moonslav59

Thanks for the correction, and ultimately how well Binelas and or Hamilton do might make or break the deal, but adding prospects like Binelas, Hamilton, German, Seabold, Winckowski and promising guys like Pivetta and Cordero improves the odds on someone coming through, eventually. To me, the worst part of the Renfroe deal was not losing his offense, which should be offset some for his poor D, but the money aspect. That $8M option of JBJ's $12M 2023 salary gave me scalp scabs.

Both. Look at the roster that started 2020 vs 2021 vs the end of 2021 and now 2022. I see progression from a weak 18-22 slots on the 40 with a bottom 3 farm to a team with maybe 10-12 weak slots (winter 20-21) to maybe 8-10 (21-22), while the farm went from bottom 3 to middle or above average (props to DD, too.) When you consider Bloom haD about $40M to spend on 2020 and again on 2021 with nothing long term and so many slots to fill, I think some serious context is needed, when exposing how he missed badly on Marwin, Andriese, Weber and even his "big ticket" items: Richards and Perez. Did you expect every low to mid-range sigtning to be Wacha? I didn't. I expected slow growth and to me, we got way faster growth than I imagines possible. The jury is still out on the farm and some trades made, but I feel much better about our extended future than I did during and after 2019, when some posters were throwing around the "C" word, while those who denied it are often trying to blame Bloom for why he didn't win a ring, already.

It was just 1 year of Renfroe, but your point is well taken. The scabs on my head are just starting to heal.

Even if you count the JBJ trade as a total bust, the totality of Bloom's moves have been a clear plus, and while he built up the 40 man roster, he also improved the farm and got us 2 wins from the WS. Of course, he's made mistakes, but the ones people mention the most have not been completed, yet. JBJ & Binelas/Hamilton might out perform the one year renfroe had left. Cordero & Winckowski might our perform Beni, who is now on his last year. Verdugo has already at least equaled the 60 games Betts played in 2020. If I wanted to bash Bloom, I'd stick to Richards, Perez I, Perez II and Diekman/Andriese/Sawamura...

We broke our own imposed rule on signing older than 30 SP'ers when we got Price. We may see the value in stealing Judge from the Yanks. I doubt it happens. I think we have set 5-6 years as the upper limit on length. Maybe they go 7-8 on Devers, because of his age, but I wonder...

But, at the time, the trade was given bad grades. Apparently, that's al that counts, for some.

Who else was even kicking the tires on a 1 year player making $28M? I'm not saying he did a great job, but Downs was not the center of that deal. 4.5 years of verdugo was. I know your refrain is always, "we should have traded him earlier, but ten you poo-poo all prospects, anyway. Bloom can never win with you, unless Henry lets him spend like DD.

Actually, taht's on Henry, and we actually did play "money ball," except with some money over several seasons in the past- mostly between ring years, but salary was cut before 2013, too. (Later, added during the season.)

The thing is Red is against paying them that, too, but when we lose them, it's all Bloom's fault, or "we should have gotten a better return," with adding anything specific about what, except, "we should have gotten pitching."

Last year, Schwarber was "major" and Robles/Davis were significant additions. (They also expected Sale to be an "addition.") It's hard for a GM to pull of a deal in May.

Except the Astros are like 10 for 10.

I'm not sure why Bloom is so down on your list that he needs a lot to reach some sort of redemption. He was handed a hot mess and a tiny budget for 2 years. He was given more to spend, this year, but still a limited amount with a hell of a lot of slots to try and fill. Some context is needed. I'm not saying he's been perfect or deserves a lot of praise, but he's turned things around, pretty quickly while also adding some brightness to our future.

They spent some on the pen. Barnes extension. Diekman. Strahm. They will likely move Hill to the pen when Sale/Paxton return. They chose to spend on the rotation, since we lost 3 starters. They chose to replace Marwin, Santana, Chavis and others with Story. I don't think they had enough in the budget to do everything. Yes, they chose to spend less on the pen and more elsewhere. Only the JBJ salary addition looks like it could have been replaceable.

The Sox missed the WS by 2 games, which was much better than the Yanks. They added Wacha & Hill to replace Richards & Perez. They hope Sale/Paxton can replace ERod. They added Story over Marwin, Santana, Chavis & others. I think you are selling our chances short. Do we have weaknesses? Yes, like all AL teams do. We also have a chance to fix those weakness from within the system and with a couple mov es at the deadline. You guys peaked early. Watch out!

An article in a local paper, here in Houston, listed all their recent extensions, and the list basically has not mistakes. The only borderline ones are Bregman, who had a great first year after being extended, but has been average since, and possibly McCullers. Some of the guys they let go have done okay, but they have spent a lot of time on the IL, too.

...and maybe Bloom, too?

It's not like I hate JBJ or Verdugo, but I'm not counting on them as being a big enough plus to make a significant difference. The might. They could, but personally, I'm not counting on them. I'm fine with going into next year with Duran and Verdugo in LF and LF only, and I'd b e fine with JBJ in C F or RF, if the 3rd OF was a big plus. I guess I'm just tired of mediocre OF6's from left to right, every year. When you are getting weak offense from 1B, the OF needs to take up some slack.

So, you guys should trade Judge, and Sox fans would be sad?

Garrett Whitlock next up. One game at a time!

Thank you for the 2 hour and 32 minute left coast win. Good night!

Maybe, just maybe, he's not in over his head.

Yes! 3 complete games since May 18th (Pivetta, Nate & Wacha). There has only been 2 games with just 2 pitchers used: The 7-1 win on May 13th (Pivetta + Crawford) The 3-1 loss on May 25th (Hill & Houck) All 5 occured after May 13th- the day we began to turn the season around.

He spent $18M on 3 SP'ers (about the same as last winter with $10M Richards & $'6M Perez) $7M Wacha $6M Paxton ($4M buyout with Option for $13M options for 2023 & 2024) $5M Hill He spent about $9M on the pen (not counting the Barnes extension): $3.5M x 2 Diekman (+$1M buyout) $3.0M Strahm $2.3M Robles Min Scheiber off waivers He spent $23.3M x 6 on Story He added salary with the JBJ trade. He accepted Vaz'z $7M option. Overall, it looks good, so far. (Not just Wacha.)

1.99 Wacha .563 (before tonight!) 3.02 Whitlock .627 3.41 Nate .778 3.50 Pivetta .627 4.40 Hill .735 3.72 Houch .620

I'm not going to say I told you so, but Wacha did have a nice record, last year the third time through the line-up, and I wondered why he was yanked early in so many early games. Well, he missed some time afterwards, and should be well rested for a while. The guy's got a 1.99 ERA. Can the Bloom bashers give him some love on this one?