moonslav59

I'm more certain or equally so that Devers plays 3B and Casas 1B than Story at SS. My point is that we can improve 4 positions on D without making any roster additions. Whether we do or not, is up to Breslow & Cora.

I think he fully understood what he was getting himself into. I think the top brass hired him, because he shared in their priorities, willingly. He may not have realized how brutal the fans and media could be, but he must have known he'd be the fall guy, if things went south.

I could see that as being true or mostly true. The trade part might have just been a stated guideline that the farm was a high priority but not that any prospect was untouchable.

Before you even took the wrapper off the Bloom toy gift, you wanted to throw it saway. I'm not tryng to bust your balls, but I'm just curious why Breslow, with no GM experience either, is not elicting a similar response with you.

I'm saying, we could have spent more and traded prospects under Bloom, too. I'm not convinced it was his choice to do neither. No, I don't think you need to play pro baseball to be a great GM. I could list a few.

It sure seemed like Bloom was surprised when Bogey bolted, but I'm not convinced. Still, that does seem like that was the plan, when we signed Story- despite my wishes they flip Bogey to 2B.

You don't see an improvement on D at SS, 2B & CF, next year?

Thanks for the thoughtful response. 1. Yes 2 SP'ers, but I'd add "solid & dependable" or three decent & dependable. 2. I'm not sure Breslow will move Story to 2B, and Cora might be the main guy to decide this, but I'm kind of okay with Story at SS (Reyes as sub) and Urias/Reyes/EValdez at 2B to start 2024. 3. If adding Hedges worsens who we sign to pitch, I'd just stick with McGuire and hope Teel jumps levels. 4. Agreed. 5. I think Dugo should go. 6. I'd be fine starting the year with CF: Rafaela/Abreu and RF: Duvall/Abreu 7. Near FT DH. Only play him in LF, if you want to give Raffy a rest at 3B by DH'ing him. 8. Most of our RP'ers do pretty well vs LHBs. I don't see this as a major priority, but still would be helpful.

I fully understand your issue with the idea that our current players will simply just "get better." To assume that can be a big mistake. Duran got better- Casas and Devers did not. Let's just assume nobody gets better or worse and see what we have... That being said, I think you are minimizing the overview of our 2024 defense vs our 2023 defense by just talking Yoshida to DH, as if that's the main improvement. Having Story at SS for a full season is a big plus. Not having Kike at SS for any games makes SS a double plus gain. (It could literally go from worst to first, overnight, with no roster additions.) Yoshida to DH, in theory, improves more than LF. Not only are Duran and Refsnyder better than Yoshida in LF, keeping Duran out of CF, by proxy, improves our CF D, too. If it ends up being Rafaela, it would be a major gain on D. If it's Duvall or Abreu, it should still be an improvement over Duran in CF. More than half our CF innings, this year went to Duran, Refsnyder, Abreu and Tapia. Add Duvall, and it's about 86% of the innings. (14% to Rafaela and Kike.) If we can get 85% of the CF innings to Rafaela and Abreu, I see a big gain on D at a key "up-the-middle" position. I'm not sure a full season of Urias and Reyes at 2B will be an improvement on D, but Arroyo led all Sox players in innings at 2B. E Valdezz was 2nd. I can't imagine the two we have now doing worse than they did. (Arroyo + EValdez had 799 ot 1430 innings at 2B. Add Turner, Wong and Bobby D's totals and it's 854/1430 or 60%.) Why can't 2b be a greater improvement on D than LF? Now, I'm going to go back on my initial promise. I do think Wong can and should improve on defense as he gains experience. It is very common for catchers to improve until at least 30. He was excellent on runner control, but needs to improve on blocking pitches off the mark and maybe how to handle the staff to maximize results. I will not project Casas will improve. I tried that with Dalbec. Better at SS, 2B, LF, CF and maybe C with no new roster additions.

How much tinkering does it really need? I know I've been talking a lot about how much the 40 man roster and farm seem to have been improved, significantly under Bloom, but we still lack excellent and all around players, as well as pitchers that can go 170+ IP, consistently. It seems we have a bunch of decent to good players, some with a major flaw to their game, but still with net plus value. We could obviously use some upgrades at several positions not thought of as "high need areas." With the difference between "fringe contenders," as many probably felt AZ was, all year and at the start of the playoff, and the best of the best not all the wide, do you think it is unreasonable to think we are just 3-4 major additions away from being serious contenders? Maybe two solid and dependable SP'ers, a big RHB at 2B or CF (RF, if we trade an OF'er) and maybe another upgrade somewhere. IMO, getting 3 SP'ers and bringing back Duvall, gets us real close to being serious. Gray Montgomery Morton Duvall I think we can do this and stay below the second tax line, but we may need to trade Dugo, Urias and say bye-bye to Joely.

I guess I have to see it to believe it. They could have done all this under Bloom, too, and talked much of the same talk, all along, except for the "no restraints on spending" part.

Sounds like a big differe3nce from your thoughts on Bloom out of the gate and every day afterwards. They both had no experience. I thought you'd feel more apprehensive. I'm not sure how playing for the Sox, long ago, gives him all that much more perspective on how the front office works, and people are gone, who were there when he pitched for us. It does seem like he was not the first choice, but it's hard to know, and being a 5th or 6th choice does not mean it's a bad one or that they settled. I'm not trying to push you for a firmer opinion, because it seems hard for anyone to have one. I'm hopeful- perhaps more than with Bloom's signing, but I was hopeful, then too.

What is the word you are hearing on your enormous corner? To me, he seems like a pretty good choice for what we need. He seems to have a focus on pitching that expands into the farm scouting and developing aspect. He seems to be good with analytics- something many fans don't care about or even dislike. The lack of experience as a GM is a big concern, as it was with Bloom. What are your feelings on Breslow, after you've had some time to read and hear about him?

It's unlikely he adds any value.

As it turned out, trading Jansen, Paxton, Duvall, Turner and maybe even Martin, would have really bolstered our future, even if just to give us more trade pieces for this winter. (Note: I wanted us to be buyers, this past summer.)

I don't disagree, but he could lose value by getting hurt or sucking in 2024.

I just don't keep track of non Sox players that closely. On Snell, if he's hardly every hurt, why does he only have over 24 GS'd 3 times in 7 years? (Over 27, twice.) I know he walks a lot of batters, so that keeps his IP'd down, but he's never gone over 181, and the Rays are famous for over-pitching their starters. I'd like to see us sign Morton and Gray. Gray did miss a few starts in 21 & 22, but nothing major. Last 5 years: 31 of 32 11 of 12 26 of 32 24 of 32 32 of 32 That's only 8 missed starts in 5 seasons. Nola has been a horse. He has not missed more than 1 GS in 6 straight seasons and had 27 in 2017. Giolito has 29+ GS'd for 5 straight years. (I'm counting 2020, since he missed no starts.) If we get one of the top SP'ers on the market, I have suggested we go after Morton on a 1 year deal. It give the future budget some flexibilkity, but gives us a guy that should turn out much better than Kluber and Richards. Yes, at 2-3 times the cost, but I like the one year aspect. He has over 30 GS in 5 of the last 6 seasons and had 9 of 12 possible starts in 2020.

How many available pitchers have very little injury history, these days?

I'd be fine getting a younger, longer term closer, but yes, Jansen is fine. At $16M/1, he's not a burden.

Congrats to the Rangers. They deserved it.

Remember when Jacko used to talk Nate trash?

That's easy: he's going to keep the players he thinks are better.

I think Urias and McGuire will both be back with the Sox and playing a bunch of games in 2024. Urias should beat out Reyes for 2B. EValdez is so bad on D, I'm not sure he plays much 2B in 2024.

It's in my nature to wonder. My guess is, they'd have signed Abreu and Yoshida with no Turner and Duvall. It might have meant no Jansen or Martin. Had Nate said yes to the offer made, it's hard to know where we'd have spent the left over money. I'll leave that for you to wonder about. LOL

Well, in some ways, those years were a bit of a rollercoaster ride, as well. The 2011 season was one in itself. Of course, we did not see the horrible seasons we've seen after Theo left, but his "rollercoasters" with within certain seasons. I think Theo's worst season was 86 wins in 2006- right before the 2007 ring season.