moonslav59

There is plenty of season left, and we play so many games against teams ahead of us, that we hold our own destiny in our hands. I still think this team does not have the make-up or the horses to win it all, but I'd love to be proven wrong about this and my belief that the playoffs are not largely a "crapshoot." Of course, it's always about one game at a time, but looking ahead, after tonight's game with BAL, we see two clusters of 8-9 game stretches with a couple of "easier" series in between follows by the final 14 game stretch all against divisional foes. Here is the rest of the season after the game at BAL, tonight: 3 v TOR 3 v TBR 3 @ MN 4 v TEX 3 @ TBR 3 @ BAL 3 v NYY 2 @ CIN 4 @ NYY 4 v BAL 3 @ TOR 3 v TBR Totals: 9 TBR (6H/3A) 8 BAL (counting tonight) 4H/4A 7 NYY 3H/4A 6 TOR 3H/3A 4 TEX Home 3 @ MN 2 @ Cin

Agreed. Lots of successful business men might be pricks- same as non successful people.

Thanks for this report. It would be great if Valdez can field well at 2B. I do wonder if Wong can be a starter in the bigs- not in 2023, but someday. I've really got my hopes up for 2023, assuming Henry allows Bloom to spend to or over the limit, but part of me worries about their eye being on 2024 and beyond. I know this would piss off a lot of fans, and I would not be happy either, but a few times in recent weeks, I've posted which positions Bloom will most likely leave to "in-system players," and it got me thinking. Is it possible he leaves basically all of them to "the system," and just adds more one year players to get us just the point of watchability and slight 2023 playoff hopes. I want to stress that I am NOT for this idea in any way. I think we can build for 2024 and beyond by starting with some major additions in 2023, who have team control for 3 or more years, however, the fact that we did not get under the tax line at the deadline, means we will be year 2 in taxes in 2023 and the dreaded year 3 in 2024, when many of our top prospects will be entering MLB (Mayer, Rafaela and others) or starting to mature and enter pre-prime years (Casas, Bello, Mata, German and others.) Of course, this talk could easily end, if we re-set in 2023. As I figure, we can spend $80-85M, this winter (more, if we find ways to dump salary,) and that should be enough to build a solid 2023 team without hampering the longer term goals, but by actually adding to the positive ouitlook, assuming the guys we add don't fizzle into deadwood right away. Here is the breakdown, again, of positions in need of upgrading and who might get long looks, if we don't add anyone here: Note the players who may be here in 2024 and consider that we might not want to add a longer term deal in these slots) Not in order of highest need... C: McGuire, Wong, RHern (Cottam/Hickey too far away for '23) 1B: Casas, Hosmer, Dalbec (Kavadas '24? Jordan late '24?) 2B: (Story?) Arroyo, EValdez, Downs, Koss (Rafaela/Yorke '24?) SS: (Story?) Downs, Koss (Lugo '24? & Mayer late '24?) CF: Ja. Davis/Duran (Rafaela '24?) RF: Verdugo/Refsnyder/WAbreu (Jimenez '24) DH: Casas/Hosmer/Dalbec/Cordero/EValdez/Granberg/Northcut (Kavadas '24?) 4/5 SP: Bello, Mata, Crawford, Winckowski, Seabold, Murphy, Walter, Ward, Santos (Drohan, Wikelman & Uberstine late '24?) RP 6/7/8: German (convert SP from above) DHern, Ort, Feltman, Wallace I could see an idea brewing to let us see what some of these kids have, before committing long term to more than 1 or 2 players. I'm hoping we add 4 or more key players that can't be had on 1 year deals.

Just commenting on your wonderings.

...and Margot & Bello Has been a pretty weak farm since 2011, though. 11 years and only Devers, Houk, Dalbec, Crawford, Bello and then Moncada, Kopech, Montas, Margot, Espinal, Beeks, Buttrey and scraps. I suppose that's Bloom's fault, too.

Lugo with back-to-back 2 HR games! Tonight, he went 4 for 5. 2 HRs and a 2B and brought his OPS up to .837. McDonough got over .700 with a 4 for 5 night and the cycle! Jordan, Sikes, Jimenez and Garcia all had 2 hits. Sikes with a BB and a current OPS of .869.

The thing is, I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion, and agreeing to disagree is a good thing, many times. I guess repeating the same point over and over, something almost all of us do, is viewed by some as not agreeing to disagree.

Yes, finally, he is!

Not getting a good feeling about the ending to this game. Get some runs, PLEASE!

One thing I find interesting. Those who blame Bloom for our downfall in 2022 are just "stating facts." It's not viewed as "making excuses." If some state facts like just about every returning vet doing worse from 2021 to 2022, it's viewed as making an excuse to lessen the heat put on Bloom. Bringing up facts like a massive amount of injuries to our most key players is viewed as making excuses. Isn't saying trading Renfroe just an excuse, too? The fact is, almost the entire team did worse than 2021 or expected. Only Devers, Vaz and maybe Houck did the same or better than 2021. Bloom additions Schreiber, Refsnyder, Wacha and to some extent Hill and Strahm did better or about as expected, yet the Renfroe, Deikman and Barnes extension are all some talk about as the reason why, OR EXCUSE!, we suck this year.

...and Schreiber, Refsnyder, Strahm and to some extent Hill, Pham, McGuire (for Diekman) and carry-overs Pivetta, Whitlock and Kike.

It looked that way for Brasier, too, until last night.

The drop off from 2018 to 2019 was .097 in winning %, and the team was forced to cut over $40M in salary. The 2020 season reflected that along with Sale and ERod missing the entire season. blaming Bloom for 2020 is laughable. Blaming him for the .076 decline in winning % from 2021 to 2022 is fair, but then what about crediting him for the 2021 near miracle? Also, the decline from 2020, the worst point in recent Sox history, to 2021 is less than from 2018 to 2019. (.054 drop compared to .097) The farm is undeniably much better. The budget looks much better, in terms of dead money and added dead money from the DD era to now. That's not excusing 2022. We suck, and Bloom is partially responsible- even a big part.

No one is holding him blameless. The Renfroe trade sucked. BTW, he is the one who signed Renfroe and created the 2021 roster with a tight budget. Was that "inept," too? Are GMs only rated by current standings? We are better now than after 2019. Thinking otherwise is inept thinking. The team is better. The farm is better. The amount of deadwood is better. The budget is better suited for improving. The record sucks. There is no denying it. Some of Blooms moves sucked. Some seemed okay, but they ended up sucking. Too many key players got hurt. Just about all returning vets declined- many by a lot, and many were not Bloom acquired players. That's not excuses. We sucked, Period. But, facts are facts.

I'm still optimistic about him being a big help in the next 2-3 years. I hope that's not perceived as being a blind Bloom apologist. His defense is superb. Maybe he just needed an adjustment period to the AL, but the guy has skills. K's don't ever bother me, if the players gets on base or helps in other ways.

Wacha is making a strong case for a QO.

I hope you are being sarcastic.

My eye test detected many RBIs. That being said, he's been a major letdown through the 1/6th point of his contract.

Because we are tanking?

Do we count prospects we obtained via trade, minor league free agency (even if they have some ML experience) or Rule 5? Then, there is the IFA's, who most count as prospects, even if they cost $63M. (I think they counted Dice-K as a prospect/rookie, too.) IFA 2009 Bogey Iggy Montas 2010 Aro 2011 Margot 2012 2 x Basabe (traded for Sale and Brad Ziegler) J Guerra (part of Kimbrel trade) Bautista (part of A Reed trade) 2013-2014 Devers DHern 2014-2015 Moncada (main piece in Sale trade) Espinoza for Pomeranz Castillo Bazardo 2015-2016 Mata 2016-2017 H Velazquez 2017-2018 Bello Rafaela Jimenez 2018-2019 WGonzalez Paulino Bonaci 2019-2020 Perales 2021 Bleis Current Rule 5 & Trades Whitlock German Seabold EValdez Ort CWong RHernandez WAbreu Binelas Almonte Wallace Koss Ferguson Rosier Downs Hamilton Potts Minor League FA signings/Waivers Brasier Arroyo Schreiber Refsnyder Danish I'm sure I left some names off this list.

I don't know of a debate about players checking their metrics or not. It's amusing to me that you think there is one.

Slumping is not quitting. Also, one reason players slump is that they are trying too hard. That's the opposite of quitting. I'm not saying Devers is trying too hard or has lost focus. I don't know. It is "sad," though.

RBI per AB 63/412 Devers .152 58/307 Story .189*** 57/435 Dugo .131 49/422 Bogey .116 46/392 JD M .117 42/294 Vaz .143 32/281 Dalbec .114 29/271 JBJ .107 28/228 Kike .123 24/215 Cordero .112 21/184 Arroyo .114 Men on Base (RBI/AB) 55/208 Dugo .264 51/166 Devers .307 51/149 Story .342 45/203 Bogey .222 41/189 JD M .217 36/128 Vaz .281 RISP 46/85 Story .541 44/116 Bogey .379 42/120 Dugo .350 38/117 JD M .325 33/88 Devers .375 33/88 Vaz .375 *** If you take away those 10 big games where Story had 22 RBIs, which is not really fair, as the Sox went 8-2 in those games, he still ended up with 36 RBI in 268 ABs. That is a .134 RBI per AB rate, which still outshines Bogey, JD and almost everyone else on the team without taking away their best 10 games streak.

Sox OPS Leaders (200+ ABs) 1.060 Kavadas (what do expect from a Domer?) .893 Rafaela (making a strong case for top 100 status) .888 Sikes (not much talk on him) .858 Casas (will we see him in September?) .833 Jordan (perhaps his drop on soxprospects.com was premature) .821 Mayer (not bad for first year, but...) .821 Stewart (hardly talked about) .809 Lugo (on the rise) .797 Paulino (Will he be Rule 5 protected?) .792 Granberg (Impressive for having only 9 XBHs) .790 Sanchez (AAAA stamp of approval) .783 Northcut (44 XBHs & 35 singles/ 23 BBs & 135 Ks) .776 Bonaci (80 BB/ 78 Ks) .773 Wong (next year's backup? .745 RHern Notables: .761 Koss .755 Binelas (despite the .203 BA) .728 Downs Less than 200 AB Notables 1.021 AAA Almonte (acquired for cash) 1.057 Meidroth (draftee off to a fast start & promoted to Salem) .896 Bleis FCL .893 E Valdez (Vaz trade 2B/DH type) OPS Against (40+ IP) .479 Frank German .559 Bello .559 Z Kelly .562 Winckowski .585 Walter .587 Mata .612 Murphy .632 Keller .637 Politi .641 Wikelman .648 Seabold .658 Uberstine .679 Drohan

The clubhouse leaders let him know how things are done around Boston.