moonslav59

Time to trade Vaz,

Yes, had we kept Dave, we'd have won it all in 2020. It would have been worth the price of admission just to watch Dave's face when Henry handed him last winter's spending budget and a mandate not to trade any top prospects. I'm fine with criticism of Bloom and the moves he's made vs other possible moves with the budget he was handed, but let's not kid ourselves. Bloom was not handed the 2018 team. He wasn't even handed the 2019 team. The farm sucked. The budget was a mess, and still is a major issue to hastening the rebuild. I've scratched my head at some of his moves, too, but anybody who thinks we should have a highly competitive team with the spending budget Bloom was given last winter and this winter needs to give some specifics, and I'm not talking major hindsight miracle what ifs.

I never understood the compunction to criticize a GM who was handed a mess and who has had his hands tied. Let's give the guy some time and see what he can do, once he's given a spending budget big enough to fill all the holes he inherited, including the big farm hole.

Why ignore all the signings? It's the budget that has us where we are now. BTW, I'd love to have Margot and Dubon, right now, and the jury is still out on Kopech and a couple others. I'm not pissed at Dave. The 2018 ring and record breaking season was worth all this, but make no mistake about it, we are where we are today because of 2018 and because of Dave (and Henry's decision to re-set and rewind.)

1. I don't think Bauer, Springer or Realmuto were the type to go large and long on, but it wasn't so much about who as when. 2. We had a very limited budget, this winter- more than last winter, but still no where near some of the winter spending budgets we've seen in the last couple decades. It's not about a specific player or two. It's about how many holes do you need to fill and how much total spending money you have. This winter, we had about 10 holes to fill, plus the bottom 10 of our 40 man roster was about as bad as it has been in 2 decades. How do you fill all those whole, while trying to improve the farm, at the same time on what? $20-30M? Next year, we lose Pedey's contract and will likely go over the tax limit- maybe by $15-19M. We should have less holes to fill, since we have a few 2 year or option players, and some farm help that should come up during this year or by next spring. We'll know more about Dalbec & Chavis, Duran & Downs, Mata & Seabold, plus guys like Cordero, Pivetta, DHern and Arroyo/Munoz. Less holes to fill + more money to spend allows for more meaningful additions to the roster next winter.

Plenty available by trade.

We've started scaling the northface wall.

You thought it would only be one year?

The roster is now all set!

Thank to Dave.

Nobody. Renfroe's .717 OPS vs RHPs might be better than Beni's 2021 number, anyway. If you insist on a Renfroe platoon, maybe Chavis could play LF. He hits righties better. That being said, I still think we sign add a CF'er or 2Bman, so EHern can play CF near FT, and we end up with Cordero-Renfroe in LF.

Agreed, and though we all probably think the 2019 team was better than their record indicated, I'm not sure how people not only expected us to get better while cutting 25% of the budget, but toalso build up the farm.

I doubt we sign any from this list. I think we'll add a 2Bman or CF'er via trade. Our staff is set- like it or not.

Yes, Duquette did set up Theo pretty well, and some of his big moves worked out very well.

I'd rather have Renfroe, EHern, Cordero & Marwin than Beni, Chavis, JBJ & Chatham.

Top FAs Still Unsigned Jake Odorizzi Justin Turner Jackie Bradley Jr. James Paxton Taijuan Walker Trevor Rosenthal Kevin Pillar Rick Porcello Brett Gardner Cole Hamels Shane Greene Jeremy Jeffress

Jay Bruce signs a minor league deal with Yanks.

Welcome to "The Cliff."

That can never happen as long as we keep spending near the tax line every year. To me, the real question will be how Bloom can handle a big spending budget, once he actually gets a sizable chunk to spend in one winter. Dan Duquette showed he could build a roster with a small budget but struggled with big signing's success- so did Ben. Bloom will get his chance to show what he can do- hopefully, next winter.

Nobody is saying Cordero will come close to who Papi and JD were, so can we stop pretending that was even hinted at? The guys problem is health not talent- as is the case with too many Sox players and pitchers, right now. He fits right in. Nobody was sure Beni was going to bounce back, either, and Cordero might be able play a decent CF, thus avoiding the need to play Renfroe in RF and Verdugo in CF. I'm not making any Cordero projections, so if he does very well, you won't hear any "I told you so's" from me, but can we give the kid a shot? Can we give Bloom a shot? The guys been acting with his hands and feet bound up pretty tight. He had about 10 gaping holes in our 26 man roster, and that's counting on ERod, Sale & Eovaldi doing something, plus the weakest bottom 10-14 slots on the Sox 40 man roster I've seen in decades. I think some expectations were too high. How can anyone address all those needs and build up the farm and 26 man roster to be highly competitive with the budget Bloom has had over the past 2 winters? Can we get real?

If Porcello could give us 220 IP at 5.50, would it be worth it? I'm thinking, in a year with low expectations, maybe getting better than 5.50 from a mix of starters might not only help us in 2021 but also help us get a better read on guys like Pivetta, Houck, Whitlock, Seabold, Mata and maybe even someone else. That being said, if Porcello could give us 200 IP at 4.50, the whole equation changes. Somewhere in between is likely to occur, but he may still have a much better season in him. He's not really all that old. He's only 32 and 2 years removed from going 17-7 4.28. He had a nice FIP,last year (3.33) but a horrific WHIP of over 1.5- worst of his career. Yes, he's durable, but with all those innings on his arm, maybe he's burnt out. (He has just under 2,100 IP in 12 MLB seasons.) If he'll take a one year deal- no harm, but I'd rather see what our young starters have.

Assuming we get something good from ERod, Sale, Richards & Ottavino (all with 0 IP for the Sox, last year), I have to think we improved by a lot. No Beni & JBJ. Yes Renfroe, EHern, Cordero & Marwin. I'm thinking that may be a push, but that's assuming Beni would have rebounded and JBJ played more like 2020, that the few years before that. Our defense looks the most troubling. Who plays CF might help that area.

The last straw for me would be Brice.

Cubs sign Arrieta for $6M/1. Asdrubal Cabrera to AZ for $1.75M + incentives up to $1.05M Rays close to signing Rich Hill.

Mazza DFA'd to make room for Perez.