sk7326
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Everything posted by sk7326
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The willingness for a Tampa Bay grad to field this poor a defense was the most shocking part of the Bloom era.
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I don't think Simmons wants to play much anymore.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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Are we sure Houck is THAT much more than a swingman? Crawford is interesting but similar question. Bello is a keeper tho.
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No matter the ranking - if you read The Athletic, ESPN, Fangraphs, MLB.com ... they all say roughly the same thing. The org is loaded with position prospects - best in years ... and a pitching desert, with a lot of arms but almost nothing above a swingman.
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Both Rikard and Romero have a lot of experience at this point as well as experience with this club and ownership. Amiel Sawdaye would probably be my top choice - but with knowing that ownership will way not have your back here, that will probably influence candidates' views of the whole deal.
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Don't ask me. Teams (like the Astros until recently) fired their entire pro scouting group, just relying on StatCast data. Everybody spends on amateur scouting.
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If you look at MLB.com, the Astros have not had a farm system ranked above 27th for a few years. Same with the Braves. The Cubs were 10th in 2013 and fell to 25th by 2017 - the year after they won the title. It'd be nice to have a constant stream of prospects and whatever ... but waves are not uncommon.
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It'd be nice for South Shore League All Star Mike Hazen to come back. But he is also a single dad with 4-kids in school out there. I would not bet on it.
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Kyle Schwarber is back to having a higher OBP than Yoshida despite batting .197. I love baseball.
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Of course, the Dodgers are the ultimate expression of the "Rays way - but with big time $$"
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The thing with the farm rankings if you look over time is that it makes perfect sense for good teams to fall in the rankings ... if you graduate prospects or deal them for major league help, well of course. It'd be nice to be the Dodgers who don't seem to have such mortal team concerns, but everybody else has had to deal with that. And it was definitely wild that Dombrowski hado to walk the plank for it less than a year after he delivered on the goal.