moonslav59

I also don't fault his strategy on drafting the best available player and not just take a pitcher, because we need a few. The problem, IMO, is that he should be trading some for better known young pitchers. He did well getting Whitlock on Rule 5. The Winckowski and Gambrell for Beni trade may work out for our staff, but that is not what I hoped for, either. It's not too late for the next guy to pull that trigger. The rest are ... Pivetta, Schreeiber, Bernardino (not a prospects addition) Monegro Drohan Dobbins ICoffey Rogers Penrod SenaTroye Hoppe BBell Paez Cepeda Duffy Song More quantity than quality, for sure.

Can you take this to the thread on Bauer?

I was only counting under JH. Manny's would beat Pedro's.

If you account for inflation, our biggest deals might be: 1. Devers 2. Price 3. AGon 4. Crawford 5. Sale 6. Story 7. Pedey 8. JD-Pablo 10. HRam 11. Porcello 12. Lackey 13. Yoshida- JD Drew 15. Dice-K 16. Rusney 17. Nate 18. VTek-Renteria 20. Bogey (counting $60M/3)

I'm not making excuses for Bloom's pre-2023 winter spending. I said it was his "make or break" or "legacy" winter, and it was, He failed. No excuses for 2023. He spent too much on some areas and not enough on the rotation. The $10M he did spend was a disaster. I do think it needs to be pointed out that even though he had more money to spend, this winter than maybe the other 3 combined, he had a lot of big holes to fill with some players becoming FAs. AAV needing replacement 22 JD 20 Bogey 17 Nate 7 Vaz 7 Wacha 5 Hill 3 Strahm 2 Plawecki That's over $80M gone from 2022. It's not like he spent $90M upon a solid team with 2-3 guys leaving. 18 Yoshida 16 Jansen 11 Turner (counting buyout) 10 Kluber 10 Kike (signed las summer) 8 Martin 7 Duvall 4 Paxton (from 2022 signing) 3 Mondesi (minus Josh Taylor's arb cost) 2 Joely Again, he deserves much of the blame for 2023. He deserved to be fired.

Very simplistic approach, which many seem to adhere to. I will add that the team did not have a losing record during the actual time, Bloom was GM, but if you want to count the 4-11 record to end 2023, it's understandable. He should have built a winning team by 2023. Maybe 2022, too. I'm not giving him and A or B or even a C for the performance of the big club. I just think an overall "F" is harsh.

These are facts- not excuses. If Bloom were handed a Little League team, I still think some would blame him for not winning.

Here are the biggest contracts given out by the Sox under JH: Free Agents and Extensions (No adjustments for inflation made) (Manny's $160M/8 deal in '01 was pre-JH) 314/10 Devers '24 217/7 Price '16 (later dumped) 154/7 AGon '12 (later traded with salary dump CC) 145/5 Sale '20 (made $15M in '19) 142/7 Crawford '11 (later dumped) 140/6 Story '22 120/6 Bogey '20 w opt out after '22 110/5 JD '18 110/8 Pedey '14 95/5 Pablo '15 (later cut) 90/5 Yoshida (plus large positing fee) 88/4 HRam '15 (later cut) 83/4 Porcello '16 83/5 Lackey '10 (later traded) 73/7 Rusney Castillo (almost all in the minors) 70/5 JD Drew '07 68/4 Nate '19 52/6 Dice-K '07 (plus huge posting fee) 41/4 Youk '09 w option (traded) 41/6 Pedroia '09 40/4 Renteria '05 (later dumped) 40/4 VTek '05 39/3 Vic '13 38/3 Lowell '08 38/3 Lugo '07 32/2 Napoli '14 32/2 Jansen '23 31/4 Damon '02 30/3 Beckett '07 w option (traded) 30/4 Buchholz '12 w options 30/5 Lester '09 w option (29/2 Peavy '13 traded Iggy for him after signing) 27/2 Dempster (retired after 1 yr) 26/2 Ortiz '13 26/3 Clement '13 (hit in the face by a LD) 26/4 Foulke '04 (gave us one great year) 20/1 Betts '19 (traded) 19/2 Barnes w option (traded) 18/2 Uehara '15 18/2 Martin '23 18/1 Devers '23 16/2 Cameron '10 14/2 Kike '21 (traded under next $10M/1 deal) 14/3 Vaz '19 w option (traded) 13/2 Moreland '18 (traded) 13/2 C Young '16 13/2 Scutaro '10 (traded) 12/1 Bogey '19 12/2 Jenks '11 11/1 SDrew 11/1 JBJ '20 11/1 Devers '22 Am I missing anyone who got more than $10M since 2003? I'd like to see these numbers with inflation figured in.

Or, he leaves some answer choice dots blank due to indecisiveness. I keep telling him no answer is always going to be wrong, so just choose one and go with it.

Not bad. We do need to figure that Bloom’s grade still has some open-ended aspects. DDs grade improved due to Houck, Casa, Bello, Crawford and maybe more to come. High end: A Epstein A- DD C+ Ben C Bloom Low end A- B+ C- D

I don’t count 2020. I see 2021 as a remarkable feat. I see 2022 as Bloom making many good moves but it just not working. 2023: he sucked despite Turner and Duvall. U DET the circumstances handed to him I can’t see an F as being my grade, and that is just on the MLB performance. The other areas are clearly not F’s. I gave the grades I felt were fair.

So, all the good is tossed for an F.

Indeed. We just don'y know. Is it possible he did something illegal, like not stopping at the "safe word," and the dumb-ass woman knew she could get money from it, and chose the word "blackmail," not knowing it's full meaning? I know it's a stretch. but my point is, we don't know if he is guilty of anything illegal or immoral. I'm not taking any sides. I think he will be signed, and I'm not against anyone who does sign him.

I fully understand your point, but I think having a very high quality manager mitigates the "issue" to some extent. I guess they could have told Cora, "We will highly encourage the next GM to keep you as our manager, but no guarantees. If the next GM wants to fire you, we will make a space for you in upper management with a hefty raise. Is that okay with you?" I doubt, he'd say no, but he might have. I'm not saying the situation is not dicey. I'm just saying I think Cora is good enough to want to keep around. They may value him more than the next GM, and maybe they are not wrong for doing so. Maybe they are. I seriously doubt many GM candidates are saying, "No thanks, I want to fire Cora, and you won't let me. Bye-bye."

You really count 2020 against Bloom? You apply no context beyond where we placed in the ALE standings? To each his own. Considering the massive slash to the budget in 2020 and a slow trickle upwards, afterwards, and the fact that no meaningful prospects joined the team from mid '17 to 2023, I find it hard to agree that a nrea .500 records deserves an F. D, maybe, if you don't count farm building at all. I'd say D for results. I'd give a C- for the budget left for the next guy and budget handling over 4 tight spending years (3 anyway.) I'd give him a highly speculative B+ on farm building despite the lack of a top pitching prospect better than Winckowski and Monegro. To me, I'd be fine with an overall D, but D+ or C- (or even a C) might be his final grade, once we see what his prospects and players do, going forward.

I fixed that for you.

Cora is about the farthest reason for our losing as can be. I'd argue we'd have more losses with almost anyone else.

I've often said I'm not sure how well DD would have done, if handed the exact circumstances Bloom was handed, but I'm pretty sure Bloom would not have matched DD's record, if he was handed the circumstances DD was back in 2016. I feel very confident, we'd have done significantly worse. DD is a damn good GM, when allowed to spend and trade.

Rigamortis set in.

Near total eclipse in Houston, now.

I have never said anything close to that, so stop. Saying we may never know everything is the truth. If you imply that means he is certainly guilty of something, that's on you, not me. Is it beyond reason to think he did something very wrong, and the woman used a poor choice of words to text someone saying she's going to "blackmail him?" Look, I have no idea what really happened, and neither do you. This speculation based on tidbits of information is not something I like to do. None of us know s***. We read one piece of evidence, and now pretend to know everything? Yes, that piece of evidence looks very damning against the woman, and likely was why she dropped the charges. I think he dropped charges, too.

My point is we will likely never know the full story. To think that just because the woman used the words "blackmail" in a text means he did nothing wrong, is just not a certainty.

They played great, all year on almost no rest. Then, they get a few days off and sucked.

Plus, despite how many posters here do not like Cora or do not want him back, I think almost every GM or GM to be respects his abilities. It's not like we're forcing the next GM to keep Bobby V.

That's not what I meant, but yes, if we suck, Cora is more likely to be fire (or promoted) than a 1 year GM. I did not word that well. If we lose next year with a big budget, the GM will be blamed by fans, the media and posters, here more than Cora. That is what I meant. Yes, it would be easier to fire or promote Cora than ax a new GM after one season. If we think it's hard finding our 5th GM, imagine looking again, next year. Agreed, that aint happening.