moonslav59

No Swanson?

You guessed wrong, but that's nothing new. I do believe patience is a virtue, and I don't have to be a priest to think that, but believe what you will, and keep on bitching because the miracle has not come quick enough.

IMO, partially, yes. The owners can ignore them, at their own peril, and it's certainly on them, too, but yes, selfish impatient fans hurt this team's long term future by expecting a miracle and then pouting and crying and bitching when they did not get it.

Of course that's the goal. Until the farm is built up to the point where infusions of top talent becomes a regular thing, consistent winning will not happen, unless JH decides to spend more and more, when needed. IMO, it's tha antsy fans that are driving the slowdown of the rebuild, because they want to see us win every year, or at least give the perception we are trying to win. This season has been a cluster, so of course, the fanbase, understandably, erupts and demands changes, firings and scape goats to be lined up and executed. Not having a firesale of expiring contracts was done to placate the win-now fans, and it back-fired spectacularly, and now we suck for the rest of this year while lessening out future outlook, at the same time by having to keep Nate & JD. Just look at the reaction to dealing away 2 months of Vaz, and the situation is exposed to anyone who can look beyond their own selfish desires and instant gratification needs. Sorry to sound harsh, and I don't mean to count you as one that is partially to blame for the "halfway plan" Bloom chose, but to me, this is how I see it.

Indeed. Tow are needed, but getting one really good one is a step in the right direction. Maybe a Pham-Duran platoon in LF can be decent enough for the other two to bring the OF to a net plus. That is assuming Dugo can get out of his funk.

Paying $300M+ for a 100 game player is okay?

He cut a massive amount of salary from a failed 2019 team. You think winning in 2020 or 2021 should have been expected and not a miracle? Yes, he spent large on one player, this past winter, and we suck. For that you claim he failed. Feel good having so many irate fans sharing your views. That's all you'll ever get, if Bloom keeps trying to make you type happy on a shoe-string budget.

He hasn't missed the big chunks Stanton does, but he's only gotten over 500 PAs, twice (likely 3 times, if he gets 25 more, this year.) 3 of his last 5 years have seen 498 PAs or less.

I could see us going with Swanson at SS, Nimmo in CF and trading for a solid SP'er and catcher. For one more year, gasp, we leave 1B to Casas, Hosmer, Dalbec and a scrub we sign for cheap. DH is a question mark.

I would not pay $18M/1 for JD. Nate would be okay, but wouldn't that just be repeating the moves that have got us in trouble over the past few years? Signing injury prone players to save a few bucks, so we can fill some other gaping holes in the roster with more injury prone or questionable, second/third tier FAs. I think, this winter, we'll go quality over quantity, but who knows. Maybe the plan is for 2024 and beyond.

JH spends in cycles. The spending cycle is due, this winter. BTW, I'm totally relaxed. I'm not the one blowing gaskets, because we don't win, every year. I'm fine with a some sacrifice in the now, in order to reach the glory in the later. Apparently, much of the fanbase, and society in general are all about the NOW!

No, it's what fans liker you are going to get by demanding miracles, every year.

That's the most sense you've ever made. (LOL!) When you have impatient customers, give them cheap, shiny products that fall apart in a couple years. Instant gratification in the new business plan. How wonderful!

I'm dreaming, too, but I don't think extending Bogaerts is essential to building up the team, this coming winter. We have so many areas of need, that spreading out the upgrades might work better, and keep us from having too many large and long contracts that, more often than not, turn sour, and much too soon.

You were skewed, but I know I have said similar things over the past year, but not so much about securing higher draft picks, but for building up fan expectations to a point where it interferes with making trades to better the long term outlokk.

This has truly been a "snakebite" season. I'm not making excuses. Part of the reason we've done better than the Yanks for so many years, until now, is because they seemed to be snake-bitten by injuries and unexpected down-turns in key players, pre-past prime years. It is what it is. Bloom signed a bunch of injury prone players as a way to meet budget demands, and that bit us in the ass. Injuries to Kike, Houck and some of the younger players just added to the demise of the 2022 Sox. I still think we should have had a near total fire sale of all expiring contracts and maybe even a couple more players- not viewed as being part of the longer term plan. I know about fan reaction being tied to revenues, but I'd like to see us get back to winning, sooner rather than later, and I'm okay with sacrificing, as long as the future keeps looking brighter and brighter. I do think the deadline moves improved our longer term outlook, but not by as much as it could/should have been.

I don't see Henry doing what he did with Ben, and he gave Ben 3 last place finishes before pulling the plug on his 5+ year plan. I'm thinking Henry will be more patient with the whole farm-building plan he obviously endorsed when he hired Bloom, in the first place. I think the 2021 "tease team" actually hurt the optics of a slower rebuild, although not many Sox fans have the patience to sit through a 5 year rebuild. The rabid and demanding fanbase forces top brass to play thing "halfway" and sometimes gets in the way of having a quicker turn-around- hence the "mixed messages" and statements about there being a lack of a cohesive plan. IMO, our plan is so multi-faceted, it is, by definition, confusing, contradictory and hard to pinpoint exactly what the top priorities are. In reality, we have opposing and conflicting priorities than make rebuilding complicated and jerky.

I'm thinking Bloom will be looking at second tier-type FAs rather than the big ticket, large and long ones, although Swanson might very well demand 6 or 7+ years, and get it. We may also slide Story over to SS and look for a cheaper 2B option, and spend larger on OF, C and pitching.

How about 28 year old Dansby Swanson? He won't cost as much, and would allow us to spend more on an OF upgrade or a better rated pitcher or two.

The talk was about Bloom's lack of planning for a RH'd big bat, which he got with Story and the lack of a RH'd bat in the OF, which he had with Kike, before the injury and later with Refsnyder- the type of guy we all expected Bloom to find by the handfuls. It's a valid point to make, just as complaining about Bloom not being reactive after Kike's injury, Dalbec prolonged slump and the horror show on defense caused by players playing where they should not have been playing is the better attack point. Have at it.

Anywhere but Boston.

He only had a "big spending budget" one of his 3 winters, and he's made one big signing that is just 1/7th complete. That guy is still #2 in RBIs, despite missing over 20% of the season with an injury. I do wonder if Bloom is just a replay of Ben. Hire a guy to build up the roster and farm, and then bring in a guy with experience spending large. I hope they give him time to let the plan take hold, but they never let Ben finish what he started.

It seems obvious the late addition of Story to the roster made Bloom feel like the line-up had its big RH'd bat and could survive with 3 lefty OF'ers filling the 2 corner OF slots. Let's not forget the plan was to have RH'd hitting Kike in CF, FT.

They need to wrap Sale in bubble wrap and have him work out in a padded room with no sharp or heavy objects.

Adding Hosmer for free, McGuire (2 years remaining), Pham (an option for '23) plus 2 rising prospects for Vaz and DFA worthy Diekman seems like it really helped our longer term outlook without really hurting the 2022 club, overall.. Minus at C Plus at 1B Plus in OF Plus farm Plus budget in '22 and beyond.