moonslav59

No other options. Wants to find out, once and for all, who this guy is, during a wasted season.

My guess is, Henry and Bloom would prefer to add no mega deals to the budget, except maybe Devers, assuming he wants to play here after Bogey bolts. If Bloom is given a $90M wallet to spend, this winter, and open slots range from 5-9, according to which poster you talk to, the average salary can range from $10M x 9 to $18M x 5. Either way you slice the pie or fill some positions from within the system or via trade from the system, an opportunity to improve, and maybe improve greatly, is certainly upon us. Losing Price's contract plus JBJ, Diekman and a few other near deadwood deals allows us to add that money to the players we really need to replace, in kind or with even better players: SS Bogey CF Kike SP Nate DH JD C Vaz/Plawecki Improving on JBJ (RF), Dalbec/Cordero (1B) and maybe SP 4 (Wacha/Hill) & the pen (Diekman/Strahm/others) should not be too hard to do. However, improving on 2022 by just a little, could still mean we suck in 2023. We need some major upgrades at some slots and in kind replacements, elsewhere. BTW, I do not see bringing Nate, Vaz & JD back as "in kind" replacements or upgrades.

Just partially, and the debate is how much "partially?"

I don't think his point indicates the mandate changed. I think all sides knew the competing aspects involved in planning from the start. Coming to a consensus, if that is what happened, does not always mean everyone agreed on every point of the final deadline plan.

He has a no trade clause, but one has to wonder, if we had approached him the right way, he might have okay'd a trade to some select teams.

Duran's only chance to start seems to be as a LF'er or DH, and I'm not sure he can hit well enough to be a plus at either spot. I'm okay with Verdugo in RF, but I still think our current OF consists of three LF'ers and a journeyman 4th OF'er who is over producing. Kike's injury and the whole JBJ fiasco was an total disaster to this team. Add to this, Dugo's failure to progress over the past 2 seasons, and to me, the OF (being 3 positions) was a bigger disaster than 1B, the pen or the rotation.

No doubt. That was my position about a month ago. The only way we should not have traded any of the big 3, is if they invoked their no-trade clause (Bogey) or the return offered was less than the value of a comp pick. Other considerations, include getting under the tax line to better position ourselves in 2023 and beyond.

This could also be why there seems to be "no plan" to some posters. Bloom gets the blame if they had sold, sold, sold, and he gets the blame for playing it "halfway." We were never going to go ""all-in" as some fans & posters seemed to want, and playing it halfway was some weak attempt to halfway appease them while mildly making our future brighter.

Bloom had to cut salary for 2020. You think he made the choice? Don't forget, he had to dump $16M on Price, along with the Betts trade. So, we add $30M for Betts + $16M for Price. Who do we trade to balance that out? Nate, Bogey or Sale?

Well said. It's simple to deny context of choose to say, it's time to ut all that behind us, but some situations have long term affects. One good thing: we are about to get out from under the Price contract, once and for all. We shed the Pedey and Rusnet contracts not too long ago, as well. While guys like Nate, JD and Vaz were significant players on the 2018 amazing team, their 2018 numbers are not all that great, and should be able to be improved upon at equal cost. Finding a catcher for $7M will not be easy. The Bloom guys needing to be replaced are a mixed bag. Replacing Kike's 2022 season should be easy at $7M. Replacing Wacha, Hill and Strahm at $15M combined might not be. We were able to dump Diekman but still have to pay Barnes and the $8M JBJ buyout (not counted on '24 tax line.) The big question is about how much Henry will let Bloom spend, and maybe the bigger question is how will he spend it? Will he spread it out over 6-9 guys or go larger and maybe longer on 3-4, instead? This winter will be a doozie. (I call it the "flashpoint" for Bloom.)

Nothing like a bad losing stretch to bring out the best in people. LOL!

It's sad to think, as of right now, we'd have the 14th pick in the 2023 draft! (Tied for 13th.) 1. WSH 36-74 2. OAK 41-68 3. DET 43-67 4. CHC 43-64 5. KCR 44-65 6. PIT 44-64 7. CIN 44-63 8. LAA 46-63 9. COL 48-63 10. TEX 48-60 11. AZ 48-59 12. MIA 49-59 13. SFG 53-55 14. BOS 54-56 Sad.

I'm not expecting anything good for Duran, but certainly some teams would want him as part of a package.

The closet Bloom-basher comes out. (Like we didn't know, already! lmao!)

I'm done hoping against hope he learns how to field. Maybe move him back to 2B. I doubt he's even tradeable, at this point.

LOL! Nice try!

Time start tracking how far we are from a top 5 draft pick.

More earned but really unearned runs.

True nuff.

They've improved vastly since dumping Beni on the Yanks.

How about practicing putting on another team's uniform?

Swanson, Judge, Kike and Verlander would do it for me. That should not cost more than $80-85M a year. Trade Dugo or Duran plus others for a catcher and pitching depth, and we should be playoff bound.

From you, I'll take that as a compliment.

I'm the most relaxed person on the planet. Don't pretend to know who I am. Still waiting on just one name of the many who think the farm trumps rings. Cricketts...

soxprospects.com update ETAs on our best prospects: 2022 2023 2. Casas 3. Bello (here in '22) 6. Mata (mid) 7. Walter (late) 9. Winckowski (here in '22) 11. Murphy (mid) 12. Seabold (her in '22 on IL) 16. E Valdez (mid) 17. Wong 23. Downs (here in '22) 30. German (mid) 2024 1. Mayer 4. Yorke 8. Rafaela (I hope by 2023) 15. Ward 21. Lugo 26. Abreu 27. Binelas 28 Jimenez 2025 13. Paulino 18. Jordan 19. Gonzalez 22. Hickey 25. Kavadas 27. Bonaci 2026 5. Bleis 10. Romero 20. Coffey