moonslav59

Ref should be on the big club. I see Kike is playing, now. Hmmm...

Wong will have an option, and if RHern and Wong are as close as I think they are, there is no harm in starting Wong in AAA and RHern as the back-up. This is assuming McGuire starts and is not the back-up. If he is, then we likely trade RHern.

Good summary. The Bobby V signing was a complete disaster and wake-up call. Would it be right to can Cora for the 2022 disaster?

I've been a Sox fan since the early 70's, so I suffered a long time. Tons and tons of heartbreak, frustration and worse. I remember telling my fellow Sox friends that I'd take 10 last place finishes for just one ring. Well, after that ring in 2004, my attitude changed, but I'm still willing to sustain some down years, if and only if the future keeps looking brighter and brighter. I don't "worry about" the Sox exceeding the tax limit, but it is what it is. I'm not going to just fall back on, "Henry needs to spend more" as the answer to everything (not that that is your position.) I think this team is building up for a more sustainable winning team, but it remains to be seen, if it works. They gave up on that path when they hired DD. Those 3 years were great, and maybe we go that route again, at some point, if Bloom's plan backfires. I admit, I let 2021 get my expectations too high for a quicker turn-around than I initially expected after 2019, but I do think we're on the right path. This season would really suck, if I thought we were getting worse, long term. This winter's additions will be telling. We could easily e worse, but bringing back Bogey, JD, Nate and everyone else does not look all that promising, either, to me.

It took the Astros a few years of tanking and a long time to build up the farm where they could sustain letting a few stars go to free agency and having fresh blue chippers to step in. That is a very hard thing to do, and even harder to sustain, but they look to be on the right path.

He was the clubhouse leader, for sure, yet the team did not pout and cry, when he was traded. Yet, this team management was bashed for trading one our three apparent clubhouse leaders, in Vaz, and the team did not come close to responding like the O's did after the Mancini trade. Oh, the intricacies of the game of baseball.

In hindsight, was it right to can Tito?

Maybe mediocrity is a step to excellence.

I don't disagree, but we are talking about the best GM and manager the Sox have ever had, here.

No doubt, but the thing is, it went on during winning seasons, too. We blamed Tito. We blamed Theo. We canned one of the best of the best Sox manager we ever had over this. What I was trying to get at with my "lesson learned" comment was not about making it okay to do what those gys did, but maybe not to play the blame game so harshly we make choices that have lasting negative affects- like firing Tito. Now, we are facing extreme bashing of Cora and Bloom over what is happening, now. Is it totally justifiable? I remember thinking Tito lost control of the team, back then, and agreed he had to go. I'm thinking I over-reacted and so did Sox top brass. Maybe not.

It appears the attempt to not turn off fans by "throwing in the towel" did not work. I don't think that's a radical position to hold. I think it helped lead to the decision to not trade JD, Nate, Wacha, Hill, Strahm and others. I'd totally understand that would have made a lot of fans angry. It's not rocket science. On the whole "Red thing." I admit I went too far, too many times. I can explain it away all I want as just playing tit for tat, but I was just as responsible for the grief I caused others having to put up with our BS. I've put Red, JD and Swi on ignore to try and avoid continuing or lessening the grief and personal attacks, but apparently it hasn't worked all that well. I am able to see a few posts by those I ignore, when others respond to them, and I'm happy with my choice to put and keep them on ignore. I don't want to open a can of worms or try and tell anyone what they should do. I don't want to try and force my ideas on anyone else. I realize it is a very rare thing when anyone on this site convinces someone else to change their opinion. I give my opinions, fully expecting someone or maybe even many people to disagree. I know I get testy, too easily. I'm trying to work on that, but I'm not perfect. I love the Sox, and I know most of those I disagree with on this site do, too (except JD.) We all have different expectations, viewpoints and opinions. What a boring world it would be, if we all agreed on everything. I do think I have tried hard to not make things personal, but sometimes it doesn't come across that way, and I apologize for my behaviors, in the past, most recently towards dgale and others. I'll continue to try and improve my tone and testiness, but I'm human. There is nothing like a bad stretch by the Sox to bring out the worst in most of us. Again, I sincerely apologize. No excuses. I went too far, too many times.

Every time a team does poorly, especially if there were high expectations, the blame game goes berserk. Where was the team leadership and manager through all that chickengate mess? Ow was the "mess" just a made up excuse? Did we learn a lesson from all that?

So, wait! Bogey, JD and Vaz are not good clubhouse leaders? I'm confused.

Or, it takes a long time to get there.

Seems to be a consistent trait of every Sox GM since early Theo.

an important distinction lost on several posters.

1/3 is about $8M. cots shows we are $11.8M over, right now, and I assume that counts Vaz's cut.

I read somewhere it was about $7M, and that trading JD alone would get us under. cots shows you are correct, so maybe trading JD, Vaz and Dieman would have gotten us close. Probably would have had to trade Wacha, Kike or Hill, too.

Good one. Vic had a 3 year deal and was eventually traded for fan favorite Josh Rutledge.

He looked scary bad his first call-up, but man-0-man, he's looked very good since then. (May 14>) 3.33 ERA 3.62 FIP .631 OPS Against Since June 19th: 45 IP 3.20 ERA 3.32 FIP .610 OPSA

Not only do we seem to have a void in clubhouse leadership, they aren't leading by example either. What bugs me the most is that people are lauding the leadership skills of Vaz and others and blaming the team malaise on trading Vaz. Where was the team energy and focus before the trade?

The farm was upgraded over 2021. The 40 man roster for 2023 was improved at the deadline (McGuire, Hosmer, Pham added without losing a single player with team control beyond 2022.) Added Prospects: 10. Romero (draft) 14. Anthony (draft) 16 and rising. E Valdez (Vaz trade) 20. Coffey (draft) 26. Abreu (Vaz trade) 28. Binelas (JBJ trade) Plus, many of Bloom's earlier farm additions seem to have made strides. (true, many have not.) This does not address your point. 1. Mayer (draft) 4. Yorke (draft- stock has fallen) 9. Winckowski (Beni trade) 12. Seabold (Workman/Hembree trade w Pivetta) 17. Wong (Betts trade) 18. Jordan (draft) 22. Hickey (draft) Stock rose a ton 25. Kavadas (draft) Stock rose a ton 30. German (Ottavino trade) might be a ket pen piece in 2023

100%. Just trading JD alone puts us under the tax line for 2022. Big mistake.

I'm not "worrying about" Henry. I'm not justifying his going stingy, at times. I'm just facing the reality that it is what it is. He opened the wallet enough, IMO, this winter, to make us more competitive than we ended up being, but I don't think he or Bloom saw this deadline as being the right time to splurge and sacrifice some of the future to go for a ring. I agree with their assessment. You don't, but it is what it is. Henry chose not to spend at the deadline.

Yes, indeed. Baseball is still the best game. It's much more fun watching a winning team, but within the context of the curse being broken, it's not so hurtful watching the Sox lose as it was years ago.