A Realistic View of 2023: Part II

[moonslav59]

Just think having Vaz and his 3 year deal. We dodged a bullet.

 

Or having a 5 year $75M deal for Beni.

 

Hopefully we don't bring back Kike under any circumstances.

 

9 more years of Xander? No thanks.

 

Except for the man on the top of the Ex list, nobody has wow'd anyone.

 

(The pitcher list would have more than one guy.)

[Bellhorn04]

What the hell is going on with our luck?

 

Zack Littell goes 8 IP for the Rays allowing 5 hits and just 1 run (1BB & 4K!)

 

Luis Castillo out-dueled him and SEA won 1-0.

 

The Tigers are up 10-3, late on the Yanks, for all those who felt they are better than us.

 

(They may still prove to be.)

 

 

Luck?

 

The Sox released Littell after 3IP. Let’s not confuse impatience with bad luck…

 

Littell with the Rays: 54 K's and 6 BB's

Brasier with the Dodgers .66 WIP (they said "Hey Ryan, ever think of throwing a cutter?)

 

Fantastic work by Sox evaluators. Good thing we have a pitching savant like Bloom now. No wonder our staff is in such great shape.

 

Can we at least fire Dave Bush?

[Bellhorn04]

Just think having Vaz and his 3 year deal. We dodged a bullet.

 

Or having a 5 year $75M deal for Beni.

 

Hopefully we don't bring back Kike under any circumstances.

 

9 more years of Xander? No thanks.

 

Xander's contract is stupid, but...

 

His 3.3 fWAR would be leading the Sox. Our leader is at 2.6.

 

Good thing we have Story instead.

[moonslav59]

Littell with the Rays: 54 K's and 6 BB's

Brasier with the Dodgers .66 WIP (they said "Hey Ryan, ever think of throwing a cutter?)

 

Fantastic work by Sox evaluators. Good thing we have a pitching savant like Bloom now. No wonder our staff is in such great shape.

 

Can we at least fire Dave Bush?

 

People put down our farm evaluators and developers, but yes, the guys on the big club aren't doing what teams like LAD, HOU, TBR and ATL are doing with their scrub additions.

 

(Funny how 3 of those 4 teams have/had ties to the Rays or are the Rays, themselves.)

[Bellhorn04]

People put down our farm evaluators and developers, but yes, the guys on the big club aren't doing what teams like LAD, HOU, TBR and ATL are doing with their scrub additions.

 

(Funny how 3 of those 4 teams have/had ties to the Rays or are the Rays, themselves.)

 

What happened with our ties to the Rays?

[moonslav59]

What happened with our ties to the Rays?

 

Apparently, the guy who "wrote the book" was plagiarizing,.

 

To be fair, Bloom has "found a few gems in the rough," but not as many as I had hoped for, and we've seen such a long revolving door of failures in the pen, that "wondering WTF" seems like a tame response.

 

Schreiber, Bernardino and who else? Robles and Rios for a few weeks?

 

It seems we have more pitchers who have gone on to do better things, after leaving here than vice versa.

 

Somebody ripped some pages from Bloom's playbook, before he left the Rays. (The important ones.)

 

[notin]

Xander's contract is stupid, but...

 

His 3.3 fWAR would be leading the Sox. Our leader is at 2.6.

 

Good thing we have Story instead.

 

I loved Xander, but honestly, I don’t think I’d be loving him much in 2033…

[notin]

Littell with the Rays: 54 K's and 6 BB's

Brasier with the Dodgers .66 WIP (they said "Hey Ryan, ever think of throwing a cutter?)

 

Fantastic work by Sox evaluators. Good thing we have a pitching savant like Bloom now. No wonder our staff is in such great shape.

 

Can we at least fire Dave Bush?

 

For not fixing Littell in three innings?!?

[Bellhorn04]

For not fixing Littell in three innings?!?

 

It's not about the 3 innings, obviously, it's about 2 pitchers being dumped by the Sox and succeeding elsewhere, and the fact they didn't have Brasier try a cutter.

[mvp 78]

Just think having Vaz and his 3 year deal. We dodged a bullet.

 

Or having a 5 year $75M deal for Beni.

 

Hopefully we don't bring back Kike under any circumstances.

 

9 more years of Xander? No thanks.

 

Agreed. Those were some suspect contracts. I would have taken Vaz back, but not at the contract he signed.

[mvp 78]

Littell with the Rays: 54 K's and 6 BB's

Brasier with the Dodgers .66 WIP (they said "Hey Ryan, ever think of throwing a cutter?)

 

Fantastic work by Sox evaluators. Good thing we have a pitching savant like Bloom now. No wonder our staff is in such great shape.

 

Can we at least fire Dave Bush?

 

Why wasn't Littell good with MIN? Why wasn't Littell good with SF?

 

Maybe it's just that TB is better at developing pitching and then burning out a pitcher's arm than other orgs?

[moonslav59]

I loved Xander, but honestly, I don’t think I’d be loving him much in 2033…

 

The "issue" has been going on longer than 2023.

 

.914 OPS from '18-'19 with a 162 game line of:

.300 31 123

 

2018-2020 was fine: .907 OPS

.300 31 116

 

His D improved a bit after 2020, but his 2021-2022 numbers took a big dip. The .848 OPS was still very good, but it was not over .900 and his 162 game line, in terms of producing runs, took a tumble:

.301 21 84

 

2021-2023 numbers are .818

.292 20 76

[moonslav59]

Why wasn't Littell good with MIN? Why wasn't Littell good with SF?

 

Maybe it's just that TB is better at developing pitching and then burning out a pitcher's arm than other orgs?

 

Sometimes, it doesn't really seem like rocket science: teams like TBR, HOU and LAD often get the pitcher to just make one simple adjustment, like throw ___ pitch more or less often, and BOOM!

[notin]

It's not about the 3 innings, obviously, it's about 2 pitchers being dumped by the Sox and succeeding elsewhere, and the fact they didn't have Brasier try a cutter.

 

That kind of thing happens both ways.

 

The Sox have several pitchers other teams just dumped.

 

After being dumped by Detroit, Schreiber was All Star worthy last year. Seattle dumped Bernardino for some reason. And did you notice San Francisco Giant Dumpster Refugee (and frequent Notin Target of Hate) Mauricio Llovera now has a 0.93ERA over his last 7 appearances?

[notin]

Why wasn't Littell good with MIN? Why wasn't Littell good with SF?

 

Maybe it's just that TB is better at developing pitching and then burning out a pitcher's arm than other orgs?

 

I think the fact that sometimes we focus on the failures while forgetting about the successes. “This team made A MISTAKE!!!!”

[moonslav59]

I think the fact that sometimes we focus on the failures while forgetting about the successes. “This team made A MISTAKE!!!!”

 

No GM hits more than misses on these types of additions, so that context is important, but we have had a bunch of failures and even extreme failures on these types of "gets."

[Bellhorn04]

I think the fact that sometimes we focus on the failures while forgetting about the successes. “This team made A MISTAKE!!!!”

 

When we're under .500 for Bloom's third and fourth seasons, I think it's natural to be questioning stuff.

[moonslav59]

When we're under .500 for Bloom's third and fourth seasons, I think it's natural to be questioning stuff.

 

We are 4 above .500 in 2023.

 

No questioning allowed, until we are 1 under.

 

LOL

[Bellhorn04]

We are 4 above .500 in 2023.

 

No questioning allowed, until we are 1 under.

 

LOL

 

Should have been clearer, I was referring to the combined record for the two seasons.

[mvp 78]

That kind of thing happens both ways.

 

The Sox have several pitchers other teams just dumped.

 

After being dumped by Detroit, Schreiber was All Star worthy last year. Seattle dumped Bernardino for some reason. And did you notice San Francisco Giant Dumpster Refugee (and frequent Notin Target of Hate) Mauricio Llovera now has a 0.93ERA over his last 7 appearances?

 

Sox had Schreiber for a year before he developed. TB can turn a guy around in a few weeks.

 

I'm not going to get worked up over a SSS with Llovera (especially with a 4.75 xFIP, a high BB rate and unimpressive K rate).

[mvp 78]

I think the fact that sometimes we focus on the failures while forgetting about the successes. “This team made A MISTAKE!!!!”

 

Probably normal for most fanbases.

 

Detroit probably isn't happy that they dealt Isaac Paredes to the Rays. Houston probably is wondering how they couldn't get more out of Jose Siri. Are Philly fans kicking themselves for letting Eflin walk out the door after so many years of just being ok?

[Bellhorn04]

The Rays are magicians. They lose Springs and Rasmussen and McClanahan and Franco, and they keep on rockin'.

[mvp 78]

The Rays are magicians. They lose Springs and Rasmussen and McClanahan and Franco, and they keep on rockin'.

 

They just have no problem blowing out every pitcher's arm to get them to pitch at 100% of their capacity. It's good for the team, but not really good for the player.

[moonslav59]

The Rays are magicians. They lose Springs and Rasmussen and McClanahan and Franco, and they keep on rockin'.

 

The Astros, too, have lost some studs over recent years and lost a big chunk of their rotation for most or all of this season:

 

GS

0 Lance McCullers (last year 8 GS 2.27 ERA/ 2021: 28 GS 3.16 ERA)

6 Luis Garcia (last year: 28 GS 3.72 ERA)

9 Urquidy (last year: 28 GS 3.94 ERA)

 

Quality and quantity.

 

We had just one (or neither.)

 

 

[Randy Red Sox]

No GM hits more than misses on these types of additions, so that context is important, but we have had a bunch of failures and even extreme failures on these types of "gets."

 

The only thing that really matters is that the Sox will have missed the playoffs 3 of the 4 seasons Bloom has been in charge. Yes he has added depth to the farm but next to none of it is pitching and no matter what anyone says pitching is the most important part of the game. I really don’t care how many good positive players we have in A or AA. Other than C position players can be picked up in the FA market much cheaper than quality pitching- superstar FA.s aside

[moonslav59]

The only thing that really matters is that the Sox will have missed the playoffs 3 of the 4 seasons Bloom has been in charge. Yes he has added depth to the farm but next to none of it is pitching and no matter what anyone says pitching is the most important part of the game. I really don’t care how many good positive players we have in A or AA. Other than C position players can be picked up in the FA market much cheaper than quality pitching- superstar FA.s aside

 

So, we lucked into the 4 rings we won on the backs of pitchers from outside our system.

 

Got it.

[Bellhorn04]

Tanner Houck is a 3 inning pitcher. Not many things have been more obvious in the history of the world.

 

Innings 1-3 this year 2.12 ERA

Innings 4-6 9.26 ERA

 

He'd be good in the bullpen.

 

But he's in the rotation, because of Bloom's malfeasance.

[moonslav59]

Tanner Houck is a 3 inning pitcher. Not many things have been more obvious in the history of the world.

 

Innings 1-3 this year 2.12 ERA

Innings 4-6 9.26 ERA

 

He'd be good in the bullpen.

 

But he's in the rotation, because of Bloom's malfeasance.

 

2-3 inning RP'ers with ERAs in the low 2's are very valuable, but we waste them all.

 

Houck

Whitlock

to some extent Pivetta

Crawford was better from the pen

[moonslav59]

The Yanks lost, too, so those watching the race for last place will have to wait another day, at least.

[Randy Red Sox]

So, we lucked into the 4 rings we won on the backs of pitchers from outside our system.

 

Got it.

 

 

And your point is???? Was your hero Bloom here for any of our 4 WS titles.