sk7326
-
Posts
7,647 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Boston Red Sox Videos
2026 Boston Red Sox Top Prospects Ranking
Boston Red Sox Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits
Guides & Resources
2025 Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Tracker
News
2026 Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Tracker
Forums
Blogs
Events
Store
Downloads
Gallery
Everything posted by sk7326
-
Indeed - and then he fired the GM for doing it and started whining about the payroll inside of a season.
-
Oh I think the current ownership just needs to act normal. What is interesting about the history of the Sox - and why the "curse" was so seductive as a mentality was that BASICALLY, between 1967 and 2004 - aside from a couple of Butch Hobson seasons, the team was good! And what was painful came down to Game 7s - it was ever thus. I give Henry the benefit of the doubt mostly - but he has been much more unmoored since cutting loose the original flavor management team.
-
The spending will help. But on some basic level, he has operated the front office in terms of expectation and turnover the last decade like a less fun George Steinbrenner.
-
This has been the best ownership in Red Sox history. But it does seem like the last decade has been more in spite of ownership than because of. There will always be whiners in the fan base - and Championship or Bust is a foolhardy mentality particularly in baseball fandom. But the Red Sox are one of the big kids on the block, and they charge big boy prices to the fans - and fans are totally justified in expecting the franchise to act like one of the big kids.
-
I think if you wanted to say that - qualitatively - Dombrowski and Bloom did about the same level (I'd say DD did a better job, but not by much), that'd be fair. They both had mandates which they executed. They both were done dirty somewhat by ownership for the (somewhat) inevitable results of executing the respective mandate. Now I think the consequences of what Dombrowski did were somewhat unavoidable - the farm system was emptied to create a big league wagon ... Bloom probably could have kept the big league club more viable by actually investing in pitching and a little bit of defense.
-
Teel has a super high floor. He might be slower to arrive just because of the non-physical stuff catchers have to learn. I think there are 3 clear guys to push chips behind - Anthony, Mayer and Teel ... yes Mayer's numbers at Portland are bad, but he is one of the youngest regulars at the level (Anthony crushing it even younger is a hilariously great sign). Bleis obviously is a lot of dreaming still. Rafaela is a big league SOMETHING. His hit tool will determine whatever that is.
-
It is wild that Anthony - who might start next year as the top prospect in all of baseball - has made Mayer ... ALSO one of the youngest regulars in AA, and still very much one of the top dozen prospects in the game ... almost look bad.
-
He is 21, but a twitchy athlete and a late to baseball ... he could make some jumps developmentally for sure, though his future might be more in the outfield.
-
One player does not a GM's resume make ... but it is fun to note that he got fired just as Roman Anthony might end up starting next year as the top prospect in all of baseball.
-
I think ultimately both he and Dombrowski did the jobs ownership asked of them and got fired when things got even minimally difficult PR-wise. This was not as egregious as the Dombrowski firing but fits in the same general vibe.
-
I think this is right. As Kiley McDaniel put it on ESPN ... Bloom was given a pretty rough hand and asked to make miracles. He ended up doing a solid but not amazeballs result - and ownership bailed on him. I'd rate Bloom's performance as about a B/B- overall ... it's not inspiring, but there was progress being made. But ownership - as has been its wont throughout their time here - was not going to have his back through a rough PR patch. Now I am not all worked up about Bloom's ouster being a wild injustice or anything, but there is a "the one thing all your failed relationships have in common is you" aspect to how Henry has run things since Theo left.
-
The focus on the offseason is clearly starting pitching. Now, we want better pitchers than Nick Pavetta ... but give Pavetta this ... he was always there to take the ball, and that has been an all too rare trait. Aaron Nola is a clear top target - I am not sure how the ceiling is outcomewise, but you are going to get a lot of solid to pretty good innings. Lucas Giolito has been up and down, but some clear upside - though if I were him, I'd take a 1-year to stay in Cleveland's pitching development environment. Hyun Jim Ryu back from TJS Cora has talked about reviewing the throwing program ramping up for the season. I am not sure how much that would have helped the crew he had this season but find the inches where you can. Having an ace would be awesome - but even just raising the floor would do so much help. Like this team is only going to end up with 1 pitcher over 150 IP. You can't win with that.
-
Well LF - even with other clubs - has often been seen with 1B as the position to put a big bat if you couldn't DH him. At Fenway it sort of makes sense since there just aren't that many plays to be made in LF. As far as SS goes - it's not like the team hasn't tried, though they have rarely had the classic all defense, no hit variety. Nomar's defense was pretty good until injuries caught up Stephen Drew was a solid SS Marco Scutaro was fine the year they had him Bogaerts grew into it - and the team waited it out because of the bat. But Bogaerts is a good defensive SS now. And as we've seen earlier - the best Red Sox teams were largely solid defensively. And yes - choosing "solid" while focusing on great offense is a sensible way to build a team that plays at Fenway. But whatever the argument - what they schlepped out in 2023 was way below that.
-
Right. Like you look at what Tampa did. They play in one of the most pitcher friendly ballparks in the league - so they leaned into it with great defense and it not only helps their great pitching prospects, but allowed guys like James Shields to play up.
-
Boston loves its bats. BUT, looking at the 4 WS winners. I'll use Baseball Ref's Zone Fielding Runs and Fangraphs team Def rating 2004: BBref 13th, FG 29th 2007: BBRef 1st, FG 14th 2013: BBRef 8th, FG 18th 2018: BBRef 7th, FG 11th 2023: BBRef 23rd, FG 30th So yeah, you can overcome this level of defensive putridity ... if you have the 2004 Red Sox offense or starting pitching. But the Red Sox for the most part were at least decent at fielding the ball on their good teams.
-
I'd argue that with his bad, you could survive ONE minus defender on the infield ... but when you add the league's worst defensive situation at SS pre-Story and there is really nowhere to hide.
-
The willingness for a Tampa Bay grad to field this poor a defense was the most shocking part of the Bloom era.
-
I don't think Simmons wants to play much anymore.
-
I don't think it is quite that simple. After all the Brewers traded Josh Hader while still in a playoff chase. It's not that they would punt - but if a team brought them a deal with some real value for a guy they weren't extending, they'd look. That said, I can't imagine they'd take a deal that did not offer some major league ready pitching prospects. The Sox obviously can't offer that.
-
Yeah - they do have a solid 2nd layer of prospects. Yorke, Romero, etc are all guys who likely have value to pro scouts on other teams. (maybe not ALL other teams, but enough) And Miguel Bleis has superstar upside, but a wide enough range of outcomes and error bars that I'd move him if you could get a good pitcher with some team control.
-
I think that is passe thinking - though teams should not give them out willy nilly. If a player outplays his contract and opts out - that means the club got a screaming bargain for 3 years. Even if they extend the player, that surplus value is already in the bank. It still gives the club flexibility.
-
They were all dice rolls that came up about the right rate - alas most of it in 2021. The JBJ reacquisition was probably the only one you couldn't REALLY squint and imagine a good 80th percentile outcome.
-
I think he had the Blue Jays 17th on his list ... he was a very big fan of the Sox work on the farm under Theo and Cherington. In one of his chats, Law said - as far as rankings go - that his own rankings, MLB.com, ESPN and Fangraphs are all worthwhile. They are opinions - but they all have dedicated people who actually see the players (or as many of the top ones as is feasible). They are limited because they don't have the information that teams have - particularly Statcast data. And of course, all of the scouts at these public-facing services hate your team.
-
Right. Now, Story's contract looks bad. But if you put the normal sticker shock aside at the price - there is no reason that Story can't be a 2-3 win player at least for this team over the next 2 years of his deal. It's not a great value for the money - but it's a solid starting SS, which is way better than what the team put out this season. I mean, Story has managed to be a replacement level player THIS year despite largely not being an improvement at the plate over just standing there and not taking the bat off his shoulders.
-
What Dombrowski knows is that you do NOT have 20 major leaguers in your org Top 20 ... almost no team does. And often, the pitchers in your Top 20 are walking time bombs injurywise. It's not so much that the players were overrated so much as simply playing the percentages. So what he did was decide that the org would put their chips behind Benintendi and Devers and largely be willing to use the rest as currency. Could you argue he could have been less aggressive. Sure - the Kimbrel trade is just not the sort of thing I'm into - but that's just my view of relievers. And of course since 2019, even with his own injuries, Kopech has been more valuable than Sale - but that is not a move you monday morning quarterback at all. The goal is to be able to that while keeping the development machine whirring. (insert Dodgers-related praise here) But that's hard to do - and there is likely a reason the Dodgers have been the one team able to get to that place, where the development machine gives them that sort of currency to help the big league club. (and even they are desperately thin at starting pitcher now)