moonslav59

Seems like we have been waiting forever for Sale to get healthy and looking good, then Paxton came along and doubled that feeling. Now, they look like our best hopes. (Bello, too.)

Good to see he can buckle down, when needed.

So, the answer is yes? You want him to change his approach?

I'm not saying I think Kike should be playing, but it's not a slam dunk choice. EValdez has had pretty bad splits v lefties and is not a better defender. Come to think of it, I support starting Kike.

It was the lefty-righty thingy. Same reason Ref is playing and hitting third.

I'm expecting him to get better and better, which is scary as hell.

He could be 3 for 3, if he just was more disciplined. (Just kidding.)

IMO, he's as good as he is, because of his approach. I wouldn't ask for anything different.

I'm really missing your point. You want him to change?

Since age 22, his "off season" was the short 2020 year, and he still hit .793. In the other 3 seasons, he's been between .879 and .916. He's at .876, now. He can get streaky, but overall, his seasons look remarkably consistent.

Just stopped by to say "Hello" to his ole pal.

Bobby Dee just singles in 2 runs in the 10th as Woo gets the win, 9-8. 4-5 Dalbec w HR, BB and 3 rbi 2-4 Goodrum w HR and 2BB 2-6 Hamilton with big hit in 10th and SB POR won 5-2 2-3 Hickey w BB 2-4 Rosier 1-3 Kavadas w 2B & BB GRE won 4-0 Coffey 6 IP, 4H, 0ER, 1BB, 11K!!! Mayer homered (5th) SAL lost 5-3 2-4 Anthony w HR 2-4 Ravelo

Cool! I've never seen a Sox game on the left coast.

Vs the lefthander... 1. Verdugo RF 2. Turner 1B 3. Refsnyder LF 4. Devers 3B 5. Yoshida DH 6. Kike SS 7. Reyes 2B 8. Duran CF 9. Wong C

We have a few days off, here and there, so we may not need a pen game, for a while. If we do, someday, we might just go with one guy for 5 or 6, if he can make it that long.

The Red Sox have signed outfielder Bradley Zimmer to a minor league deal.

I think the main replacement for Bogey was more Yoshida than Duvall (Duran.) I think Bloom counted on upticks in LF, CF, RF and 1B that would more than offset the loss of Bogey's offense. Break even at DH (Turner/JD) and Catcher (McGWong/ Vazwecki)

His .768 OPS prior to this season was a disappointment but not terrible. I doubt we trade him. I'm not sure we extend him, either, so who knows? We do not have OF depth, and won't next year, either. Blies and Anthony are too far away, and Abreu is unknown.

Agreed. I do think watching Story hit and field will be better than watching Arroyo, Chang, Kike and Valdez in the middle IF.

Bloom had help developing in TB, too. I'm not sure he has brought in any fresh faces in the scouting & development areas, and just how much does he do in this area, other than hire and direct those that do the legwork? I'm not saying changes are not being made. I'm hopeful on some of our younger pitchers- more so than I have been in a while. Plus, it's not just about developing: it's about spotting young pitchers to be drafted, signed as IFAs or in other ways. Bloom has not draft pitchers, highly, but Drohan just passed all the DD pitchers still in the farm. Bloom has signed some promising IFA pitchers, but none have yet to rise to the top of the rankings. He did spot Whitlock on the Rule 5 list. He did trade for Wink. He did not trade away Houck, Crawford or Bello. (I'm not sure how much, if any, he had to do with their development.) There are some long shots like de la Rosa and Gambrell. Maybe E R-C or Guerrero come through. (They are moving up the rankings.)

It's nearly impossible to win a ring with a weak 25-40 on the 40. We had a weak 18-40 in 2020. Plus, beyond the 40 showed very little promise, although some of DD's kids have come through, perhaps with some help from the system headed by Bloom after 2019. It took a while to build it up, and there were plenty of failures and missed boats- some just seemed to be a timing issue (Springs and Perez.) Now, many of our 25-40 guys are coming through with flying colors (Duran, Vadlez, Reyes, Wong/McGuire, Wink, Crawford, Bello and others. We still have some gaping holes, as do all other teams, except maybe TBR, and that's on Bloom. He had the money, last winter, and he made this bed.

That part has surprised me about not bringing in Rays guys. I'm not so sure it is "clear" he hasn't put some things into practice. How well would most GMs have done given the budget constraints placed on Bloom until March 2022? Did we really expect much better for the money than Wacha, Hill, Strahm, Kike I, Renfroe, Whitlock, Schreiber, Refsnyder, Arroyo, Wink, Dugo, Wong and others? I might have expected a few more Whitlocks and few less Marwins and Diekmans, but he has not been way off on signings. (BTW, the rays Way is not really based on nailing FA signings, anyway.) It's about building a deep 40 man roster and farm. In that area, the jury is still out, IMO, especially since most of his draft picks have been high school players. Did he and "his guys" have an impact on Bello, Wink, Crawford and maybe Drohan? We don't know and can't know, yet on many.

I think he will end up doing well on the season, but signing 30+ year olds always begs the question: at what point do they begin to drop off, and the follow-up: and how much of a drop off will it be?

I don't disagree with any of this, but one would think he'd have picked up some knowledge on identifying and acquiring players and prospects. He also, literally "wrote the book" on the "Ray's Way." https://vault.si.com/vault/2013/04/01/the-rays-way I, for one, do not think he has done a bad a job as many seem to think he has at acquiring low cost players. After the massive and mandated budget cuts after 2019- a year that had already exposed the holes on the roster, he had a lot of work to do, and precious few dollars to do it. Getting guys like Renfroe (that the Rays had non-tendered), Kike I, Arroyo, Schreiber, Refsnyder, Whitlock, Wink and later Wacha, Hill, Strahm and others is not bad. Sure, he flopped on Richards, Perez, Marwin, Diekman and others, but you get what you pay for, and he had to pay squat and often got squat. Did he build the farm and improve player development, especially pitching? It's too early to know. We do know he did not trade away 20 prospects that were or once were top 20 prospects like DD did, and soon he may need to trade some, but his 4-5 year plan is almost up.

I've never been too concerned about high K's unless the guy sucks. Bogey has really dropped off, after his hot start. 1.093 after 54 PAs .993 after 94 PAs .606 in his last 93 PAs