Take a bow Mr Breslow

[dgalehouse]

Since Breslow took over, the Sox have gone from cellar dweller to contender.  Not as big a turnaround as we saw with Dombrowski, but very good in it's own regard. But you can never please everybody. 

[harmony]

51 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Mayer has lost valuable developmental time the last few years, and this year lost a golden opportunity to show what he can do due to injuries. Troubling sign of being injury prone at a young age. Agee on other teams having interest if Mayer was available.

At Baseball Trade Values, Marcelo Mayer's surplus value has dropped from $64.9 milliion a year ago to $47.9 milliion this week:

https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades?q=marcelo&page=1

Could interest in Mayer be dwindling? Will the Red Sox be fielding low-ball offers?

 

 

[moonslav59]

18 minutes ago, dgalehouse said:

Since Breslow took over, the Sox have gone from cellar dweller to contender.  Not as big a turnaround as we saw with Dombrowski, but very good in it's own regard. But you can never please everybody. 

And, at the same time, the farm got way better. We finally have some young pitchers and pitching prospects to talk about. Many of our young players are locked up, longtime- something Bloom was rightfully criticized for waiting too long to do.

He even locked up Chapman. Of course, if he sucks next year, he'll be bashed for doing that, too.

The only players from this team who are not under total team control for 2026 are:

Bregman (opt out)

Giolito (mutual option)

Story (probably won't opt out)

Wilson

Refsnyder (might retire, return or go elsewhere)

Hendriks, Matz & May

While this list is significant, it is not as impactful as some we've seen in year's past.

After 2026, it's just Whitlock, Sandoval & Lowe (assuming we offer him his last arb)

To me, it's rather stunning how long we have control of a big chunk of our foundation at reasonable prices and projected arb costs. If JH opens up the wallet to fill a few key high need areas, the window can be wide open and long lasting.

[moonslav59]

10 minutes ago, harmony said:

At Baseball Trade Values, Marcelo Mayer's surplus value has dropped from $64.9 milliion a year ago to $47.9 milliion this week:

https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades?q=marcelo&page=1

Could interest in Mayer be dwindling? Will the Red Sox be fielding low-ball offers?

 

 

$48M is still a huge amount, and with one less pre-arb year, one can understand a drop.

I'm not sure how much his injury history scares other GMs, but I'm sure some are not that interested, until he shows he's healthy, and maybe for 3 straight months or so (next deadline?)

Others may still think he's worth $48-60M in trade value.

[Kimmi]

22 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Matz has been okay, but yes. I agree.

I think we had about 12 capable to decent SP'ers after the Crochet deal. We traded Priester and added Harrison, but just now gave him a look-see. I can't see blaming a GM for not going 13-14 deep with SP'ers. The 40 man roster can only hold so many.

I think they idea was to use some in the pen, but when 6-8 are one the 60 Day at any given time, that idea fell through as well.

To me, our issue was not depth, it was lack of starpower. We traded Devers. We lost our 2024 ace (Houck) and IP leader (Crawford,) plus an .820 career OPS 1B man for just about the whole season.

Like you, I was pleased with our pitching depth going into the season.  It's amazing how quickly injuries can derail that.

Breslow has made some mistakes, as all GMs do, but I'm happy with what he's done overall.

As Bellhorn said, though, he needs to stop trading away starting pitchers.

[Kimmi]

22 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Not sure about counting Mayer, he's still an unknown quantity.  The loss of the other two at the same time is huge.  I think if there's a criticism it's that he subtracted a big bat and didn't do anything to replace that bat.  

Fair enough.  I don't disagree that subtracting Devers' bat was huge.  I think the hope was that Anthony, Mayer, and maybe Yoshida could make up for some of the offense, which Anthony did pretty well until he got injured. 

All that said, I am not upset with how Breslow handled the deadline.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, dgalehouse said:

Since Breslow took over, the Sox have gone from cellar dweller to contender.  Not as big a turnaround as we saw with Dombrowski, but very good in it's own regard. But you can never please everybody. 

Cellar Dwellar? They were picking 14th in the draft.

[moonslav59]

We should have kept Wikelman.... LOL!

32 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

Like you, I was pleased with our pitching depth going into the season.  It's amazing how quickly injuries can derail that.

Breslow has made some mistakes, as all GMs do, but I'm happy with what he's done overall.

As Bellhorn said, though, he needs to stop trading away starting pitchers.

We should have kept Wikelman! LOL

Another one was Newcomb. We should have just moved him to the pen.

Hey, when Holobetz and or Phillips win the Cy Young, I'll come back to this.

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, dgalehouse said:

Since Breslow took over, the Sox have gone from cellar dweller to contender.  Not as big a turnaround as we saw with Dombrowski, but very good in it's own regard. But you can never please everybody. 

Dombrowski had loads of CBO experience and had the 4th biggest payroll in MLB in 2016, which later became the #1 payroll.  In fact, DD is why John Henry decided to go in a new direction and steadily lowered the payroll, which this year is 12th in MLB.  In the 4 seasons when the Sox won the WS, the Sox payrolls were at or near the top.  

 

[Duran Is The Man]

8 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Yes, you and a few others were upset, but I don't think anyone saw Priester as "the one." 

We seemed to have about 11-13 pitchers we could view as capable SP'ers. Even Crawford was supposed to come back, at some point. Hell, Newcomb beat Priester out of the 5 slot on opening day, and my guess is several others were ahead of him on the depth chart. Certainly Fitts and Dobbins were, as they both started in early April.

Still, a pitcher is a pitcher and we traded one away. Again, I will add that we got two pitcher back plus YRod. Time might prove this trade was okay. MIL certainly won the 2025 aspect of 

you're right, nobody viewed him as "the one", but i can tell you this: some suspects in Low A damn sure aren't "the one".

[moonslav59]

17 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

you're right, nobody viewed him as "the one", but i can tell you this: some suspects in Low A damn sure aren't "the one".

I'll certainly admit I might be entirely too high on Holobetz, but he started in high A and was promoted to AA. He had a .657 OPSA for the Sox farm. soxprospects.com has him listed as the #1 AA SP'er, next year, ahead of Clarke, Aita and Paez. They also have Phillips starting the season as the #4 SP'er for the A+ team in 2026.

I was happy we traded Yorke for Priester, and it did seem questionable to trade a pitcher in April. I just assumed they saw something they did not like or expect when they got him in the first place. I figured they had Fitts, Dobbins and even Newcomb ahead of him and expected Crawford & Sandoval later in the year. They seemed to have enough depth, and there are only so many slots on the 40 man roster you can set aside for SP'ers. We had 12-14 when the trade was made. That's about 1/3 of the whole roster.

Again, I'm not defending the trade. In hindsight we keep him and move Newcomb to the pen, and we might be in first place, right now.

 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Kimmi said:

Fair enough.  I don't disagree that subtracting Devers' bat was huge.  I think the hope was that Anthony, Mayer, and maybe Yoshida could make up for some of the offense, which Anthony did pretty well until he got injured. 

All that said, I am not upset with how Breslow handled the deadline.

We may never know what offers were on the table. I find it hard to be so sure in criticizing Brez for not making deals we know nothing or very little about.

My big "prize" was Joe Ryan, and he's done very little since the deadline. After the deadline was over I thought E Suarez was the big bat "prize," but he has not done great, either. 2 more reasons why I can't bring myself to say Brez blew it at the deadline.

Do I wish he'd done better? Yes. I just can't say my ideas were any better, so I'll hold my tongue.

[Bellhorn04]

Lowe now has an .815 OPS with us, so Craig might end up taking a bow for that move.  

(Someone usually goes with "he fell into his lap" in cases like this.) 

 

 

 

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Lowe now has an .815 OPS with us, so Craig might end up taking a bow for that move.  

(Someone usually goes with "he fell into his lap" in cases like this.) 

 

 

 

Just had to emphasize the obvious. Lowe could have gone to any team, but chose BOS because they were on a playoff track and had nobody for 1b. Not sure Brezzz needed a hard sell for the guy.

[drewski6]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Just had to emphasize the obvious. Lowe could have gone to any team, but chose BOS because they were on a playoff track and had nobody for 1b. Not sure Brezzz needed a hard sell for the guy.

And the crochet trade was obvious and made possible by bloom

[drewski6]

breslow and roman anthony for toboni and james wood

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

breslow and roman anthony for toboni and james wood

Pass. 

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Lowe now has an .815 OPS with us, so Craig might end up taking a bow for that move.  

(Someone usually goes with "he fell into his lap" in cases like this.) 

 

 

 

Matz has done okay, too.

[drewski6]

17 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Pass. 

I see why someone would, but I would do it, personally. Give me the 6'7 power /speed combo over hard grounders, but do prefer Anthonys defense.

RA may develop a better plate approach, but he'll never be 6'7 or have the raw athleticism of Wood.

[moonslav59]

Anthony is a freak, too.

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I see why someone would, but I would do it, personally. Give me the 6'7 power /speed combo over hard grounders, but do prefer Anthonys defense.

RA may develop a better plate approach, but he'll never be 6'7 or have the raw athleticism of Wood.

Sprint Speed:

Wood 27.9

Anthony 27.8

Is raw athleticism just a euphemism for bad defense? 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Is raw athleticism just a euphemism for bad defense? 

I've considered this term before: it always describes someone with wheels, and often with strength of arm and/or swing (exit velo, distance, hard hit rate, etc).

But if the guy just isn't a good hitter and whiffs a ton -- like O'Neil Cruz, for example -- does that mean he makes poor swing decisions or does he have poor hand-eye coordination? If it's the latter, that kinda cancels out some of the athleticism...

In that case, I'll take Jacob Wilson any day -- for his sheer baseballisms. Maybe his 7.2% K-rate makes him the modern freak.

[drewski6]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Sprint Speed:

Wood 27.9

Anthony 27.8

Is raw athleticism just a euphemism for bad defense? 

One is 6'7 and a brickhouse.  Its crazy that Judge can be 6'8 , have all that power, and still be fast enough to play outfield.  

I really dont want to be trapped in this conversation.

I just find it weird how dismissive some are over Wood.  

He's 6'7 with very impressive sprint speed , built like an absolute brick house, has a ton of power.  His defense is getting better.  Dude is a monster athlete. A true freak of nature.  Like Judge or that NFL player peppers. Humans arent supposed to be like that.

[drewski6]

3 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I've considered this term before: it always describes someone with wheels, and often with strength of arm and/or swing (exit velo, distance, hard hit rate, etc).

But if the guy just isn't a good hitter and whiffs a ton -- like O'Neil Cruz, for example -- does that mean he makes poor swing decisions or does he have poor hand-eye coordination? If it's the latter, that kinda cancels out some of the athleticism...

In that case, I'll take Jacob Wilson any day -- for his sheer baseballisms. Maybe his 7.2% K-rate makes him the modern freak.

But a team full of Jacob Wilsons loses to a team of Aaron Judges.

You can have a team of regular looking folks who baseball really well, but I wonder if they would beat a team of 6'6 freaks who are just faster and stronger.  

Of course, the freaks have low floors to go with high ceilings.  Like Cruz and plenty other freaks have flamed out. 

I guess its floor vs ceiling.

[drewski6]

Its an interesting question and ive pondered it myself, not trying to be argumentative.  But look how much better judge is than literally anybody else.  Plenty of guys do the baseball stuff well.  But what sets him apart is his raw freakishness. 6'8, fast, strong, twitchy, reaction time, arm

[notin]

On 9/23/2025 at 3:37 PM, mvp 78 said:

Cellar Dwellar? They were picking 14th in the draft.

It’s a little silly h that some folks like to emphasize all last place finishes are equal.

The Sox last 3 cellars (not counting 2020) were all with 78 win teams.  78 wins isnt really all that bad and certainly not close to 60 wins.  In fact, since MLB has gone to 3 divisions, only 4 teams have finished 5th in their division with as many as 78 wins, and the Sox have been 3 of them.

If a team finishes in 5th with 78 wins, it might say more about the division than it does about the team…

[notin]

19 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Its an interesting question and ive pondered it myself, not trying to be argumentative.  But look how much better judge is than literally anybody else.  Plenty of guys do the baseball stuff well.  But what sets him apart is his raw freakishness. 6'8, fast, strong, twitchy, reaction time, arm

The really weird part to me is he was a good minor leaguer, but not a great one. He’s crushed MLB pitching much worse than he did to minor league pitching.

Weakness to exploit?

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, notin said:

It’s a little silly h that some folks like to emphasize all last place finishes are equal.

The Sox last 3 cellars (not counting 2020) were all with 78 win teams.  78 wins isnt really all that bad and certainly not close to 60 wins.  In fact, since MLB has gone to 3 divisions, only 4 teams have finished 5th in their division with as many as 78 wins, and the Sox have been 3 of them…

100%. 78 win teams that prob would have been 88 win teams and playoff makers if they were in the AL central to boot.  Im not an all-or-nothing based on make playoffs = pass and miss playoffs = fail because it ignores too much context.

But fred doesnt claim to be anything but a bottom line guy so it doesnt bother me. But this is the reason that im not a bottom line/results only guy

[drewski6]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

The really weird part to me is he was a good minor leaguer, but not a great one. He’s crushed MLB pitching much worse than he did to minor league pitching.

Weakness to exploit?

joey bautista, alex gordon, other dudes im sure.  Usually it can be traced back to something.  Duran for example, got way better when he confronted his mental health demons.  I saw christian guzman add 30 points to hi batting average after eye surgery.

Not sure on judge, late bloomers happen.  My best guess is he started making lifestyle changes around 24-25 yrs old. Maybe stopped drinking during the season? Maybe started going to bed at the same time every night? Maybe hired a nutritionist? Maybe he had lasik? I dont know.  Maybe he was paired with the right batting coach.

Prob something tho.

[drewski6]

David Ortiz was a much better major leaguer than he was a minor leaguer too.