Fire Bloom .

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

If it makes you feel better we’ll go with your story. Oh yea I remember now Bloom said he was in discussions with other teams about Vic Wertz, or was it Pete Runnels, or was it Dick Stuart? No I remember now it was George Scott. You were right all along.

 

The original Boomer? Hosmer's most Similar Batter through age 31 on baseballref: George Scott (who won the AL HR and RBI crowns at 31 in 1975).

 

I've been watching the Red Sox for a long time, and I've never seen a Boston team before this that chose to address blatant deficiencies by trying to contrive platoons or even create regulars by moving so many guys out of position.

 

I understand the value of carrying versatile utility players, and every good club loves a multi-purpose Brock Holt as a supplement -- but not quite as a 162-game full-timer. Loading up on these types may be cheaper than paying regulars, but then a lot of posters may argue there's a reason certain players aren't starters. Sometimes it works out -- Kike, touted as a great 2B, becomes the CF -- sometimes it doesn't; who remembers the name of 2021's Opening Day starting LF? A: Marwin Gonzalez.

 

But this year fans could see right away that Arroyo in RF and Cordero anywhere were not the answers. Even those who rue the departure of our top catcher should recall that Cora was also playing Vazquez part-time at 1B in the end...

[Old Red]

The original Boomer? Hosmer's most Similar Batter through age 31 on baseballref: George Scott (who won the AL HR and RBI crowns at 31 in 1975).

 

I've been watching the Red Sox for a long time, and I've never seen a Boston team before this that chose to address blatant deficiencies by trying to contrive platoons or even create regulars by moving so many guys out of position.

 

I understand the value of carrying versatile utility players, and every good club loves a multi-purpose Brock Holt as a supplement -- but not quite as a 162-game full-timer. Loading up on these types may be cheaper than paying regulars, but then a lot of posters may argue there's a reason certain players aren't starters. Sometimes it works out -- Kike, touted as a great 2B, becomes the CF -- sometimes it doesn't; who remembers the name of 2021's Opening Day starting LF? A: Marwin Gonzalez.

 

But this year fans could see right away that Arroyo in RF and Cordero anywhere were not the answers. Even those who rue the departure of our top catcher should recall that Cora was also playing Vazquez part-time at 1B in the end...

 

Bingo!

[Old Red]

You take being wrong so well.

 

Just for clarification…

 

I love it when a plan comes together. Just for clarification.

[oldtimer]

The original Boomer? Hosmer's most Similar Batter through age 31 on baseballref: George Scott (who won the AL HR and RBI crowns at 31 in 1975).

 

I've been watching the Red Sox for a long time, and I've never seen a Boston team before this that chose to address blatant deficiencies by trying to contrive platoons or even create regulars by moving so many guys out of position.

 

I understand the value of carrying versatile utility players, and every good club loves a multi-purpose Brock Holt as a supplement -- but not quite as a 162-game full-timer. Loading up on these types may be cheaper than paying regulars, but then a lot of posters may argue there's a reason certain players aren't starters. Sometimes it works out -- Kike, touted as a great 2B, becomes the CF -- sometimes it doesn't; who remembers the name of 2021's Opening Day starting LF? A: Marwin Gonzalez.

 

But this year fans could see right away that Arroyo in RF and Cordero anywhere were not the answers. Even those who rue the departure of our top catcher should recall that Cora was also playing Vazquez part-time at 1B in the end...

 

I also wonder why Bloom seems to gravitate to flexibility with many of his position players. They may be flexible but often are not as good as dedicated players at any one position. It does help when the inevitable injuries occur, but how many of those players does a team need? Perhaps Bloom went in that direction since he had to reset the budget and could get those guys more inexpensively.

 

What bothers me about Bloom's selections more than flexibility is what appears to be a lack of a coherent strategy of improving the team. He has stated that he wanted to make the team consistently competitive and part of the strategy was to strengthen the farm. If we look at what other teams have done, we appear to be less competitive now than last year and while the farm is said to be higher rated, we have only one position player that may contribute to the team in 2023. We are carrying JDM and Eovaldi, who don't seem to be in the plans going forward and we traded away Vazquez for prospects of questionable value. Our farm has yielded some pitching prospects under Bloom so it's a mixed bag.

 

Looking at the Renfro trade for JBJ also didn't seem to fit the plan of making us consistently competitive in the league as we got less competitive as a result. So, If I read his signals correctly, Bloom will try to keep Bogey and Devers under contract on a more long term view while using money freed up for 2023 to sign some younger but high quality FA's. Hosmer and Story will stay and perhaps Verdugo and Arroyo. We have some decent pitching but will need at least one starter and as always BP help. Judging by us being the last place team in the AL East, it appears that there is too much for Bloom to do to bring the team up to parity with league powers in one year. Let's hope he has a coherent plan moving forward, that he makes wise choices and he sticks to the plan. The Vazquez and Renfro deals have shaken my confidence that he can and will do those things.

[jung]

I also wonder why Bloom seems to gravitate to flexibility with many of his position players. They may be flexible but often are not as good as dedicated players at any one position. It does help when the inevitable injuries occur, but how many of those players does a team need? Perhaps Bloom went in that direction since he had to reset the budget and could get those guys more inexpensively.

 

What bothers me about Bloom's selections more than flexibility is what appears to be a lack of a coherent strategy of improving the team. He has stated that he wanted to make the team consistently competitive and part of the strategy was to strengthen the farm. If we look at what other teams have done, we appear to be less competitive now than last year and while the farm is said to be higher rated, we have only one position player that may contribute to the team in 2023. We are carrying JDM and Eovaldi, who don't seem to be in the plans going forward and we traded away Vazquez for prospects of questionable value. Our farm has yielded some pitching prospects under Bloom so it's a mixed bag.

 

Looking at the Renfro trade for JBJ also didn't seem to fit the plan of making us consistently competitive in the league as we got less competitive as a result. So, If I read his signals correctly, Bloom will try to keep Bogey and Devers under contract on a more long term view while using money freed up for 2023 to sign some younger but high quality FA's. Hosmer and Story will stay and perhaps Verdugo and Arroyo. We have some decent pitching but will need at least one starter and as always BP help. Judging by us being the last place team in the AL East, it appears that there is too much for Bloom to do to bring the team up to parity with league powers in one year. Let's hope he has a coherent plan moving forward, that he makes wise choices and he sticks to the plan. The Vazquez and Renfro deals have shaken my confidence that he can and will do those things.

 

IMO it is an outgrowth of the "anybody can play anywhere" mentality that rules NERD baseball now and is all the proof anybody needs that the nerds that run these baseball ops departments DON'T WATCH ANY BASEBALL. Then to prove THIER point they will essentially support the notion that a good offense can overcome a deficient defense. Really.....giving away runs and giving away bases DOES NOT PRODUCE WINNING BASEBALL which is why lead off walks are so abhorrent.

[notin]

I also wonder why Bloom seems to gravitate to flexibility with many of his position players. They may be flexible but often are not as good as dedicated players at any one position. It does help when the inevitable injuries occur, but how many of those players does a team need? Perhaps Bloom went in that direction since he had to reset the budget and could get those guys more inexpensively.

 

What bothers me about Bloom's selections more than flexibility is what appears to be a lack of a coherent strategy of improving the team. He has stated that he wanted to make the team consistently competitive and part of the strategy was to strengthen the farm. If we look at what other teams have done, we appear to be less competitive now than last year and while the farm is said to be higher rated, we have only one position player that may contribute to the team in 2023. We are carrying JDM and Eovaldi, who don't seem to be in the plans going forward and we traded away Vazquez for prospects of questionable value. Our farm has yielded some pitching prospects under Bloom so it's a mixed bag.

 

Looking at the Renfro trade for JBJ also didn't seem to fit the plan of making us consistently competitive in the league as we got less competitive as a result. So, If I read his signals correctly, Bloom will try to keep Bogey and Devers under contract on a more long term view while using money freed up for 2023 to sign some younger but high quality FA's. Hosmer and Story will stay and perhaps Verdugo and Arroyo. We have some decent pitching but will need at least one starter and as always BP help. Judging by us being the last place team in the AL East, it appears that there is too much for Bloom to do to bring the team up to parity with league powers in one year. Let's hope he has a coherent plan moving forward, that he makes wise choices and he sticks to the plan. The Vazquez and Renfro deals have shaken my confidence that he can and will do those things.

 

 

The JBJ trade didn’t work out because JBJ didn’t bounce back. It made sense at the time to those who saw the need to improve OF defense. But it didn’t work out overall. The results are not always in the plan. I’m pretty sure when DD extended Sale, the plan wasn’t to have him make 11 starts over the next 3 years. The plan when Bloom extended Barnes wasn’t to watch him revert into a C-League high school pitcher.

 

I’m not sure who decided to play Cordero at 1b or Arroyo in RF. But the flexible do make sense sometimes, especially if you can’t afford real depth. It’s worth noting none of them signed anything longer than a 2 year deal.

 

But if you think JBJ was a bad idea and think playing guys out of position should never happen, does that mean you liked using Renfroe in CF last year?

[Bellhorn04]

What people seem to be overlooking is that Bloom has been trying to put the 2021 and 2022 teams together on a limited budget.

 

That's why the first base situation happened. Plan A was for minimum wager Bobby Dalbec to fit the bill. And there were some indications he could do it.

 

There was also the hope that Casas might be ready this year.

 

The limited budget is why Bloom went for some of these temporary stopgap measures and in the process he may have gotten a little too creative or clever, with things like Cordero at 1B and Arroyo in RF. They backfired and there's no way around that.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Bellhorn04

[a700hitter]

The JBJ trade didn’t work out because JBJ didn’t bounce back. It made sense at the time to those who saw the need to improve OF defense. But it didn’t work out overall. The results are not always in the plan. I’m pretty sure when DD extended Sale, the plan wasn’t to have him make 11 starts over the next 3 years. The plan when Bloom extended Barnes wasn’t to watch him revert into a C-League high school pitcher.

 

I’m not sure who decided to play Cordero at 1b or Arroyo in RF. But the flexible do make sense sometimes, especially if you can’t afford real depth. It’s worth noting none of them signed anything longer than a 2 year deal.

 

But if you think JBJ was a bad idea and think playing guys out of position should never happen, does that mean you liked using Renfroe in CF last year?

Was Bloom hoping that he would bounce back to his prime for,... when he also couldn’t hit? And if he thought so highly of him why did he let him walk in the first place? He got him back to pay him the bulk of a contract that he had deemed too expensive. Makes no senses. There were cheaper good glove CFers available.

[notin]

IMO it is an outgrowth of the "anybody can play anywhere" mentality that rules NERD baseball now and is all the proof anybody needs that the nerds that run these baseball ops departments DON'T WATCH ANY BASEBALL. Then to prove THIER point they will essentially support the notion that a good offense can overcome a deficient defense. Really.....giving away runs and giving away bases DOES NOT PRODUCE WINNING BASEBALL which is why lead off walks are so abhorrent.

 

So you’re saying Dombrowski proved himself incapable of running a team once he moved Swihart to the OF?

[a700hitter]

So you’re saying Dombrowski proved himself incapable of running a team once he moved Swihart to the OF?

He moved Swihart to the OF because he couldn’t catch. It turned out that he couldn’t hit either. I never understood why the organization held Swihart in such high regard. I had people in the organization confirm to me that they regarded him very highly. I never saw what they saw. And they gave him plenty of opportunity.

[jung]

The JBJ trade didn’t work out because JBJ didn’t bounce back. It made sense at the time to those who saw the need to improve OF defense. But it didn’t work out overall. The results are not always in the plan. I’m pretty sure when DD extended Sale, the plan wasn’t to have him make 11 starts over the next 3 years. The plan when Bloom extended Barnes wasn’t to watch him revert into a C-League high school pitcher.

 

I’m not sure who decided to play Cordero at 1b or Arroyo in RF. But the flexible do make sense sometimes, especially if you can’t afford real depth. It’s worth noting none of them signed anything longer than a 2 year deal.

 

But if you think JBJ was a bad idea and think playing guys out of position should never happen, does that mean you liked using Renfroe in CF last year?

 

The Sale extension at the time it was negotiated was IMO one of the top 5 worse FO decisions the Sox made so far in this century assuming they might have been willing to accept the notion of Mookie as team leader. If not then maybe the Sox upper management just did not give a crap.

 

As for Renfro, I never like putting what is essentially a corner OFer in CF. CF is neither RF nor LF. It should be avoided unless you want your CF to look occasionally stupid and take your FO and field management along for the Stupid show. While I am stunned to think how much JBJ actually cost the Red Sox in salary this year, you can still watch him play CF and gain an understanding for what distinguishes CF from either RF or LF. Mookie is a very special talent and Mookie could basically move over to CF without much of an issue primarily because he has so much range as an OF and such a good arm. Benny or Andrew if you will was an excellent LFer for the Red Sox, especially at Fenway was utter crap in CF. Maybe a college CF but that is about where it ended for Benny IMO at least while with the Sox.

 

Story has done well adapting to 2nd base but Story is an outstanding SS. Hard to imagine he would not eventually straighten out his footwork at 2nd well enough to play there. Going from 2nd base to SS is a whole nuther' kettle of fish though. Holt and the kid that played for the Rays for a number of years are the best two baseball Swiss army knives I can think of off the top of my head.

Edited August 6, 2022 by jung

[jung]

He moved Swihart to the OF because he couldn’t catch. It turned out that he couldn’t hit either. I never understood why the organization held Swihart in such high regard. I had people in the organization confirm to me that they regarded him very highly. I never saw what they saw. And they gave him plenty of opportunity.

 

Agreed....I think you nailed it. Probably should have just given up on him and let him move on as for one thing Swi destroyed his ankle trying to play in the OF.

[Bellhorn04]

Story has done well adapting to 2nd base but Story is an outstanding SS. Hard to imagine he would not eventually straighten out his footwork at 2nd well enough to play there. Going from 2nd base to SS is a whole nuther' kettle of fish though. Holt and the kid that played for the Rays for a number of years are the best two baseball Swiss army knives I can think of off the top of my head.

 

Ben Zobrist, right?

[jung]

Ben Zobrist, right?

 

Thats the guy!!!!!

[Maxbialystock]

The original Boomer? Hosmer's most Similar Batter through age 31 on baseballref: George Scott (who won the AL HR and RBI crowns at 31 in 1975).

 

I've been watching the Red Sox for a long time, and I've never seen a Boston team before this that chose to address blatant deficiencies by trying to contrive platoons or even create regulars by moving so many guys out of position.

 

I understand the value of carrying versatile utility players, and every good club loves a multi-purpose Brock Holt as a supplement -- but not quite as a 162-game full-timer. Loading up on these types may be cheaper than paying regulars, but then a lot of posters may argue there's a reason certain players aren't starters. Sometimes it works out -- Kike, touted as a great 2B, becomes the CF -- sometimes it doesn't; who remembers the name of 2021's Opening Day starting LF? A: Marwin Gonzalez.

 

But this year fans could see right away that Arroyo in RF and Cordero anywhere were not the answers. Even those who rue the departure of our top catcher should recall that Cora was also playing Vazquez part-time at 1B in the end...

 

Meh.

 

1. Last year's team was pretty successful--won 92 games, beat the Yankees ace in the wild card, then 100 win (most in AL) Rays 4-2 in the ALDS, before losing 4-2 to the Astros.

 

2. Here are the 11 best position players by WAR from last year's team: Bogey, Kike, Devers, JDM, Renfroe, Dugo, Arroyo, Schwarber, and Vazquez. Just two of them, Schwarber and Renfroe, left the Sox--for double what the Sox had been paying them. And the Sox salaries this year are still the 6th highest in MLB. I would like to have kept Schwarber, but the fact is he would have been another DH in addition to JDM. Bringing back JBJ @ $8M to replace Renfroe @$7M (his salary this year) was probably a mistake. Two returning first basemen were lefty bat Shaw, whose OPS last year was .843, and righty bat Dalbec, whose OPS was .792. Neither has panned out, but the fact is Bloom started this season with the expectation they would be OK (or better). Cordero has been better than Shaw, who was let go, but worse than Dalbec.

 

3. Nevertheless, this year's Sox are 3d in the AL in runs scored and 5th in team OPS this year compared to last year's 4th and 3d in 2021. So, as unhappy as we may be with hitting, it's about the same as last year's good team.

 

4. The defense, I agree, is worse than last year, at least in the outfield and at 1B. Devers, Bogey, and Story, however, have been a pretty decent threesome at 3b, SS, and 2b, with Story being tons better than whoever played 2b last year.

 

5. The pitching, on the other hand, was average last year--7th in the AL in ERA--but has fallen to 14th this year--mostly because of injuries to Sale, Eovaldi, Whitlock, Wacha, Hill, et al.

 

6. As for Vazquez, who did hit well in the last month or so, the Sox had a better won-lost record in games without him (before he was traded) than with him. After he was traded to the Astros, the Sox beat the Astros 2 games to 1 and so far have split with the Royals.

 

7. This Sox team is paying Price, Sale, and Eovaldi $63M. Their combined WAR for the Sox this year is +0.9. This gets ignored by you and the other Bloom-blamers. Instead, you gripe endlessly about the inadequacies of Story, who is paid $20M for his WAR of +2.1, for which he provides terrific defense @ 2b and is 2d on the team in rbi's despite missing 20 games so far.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Maxbialystock

[Bellhorn04]

Thats the guy!!!!!

 

Zobrist was so good at it that he ended up getting a 4 year/56 million payday from Theo's Cubs.

 

And he played on back-to-back World Series winners, the 2015 Royals and the 2016 Cubs.

[cp176]

The JBJ trade didn’t work out because JBJ didn’t bounce back. It made sense at the time to those who saw the need to improve OF defense. But it didn’t work out overall. The results are not always in the plan. I’m pretty sure when DD extended Sale, the plan wasn’t to have him make 11 starts over the next 3 years. The plan when Bloom extended Barnes wasn’t to watch him revert into a C-League high school pitcher.

 

I’m not sure who decided to play Cordero at 1b or Arroyo in RF. But the flexible do make sense sometimes, especially if you can’t afford real depth. It’s worth noting none of them signed anything longer than a 2 year deal.

 

But if you think JBJ was a bad idea and think playing guys out of position should never happen, does that mean you liked using Renfroe in CF last year?

 

Not sure any comparison between taking a chance on Sale and taking a chance on JBJ makes any real sense. If a chance had to be taken, I wonder how many would have gone with Sale as opposed to JBJ. No matter how good jBJ was in the field, there is no way I could see the justification for bringing him back.

[Old Red]

Meh.

 

1. Last year's team was pretty successful--won 92 games, beat the Yankees ace in the wild card, then 100 win (most in AL) Rays 4-2 in the ALDS, before losing 4-2 to the Astros.

 

2. Here are the 11 best position players by WAR from last year's team: Bogey, Kike, Devers, JDM, Renfroe, Dugo, Arroyo, Schwarber, and Vazquez. Just two of them, Schwarber and Renfroe, left the Sox--for double what the Sox had been paying them. And the Sox salaries this year are still the 6th highest in MLB. I would like to have kept Schwarber, but the fact is he would have been another DH in addition to JDM. Bringing back JBJ @ $8M to replace Renfroe @$7M (his salary this year) was probably a mistake. Two returning first basemen were lefty bat Shaw, whose OPS last year was .843, and righty bat Dalbec, whose OPS was .792. Neither has panned out, but the fact is Bloom started this season with the expectation they would be OK (or better). Cordero has been better than Shaw, who was let go, but worse than Dalbec.

 

3. Nevertheless, this year's Sox are 3d in the AL in runs scored and 5th in team OPS this year compared to last year's 4th and 3d in 2021. So, as unhappy as we may be with hitting, it's about the same as last year's good team.

 

4. The defense, I agree, is worse than last year, at least in the outfield and at 1B. Devers, Bogey, and Story, however, have been a pretty decent threesome at 3b, SS, and 2b, with Story being tons better than whoever played 2b last year.

 

5. The pitching, on the other hand, was average last year--7th in the AL in ERA--but has fallen to 14th this year--mostly because of injuries to Sale, Eovaldi, Whitlock, Wacha, Hill, et al.

 

6. As for Vazquez, who did hit well in the last month or so, the Sox had a better won-lost record in games without him (before he was traded) than with him. After he was traded to the Astros, the Sox beat the Astros 2 games to 1 and so far have split with the Royals.

 

7. This Sox team is paying Price, Sale, and Eovaldi $63M. Their combined WAR for the Sox this year is +0.9. This gets ignored by you and the other Bloom-blamers. Instead, you gripe endlessly about the inadequacies of Story, who is paid $20M for his WAR of +2.1, for which he provides terrific defense @ 2b and is 2d on the team in rbi's despite missing 20 games so far.

Brisket Gasper described Bloom best yesterday when it came to the trade deadline. Bloom is like a guy who came to a fork in the road (buy, or sell), and couldn’t decide which one to do, so he looked for a 3rd option. In other words not very decisive, and not the kind of guy you would want as your Chief of Baseball Opps running the Red Sox. If the glove fits you must convict.

[Old Red]

Chris Gasper.

[Bellhorn04]

Not sure any comparison between taking a chance on Sale and taking a chance on JBJ makes any real sense. If a chance had to be taken, I wonder how many would have gone with Sale as opposed to JBJ.

 

I don't know, cp, most of the posters here now seem to agree that the Sale extension was a massive blunder.

 

And I've been one of the few who has tried to defend DD on that one.

[Bellhorn04]

Brisket Gasper described Bloom best yesterday when it came to the trade deadline. Bloom is like a guy who came to a fork in the road (buy, or sell), and couldn’t decide which one to do, so he looked for a 3rd option. In other words not very decisive, and not the kind of guy you would want as your Chief of Baseball Opps running the Red Sox. If the glove fits you must convict.

 

You know what, though? I'll bet Bloom would have gotten hammered no matter what he did.

 

Fire sale? Oh yeah, sure, let's treat the fans to the end of 2012 all over again.

Go for it big time? What a fool, throwing away good prospects on a slim chance at a playoff run.

Don't do much either way? Indecisive bum!

[Old Red]

What people seem to be overlooking is that Bloom has been trying to put the 2021 and 2022 teams together on a limited budget.

 

That's why the first base situation happened. Plan A was for minimum wager Bobby Dalbec to fit the bill. And there were some indications he could do it.

 

There was also the hope that Casas might be ready this year.

 

The limited budget is why Bloom went for some of these temporary stopgap measures and in the process he may have gotten a little too creative or clever, with things like Cordero at 1B and Arroyo in RF. They backfired and there's no way around that.

 

I think everyone is well aware that JH doesn’t give Bloom much of an allowance, but the same mentioned plan of Booby D, and Casas wasn’t the problem, but it was not fixing it when it didn’t work out.

[Bellhorn04]

I think everyone is well aware that JH doesn’t give Bloom much of an allowance, but the same mentioned plan of Booby D, and Casas wasn’t the problem, but it was not fixing it when it didn’t work out.

 

And that's a fair question, but others have tried to explain how it isn't always that easy to just grab the player you want from another team mid-season.

 

"Booby D" though? That's just rude.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

My perspective of the problems at 1st base lies on people being fooled, including me. Dalbec finished the 2021 season with a barrage of HR's. Someone rode on a horse thru the streets of Boston proclaiming "Dalbec has finally arrived."

Fast forward to 2022 and Dalbec was gonna be the power hitting 1st baseman and Casas was waiting in the wings if Dalbec faltered. Well, Dalbec did falter and Casa was not waiting in the wings, he was waiting to get healthy.

So, I blame both Dalbek for fooling the SOX and us and I blame Casas for getting injured.

 

As for trading Renfro for JBJ, I have no explanation for that move other then the fact that Cora is a big JBJ fan.

[Old Red]

You know what, though? I'll bet Bloom would have gotten hammered no matter what he did.

 

Fire sale? Oh yeah, sure, let's treat the fans to the end of 2012 all over again.

Go for it big time? What a fool, throwing away good prospects on a slim chance at a playoff run.

Don't do much either way? Indecisive bum!

Now we are back to name calling(Indecisive Bum)? Wow! Bloom, and some on here think all minor leaguers are good prospects, but they are not. Hammered yes, but that’s what he gets paid the big bucks for. The fire sale talk started on here before the season even started. I’m on the opinion as long as you are still in the post season hunt you still go for it, and not just piss the season away, and quit like some on here wanted to do, and sell off all expiring contracts. This year there is still a chance to me, and just because there is lots of money coming off the books after this year doesn’t mean 2023, and beyond will yield any kind of success like some seem to think on here. Especially with Bloom at the helm. Bloom has had 3 years to work on all this expiring contract mess, and did nothing. If the state of the Sox wasn’t so bad at the moment there wouldn’t be so much to be hammered about, but it is, and Bloom is in charge.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Old Red

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

My perspective of the problems at 1st base lies on people being fooled, including me. Dalbec finished the 2021 season with a barrage of HR's. Someone rode on a horse thru the streets of Boston proclaiming "Dalbec has finally arrived."

Fast forward to 2022 and Dalbec was gonna be the power hitting 1st baseman and Casas was waiting in the wings if Dalbec faltered. Well, Dalbec did falter and Casa was not waiting in the wings, he was waiting to get healthy.

So, I blame both Dalbek for fooling the SOX and us and I blame Casas for getting injured.

 

As for trading Renfro for JBJ, I have no explanation for that move other then the fact that Cora is a big JBJ fan.

 

Btw, I seriously doubt the SOX FO could have acquired thru trade a quality 1st baseman any sooner then the TDL.

Edited August 6, 2022 by SPLENDIDSPLINTER

[Elktonnick]

Just read that the Fenway Sports Group is valued at about 10 Billion dollars as of January 2022 making it the third most valuable sports empire ahead of the New York Yankees. Think of those numbers when you hear Henry and Kennedy cry poormouth.

[Bellhorn04]

My perspective of the problems at 1st base lies on people being fooled, including me. Dalbec finished the 2021 season with a barrage of HR's. Someone rode on a horse thru the streets of Boston proclaiming "Dalbec has finally arrived."

Fast forward to 2022 and Dalbec was gonna be the power hitting 1st baseman and Casas was waiting in the wings if Dalbec faltered. Well, Dalbec did falter and Casa was not waiting in the wings, he was waiting to get healthy.

So, I blame both Dalbek for fooling the SOX and us and I blame Casas for getting injured.

 

As for trading Renfro for JBJ, I have no explanation for that move other then the fact that Cora is a big JBJ fan.

 

Oh sure, blame it on Cora!

[Bellhorn04]

Just read that the Fenway Sports Group is valued at about 10 Billion dollars as of January 2022 making it the third most valuable sports empire ahead of the New York Yankees. Think of those numbers when you hear Henry and Kennedy cry poormouth.

 

I'll also think of those numbers when anyone talks about JH being "distracted" by his other ventures.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Oh sure, blame it on Cora!

 

Ah, hell, why not?