moonslav59

What I find interesting is the biggest complaint many of us have on Bloom is going over the line in in 2022 while not even coming close to being competitive, not to mention highly competitive, but those who complain the most about Bloom do not bring this part up very much. Perhaps that is linked to their idea that he should be spending more, despite it not really being an option for him.. If the budget is a concern, going over should only occur when the team is highly competitive. I understand, management might have felt we could have been highly competitive, after we signed Story, but once it became clear we were not, Bloom & Co. should have traded away enough salary to get under.

Or, just pick a single season, when you feel your hopes are highest.

Well said, you damn Bloom apologist!

He is 1 for 3 with 2 rbi. Judge has never played in a WS.

Even without the penalties, the system has changed to hamper richer teams from drafting and signing lower picks to big contracts or signing as many of the best IFAs as possible. This was a major reason I felt the upcoming "cliff" was all but certain. Many said, in a cavalier manner, "all we have to do is rebuild the farm, and we'll be fine," like it was easy and could be done overnight. The other aspect on rebuilding a farm, is that even if you do rebuild it overnight, it still takes a few years for the prospects to mature and start contributing to the big club in meaningful ways, especially when you primarily draft HS players in the upper rounds. One of the main reasons I give Bloom a pass on the 2022 ML club results, is that I think he has exceeded my expectations on rebuilding the farm more quickly, deeply and strongly than I imagined anyone could. Of course, the high draft pick after the disastrous 2020 season helped, and many of DD's prospects have risen by more than I expected, but he also did not trade them away. His prospects added via trade have not really panned out, yet, but we may get something from Wink, German, Seabold, Wong, RHern, Downs and others still in the lower ranks of the farm (Binelas, hamilton, de la Rosa, Wallace and more.) I've said this before, but I think it needs repeating: since the Devers call-up in 2017, the only significant prospects called up or traded have been Houck, Dalbec and Duran. Since the the start of 2022, here is a list of prospects called up or expected to be called up at some point in 2023. Not all have or will succeed, but the sheer number and promise of some is very encouraging, to me... Some ML Experience: Bello Casas Crawford Winckowski, Seabold, Wong, Kelly, German, Ort, Downs No ML Experience, so far: Rafaela Mata Walter E Valdez Murphy RHern Politi Granberg TWard ('24?) W Abreu ('24?) That's over 15 players with maybe 5 or 6 looking very promising and another 5 or 6 looking like they may fill some lesser roles adequately.

Did he make it, because of the rule on one player from every team makes the roster? I think that was the year 4 Royals started the game.

Love it!

Exactly, but what business owner chooses to make $100M less, if he spends maybe $91M, instead of $90M?

The consensus is Paxton takes $4M?

I don't think the Sox have ever gone 3 straight years over the line, and now the penalties are even stiffer than under Theo's reign. I'm going to assume it is a top priority, but not set in stone. If they think "this is the year," whenever that year is, they may break the rule. I'm not sure it is locked into 3 years, either. If they don't feel "this is the year," they may reset after 1 or 2 years. As we stand, right now, they may view 2024 as a better chance at being "the year" than 2023, so they may re-set, this winter. If the reset has to happen by year 3, then the team may be looking at the optimal 2 year window and think '24-'25 looks better than '23-'24. Who knows? If I had to pick which window looks better, I'd go with '24-'25, but management has other concerns to deal with- like fans ready to not renew their NESN subscriptions or season tickets. That is real issue. The big question, IMO, is whether top management thinks we can re-set, this winter, and still put a team on the field that attracts fan attention enough to reach their financial profit goal.

But wasn't he "just a utility guy?" LOL! (Just razzin' ya.)

I get the feeling you will always think you are "in a window." I'm not saying it is unwarranted. You guys have some top prospects just about due for arrival. There is good reason to think your window can extend beyond '21-'22. The problem goes way beyond keeping Judge or not. Look at the rest of the offense, and now you pen is losing some key pieces from the last 2-4 years. Sure, if you retool, your window can stay open, but a lot of teams can apply that "if" and be even or ahead of the Yanks. I still think your best bet was from 2021-2022 and your next best bet is after Volpe and others arrive. You guys can spend like maniacs, this winter to stay a top contender, but I'm not sure topo management will okay it.

The Paxton deal, itself, put us over the tax line, as did the JBJ trade. Take either one back, and our future financial outlook looks much better. Thanks, Bloom!

This may be true, but your best window was 21 to 22.

I enjoyed watching him play, here. He always seemed to try his hardest and was a good utility player for most of his time in Boston. That 2015 season he played these amounts of games at these positions 58 2B (49 GS) 33 3B (24) 21 RF (20) 14 LF (8) 11 SS (7) 8 1B (5) 2 CF (2) 1 DH (1)

Not me. I don't know about you. I know I don't. I come here to talk about the Sox and not start dates of posters- like it matters.

Yup, caring about this and going through all this effort is more proof you have bigger problems than I do.

If your brain remembers that kind of nonsense, you have bigger problems than I do.

Looks like the Poster of the Year Award list of nominations.

Too funny!

Wow, 2012 was a killer. Nothing much since then. (Thanks for the info.)

UZR/150 captures it nicely: +0.3 DPR +0.4 RngR -0.8 ErrR 0.0 overall

Your true colors shining...

I think you subtract the $4M going forward. We paid $4M on the tax line in 2022 for the future option. That is subtracted, I believe.

No, I meant if we give him the option. No way he takes the $4M.