mvp 78

I'm surprised that his defense has been adequate at SS.

Tightrope walking for Gio that one inning with bases loaded, no outs and top of the order up.

I don't care that he wasn't running. I care that he was OPSing 1000 like I said in my last post. If he plays 1b for the Giants, it'll be because he has a better relationship with that FO. Posey probably knows how to communicate with his team.

The results weren't good last year either. The results so far this year haven't been all that hot. 🫠

A guy that would sell a lot of jerseys? Yes! A guy you could put in a commercial? Yes! A guy that is going to make a big speech or be in front of the media all the time? Doesn't seem like it! He was never that guy before. A bigger paycheck doesn't just change the personality of the man.

Ask the CBO. Breslow suggested that the Red Sox would be a better team without Devers, allowing the front office and clubhouse to move in the same direction with a "functional and complete team." “I do think there’s a real chance that at the end of the season, we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would have," he said.

No, that's just how great our dev program is!

Late bloomer.

"So you traded your best player?" "Yes." "And got nothing back to help you this year?" "Yes." "But it makes you better for this year?" "Yes." "How." "Our roster is more flexible and we believe in the culture of the Red Sox." The culture of the Red Sox was so poor that there have been zero quotes from current Red Sox expressing frustration with Raffy. The only quotes were from Crochet and Duran basically saying "we have to move on" and "he was just one of 26 guys" that is being interpreted by some as Raffy being horrible for the clubhouse somehow.

It's going good for now and I'll enjoy it as long as it lasts. I think we can hold out hope at least for a good LHP split from Romy. Toro? IDK.

The most word salady sentence ever said.

Just because you say it, doesn't make it true. He needs to actually use the Devers savings and "flexibility" to make the team better now.

Breslow said in his press conference that Hicks is a reliever.

A lot of people have wanted to trade for this guy (and a bunch of other mediocre Marlins starters).

I hope they can keep it up. They are on a nice little run.

Was Toro not running before? I'd rather have the guy that's OPSing 1000 since April 1.

He was never the "face" before. Their expectations were misguided IMO. They paid him a lot of money to produce and he produced.

The Joon Lee article had some interesting tidbits. https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/inside-the-absolute-s-show-that-led-to-the-boston-red-soxs-trade-of-rafael-devers-220018400.html Meanwhile, Breslow has grown increasingly insulated. Multiple sources within the organization describe a front office losing cohesion. Staffers who helped build four championship teams — veterans of the Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington, Dave Dombrowski and Bloom regimes — now feel shut out of the operation. The collaborative spirit that once defined Red Sox baseball operations has frayed. One of the clearest signals came during an internal team Zoom meeting earlier this season. Toward the end, Carl Moesche — the Red Sox’s scouting supervisor and a team employee since 2017 — thought the call had ended. It hadn’t. As the meeting wrapped, his voice cut through a quiet moment. “Thanks, Bres, you f***ing stiff,” Moesche said, according to two team sources. The words landed like a grenade, and Breslow fired Moesche. The internal strain has bled into how the Red Sox handle their players, too. The coaching staff has grown frustrated with the state of player development, specifically how much emphasis is placed on swing mechanics and hitting data, often at the expense of fundamentals. That imbalance, coaches believe, traces back to the Bloom era and has only accelerated under Breslow. One example cited is rookie Kristian Campbell, who has made a string of routine errors at second base since being called up. He’s not alone; as a team, the Red Sox lead all of baseball with 64 errors, one more than the Colorado Rockies and 17 more than the third-place Los Angeles Angels. Another error came during Roman Anthony’s debut, when he misplayed a ball in right field. The next day, Anthony was sent out to run outfield drills in front of the media. Multiple people in the organization noted that under previous regimes, that kind of instruction would’ve taken place behind closed doors. This time, it felt like a message from the coaching staff to the front office. One team source described the message as deliberate: “This is what we still have to teach, at the big-league level.” But to reduce this entire saga to Devers’ shortcomings is to miss the point. His unwillingness to move to first base wasn’t just a personal decision. It was a reaction to a team that no longer made sense around him. Inside the clubhouse, players watched as the coaching staff publicly flagged Roman Anthony’s defensive fundamentals as a slight to the front office. They saw teammates asked to switch positions on the fly. They witnessed Cora trying to win baseball games while benching the team’s top prospects. In the front office, scouts were fired over slights, veteran leaders with deep organizational trust were iced out, and the communication from Breslow dried up. According to multiple sources, Devers was also upset when the rookie Campbell volunteered to play first base this season — interpreting it as a slight to his own stature. In the end, though, Devers was still hitting and was ready to move past the early-season drama. Breslow saw things differently, saw the slugger as a problem that needed to be solved. For him, the trust was gone. And now, so is Devers.

I don't care about that. Players in the clubhouse don't care about that. Of all the things to care about, that's very low on the list.

I watched the Sam/Breslow press conference last night and it was interesting. Breslow had no opening comments and everything he said was in answer to a question. Breslow stated that this was a baseball decision and that it would help the on field product. How? He said the team could be more versatile and that maybe they could use the payroll flexibility to add at the deadline. He liked the return and thought Hicks would be a good setup guy and Harrison could add to the rotation at some point. Was this the best trade he could get for Raffy? Probably not, but it was the trade he could get right now. He liked the return. Maybe no trade would really be worth it. There was no mandate from ownership for the other team to take on the entire deal (this is contrary to reports that came out afterwards). He did say that he needed to show some humility and take ownership of his portion of the communication issues. However, as of this moment, he still has not spoken with anyone on the 26 man roster about the trade. That's kinda weird, right? The main issue came down to Devers not wanting to play 1B when asked and generally fitting with "Red Sox culture." What is Red Sox culture? To Breslow, it's probably just a powerpoint slide he put up on the wall at some point and said "this is what we are." However, that's not the Red Sox culture. The Red Sox culture is an owner that flip flops and doesn't like to spend, Sam Kennedy who puts his foot in his mouth, a CBO that doesn't communicate, a manager who doesn't get along with the CBO and a team that ignores the FO. There were conversations with "Raffy's team" during ST and after and they expressed that if it's not working out for both parties, maybe a trade would be fine. He used some weasel words here. It wasn't that Raffy "demanded" or "requested" a trade, just that he wouldn't fuss over one. Raffy's team was very surprised when the deal was done and weren't really expecting it. Sam was asked about his comments stating that Raffy would be ready to play 1b soon. He said that he shouldn't have said it that he only said it because he saw him taking IF practice on the NESN monitors and made an assumption. WTH? They were asked about the JH meeting in KC. The conversation was "frank." I think JH was hoping that he'd be able to get Raffy to put the past aside and move on, but it was probably going to take time and effort on multiple parties. Seems like the Sox just wanted to put all that communication and reconciliation on Raffy. Not ideal. If they waited it out and worked on the relationship this offseason, I think they could have figured things out. ***** IMO, Breslow didn't like the contract. When he had his issue with Raffy, he didn't feel like figuring it out. The easiest route was to simply trade him. A lot of the reporters were questioning how this was a "baseball move" as it seems to make the Sox a worse team this year. Breslow kept deflecting that point. I think he looks more into the value of the contract vs what Raffy actually does on the field and how to replace that production. This is the risk you run when you have a first time CBO. There's going to be a learning curve. The further away we get from DD, the more I just want a guy like that back.

Breslow doesn't know how to communicate. It will not improve on his end. Players will not be able to deal with it. We'll see this situation again.

That's only if you're looking at "active payroll" for the 26 man roster. That number is meaningless. It excludes: Bregman Masa Hicks Hendriks Sandoval Houck Crawford etc

There's a very good chance Harrison and Hicks are both bullpen guys next season. Maybe part of a very good bullpen? IDK.

Tax