moonslav59

Maybe settling on a lower level trade like Flaherty might have made a big enough difference.

We'll never know what might have been available for the $10M or so "left on the table," budget wise. This is not meant as excuse-making, as I agree that more resources should have been focused on the rotation, but Bloom had to choose some areas to "gamble" on in-house solutions, so money could be spent on others. Some of those "gambles" seem to have paid off, so far, while 2 major areas were big misses. SP: He actually missed, at least twice. 1. He swung and missed on the $10M/1 deal for Kluber. 2. He gambled a mix of Sale, Paxton, Houck, Whitlock, Pivetta, Bello, Crawford, Winckowski, Mate, Walter & Murphy could cobble together to fill the other 4 slots. On the surface, it doesn't look like a wild swing and miss, but with the injury histories, it was a significant gamble that looks like a significant loss, unless pitchers return and lead us somewhere special. SS: We've beaten this one to several deaths, already. The plan was to let Kike and Chang hold down the position until Mondesi (May?) then Story returned (August?) When Kike's D blew up from day one, then Chang went on the IL, the choice looked like an obvious blunder. We added Reyes, but then failed to play him, until Kike's horrific D finally was noticed by Cora. One could maybe argue the original plan was not so bad, if Bloom had only added someone like Iggy or played Reyes more. As it turned out, maybe we could have used Duvall's money or some of that $10M, I mentioned earlier, to boost the SS and or SP'er slots, but at the expense of other positions Bloom did choose to seriously focus resources on- all seemingly high need areas. Pen: Our pen sucked, last year, and seemingly overperformed in 2021. Bloom threw a pretty big chunk of the winter budget on the pen OF: Our OF was one of MLB's worst in 2022- both on D and O. Bloom spent a lot of the winter budget on Yoshida. He also signed Duvall to $7M/1. Had he relied on in-house solution, Duran, instead of signing Duvall, maybe SP & SS would have been better. That was pretty hard to predict, and none of us ever suggested Bloom not look for a CF'er. (Bloom also extended Kike in the summer at $10M/1. Of course, we view that as a failure now, and some thought so, at the time, including "Like I said" Red.) DH: Turner was a golden choice for DH and back-up 3B, 1B and now 2B. End of discussion. Great signing. Other areas Bloom let ride with in-house solutions worked much better than SS and SP. 1B: Many complained we started 2022 with Dalbec and Casas as our only real 1B options. Dalbec sucked and Casas got hurt. We basically started with the same 1Bmen with Turner as insurance we really ended up not needed. Casas has been impressive. C: Wong has been a very pleasant surprise. McGuire struggled, got hurt and has not gotten good results from the staff. I'd say Bloom did right, letting this position ride. 2B: This position has been a mixed bag, much like last year. No doubt, the .639 2B OPS has not been good. It was .724, last year, so this looks like a gamble that lost, too. 2B has been one of the most shared positions, this year: 191 PAs Arroyo 100 EValdez 59 Kike 29 Reyes 24 Turner 7 Chang SP: Bello doing well was a gamble that paid off. Paxton was expected to miss time, early, but has done well. Crawford has been impressive in limited duty as a SP'er and long man. Winckowski has not been used as a SP'er but has done well in relief. (Murphy, too. Walter? OK.) Sale had a nice 8 game run after a 3 start troubling start to 2023. Houck did great the first time through a line-up but sucked afterwards. Whitlock never got on track. Mata was on the IL almost all year. It seems many gambles were taken and probably many were needed, unless we chose to spend less on the OF and pen. There are still 2 months left, so maybe something can be salvaged at 3-4 slots: SS, SP (1-2 slots) and 2B, but the final grade at all 3 will likely be bad. 9+ gambles seemed to pay off: LF: Yoshida (many felt he was a gross overpay) CF: Duran & Duvall (needs little explanation) DH: Turner (WOW!) 1B: Casas (no longer a "suspect," but now "my boy.") Closer: Jansen (What a difference a year makes at this slot.) Set-Up: Martin (WOW!) SP: Bello (WOW!) RP/SP: Crawford (WOW!) RP: Winckowski (WOW!) Maybe RF: putting Dugo in RF FT. OF depth: Refsnyder Certainly we can see moves that failed, but I'm finding it hard to see the whole picture as being something looking net negative.

The worst division winner, also.

Yes, the first round is 3 games at the higher seed teams' field.

To me, it looks like it will come down to the health of the 4 guys on IL and not having any key player go on the IL, either. We don't need all 4 to greatly improve our chances, but 3-4 would be great. With 3-4 back and producing, I think we are better than "punchers." With 2 back, "Punchers" might be right. With just 0-1 returning and doing well, we may miss the playoffs, altogether.

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.