moonslav59

When you have many holes to fill and limited finances and resources, you have to rely on some hope, unfortunately... like Dalbec/Shaw/Casas at 1B and like Sale/Paxton/Wink/Seabold at SP'er. Bloom did get a few things wrong on the choices he did make, but several worked- just not enough to counterbalance all that went wrong. Go ahead and blame Bloom for not foreseeing the declines from nearly every returning vet, but don't deny he'd have been blasted had he traded Bogey, JD, Nate, Dugo, Duran, Whitlock and others who declines from '21 to '22, last winter.

You can hope you get more, but when you are a minute from the deadline expiring, you take the best you can get. Yes, he'd have been bashed like he was for the Betts trade, where I think he got pretty close to the best he could do, despite it not being what we hoped for. He could have also handled the Bogey situation differently. Had he known all along he'd never come close to the number Bogey should get, he should have told him so, and asked if he'd waive his no trade clause and tell him where he prefers playing. Had he known he would offer more, he should have sat him down- told him he wants him to stay and here is my top offer. If you don't want to take it, would you be okay with a trade to a team you'd like to play for? If Bogey refused to waive the no-trade, so be it, but I don't think a comp pick is near what he is worth. It is a no win situation, but you have to pick the best losing situation. To me, those were Bloom's biggest mistakes, and not that he should have sold the arm on some wild goose chase idea that we might have wont, this year, with a few major deals. There was a reason I started the 2023 Realistic thread on July 22nd. We were really out of it before then, but to me, it was clear by then. (Just my opinion, and I caught some flack for expressing it then.)

But, why insist on more than the most you can get? The only way we should not have traded these two (plus Hill, Kike and Strahm) is if we planned to offer QO's and we felt the return offered was worse than a comp pick. I did not mention Wacha, because I think he should get a QO. At the deadline, I was not so sure about that. Even that being said, we probably could have gotten more for Wacha than a QO, too.

Agreed. Let's make "Devers Forevers" a reality!

It is complicated, and I'm not sure I'm right, but basically, option years don't count as years but the buyout counts on the previous years.

Henry is not dumb. IMO, he probably demands big moves and maybe at least one purposely flashy move will be made.

So, I suppose one of Bloom's biggest mistakes was not to trade away almost all of DD's players right before they declines, and he should have foreseen the exact moment of decline and gotten the best he could for all of them, yet when he traded Vaz 2 months before he becomes a FA, he is roundly bashed for doing so and ruining team morale.

Those are two I have targeted on BTV. I'm not sure either will be an "ace type," but both are promising enough to be counted on as solid #2s or 3's (maybe 4 for Luzardo.)

Yes, as a joke.

Oh NO! You DIH-ENT!

You've been all over the map, this season!

Yes. We paid Paxton $6M for this year, but since he makes a min $4M in the option, it counted as $10M for 2022. That means $4M does not count on the 2023 tax line budget. (If we give him the option- $2M of the $6M counts. If we don't give him $6M and he takes the $4M player option, he counts as zero on the tax budget. (That's how I see it.)

I think it is part of the plan. No, they don't plan to ever suck, except for 2020, but, IMO, they target their financial efforts, only when they think they are close. The Ben era was very similar to this one, and it did help lead to a nice stretch, culminating in the fantastic 2018 ring year. IMO, the hope was we could not look so bad while we built up the foundation to the point where Henry okays "the pounce." Theo pounced. DD pounced with the Price signing and Sale/Kimbrel trades. Maybe Bloom will- maybe Bloom's eventual replacement will. The question might be, when?

Difficult, yes, but we've seen a lot of teams trade their #1's and 2's, recently. It doesn't have to be Pedro, but please, no Berrios types.

That's how I felt, but I guess criticizing Bloom for the opposite reasons is somehow translated into carrying his jock.

For one who preaches accountability and responsibility, you're pretty good at passing the buck.

Now, I have to reassess my whole music collection!

They need to make them pink and put Franchy Kisses Donkey Dicks on the back, and we'd have a top seller.

I told you guys Arroyo would be walking this one off.

Can we go 2 innings in a row with a man on 3rd and no outs?

It will be so nice watching Arroyo walk this one off.

My top 5: 1. Elite SP 2. CF 3. SS 4. RF 5. #3/4 SP (Close call w C and 1B/DH) I'd rather take my chances with Casas, Hosmer & Dalbec at 1B than Duran in CF. I have no faith Arroyo can stay healthy, and apparently Story is not moving to SS. I like Refsnyder as a 4th OF'er but not as my FT RF'er. Then pen should be okay, if we fix the rotation enough that Houck and Whitlock never have to start.

I didn't view that context as a promotion.

Thank God, Plawecki is a FA. Is McGuire & Wong enough, of do we add a catcher?

Raise your hand, if you thought we'd score with a man on 3rd and no outs. Same hands. .