moonslav59

Because the Dodgers have had and still have a better supporting cast. The comp was between Betts and Devers. There were a few years between the possible Betts extension and the when the Devers extension kicked in. In those years, our budgets were lower, and we would not have "filled in" around Betts, had we kept him and let Devers walk, after his control years were up, which is this year. 2020 2021 2022 2023 Now, imagine Betts on the '24 team without Devers. Yes, we'd be better, but still not a contender, and Betts would have had a better team around him in LA, every year, except maybe 2021.

I was talking about Houck, Crawford and Whitlock, and to some extent Bello, who have never pitched 28+ starts in MLB. Also, if and Whitlock returns and gives us over 25 or 26 starts for 2024, I will feel better about his "durability" than I did in March. This season was not about checking our Gio and Pivetta's "durability." Their loss was somewhat unexpected.

I agree, many of our errors are caused by just plain bad defenders, but many are also caused by mental blunders and a seemingly lack of focus and concentration. I'm not just talking about plays that are called errors, either. I know it can't be proven, what is going on in a player's mind before a ball is hit or thrown to him, so it's all speculation, on my part, but these guys seem to have their heads up their asses. Even some of our "good defensive players" have blundered plays. For example, Rafaela has 3 OF errors. We throw to the wrong base. We double hitch, before throwing. We fail to get our body and feet in the right position to make a play, and much more along these lines. Yes, bad defenders don't do these things well, but these mistakes seem more mental than physical, because we do see them do the plays right, sometimes, so they do know how to do it correctly. They just don't, too often, and I chalk much of it- not all or maybe not even half- to a lack of concentration and preparedness.

Singing to the choir!

That's not the point he made. He didn't say the Sox would be worse. He said the supporting cast around Betts would not be like it was in 2018. That's true for Devers, now, it was true for Boegy, JD, Nate & Sale from 2020 to their last day here, and it would have been for Betts, too.

It seems to be way more prevalent with the Sox. Does this fact jolt the bejesus out of you? Red Sox: 57 Earned Runs Allowed 25 Unearned Runs Allowed Royals 56 Earned Runs Allowed 0 Unearned Runs Allowed Also, CLE 62 and 5, SEA 74 & 3, NYY 62 & 11 and MIL 65 & 9. Just having average focus might have us at 14-8, right now.

As much as our subs and depth has been highly criticized, and rightfully so, it's pretty incredible this team is 12-10 with... 3 of 5 SP'ers our (one all year): Gio, Pivetta and Whitlock Our three best RP'ers struggling out of the gate: Jansen, Wink & Martin 5 of our starting 9 everyday players hurt: Story, Grissom (hasn't played an inning,) O'Neill, Devers and now Casas. These aren't just 5 of 9, they are our best 5 of 9, unless you count Duran as #4 or 5. The next best 4 were believed to be: LF .749 Duran DH .700 Yoshida C .922 Wong/.722 McGuire 3rd OF .483 Rafaela/.770 Abreu (Not exactly carrying the team on their backs.) One could easily argue we are 12-10 on smoke and mirrors. One could argue the rotation can not sustain this pace, especially with Nick and Garrett out. One could argue Gio and Story aren't walking through the door, this summer, Hendriks will likely be too little, too late, and others who are injured may not come back, fully to form. I get the fact that the odds are still long, but despite all the injuries, the hope of returning players makes me feel better about 2024 than I did all winter long. (Which might not be saying much, since I was as down as anyone up until opening day.)

This hope is based on some evidence of talent. We all knew our starters had skill, but no history of full seasons of success. That is still the case, but the chances look better, now, than in March. We have not seen the bats do all that much, except homer a lot. We are 12-10 with half our everyday players hurt, Jansen & Martin not looking great and Gio, Pivetta and Whitlock out. There is reason for hope.

I've done it here in HOU, but lately I try to do game 1 and 3.

Makes sense.

Wong to play 1B and Dalbec 3B?

Yes, we do. We have a lot vs non ALE teams, as well. We've had 2 bad starts by our rotation in 22 games, and no SP'er has let up more than 4 ER in any start. We have gone 12-10 with a bunch of our best players injured, and some will be coming back, soon. (Casas going down just as he was heating up hurts. I hope he does not miss a lot of games. I'm not predicting greatness. I still expect about a .500 season, but there is reason for hope.

I disagree. The ALE was not great in 2019. BAL had 108 losses and TOR had 95. The Sox were tied with the Cubs for the best 3rd place team in MLB, but things got tougher in the ALE east after 2019/2020. One could argue from 2021 to today, yes.

To the posters who feel it's all about wins, and nothing else, we are on pace to win 88 games. (.545) The rotation has been buttah. The pen has been plus. Look how few bad or even meh GS'd we've had (starting from opening day until today:) IP/ ER/ H+BB/ K 5/2/5/2 Bello W 6/1/3/10 Pivetta L (left tied 0-0) 6/0/4/7 Crawford L (left with lead) 5/1/3/8 Whitlock W 6/0/3/10 Houck W 5/4/6/6 Bello W 5/0/6/3 Pivetta W 4.2/1/5/5 Crawford W (first GS under 5 IP) 4.1/0/8/4 Whitlock L (second game under 5 IP) left with lead 6/0/6/7 Houck W 5.1/1/5/3 Bello L 5/0/6/6 Crawford L (left with the lead) 5/1/6/4 Whitlock L (left with the lead) 5.1/4/12/2 Houck L 4/2/6/4 Criswell W (3rd game under 5 IP) 5.1/2/8/8 Bello W 5.2/0/2/6 Crawford L (left tied 0-0) 4/2/4/1 Whitlock L (4th game under 5 IP) 9/0/3/9 Houck W (shutout) 2/0/1/2 Bernardino L (opener, left with lead) 6/0/3/7 Bello W 6/1/10/6 Crawford W 2 bad starts. 1 "meh" start by Criswell In 5 of our 10 losses, our SP left with the lead. In 2 of the other 5 losses, our SP left with the game tied 0-0. Simply AMAZING! Add one more decent opener start to the list: 3.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H+BB, 1K Wink W

I think he did not want to return under the circumstances handed to Bloom. You do? Yes, he wanted to stay and have a budget much higher than Bloom was given.

Woo lost game 1: 12-2 with nothing worthy of talking about. After 4 innings, Woo is hitless, but losing just 4-3. (Yes, this is not a typo.) POR won. Dobbins 6IP, 4H, 1ER, 1BB, just 1 K. Lugo 2-2 w 2BB Anthony, Mayer, Mayer & Teel 1-13 w BB GRE lost 6-4. SAL down 13-6 in the 9th.

Not a single poster was happy we lost Betts. Most seem to realize the budget cuts forced the choice, as it was reported DD almost traded Betts, so it seemed like it was in the works for a while. When you look at the fact that Kimbrel and Kelly were not replaced after 2018, and the massive cuts to the budget before 2020, it's hard for me to understand how some think Bloom could have spent much more but chose not to do so.

When has he done very well without spending? I'm not saying your wrong about being better or not, but "guarantee?"

That's been my position from way back when. The departure was likely a mutual, even if it was not stated to each other.

Not "snarky" at all. You can dish but can't take.

Absolutely no evidence for this. If it was possible, he'd have had to trade 2 or 3 from Sale, JD, Bogey or Nate to keep him.

Shocking!

Crawford is really holding it together. A little high on the BBs, but he bears down afterwards. 6 IP was good to see, These starters are proving to be more than capable. The only question now is durability, stamina and keeping the down times to a minimum.

Nobody is failing to admit this. We are just backing up your timeline on who the money was spent on to the more appropriate time: Bogey, Sale and Nate, not Yoshi and Story. We all agree that the spending on larger contracts after DD left has been pretty bad, if not horrific. There is very little time left for Yoshi & Story to salvage some plus value to their time here, but it looks like the overall grade cannot be above a C or D, at this point- at best. The Richards ($10M), Kluber ($10M), Kike II ($10M), Barnes and Gio deals only add to the angst. Jansen and Martin look like the only decent $10M+ deals after DD left. Very sad, but really not part of the Betts decision or influence on spending. We could have signed Betts, instead of Sale and Bogey (or add Nate, if you wish.)

That leaves our 3-9 batters as such: 3. Ref 4. Reyes 5. Yoshi 6. Bobby Dee (will homer, today- book it.) 7. Valdez 8. McGuire 9. Rafaela No Devers, no Casas, no O'Neill and no Story.