moonslav59

Like who? Owens? LOL. Casey Kelly? Espinoza was highly toutted.

I think they will lose a lot of fans, if they suck, next year. If they add good pitching (on paper,) but they fail anyway, maybe some slack might be given to the team, but Bloom will be roasted alive.

Oh, I thought 2019 was the same team as 2018. Oh, and by the way we had 92 wins in 2021, which is more than one season on that list.

He did have some nasty stuff, but so did Houck and so do Mata, Perales, Wikelman and maybe Monegro. It took him years to be ranked, though, and more years to be ranked top 10.

There are a lot of variables going into this winter, concerning the 2024 Red Sox roster and budget. It's hard to know what the budget plans are and where the roster priorities are, but that won't stop us from discussing them and giving our ideas, suggestions, predictions and criticisms. Right now, we have 45 players on the 40 man roster, due to 5 guys on the 60 day IL: Kluber, Mondesi, Mills, Kelly and Ort, and since there is no 60 day IL in the offseason, we will need to deal with those 5 slots, but not to worry, we have 5 players that will become free agents: Paxton Duvall Mondesi Kluber (option not be offered- no buyout.) Turner (player option will surely be turned down) That brings us to 40 without considering added free agents or trade acquisitions over the winter and Rule 5 additions. I can't see how we don't add at least 2-3 players to the roster via free agency or by trades involving non 40 man roster players. The Rule 5 list is rather long, but many are on the bubble. I'm thinking 5-6 are pretty sure bets to be protected and maybe 1-3 others as strong considerations. Here are my lists: Sure bets: W Gonzalez L Perales S Drohan G Gambrell S Scott Strong consideration: A Castro (too low level to be selected?) B Bonaci Kinda long shots: E Paulino M Lugo J Hagenman C-J Liu R Fernandez L de la Rosa A Bastardo B Bell B Gonzalez Let's say we protect 7 Rule 5 and add 3 free agents, that would mean 10 players will need to be DFA'd, non tendered or traded for non 40 man roster prospects. Here is my list of 8, and none of them make me feel worried we are handing one away: 1. Ort 2. Garza 3. Weiss 4. Barraclough 5. Jacques 6. Llovera 7. DHam (trade) 8. Dalbec (trade) Bubble players (trade away?) Wyatt Mills Zack Kelly Valued players thought to be possible trade bait" Dugo or Duran Sale (with cash) Joely, Murphy, Walter, Robertson or Mata EValdez I don't see a big roster squeeze, unless we try to sign 4-6 free agents and protect 7-9 Rule 5'ers. On the budget, a more detailed breakdown will be coming, but we are adding the Devers Raise (almost $12M) and have a bunch or ARB raises ('23 salary): 6.3 Dugo (3rd arb of 3) 5.3 Pivetta (3 of 3) 4.7 Urias (3 of 4) 1.2 McGuire (2 of 3) min Barraclough (3 of 3) 750K Schreiber (1 of 3) min Dalbec (1 of 3) cots has us at $158M before any arbs or options. That leaves about $80M for ARBs and additions. More to come...

If it's all about results, how come no Bloom team is on this list? Are the Bloom bashers just making excuses? LOL!

Which still includes Sale's contract, but we aren't allowed to make excuses.

Good one!

Nice. We need both but likely have under a 5% chance of getting one.

I thought we were talking about what it would take to trade for a Young Pedro, like we did back in fall '97 (Armas Jr & Pavano were no slouches, for sure,

They'd like to tell you to stop making excuses, Max. Bottom line is a GM with declining vets, little money to spend and a farm with no help for 5 years is a failure, if he can't win more than the losing 2019 team. But, it's us making excuses. What's the excuse for 2019 and declining vet production? To them, that's on Bloom, too. A farm that adds only Houck between Devers in '17 and Bello in '22-'23? That's on Bloom, too. A cut budget? Yes, Bloom begged JH to slash the budget so he could prove we can win without spending. It's all "excuses."

Max, nobody is saying hitting doesn't matter or that defense is more important. Some just think you are minimizing the impact our poor D has had on the team. Inconsisten hitting and poor D have mattered more, for sure, but just average D, and we'd be tied with TOR or TEx. I'm convinced.

I think with Duran as the headliner, we'd have to add York, Perales and maybe Wikleman, too or someone like Hickey or Romero..

A young Pedro was not all that highly regarded.

That could be a long wait, and you have not shown much patience with waiting. BTW, how do you know we don't have another Bello in our system, right now? In April 2024, Bello was barely ranked ahead of Groome, Mata and Walter. Despite being signed in 2017, he didn't crack the SPs top 20 list, in spring 2021 (9 other pitchers did), and Houck was ahead of him. It took Bello 4 seasons and 5 years to make it to AAA, yet you bash Bloom for not having any prospects ready in less than 4 years. In spring 2020 he was 19th, behind Mata 3, Groome 4, Houck 8, Song 9, Ward 11, Zef 13, Also 14, Murphy 16. How can you be so sure Wikelman 9, Perales 7, E R-C 19 or Mata 18 can't improve and move up like Belo? Granted, guys like Drohan, Murphy and Walter are long shots, but we have some other long shots showing some real promise, like Gambrell Monegro I Coffey Dobbins, Rogers, Bastardo, Liu, Paez

I'm glad we did not pay him to be one of 4 players on the 26 better suited to play DH. I was just pointing out his OBP is a value beyond the HRs and XBHs. The rest is all negatives.

They may not be ready, but it's not because they suck. He drafted HS kids early in his tenure here. They take longer to mature. BTW, we have already seen several Bloom prospects called up and helpful, which is not bad, considering he's been here for 4 years, and it takes 4-6 years for most prospects to mature AND be helpful at the big league level: Whitlock Winckowski Wong Bernardino Have made brief appearances, already: Abreu EValdez DHam Robertson Jacques Kelly Some that may be called up in 2024 (granted, not a great list for 24): Mayer (maybe 2025) Gambrell Yorke S Scott Rosier Drohan Mata Fernandez, Guerrero, Politi Kavadas 2025: Teel Meidroth Hickey Jordan Dobbins, I Coffey, Hoppe, Bastardo, Liu, Troye Lugo, Sikes. Koss, McDonough

Let's say we can get a solid young pitcher with no injury history for one of these two packages, which do you choose? Mayer, Drohan and Hickey or Rafaela, Wikelman, Perales and Romero

This is getting funny. We can use a good laugh.

I'd be happy with that gamble plus a trade for another solid SP'er or another big signing. I like Urias, mostly for his age and most recent 3 years not his 2023 season, but I know you like others more.

Who is the pitcher(s) you would go large and long on?

He does walk enough to give him another dimension beyond just the HRs. His career .338 OBP is decent. It's been .340 since 2021. In the last 3 seasons, he has averaged 72 XBHs per 162.

Not great. Last 4 seasons: .752 OPS and 27 HRs per 162 games. (59 XBHs) Last 2 seasons .762 OPS and 24 Hrs per 162. (61 XBHs) Slightly better but still not great.

They don't count anything as an error anymore, unless you kick a slow grounder. The amount of somewhat easy or routine or slightly difficult plays not made could be near 100, and I'm not exaggerating. Even if we agree it's 60, let's apply that to the offense. Let's say our offense got 60 less hits, our BA would go from .265 to .251. That would moves us from 3rd in MLB to 15th.

If they trade Mayer, Story stays at SS and rafaela plays CF. Plus, according to some, we still have 18 SSs in the system besides Mayer.