moonslav59

I guess I kinda felt like he was going to really prove me right, then fell off a cliff after a couple nice years.

Looks like 2 good picks. Lugo seems to be coming into what some expected a while ago. I'm going to go: Sleeper: Wilyer Abreu MiLB to be noticed: Elmer R-C

I gave up naming my "sleeper" after T Shaw and then Ockimey.

You mean like extending Sale and Nate, instead of Betts and a no opt out Bogey? Pure genius! (Note: I love what DD did. No beef from me on his reign or the consequences.)

Funny how the strawman builder speaks of others grasping at straws.

I guess to some, it's all about majority and popularity.

For you, yes.

I've said over and over, something you hate me doing, that my position is in the minority. Maybe I'd stop repeating things, if you just got my position right just one time. I've never even tried to claim most Sox fans hold many of my positions. I'm not sure why you keep asking this pointless question that I've already answered over and over.

So, you agreed with something you don't believe because it was original. Classic. At least you didn't deny saying you agreed, so that's good.

The funny thing is, Red pretends to think DD is to blame for losing Betts, but then jumps on Dale's bandwagon calling what he apparently has not believed the "perfect analogy." Now will come the denials and distractors.

If this is the perfect analogy, it really explains how these posters think. Very enlightening.

They list him as the #2 or #3 because he's expected to pitch way more innings. It makes sense, but many of us slot our rotation by skill level. That might be... 1. Sale 2. Kluber 3. Whitlock 4. Paxton 5. Bello 6. Pivetta Knowing Paxton cannot be counted on, I slot Pivetta 5, but that's me.

So, the lock on the gate could have been put on by Bloom, day one, and we could have kept Betts, Price and everyone else had Bloom just not talked JH into massive budget cuts. Makes total sense! Good analogy.

Well said, it is unfortunate that for too many of our prospects it has turned out to be 4A not MLB.

Well, unfortunately, the one guy who should, Pivetta, is our #5 not our #1, 2 or 3. I think one or two from Kluber, Whitlock and Bello will reach 25. I'm doubtful Sale + Paxton reach 25, combined.

This whole long term rebuild was JH & Co.'s idea. That's why they signed Bloom. Some, here, seem to think they hired Bloom and he talked them into massive budget cuts and no trading away any top farm hands. I do think the team Ben was handed a better rotation, farm and budget, but was steered towards building the farm up and not trading much away. Bloom was given a solid foundation but was forced to trade the bluest chip (Betts) with a salary dump Price and to not replace Porcello, a farm with no real help until now, and a gutted budget. I think JH is smart enough to have tempered expectations on the win column.

We'll see. Not all the parts are broken- just Story, Sale and Paxton. There is no reason to think others will be hurt more than the injury prone Yankee roster.

Close call. A lot might depend on injuries and how good the farm hands Bloom acquired are progressing. If it looks like Mayer is the real deal and will be ML ready in 2024, maybe they let it ride another year. A lot might depend on DD's prospects, too. If the young players like Casas, Bello, Mata and Walter are looking good, and FAs like Yoshida, Turner and Kluber didn't crap the bed, being just under .500 might not be an automatic firing of Bloom.

This could easily turn into Ben II, who I also felt deserved one more year, but the change was totally understandable. When you see that the changing of the guard from Ben to DD was followed up with a massive opening of JH's wallet, getting DD as the GM for that sort of plan made a lot of sense. That is what he is known for. Maybe Bloom is not the guy to want spending large and long. On the other hand, just how good were DD's large and long signings and extensions? $217M/7 Price (10.6 fWAR in 4 years and actually $172M paid) $145M/5 Sale (1.0 fWAR in 3 years- 48 IP) $110M/5 JD M (12.0 fWAR in 5 years/ 9.2 w DD in 2 yrs & 2.8 w Bloom in 3 yrs) $68M/4 Eovaldi (7.3 fWAR in 4 yrs) $60M/3 Bogey (opted out of $120M/6) 12.1 fWAR in 3 years Kind of a mixed bag.

It has become something fans pay more attention to, of late, but you are right. Let's see what we do with Bello, Casas and the next group of up and coming home growners. It's my opinion that I'd rather we swing and miss on a few, if it means we keep the special ones at discounted rates into their prime.

The biggest difference was what each GM was handed for a foundation, a farm and a budget. The gap is mind-boggling wide. No doubt, the records are vastly different, too, but there are stark reasons for that. Minimizing those differences is the flaw in your position, IMO.

To me, assigning any blame to Bloom for losing Betts is so clearly unfounded. I do think it's fair to wonder, if Bloom could have gotten better for Betts, but when you factor in the half-Price inclusion, the list of possible trade partners might have been narrowed to one- maybe two teams. It was reported the Padres wanted to send back Myers as a salary dump off-set, so i really might have been just one team. We'll likely never know for sure, but the fact is we traded one year of team control on Betts. We were not going to re-sign him. We added 3 years of half-Price which saved $15M a year. It's easy to superficially look at the trade as Betts for Dugo and Wong and cry "BLUNDER!" It's not spinning to look at all the facts. The Bogey situation is entirely different. Once can blame DD for not insisting on there being no opt out and paying Bogey more for that, but Bloom did make some choices, like signing Story and Yoshida, instead of Bogey, but even that choice may have been driven from above Bloom.

Will we see much change in the soxprospects rankings list from the end of year to the opening day 2023 list. Looking at past lists, there usually is little change near the top. They had already "graduated" Wong and Ort in December. I'm not sure why they were then, while Bello was in October. Recents grads are: Wong & Ort 12/22 Bello 10/22 Wink 9/22 Crawford 8/22 Duran 7/22 Houck 9/21 Whitlock 6/21 Dalbec 5/21 I'm not sure how much fall and winter performances affect player rankings, but I'm guessing we don't see much movement or highly ranked additions from IFA signings or trades. Here's my guess: 1. Mayer 2. Casas (will likely graduate in '23) 3. Bleis 4. Rafaela 5. Yorke 6. Mata 7. Romero 8. Walter 9. Anthony 10. Perales 11. Paulino 12. Gonzalez 13. Lugo 14. Murphy 15. Jordan 16. EValdez 17. Bonaci 18. Hickey 19. Rodriguez-Cruz 20. Kavadas 21. Yoeilin Cespedes (IFA) 22. Coffey 23. Drohan 24. Franklin Arias (IFA) 25. Kelly 26. Yoiber Ruiz (IFA) 27. Abreu 28. Brannon 29. Paez 30. Ro. Hernandez 31. Uberstine 32. Hamilton 33. Guerrero 34. Encarnacion 35. McDonough 36. Koss 37. Binelas 38. Theo Denlinger (German Trade) 39. Alcantara 40. Fernandez 41. Salazar 42. Meidroth 43. Luis Arrendondo (IFA) 44. Argeny Sanchez (IFA) 45. S Scott

True, and the same was true of Pedro, Damon and Jake, but those were quickly forgotten as they either declined quickly and or we went on to win a ring, shortly afterwards. I think a major reason these two hurt so much, is that we have not been winning. Fans are still pissed over Lester, but the ring in 2018 hushed the roar a bit. All we need is a quick ring, and maybe the boo-birds will quiet down for a few days, anyway.

Yes. I stand corrected- actually, I'm sitting. That was an extremely team-friendly deal. I can totally understand Bogey feeling he was owed more respect than he got from Bloom & Co. I just have to think the Sox never felt he was worth anywhere near what he wanted, and just blew off the whole negotiations while pretending to the media that he was a high priority. It doesn't make sense that any business would do something like this and think they won't be noticed.