moonslav59

It had to be Cora's influence, or Bloom's. It's always their fault. No excuses.

How many are known to have turned down an interview, not counting Cora.

Says the expert on available coaching talent.

Throwing hard has nothing to do with the "yips." 484 innings at SS with the Sox in 2024= 14 errors 685 innings over the rest of his career at SS= 6 errors And, it wasn't just errors, as we both know errors are not the tell all to defense. His metrics at SS were a plus before 2023 and after with LAD. He lost confidence. He had the yips.

We can talk about mandates and circumstances all day long, and I get the point about our organization not drafting pitchers in the top rounds as being a problem. That problem has gone on for a long time- long before Bloom. It was the main reason DD traded so many prospects for Sale, Kimbrel, Thornburg and Pomeranz. Bloom did no such thing- for whatever reason. My point is that despite not trading any top prospects higher than Aldo Ramirez (#9) for Schwarber and not drafting any pitchers highly (his fault or not,) he still added: Pivetta Whitlock Winckowski Schreiber Bernardino His prospect list for pitchers is nothing to brag about, and the most promising ones are mostly far from the bigs: Monegro Drohan Dobbins ICoffey Rogers Penrod SenaTroye Hoppe BBell Paez Cepeda Duffy Song (re-acquired) If we end up trading some of the everyday prospects added by Bloom for a solid SP'er, I'd say he did okay with adding non free agent pitching. Plus, he did not trade Bello, Houck, Crawford, Murphy and some promising prospects like Perales and Wikelman left over from the DD era. Schreiber

Agreed, but he still counts as a good pitcher added by Bloom. Perhaps his misuse is the problem. The guy still has nasty stuff and may return to being a very good pitcher for the remainder of his team friendly deal. He had a hip issue, which is something that strongly affects a pitcher. If he never gets over it, he may never be really good, again.

You think DD wanted to trade Betts and Price to LA in 2019? You think the win streak that prevented that trade made DD not want to trade for help at the 2019 deadline? Again, it might not be JH or just JH. It could be mostly Kenney or a group choice, but the fact is no big prospect trade was made by DD in his final 2 years. If you count #6 Beeks for Nate as one, then his final one year. You think DD chose to not only not bring back Kimbrel and Kelly, but also not to replace them, in kind? It seems obvious to me, a strategy change took place before DD even left- on the budget and with trades. It may have been a major source of the friction that caused his departure. You mention 2018 to 2019. Yes, we were coming off a WS season, but we lost Kimbrel and Kelly. You really think DD chose not to trade anyone for a RP'er in the winter prior to 2019? It's what he wanted to do? I see no evidence supporting that opinion. I do think that Bloom is not the wheeling dealing type of GM DD was. I do think he would not chose to trade 15-20 top 20 prospects like DD did. I don't think it was his plan the team adopted, because it looks like the plan started before he got there. Certainly the idea of trading Betts and Price in 2019 signalled a change in direction was already in motion, right?.

67 innings at SS: 0 errors w LAD 484 innings at SS: 14 errors w BOS (plus countless non errors) Further proof that Bloom and Cora suck.

It might have been Kennedy and the whole group deciding on the strategy, but yes, it is my opinion, it was a team strategy, pan or guideline- whatever you want to call it. Not trading any top prospects for over 5 years is not total proof such a plan or mandate existed. I get that, but it certainly is evidence such a plan might have existed. It's also entirely possible they hired Bloom, because they knew he was the type of GM that would willingly go along with that strategy, as that as basically the strategy TB has used for many years, including the many years Bloom was there. Hiring Bloom is more evidence the plan was started before he got here. The no trades by DD for over a year is added proof. If you don't count Beeks as a top prospect, DD went 2 years with no major prospect trades, and we are now at over 6 years with none made. Saying the choice was made from above, does not mean Bloom was fighting the plan all along and wanted to trade top prospects. There is a chance they said, at some point, if you see a great trade opportunity using top prospects, you can make it, and he never found one, Certainly, that could be the case. That is one reason my position is just an opinion or theory. Knowing Bloom's history with TB, that could have been the case. I found it a bit telling that the stories leaked about trades not made, mostly seemed to be on trading top players for prospects and not the other way around. It's like management admitting they wished he had made more stars for prospects trades than vice versa. Again, just my opinion based on an educated guess- not a stab in the dark. .

I agree. I think it is a rare moment when a GM forces a manager to play one guy over another. He does limit a manager's choices by who he places on the 26. Bloom gave Cora Reyes, Cora chose to keep playing Kike at SS. I also wonder why Cora never even tried Arroyo at SS, when it became clear Kike had the "yips." I know Arroyo is not a good SS, but Kike was as bad as I have ever seen at SS over a 2 month+ span.

I have never said it is a known fact. If you knew what "if" meant why go off on me, like I was stating facts? It has always been my opinion, and the fact that I said this years ago and none have been traded since, kind of reinforces my position, not makes it less likely.

Well, Beeks was #6, so 5 were better. Chavis was #1, so certainly we did not have any Moncadas left. I wish he had traded Chavis.. Mata was #2. I'm glad he kept #3 Houck and #4 Casas. Later, and before DD departed, Dalbec, Groome, DHern, Duran and Jimenez cracked the soxprospect's top 5. It seems reasonable to think the team made a choice to change direction, even before DD left. Reports are DD nearly traded Betts and Price in 2019, and if you think it's because DD came up with the idea, I'll just have to laugh. It's my opinion, and I think I have some evidence to support my opinion. I also don't think it was Ben's idea to not trade any top prospects, either. Maybe, had they kept him and or Bloom, the plan might have changed in their 5th year, and we'd have seen them make some trades, too. I seriously doubt Ben would have come close to matching DD's moves, so I do think the GM has a major impact on choices made, but I think the overall spending and farm building strategies are set from the top.

That's on the coach. Hopefully, he learns from it, but I also think the Louisville loss was on the coach, too. The team was obviously looking ahead to last night's game. I'm not saying I dislike the coach. He got the team playing very well, at times. I'm more hopeful, now about the future of ND football than I have been in a very long time.

I started my post with the word "if." Do you know that mean it is speculation? I think it is highly likely there was a plan that involved not trading top prospects. Maybe Bloom was the leader of the plan. I doubt it. The same thing essentially happened under Ben2, then the switch was flipped with the DD hire. The evidence that supports my theory, and I've never said this is a proven fact, is that the trading of top prospects actually started under DD, in his last years, so that is why I suggest it was coming from above, and not from the GM. I highly doubt DD wanted to stop trading prospects anymore than he wanted to try and trade Betts and not sign him. The last top prospect traded was #6 Beeks for Nate at the 2018 deadline. One could argue, even he was not a "top prospect," so the era of no top prospects traded could b e even more than 5 years. You really think a GM would chose to not try and save his job by trading prospects for immediate wins? Can you prove it was DD's and Bloom's idea to stop all big trades of prospects? It's pure speculation to think it's all on the GM. Something you seem to adhere to.

Maybe the Hosmer trade was more about Rosier. The best example I think you have used was the continued play of Kike at SS, even after we got Reyes, and Cora said he'd no longer play Kike at SS. One could argue that the statement made by Cora, then the subsequent play of Kike at SS is proof the call was made by Bloom, but I'm not convinced. It was Cora that called Kike the best defensive 2Bman in MLB, then played him in CF in 2021.

Thanks, again, for admitting your bias.

If everyone was part of some sort of master plan, where the idea was to not trade any top prospects, not make any long term deals larger than $140M/6 or any deals that don't rate to still be helping us in 2024 or 2025, or whatever year they chose as the "flip the switch" year, then I'm not sure we should be worried about the same guys being in charge, or if it's 1 , 2 or 3 guys. Or, how much power of influence Cora has. If the strategy does not change, nothing will likely matter. No GM will likely matter. I guess it's possible, still, that we can become a team like the Rays, but it takes a lot of focused effort and the right people in the system to make it work- not just the GM. I hope we don't keep trying to be the Rays North, and start doing what we need to do to win- like getting back to being a top 5-6 spending team and being okay with trading a top prospect now and then. I'm not for emptying the farm, but a balanced approach sounds good to me.

Well, we can assume JH was okay with what we offered Nate, then pulled later. We can assume he was okay what we offered Eflin and lost out to the Rays. That was more than $10M/1. Bloom dithered and dathered and wound up with the booby prize. Hell, I think he was rumored to want Seth Lugo, who cost less than Kluber. I think not focusing on the rotation for 2024 was on Bloom and only Bloom. Do I think JH would have allowed a mega deal on a pitcher? No, but JH did not mandate just $10M.

I'm not grading on a curve.t I'm grading Bloom on his total body of work. I'd hate to be a student in your class: 1 A 3 Bs 8 Cs 18 Fs

I thought that about Ben, and I certainly felt Bloom would be back in 2024 just 3 months ago, but I guess it depends on whether we think Bloom could have chosen to trade top prospects for pitching and decided not to, or upper management told him not to or to wait. It sounds like what top brass was mad about was him not trading Sale and others, and not what most fans are mad at Bloom about. If Ben and Bloom has more free reign, they could have traded top prospects and maybe saved their jobs by increasing the win totals, assuming the trades helped. Then, there is the budget thing. Some seem to think Bloom could have talked JH into keeping Betts or demanded a larger winter spending budget, and he was just trying to prove he could build a winner on the cheap out of some sort of bravado thing. I seriously doubt that. Cora or the next GM can suggest, argue, cry or beg all they want, but if some mandates (or whatever you want to call them) don't change, the 2024 win-lost totals probably won't change much either. The next guy is losing Turner, Paxton and Duvall, and replacing all of their value at the cost they had in 2023 will be very difficult. He will also have the Devers extension kick in with no added production expected. If the budget doesn't change, it will be hard to win. If we can't trade a top prospect in a package with a tier 2 prospect or two for a solid SP'er, it will be hard to win more.

We do give different grades for English, Math, Science, Social Studies and electives, and yes, many teachers grade on a curve or enter a 50 or 60 in the gradebook, instead of a zero. I understand people grade on differing criteria, but to me an F would be failure in all 3 seasons: 2021, 2022 and 2023, not 2 of 3. To each his own. There were also things that happened beyond his control- like the decline and injuries of inherited vets, some not even post-prime, but I get it: excuses, excuses. My lowest grades might be: D- MLB roster management and results. C- on Buget management and what he left the next GM B- on farm building, which is a highly speculative grade and really should be graded Incomplete. Weight the first line more heavily, and it looks like maybe a D or C-, but that's just me. I'm glad he's gone. He failed on his major roster additions. He failed to add many gems in the rough. IMO, he left a foundation and budget better than he received. The farm looks way better, but we saw how Ben's farm compared to DD'd farm, in hindsight. It doesn't always work out as expected or hoped. I'm not crying "poor, poor Bloom." He failed to produce what most fans expected. Many fans don't care about context or anything else but wins. I get that.

And, Cora can talk and suggest all he wants, but if management doesn't decide to change strategies, it won't matter, much. I think 2 major changes will be needed to effect change: 1. Spending significantly over the tax line and on the rotation. 2. Allowing top prospects to be traded for pitching, since we don't draft them very often or develop them very well. Maybe Bloom never pushed hard for either of these two things. Maybe he did, and they never allowed it. This needs to change.

DD did one hell of a job, despite a tough budget situation he left for the next GM. He was often roasted for "emptying the farm" or "trading away the future," and he certainly traded a boatload of top or once highly ranked prospects, but the hindsight evaluation shows he chose well or with a lot of luck. Here's a look at who he traded, and who he kept: (Top soxprospects ranking) 1. Moncada 3. Margot 3. Espinoza 5. Kopech 6. Beeks 6. Guerra 8. Basabe 10. Dubon 13. L Allen 16. S Anderson 18. C Acosta 19. Buttrey 19. T Shaw (not a prospect when traded) Highest rankings of the ones he kept: (1. Devers- a Ben addition) 1. Casas 1. Beni 2. Mata 3. Bello 3. Houck 3. Duran 3. Rafaela (current ranking) 3. Groome 4. Dalbec 5. Walter 7. Perales (current ranking) 8. Song 9. Wikelman (current ranking) 9. Aldo Ramirez (Bloom traded for Schwarber) 10. Murphy 10. TWard 12. Bonaci 12. Lugo 16. Crawford Wow! What a lop-sided list! TY DD! We suffered some from the gap between Devers and Casas/Bello, but it was worth it all, and we still have many players on the current roster to be thankful for adding and or keeping.

This actually sounds believable.

Moncada should make the list, but I'm not sure what we paid him...