Red Sox Sign Marwin Gonzalez

[Bellhorn04]

400+ ABs in a season is not a bench player. He did that twice in Minnesota.

 

Can you do that and still be a "utility player"? Because Kike Hernandez did it twice with the Dodgers.

[mvp 78]

As noted earlier, you really need to work on your Yiddish, dude!! (And, on more important matters, what happened to the USC avatar???)

 

Football season ended. Next fall!

[mvp 78]

I’m not a mensch, but I will be laying my keppie down this afternoon.

[Bellhorn04]

We're all a bunch of schlemiels.

[mvp 78]

We're all a bunch of schlemiels.

 

TIL what the the Laverne and Shirley song meant.

[a700hitter]

Can you do that and still be a "utility player"? Because Kike Hernandez did it twice with the Dodgers.

Sure, a utility player can be full time player or close to a full time player. They are regularly in the lineup. Franchy has never been more than a bench player- a spare part.

[a700hitter]

Another old time term that would describe Franchy is a “big stiff.”

[notin]

Sure, a utility player can be full time player or close to a full time player. They are regularly in the lineup. Franchy has never been more than a bench player- a spare part.

 

No. Cordero was a starter who was injured twice, which is actually impressive to jump to the front of the line of a pretty good slew of young outfielders they had in SD at the time. Calling him a spare part is like calling JD Drew a spare part.

 

The thing about Cordero is, right now the best comp I can think of is Nick Johnson - a very talented player who just could not keep it on the field...

[a700hitter]

No. Cordero was a starter who was injured twice, which is actually impressive to jump to the front of the line of a pretty good slew of young outfielders they had in SD at the time. Calling him a spare part is like calling JD Drew a spare part.

 

The thing about Cordero is, right now the best comp I can think of is Nick Johnson - a very talented player who just could not keep it on the field...

So far, Franchy has been compared by posters to Big Papi and JD Drew. I’ll stick with my assessment that he stinks.

[a700hitter]

Franchy will not even be as good as Wily Mo. And Pivetta will not be as good as Andy Hassler. This is a team that could finish in third. The Orioles belong in AAA, so we should have no trouble beating them. We should be fighting for 3rd place with the Rays who have destroyed their pitching and rebuilt with old retreads. The Yankees and Jays should bury us by double digits by the All Star Break.

[notin]

Franchy will not even be as good as Wily Mo. And Pivetta will not be as good as Andy Hassler. This is a team that could finish in third. The Orioles belong in AAA, so we should have no trouble beating them. We should be fighting for 3rd place with the Rays who have destroyed their pitching and rebuilt with old retreads. The Yankees and Jays should bury us by double digits by the All Star Break.

 

The Jays strike me as being like the 2008 Tigers - a team everyone looked at the lineup that included a recent acquisition in Miguel Cabrera, and figured they'd easily score 1,000 runs and cruise to the AL Central title. And they promptly started out 0-7 on their way to finishing in last. My expectations of the Jays next year are tempered...

[notin]

Franchy will not even be as good as Wily Mo. And Pivetta will not be as good as Andy Hassler. This is a team that could finish in third. The Orioles belong in AAA, so we should have no trouble beating them. We should be fighting for 3rd place with the Rays who have destroyed their pitching and rebuilt with old retreads. The Yankees and Jays should bury us by double digits by the All Star Break.

 

Wily Mo Pena is certainly a possibility from Cordero. For the Sox, Pena had a .779 OPS (97 OPS+) with 16 HRS in 438 PA.

 

Of course, those numbers also bear a striking similarity to what Benintendi gave the Sox in his last full season of 2019 (.774 OPS / 100 OPS+, 13 HRs in 615 PA).

 

So how much of a step down from Benintendi will Cordero be, if one at all? (And will the 4 other players make up the difference or just be flat out bonuses?)

 

Hassler only pitched 46 innings for the Sox. High 4.96 ERA but a 2.70 FIP. It helped that he gave up no home runs in a Sox uniform, something I would not expect from Pivetta if he holds a rotation spot...

[jad]

You're on a racing team. You can have (1) an average F1 car that needs some work, but runs, and maybe a bit overpriced. or (2) two 1964 VW bugs, an old Pinto, and a '85 Buick with a bad transmission, all at a great price. You need this for a race (not a demolition derby). Which do you choose?

[notin]

You're on a racing team. You can have (1) an average F1 car that needs some work, but runs, and maybe a bit overpriced. or (2) two 1964 VW bugs, an old Pinto, and a '85 Buick with a bad transmission, all at a great price. You need this for a race (not a demolition derby). Which do you choose?

 

Well, as this is a team, I need multiple cars, So I can take this old, broken down F1 car, and blow my budget fixing it up, knowing it is going to decline in performance in it's 30's. Meanwhile I have no money left for any faster, younger, newer cars? Hmmm.

 

And what do I do if the F1 breaks down faster than this analogy?

[Bellhorn04]

For all we know, this Red Sox team may be like one of those Rays teams, seemingly short on recognizable names and talent, but with a habit of outscoring the opposition.

[moonslav59]

Nobody is saying Cordero will come close to who Papi and JD were, so can we stop pretending that was even hinted at?

 

The guys problem is health not talent- as is the case with too many Sox players and pitchers, right now. He fits right in.

 

Nobody was sure Beni was going to bounce back, either, and Cordero might be able play a decent CF, thus avoiding the need to play Renfroe in RF and Verdugo in CF.

 

I'm not making any Cordero projections, so if he does very well, you won't hear any "I told you so's" from me, but can we give the kid a shot? Can we give Bloom a shot? The guys been acting with his hands and feet bound up pretty tight. He had about 10 gaping holes in our 26 man roster, and that's counting on ERod, Sale & Eovaldi doing something, plus the weakest bottom 10-14 slots on the Sox 40 man roster I've seen in decades.

 

I think some expectations were too high. How can anyone address all those needs and build up the farm and 26 man roster to be highly competitive with the budget Bloom has had over the past 2 winters?

 

Can we get real?

[moonslav59]

For all we know, this Red Sox team may be like one of those Rays teams, seemingly short on recognizable names and talent, but with a habit of outscoring the opposition.

 

That can never happen as long as we keep spending near the tax line every year.

 

To me, the real question will be how Bloom can handle a big spending budget, once he actually gets a sizable chunk to spend in one winter.

 

Dan Duquette showed he could build a roster with a small budget but struggled with big signing's success- so did Ben.

 

Bloom will get his chance to show what he can do- hopefully, next winter.

[notin]

That can never happen as long as we keep spending near the tax line every year.

 

To me, the real question will be how Bloom can handle a big spending budget, once he actually gets a sizable chunk to spend in one winter.

 

Dan Duquette showed he could build a roster with a small budget but struggled with big signing's success- so did Ben.

 

Bloom will get his chance to show what he can do- hopefully, next winter.

 

Well, Duquette wasn’t that bad with big signings, like Manny and Damon. And of course he traded for Pedro. And even Offerman - a signing I hated at the time - was not so bad.

 

But DD just seemed to ignore South/Central American pitching in favor of Asian pitching. Not sure why given the repeated failures...

[moonslav59]

Well, Duquette wasn’t that bad with big signings, like Manny and Damon. And of course he traded for Pedro. And even Offerman - a signing I hated at the time - was not so bad.

 

But DD just seemed to ignore South/Central American pitching in favor of Asian pitching. Not sure why given the repeated failures...

 

Yes, Duquette did set up Theo pretty well, and some of his big moves worked out very well.

[a700hitter]

For all we know, this Red Sox team may be like one of those Rays teams, seemingly short on recognizable names and talent, but with a habit of outscoring the opposition.

The bad habit this team is more likely to have will be to cause the fans to turn off their games after the 5th inning.

[moonslav59]

The bad habit this team is more likely to have will be to cause the fans to turn off their games after the 5th inning.

 

Thank to Dave.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

That can never happen as long as we keep spending near the tax line every year.

 

To me, the real question will be how Bloom can handle a big spending budget, once he actually gets a sizable chunk to spend in one winter.

 

Dan Duquette showed he could build a roster with a small budget but struggled with big signing's success- so did Ben.

 

Bloom will get his chance to show what he can do- hopefully, next winter.

 

The question is: who do you and other posters want Bloom to spend a sizable chunk on next winter that is any better than players getting sizable chunks this winter?

[Bellhorn04]

Thank to Dave.

 

Yet if we reverse all Dave's trades, we wouldn't be a whole lot better team right now. And the only guy Dave traded who has ever put up a star-level WAR is Moncada - and he cost $62 million. And we got Sale for him.

[notin]

The question is: who do you and other posters want Bloom to spend a sizable chunk on next winter that is any better than players getting sizable chunks this winter?

 

Haven’t you been touting Carlos Correa?

[notin]

The question is: who do you and other posters want Bloom to spend a sizable chunk on next winter that is any better than players getting sizable chunks this winter?

 

But I recommend Thor. Plus bringing back ERod..,

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

But I recommend Thor. Plus bringing back ERod..,

 

I'd take them both, but something tells me ERod -- if he shows he is recovered -- could be trade bait in July. Thor might be next year's Bauer, especially if the Yankees' master plan of replacing three-fourths of their rotation with question marks is a flop this season.

 

As for Correa, I think he's the most likely of the big name position players to sign in Boston because of the Cora factor. Trevor Story may be a better fit, but I think he's more likely to be traded and/or extended before next offseason.

[cp176]

Yet if we reverse all Dave's trades, we wouldn't be a whole lot better team right now. And the only guy Dave traded who has ever put up a star-level WAR is Moncada - and he cost $62 million. And we got Sale for him.

 

It's the cliff boss it's the cliff. Normally i would say that these types of discussions will end when the season begins but in this case, i don't know. Bloom deserves a chance of course but all of the accolades being heaped on him by some here are unearned. I wish that people would just wait until he actually does something significant before declaring him the chosen one. other than trying to save money for the big boss, his moves really haven't shown any particular finesse or shrewdness. Lastly, if he fails to do anything to significantly help this team, it can't be blamed on anyone else. That is what losers do. Losers balme others for what they cannot get done.

[jad]

I notice that Bloom apologists have a grasp of the subjunctive (which they seem to use with every sentence) that I thought quite beyond what is required of most sports fans.

[a700hitter]

I never understood the compunction to defend a GM — and especially not one who is putting an unwatchable team on the field.

[moonslav59]

The question is: who do you and other posters want Bloom to spend a sizable chunk on next winter that is any better than players getting sizable chunks this winter?

 

1. I don't think Bauer, Springer or Realmuto were the type to go large and long on, but it wasn't so much about who as when.

2. We had a very limited budget, this winter- more than last winter, but still no where near some of the winter spending budgets we've seen in the last couple decades.

 

It's not about a specific player or two. It's about how many holes do you need to fill and how much total spending money you have.

 

This winter, we had about 10 holes to fill, plus the bottom 10 of our 40 man roster was about as bad as it has been in 2 decades. How do you fill all those whole, while trying to improve the farm, at the same time on what? $20-30M?

 

Next year, we lose Pedey's contract and will likely go over the tax limit- maybe by $15-19M. We should have less holes to fill, since we have a few 2 year or option players, and some farm help that should come up during this year or by next spring. We'll know more about Dalbec & Chavis, Duran & Downs, Mata & Seabold, plus guys like Cordero, Pivetta, DHern and Arroyo/Munoz.

 

Less holes to fill + more money to spend allows for more meaningful additions to the roster next winter.