moonslav59

Mind-boggling point.

You honestly think inheriting Price was something Bloom could have gotten more out of? He saved $16M a year on a guy that pitched 109 innings with LA in 3 years at a 118 ERA+. "Even to this day..." lmao! Price is used as the poster boy for how the end of long term contracts often work out, and it so happened the end of his contract was not during DD's reign, but Blooms. Can you tell me how Bloom was expected to cut the 2019 budget as much as he did and produce a winner? Can you try to give some specifics? He didn't tell JH he wanted massive budget cuts.

It's also possible to love almost all DD's trades and still realize the farm has produced very little since 2011, except the guys we traded for and whose team control have just about all run out or will, this winter. (Sale was extended.) The farm DD left has ended up looking better than many felt it would be, and some of those who claimed he "ruined the farm" and some of us who took it for what it was have said so. The fact is, next year, we will have Houck and then guys like Dalbec, Duran and a few others from the pre-Bloom farm as helpful players in 2023 and beyond. Of course, there is still time for many promising pre-Bloom players to make their mark, like Casas, Mata, Bello Rafael and others, but we are constantly told not to value the farm until they actually do something or get us something in trade. Maybe we will see Bloom use the farm in the way it was meant to be, which isn't just through trades, but might very well need one or two to get back on top. DD kept Devers and a few others, and deserves a ton of credit for that. He didn't trade the whole farm away, as some hyperbolic posters claim. I'm not sure it was the healthy balance you and others seem to make it out to be, but as it turned out only a few prospects he gave up have done well or very well, and the 3 first place finishes and 2018 amazing season made living through the following down years worth it, to me. The list of young and cost-controlled players and prospects that Theo left Ben, and Ben left DD far outshines the list DD left Bloom. I really have no problem with that, as it was worth it, but let's not sugarcoat what Bloom got. He got a budget that demanded immediate heavy slashing. He got a bunch of high-priced players than spent more time on the IL or watching their numbers decline than adding value. He got a farm that ended up being better than expected, but has still only given him Houck in his 3 years at the helm. These are facts not excuses.

Funny you mentioned Price and Sale his and their mega contracts as something not a mess. ERod turned into a mess very quickly through no fault of Bloom. (Missed 2020, and thank God Bloom did not bring him back after his control ended.) Plus, you named 11 names. The other 15 sucked or their time was up, and Bloom was given a negative budget sheet to fill those slots. The oversimp0lification of the state of the team after 2019 is a blind spot for many Bloom bashers.

Last year, the Sox had 5 starters with over 22 GS'd (3 over 30)> 32 Nate 124 ERA+ 31 ERod 98 31 Pivetta 102 22 Richards 95 22 M Perez 98 With 40 games to go, Pivetta should reach 30-31 GSd, but probably nobody else reaches 22, except maybe Hill, who has 18, now. 25 Pivetta 98 18 Eovaldi 100 18 Hill 89 15 Wacha 183 12 Wink 80 10 Crawford 81 9 Whitlock 138 4 Houck 133 ERA- from 2021 to 2022 (Red= Improved) 33 Brasier> 146 43 Whitlock> 74 67 Sawamura> 77 69 Sale> 78 74 DHern> 529 77 Houck> 77 79 Robles> 143 82 Eovaldi> 102 83 Barnes> 154 99 Pivetta> 104 107 Davis> 128 128 Valdez> 108 Changes: 104 ERod>>>56 Wacha 75 Taylor>>>58 Schreiber 92 Ottavino>>> 83 Strahm 109 Workman>>> 103 Diekman 104 M Perez>>> 127 Winckowski 107 Richards>>> 115 Hill 132 Andriese>>> 126 Crawford

Also seeing time on the IL: Houck, Nate, Strahm, Bello, Danish and others. The list of all season healthy pitchers is much shorter: Pivetta Crawford Davis Sawamura

Back injury. ETAs: Bello (Groin) & Danish (Forearm)- late August Story (Hand) & Hosmer (Back)- early September Nate (Shoulder) & Houck (Back)- mid September Sale (Wrist), Paxton (Elbow) & Taylor (Back)- ????

How's this for a blueprint to a winning 2023 season? BTV accepted this as a "Moderate overpay" by the Sox: Bello & Yorke to MIA for Pablo Lopez (2 yrs of control) & Jacob Stallings (2 yrs of control for the catcher the Sox tried to acquire, last winter) QO accepted: Michael Wacha Sign: SS: Dansby Swanson CF: Enrique Hernandez RF: Brandon Nimmo RP: Michael Fulmer RP: Matt Strahm 1. Nimmo RF 2. Swanson SS 3. Devers 3B 4. Story 2B 5. Verdugo LF 6. Hernandez CF 7. EValdez/Arroyo/Hosmer/Dalbec DH/Bench 8. Hosmer/Casas/Dalbec 1B 9. Stallings/McGuire C SP1 Lopez SP2 Sale/Paxton SP3 Wacha SP4 Pivetta SP5 (Sale/Paxton/Whitlock) Crawford/Winckowski/Seabold/Mata/Walter/Murphy Closer: Houck RP2: Whitlock (SP?) RP3: Schreiber RP4: Fulmer RP5: Strahm RP6: Barnes RP7: Brasier/Davis/German/ (any converted SP'er)

So much for agreeing to disagree. Lastwordism always gets in the way.

Losing seems to bring out the best in all of us!

As great as Story looked on defense at 2B, this year, despite that game losing error early on, I'm fine with keeping him at 2B, but it would be cheaper to find a decent 2Bman than SS, this winter. I'd like to see us sign Swanson. I'm not sold on Anderson but maybe could be convinced. I doubt we go large enough to get Bogey, Correa or Turner.

Could the 2022 team "just be having an off year" like the 2019 team? Trading Renfroe to bring back homegrown JBJ shows no respect to homegrown players? Am I missing the point, there? You think keeping the 2019 team intact would have meant winning more? (Not to mention how could Bloom do that with the mandate to slash the budget by a huge percent?) The leaders in games played by position on the 2019 are listed here: C: Vaz 1B: Moreland- you want him back? 2B: Holt- you want him back? 3B: Devers SS: Bogey LF: Beni CF: JBJ- you want him back? RF: Betts DH: JD All the guys still here, except Devers declines from 2021 to 2022 or from 2019 to 2022. Bench (listed by most PAs) Chavis- you want him back? Leon- you want him back? Nunez- you want him back? Travis- you want him back? Marco Hernandez - you want him back? How about pitchers? Should we have stayed loyal to... (top innings pitchers from 2019) ERod Porcello Sale Price Workman Walden Barnes Hector Velazquez Most of these guys suck or are out of baseball. The ones we were loyal to are being bashed on a daily basis: Sale Barnes Brasier The 2019 team showed serious decline, because it had serious issues, including dead money/budget issues than Henry ordered cleaned up by the new GM.

I'm not doubting your statement, but all I read about was concerning 2022. I googled it and found nothing about 2023.

That seems about right. Perhaps he can move up to higher leverage situations as the season progresses. His .469 OPS Against is the best by any pitcher in the Sox farm system with over 40 IP. 57 Ks in 41.2 IP is nice. 18 BBs is a bit too high, but his 0.91 WHIP is very good.

I wasn't talking about what camp you are part of.

It's permanently injured or compromised?

I guess he's probably too small to play 1B, but from what I've heard about his defense, maybe DH is his only realistic ML landing spot. I wonder what team has an open DH slot, next season.

Has that been decided for 2023?

I get a kick out of you feigning impartiality and being above the fray with your passive aggressive BS. In all honesty, I often chuckle out loud, in solitude, reading your posts, but not over the fence. When you talk baseball, you make great points.

I get it, but what is enlightening is how some posters are all giddy over a yankee fan's support of their views and pay him the highest form of a compliment: imitation, as in using and repeating over and over his term "moonslop."

2022: Winckowski Seabold Bello Downs Ort 2021: Crawford Duran Wong 2020: Houck Dalbec 2019: PValdez DHern Somehow, this is Bloom's fault. One can see why rebuilding the farm became a top priority for the Sox GM that replaced DD. Since 2011, the only meaningful MLB contributors from the Sox farm system can be counted on one hand, and even some of these have just done well for 1-2 years: Devers Beni Montas Kopech Margot/Moncada Do some really believe a weak farm had nothing to do with the state of our current roster? Baffling!

What a team STORK, Old Red, JD & Swi make. A team one can feel so proud belonging to. These guys actually take comfort in the fact that these others on their "team" support them. Like some known and respectable people share their extreme views. It would be funny, if it wasn't so sad.

Best to just ignore the trolls and instigators.

So, calling posters who always bash Bloom "Bloom bashers" is name-calling, but saying what a poster writes is "moonslop" is somehow acceptable. One can see the faults in logic of some posters on display, daily.

You don't think context matters, as in... DD obviously had no mandate to improve the farm. (He was allowed to trade up to 20 prospects that were at one point rated in the top 20 Sox prospects rankings.) DD was given a much larger spending budget year one. (Bloom was allowed to spend $140M/6 in March of year 3.) To act like these factors don't have anything to do with the results is missing something very significant, and no, it's not making excuses. It's stating reality.