mvp 78

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

Cash

I guess? MLB pipeline put him there. SoxProspects have him listed as 6-8 in their notes. I don't know. I forget how I voted in the TS top 20, but I'd have him behind Jhostynxon and the top pitchers. I'd probably rank him with Romero. Maybe he goes right behind Romero just because Romero can play more premium defensive positions? I think I have Romero higher than moon does in my rankings and Bleis/Cespedes lower.

Doesn't say a lot for their managerial style, that's for sure.

Who would DH that could be half the player Devers is?

I know. I'm just frustrated with this dumb team!

For Harrison, I'm seeing Andrew Heaney, AJ Puk, Manaea, JP Sears comps (low slot, high spin which can make the offspeed stuff hard to come by for some guys).

Throws hard and gets hit hard. Story and Campbell better figure out how to play defense. He's definitely better off in the bullpen. Trying to make him a starter was a mistake. He walks a lot of guys and has only had an ERA below 4 once since COVID.

They signed him to that contract. JH approved it! FanGraphs had him already being worth 16M this season and it's only mid-June.

Masa better figure it out before he gets back here! 😡

C'mon, a few more trades and they could get a full 26 man roster!

Whose fault is that? Why can't they just fix it rather than constantly kicking the can down the road? They have enough money to eat the bad contracts and clear the way for better players!

We say this every year. And every year they come back with the most mediocre offseasons imaginable. Why would '25-'26 be any different? "Just sign two starters and a closer! Get a backup catcher and DFA Wong! Trade Story to anyone that will take half of his contract! Either trade Masa or one of the OFers!" You know they won't do much of that no matter how much cap room there is. We'll be sitting here 12 months from now wondering if it's another season they're punting on!

You've been perfectly happy to trash Devers ever since the trade. Sorry he didn't smile enough for you. 🫠

If they bring Bregman back, they'd have to have a plan to get rid of Story. I don't think they'd bring back Gio. They may not want Buehler back at 24M either. Chapman will just bounce around for the rest of his career as a hired gun IMO.

They should trade Bregman and Chapman ASAP. Think of all the $$$ they'll save and players they can add. Maybe get ahead of that horrible Crochet extension and trade him before he gets too expensive!

They really know how to treat fans right.

Papi needs to keep cashing his checks so he can't turn his back on JH.

WOW, a deal he can opt out of in one year!!!!