moonslav59

The worst part about that, is that the deal could probably have been made without adding him. All in all, though, not many of these deals look bad. The Thornburg deal sucked due to injury, and Espinoza has been hurt, so that deal does not look bad. I wish we had Allen, Buttrey and Dubon, but none of them would have made us a winner, this year. The Peacre & Eovaldi trades were a big part of the 2018 championship season. The Nunez and Ziegler trades worked well for us but did not really contribute to a ring. (One could argue the Sale & Kimbrel deals were not essential to the 2018 ring, either.)

It is a sad state of affairs. Usually, when teams are in this boat, they have a few arms on the farm that illicit some sort of excitement upon opening up an opportunity for one or two to shine. We've had 6-9 openings, at any given time this year, for anyone and everyone to show they can shine. Nobody has, except maybe Valdez for a while. We've gone through 26 pitchers in 40 games. Here they are: IP Pitcher ERA 42 Perez 4.07 (the only one of two with respectable numbers on the team) 34 Eovaldi 4.98 33 Weber 5.45 29 Godley 8.16 26 Brewer 5.61 23 Valdez 3.18 (the other one) 18 Brice 6.38 17 Brasier 4.32 16 Barnes 4.50 16 Osich 5.74 (traded) 15 Springs 7.36 12 Mazza 6.00 11 Hart 15.55 11 Walden 10.13 10 Hembree 5.59 (traded) 8 Stock 5.87 7 Taylor 9.82 7 Workman 4.05 (traded) 6 Hall 19.89 6 Covey 7.11 6 Triggs 6.00 5 Kickham 4.50 4 Hernandez 0.00 3 Leyer 13.50 0.2 Plawecki 0.00 0.1 Peraza 27.00 Of the 22 pitchers with 5 or more IP, only one pitcher is under 4.05 (Valdez). Workman, at 4.05 is gone. Perez is at 4.07 and 19 have an ERA over 4.32 (Brasier). 18 are over 4.50 (Barnes) 17 are over 4.98 (Eovaldi) 14 of the top IP 19 pitcher still on the team have an ERA above 5.40! Throw out Plawecki, and of the 22 pitchers who have pitched for the Sox, this year, and are still on the team, 16 have an ERA over 5.40. 15 are over 5.45 (Weber) and 14 are over 5.61 (Barsier). On a 12 man staff, that means we have 7 open slots for a try-out. Too bad, we have nobody to give try-outs to.

Well, my first sentence did not say anything about me expecting Sale, ERod and Eovaldi to come up large. I just said "if they do" I expect us to be over .500. I realize that's a big if. I think we may trade Eovaldi and JD next summer.

I think most would take $30M x 10, unless they were young and had faith in their health.

I have listed the major transactions by DD in the past, but I don't save that sort of stuff. In theory, if Bloom does everything he did in TB, but is able to keep a few stars and sign some others, one would think we could do more than just compete like TB does almost every year. Here's a list of all the prospects DD traded and their highest ranking on soxprospects.com top 20 list: 1 Yoan Moncada (Sale) 1 Blake Swihart (bonus pool money) 3 Manuel Margot (Kimbrel) 3 Anderson Espinoza (Pomeranz) 5 Michael Kopech (Sale) 5 Jalen Beeks (Eovaldi) 5 Devon Marrero (Josh Taylor) 6 Javier Guerra (Kimbrel) 7 Luis Basabe (Sale) 9 Mauricio Dubon (w T Shaw & Pennington for Thorburg) 11 Shaun Anderson (w Santos for Nunez) 13 Logan Allen (Kimbrel) 15 Santiago Espinol (Pearce) 17 Ty Buttrey (w 17 Jerez for Kinsler) 18 Luis Basabe (w Almonte for Ziegler) 18 Callahan ( w 20 Gerson Bautista & 20 Nogosek Addison Reed) 20 Carlos Asuaje (Kimbrel) The sheer number of once top prospects is staggering, despite many deals being good or very good ones.

Maybe all the years of secret PED usage is taking its toll.

I loved the Sale deal, as everyone knows. I liked the Thornburg and Smith deals. I thought we gave too much for Kimbrel, but he was the best available, as was Price as a FA. (I wish DD did not "throw in" Allen.) I did not like the Pom trade and a few other more minor deals, but when you want to make sure you win a ring, overkill is usually needed.

if it was a one for one deal with no money going either way, I'd have done it. (I might have even thrown in $2-3M a year or Chatham.) Odor's lux tax hit is $8.25M x 2, but his actual pay is $12.33M x 2, so the money works well for us, in terms of taxes, and Texas only pays $5M more to get Eovaldi.

How many times can a team blame injuries for all their continued woes? Building a team of almost all injury-prone players is on the GM. If it happens every few years, that's one thing, but this has become as predictable as the sunrise and sunset.

Yes, they do. I think part of it is the merciless Boston media that demands reasons for every action taken. The Tito parting was hurtful, and fans demanded answers. Tito had lost control of the team. As great as he was, it can happen, and it did. The team could have kept everything quiet, and in many ways, that would have been the classy thing to do. We have not always placed being classy as a top priority. I agree. In baseball, it seems like everybody seems to try to save face, even if it means tearing down decent people. It's sad, but it seems like the nature of the business.

Ben left a better foundation than anyone else, and Duquette left Theo a very nice foundation. Theo left Ben with enough to cobble together a ring while rebuilding the farm for DD. DD left Bloom with bare cupboards and bloated contracts of aging stars. Yes, Bloom was handed Betts, JD, Bogey, Devers and a couple promising prospects, but that was about it.

Dan Duquette left Theo a good foundation. Theo, not so good, but not really bad, either- certainly better than DD left Bloom. Ben left DD a fantastic base to work with. To me, what DD left Bloom is way worse than any GM has left his replacement since before Duquette.

That's a big "if," and you are also counting 2019 as not being "destroyed." Sure, we had a good team, on paper, and injuries doomed us, but we sucked, and that's on DD a lot more than this year's team should be "on Bloom." I doubt we are a top contender in 2021. If Bloom works some magic, we can be, but it looks, to me, like 3 bad year in a row. (2019-2021). Being the worst or second worst team in MLB is the "cliff"many of us saw coming, and many others denied could or would happen. To me, it is most certainly "on DD." Like I said, I'm not bashing DD for what he did. I was onboard for most of his moves, and he was only making sure we ended up being good enough to win a ring. Kimmie and others think he went overboard, and I don't necessarily disagree, but in baseball, nothing is a sure bet, so overkill wins rings. The price of that "overkill"is being paid for now. I'm okay with that. That 2018 season was very special. What a great team! Yes, it sucks going through a cliff, but to me, it's worth it. I have faith in Bloom to rebuild us, quickly. Maybe he will meet the same fate as Ben and be dumped before his plan is completed, and we'll hire another DD type to get us over the hump, once the farm is strong, again. (I hope not, but rings are rings.)

I said "not likely a top contender." I'm not writing off 2021, but I'm also not going to set my expectations on us being top contenders a year after being one of baseball's worst teams. If Bloom gets $70-90M to spend this winter, and that is not a given, yes, we could be a top 4-8 team, but virtually every signing would have to work, and Sale, ERod and Eovaldi (or at least 2 of them) would have to shine in 2021. I'm thinking 2022 is more realistic and by going for broke in 2021, we may actually do harm to our chances in 2022 and beyond. My plan would be to try really hard to get 2-4 players, this winter, that will carry us from 2022 and beyond. The rest of the money can be spent on 1-2 year deals to fill gaps and make us respectable in 2021. If everything works out, we could compete in 2021, if not, we have fresh spending space after 2021, with the 1 year deals expiring and Pedey & others' deals coming off the books. Trying to load up on 4-8 of the best FAs, this winter, which normally means longer term deals may put our longer term chances at risk, if too many are busts.

I thought the state of this team being more DD's fault than Bloom's needed to be stated. I had my issues with DD, but we won a ring, and I'm glad he was our GM for that reason, despite the fallout. I don't see it as political. I support every Sox GM, until they earn my criticism. Also, being critical does not mean I hate the guy or want him removed. I hated seeing Theo go but it seemed like it just "had to be." I hated seeing Ben go before his "plan" had a chance to come to fruition. I thought DD had to go, due to the situation we were in and the type of GM needed to rebuild. I'm a "Bloom supporter," but really, I don't know much about him, except his rep as GM that can find cheap gems in the rough and build winners with low budgets. He seemed like the type of guy we needed. As for giving him "a pass," I'm not sure that's what many of us have done. We expected a down year, due to where DD left us and the reset priority given to Bloom. I will say, I had hoped we'd have already seen some Bloom "gems" discovered already, and maybe he has found some in Valdez, Munoz & Perez, but the vast majority of his acquisitions have not worked out. Given the budget he had to work with, I'm not ready to pounce all over him for not working a miracle overnight. If that's giving him a pass, I'm guilty as charged. Assuming he's given a higher budget to work with this winter and next year, I expect a vast improvement in 2021. I'm not expecting a top 6 or 8 team, but maybe a top 8-12 and then top 4-8 in 2022. I'll be right there with criticism, if his moves fail, but I just don't see all that much to criticize, this year. He took a few shots in the dark and failed (Peraza, paying JBJ that much, all the pitching moves except Perez...), but expecting miracles with very little spending room is not realistic. I'm glad we got DD. I'm not sure Ben would have gotten us a ring, but I'm also not going to sugar coat what he did to get us that ring. I knew the cliff was coming, and I was okay with it, because of 2018. We are paying the price of 2018, now. I don't blame Bloom for that at all.

I expect us to be over .500 next year, and if things go well with Sale, ERod and Eovaldi we could be in the playoffs. I expect a highly competitive team by 2022. I'd also like to add that the DD supporters were quick to deny the coming of "the cliff." It's here, and it ain't Bloom's fault.

Good but not likely a top contender. That's why every signing beyond one year should be geared towards being highly competitive by 2022 or 2023. A few one year deals may help us be good for 2021, but we should look to make 2-3 key acquisitions geared towards the long term. The fate of ERod, Sale and Eovaldi will be a big factor in 2021.

If we have $70M to spend (keeping us under the limit) or $90M (keeping us under the 2nd tax line), we could spend the money this way: $22-28M SP $12-14M SP $10-12M Closer $6-8M RP'er $6-8M SP $6-8M CF $6-8M 2B $6-8M 1B $6M bench This assuming we don't trade away any salary (like Eovaldi), but there is room to spend and build a good team by 2021.

To me, our top priorities are as such (in order of importance): 1. SP (Solid #1 or 2 type, but we may wait a year on getting an ace) 2. SP (Solid #2 or 3 type- a must if #1 is put off a year) 3. Closer 4. Solid set up RP'er 5. CF (defensive) 6. 2B 7. 1B 8. RP 9. SP depth (#3, if #1 is put off a year) 10. OF depth

I'm not sold on Ockimey, but why not let him play and get a better sense of what he has to offer? I'm not pretending to know more than the Sox brass, and maybe they already know.

I'm always high on D. I think we can improve our CF defense at a low cost. I think Dalbec can be a plus defender at 1B in a short period of time and maybe become better than plus. I like Arauz's defense at 2B and am not sure about Chatham, but moving from SS to 2B could be what is best for him. Chavis has decent defensive numbers at 2B, but the sample size is too small to judge. My guess is he will not be a plus on D. I don't see Vaz and Bogey as being plus. Devers showed signs of becoming plus, but he still has too many lapses on D- mostly throwing. I like Verdugo. Beni is average in LF. If we can sign a great defensive CF for cheap, which means no bat, that would help on run prevention. Arauz and Dalbec on the right side of the IF should be plus, making our total IF about average. Plus OF, Avg IF, Meh catcher. Add some pitching: quality and quantity. If we look like we can compete in 2021, make some deadline trades, but I'm thinking 2022 should be the main focus.

I think I'm alone on thinking it wouldn't hurt to give Ockimey a pretty long look. They guy has killed righties for years. My thinking is that we will likely spend most of our resources on pitching, and it would really help, if we could fill 1B, 2B or both from withing the system. We have the rest of this year and next to let it play out, but we may have to trade 1 or 2 of the candidates before letting the rest fight it out. Maybe nobody steps up, but at least we'll know that at some point in 2021. If just one can prove he belongs and another shows he can be a useful utility player, it could be a huge push. I would not be surprised, however, if Bloom signs some cheap 1B & 2B options to help make us more respectable for 2021, and we'll know less about what we have from the farm that can help or prove they don't belong.

I do think the K:BB ratio is important, but to me, as long as the BB% and OBP is respectable, the K's don't hurt as much. I think player A &B have value enough to stick around: A 240K/120 BB .360 OBP (25+ HRs) B 240K/80 BB .360 OBP (25+ Hrs) -higher BA than A C 240K/80 BB .320 OBP (25+ HRs)

Here's my opinions: While Chavis offers some value as 2B/3B depth, I think we will end up keeping just one. Sure, one could end up at DH once JD is gone, and we could probably find enough ABs for both of them at 1B, 2B, DH and 3B over the next few years, but both bat RH'd. I prefer we keep Dalbec. He has better numbers in the minors and is a much better defender. Chavis has more ML experience, but I'm not sure what we've seen is a plus for him over Dalbec. To me, his ability to play 2B, and the jury is still out on how well, is his only plus. Next, is a point I have brought up a few times before with very little support from other posters. I'd like to give Ockimey a shot at winning a platoon role with whoever we keep from Chavis & Dalbec- assuming we trade the other. Here is alook at their splits: vs RHP/vs LHP (year) Ockimey: .898/.535 (2019) AAA .968/.586 (2018) AA .844/.786 (2017) A+ Dalbec: .794/.904 (2019) AA .868/.701 (2018) AA .970/.881 (2018) A+ Chavis: .540/.700 (2020) MLB (96 PAs total) .774/.742 (2019) MLB .880/.964 (2018) AA (only had 113 career PAs at AAA level) .846/.602 (2017) AA Maybe an Ockimey-Dalbec 1B platoon would work best. Finally, 2B: I don't see Chavis as our long term 2Bman, but if his bat come back and he continues to look decent on defense (too soon to know), maybe he could end up being the best we have, until Downs is ready to challenge. Arauz, Chatham, Lin and Peraza do not excite me at much at all. Arauz-Peraza might be the best we have for 2021. Maybe Downs could jump to the bigs mid-sesason, but we should not count on it. (Pitching remains our major concern area.)

Yes, and unexpected ones sometimes seem nicer.