moonslav59

Breaking him in slowly, it seems.

Booby Dee is back to his old self. DFA him! Bring up Munoz!

Throw strikes Eduardo!

J- Da- Man

Another "earned run" not so earned.

Those damn walks get us everytime!

So, couldn't those plans and pre-season views be attributed to the last vestiges of the "cliff?"

Groome may start coming around, soon, but to still binge at A ball at age 22 has to be viewed as an overall letdown, despite the injuries. I would also add that Casas has to hit better than .768 in AA to get a shot at playing a hitter's position like 1B in 2022. Downs is seeing his stock fall, but I think he can still turn things around. I like what I have seen from Wong, so we may see more of him. I think Bello may rise more quickly that we think. Seabold should see significant time with the big club in 2022- maybe even this September. I also like Winckowski, but he has been struggling, of late. Chris Murphy may rise and contribute in '22. Ronald Hernandez, Munoz, Crawford, Bazardo and Arauz can be role players. Getting great input from Whitlock, Houck and Duran lessens the need to have serious impact prospects for 2022, but it would be nice to get something good from somebody.

I've mentioned this point over and over. The downturn was much shorter than I expected and some of the reasons for that have to do with DD's draft picks and acquisitions that exceeded my expectations. Some also has to go to Bloom for moving very quickly to build the farm from bottom 3 to maybe bottom 15 to 18, as well as improving the 40 man roster. Let's not forget that the whole reset and decision to not go over, this year was Henry's not DD's, but the team budget and roster left by DD was a major factor in those choices by Henry. All the complaints about not doing enough at the deadline are part of the effects left behind by DD, too. All we hear is Bloom bashing on the deadline, and certainly he could have or might have done more, but his focus has been on rebuilding the farm, and to me, rightly so. I can't help but think much of that is on DD not Bloom.

Indeed!

I'm not trying to make any veiled point here, but here are some interesting numbers: 2021 Numbers by selected ex-Sox players: .899 Betts .695 Beni .753 Moncada .545 JBJ .606 Pillar .735 Moreland .699 Margot .646 Dubon 3.60 (55 IP) Price 2.53 (46 IP) Kopech 6.16 (19) Mazza 3.43 (45) Springs 5.40 (42) Hembree DNP Buttrey DNP Beeks

I agree. There should be a great need and much discussion before any exceptions occur.

We may also see more fall league play than normal.

Plawecki has been great depth at catcher. If we stick to just a 3 man bench, and Schwarber plays 1B most of the time, our bench will be Duran, Dalbec and Plawecki. If we go to 13 pitchers and 4 bench players, I'd be fine with Munoz over Cordero. Once Arroyo returns to health, we don't need Cordero's depth in the OF, as Kike plays CF. We don't need Cordero at 1B, since Schwarber and Dalbec should cover that. It would come down to Munoz > Arauz, IMO.

A million thanks to Bob!

I'm fine with that opinion, and don't disagree. That does not negate the fact that an extreme amount of prospects were traded in a very short window, the farm he left was worse than the one he inherited, and the farm & budget left behind contributed greatly to 2020 and the pre-season hopes to 2021. Of course, there were other factors, like Henry tightening the purse strings and COVID hitting MLB hard. Again, I'm happy we hired DD and greatly enjoyed the unprecedented 3 division wins, the fantastic 2018 season and WS win, and felt he created a window longer than the 3.5 years it turned out to be. What I feel is lacking among some of the DD worshippers is the admission that his strategy and philosophy was a major factor in what happened at the end of 2019, the whole 2020 season and the state of our current farm and budget. It's something he did nearly every place he went, so it's not like it was some kind of fluke we fell off a cliff. We can argue about just how bad the cliff was or is, and how much Bloom had to do with the quick turn-around and how much DD has to do with this year's success. (He has a significant role in it, IMO.) Yes, the paper rankings can be wrong, but I'd rather have a top 10 farm than a bottom 10 farm and certainly top 3 vs bottom 3. Why is it so hard for some to at least give some slight lip service to one downfall of DD'd reign? They sure have an easy time blasting Ben and Bloom over certain downfalls of their record as GMs.

...and Sale would have been gone long before the extension. JD would never have been signed. Eovaldi, too. No Bogey.

Just as showing player X has great numbers in the clutch proves it's a sustainable skill. Nobody can prove anything on this, and maybe that's why the argument will never be put to rest. We can, however, show that randomly generated stat lines for sample sizes as large as playoff samples mirror almost exactly, the actual results in reality. Some skew high, some skew low, most skew near the player's regular season OPS when factoring in batting vs slightly better pitching.

We all knew Sale, Arroyo and Houck were returning, but the urgency and impatience dominated many opinions on this board. Plus, watching nearly every other top contender add more than a Schwarber just added fuel to a fire already raging in many Sox fans' minds. Bloom stood his ground. I don't think he lied or misled anyone by saying he was looking to make some serious additions. I think he set a cost of return and did not cross it, or he did not even have the right pieces for some of the better of the best that were traded. I think adding Sale, Schwarber, Arroyo, Houck and others looks as good as just about anyone else's add ons.

One might call Whitlock a miracle work. Other than him, only Kike and sticking with Dalbec and Pivetta seem to be outstanding decisions. The rest seem just plain good, except for Marwin, Santana and to some extent Richards.

Yes, I agree with you 100%, but we need to be careful with our words for these sensitive DD worshipers.

Career: .884 vs teams over .500 .713 vs teams under .500 He's over .815 vs every team but... .674 NYY .515 ATL .358 MIA .311 SEA .294 HOU .111 DET .083 TEX His best? 1.881 KCR 1.750 WSH (nice rotation) 1.001 TOR .944 CWS (nice rotation) .922 LAA .900 OAK (nice rotation) .889 MIN .888 BAL (was below .725 before yesterday) .864 TBR (2nd best record in MLB since 2020) .833 NYM (nice rotation) .816 PHI

By any account, the amount of prospects traded away was extreme. I do think saying "emptying the farm" is a bit harsh. He did leave Devers, and some of his draft picks have risen faster and higher than many expected.

Did you like it when people used Pedey and JBJ's slow starts to deflate their numbers? Renfroe's, this year? Hell, some even wanted Devers demoted in mid April.

My early projection on the 2022 Sox 26 man roster: SP1 Sale SP2 Greinke (yes at age 38 to a shorter term deal) SP3 Eovaldi SP4 Pivetta SP5 Whitlock Clo Raisel Iglesias RP2 Houck RP3 Barnes RP4 Taylor RP5 DHern RP6 Sawamura RP7 Brasier RP8 Valdez C Vazquez C Plawecki 1B Schwarber 1B/3B Dalbec 2B Arroyo (Kike) 3B Devers SS Bogey SS Jose Iglesias LF Verdugo CF/2B Hernandez CF Duran RF Renfroe DH Martinez (does not opt out or is extended at a lower AVV) Others on 40 man SP: Seabold, Winckowski (Rule 5), Crawford (Rule 5), Bello (Rule 5), Groome, Mata RP: Rios, Davis, Bazardo C: Wong IF: Downs (Rule 5) OF: Cordero, Jimenez (Rule 5) One from the bubble list: Ro Hernandez T Ward (Rule 5) V Santos (Rule 5) F German (Rule 5) D Granberg (Rule 5) D Feltman (Rule 5) K Ort (Rule 5) T Reed (Rule 5) Rosario Arauz C Cottam (Rule 5) R Fitzgerald (Rule 5) T Dearden (Rule 5) Gone from 2021 40man roster: Marwin Santana ERod Ottavino Richards Perez Andriese Robles Potts (From bubble list: R Hernandez, Rosario & Arauz)