moonslav59

I do think we have made great strides in building up the farm system, particularly its depth, but we seem to have a strong top of the farm and bottom of the farm, but not all that much meaningful promise in the middle. To me, there is a big drop off after our top 3 prospects, as is likely true with most teams, but then I see another big drop after #5-6, and an even bigger one after #10. I may be overly dramatizing this, but our 11-35 prospects don't seem all that much better than our 36-60 prospects or those selected by other teams via Rule 5. We have an abundance of just barely better than average prospects.

Okay, he "dithered" on big trades, but that was not how the statement was presented. His making 5 trades is not "dithering," IMO. He dithered at the 2023 deadline.

He did have the same ERA with the Cubs (for 6 years) as the Sox (for 9 years). We could have used him, and he was cheaper than Price. We won a ring in 2018, so it's easier to let go. Had the Sox won after letting Betts, go, it would not be such a major issue.

I hope it's not another LF'er like Gurriel. If we knew Taylor could repeat .720, I'd sign him, pronto. .690 would be okay.

I think Mata has a better chance at sticking than Drohan, Fernandez and others.

Just shows how deep and strong our farm pitching is.

My point was mainly to show that even DD has no record of doing well, when spending is low or cut drastically. He spent a little more in Montreal and brought the team from 81-81 to 85-77, but ended up with 71 wins, the year he left. The Marlins went from 27th in spending to 7th before winning the '97 WS. Yes, DD built a championship team in a very short time, BUT he had a big budget. When they cut salary the year after, the team went 54-108, yet people want to think he'd have worked a miracle in 2020 based on his "history." In Detroit, the team really sucked his first few years (low spending) and only made the WS in '06 after bringing the team payroll from 25th to 14th. Their second WS showing was after reaching 3rd in spending with a 74-88 record, then going uo to 1st in spending 3 years later for the season before their next trip to the WS in '12. Again, I love the guy. I have no issues with what he did. I'm just saying, he has no proven he can win on a low budget. The team must have felt Bloom had that ability. A recap of the CB Tax Budget over recent Sox seasons: $178M in 2013's ring year $186 under Ben $199 Ben's last year in 2015 $204 DD's first year $191 his 2nd year $239 for the 2018 championship $243 in 2019's disappointing season (DD's last) $185 in 2020 (Bloom's 1st season) $207 in '21 $236 in '22 (finally back to near DD spending) $222 in Bloom's final year

Agreed, even though he was here for just one year. We've had some doozies that are still being talked about, like Lester and Bogey, but Betts blows them away.

CBS Sports has Drohan as the top Rule 5 pick to watch: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/2023-mlb-rule-5-draft-date-time-five-players-to-watch-and-everything-else-to-know/

Rule 5 Draft begins at 2 pm. The order is.... 1. Oakland A’s 2. Kansas City Royals 3. Colorado Rockies 4. Chicago White Sox 5. Washington Nationals 6. St. Louis Cardinals 7. Los Angeles Angels 8. New York Mets 9. Pittsburgh Pirates 10. Cleveland Guardians 11. Detroit Tigers 12. Boston Red Sox 13. San Francisco Giants 14. Cincinnati Reds 15. San Diego Padres 16. New York Yankees 17. Chicago Cubs 18. Miami Marlins 19. Arizona Diamondbacks 20. Minnesota Twins 21. Seattle Mariners 22. Toronto Blue Jays 23. Texas Rangers 24. Philadelphia Phillies 25. Houston Astros 26. Milwaukee Brewers 27. Tampa Bay Rays 28. Los Angeles Dodgers 29. Baltimore Orioles 30. Atlanta Braves

Letting guys like Pedro, Beltre, Damon and Ellsbury walk was questionable, at the time, but made some sense. Trading Manny had to happen. Letting Betts walk was in a class all by itself. I do think, had we gone out and spent the Betts, Price, kimbrell and Kelly money in 2020 and 2021, and maybe won a ring or come close in the last 4 years, we might cut JH a little slack, but the guy turtled it, after the trade.

Ohtani expected to "decide" by Sunday. Maybe Yamo is signed shortly afterwards, perhaps by one of those who barely missed out on Ohtani.

Just so you know, I enjoy most of your posts.

O's close to signing Kimbrell.

LF: Soto CF: Judge RF: Dugo A nice upgrade.

Yanks are "close to" finalizing a deal for Soto. Apparently, the deal includes King, Thorpe and "at least 2 more players."

I don't see a purpose in these type of posts.

The funny thing is, Wong may end up being the largest prize.

I totally agree. What made it worse was not using the money saved until 2-3 years later, and then botching that spending.

And we can use the $25K to sign Yamo!!!''

There was no excuse not extending him is the better terminology.

Tanking in 2020 made Dugo's year one value useless. He really only helped us win in 2021. To me, he was a letdown, despite doing okay. I agree, we should have expected better than an okay player for Betts. The let down: 2019 (LAD) and 2020 (BOS:) Ages 23-24 .300 18 59 in 598 PAs .827 OPS (117 OPS+) 2021-2023 (Ages 25-27) .278 12 64 per 600 PAs .751 OPS (103 OPS+) Had he just repeated '19-'20 stats, it would not have been as bad.

What about Abreu's defensive instincts and range? I'm all for giving him and Rafaela a shot, but I think we need a better plan B than Mr. Platoon Refsnyder.

It's no coincidence that the pitchers that "got away" were the most expensive ones Bloom would have ever signed.

Yup! Yet another left fielder. Has anything really changed?