moonslav59

What has always seemed "off" to me, was that the moves made by Bloom before '22, with the big exception of Story, seemed to work out better than 2020, 2021 and 2023. It's no secret what I wanted done at the deadline. I even argued he should have tried to convince Bogey to waive the no trade clause, so he could be traded to a contender. I'd have been happier had he committed to buying over what he ended up doing. Trying to walk the line and play both angles was a horrible plan and choice. I said it at the time and still think it. I was happy we got something for Vaz. I thought dumping Diekman and getting, who I felt was, a decent defensive catcher looked good, too, but I was assuming the added budget space to 2023 might be helpful. Trading for another LF'er (Pham) was a joke. (Is that a good word?) Trading for Hosmer was a joke, but maybe Rosier surprises us with a jump, next summer. The Almonte addition is barely worth mentioning. My choice of words for the 2022 Summer Deadline? Chickenshit (afraid to upset the crybaby fans, as I called them, last summer.) Incompetent Woefully inadequate Sickening I really didn't mean for this "dithering" conversation to go off on its own, but it's just not a word that come to my mind about the summer of '22. The summer of '23? Fine.

MLBTR reports... Will Sammon of the Athletic reports that seven teams have stepped forward as the key players in the Yamamoto bidding. That group includes (listed alphabetically) the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, Mets and Yankees. Two other “mystery teams” are also involved. Are the Sox one of the two mystery teams?

He proved that, and that's why he's gone. I was responding to those who seem to think DD would have worked magic with massive budget cuts and 2 years of very limited winter spending budgets. (2020's budget was less than the salaries we lost.)

Indeed. It's hard for any GM to do well without spending. The Sox knew they were not going to spend, so they took a chance on the guy who wrote the book on Rays' ball. The choice failed in most categories.

McGuire did give us 0.9 in 2 months, which projects to 2.7/yr. Vaz fell off a cliff, after the trade. Abreu and EValdez may very well out WAR all those traded away, combined. It wasn't a great or meaningful deadline.

I've already agreed to this and worse.

Curry reported on air that King, Thorpe, Brito, Vasquez and catcher Kyle Higashioka are all likely to be included in the trade for Soto.

No doubt, Bloom blew both deadlines. My only point was that the term "dithering" sounds cool, and does fit Bloom's countless times not making decisions and signings, over and over. The act of not acting- not signing or pulling the trigger on trades. I agree- the term fits Bloom, but to me, not at the 2022 deadline. He made 5 trades. I don't see that as dithering. Call it a smokescreen. Call it coming up short or not going far enough, but I don't see the term dithering as fitting that particular time.

I do think we have made great strides in building up the farm system, particularly its depth, but we seem to have a strong top of the farm and bottom of the farm, but not all that much meaningful promise in the middle. To me, there is a big drop off after our top 3 prospects, as is likely true with most teams, but then I see another big drop after #5-6, and an even bigger one after #10. I may be overly dramatizing this, but our 11-35 prospects don't seem all that much better than our 36-60 prospects or those selected by other teams via Rule 5. We have an abundance of just barely better than average prospects.

Okay, he "dithered" on big trades, but that was not how the statement was presented. His making 5 trades is not "dithering," IMO. He dithered at the 2023 deadline.

He did have the same ERA with the Cubs (for 6 years) as the Sox (for 9 years). We could have used him, and he was cheaper than Price. We won a ring in 2018, so it's easier to let go. Had the Sox won after letting Betts, go, it would not be such a major issue.

I hope it's not another LF'er like Gurriel. If we knew Taylor could repeat .720, I'd sign him, pronto. .690 would be okay.

I think Mata has a better chance at sticking than Drohan, Fernandez and others.

Just shows how deep and strong our farm pitching is.

My point was mainly to show that even DD has no record of doing well, when spending is low or cut drastically. He spent a little more in Montreal and brought the team from 81-81 to 85-77, but ended up with 71 wins, the year he left. The Marlins went from 27th in spending to 7th before winning the '97 WS. Yes, DD built a championship team in a very short time, BUT he had a big budget. When they cut salary the year after, the team went 54-108, yet people want to think he'd have worked a miracle in 2020 based on his "history." In Detroit, the team really sucked his first few years (low spending) and only made the WS in '06 after bringing the team payroll from 25th to 14th. Their second WS showing was after reaching 3rd in spending with a 74-88 record, then going uo to 1st in spending 3 years later for the season before their next trip to the WS in '12. Again, I love the guy. I have no issues with what he did. I'm just saying, he has no proven he can win on a low budget. The team must have felt Bloom had that ability. A recap of the CB Tax Budget over recent Sox seasons: $178M in 2013's ring year $186 under Ben $199 Ben's last year in 2015 $204 DD's first year $191 his 2nd year $239 for the 2018 championship $243 in 2019's disappointing season (DD's last) $185 in 2020 (Bloom's 1st season) $207 in '21 $236 in '22 (finally back to near DD spending) $222 in Bloom's final year

Agreed, even though he was here for just one year. We've had some doozies that are still being talked about, like Lester and Bogey, but Betts blows them away.

CBS Sports has Drohan as the top Rule 5 pick to watch: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/2023-mlb-rule-5-draft-date-time-five-players-to-watch-and-everything-else-to-know/

Rule 5 Draft begins at 2 pm. The order is.... 1. Oakland A’s 2. Kansas City Royals 3. Colorado Rockies 4. Chicago White Sox 5. Washington Nationals 6. St. Louis Cardinals 7. Los Angeles Angels 8. New York Mets 9. Pittsburgh Pirates 10. Cleveland Guardians 11. Detroit Tigers 12. Boston Red Sox 13. San Francisco Giants 14. Cincinnati Reds 15. San Diego Padres 16. New York Yankees 17. Chicago Cubs 18. Miami Marlins 19. Arizona Diamondbacks 20. Minnesota Twins 21. Seattle Mariners 22. Toronto Blue Jays 23. Texas Rangers 24. Philadelphia Phillies 25. Houston Astros 26. Milwaukee Brewers 27. Tampa Bay Rays 28. Los Angeles Dodgers 29. Baltimore Orioles 30. Atlanta Braves

Letting guys like Pedro, Beltre, Damon and Ellsbury walk was questionable, at the time, but made some sense. Trading Manny had to happen. Letting Betts walk was in a class all by itself. I do think, had we gone out and spent the Betts, Price, kimbrell and Kelly money in 2020 and 2021, and maybe won a ring or come close in the last 4 years, we might cut JH a little slack, but the guy turtled it, after the trade.

Ohtani expected to "decide" by Sunday. Maybe Yamo is signed shortly afterwards, perhaps by one of those who barely missed out on Ohtani.

Just so you know, I enjoy most of your posts.

O's close to signing Kimbrell.

LF: Soto CF: Judge RF: Dugo A nice upgrade.

Yanks are "close to" finalizing a deal for Soto. Apparently, the deal includes King, Thorpe and "at least 2 more players."

I don't see a purpose in these type of posts.