moonslav59

He's very impressive. I get that. I'm bothered by the over-the-top gushing and fawning over him. Maybe I'm wrong about previous stars not getting the same treatment, but it seems excessive, to me.

Which says this... Field: Potential fringe-average defender. Has the speed and athleticism teams covet for center field, but is still raw and needs to continue developing in the outfield after moving from second base during his pro debut. Not clear that he will stick in center field, and may be a better fit in left given arm and uniquely spacious right field at Fenway Park. Has improved what was initially a slow first step in the outfield, struggling with initial reads, but still is not a natural outfielder. Often able to make up for slow reads and inefficient routes with his speed. First moved to right field, where the line to the plate was similar to that at second base, before converting full-time in 2019 to center field, with the hope his speed could allow him to develop tremendous range. At second base, showed soft hands and fluid actions, though athleticism was somewhat wasted. At this point, a return to the infield would be very difficult given how long it has been since he worked out at the position. Arm: Below-average arm strength. Passable in the outfield, but throws lack carry. Summation: Potential fourth outfielder. Ceiling of an everyday center fielder. Ability to reach ceiling is dependent on keeping the swing-and-miss in his game manageable and continuing to improve defensively. Swing changes that allowed him to tap into his raw power have changed his outlook, but now needs to adjust again to be able to handle major league pitching. Now looks like a potential average offensive player with plus-plus speed who is passable in the outfield and able to get by because of his speed and athleticism while he continues to refine his reads and routes. With his speed, has the potential to put a lot of pressure on the defense and inflate his average with infield singles and slugging by taking extra bases. Could also steal 25-plus bases if he improves his baserunning instincts.

Are you saying or thinking Duran is an average defender in the OF? What about CF? What about RF? What about CF or RF in Fenway? I trust Bloom and Cora have not been "impressed" with his defense, or he'd have been playing more often. It's not just Max and a "couple posters."

1) Not all those teams "trade off" top talent. (The Astros lose them to free agency.) 2) The Sox pipeline is rapidly improving, and I believe some sites have our farm higher ranked than the Yanks. 3) Our farm is deeper than Mayer, Casas and Bello, and we have some very promising far away prospects that promise an extended pipeline. Now or soon: Duran, Winckowski, Seabold, German, Fitzy, Crawford, Wong, RHern By 2023: Casas Bello Mata Murphy Downs, Groome, Koss, Hamilton By 2024: Yorke Rafaela Walter Binelas Lugo, McDonough, Ward By 2025 or beyond: Bleis Song W Gonzalez Paulino Jordan, Hickey, Kavadas, Bonaci

Are you saying maybe Fitzy gets called up or DFA'd?

I'm not sure how well Bloom will do, when given much more money. We really only have Story as an example and a bunch of 1 year moderate deals. I agree, we should expect Bloom to do much of what he and others did in Tampa concerning finding gems for low dollars and building a farm up, and I'm happy with what he has done in this area, so far. Certainly, some mistakes were made, but most were low-cost, one year deals that are largely expected to have high failure rates. I suspect Henry will allow Bloom to have about the same budget, next year, and with so many large contracts clearing the the books, we will see just how well (or poorly) Bloom does in an area he has not had much experience in. Some seem to think his lack of experience means he's "in over his head" or worse. That may very well turn out to be true, but how can anyone know, for sure, at this point. We really only have Story's deal to judge him by, in terms of bigger deals. He's done pretty good on lesser deals, drafting and building up the farm and lower 40 man roster, but the jury is still out on a lot of is bigger moves. Verdugo, German, Binelas & Hamilton, Seabold, Winckowski, RHern and others.

And, he praised Bloom and Cora for building a good team, last year. Now, he's revising history. He's right about expiring contracts and big choices to be made, but that is next season. We lost ERod, Richards, Perez and Ottavino plus Renfroe, Marwin and Santana and the big rentals, but some of those are additions by subtraction and we gained Wacha, Hill, Strahm and Story plus JBJ, Schreiber and some farm help now ML ready. I don't see this team as being worse, and I see us making some deadline moves, again, this summer. Hopefully, we can do as well as last summer's Schwarber, Iggy, Shaw and Robles/Davis.

Yes, he's "certainly worthy of all the praise he gets." What more can I say? I'm just tired of hearing so much gushing praise that seems endless and way over the top. More than Lebron got. More than Kobe and others. I get it: what's not to love, and maybe it's just me. I'm not even a Celtics fan, but the gushing was sickening, to me.

My poll was designed to ask about their overall grades from when they joined the Sox to now, not just this year, but I wasn't very specific.

It’s about their grades as of now.

One barrier to getting to the point where the Dodgers, Astros and Yankees are, at the moment, is building a formidable and deep farm within the structure of a draft and international free agent system that makes it much more difficult for winning and high spending teams to acquire top young talent than the previous systems in place. This was a major reason I felt it would be very difficult for the Sox to get back to being serious and long term contenders, quickly. I thought some posters were being disingenuous by saying things like “we’ll build the farm back up and sign some free agents to fill in the gaps.” As it turned out, I was wrong. With the help of some shrewd picks and IFA signings by DD, our farm was better off than I knew back in 2018-2019. Maybe better than most thought they were. The last place finish in2020 gave us some top picks. That helped, too. I still think our farm is not at the level the Astros, Dodgers, Rays and others have been at for several seasons, now, but I see hope we are on the right path to getting a farm we can depend on for low cost, quality infusions of talent on a consistent basis.

Henry can or may spend like LAD, someday, but until I see it starting to happen, I’m going on the assumption we will continue staying near the lux tax line and occasionally resetting and staying under for a couple years here and there. It would certainly be much easier to stay competitive by filling more slots with higher priced free agents, but it seems clear there have been limits, and our GMs have faced many either or choices. I expect that will continue. That being said, continuing on as a top 5 or 6 spending team should allow our GM enough flexibility to keep the team competitive from year to year, as long as he maintains a balance between the here and now and the extended future.

I think Max was being facetious. I think, like any other issue, what being a good fan looks like varies wildly from person to person. There is no right or wrong, but when you got guys like Swihart who has advocated trading, DFA'ing or worse virtually every Sox player, coach and manager, one might wonder who he is actually cheering for- the logo?

Curry certainly is worthy of all the praise he gets, but for some reason, it seems way over the top.

Tanning some hides!

Here is a breakdown of our pen's blown saves and losses by pitcher. Robles 4 BS, 2 Loses (both were from BS), 1 Win, 2 Svs, 7 Holds 5 games with no BS, Sv, Holds, wins or loses (5 IP 0 ER) 1-3 in games with BS 4/23 lost (10th) 5/7 lost (9th) 5/22 won (8-9th inning) 6/11 lost (9th inning) Diekman: 3 BS, O Loses, 2 Wins, 9 Holds 11 games with none of above (10.2 IP 6 ER) 4/26 lost (9th inning) 5/4 lost (9th inning) 5/16 win (6th inning) Brasier:2 BS, 2 Loses, 0 Wins, 3 Svs 5 Holds 15 games with none (15 IP 6 ER) 4/8 lost (10th inning) 4/24 lost (5th inning) Strahm: 2 BS, 2 Loses (1 from BS), 1 Win, 5 Holds 10 games none above: 7.1 IP 1 ER 5/27 lost (8-9t innings) 6/11 lost (7th inning) Davis: 1 BS, 1 Loss, 1 Win, 2 Holds 5/4 lost (6-7 innings) Barnes: 1 BS, 3 Loses, 0 Wins, 2 SVs, 0 Holds 14 other games 12.1 IP 10 ER 4/30 lost (8th inning) Whitlock: 1 BS, 0 Loses, 1 Win, 1 SV, 0 Holds 4/8 lost (6-8 innings) Only 4 saves were blown in the 9th and led to a loss. Out of 14 Blown Saves, 3 were during the same game as another Blown saves, so BS led to 9 loses, since we won 2 games where a blown save occured. I'm really not sure how many more wins we'd have, even if we had a perfect 9th inning traditional closer. Of course, our best pitchers would have been set up men, not closers, and maybe they do better in those roles- maybe not. No doubt, 9 losses due to blown saves is way too much, and when you add the losses by the pen in extra innings and beforehand, it's very bad. I don't think anyone disputes it. That being said, the pen has done better in more games than not, and they've done better or even as the starters in more games than not. That's not making excuses or trying to sugarcoat a bad situation, but I do feel like some posters think they've done poorly more often than ok or well.

It sure plays a role in piling up loses, doesn't it?

The same guy who complains people gang up on those with differing opinions plays the excuse police on Thursdays.

...and those who did not want Iggy as our SS, were so happy to repeatedly point out the error he made in that series- ignoring all the plays he made no Red Sox SS could have made those years.

Exactly. The statement was based on who might be the next guy, but some posters just don't get it.

Mata made a nice stride in his rehab, despite walking 3 in 4 IP. 1 Hit 0 ER 8 Ks Northcut with a 3-run dinger (21st)

I still think Sale is a fierce competitor, and I will never write him off, until he retires are sucks for a few years. I've given up hoping for a great return, too, but if anyone can do it, it would be Sale.

The whole "Story Land" saying shows your sentiments from the beginnings of his struggles. Nobody is denying he has struggled mightily for the vast majority of games. Maybe, you just need to "get over it."

The guy made a valid point on a reason why we lost. You've never done that? When someone else does it, they are "making an excuse," but when you do it, it's just "stating my opinion," I'm not sure what Pivetta going against a scrub has to do with today's game. Does Max have to qualify his point, so as not to get thrashed?

It's you that needs to get over it. Max made a good point about facing their ace and a good pitcher overall. Call it an excuse, if you want, but why go off like Max was crying to the Comish? He actually ended his post with "Stuff happens. It's called baseball," and you act like he can't accept the loss.