moonslav59

If here the only or even the second best SS on the market, maybe.

Add 8% inflation and, yes.

Shades of '78.

I keep bringing that up. Why cling to "team leaders" that led us into a hole? If they are good, fine, but what leadership plus skills are they showing, now? Crying and pouting about Vaz being traded, because the team sucks?

It was two months of a decent player for 2 promising prospects. We should have traded more rentals- not less!

Valdez (23 y/o) .854 in A+ 2021 .880 AA '21 1.112 AA '22 .909 AAA '22 I'm not saying these numbers will translate to MLB well, or not, but I'm not sure what more should be expected, except decent fielding. The guy will probably DH or play 1B. He's not a blue chipper, but I did not expect one. Abreu (just turned 23) .740 A '19 .857 A+ '21 .858 AA '22 Sox prospects sees him maybe average on D at corner OF, eventually. Maybe these two end up like Binelas & Hamilton- maybe not. All I said was "rising prospects", since they are doing better and rose up in the Astros system rankings over the last 2 years. I never promised All Stars.

I'm thinking the 2 guys we got for Vaz look promising. Valdez seems like a hitter (DH?) and Abreu has upside. They are both having good years and are 23. I think both have been over .800 the last 2 years. I'm not sure what anyone expected for 2 months of Vaz...someone who is being used as a back-up catcher, here in HOU (3 games started since trade.)

I don't think Bogey takes $150M/6... maybe more like $180/7. I have no idea what Devers would take, this winter.

I can name 3-4 easy names.

I'm wondering about German or even Murphy. Service time questions?

From Bobe... 2 Lets look at what Bloom has done, he traded Benintendi and has had no real return... Wrong: Beni's team control ends this winter. We got Winckowski and 3 other prospects who have yet to had a big chance to prove themselves. The money saved allowed us to sign Renfroe, who already evened out the Beni trade with his one year of value in 2021. Betts he got average outfielder and two minor leaguers that may never make it to bigs. We also dumped half of price's contract, which was essential for cutting the budget for 2020. That's not on Bloom. Reports show not many better offers were on the table, but one could also argue 4 years of Verdugo equaled 1 short season from Betts. He let Bradley walk then traded Renfroe a good outfielder 30 Hr and gun for an arm, for Bradley and a couple minor leaguers A real head-scratcher, for sure. last winter he hired a group of older pitchers most past their prime or coming off an injury That's what we should expect when a GM is handed $40M to fill 10 gaping holes in the roster. now he has traded Vasquez and got two minor leaguers 2 months of a catcher on a team going nowhere for two prospects on the rise then had to trade a relief pitcher to get a catcher, now the bull pen is short handed Are you serious about thinking Diekman will be missed? He should have been DFA'd weeks, if not months ago. if Bloom doesn’t sign Bogaerts I doubt he will sign Devers, I doubt Devers will stay without Xander there. Speculation, but if he doesn't sign Bogey but replaces him in kind, what's the beef? So in summation he got rid of Benintendi, Betts, Vasquez, JBJ twice , Renfroe, and made no effort to sign Schwarber and possibly Bogaerts and Devers. My question is are any of the players he got better than the players he got rid of, it doesn’t look like it to me. Don't forget, he signed Renfroe in the first place, with the money saved in the Beni trade. You left out his additions of Pivetta, Whitlock, Schreiber, Refsnyder, Kike, Wacha, Strahm and Arroyo, who have all earned their keep and then some. It's easy to just list the bad moves and act like that's all of them.

"Having to trade" involved giving up Diekman, who most felt should have been DFA'd. McGuire also has 2 more years of team control and is apparently a better defensive/staff handler catcher. Granted, he is a step down, but only for 2 months. Pham has already looked like a plus. although not enough to translate into any wins. (He also has one more year of control as an option.) Hosmer filled the need at 1B, even if he ends up not fulfilling all his years of team control remaining at the min salary cost. I have to think all the trades combined keep us even or better in 2022- not that it matters, while improving the future with the 3 guys above plus the 2 rising prospects we got for Vaz. The deadline was certainly unspectacular, but it seems going all in would have been a disaster, and going full fire sale would have pissed off the fans that are bashing the Sox and Sox management, anyway. Tough spot for Bloom to be in, but not unexpected.

So, you don't like them.

I agree, but I'm thinking the Astros are a very close second.

At this point, give the guy a few weeks to get a better read on his hit tool. He should not end up being anyone's CF'er, but he's probably better than Duran in CF.

Agreed. There is a slight chance he could stick as a starter, somewhere, but I think it is doubtful, unless he can improve his bat- power? OBP? BA?

Strahm seemed okay, until he got hurt. I think the idea was to move Hill or Wacha to the pen, once Sale or Paxton joined the rotation. It's still on Bloom. He deserves criticism for this, no doubt.

Yearly new spending limits are a big part of Bloom's choices, like it or not, and certainly Bloom was highly restricted year one. FACT: In year one,we cut the budget by tens of millions. (We traded Betts and force salary-dump Price in on the deal. We did not replace their salaries in kind.) That was not Bloom's choice. FACT: Year tow, we spent about $40M, which seems like a lot, but only 1 deal was longer than 1 year (Kike for 2) and that $40M had to fill 10 slots. That equates to forced dumpster diving. Year 3, it appeared there was another limit, until the Story signing: Bloom's only semi-large and long contract.

He's currently 23rd on soxprospects.com, and might fall out of the top 30 by opening day 2023. Some team might still want him as a throw-in, which would help us clear a 40 man roster slot for someone more promising (Rule 5 or an outside addition.) Enmanuel Valdez and Wilyer Abreu are both Rule 5 eligible and may be added to the list of protectees, which include: Casas German Rafaela W Gonzalez Murphy B Walter Paulino Maybe: T Ward D Granberg K Cottam C Koss N Song J Thompson G Jimenez J Wallace D Hamilton V Santos D Feltman N Northcut A Bastardo

It might take more and better prospects to get a frontline SP'er, but sure, I like that idea, too. I do NOT think we can fill all the holes that need serious help via free agency, unless JH decides to go way over the tax line and face year 2 level taxes. I'm thinking we can and should trade for at least one slot, without seriously hurting the farm. We will also likely fill 1 or 2 slots from within the system, in hopes it can fill the gap, at least until the deadline. Which of these slots are most likely to be filled from within the system? I placed the ones I think Bloom will fill from within at the top, and the ones we almost certainly will add help at the bottom. LF: Pham/Dugo (RF)/Duran/Cordero/Granberg/Abreu Pen Depth: (See SP 5/6/7 list) Taylor/Davis/German/Sawamura/Danish/Brasier/Barnes Closer: Houck/Whitlock Set-up: Whitlock/Houck/Schreiber/Taylor/German SP5/6/7: Winckowski/Bello/Mata/Crawford/Seabold/Murphy/Ward/Walter 1B: Hosmer/Casas/ Dalbec (Kavadas) RF: Verdugo/Refsnyder/Cordero C: McGuire, Wong/RHern (Cottam) SP1/2: Sale/Paxton/Pivetta/Whitlock 2B/SS (wichever Story does not play): Arroyo/Valdez/Koss/Downs/Lugo/Sanchez/Hamilton CF: Jaylin Davis (I don't see Duran or Dugo as a CF option, except in an emergency)/Rafaela In other words, the big 5 are: 1. CF 2. 2B/SS 3. SP 4. C 5. RF One can easily argue finding an ace is #1, and I would not counter.

I used to like Kiermaier, mostly for his defense, but the guys reeks of being the next JBJ. .678 OPS since 2018. Plus, he's hurt all the time. I don't think only one major addition to the everyday roster is going to do the trick. We lose Bogey and JD but add just one quality player? I think we need at least 2 or maybe 3 solid second tier guys. I'd be happy with 3 from: SS: Swanson or Anderson or 2B: Kike OF: Nimmo, Haniger or Kike C: Narvaez 1B: Abreu

Keller pitched well for Woo (6IP, 3H, 1 ER, 3BB, 6K) and now has a 3.16 ERA. Ward and Co. pitched a shutout tonight: 5IP, 3H, 0ER, 0BB, 2K. Wallace had a 2 inning no hit save. GRE lost again, but they scored 8 runs: Yorke 2-4 w HR, BB Jordan 2-4 Lugo 1-4 HR, BB Jimenez 2-5 2B Hickey 0-2, 3BB

What GM is great at getting the majority of his additions as pluses, when forced to spend under $2-3M on the vast majority of additions? It's like you are blaming Bloom for setting the budget. Yes, he made quite a few moves that failed, and some ate up too much of the tight budget he was give up, but IMO, most of his additions when spending more than $2-3M have been plus. He's also made a few under-the radar pick-ups that worked, but certainly much less than I expected, given his back ground with the Rays. He's not undeserving of criticism, and I've scratched my head at several of his bigger deals, but to hold his dumpster dives against him, when he was basically forced to go diving, is not very fair, IMO.

With the left over bubble wrap we will use to wrap Sale up, this winter, they can use on Arroyo. The guy is pretty good, when he's healthy, which is hardly ever.

Are you counting the 2020 additions, when he had to cut the budget by 10's of millions? Are you counting 2021, when he had about $40M to fill 10 slots? You expect $4M signings x 10 to lead us to the playoffs? Yes, this past winter was different, but who are you counting as the "majority?" Mazza, Springs, Andriese, Marwin...? Of course most have not done well, but when you pay most of them $800K to $3M, you get what you pay for more often than not. Guys like Kike, Wacha, Hill, Strahm and a few others probably barely earned their pay. Ottavino, Richards, Perez I, Perez II, Sawamura (paid peanuts) and others probably not. Story has started out on the negative side. The JBJ trade was a disaster. The Beni-Wink & others is still undecided. The pluses: Pivetta & Seabold for Workman & Hembree, Whitlock, Renfroe signing, Schwarber, Iggy, Shaw I, Robles I, Davis, Refsnyder, Schreiber. Barely pluses: Arroyo (waivers). In terms of quantity, most have failed, but when you look at the trades and the players costing more than $3-4M, I'm not sure it's a majority failures.