moonslav59

I remember the play- just forgot who the batter was.

Where do you get this sort of data?

So, this is who Bloom was waiting for!

I did not remember it was him.

Setting the rotation up for the WC game, I'm sure.

nope

What does starting Brad Peacock tell you about the rest of the staff, at this point in time, anyway?

When I think of Tony Clark, I think back to the days I believed players could be skilled at clutch hitting. I was happy we got him. Career Late & Close .834 (.799 high leverage) With the Sox: .399 (.739) It's like we were the reverse of what TB is today. The guy hit .857 with DET. Came to us at the ripe age of 30 and hit .556. He hit .861 the following 3 years after leaving Boston.

Is Sale on 6 days rest all year? Not starting him also pushes back Erod and pushed Eovaldi right out of this TBR series.

Plawecki will be back in 2022. We stayed under with Ottavino, and he's been a plus. (I'm not talking plus per dollar) Wong and RHern are likely better than I forgot who, last year. Valdez & Rios seem better than many on that list of 19 I provided. Yes, Bazardo was in the system long before Bloom.

That's because Florida is the model of how to handle COVID.

You left off Plawecki Wong Valdez Bazardo R Hernandez Ottavino- yes Rios Maybe Munoz

You may be overstating how good the 20-50 slots were on this team, last year. No doubt the 30-40 slots still need a big upgrade, but they are better than 2020's, nonetheless. I'm expecting a huge gain, this winter, thanks to rule 5 (not many Bloom prospects but some, like maybe Winckowski) and FA signings as well as additions by subtractions from several FAs (some of which were Blooms). To me, these are the worst players on our 40 man roster, right now- in rough order: Santana Robles Davis Perez Espinal Cordero Rios R Hernandez Potts Rosario Arauz That's about 11, and many will be gone, this winter. There's 19 guys on the two pitching lists alone that are as bad or worse than these guys. You really think the 20-40 slots have not improved significantly from 2020? That the outlook for further improvement, even with just moderate FA signings, this winter is also present?

You thought this team was just Rizzo and Kimbrel away from winning the division? If you think yes, then you must think Bloom did a better team building job than I do, before the deadline.

Most of the 2019-2020 winter signings were min wage and minor league deals. The biggest signings were: Under $20M 6 Perez 4.2 Pillar (traded) 3 Morelaand (traded) 2.9 Peraza 1.5 Lucroy 0.9 Plawecki 0.9 Osich (traded) Everyone else was under $700K

They spent $40M- almost all on 1 year deals ($33M). That's a lot, but we had like 20-25 areas of improvement needed on our 40 man roster, and you bash Bloom for not getting every move right.

Seriously? You can balme Bloom, if you want, that seems to be your thing, for how bad the 2020 team was, but come on. This team is light years better than 2020 and not just the 26 man roster. The rest of the 40man is way better and the players beyond the 40 man, as well. We've made a major step up. Why deny it? One last point to make: you think this year's pitching is bad, and no doubt, right now, it's not lookin great, take a look at the pitchers who made up 26% of our IP'd, last season: IP ranking 1. Perez 4.50 3. Weber 4.40 5. Mazza 4.80 These guys actually did pretty well for the money spent on them and what was expected from them, but now this: these guys pitched 46% of our 2021 IP'd: 6. Godley 8.16 7. Brewer 5.61 8. Brasier 3.96 10. Springs 7.08 11. Brice 5.95 13. Osich 5.74 (actually traded for something) 14. Covey 7.07 (on a pace for over 35+ IP!) 15. Kickham 7.71 (35+ IP pace, too) 16. Stock 4.73 (35 IP) 17. Walden 9.45 (35) 18. Hart 15.55 (25+) 20. Hembree 5.59 21. Hall 18.69 (20) 23. Triggs 4.50 26. Leyer 21.21 27. Tiapa 2.08 That's 239 IP from these scrubs, but you don't see improvement? Are you totally jaded by the "swings and misses" like Richards, Peres, Marwin and Andriese.

No winter spending budget.

I can only think something physical is bothering Valdez, and Rios, too.

Their innings in RF were likely on the road- in short RF stadiums.

True, but the Nats won under this system. I'm not liking our odds much at all, and that's one reason I did not think it was wise to go for broke at the deadline, but this team has a grit I compare to 2013's team. That's not to take anything away from 2013 or make anyone think I believe we will win it all, but I still see hope. A sliver, maybe.

We likely could have gotten better pitching, but at what cost, and we'd never be sure getting anyone better than Robles or Davis would have worked. The fact is, the team chose to not spend over the lux line and to try and keep every promising prospect they had- probably becuase they liked our chances next year and beyond over 2021. I can't say I fault that logic, but yes, it seems like, if they were willing to part with Ramirez for Schwarber, they could have done "just a little more." I have to say, though, in all honesty, I'm glad Bloom did not trade more prospects. It seems he knew we need more help than even Rizzo, Kimbrel and Berios would have given us combined. It sucks we started out so well, only to piss it all away, but I'm loving the team's long term outlook, and I still think we have another good run in us for 2021- maybe at just the right time.

Since 2002, only Millar has a worse UZR/150 in RF and over 500 innings than Renfroe. Kike's +11.7 ranks him 1st out of 8. Yes, ahead of Crisp and JBJ. Verdugo is 2nd out of 12 at 6.4 Our OF UZR/150 Leaders since 2002: 22.0 Reddick 14.6 Vic 14.5 Castillo 14.3 Betts 11.7 Nixon 11.7 Kike 9.1 Crisp 7.2 Jake 7.0 C Ross 6.9 Drew 6.8 JBJ 2.1 Nava 2.0 Verdugo 2.0 Gomes 0.8 Renfroe & Kapler 0.5 Beni The worst: -27.1 Millar -23.3 Cameron -21.7 HRam -20.3 Manny

I guess Renfroe's arm masks the rest of his D. Fenway always dings LF'er on UZR/150, and Verdugo's career UZR/150 in LF is a very nice +9.6. (21 DRS in just 933 innings in LF!) Kike is a +9.5 in CF and +11.9 in RF. Renfroe in RF does have a +13 DRS in almost 3200 innings, but I do see how an improvement in RF could be made. I do still think that OF is a solid plus, as is, as long as Kike plays FT CF and is not pulled to 2B more than a handful of games. On Duran, it does seem like defense was one major reason they held back calling him up, but he has room to grow and learn. Despite his speed, LF it is, until he proves otherwise. To me, our highest defensive needs are (in order) SS C 1B 3B (flip 1B and C, if you wish.)

Name names. Espinal? Okay, Robles should never pitch another pitch for the Sox, and he may not, but look at the choices: 7 Days ERA- OPS Against 9.00 Sawamura 1.071 9.00 Espinal .804 6.75 Barnes 1.433 6.75 Davis .717 6.75 Perez .853 Several players are worse than Robles over 14 days. Who do you think deserves to pitch more foetn? 10.13 Barnes 1.270 9.00 Espinal .804 7.71 Perez .926 6.43 Robles .854 4.91 Sawamura .851 4.91 Taylor .764 4.05 Davis .644 I see lots and lots of losing choices. Robles and Davis had the epic breakdowns that led to memorable losses, but bringing in any of these other guys offered no better guarantees. Again, we are facing lose-lose choices almost every pitching change we make.