moonslav59

I think Bloom means what Story loses with his arm over Bogey or others, he'll make up for with his range. As for where we are, right now, personally, I feel better now than I did at the deadline. Not by much, but I like the quality and quantity of all the young players on the verge of making an impact. No, this isn't Lynn, Rice and Evans time, but I'm excited. I also think we've improved at more positions than we've declined, but a couple slots are major declines, so I'm not sure the math works out to a net plaus, but I think it's close.I'm also thinking we are not done and might slightly lessen the blow of losing Bogey by adding Andrus for SS, or Segura/Drury to play 2B and Conforto or Gallo for RF, which greatly improves our LF/DH outlook and a SP'er like Kluber to improve the rotation by a pretty good notch. I'm not saying we add those three, but we can afford to, or we can trade for one or two slots and sign just one. At the deadline, we had hopes for Sale and Paxton. Sale's August injury is not long term. We have the same hopes, now, as we did at the deadline. (Yes, others were coming back, too, but we also did not have Jansen and Martin.) I'm thinking, if we add players like or similar to Andrus, Gallo and Kluber, this is not as bad as people think. Losing Bogey sucks, but making up for his loss a little here and a little there should be expected and not just wishful thinking. Bogey and JD drove in about the same amount of runs in 2022 as JD did, himself, in 2018. Maybe the loss isn't as great as it feels, right now. 1. L Yoshida LF/DH 2. R Kike CF 3. L Devers 3B 4. R Story SS 5. L Gallo RF 6. L Casas 1B 7. R Andrus SS 8. L Verdugo/ R Refsnyder LF/DH 9. L McGuire/ R Wong Bench: R Arroyo, Hosmer or Dalbec (Ref/Dugo or Wong/McGuire) SP1. Sale & Paxton combined SP2. Whitlock SP3. Kluber SP4. Bello SP5. Pivetta (Paxton) SP6/LR Crawford or Winckowski (Paxton/Seabold/Mata/Walter/Murphy) Closer: Jansen RP2: Houck RP3: Martin RP4: Schreiber RP5: Barnes RP6: Joely RP7: Brasier/Taylor(Mata/Kelly/German/Walter, Murphy) No doubt, I thought we could have done better, this winter. I did not foresee how little $80M could get us, in terms of big name FAs, but this team does not look bad

I've been optimistic the last two seasons, but never felt like we were a top contender. I'm not in the "Playoff Crapshoot Club." I lost my optimism earlier than just about anyone else, last year. Other year's I'm one of the last ones holding out hope. Not sure why it's worked out like that. I thought we should have traded everyone, at the deadline, who was going to be a FA for the best we could get, even if it seemed unfair. I realized Bogey had a no trade clause, but if he saw everyone being traded and realize there would be no QO attached to him, after being traded, I think he'd have okay'd one. We'd have reset, had some more prospects or useful players added to what we have, now.

I remember thinking, if we get anything from them, it's just icing on the cake. I called that trade "a top 3 Sox trade in my lifetime." It turned out we didn't spend the money as I wished and spread out the wealth. (Sound familiar?) A ring came very soon, afterwards.

You laughed at me for just suggesting a mild sell-off, last deadline. Now this?

Maybe "hopes," but I don't recall them being all that high. Maybe, BDC was less foolish than this site.

One year was 39 ABs.

No, just for the base fans.

That trade was a salary dump and not for some great hopes in DLR or Webster.

We are not done, yet, and already I think we do better at DH/LF (Yoshida), 1B (Casas), 2B (Healthy Story), 3B (Prime Devers), CF (Healthy Kike), RF (Dugo/Ref), Closer (Jansen), RP 3 (Martin). As of now, we have lost serious ground at: SS (Bogey>???), SP (Wacha/Nate/Hill> Bello, Sale, Paxton) Likely some loss at: C (Vaz/Plawecki > McGuire/Wong) and maybe 1B or LF (wherever Yoshida does not play)

There's nobody on the M's we'd want. LOL

Don't forget our back-up catcher! Had we pulled off the Kolten Wong trade, Bloom could have said, "Two Wongs make it all alright."

Rodon and Swanson are the last two "splashy" picks the Sox could sue to fill a big hole. We won't get either. Will we get 2 from this group? Kluber, Nate, Andrus, Conforto, Gallo, Drury

I'm kinda surprised. My guess is, someone claims him.

We know only one thing about that: it was higher than what the Sox wanted to pay or were willing to pay, at that time and anytime afterwards. I'm still waiting for a reason why you think this is some sort of conspiratorial opinion or something no credible baseball person would think.

Again, I've always been for forming opinions based on facts, and sometimes we get those facts from the media. I'm just not the one who said I don't base my opinion on social media. I agree; we likely way overbid everyone else, if the report is correct, and no evidence I know of refutes it.

That's not what I said. I said they never felt he was worth what the asking price was at any given point. I think they might have believed their evaluation of what other GMs would offer might bring the demand down to a point they would and could sign him. In that sense, their intent may have been to sign him at a reasonable cost that may or may not ever materialize. Now, that is some wild conspiracy, right?

You cited him as support for your opinion. Did you believe Bloom outbid everyone else on your own, before hearing it in the media? Look, I'm fine with forming opinions based on evidence gathered from the media. I'm just not the one who said he didn't do that.

You haven't heard from anyone that the Sox at any point in the process didn't think he was worth the asking price?

It wasn't sticking up for him. It was calling you out.

You miss the point. The "other" claimed their opinions are not swayed by sports talks then gave a clear example of how he came to his opinion based on a media report. I'm not the one denying my opinions are partially based on things I read and hear.

I agree on Downs. His trade value is close to nil, but he still has time to take a big step forward- maybe one more year. Brasier has 99 lives. Duran and DHern still show serious skills at the AAA level. I'm just fed up with both. BTV has Duran at 5.9, which I think is double his value. It really comes down to how much another GM values 2-3 of them and how we value what they offer back-- I know, brilliant concept, right?

I was responding to your response to him. Is that not allowed? Don't we "all have a right to voice our opinions?" (and yes, you never said I couldn't.)

The current market value at any time on the timeline is what I have repeated over and over. They did not think he was worth $160M/6 when the signed Story, or before, IMO. They did not think he was worth $170M/6, $185M/7 or $200M/8 or whatever the lowest Bogey would have accepted, at any point in the timeline. It's my opinion based on what little information any of us have. It's speculation, but my evidence is pretty solid: if at any time we felt he was worth what he'd have taken, he'd be signed, right now. If that sniffs of "conspiracy theory," please explain why?

Yes. I relayed what I thought was a fact. I think they meant WS win. I quickly apologized for quoting someone. I'm not sure what this has to do with me saying I don't think about things like why or why not the Sox owner talks to sports talk shows.

My horizons are very broad. It doesn't include sports talk shows from the Boston area. That is probably not a bad thing. I read most of the links people post here, unless there is a firewall. Some are absurd. Some are insightful and enlightening. Like I said, I don't doubt we may have been the highest bidder, by far, on Yoshida. Why are you still acting like there is a disagreement? I'm not sure anyone here takes anything people say here as gospel, even their own statements, so more strawmen constructions, again.