tuesday evening. “It has to be a good move.”

Bloom stressed the confidence he has in the group currently in Red Sox clubhouse, and the aforementioned “reinforcements.”

He christened his team “underdogs.” Boston was 2.5 games out of the last wildcard before Tuesday’s game.

The “last wildcard” has become the opiate of the baseball masses.

“We didn’t want to make a move there just to make a move,” he said. “When you try to do things that might placate someone. That might make a headline. That aren’t really good baseball moves. You end up getting what you deserve for that.”

No doubt, Henry was smiling.

If he realized what was going on.

Or cared enough to think even about it.

Bill Speros (@RealOBF and @BillSperos) can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com