moonslav59

Agreed, but if just one went right, like all his major signings working out, maybe he didn't need a combo.

I'm not sure about not needing to wait, but certainly he might have had the ability to spend large before March. (Part of me still thinks the Story signing was an act of desperation to try and appease the angry fans. Certainly, the Story signing can be viewed as "not the right signing," especially in hindsight. If we knew Bogey was a goner, it made sense in foresight. The injury might or might not have been foreseeable.

True, but if Story, Richards, Kluber and Yoshi (Kike II) did very well, I'm not sure he'd be "doomed."

I'm not faulting the attempt. I'm faulting the continuation, after it seemed clear he was better suited for the pen, and his health concerns should have sealed the deal. Blame one- blame them all. At this point, does it matter? Just stop using him as a SP. I'd say the same about Houck, although he has proven he can go 18 batters deep more often than not, and these days, that makes for a fine #4 or #5 in many winning team's plans. I'm not sure about Crawford, but I'd prefer to not try, again. Just leave him as a long man, where he was doing very well, this year. He started the year in the rotation: 8.00 ERA Then, 1.66 as a RP'er in 8 games (6 at 2 or more IP) Then back to the rotation: 4.47 ERA, which is not all that bad (4.6 IP per GS) Just make a plan where Crawford, Houck and Whitlock are safely placed in the pen with little chance of being needed as a SP.

Not a good look for the players, either. They were all so well-rested.

I do think Bloom should have done better, especially after 2021, but it wasn't until the Story signing in March '22 that he really had the ability to make seriously impactful additions. He swung and missed on immediate returns from his biggest additions, and that doomed his tenure with the Sox.

Yes, but the problem was compounded by the fact that Sale, Bogey and Nate were already extended, and it appears JH was never going to budge on the new direction of the budget. I suppose, maybe JH would have allowed us to trade Sale, Bogey or Nate, so we could afford Betts, but then there was the Price or half-Price contract to unload. It was a cluster that, IMO, no GM could have handled very well. Better than Bloom, sure. Would DD have stood for all of what happened after 2019? Word was, there was a big falling out over what happened between summer 2018 and summer 2019, and that was just the tip of the philosophical change made at the top.

If it's not Sale, it will be someone else. We need to start planning on an injury or two. It happens every year. We convert a long relief guy, who was doing great in that role, to the rotation and then watch them come up short, again and again. We may have even pulled a Bard on Whitlock.

I think every poster wished the Price signing was 5 or maybe 6 years max, but we knew it took 7 to get a guy like him. It did not work out very well, but we can't let one failure scare us to death. The continued failures of $10M/1 guys should be a lesson, too. I understand that Eflin might never have signed with the Sox, but I'd like to have heard we offered and extra year and another $14-15M than what he took with TBR. If he said no to that, at least I'd know we tried to go the extra mile. Instead, we continually came up a mile or two short.

I think we have to plan on zero starts from Sale. I think we have to plan on one of the 4 (I'd go with Pivetta) as the 5th starter, and have enough rotation depth that Crawford, Houck and Whitlock should never have to start a game, unless as an opener. Sale is the 6th starter and might add depth. I'd rather pencil in Gambrell, Wikelman or someone added as the 7th starter, over jerking our long relief guys back and forth. 1. Yamamoto 2. Trade for a 27 year old or younger SP 3. Bello 4. Someone like Morton on a big 1 yr deal. 5. Pivetta 6. Sale 7. Anybody not named Crawford, Houck or Whitlock If we have to use one as the 8th SP'er, okay, but just pick one and stick with it, or trade for someone, midseason. In other words, DO NOT use more than 1 of those 4 as a SP'er, even once. If an emergency forces the second one to be used, until a trade can be made, okay. Just my take.

My point is, that if you change the slashing of the budget thing, yes, by all means, keep DD around, but I also think Bloom's record would likely have been much better, too, without the mid 2018-pre 2022 budget slash, the 3 extensions (Sale, Nate & Bogey) notwithstanding. One thing to point out: Bloom was never given a choice on who to extend: betts, Bogey, Sale and or Nate. DD was, and it can be viewed as a mistake in choice, if you believe Betts would have accepted a larger offer.

I just can't see counting on Sale to fill a slot in 2024. It's basically relying on jerking a pen guy back to the rotation, again. Rinse and repeat the same mistakes, over and over.

The thing is, if Nola and Snell get 7-8 or more, and Gray gets 5-6 or more, are we going to stick to our "limit" and get shut out, again, or do we say screw it and bite the bullet. (Or, go large and long on Yamamoto?) I'm not sure younger FAs Giolito, Flaherty or BKeller move the needle much.

I don't think we can "ignore" how DD would have handled being told he could not replace contract also had to trade some vets to slash the budget. It's not so much about what any GM could have done better in 2020, but about the last effects of that massive slash to the budget, along with an apparent directive to not trade top prospects to improve the current team

The 2019 was better, on paper, than its record and maybe the 2021 was worse, on paper- maybe not. The fact is the spending and trading away prospect philosophy changes after the 2018 deadline. DD was still in charge for 1.5 years after that deadline. Some big extensions were allowed to be handed out, but basically no new spending or trades of prospects occurred or were allowed, and the results showed that shift had begun. It only got much worse in 2020, and the missed seasons by Sale and ERod made it impossible (IMO) for any GM to win in 2020. With less than $20M of winter spending prior to 2021, one could consider 2021 a masterpiece, an outlier, or I suppose a position that it was still a remnant of the 2019 team. Personally, I doubt DD would have put up with the demands Bloom was handed. he'd have pushed back or quit, IMO. Just my opinion. No, I do do think I know this for sure. It's an opinion. (There, did I get that aspect of my post across?)

Classic wrong assumption, again.

It's my opinion- just like yours. Do I have to write IMO, before every post? If you think DD could have won in 2020 by slashing the budget as much as Bloom had to, fine. That might be your opinion. I do not "know" DD would have failed in 2020, but my opinion is that any GM would have. I'm not si sure many would have succeeded in '21.

Agreed. I'd also try and get a look at Abreu in RF on defense.

The Mets will drop 10 picks, right? Wouldn't that move us to 11th? (10th, if DET or PIT passes us.)

You said it better and shorter than I. I'd go with 3, though.

I agree. Age and projection of future useful years is the first concern. Yamamoto (25) Major risk, yes, but at 25 years old, I'd roll the dice. (Pun intended) Giolito (29) I like the age, but am not sure he's even a solid #2. Ohtani (29) Out of price range and reasonability Snell (31) 5 years but will get 6+ and is not a workhorse pitcher Nola (31) 5 years but will get 6+ somewhere Montgomery (31) 5-6 years. (I think he may be the guy we add.) ERod (31) 4 years but may not want a return to BOS Stroman (33) 3 years but will get 4-5 somewhere Wacha (33) 3 years max Gray (34) 4 years, and I'm not so sure I give a 34 year old 5 years. (I like him, though.) Kershaw (36) 2 year deal, but it will be hard to pry from LA Cobb (36) 1 year with an option, but I hope we do better. Lynn (37) 1 year, but I don't see him as a guy I'd want. Morton (40) 1 year deal Others... 28 Flaherty- age makes him interesting 29 B Keller 30 Severino 32 Lorenzen, M Perez 33 Clevinger, Heaney 34 S Lugo, Stripling, Hendricks 35 Paxton, Maeda 36 K Gibson 37 Ryu, Carrasco 38 Cueto 40 Greinke 44 RHill Sign one good one and then a second one like Charlie Morton, then trade for a younger pitcher. Add three. The pen would be awesome with as many of th4ese guys in it as possible: Paxton (likely the #5) Crawford Houck Whitlock

DD would have been a failure (after 2019) with that budget and demands to trade top salaries, too. It wasn't so much the choice to dump DD as the choice to dump salary. The 2019 results is evidence. Some saw the bleak times ahead, even before 2019 came. Some thought it could never happen and would never happen. It did.

He gets on base more often, too (.314 to .292,) but Wong leads in SLG: .394 to .365. OBP is worth more, so it's pretty close to a tie, for me. Only 5 Sox players had a higher SLG and more PAs than Wong. Only 7 Sox players had a higher OBP and more PAs than McGuire. Of all the Sox players with 180 ABs... Wong placed 8th in OPS McGuire 10th (Ref is 9th.)

The kids are making a mini statement to end the season. "Hey, look at me!" 1.000 Abreu .800 Rafaela .793 EValdez (not bad, after that poor start) Season is over early for... .857 Casas (tied with Devers for team lead) .828 Duran (comeback player of the year)

There certainly is an anti-Cora Cult.