moonslav59

Assuming this is true. It may not even be partially true.

..and he berates "name-callers."

While true, I don't think anyone would be happy with a Duran-Refsnyder platoon at DH for a fraction of Yoshi's cost (and maybe the same cumulative OPS,)

How many were by manager's choice? Zero? How does that support the position?

I'm not playing the victim. I'm not apologizing for having OCD. I'm not using my OCD as an excuse for anything. This type of banter you often initiate is why people leave this site, You drive by then blame others for your BS. I'll stop responding to your posts from now on for the sake of others not having to read more of this.

But the argument is about resting players so they are fresher, late in the season. Guys missing time due to injury does not support that position. It does not help the no rest argument, either.

Great point, but it was only a lie, if he knowingly misrepresented the facts. Are we sure he knew on that date, a trade was a real possibility? If yes, he lied. (He may have been told to lie, but it would still be a lie. My guess is, it was a blatant lie.)

One thing we all seem to agree on.

Yes, but if the reset was always part of the plan, then how much higher could we have gotten in the rankings without going over the tax line? That was my point. Yes, the ranking slip was a major choice made, and I'm assuming not by Bloom.

When you keep posting "the reports" that said Bloom was "never told he had to trade Betts," what is your point? Yes, your big beef was the return, and as far as we know the only other discussion was with the Padres, and some think they would not take Price. I have long thought and said, that the falling out between DD and upper brass probably began when they did not allow him to bring Kimbrell back or spend beyond the extensions after 2028. I'm not sure, if they told him not to make prospect trades at the deadline in 2019, but I do think he knew about plans for massive cuts to the budget after 2019, and that led to his departure. DD wanted no part of what was handed to Bloom and actually began under DD.

Imagine Story has a huge year for the next GM. It would make the next GM a genius, in some eys. Kinda like HRam sucking for Ben, then having a decent season for DD. I said it then, Had Porcello (9-15 to 22-4)and HRam (.717 to .866) had their first season with DD during their last season with Ben, maybe we never see a GM change made.

This last winter choices and budget is a complete mystery to me. The 2020 one seems more concrete and easier to understand. Also, regardless of why the budget ended up where it was, Bloom still had enough to do better than he did. BTW, let's wait and see what the final tax budget was, before saying we underspent bya whole lot.

So, why do you continually try to paint Bloom as the main guy on the Betts trade decision?

I'm not sure people fully realize how much the budget was slashed from 2019 to 2020. The Nate, Bogey and Sale extensions made before Bloom, made the drop off look smaller, but we were bringing back the same (or lesser) players at higher salaries. Gone from 2019: $31M Price (although we paid $16M for nothing) $21M Porcello (not replaced, at all.) $20M Betts (with a big arb raise pending) ($13.8M Pedey was deadwood) $6.2M Pearce $5M Nunez This was after we did not replace Kimbrell & Kelly from 2018's team, and then Sale was hurt and ERod missed 2020.) Sale's AAV went to $25.6M Bogey's to $20M Nate's to $17M Pedey's stayed at $13.8M How did we replace that $80M+ lost? Some arb raises $6.5M/1 Perez $4.3M/1 Pillar $3.0M/1 Moreland (brought back) $2.9M Peraza $1.5M Lucroy A bunch of scrubs at or near the ML minimum. This totals $18M, which isn't even clse to what betts got for an AAV.

I don't doubt that, and you tell us that over and over. You usually only quote the ones you agree with. Do you really believe, in your heart of hearts, that Bloom acted mostly on his own to not only make the trade, but to convince upper brass to ooaky it, because you have to believe they needed to okay the deal, right?

Think about it: they smeared Tito. Why is it so hard for anyone to not see what is happening, again.

If Bloom came to Henry and said I want to up our offer to Betts, and JH said no, what other options did Bloom have? Do people wish he'd have gotten a comp pick for him, instead of Dugo & Wong? This seems like the most plausible scenario, to me. You stated it, perfectly.

I fully agree. His inability to think xyz is worth $100M, but I really want him, so will have to offer $103M, because team B offered $102 was just beyond his reasoning skills. He could not adjust. IMO, he was caught off guard by the shocking inflationary prices of last winter's FAs. He failed to go with the flow and just pull the trigger on someone he really wanted, except for, of course, Yoshida, who apparently was the scouts' wet dream for years.

...and Strahm and Hill, who had more IP than Nate. Still, Bloom was on the clock and he blundered the winter by neglecting the rotation. (I don't blame him for SS, except for maybe not getting Reyes, earlier and forcing Cora to play him, earlier, We had Kike, Yang, DHam to hold us over to Mondesi to hold us over to Story. It's hard to pan on 5 failures at one slot.)

If this was the first time the FO did this, I might have doubts, but it has been their MO whenever any major employee departs on shaky ground. (Players, coaches and GMs.)

Yes, I know about those reports. You seem to really grab onto any report or quote that fits your narrative. No matter what happened, I can't see how anyone can think trading betts was not an organizational choice made. I tend to believe it was something they knew was going to happen before Bloom was even hired, or pretty soon afterwards. Maybe Kennedy was a naysayer on the trade idea, but for him to call out Bloom for trading him, seemed like passing the buck, to me. (I could be wrong.) I seriously doubt Bloom talked upper management into massive budget cuts from the 2019 ledger. If it is true that Bloom was given free reign to cut the budget anyway he saw fit, and not just for 2020 but beyond, I'm not sure how he could have done it without trading Betts. Nobody wanted Price or half-Price without Betts. (I think only 1 or 2 teams wanted the combo, as it was, or at least enough to make a serious offer.) Nobody wanted Sale and his contract that I know of. Has Bloom traded Bogey and JD, instead of Betts, would the mood of Sox nation been much different? Had he been lucky and found takers for Price and Sale, while keeping Betts, what would the rest of the roster have looked like in 2020 & 2021, when bett's contract was basically the full winter spending budget? I will say, maybe Bloom was the bandwagon driver on trading Betts. I doubt it, but we don't know, but I am 100% certain, it was not his final call.

Why is it so hard to just have and keep a balanced approach, all along? The pendulum swinging makes everyone's job more difficult. It's all been reactionary and not proactionary.

Yes, IMO, the amount of games lost by our defense and baserunning was a lot more than some think it was. I'm not sure that should be "on Cora." These guys are grown men who have been taught the fundamentals, for years. If they haven't learned them, by now, I'm not sure what ML manager knows the secret to teaching them and getting instant results in one season. It's not like Cora had 4 years to work with most of our major blunderers.

I did think it was strange that Bloom did not appear to bring many of the guys from the Rays organization, especially the farm-related people. I do think our farm has improved, but did it do so with pretty much the same guys that were here under DD?

That would be interesting. If you had to make the call, on the spot, right now: who is our next CBO/GM?