Who Should the Red Sox Trade For?

[Kimmi]

Besides the drafts... The Dogder Dump was brilliant. I never thought Signing Napoli was going to be that much of a drop-off at 1B for that ‘13 season and he kept plugging the holes with gamers like Nap, Vic, & Gomes. Most considered these moves a bit weak at the time, but these moves coupled with our core players at the time were just what the doctor ordered.

 

Later, some say Ben hoarded prospects and was afraid to make moves. But the timing has to be right to do that in my opinion. For example, we could have easily have Margot roaming our OF instead of Betts right now... if you think about it. And that’s nothing against Margot, but you get my point. It’s nice to know what you have first. For all the bad moves Ben, justifiably I might add, gets the blame, clearly there were even more opportunities to make even more bad moves under him. Anyone can choose a certain narrative and keep painting away at it, but to get a clearer more honest picture one needs to be a little more objective. Most teams could do worse than Ben Cherington.. and they usually do.

 

Very solid post Emp.

 

I would also like to point out that there were many fans calling for the trades of Betts, Bogaerts, or JBJ back in the day. Just like Dombrowski had the intuition not to trade Devers or Beni, Ben had the intuition not to trade any of the Bs.

[Hitch]

Who was the poster who claimed Ben was a bum based on the fact that nobody wanted him as their next GM?

 

I wonder? Claiming nobody wanted him without any evidence to back this up to I believe? Who woulda thunk it?

 

I'd like to see Beni boy get another gig to see whathe can do.

[dgalehouse]

The undying affection for Ben Cherington is one of life's great mysteries.

[Emp9]

The undying affection for Ben Cherington is one of life's great mysteries.

 

Yeah! God! f*** those unbiased, even-handed, pragmatic *******s! It’s sickening.

[a700hitter]

Yeah! God! f*** those unbiased, even-handed, pragmatic *******s! It’s sickening.

Unbiased? The fact that people agree with you doesn’t make them unbiased. They just agree with your bias.

[Bellhorn04]

The undying affection for Ben Cherington is one of life's great mysteries.

 

I get it, up to a point. He did win a World Series after all. And he built up a good farm. I have already voiced my criticisms of him plenty of times.

[moonslav59]

???

If this was Ben's 5th best move it doesn't speak very well for him. Melancon had a -0.2 fWAR in a Red Sox uniform, then was traded to Pittsburgh for Hanrahan and had 3 excellent seasons for Pittsburgh.

 

Melancon was a good pitcher who happened to do poorly that year with the Sox. (We ended up getting Holt for him in a later trade that involved hanrahan.)

 

I think it was a good trade. I can see how the Lowrie lovers view it differently. (BTW, the oft-injured Lowrie only played 97 games with HOU that following season.)

[Bellhorn04]

Melancon was a good pitcher who happened to do poorly that year with the Sox. (We ended up getting Holt for him in a later trade that involved hanrahan.)

 

I think it was a good trade. I can see how the Lowrie lovers view it differently. (BTW, the oft-injured Lowrie only played 97 games with HOU that following season.)

 

For me it's got nothing to do with Lowrie. It's got to do with bad results for Melancon. I can agree that it seemed like a good trade on paper, but the results stunk for one reason or other. Ben may have given up on Melancon too quickly as well.

[moonslav59]

The undying affection for Ben Cherington is one of life's great mysteries.

 

Not as mysterious as the undying hatred directed towards a GM who brought us a ring and set DD up to build the team we have now.

 

Most of us who defend Ben realize he was far from perfect and made some major blunders.

[moonslav59]

For me it's got nothing to do with Lowrie. It's got to do with bad results for Melancon. I can agree that it seemed like a good trade on paper, but the results stunk for one reason or other. Ben may have given up on Melancon too quickly as well.

 

The subsequent trading of Melancon was bad, but getting a guy like Melancon in the first place was a good trade, IMO.

 

It's like saying getting Porcello and extending him was a bad move, because Porcello sucked the one year Ben was his GM. You can't count his next years.

 

(Now, one could argue Lowrie's subsequent years made it a bad trade, because he had some much better years after the trade.)

[a700hitter]

Not as mysterious as the undying hatred directed towards a GM who brought us a ring and set DD up to build the team we have now.

 

Most of us who defend Ben realize he was far from perfect and made some major blunders.

No one hates Ben. He was a very nice guy, and he is a very honest and open guy. He didn’t know jack s*** about pitching and you can’t be a winning team without it. He had to go. It’s that simple. It’s not personal. It’s just business.

[Emp9]

Unbiased? The fact that people agree with you doesn’t make them unbiased. They just agree with your bias.

 

My opinion is less biased then you’d imagine. And I’m not responsible for other people’s feelings.

[harmony]

No one hates Ben. He was a very nice guy, and he is a very honest and open guy. He didn’t know jack s*** about pitching and you can’t be a winning team without it. He had to go. It’s that simple. It’s not personal. It’s just business.

As general manager Ben Cherington had a role in a World Series championship before his 40th birthday.

 

Cherington was not perfect but the one-time college pitcher is smart enough, and young enough, to learn from his mistakes. His occasional blunder amid great success could make Cherington more valuable today.

[a700hitter]

As general manager Ben Cherington had a role in a World Series championship before his 40th birthday.

 

Cherington was not perfect but the one-time college pitcher is smart enough, and young enough, to learn from his mistakes. His occasional blunder amid great success could make Cherington more valuable today.

Smart people learn from their mistakes, but a billion dollar franchise is not the place to learn. Those three last place finishes and falling TV ratings were damaging the franchise. Before Ben, the Red Sox had not offered new season season tickets for a very long time. There had been a waiting list. After 2014 (the second of his last place finishes), season tickets were easy to get. I don't blame that on Ben. I think that was going to happen eventually, but the dead summers of those last place seasons accelerated the process greatly. Lots of season ticket holders got stuck with large bills and couldn't sell their tickets for 1/2 of face value. They dumped their packages in large numbers.

[Fan_since_Boggs]

No one hates Ben. He was a very nice guy, and he is a very honest and open guy. He didn’t know jack s*** about pitching and you can’t be a winning team without it. He had to go. It’s that simple. It’s not personal. It’s just business.

 

The year Ben signed Hanley and Sandoval, many fans criticized him prior to the season for his starting pitching staff. As the season unfolded, the fans were proven right. I remember that staff: C.Buchholz, J.Kelly, W.Miley, a washed up J.Masterson, and R.Porcello.

 

During that offseason, the Red Sox could have signed M.Scherzer.

[Fan_since_Boggs]

It sounds like the Diamondbacks and Brewers are after the Mets Cabrera:

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-trade-rumors-roundup-asdrubal-cabrera-could-be-the-next-met-on-the-move/

 

No news of the Red Sox being interested. Dombrowski can't ignore the hole at second base, right?

[dgalehouse]

I think most people understand that anything can happen in the post season. So , give Ben credit for 2013 , but keep that in mind. That was an extraordinary year . A lot of things went right in the big games. That is beyond a G.M.' s control. The fact is that was his only good year, mixed in with three horrible seasons. He left the pitching in bad shape. I don't hate him. I actually would like to see him get a shot with the Mets. Maybe he will learn from his mistakes and do well.

[notin]

Who is that?

 

Santiago Casilla, former Oakland and San Francisco closer who was recently DFA’d for poor performance, possibly due to age and/or nagging injuries...

[vegasbob]

Everyone is fully entitled to their opinions on Cherington and his predecessors and now successor. He was a relatively young guy in a tough sports city with involved ownership.

 

My question is why does anyone actually care what his future opportunities may be ? They won't be in Boston, so why care ?

[Hitch]

Not as mysterious as the undying hatred directed towards a GM who brought us a ring and set DD up to build the team we have now.

 

Most of us who defend Ben realize he was far from perfect and made some major blunders.

 

 

Yup. He did a few things wrong too, but some people will flat out lie in an effort to attack him. The whole thing is bizarre.

[OH FOY]

Oakland gave up crap for Familia. International Pool money big thing.

[FredLynn]

It sounds like the Diamondbacks and Brewers are after the Mets Cabrera:

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-trade-rumors-roundup-asdrubal-cabrera-could-be-the-next-met-on-the-move/

 

No news of the Red Sox being interested. Dombrowski can't ignore the hole at second base, right?

 

How about the hole in the pen? We have no viable LH RP. I would love to see us get Britton...I think he is the missing cog. He can be lights out and can spell Kimbrel, who has been pitching too much.

[OH FOY]

Agree, before his injury, he was dominant, take a chance. Hated when he came in to face the Sox.

[Hitch]

Britton would be a risk because of his injury but if he is anywhere as good as he was he'd be an awesome pick up. I wonder what the cost would be...

[greenmonster24]

I bet if we toke Chris Davis back we could get get Britten for a lot less. with Hanley gone he could become good again with change of scenery like Mike Lowell and Redsox can afford his salary lot small market teams can’t

[OH FOY]

Britton is a weird pitcher too, he was throwing a screwball, at like 95 MPHS, this is crazy. He would kill Lefties and Righties.

[OH FOY]

Remember he hurt is Achilles, not his arm.

[Hitch]

I bet if we toke Chris Davis back we could get get Britten for a lot less. with Hanley gone he could become good again with change of scenery like Mike Lowell and Redsox can afford his salary lot small market teams can’t

 

We should be absolutely NOWHERE near Chris Davis.

[cp176]

I get it, up to a point. He did win a World Series after all. And he built up a good farm. I have already voiced my criticisms of him plenty of times.

 

He won nothing. He played a role in the team winning.

[cp176]

The undying affection for Ben Cherington is one of life's great mysteries.

 

Having this type of affection for any GM is a mystery to me unless someone is related to them then I get it.