moonslav59

I think the third spot is rated as 5th or 6th in importance, now.

Well, Longoria was traded just in time, but Devers is here forevers.

Is there a difference?

Hw will never even hint at thinking about wanting to be traded. Nevers Devers!

I think the hope was Mondesi would be ready, sooner.

True, but GMs are, for right or wrong, judged in hindsight, and Downs sucked. My opinion on the trade was that we also dumped Price. It was one year of Betts plus Price, and I really don't think there were many offers being made for both. The padres offer does not look great, either, so what were Bloom's choices? It is easy to just say, he should have done better, and certainly Graterol is better than Downs, but it's not like missing out on Graterol is a major blunder, to me. Verdugo has done pretty well and still has another year after this. The fact that Bloom was forced to make a trade makes me not list that trade as a major blunder.

It does look like a blunder, and it was. It's hard for me to fault him, except in hindsight, but your point is well-taken.

Pessimism is another word for expecting us to lose.

Sale will certainly get a few more starts to show if he's toast or not. I'm looking forward to Bello joining the big club and Whitlock improving.

The Springs desal sucked, but who here hated the deal, back then? On the Betts trade, I wanted Verdugo and Maeda, but because we dumped Price, and Bloom was told to trade betts, I don't hold the Downs failure against Bloom, all that much. My least favorite choices, and I hated them when made were: 1. The Bogey negotiations 2. The Renfroe-JBJ trade 2. The Diekman signing (one fo the very few signings for over 1 year, up to March 2022.) Since he ended up dumping most of Diekman's deal, which was only $8M/2 and got McGuire in return, this turned out to be not all that bad. I'd have kept Ward, German, Politi and even Wallace over Ort, but this is not a major thing, to me. It is likely none of these guys do well. His best: 1. Whitlock Rule 5 2. Pivetta trade 3. Wacha, Hill & Strahm for $15M, total 4. Schreiber & Refsnyder for free

Perez is off to a good start in 2023, so maybe 2022 wasn't a fluke. GMs are judged in hindsight. Bllom was supposed to know Story, Duvall and others

Schreiber and Duran does, too. Rafaela for both is accepted, but I'd want some cash. I doubt the Cards accept this approved BTV deal: McGuire, Anthony, Duran and Crawford for the 2.

Were the Astros & Dodgers called Tampa West?

There are many more than these, including acquiring Renfroe (great) then trading him for JBJ & prospects (huh?) He also signed Mondesi to "fill the SS hole," and that has been a blank, so far. (Add Diekman, Marwin, Andriese...) In between many of these blunders, he has made some decent, good and even very good moves. Pants pulled up on Rule 5 Whitlock selection. Pivetta trade Kike signing $14M/2 was worth it in 2021 Schwarber trade Iggy, TShaw, Robles additions in 2021 Not extending ERod like some here wanted done. Refsnyder for free Schreiber for free Wacha Hill Strahm McGuire while dumping Diekman (the reverse of deals like getting Springs and trading him away.) Many deals are still pending, including the Beni-Wink trade and Vaz for prospects.

Me, too- even before we knew Story was injured and after we got Mondesi.

The word was that McGuire was supposed to be good on D and these areas. He has seen a lot of different pitchers over the last 1 season+, but how long do you give to adjust? I will point out some disparities in who each catcher is catching: PAs with C and OPSA Red= noticeably better with this catcher Blue= other catcher has no PAs with this pitcher Wong 42 Crawford .957 39 Houck .711 25 Ort .845 21 Whit 1.238 20 Pivetta .472 19 Kluber .544 18 Martin .918 15 Winck .333 15 Kelly .381 14 Schreiber .690 13 Bleier .692 11 Brasier .586 6 Jansen 1.100 McGuire 64 Sale 1.061 23 Brasier .611 22 Pivetta .799 19 Wink .377 19 Kluber 1.460 19 Kelly 1.194 11 Martin .482 11 Schreiber .614 9 Ort 1.125 8 Jansen .393 4 Bleier .833 The age old question: what came first? The chicken or the egg? Does Sale suck because of McGuire, or do McGuire's numbers suck, because nearly a third of his PAs catching have been with Sale? (Wong has no PAs with Sale.) I'm not trying to make excuses. I'm very worried about our rotation and how our catchers are not having much success with them. I'm wondering if Wong's better numbers with pitchers he caught in the minors helps him.

True, but also 8 younger pitchers or prospects with varying levels of hope- some very high: Whitlock Houck Bello Winckowski Crawford Mata Walter Murphy I think the hope was the 2-3 vets would do well out of Sale, Kluber, Paxton and Pivetta, and we'd just need 2-3 young guys to shine. I don't think the plan was as awful as many think it was, but it sure has not looked good, so far- granted.

It's almost always about the starting pitching.

Just got caught up. Looks like Sale is not the Sale we hoped he'd be. There is still time to get "it" back, but it's looking more and more like a long shot with every start he makes.

You seem to like to throw blame, so who's fault is it that the prospects acquired 4-10 years ago (pre-Bloom) are providing no help, now? Yes, Downs bit the bullet, but what about the long stretch from Devers call-up in 2017 to the Houck arrival in 2020-2021, and some may argue Houck is not good enough to count as a major impact homegrown player. Maybe 2017 to who knows? Mayer? You need guys coming up on a consistent basis- some newbies doing well, some 2nd or 3rd year guys doing even better and some nearing the end of their arbs doing great. We've had Devers and basically only Devers, but somehow Bloom was supposed to turn it around with the Betts (and Price, too, don't forget) trade and magically create ML ready prospects in just 1-3 years after being drafted. Many of the stars, today, were drafted or signed as IFAs over 3 to 5 years ago.

Bloom needs to trade for someone, anyone, even if nobody is being offered. That's the repeated answer. He should have traded for a nonexistent 1B, last June, too.

.342 was not a bad OBP in 2021, and it was a lot better in the second half, but I agree. Yoshida should lead off, and I said that before the season began. Once Kike went back to leading off on June 27, 2021 and never hit anywhere else but leadoff, his OBP was .374. Then... .500 ALWC .429 ALDS .407 ALCS I'm not saying he deserves a long look at leadoff, but I wouldn't say he has never done well, there. The guy seems lost at bat and in the field. I'm optimistic he recovers, but how long a leash does he get? It's not just about 11 games in 2023. Last season was not good, either.

Yes, more than the norm, but still 6 RH'd SPs vs 5 LH'd SPs. 270 PAs v R 155 PAs v L Yet, Wong has 26 PAs to 16 and 7 GS to 4. OPS Splits, so far... Wong .250 v R (12 PAs) .445 v L (14) McGuire 1.038 v R (16 PAs) no PAs vs LHPs, so far It seems obvious, they don't want McGuire facing lefties, but why allow Wong to start vs a righty?

He did hit .792 v LHPs in 2022 and faced them in 59% of his PAs, which is more than he had before. Maybe it was luck: maybe hitting the ball harder than his norm had something to do with it.

While I agree BAbip numbers have real meaning, and Ref was likely helped by some luck, last year, there can be other reasons why a batter, suddenly has a good year- like he actually hits the ball harder than his norm. Refsnyder LD% 28.2 in 2022 - below 22.9 other years combined Hard Hit% 37.3 in '22 and under 30.2 the rest of his seasons combined. Another oddity that is a bit eye-opening. His career L-R splits are significant: .717 v LHP (380 PAs) almost the same sample size as vs RHPs 47% .631 v RHP (434 PAs) 53% of career PAs, including 2022 2022: 1.005 v LHP (73 PAs) was only 41% of his PAs vs 48% other seasons combined .792 v RHP (104 PAs) 59% He faced more RHPs than his norm, hit the ball way harder than his norm, and had better numbers. I think he does deserve some credit. Will he continue like 2022? Who knows?