moonslav59

I liked the idea of a rental, but they all looked like overpays, in hindsight. I figured there must be some higher priced player whose high salary negated his skill value that we could get for someone like Paulino or Brannen, but I didn't see any deals like that made. I'm okay with what we did. Maybe the Sox scouting report on Civale warns of something. I know I am in a distinct minority, when I say I think a 96% healthy Sox team is a good contender in 2023 (only 1 key player on IL.) With 4 out of 26 key players on the IL, which puts at about 85% healthy, I doubt we can compete. Maybe if 2 of the 4 return and help, we can win. If 3 of 4 return and help, I would not bet against us. The 4: Story, Sale, Houck, Whitlock Let's play devil's advocate and say 3 of 4 return and help (just one from Houck and Whitlock.) This could be our set-up: 1. Duran CF/LF 2. Yoshiada LF/DH 3. Devers 3B 4. Turner DH/2B/1B 5. Casas 1B 6. Story SS 7. Dugo RF (Refsnyder RF v L?) 8. Duvall CF/LF, Refsnyder LF/RF, Arroyo 2B 9. Wong/McGuire C SP: Bello, Paxton, Sale, Crawford, Pivetta LR: Houck or Whitlock, Murphy SR: Jansen, Martin, Winckowski, Schreiber, Bernardino, Bleier or Joely Maybe, I'm a homer, but that team looks like a playoff team.

I do think the Civale trade options might have made sense, but not the rental deals.

I'm confident one of those 3 will help, and think the odds are 2 will, but we needed help NOW (actually weeks ago.)

HR 25 Dalbec 15 Hickey & Kavadas 14 Jordan, Rafaela, Abreu 13 Mayer 12 Scott, RHern, Binelas & Palka 11 Anthony, Yorke, Hamilton XBHs 37 Dalbec 34 Mayer & Fitzy 31 Hickey, Paulino, Anthony & Castro 30 Jordan & Yorke RBI 63 Jordan 59 Rafaela 58 Dalbec 54 Mayer SB 38 Hamilton 8 CS 37 Rosier 6 36 Sikes 6 33 Rafaela 11 30 Liendo 6 26 Ferguson 4 22 Paulino 6 120+ ABs OBP .431 Joh. Garcia .424 S. Nunez .406 Meidroth .404 Anthony .404 N Yuten .390 Kavadas .388 Dalbec SLG .599 Dalbec .549 Joh Garcia .537 Fitzy .535 Cespedes .520 Hickey .508 Rafaela .506 Jordan .498 Scott Nice BB-K numbers: 40-31 Yoiber Ruiz 26-19 Musett 30-32 K Diaz 66-77 Anthony 58-69 Castro 39-47 Scott Pitching OPS Against (27+ IP) .530 Monegro .542 Soto .587 Guerrero .599 Bolden .600 Dobbins .600 Denlinger .603 Henriquez .608 B Bell .608 Cepeda .609 Bastardo 50+ IP .611 Paez .619 Wikelman .622 Perales .628 L de la Rosa .660 E R-C .681 I Coffey

That was quite a game from Rafaela, Abreu & Scott. Woo drew 11 BBs. Woo is now 7 games over .500. Woo is in 3rd place in a 10 team league, but they are 0.5 GM Durham (TBR.) POR won 3-0 and is 16 games over .500. POR is in 2nd place, 2 GB Somerset (NYY.) 2nd best record in 12 team league. GRE won 6-5 to go 4 over .500. Perales K'd 10 in 5 IP (4H, 0ER, 3BB) Anthony went 3 for 4 with a BB, 1B, 2B and 3B. Paulino went 3-4, too. GRE has the second best record in their A+ league. SAL lost 7-1 to go 5 under .500. The FCL Red Sox are 22-16 (4th place out of 16) The DSL Blue are 20-20 (22nd out of 50 teams) Red is 19-21 (30th)

Like Jansen, Martin and Bernardino?

I think Civale was another option, due to multiple years of control.

That's hard to know, but I do think he has more to say in the matter than MVP is hinting at.

I have to think we could have traded for some overpaid pitcher and gave up nothing very important. Just making the effort might have appeased fans to some extent, and who know, maybe it even would have helped the team.

Here is a look at some of the bigger trades made, recently and how BTV valued them vs what might the Sox have had to give up to match the value actually given up. (There is no way of knowing the other team would have accepted the deals I am describing, and I would not have been for many of them, but here are a few ideas. Do any look like deals you might have supported? 21.2 for Civale for 26.2 Houck 24.0 Anthony 22.0 Yorke & Hickey or Brannon 20.1 Crawford 21.8 Rafaela & Romero 22.7 Rafaela, Paulino & Walter 20.9 for Verlander & $35M for 20.1 Crawford 21.8 Rafaela & Romero 22.7 Rafaela, Paulino & Walter 20.1 for Scherzer & $35M for 20.1 Crawford 21.8 Rafaela & Romero 22.5 Rafaela, Paulino & Drohan or Perales 4.6 for Flaherty 7.2 for Montgomery & Stratton for 8.7 Romero 8.0 Walter & Perales or Drohan 7.0 Paulino & Hickey

If he almost always agrees with what the people around him suggest, and I'm not saying he does that, then in a sense, he is not the major decision-maker, despite possibly having "the last word," so to speak. I think we all agree on the biggest money decisions, JH and others have the final say.

I feel the same way. At least spending that $10M or so would give fans the impression the plan involved being as competitive as possible within the confines of a reset. NOPE! Quick question: are fans more pissed after this deadline than the last one? (I'm kinda thinking no.)

He's cut and reset, before and followed it up with increased spending and occasional splurges. I'm thinking this is the pattern. The spending has already seen an uptick, and the Devers extension kicks in, next year. I'm thinking JH will spend heavily, when he thinks the moment is right.

Fixed it for you.

Putting " Beergate" to shame.

You have always been so optimistic!

Just in time for the Astros series!

Let's hope hometown cooking changes that!

Would DD have wanted to stick around, if JH told him he not only had to trade Betts and half-Price, but cut even more from the budget going into 2020, and then take 3 years to get back to similar spending? I think he'd have quit, under the directives Bloom was given. If your argument is that had DD been "given more time," meaning he could have spent more than Bloom was given, and been allowed to go ahead and trade Casas, Duran, Bello and others, then one might argue Bloom's record would have been better under those same terms.

It's not exactly the same situation, but Ben hardly traded any prospects- like Bloom. Ben was given a bigger budget earlier on than Bloom was, but Bloom has spent a lot, recently, especially if you count the Devers extension. I think JH wanted to build a sustainable winning team under Ben, and figured he'd have to spend here and there to plug a few holes, but the losing made him switch gears and shift to the opposite plan by hiring DD, who was given the ability to trade over 20 prospects that were, at one time or another, top 20 prospects on SPs. Compare the top prospects trade by DD vs Ben & Bloom. It's obvious big changes in direction and directives were made.

German is out on alcohol rehab.

I think JH started the current plan with Ben, but gave up after the 3 last place finishes were just too much to handle. The fans and media were irate. He then switched gears from 1st to 5th, almost overnight. Maybe, this time he lets the plan run its course,

IMO, much of Bloom's biggest choices had to do with building for long term success. I think that came from the top. I think seeing Bello, Casas, Duran, Wink and a few other make an impact on the current team has only solidified the strategy they chose during the 2019 season. Like it or not, it seems clear all the talk of trying to stay competitive every year was mostly just talk. It may have been a low priority, but clearly not a top one. Bloom drafted mostly HS players, the first few years. The loss of a year of development in 2020, slowed the maturation process, a bit. It's really impossible to know just how good all these new players and prospects will be. Bloom's final grade will not be know for many years. The farm looks solid, on paper, with some weak areas, but in theory, it is much better than 2019's farm. Almost every major trade Bloom made involved bringing a prospect or young controllable player to the Sox. The Aldo ramirez for Schwarber represented one of the very rare prospect for Vet trade he has made. Certainly, mistakes have been made- more than anyone of us wanted, but again, when you have so many holes to fill and limited funds, you end up signing guys for $3M to $10M, and you basically get what you pay for. Add to that, most of those low range deals were one year and done deals. What do you expect for a success rate for a $10M/1 SP'er? 50%? Well, Bloom went oh for 2, but in theory, one was supposed to fail, so he really missed by 50% not 100%. He did better on his $4-9M deals and had some great hits on even lesser ones, like Renfroe, Refsnyder, Schreiber, Whitlock, Bernardino and others. It looks like Bloom will be here for 2024 and probably beyond. I thought this would be his "make or break" year, but I think JH sees it differently, and I can't say he's wrong for wanting long term success strategies put in place.

Because DD the Almighty liked the guy- twice! That must have value.

He's owed $43M, but HOU is not paying all that. The Mets are paying a combined $35MM of Verlander’s 2023-24 salary. They’d pay half of his $35MM salary in 2025 if his option vests. In all, they’re paying as much as $52.5MM of the nearly $93MM that could still be paid out on his deal, pending that option. -MLBTR That being said, I would not have traded Rafaela and Romero- about the BTV equivalent of what HOU gave up to pay him the difference. There were some trades, I think I might have matched in equal prospect value, but I think Bloom & Co. chose to ride the horses that got us here, and hope the returning horses give us the boost we need. It's clear that the extended future is a much higher priority than the here and now. Maybe, this time, JH will let it play out to its end (unlike replacing Ben with DD.)