moonslav59

Not that now is the time to splurge on Bauer, just because he's the best big splash Free Agent out there that fits our highest need, but you are right. Springer is wrong on so many levels.

He's better than Bogey at SS defense. Much better.

We knew very little about what each school district was like, when we attended a job fair for Texas schools. We were living in Mexico City at the time. I wanted to live in or near Austin, but the cost of living there was very high and only one school district was hiring. My second choice was San Antonio, but no districts were hiring. That left the Houston area. We read up on the best communities to live in. The whole job fair methodology was crazy. They forced you to accept an offer within 24 hours. My wife got several offers, including one in an Austin suburb, but the pay was about 60% of the ones near Houston. We ended up choosing Sugar Land (Fort Bend ISD). It paid the most & had better health insurance. Sugar Land also got good reviews for places to live and raise your kids. (Roger Clemens lives here.) I ended up choosing to become a teacher, too. I had been teaching some ESL classes in Mexico on my own, but I had to go through an alternative certification process to get certified in Texas. I got an offer in 2 districts not too far from our home. One was in a pretty well-regarded district- the other was not. I accepted the one in not-so-good district, because I felt I could do the most good in a school that was nearly 100% Eco-Dis and Spanish speaking. A week after I accepted, I got an offer from the school I can see from my house and that my daughter was about to attend. I hated going back on my word, but I turned down my original acceptance and went to the nearby school- also in Fort Bend ISD. It wasn't really about the money, but that helped me decide. (10% more pay) 3 years later, after the economic crash of 2008, and the opening of a new school nearby, I was relocated to the farthest school in the district led by a horrible principal. I was prepared to quit after that school year, but was able to transfer to a better led school. 4 years ago, I switched to a very close school that is fantastic. It is known as the most diverse school in the nation. It is about 25% Hispanic, Black, White and Asian. Last count there were 81 different languages spoken by our students. (I am an ESL teacher.) My wife ended up switching to Houston ISD over a dispute with her principal. The pay is about the same, but she's 50 minutes away from her school, now, instead of 15. The school has since changed principals, and the new one loves my wife, as she truly is a great teacher, but the school is very demanding and messed up in so many ways. I'm loving my situation. We have a great principal, and they have allowed me the ability to totally redesign the structure of ESL classes and placement of students. The district has since switched to our model. It feels nice to be respected and wanted. That certainly means more than a few thousand dollars, but our original choice was made mostly on the money and cost of living. It all worked out.

I don't make comparisons between players that often, but it doesn't really bother me when others do. I do remember some comps between Betts and Aaron & Mays.

Springer would take up the whole winter spending budget as he immediately reaches post prime years. Nothing left for starting pitching or relief pitching, and no, trading Chavis and Chatham aren't bringing us squat. It's really that simple. Bloom isn't even making a courtesy call to the New England native.

It's almost as bad as keeping Jeter at SS, when the Yanks acquired ARod. Just don't sign Semien, then, if we won't use his best asset.

M e r r y C h r i s t m a s

He's a better defensive SS than Bogey.

They are not done cutting salary. I'd like to see us make a play at Taillon & Frazier. (I'd even give them Vaz, if they gave us Stalling back.) I'm not sure they like, need or want the likes of Chavis, Chatham, Ward, Groome, Pivetta or Duran, but I'd think one or two would be part of the deal, if it was up to me. They'd probably want Dalbec and or DHern or Mata plus...

I doubt we sign Semien, but if we do, he'd be our best defensive SS, so that's where he should play. That means moving Bogey to 3B & Devers to 1B or Bogey to 2B. Or, we trade Bogey. I have very little interest in Puig, and I think JBJ will cost too much. You hardly mention pitching, which is our highest need area. Trading Beni & Chavis will not net us squat, in terms of quality pitching. Please look at Nolan's home & away splits and tell me you still want him and his bloated contract.

I'm glad you are not our GM. I'd have to switch to another team.

LOL. Yesteryear saw players bound to teams for life. When my wife was searching for a school district to work for, we chose the one that paid the most, including benefits/insurance. Where was the love?

Actually, he was about half of the budget given to Bloom.

Plawecki filled "a role" nicely, this season. The Munoz pick-up shows promise. Not many others surprised us. Let's see how he does with a more significant spending budget.

99% of players go after the most money. We'd have nobody left if we wanted all of them gone and it happened.

I agree. While I do have my concerns about Beni, I think he's been given a bad rap over some not so bad seasons- one of which was shortened and messed up. The kid is still pretty young. It's not uncommon for players to have ups and downs, early in their careers, and Beni's have not been all that extreme. In fact, his first 4 seasons all fell between .061 range (.774 to .835). His power fell at a pretty steady rate (20>16>13 HRs), but he's 26, now. He's entering his peak 2-3 years of prime. There is reason to be hopeful.

I'm not "sold on" Dalbec or Houck, for that matter, but it's nice to see some promising new faces actually do good in the bigs, tiny sample sizes not withstanding. Dalbec gets on base, too, so to me, it's not just about his promising power. Our farm should start helping us out- maybe as soon as mid-summer (Duran, Mata, Seabold) and 2022 (Downs, Ward, Rosario, Potts among others). We still have lots of holes to fill and precious few resources to acquire them all. At the very least we need a solid & durable SP'er, 2 solid RP'ers and a CF'er. Some could argue we need another SP'er and RP'er as well as a 2Bman added to the short list. The number seems to be somewhere between 4 and 7 new players. Will and can that all happen, this winter, as maybe some bargain basement deals become available? I'm hopeful. I'm thinking our timeline is more likely geared towards 2022 and 2023, but maybe 2021 can be an enjoyable season full of hope and optimism and maybe a playoff thrill or two.

The rebuild has begun. We are beginning to build a core by adding a few players to the few left over from DD's regime. We added a few prospects to a pretty bleak but not barren farm. Downs, Seabold, Rosario, Potts, Wong and Wallace along with recent draftees and the rule 5 addition of Whitlock. While some seemed to think rebuilding the farm would be easier and quicker, the rules and new structures have made that harder to do, especially for a team that was drafting late for many years in a row. While replacing Betts with Verdugo may seem like a punch in the gut, the money saved by not extending Betts can be used to get us near the top, again. I guess it's about trusting Bloom's talent evaluation. He had a good record finding gems in the rough with TB, but does not have much of a track record with higher profile additions. That does not mean he's doomed to fail with his first major acquisition, but the concern seems deep among many fans, here. The winter signings have been few and far between. As notin pointed out, the only "big splash" signing has been Morton. Can we give Bloom a break? Last winter, his hands were clearly tied. His feet, too. Now, he seems to be given a reasonable amount of budget space to work with, and has barely started spending it. Let's let the winter play out and see what happens. Even if we end up not liking what he does, we should maybe be prepared to be surprised by how well some of his under-the-radar players end up doing. I have faith. My optimism on our longer term future is growing. That hasn'y been the case in several years.

Agreed, and the financial risk is low.

Not by much, but I doubt they trade for Vaz. Philly might.

Per MLBTR: The Sox were second to the Dodgers on signing RP'er Tommy Kahnle. Apparently, the Sox "like" SS Marcus Semien. I doubt they sign him to play 2B, so of they did sign him, who would be moved or traded? Bogey to 2B? Devers to 1B?

It would be like signing Carl Crawford. We need 3-4 pitchers, badly. You can choose to not believe Bloom has a spending limit, but that won't change the fact that he does. Signing Springer means no signing any pitchers. That's the biggest mistake of all. There are other reasons beyond the budget, one of which is his blah defense. He's also past prime. Bloom is not overrated. He built a solid Rays team. His hands were tied, last year. They are somewhat tied, this winter, too. Give the guy a chance. There is zero chance we sign Springer, so if that's what we need to do for you to stay a Sox fan, adios. Go follow the Dodgers or Yankees.

Like a knife in the gut.

That was a heartbreaking season for me, at age 16. Yes, Yaz was brutally honest. He was including himself in that statement. It was painful watching him suffer then beat himself up over it.

Theo- Love Ben- Hate DD- Love Bloom- Hate