moonslav59

I agree, but I'm just giving possible scenarios where I might not be against firing Bloom. Another one might be, if he swings and misses badly on his winter additions. Unforeseen injuries might be another factor, but that would have to far surpass the norm to be a big enough excuse to defense Bloom.,

I'd totally understand that. It would mirror the Ben firing. Now, if JH only allows Bloom to spend $40M, this winter, I might think a firing would be more questionable.

The Astros are meeting with Contreras, now. My guess is they would rotate the DH (Contreras and Abreu), while Contreras backs up catcher and Abreu 1B with or without Gurriel.

I thought someone from the Sox said they were interested in Baez.

No doubt. And, they should not be ignored. Criticism is fine and even expected. I think we are in agreement. It's not as simple as just blaming Bloom and wanting him fired.

Agreed. We'd really be signing him as a DH and maybe back-up catcher.

I remember you named one name not "names," and you never stated who you would not have signed to get Jansen, instead. Wacha & Hill? Hill, Diekman & Strahm? It's easier in hindsight, but never done at time.

We all keep it going, including you. Not many of us feel the need to say more people agree with me than you. That's something you do or feel you need to do. You may very well be right that more share your opinion, but most fans don't even know Bloom was handed a mandate to trade Betts, cut the budget and concentrate on rebuilding the farm, and most could care less, if anyone tried to tell them that. They see losing seasons and form their opinions on mostly just that. It's their right to do that, and I'm okay with a majority, if it is one, thinking like that. I will disagree and push back, where and when I feel it is needed, but I'm not trying to say I am better than them or you. I'm not claiming you don't "understand" my position, because you don't agree, but I will try explaining why I think your opinion lack context. I know I will probbaly not change your mind and respect your differing opinion, but I will keep responding, everytime I think someone says something I feel needs a response or context added. For the same purpose you just posted this post: I post mine.

I think he gets $200M/8, but I would not match that. $190/7 seems about right, too. I'm sticking to our max offer being $160M/6 or $180M/7.

Good points. While I have praised DD more than criticized, I have mostly blamed him for the fact that we've only added Houck in the 5 years between Devers and Bello/Casas, but I'm sure JH was fine with that overall strategy and long term planning. I guess what I'm saying is that although I don't think a team has to suck in the years between rings, I'd rather have the past tow decades than more consistent winning without rings, like what we saw before Henry. Also, I don't think they planned on 5 last place finishes. In 4 of those years, our pre-season outlook was not all that bad, and the 2020 season could be blamed on Covid and the fact that Sale & ERod missed the whole year. (I do think they knew 2020 might be a last place team, when the season started.) Our budget remained pretty high, even in losing seasons, so I don't think the losing was intentional- like say, the Astros before their extended window opened several years ago.

That's enough to convince me to suggest we pass.

Very well could be a ploy to force Boston to defend itself by maybe making a significantly improved offer to Bogey and leak it to the media. This would maybe force a bidding war to commence. Just what BorA$$ wants.

I think it was all playing the media. From the time we signed Story, I felt Bogey was as good as gone. I know Story looks to remain at 2B, but paying Story $140M/6 put the budget squeeze on other positions, IMO, and I don't think they value SS who are not known for defense like many fans do.

I'm already resigned to the idea of going with Dalbec-Hosmer & Co at DH in 2023. I was never sold on Duran as a FT OF'er, but had he proved he could be, yes, we'd have enough to upgrade DH or Catcher, this winter. The reoccuring Sale dilema is getting old, fast. Not being able to count on him has hurt, and we haven't seemed to have had enough resources or the will to part with them to find our next ace. In our past ring seasons, we had acquired a second ace a year r two before winning: Schilling add to pedro in 2004. Beckett added to Schilling in 2007. Lackey added to Lester in 2013. Sale added to price in 2018. We can't even say we have one, now.

...and him allowing the team to move too far away from a sustainable farm system that provides low cost and positive production on a steady basis. A few swings and misses on bigger contracts hurt, too. I guess that could be blamed on JH, but for various reasons, the Price contract hurt on the second half (as somewhat expected), the JD contract was a good one, but tailed off near the middle and end, the Sale extension bit us in the ass, and the Boget extension added one year, but the opt out left us hanging. (Before that, the Castillo, Pablito and HRam signings were not good, and the Castillo gamble failed. I'm not sure how much input JH had one those major signings, but he probably had to give approval. Overall, I find it hard to be too critical of JH. I'm too damn thankful for the 4 rings, to get all worked up enough to criticize.

It's a winning philosophy- one I have believed in since the VTek-Posada years.

I'm not surprised. We have some serious replacing to do, this winter- not to mention improving other slots.

He must not be, if he was going to back up Maldonado in Houston. My main question is about how he handles a staff.

Don't forget Guy Manella and the Sports Babe- just don't call them "the media.".

My main issue is the lack of context used and oversimplification of the situation Bloom was handed. No doubt, he has made mistakes, but many GMs make mistakes when signing multiple $15-30M players. Most GMs have multiple and meaningful graduating prospects just about every year. Many winning GMs were not asked to cut their budget and trade their best player, year one. To me, doing pretty well in 1 of the 3 seasons, here is about what should have been expected. I can see how some disagree, but it seems their criticism is usually not tempered with and talk of the difficult circumstances he walked into.

I'd be okay with $20M x 1, but 3 years at his age, I'm glad we passed. Even one year, for a position not in our top 5-6 priority list seems excessive.

My problem with signing Contreras is that I think we need 3-4 solid pitching additions. I don't expect it to happen, even without a costly catcher addition, but that's my opinion. SS SP RP RF RP P C and DH are close to the same at our 7th priority (6th tops). As of now, I think McGuire/Wong at catcher is about the same as Dalbec/Hosmer/Arroyo/Refsnyder at DH.

The talk down here in Houston is 99% positive on the signing. They speak of the team philosophy of moving away from swing and miss batters and improving OBP. They also are talking about bringing Gurriel back and using Abreu at DH maybe the same as at 1B (Gurriel on a platoon.)

Yes, if you go cheap at SS and or RF, so we can upgrade at catcher. We probably can't sign Contreras, a top 4 SS, a decent RF'er and at least 2 solid pitchers and have enough to extend Devers. I can see us going for a "bridge" SS (to Mayer), so adding someone like Contreras could be doable, but I'd rather not lose ground at SS from 2022 to 2023. The drop off will not be made up for by changing from Vaz/McGuire to Contreras/McGuire, IMO.

I've always believed a great defensive catcher, who handles the staff very well, along with a superb defensive SS greatly improves a team's chance of winning. You can win without one or maybe both, but it's very hard.