moonslav59

Taking shots at one particular aspect of his time with the Sox is far from calling him a "bum." Many of us love what he did for us while realizing it led to some pain and rebuilding afterwards. It does not have to be all black and white. Overall, I think DD was a clear plus, yet I'm often accused of being one of his biggest bashers, because I refuse to sugarcoat the affects he had on the team, now.

Sure he does. No doubt. Given the reset demands of 2020 and the budget constraints on his second year, having a ring already would have been a miracle. Although some view 2013 as a "miracle," I don't think Bloom should be judged, at this point in time, by the number of rings he has. He seems to be doing a better-than-expected job at rapidly rebuilding the farm. The 2021 40 man roster looks deeper than fall 2019 or Spring 2020. The results of the 2021 Red Sox team and their farm teams have been incredibly unexpected and positive. Yes, he has some big goals to achieve to gain the accolades the previous 3 Sox GMs have earned, but he seems to be heading in the right direction. I, for one, did not expect such a quick turn around under the increasingly difficult framework MLB has imposed on winning and high-spending teams. Some posters expected up to 90 losses, this year, and winning 90 may not be equal to winning a ring with a nice foundation left by the previous GM or two, ut it is quite an achievement and a great sign of things to come. Bloom has had just 2 drafts and 2 off seasons to rebuild the farm and 40 man roster with a very limited budget. He has added the following pieces to the farm in just 2 years: Draft: Mayer, Yorke, McDonough, Jordan, Hickey, Drohan, Wu-Yelland & others. IFA: H Sawamura, Miguel Blies, Winkelman Gonzalez, Enderso Lira (no sugar coating the lack of advances here) Trades: Downs, Seabold, Wong, Winckowski, Ro Hernandez, J Rosario, H Potts He's certainly swung and missed on a bunch of low profile FA signings as well as some moderate signings, but what can be expected when you are given a limited budget and 10-15 forty man roster slots to fill. Bloom's biggest FA signing, so far, ranks 31 in total money spent since 1991. 31. Enrigue Hernandez $14M/2 40. Garrett Richards $10M/1 55. Martin Perez $6M/1 (2020) 64. Martin Perez $5M/1 (2021) 79. Hunter Renfroe $3.1M (still has 2 arbs) 80. Mitch Moreland $3M/1 (2020) 80. Marwin Gonzalez $3M/1 (2021) $2.1M Andriese (+ option for 2022) $1.75M D Santana (pro-rated for partial time in minors) $900K Plawecki (2020) arb raise to $1.6M in 2021 Other notable players acquired by trade: Pivetta (Wormna & Hembree) Verdugo (Betts) Ottavino & F German & cash (nothing) Schwarber (A Ramirez) Y Rios (Cash) Waivers: Arroyo Rule 5: Whitlock, Arauz, K Ort, T Reed

No, of course not. The point is the resets always come, even with the Dodgers, and fans will gripe when that time comes. That time is now for the Sox. Gripes abound.

Not all the best young players make the top 20 Sox Prospects lists, but here is a sampling of the best ranked prospects at these snapshots in time: Fall 2003: Lester Youkilis HRam Shoppach David Murphy Fall 2011: Bogey Barnes Doubront A Wilson Iggy (Betts was unranked) Fall 2015: Devers Moncada Beni Kopach Espinoza Margot Chavis L Allen, Dubon, Marco Hernandez Fall 2019 Houck Dalbec Casas Mata Groome Jimenez, Chatham, Ward, Bello Kalish Middy Jorge de la Rosa

Okay, we're still 5 back of the impressive Rays, but we are tied for 4th in AL wins and just 1 game back on the A's. We remain 2.5 up on the Yanks, and although the one up in the loss column seems frightening, what about the Yanks, makes anyone think they will win all 3 games they have to play more than us? Toronto is playing the M's, so one is going to lose, today and tomorrow. The Yanks had a rare Friday off and here is today's slate of games: BAL (Jorge Lopez) @ BOS (Chris Sale) TBR (TBD) @ MN (Maeda) NYY (Taillon) @ CWS (Cease) HOU (Garcia) @ LAA (Barria) TOR (Ryu) @ SEA (Kikuchi)

It's funny how you claim all the guys DD traded away amounted to nothing all that good, but are also claiming DD's prospects left behind, who have done nothing, except Houck's 8 starts in MLB are far from "bare." DD did leave Bloom a nice core of ML players, but they were also the ones who imploded in 2019, and some were past or nearing past prime years. The Price contract was a burden, and if you use hindsight judgement to grade out the prospects DD traded away, let's judge Price's productivity after DD left, JD's 2020 season, and JBJ's complete meltdown, a year after DD left. Also, nobody is claiming the guys DD traded away ended up doing great, so why keep bringing it up? Most of his trades look good to great, in hindsight, but that does not mean he couldn't have done better or that the farm he left was worse than the one he inherited. The one he left Bloom is clearly not a good one. It's not "empty," but are you saying the ranking of 25 to 30 is incorrect? Was the rankings back when Ben and DD inherited their farms wrong, too? Were they way off?

Strawman. Nobody is calling DD a bum. Not even close. Most of us realize a lot of good things happened thanks to him, and that some of those good things had some bad consequences. Some feel those consequences greatly cut into his overall grade, some think not by much, and some seem to think it had no effect on where we were in 2020 and now. The few posters who seem to think his legacy might have been an overall negative are not discounting everything he did or calling him a bum.

1. The jury is still out on some prospects traded. 2. It's not always about how good the prospects traded away ended up doing, but what we got for them and their value at the time of the trade. Not one poster here has said he should not have made any prospect trades. He did great by deciding to keep Devers, and some of his draft picks, mostly very low in draft slots have done better than expected, so what was said a year or two back can be adjusted in hindsight, but even then, how many DD acquired prospects have lit the world on fire? (Yes, the jury is still out on them, too.) I see Houck. Am I missing someone else? Already, Bloom has brought us Whiltock and hopes are high on Mayer, Yorke, Seabold, Jordan and others. (Hopes are high on some DD guys, too: Bello, Casas, Duran, Jimenez & others)

Likely, yes, but they seem to find ways to do so while maintaining a strong farm and decent product on the field, even during reset seasons. Only a few teams go over the tax line enough to determine any pattern, but there has been very few times where a team goes over the tax line for 3 or more years in a row. People act like Henry suddenly deciding to tighten the checkbook is something new. Our history under Henry has shown that not only does he like to reset, often, the reset is usually followed by another year or two of under the tax line spending. It's not usually a one and done thing. I know, shocking, right? Here is the Henry history: No tax paid: 2003 (none in 2002 before Henry) 2008 & 2009 2012, 2013, 2014 2017 2020 & likely 2021 Only one reset (2017) was followed by going over the tax line the next season. ONLY ONE TIME! It's obvious, the tax means something to Henry. People can argue why it shouldn't all they want, but the fact is, it matters and likely will continue to matter, unless something radically changes. Years we paid taxes: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 (by far the longest stretch) 2010-2011 2015-2016 2018-2019 Since the mega tax penalty for going over 3 years in a row was enacted, we have never gone 3 years in a row over the line. To me, that is one reason why not going over, this year, might have been with 2024 in mind. Our chances in 2024 will likely be better than 2021, IMO and probably Bloom & Henry's opinions, too. Plus, going over the tax line involves some penalties beyond just monetary.

I've kept the faith, all long. I'm no saint, though. I was one of the first to jump ship in 2019 and had zero faith in 2020's team.

Just reading the words, "Michael Chavis show" says it all.

A pretty but not completely bare farm system.

It's up to the owners- not us. Most very wealthy people got to be wealthy by pinching pennies and cutting costs and corners. Why should baseball owners fork over profits for our enjoyment, unless it makes them more money along the way? Yes, the value of the franchises is the hidden (well, not so hidden by many of us) profit maker when the owner sells, but most of these guys are in this to make more and more money. If winning helps them do that, then it becomes part of their plan. If they can make more money without winning, or by staying "just competitive enough," that's what many owners will choose to do. It's the American way.

The difference seems to be, their owner is not concerned with paying big and then paying big taxes on top of big salaries, AND they have an enormous revenue stream just from their TV deal, alone.

The data shows most Sox pitchers do way better without Vaz as their catcher- some by a very wide margin. CERA/OPSAgainst (PAs against) About 2 runs with Sale... Sale 2.51/.622 AJ P (226) 2.79/.578 Leon (436) 4.61/.762 Vaz (84) (No catcher on the CWS had a CERA worse than 3.53) Not much difference with ERod but still 1/4 to a half run. ERod 3.78/.778 Hanigan (50) 4.05/.700 Leon (118) 4.23/.723 Vaz (566) 4.44/.692 Swihart (75) About 0.80 with Porcello Porcello 4.19/.728 Leon (576) 4.93/.800 Swihart (122) 4.96/.794 Vaz (211) 5.38/.831 Holaday (55) (Nobody on Detroit with over 30 IP w Porcello had a worse CERA than 4.43) One and a half with Price... Price 2.96/.647 Leon (204) 4.27/.738 Vaz (360) (All other catchers with 30+ IP with Price had a CERA better than Vaz's. One guy, Gregg Zaun with only 43 IP had one close at 4.19. Everyone with more than 100 IP had a CERA or 3.61 or better.) Vaz has been slightly better with Eovaldi than Leon, but Leon only had 44 PAs with him. (Vaz>Salty is not surprising) Eovaldi 2.66/.419 Wong (20) 3.54/.657 Plawecki (69) 4.30/.765 Vaz (147) 4.53/.735 Leon (44) 4.85/.421 Salty (124) A run and a half or more with Buch... Buccholz 2.83/.642 VMart (241) 3.01/.646 Leon (155) 3.79/.629 Lava (36) 3.95/.737 Salty (207) 4.44/.705 Vaz (130) 4.68/.683 D Ross (73) 5.12/.801 VTek (118) 5.63/.836 AJ P (62) Others: Alex Avila 1.55/.587 in 52 IP

I'm disappointed, too, but far from surprised. Even after winning 2 of 3, there is still much negativity. This team has shown enormous grit on so many levels. Before the season even started, they were written off. After being swept by the O's in the opening series, just about everyone lost their slivers of hope. 30 some odd games, we were "down and out." Read the game threads of those games. Time after time, the same posters gave up and seemed shocked even by the 30th time! Hey, I realize, they may end up being right, and we end up missing the playoffs, but this has been one hell of a team to watch and get excited about, even if just for the chance that we end up overachieving but missing the grand prize. Not only was this season a great one, no matter how it ends, my hopes for 2022 and 2023 and beyond have grown enormously. I was thinking, with all the tough rules enacted against winning and high-spending teams, the cliff might last 3-5 years. It looks like it might have lasted one COVID-shortened season, at least in terms of really sucking badly.

He has been worth less than replacement level NOT "is" or "will be."

When the sample size is 416 PAs, almost every player's numbers are skewed by just a few games or one long stretch. His numbers are also skewed by just last night.

Yes, and my bet is the A's have one of the very hardest. That also implies, the A's have had an easier schedule, to date, than we have, so them "looking so good" has to be taken in context. That's not to say the A's suck. They don't! We are better. (The A's do not have Sale, Schwarber, Arroyo and others joining their team, either.)

Well said.

30th Bleacher Report (same after the 2019 draft and at the end of the season) 27th Prospect Digest It’s essentially the Michael Chavis show. The young third baseman is the lone Top 100 prospect in the system. And, really, there’s not a whole lot developing down on Boston’s farm. Darwinzon Hernandez can miss bats with the best of them, but his inability to throw back-to-back strikes is more than concerning. Fellow left-hander Jay Groome looked poised for a big 2018, but he missed the year recovering from Tommy John. Mike Shawaryn and Alex Scherff fall into the backend starting category. And Triston Casas, the club’s first round pick last June, owns impressive power but he’s (A) likely to slider over to third base and ( owns a questionable hit tool. MLB.com: 25th at the start of 2020

Theo was given a very nice foundation to work with and better than what Bloom got.

He has said some things better left unsaid, but some of the characterizations given to his statements here, like "celebrating" resetting the budget, seems a bit too embellishing.

I felt like Manny and Price were two of those players. (The Sale trade, too, but that was not a high cost, until we extended him.) I hated the CC deal- day one.

It's been 17 days, since the last time we were able to even say, "We've won 2 out of 3 games."