sk7326

If there is grumbling NOW - then they obviously should not have hired him. Now, Bloom came from another organizational tree - and while he certainly had his faults, it also seems like there were institutional impediments to implementing The Ray Way ... and if you hire a guy from a specific shop, you should be willing to let him shape the org that way. Like Tampa spends more on scouting than anybody in the league - did Bloom get to do that? Good questions. Now MAYBE working in the Cubs FO helps Breslow fit in here better - we know there is a lot of shared organizational DNA.

I am 45, so 1986 was my first. Now, Buckner did not crush me - I fell asleep. I was 8. My dad said he'd let me know what happened if I passed out. Famous last words. But I was crushed by Game 7, where the Sox had a 3 run lead! That is what is wild sometimes. Like in 1975, the Reds lose one of the all time stomach punch games and still won the next road game. I was in business school in 2003. We had a happy hour on the Thursday night, and me and a few buds went. They had Game 7 on the big screen. I was the only Red Sox fan in the group - but Yankees losing can unite lots of neutral fans. I was going to drive somebody home afterwards - but when Boone's homerun went over the fence, Todd (the guy I had to drive) looked at my face and said "I'll figure out how to get home." I nodded, "Thanks". I went home and stared. My mom called saying "I'm so sorry". I've never had my car stolen, but I felt what I imagine how someone feels walking up and down past the empty parking spot where the car was taken from. It was also the first time I felt like I was going to be another one of those "Sully from Revee-ah" guys who never saw his Sox win it all. Of course 2004 happens - and indeed the way it happened was such that I am almost grateful for 2003 as its place in the two year dramatic arc. The other titles are great - I am certainly not going to pooh pooh them ... but no team's fan base anywhere (short of something like Leicester City winning the Premier League) will have as sweet a championship as 2004. All of the circumstances together are nearly impossible to find. That said, if Texas wins it all - I will be happy for them. They were on the losing end of either the greatest (or IMO 2nd greatest) game of this century - one of the real stomach punch losses in baseball history - so it would be nice for their fans. And of course, I am happy for Nate. It is also worth remembering that Texas is doing this after losing their ace after just 6 starts this season.

The layoffs at ESPN seem to indicate that there might be an upper limit to TV money. But the streaming deals have barely been tapped into - particularly with how many you could do. I mean right now MLB has by my count 5 different national TV deals (ESPN, FOX, TBS, Apple TV, Peacock). But the gambling thing is huh-yooge.

Given it was Rangers-Diamondbacks, even not knowing anything else we knew it would be low rated. That said, I hate the idea of people making any huge talking points out of television ratings. If fans say they are tired of the Yankees and Dodgers, then act like it. There are lots of reasons for baseball's slippage in the public imagination - part of it is less people watch any individual anything now (besides football games). And I do think the rules changes probably helped some of the reasons. But the big issue is that the sport doesn't market its players. I mean, you look up and down major league baseball's OWN media arm and with some notable exceptions (Sarah Langs, Pedro), it is chock full of commentators who rip the current product. Indeed, one of the guiltiest parties is working the World Series!

They got more than enough swings at great talents that it was worth it. HOWEVER, personally - nobody is charging fans lower prices for this. And from a consumer of baseball, it sucks. At the same time, fans in a lot of cases have been brainwashed into feeling that there is some moral obligation to do this. But we also see this with some fans arguing with trading players whose name sounds like Pookie Jetts too.

One of the real ironies is that implementing a salary cap would have forced those teams to spend more. Like, a salary cap would - assuming 50% of baseball revenue from what has been published before, would be something like $160M. ($160M coincidentally is the mean 2023 payroll number) And you could tie that to revenue sharing.

Something like this would be fair. Now - ideally it would be a percentage of revenue, but the players did not get that visibility in the most recent negotiation. (so the players are likely getting less of the pie than their peers in other sports) But that train has left the station. Looking at 2023 payroll figures $100M would have been 23rd ... 25th percentile or so. I'd go to more like $120M but whatever. I also think teams need room to rebuild and go young, so you could use a 3 year window. If a team falls below the $120M line in 2 of 3 seasons, they give up competitive balance picks.

I don't think tanking is a problem in baseball - or the tanking of baseball does not really impact the draft. That said, in baseball the draft should just be abolished.

I think doing this would not be difficult. The pool can be calculated post draft. One thing you can do is guarantee 90% of first round slot value to be spent on the first rounder - so a team can't trade up to #1 just to have more money. Trading picks would be great - and more than anything, it would make the draft itself fun.

The answer is likely that the "boss" was the one the fans knew and disliked and so was easy to kneecap.

Hey, he was a pretty important contributor to the 2013 banner. We also know that the Cubs FO has a lot of Red Sox DNA - so hopefully the transition here is smooth. And of course, if he can establish a high level run prevention operation it's worth it.

I will say Breslow being pegged as the frontrunner makes me think the Sox are going to land on someone off the board or just go with Romero.

Newton is on the Green Line - so he's easy to find. That said, he has worked in tha Theo-built front office. So perhaps acclimation to this front office and practices whatever will be easier. I dunno.

They also kept Bregman and Altuve (the most beloved of the playoff heroes). They also are not the Red Sox - which sounds both snotty but creates a certain amount of expectation that is entirely justifiable.

Oh he'd be frustrating ... but at $11M a year it'd be easier to absorb.

I have serious doubts Nola leaves Philly - particularly with the postseason success.

The team missed the playoffs by 8 games and fewer at the deadline. So it was not that far off. One would think Bloom's plan of replacing his production at the corners by the end of 2021 with betting on a half season of Bobby Dalbec platoon production and pixie dust was dicey at the time.

When the Red Sox started just signing hopium randos like Kluber, it doubled how bummed I was they didn't just re-sign Eovaldi. We knew Nate's arm might never stay attached to his body ever again. But we also knew Eovaldi was still a very good starter who has a high leverage track record when his arm cooperated.

And really that one clutch situation was coming out of the bullpen in extra innings in Game 4 of that series. It's part of his record - but also usually above and beyond the call of duty of most starters.

When you have Boston's money and fan support - fans should expect a 90 win team every year. It might not always happen for various reasons, but that is the expectation. This year, any win expectation higher than 85 or 86 felt ridiculously optimistic.

I think it less the drought than letting their best homegrown player go and then lecturing the fans on demanding nice things.

That neatly sums it up. If a franchise like the Red Sox with its resources, is not going to keep the best homegrown (position) player since Fred Lynn - then you have to wonder what the hell we're doing here.

I think the philosophy on player acquisition has largely not changed. What has changed primarily is the attitude towards the big league club.

A lot of candidates see a very reactive, thin skinned management and uprooting one's family is an ordeal if management is going to lose patience in year 3 of a 5 year plan.

The last time the road team won all 7 games in a best of 7 - the only other time iirc - was the Nationals beating the Astros in the 2019 WS.