moonslav59

Well, why not say "Bloom specialized in $220M last place finishes," which he did in 2 of the 4 seasons, here. Either way, to me, it's only about what you have to spend, each year, how many slots you have to fill and how many of those slots are major weakness areas. IMO, he had about 18-21 slots to fill on the 2020 roster with, effectively, less than zero to spend, if you count all the salary lost vs what he had to spend, but okay count the toal at less than $20M. He did not have all that much to spend on 2021, but he had lessened the "open slots" to about 12-14, despite hardly spending anything going into the winter before 2021. (He added Pivetta, Whitlock, Arroyo and others for just about nothing.) It was only before 2022, when his spending budget increased significantly, but with still so many slots to fill, he had to choose where to skimp (Pen in 2022 and SP in 2023.) To me, we have about 3-4 major slots to fill, this winter. We could probably use 4-6, but only 3-4 are crucial. That is a major shift from past winters, IMO. With close to $50M to spend up to tax line 1, we are in better shape than at an time since pre 2019. If we can spend up to the second line and/or decide we can trade a top prospect, we should be able to fill 4-6 slots.

I fully agree. I'd actually be bummed, if we spend over $30-35M/yr on him.

You think Duran has "proven himself?"

I know I've read several quotes on this, but here is what I found with a google search, today: https://nesn.com/2023/06/red-soxs-alex-cora-explains-scheduled-rafael-devers-rest-day/ If I am wrong about his rigidity, then my issues with the chosen days off will no longer be something I disagree on. I still think 3-7 days off is probably more than enough for almost all players, but it's no big deal, to me, if they get 8 or 9. Over 9 needs some 'splainin'.

One year is "specializing in...?"

Depends. If we trade Mayer for an top pitcher, we could use a 2Bman for longer.

I don't, especially when someone says something like, "We should trade Dugo for a good SP."

Cora has said he schedules days off over a week in advance. It seems weird that we have been talking about this issue for months, and you only now question whether he even does it.

Indeed, but as it turned out, the additions to the offense were needed and also not really enough. The additions to the pen were needed and that worked out well. The bottom line: there just wasn't enough funds to fill all our needs. More on starting pitching seems to be what everyone agreed on, and the big swing and miss on Kluber was the big mistake. As it turned out, Yoshida did not do all that well, so using his money for pitching and a defensive SS might have made a significant difference, but we had no way of knowing Duran would bounce back, and our OF offense would improve by over 100 points. The winter budget was large, but we were also in need of replacing Bogey, JD, Nate, Wacha, Hill, Vaz and Strahm. The other point was that several other teams passed us in the salary rankings, besides our major winter budget.

I don't think it is near that number. It seems most of his posts are directed at lowering overly lofty and optimistic Sox fans' hopes.

I think he still believes what he said was true, but had to retract it, so fans would not be so pissed. He did go beyond just a retract.

I think he's trying to bait us into arguing about how s***** it must be playing for a lowly team like the Sox.

It won’t matter if the bid is highest.

So, if the wallet opens wide, the next GM is a hero. IMO, the best case scenario, while staying realistic, is that the new GM is bolder, and JH opens his wallet to the second tax line. We trade for someone like Burnes. We sign Yamamoto (or Bauer/Nola/Gray) We sign Duvall. We trade Dugo and Urias for a better 2Bman. We sign a LH RP'er. (I'm all for getting 3 SP'ers, but two top ones would be awesome.) Our deep pen can now handle two SP'ers from Pivetta, Sale, Houck or Crawford going 4.2 IP per start. The offense may need help at the deadline, or if there is money left over, this winter, maybe we get another big RHB somehow (other team's salary dump trade?)

I do, too, but I'm guessing that might be bolder than they will end up doing. Also, I just listed the SP. I think we also sign Duvall and trade Dugo for a LH RP'er or 2Bman.

Today's awards: Rookie of the Year: Yoeilin Cespedes (.346/.392/.560, ranking second, eighth and first, respectively, among system hitters with more than 150 plate appearances) Comeback Player of the Year: Grant Gambrell (620 days between games) Maybe he and Wink will make that Beni trade look like a real good one. Breakout Player of the Year: Roman Anthony (He started the year at No. 11 in the SoxProspects.com rankings, but wasn't on the radar in Top 100 lists. He is now No. 2 on SoxPropsects and is in Baseball America's top 20, sitting at No. 19.

I am thinking the best we can hope our guys will spend on are... Gray & Montgomery Maybe Montgomery, Cobb & a big 1 yr deal for Morton. I'm still hoping we trade for one and then sign Gray & Montgomery or Gray & Morton.

I think Yamo/Nola means one of the two.

If a guy is "banged up," why schedule a day off in 10 days? It's not the 2 days off that bugs me: it's the inflexibility of the match-up on that scheduled day off. It goes against the very metrics they preach. Unless they have some data that shows this works better, (and they may) I'm sticking to my guns on this. Give a guy a day off around when he needs it ut based on who he is facing in that 2-4 day window when rest is needed most- not one day, regardless of who the pitcher is. I may be wrong, but I get the feeling, Cora is so rigid on the chosen day, that he'd rest a guy who was 10-12 against the pitcher in the past, just went 4-5 in the last two games and has a 1.000 OPS against that handed pitcher. All because the day was picked 10 days ago.

How about what Dipoto said to the fans, then later apologized for saying it... https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/jerry-dipoto-tells-mariners-fans-what-they-dont-want-to-hear/

I think it is more likely we sign Yama or Nola than Chapman. We are likely not even looking at adding corner IF'ers.

This would be a major step up, but I'm sticking with the call for 3 significant SP additions, hopefully one and ace, one a #2 or solid #3 type, and the other better than a #5 or how Kluber looked when we signed him. Is it possible? Depends on the budget. Is it likely? I seriously doubt it. 3 solid pitchers added. Bello. Sale/Pivetta as the #5. A major by product would be a most amazing pen with perhaps a revolutionary strength and depth at the long relief part of the pen: Pivetta Crawford Houck Whitlock The 4 short guys would be: Jansen Martin Winckowski Schreiber Depth: Bernardino Kelly Murphy Robertson Walter Mills Mata Weiss Guerrero Gambrell, Drohan, Wikelman, Hagenman (Joely's option declined?)

The pattern gives it away. Almost all these scheduled days off are beofre a team day off or a day after night game situation. I think Cora is telling the truth, when he says the day was scheduled off many days before it happens.

The Houston area has a lot of transplants, and I know many who only go to games when their team is playing. One friend was a Phillies fan, who now is an Astros fan. I think it is hard to get an older generation, who followed other teams for their whole lives to switch to being ardent Rays fans. The "older" population is much bigger in FLA, too, than most areas. I just don't think they have enough people looking to root for the local baseball team in the area, no matter how nice the stadium is, of even if it's a 5 minute walk away from their house. I would not go to any non Sox Astros game, if the park was nextdoor.

In a way, the fact that so many of our pitchers have shown they can go long stretches of doing well as a SP'er may end up hurting us more than helping us, if we put to much hope in them repeating it over a full season- something some have never done, or haven't done in a long time. I know I have repeated this point a few times, so I hope it doesn't bother anyone to hear it again. IMO, we can count on Bello for 26+ GS and 160+ IP in 2024. We can count on Pivetta for the same, as long as he pitches well enough to hold a rotation slot for the whole year. The rest are just hopes and prayers- some really good ones, but still not even close to being depended upon for 26+/160+, and it's not like 26 or 160 is asking for workhorses. The other factor that seems to be a part of the decision making process on adding SP'ers is that we have so many of these "hopes and prayers" type SP'ers, that we may be thinking, "We only need 3-4 out of the 5 or 6 to do well, for us to have a good rotation. How has that worked out for us? The last factor is how jerking pitchers Between the pen and rotation never seems to help the pitcher, and it actually seems to hurt their numbers. I get the argument about how a pitcher should have better numbers in the pen than as a starter, due to several factors, I won't repeat, but the disparity on many of our guys is too wide to use this factor as a balancing tool. We clearly have some guys who are better suited for long relief tha starting. Keeping a pitcher in one role seems to be a good idea, at least per season. I think Winckowski is a good example of that, but Whitlock, Houck, Crawford and Pivetta also have shows massive disparities between starting and relieving. I think we need to make some smart choices. Maybe choose one guy, beyong Pivetta to start, and try our best to not jerk others in and out of the rotation in 2024. Here is a look at the teasing we have seen from so many of our pitchers: Sale: It's all about his health. The guy used to be a stud and a 200IP guy. His 20 starts and 102 IP in 2023 were the most since 2019, and IMO have teased fans into expecting a return to giving more than that. I'm sorry: I can't do it. The 2023 "tease:" After his first 3 starts, he went 17 starts (sandwiched around an IL stint) with a 3.38 ERA/3.31 FIP. he was at 3.16/3.41 in his last 15 GS and 3.01/3.09 in an 11 game stretch in the middle of his season. That is not quite vintage Sale, but pretty freakin' good! What a great help it would be, if he could give us that over 26+ starts! What's the chances? Pivetta: He led MLB with 33 GS in 2022 and had 30 in 2021. (180 and 155 IP.) He could have probably done that, this year, if he didn't suck so much out of the gate and get demoted. Still, he has given us multiple "teases" over his career: 3.49/3.29 in his first 13 GS for the Sox (70 IP) 3.76/3.91 over his first 17 GS (91IP). 2022: 3.58/3.66 over a 15 start stretch. This year, he had a great and long run of mixed starts and relief stints. He's been pretty consistent: each year a long tease (or whatever you want to call it.) Crawford: He had a great 23 game stretch with 15 GS, included: 3.23/3.93. I'm not sure that is a long enough tease to pencil him in as a SP in 2024. His last 6 GS: 5.40/2.94. Whitlock and Houck have well-documented long stretches of doing very well, as well as some poor stretches.