moonslav59

I would rather end up being angry at Bloom for not replacing JT and Duvall, or for thinking more play from Story, Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, Reyes & urias can take up the slack than to be angry again for under appreciating the needs at SP. I'm thinking 90% of all resources (money and or prospects traded) should go to the rotation. I would not be upset at 100%.

I'm not one to expect a repeat of a player's last 2-3 months for the remainder of his career. Ref is one of MLB's best batters vs LHPs since the start of 2022- a much bigger sample size than his last 2-3 months. He may not hit 1.000 again, but I fully expect him to hit significantly better than Duran vs LHPs, going forward. (Also, I'm not sure we can pencil in what Duran did in 2-3 months as the new expectation.)

Yes, I see a Duran/Refsnyder platoon in LF, especially because bot are better than our new FT DH, Yoshida, but to me, both are still better suited for DH not LF, but our team does not have that luxury- not that I would keep Ref as just a platoon DH. He's okay as the back-up LF'er and emergency RF depth.

Sounds about right. It will take an organizational commitment to jack up the rotation in major ways (note the plural.)

It's a big step in the right direction, but with injuries and unexpected declines by a SP'er or two (or three,) we'd still end up 2-3 from Houck, Pivetta, Crawford and Whitlock starting significant games in 2024. 30 Gray 30 Snell 30 Bello 25 Pivetta 22 Houck 25 from whom? Sale? LOL It's going to be Crawford or Whitlock or maybe Wikelman by the end of the year. Then, we have Murphy and Walter in the pen, instead of Crawford or Whitlock (or Houck and Pivetta.) We need to plan on zero from Sale, and as few starts as possible from 3 of those 4 guys. (I'd put Pivetta at #5, and use Houck or Crawford as the #6- not both, if possible.) I would not start Whitlock, again, unless as an opener.

Should I say "Freaking major?" That does seem closer to the truth. My point was: we have had less and less major needs, every winter since 2019-2020. (Every winter, we needed 3 SP'er or more.) Sorry, I can never count on Sale for even 1 IP, anymore. He can be "depth," of if he is healthy and doing well, than it would help the pen to move my 5th starter (Pivetta or Crawford) to the pen. I'd love to see us have one of the best and deepest pens in MLB, with several 2-3 or even 4 IP guys> 8 Man Pen: Houck, Whitlock & Pivetta or Crawford (which ever is not our #5.) Wink, Bernardino & Schreiber (7th & 8th) Martin & Jansen (8th & 9th)

Tell me what other major needs we have besides... SP 1 SP 2 SP 3 Moderate needs: LH RP RH power bat Sure, we could use some more depth at MI, and improve on RF or CF beyond the RH'd bat I mentioned, but I see 3 major and 2 moderate, and we can be serious contenders. Without Sale Without certain pitchers in the rotation but in the pen, instead. Without more than the expected amount of injuries. The 2023 looked to be close, until those 3 major slots took its toll on the team. Yes, we also need improved timely hitting. Yes, our D needs to improve, but it should, anyway, even without any major additions. SS: Story 2B: Urias & Reyes C & 1B: young players improving OF: Rafaela (Abreu> Refsnyder/Duran/Yoshi)/ Yoshi to SH Same: 3B, RF How many "major needs" do you see? (I can go along with 5, which is still less than the past 3 winters.)

No. It's a fact. I have admitted I lash out and apologized, often, when needed. It's your misconception I claim or think I don't. I suppose you feel you have alternative facts. I say... Yes, of you and the whole naysayer posse. The sky is falling! Blame _____! Blame ____! Blame _____! Rinse and repeat. LOL! You assume this... But you aren’t sick of finishing last. That’s weird. You still pretend to know what I think and claim my thoughts are just "perceptions." It's your MO. I am sick of finishing last. You can pretend I'm not, but that's your perception, not mine.

We also needed 3 SP'ers or more SP'ers prior to 2020, 2021 and 2023 plus 3-4 other major needs last winter, 5-7 more in '21 and 8-10 more in 2020.

I'm thinking there can and should be a happy medium: 4-6 days off for younger players and 6-9 off for aging or frail players, unless you can DH them, here and there.

Agreed, and we saw it for a little while in 2021. In some ways, I think 2021 raised the fan expectations by getting us to believe the rebuild was done, and we'd only improve on that season. We then added Wacha, Hill and Strahm while dumping Richards and Perez, yet the staff did worse. We added Story, and his injury and lack of consistent production, when healthy did not help the O. Follow that up with losing big name guys like Bogey, JD and Vaz, despite their recent declines or sporadic production, and the death spiral continued.

I don’t claim I never lash out. Not sure why you ask. I’m not making continued false assumptions about your position or thoughts. My point was about a seemingly endless blame cycle that often goes off track in a frenzied bash fest.

...and add a few: Turner Duvall Renfroe

I've agreed the farm value is speculative. I'm not sure why you keep feeling the need to repeat it to me over and over. We agree. That's a rare things, so let it be. I've never said you have to finish in last to build up the farm or the future. I expected better in 2022 and better in 2023. It did not happen. The budget was part of the issue for a while, but to me, not really since the Story signing, although some claim our fall in the budget rankings is a sign of a change in priority from now to the future (or to JH's wallet.) I'm not just talking about the farm, here. I'm talking about tangible changes to the MLB foundation. The W-L records important, and it bugs me, too, we haven't seen dramatic improvemnt, there, but I'll repost this .... Judge for yourself: this was the roster at the end of 2019: (Remember: a team that did not make the playoffs and had already shed Kimbrell & Kelly without replacing them the winter before 2019.) Not brought back from 2019: Porcello- played some with NYM in 2020, then never pitched again. Betts & Price- famously traded for Dugo, Wong and Downs. Holt- played sparingly on 2 teams in 2 years then gone from MLB. Brought back: ERod- out for all 2020 with COVID Sale- out for so long, I forgot who he was. Nate- missed a lot of time and had one somewhat off season when he did pitch. Brian Johnson Workman & Hembree (traded by Bloom for Pivetta- they both sucked afterwards) Josh Taylor- out hurt for a long time DHern- lol Cashner, Lakins, Velazquez, Weber, Shawaryn, Brewer, Poyner, T Kelley, Chacin (You guys act like Bloom took over the 2018 team in full health.) Vaz and Leon Moreland and Sam Travis Marco Hernandez and Chris Owings Bogey Devers Beni (later traded for Wink & Gambrell plus Franchy and others) JBJ (left via FA after 2020 only to return in a blunder trade) Gorkys Hernandez JD That was THE FOUNDATION! Be honest. Look closely at that roster above. Now, look at the foundation for 2024's team. Yup, the rotation is in shambles, but what about the rest? Sure, we don't know how good Casas, Wong and many others will be, but we thought we knew how good Bogey, JD, Nate, Sale, ERod and others would be after 2019, and that turned out to be not as expected.

His sample size is rather small, but the rumblings about his bad D appear to be spot on. The .709 OPS in 127 PAs needs a lot of improvement to offset that bad D, but I'm not sure we can write him off, just yet.

Not much value in the short end of a DH platoon, but they guy does hit LHPs, pretty damn well.

LF, barely, and it helps that Fenway can hide that to a higher extent, but he's still not really a plus on D, to me. He may be, if he keeps improving. He really sucked just a year and a half ago.

HOU got to this level by tanking and firesales, but they have become a model on how to stay competitive, while losing top studs to free agency over and over. (Kinda like ATL losing Freeman and others before him.) When you keep winning, nobody cries over losing Springer, Cole, Correa, Verlander... Seriously, I'm here in Houston: nobody is crying and hardly anyone did, at the time these guys bolted for nothing but comp picks.

It was. No need to be sorry.

Sorry for lumping you in with the "posse." That was wrong of me. You don't twist what others say into strawmen, and I appreciate that. Me, I think Bloom has set us on the right path, except for improving the pitching enough to make me feel confident we will get "there" soon. He hasn't traded any good ones away, and the most promising ones he did trade were maybe Aldo Ramirez, Jay Groome, Frank German and then the Rule 5 loss of TWard and Song, that may not be as bad as some thought it might be. When you look at the Sox system since Lester, the issue was around long before Bloom and even DD. That's no excuse. In fact, it should have been a wake up call to focus our GMs on that very issue and to fix it. That being said, since Bloom took over, some of DD's pitchers and his own have made a bigger impact than I have seen in a long time. Bello may not be the next Lester, but he looks to be the closest thing to him than we have seen in a decade or more. 2020: Houck 2021: Whitlock 2022-2023: Crawford & Winckowski 2023: Bello Other teams have done better: some have done way better, but this is an improvement, and I'm not sure expecting massive and quick improvement should have been the expectation. I know, I know, 4 years is a lot of time, and yes, the farm should have more promising arms, by now, than it seems to have. That's a big hit on Bloom's "ace in the hole:" farm building. I get that. I would not be upset or shocked, if he is canned. He'd be an easy scapegoat for JH and Co. I'm not sure, if he is capable of producing more Bellos or adding established pitchers via free agency or trade. That's enough to justify your opinion and others. Like I have said, there is plenty to blame Bloom for, so why do people have to invent some that are not his fault or mostly his fault? That is what gets me to try and explain the context or deeper reasons (rightly or wrongly.)

Duran & Refsnyder might be, too.

You crack me up.

No doubt. We could be way worse, since there is a pretty wide margin between a .500 team and the Royals and A's. If you want to deny that the outlook seems better, that's fine. (I'm not saying you are, but the amount of time you spend raining on others' optimism makes me wonder.) I've said many times, the future is speculation, but that doesn't mean you don't try to improve the odds on good results, and to me, Bloom has surely improved the 26 and 40 man foundation from when he took over. We had about 18-20 slots in need of great improvement prior to 2020. Last winter we had about 5-7, and Bloom bumbles or avoided improving the most important 2-3 slots. This winter, I see 3 major slots (SP1, SP2, SP4) and maybe 2 moderate needs (LH's RP & Big RH'd bat.) To me, the trend seems to be less and less major needs, but until we fill them all or maybe all but one, we won't be seeing teh results we all hope for.

Another off base assumption based on squat. One can be unhappy and not feel the need to lash out with endless blame cycles. One can be unhappy and not share your same opinion on where to assign blame or how much one single person deserves. What is weird is how you and others make so many false assumptions, despite being called out on it over and over. You persist.

Yes, of you and the whole naysayer posse. The sky is falling! Blame _____! Blame ____! Blame _____! Rinse and repeat.