Red Sox (Houck) at Houston (Kikuchi): 8/19/24, 8:10pm

[Bellhorn04]

I wouldn't say Breslow sabotaged the pitching, but at this point he hasn't done much to make it better, including with the deadline acquisitions of Garcia and Sims.

[Old Red]

Old news. No one on talksox has argued Breslow did much for the pitching before this season or during it. He tried to sabotage the rotation by giving away Sale (and paying his $17M salary) and hiring Giolito--for $38M--to recover from elbow surgery.

 

Either way Brez couldn’t have botched things up any more if he had tried to do so. A rookie 12th pick in the 2024 HOBO draft seemed real proud of himself with the work he did at the trade deadline too, and yes he a least picked a lane unfortunately it was the breakdown lane where he found Paxton. The others? Meh.

[mvp 78]

Not really. The truth is he gave away Sale and all that money to finance a production of “No, No, Nanette” at Newton North High School…

 

God damnit!

[mvp 78]

I wouldn't say Breslow sabotaged the pitching, but at this point he hasn't done much to make it better, including with the deadline acquisitions of Garcia and Sims.

 

There's a difference between "made a bad decision" and "intentionally threw a season."

[Bellhorn04]

There's a difference between "made a bad decision" and "intentionally threw a season."

 

Max can be a tad hyperbolic.

[Maxbialystock]

Max can be a tad hyperbolic.

 

I never said or implied Breslow "threw a season." In fact, I've repeatedly praised him for insisting on a new pitching coach and bringing in Bailey. I think the Sale and Giolito deals were stupid, but agree with moonslav that last winter they almost made sense. Certainly his intent was to improve the rotation and not destroy it.

 

Once DD was fired in 2019, which was just 5 years ago, I think the Sox entered something akin to what Rod Serling called the Twilight Zone. Big bucks for big starters were out and overall the Sox payroll went from #1 in MLB in 2018 and 2019 to 11th this year. Chaim Bloom was hired, I think, to replicate the low cost success of the Rays, and that simply did not happen. Not even close. Instead, CB hired short term starters and was allowed to give Devers the big extension--but not Mookie-- and 5/6 year contracts to Story and then Yoshida.

 

moonslav has pointed out that this upcoming offseason is a great opportunity to fix the rotation and the bullpen because the Sox can offer some (not all) of their best prospects and at the same time pay good money for quality starters because they can spend $90M more and still avoid the surtax or whatever it's called. But moonslav also says we have no idea whether JH will go for that.

 

The irony of that is that right now this year's lineup--the 1/2 of the team that scores the runs and now and then plays defense--is hitting up a storm and most will return next season along with Story and 1 or more of the hot prospects now at Worcester. The bats look pretty good, and, if Story and Mayer are both viable, the defense should be too.

 

I'm not a big Breslow fan, but I also think he was given a near impossible task. In fact, right now I doubt that John Henry or anyone else even defined what that task was. But now he's about a year into the job and can see clearly what needs to be done. Thanks to that core of Devers, Duran, Abreu, Rafaela, Ref, Casas, and Wong--along with Story, Mayer, et all in the wings--Breslow can focus on the pitching. But, as moonslav insists, he must have JH's support in getting that pitching.

[mvp 78]

You said "he tried to sabotage the rotation by giving away Sale." I don't know how else to take that, honestly.

 

That's not the same as "his intent was to improve the rotation and not destroy it."

[notin]

God damnit!

 

That’s essentially what the Newton Beacon said as well…

[Dipre]

You said "he tried to sabotage the rotation by giving away Sale." I don't know how else to take that, honestly.

 

That's not the same as "his intent was to improve the rotation and not destroy it."

 

You were supposed to bring balance to the force, not destroy it

[mvp 78]

That’s essentially what the Newton Beacon said as well…

 

How did the Newton Beacon rate Dan Duquette's performance in Damn Yankees?

[mvp 78]

You were supposed to bring balance to the force, not destroy it

 

Unlike the Acolyte, Breslow won't be cancelled after one season.

[Maxbialystock]

You said "he tried to sabotage the rotation by giving away Sale." I don't know how else to take that, honestly.

 

That's not the same as "his intent was to improve the rotation and not destroy it."

 

You got me, dead to rights. I did say sabotage, and it does mean what you say it means. And it's just wrong. I was exaggerating, but failed to make it clear I was.

 

The rest of that long post is pretty close to what I think. I'm not a Breslow fan, but I also think he took on an impossible job because John Henry and the Sox seem to be in some kind of weird transition phase.

 

And I quote moonslav because I think he's got it about right. The lineup this year and next looks pretty good, and Breslow could be the right guy to fix the pitching (rotation and bullpen), but he can't without the monetary support of owner John Henry.

 

And the weird part about that is that for his first 18 or so seasons of Sox ownership, JH supported a big payroll, usually among the top 3 in MLB. In 2018 and 2019, the Sox had the top payrolls in MLB. Since then, a steady progression downward to 11th this year.

[Bellhorn04]

You got me, dead to rights. I did say sabotage, and it does mean what you say it means. And it's just wrong. I was exaggerating, but failed to make it clear I was.

 

Exaggeration is forbidden here. I think you've been told that a million times.

[mvp 78]

Exaggeration is forbidden here. I think you've been told that a million times.

 

Saying "he tried to sabotage the rotation" isn't exaggeration though. It's a fabrication. If he said "signing Giolito was the worst decision since Sandoval" is an exaggeration.

[Bellhorn04]

Saying "he tried to sabotage the rotation" isn't exaggeration though. It's a fabrication. If he said "signing Giolito was the worst decision since Sandoval" is an exaggeration.

 

To me it's taking things a wee bit literally to think Max truly meant Breslow intentionally committed sabotage on his team...

[moonslav59]

You got me, dead to rights. I did say sabotage, and it does mean what you say it means. And it's just wrong. I was exaggerating, but failed to make it clear I was.

 

The rest of that long post is pretty close to what I think. I'm not a Breslow fan, but I also think he took on an impossible job because John Henry and the Sox seem to be in some kind of weird transition phase.

 

And I quote moonslav because I think he's got it about right. The lineup this year and next looks pretty good, and Breslow could be the right guy to fix the pitching (rotation and bullpen), but he can't without the monetary support of owner John Henry.

 

And the weird part about that is that for his first 18 or so seasons of Sox ownership, JH supported a big payroll, usually among the top 3 in MLB. In 2018 and 2019, the Sox had the top payrolls in MLB. Since then, a steady progression downward to 11th this year.

 

I'm not happy with JH's spending, either but the drop in payroll rankings have been, at least in part, due to several owners deciding they were going to go nutty with spending.

 

No doubt, we have cut salary since we were ranked 3rd in 2021. 2021 was not that long ago.

 

According to Steve the Ump, we have seen these changes in some teams' spending:

'21>'22>'23>'24

BOS 180>195>176>162 (a drop of $18M from 2021)

 

$18M is dwarfed by these teams:

NYM: 167> 302 +235

NYY: 191> 294 +103

HOU: 171> 237 +66

PHI: 174> 236 +62

ATL: 134> 225 +91

TOR: 137> 222 +85

TEX: 85> 221 +136

LAD: 235> 220 (masters of hiding payroll)

CHC: 150> 216 +66

STL: 135> 164 +29

SDP: 153 (but 237 in '23)

 

We could have added $26M more to our 2024 spending budget and still been ranked 11th. (Not 12th as we are.)

 

The main reason we dropped in the rankings is due to other owners spending more. That's not letting JH off the hook, but some context is needed.

 

Had JH added $36M more in spending from 2021 to 2024, we'd still be 10th.

$40M more would place us 9th, behind the Dodgers, who have so much deffered money, it's not even funny.

$45M more gets us to 6th (behind the Braves)

$55M more gets us close to PHI but still 5th.

We'd have to be spending about $60M more to have kept our 3rd place ranking from 2021.