moonslav59

Good to see Story looking like he's finding his mojo.

Can we have your pitching scouts and developers while keeping our everyday player guys, too?

Will you go back to your laurels, if we go cheap, this winter?

...and T Shaw, Beeks, Ty Buttrey, Springs, Martin Perez, Brasier off the top of my head. Up & Down or Meh: Hill, Kelly, Beni, Hill, Strahm, Hill, Erod, Hill, Hill, Hill... Worse: Kimbrell, Workman, Hembree, Price, Bogey, Vaz... I'm sure I missed some or there will be a disagreement on how I categorized some.

With the same budget, maybe no Turner and maybe more...

You crack me up- always!

It's the way it should be, even if you are already stacked at the position (not that we were at catcher.)

At the deadline, prices are usually high, especially for pitchers with more than 2 months of control. Winter is the best time for these sorts of deals: Pedro Schilling Beckett Sale Porcello (Nate is the only big one acquired mid season.)

If he has 5-4, he almost always alternates.

Me, too. I'd be like, you better go super large and long in '25, if we go cheap, next year. TEX is doing pretty good, so to many, that is all that counts, but some of those big spending moves have not worked as expected: Semien: .767 OPS w TEX .873 w TOR Seager .870 w TEX .870 w LAD, but .926 from '20-'21 (223 games out of a possible 280 is kinda better than expected.) de Grom 30 IP in 2023 Nate: 124 IP and on the IL but was doing great Perez: Started out doing well, but is at 4.94 in '23

Two very big minuses. Many of the scrubs chosen to fill out the bottom of the pen have been awful, too, but I don't weigh them as heavily as FT'ers and higher leverage pitchers. When you also consider, he had some big names (not necessarily big 2022 numbers) to replace, I think he did better than 2021's additions, yet the W-L records don't show it.

I'm all for the idea!

That guy is obsessed!

I'm sure you have better stats than I do, but these aren't too bad: Walter 2022: 3.59 ERA/ 0.902 WHIP (58 IP) an awesome .585 OPS Against (only Bello and Politi had more IP and a better OPSA) 2021: 2.92 ERA/0.974 WHIP (89 IP) 2019: 2.70 ERA/1.020 WHIP (33 IP) Robertson 2023: 2.87/1.117 (31 IP) 2022: 4.43/1.373 (67) 2019: 1.65/0.612 (36)

Looking at all the names on these lists and counting the higher cost ones with more weight, do you think the net additions was a plus or a minus or about even?

Without knowing if the no prospects traded was a directive from above, I cannot bring myself to hold it against Bloom. If we find out he could have and chose not to do it, I would still want to withhold criticism, until we see how well the prospect we would have traded does going forward, and how well the pitcher we might have gotten does to end the year. To me, it's never as cut and dried as some seem to think it is. Again, just my point of view.

Well, you didn't want him to trade them. Except for JD, most of the departed players are struggling or on the IL. He replaced some big name players and some meh players with some in house players that I see as gambles or big gambles and msot worked, except SS, and that's the one we hear about mostly. Kike at SS Duran in the OF Casas at 1B Wong at C Bello at SP Crawford and Wink as key pitchers He added a bunch of players to the inhouse solutions, mostly good moves, IMO, but who do we talk about mostly? Yes, Kike. Kluber Yoshida Turner Jansen Martin Duvall (Do you see this list as mostly failures? If not, how many kudos have you mentioned on these guys vs criticisms of Kluber?) Lesser cost additions: Mondesi, Joely, Mills, Bernardino, Reyes, Chang and the revolving door at pen depth. (Agree- far too many swings and misses, here.) Plus last summer additions: McGuire EValdez Abreu (hasn't played in MLB, yet) Do you see this list as being a net negative?

You don't have to keep telling me. You certainly don't have to keep telling me (and others) that you keep telling me (us.) I know your positions well. I know fans see things differently than I do. I have said I think I am in a tiny minority on some issues. I get that it "works for you," but if I disagree, I'm going to say it.

They certainly are not right, every time. Nobody is, except MVP (in his own mind.) LOL Yes, having more information does not mean they are right and I am wrong, but I feel, if I knew that information, before I gave my opinion, I might not have had the same opinion I gave when uniformed. I do disagree on some things, where I believe I am right and Cora or Bloom are wrong, but again, I don't know what their bosses have tasked them to do or prioritize. I'll name a few: I think Cora rests players, too much, and should not choose days to rest players when the L-R splits go against the day in question. I think that is wrong, but maybe that player will do better with that day of rest, going forward, and Cora was right, afterall. I think Bloom was wrong to not trade some marginal prospects for a SP'er, at the deadline, but I don't know, if the organization is dead set on keeping any prospect with a pulse. If that is the case, I won't say "Bloom was wrong." I try not to see things in black and white. I like in a grey world. Maybe I lived in Gray, Maine, too long.

I know you have. I may think far too few. I may think providing context and background is not apologizing or supporting, but some may see or take it differently.

I agree that fWAR is more accurate, but I do think they favor FIP related stats too heavily.

Another total misrepresentation of my position, but what else is new? When a manager makes thousands of choices each season, is it not possible to disagree with many choices and still think he is a good manager? Is it possible to think, "I'd have done _____," but Cora did that and still not think he was wrong? I'd say, "hell yah," especially when I often add, "He knows more about the situation than I do." Often, I have said, "I'd have started Refsnyer," hten find out he was hurt or had bad splits vs that pitcher, afterwards, so in cases like that, Cora was likely right, and I was wrong. I have no issues with being wrong, and I will admit it when I find out I was wrong. BTW, the statement was, "I disagree with the move Cora made, but that doesn't mean I think HE was wrong."

We agree on this. All 2024 plans should be based on 0 GS'd by Sale.

But it often sounds like the bashers think there is a huge Bloom apologist legion on this site.

I've said hundreds of time, my view is in the minority and maybe even a tiny minority on many aspects of how Sox fans view the team and direction of the team. I have no issues with that, but when someone says or implies that because they think more people agree with them, it somehow strengthens their position, I take issue with that. Most fans and people, at least in our society, live in the here and now and some don't care about context or diving deeper into the hows and whys of things. I try not to be like that, and I know I come across as sounding like my view is better than theirs, but it is what it is. GMs are judged by results and almost totally in hindsight. That has been the way for many years. It may or may not be fair, but to me, context is needed, and not just about GMs signing a player with a great health history, only to see the guy get hurt, early in the contract, but also about all the many aspects that affect a GM's success, and in this case, immediate success or lack of it. I try to provide that context, and it comes across as being apologetic and some might view it see being overly defensive. I have been highly critical of many moves Bloom has made. I've given him grades of lower than C in some areas, while viewing others as "incomplete, but again, when given the context of the budget he was given and the amount of holes he needed to fill each off season, what should be expected? 75% hits on contracts from $3M/1 to $10M/1?? To me, it's laughable to blame him for not doing better than the 50-60% he has given us, depending on how you grade each move. When I hear a poster say "every move he makes sucks," or "most of his moves and non moves suck," I cringe. I provided lists all all the major and minor moves he's made and asked those who are highly critical of his moves to tell me how many were failures, and I don't think any even tried to give me a number. They harp on JBJ, Kluber, Richards and Story, but seemingly forget all the good moves, some very low cost hits Off the top of my head, I think Bloom deserves these grades: C to C- on ML roster construction, but maybe C+, if you look at expectations per contract dollars B on budget management and the lessening of deadwood contracts he inherited INC on farm building, but I like what I'm seeing and am grateful some of his immediate moves have helped out, including... 1. Not trading away and having faith in Bello, DDuran, Casas, Wong and others 2. Adding ML ready prospects via trade or other ways that have already contributed, like Winckowski, Whitlock, Bernardino and Wong. 3. Maybe improving our development process of prospects, including pitchers, which we have not seen much of, except for maybe Houck (Bello, Crawford, Wink, Murphy, Walter...) Do those grades look like someone who is a huge Bloom supporter or apologist? .