moonslav59

I'd argue Yoshida was a signing based on the lower downs. It was our scouts that loved this guy since he was like 6 years old. The Price signing was not a success, but at least he gave some value for 2+ years. That $217M blew away all other Sox deals, even the Sale extension. It's easy to imagine affording Betts had we not spent on Price or Sale, but with all DD did, I'm not going to roast him for those two signings. He did a great job, and actually ended up providing us with some good young players after the 5 year gap between Devers and Houck/Duran. The shear number of big contract deals DD made dwarfs what Bloom & Brez have done combined. Ben and DD had almost all the big deals. When I bring up $10M spent on Kike, Richards and Kluber- all one year deals as some of the biggest deals since DD left, that pretty much sums up the difference. Even the Barnes, Jansen and Martin deals pale to those DD made. Here are the major signings/extensions since Ben: Ben=Blue DD=Green Bloom=Red 313/10 Devers '24 (extended by Bloom) 217/7 Price '16 154/7 Agon '12 145/5 Sale '20 (signed by DD) 140/6 Story '22 120/6 Bogey '20 (w opt out by DD) 110/5 JD '18 110/8 Pedey '14 95/5 Pablito '14 90/5 Yoshida '23 88/4 HRam '14 83/4 Porcello '16 (extended by Ben) 73/7 Rusney '14 68/4 Nate '19 Mid rangers (note: none by DD): 39/2 Giolito '24 (The only Brez move on this list) 39/3 Vic '13 32/2 Napoli '14 32/2 Jansen '23 30/4 Buchholz '12 27/2 Dempster '13 26/2 Ortiz '14 21/2 J Turner '23 (opted out) 19/2 Barnes '22 18/2 Martin '23 Pretty striking breakdown, if you ask me. 24 deals listed (Did I miss one?) 11 by Ben (6 of the big 14) 5 by DD (all from the big 14 and most notably, 4 of the top 6 in Sox history) 6 by Bloom, but just 3 in the top 14 and 3 in the top 21 ($25M or more) Of the 16 deals of $35M+ 7 Ben 5 DD 3 Bloom 1 Brez

I could see Brez going beyond just trading the "big" 4: Jansen, Martin, Pivetta and O'Neill. When he got here, he very quickly determined who to trade and some were big names or had more than a year of control: Sale & Verdugo Urias and Schreiber Some younger players like Ammons, Robertson & Santos I realize this might not have meant he disliked any of those guys, but rather liked the return better, but I think he has now had time to determine who he might not think is in his longer term plans. I could see him not only looking very closely at McGuire, with team control that ends after 2025, but also others. I'm not an expert on what Brez likes and dislikes about players, but we might be surprised at a player or two he traded, this summer or winter. I don't think anyone was shocked he traded Sale, Verdugo and Urias. The returns upset, some, but those 3 were thought to be trade targets. The Schreiber deal was a little surprising, but it was not a major deal. The prospects given up for O'Neill and Slaten were not major gives. In short, I could see him trade more than just the 4. McGuire

Because I sometimes make suggestions Cora does not follow? I'd give the guy a lifetime services contract, today.

I'm fine with playing Cooper at 1B in a platoon with Smith. What has Cooper done in the last 2.3 seasons to show he deserves to DH over Ref or Wong? He has a .722 OPS since the start on '22. It's .697 since the start of '23. This isn't about a hot of cold hand. He's been bad for over a year or two. He bats RH'd- like Ref & Wong. He done okay vs LHPs, but not RHPs. .666 in '23 (345 PAs) .496 in '24 (68 PAs) He's played in 21 games since APR 30 (started 16) Wong has career reverse splits (.759 v .599) and hits RHPs way better than Cooper. This is not about a month or two of hot hitting, like Ref. v RHP .734 in '23 (295 PAs) .794 in '24 (108) I get how catching is very demanding. I'm not advocating he DH every day he does not catch, but we could let McGuire catch more, so Wong could DH more. McGuire hits lefty and seems to be doing better with the staff than Wong, this year. Now, to Ref: Ref is a notorious platoon type bat. Asking for him to play more is about "riding the hot bat," and I can understand Cora or anyone else not thinking that is a good philosophy. Career: .641 v RHPs .792 in '22 (104 PAs) .466 in '23 (98) .964 in '24 (61) He's only been horrible one year in in the last 2.3 seasons. He's played in one more game than Cooper since APR 30, but he's started only 13 games compared to Coop's 16. I ask why? Hot hand? Numbers since April 30th (Coop's first game with the Sox) All the players that could play, instead of Coop. I'm only saying 2 should have played a few more games than they did... .827 DHam .811 Ref .743 Wong .649 Romy .562 Smith .488 McGuire .464 Cooper Season with the Sox v RHPs .964 Ref .794 Wong .768 Yoshida .752 DHam .658 Valdez .592 McGuire .571 Smith .422 Dalbec .299 Cooper (which is even worse than your fave- Grissom at .334) I'm a huge fan of Cora. I know he understands much more about the game and our players than I do. I make statements about what I'd do or like to see done, more often, but not in a way that is trying to make Cora look badly.

Teel named league PLayer of the Week.

Bold could also be to buy, but he'd need a green light from the higher-up to do that, and there is no indication he'll get it, even if we are 8 games over .500 as we near the deadline. I think he will choose to sell, and will trade all of the 4, assuming they have value in July. There will be no, "I didn't get an offer worth taking." He will take the best offers- liking them or not. Just my opinion.

strange

Indeed. He hit on his major signings- almost all of them.

Yes. MVP posted the news.

That was my point. Had we spent the money more wisely, even beyond the Betts mess, we would not be talking about how cheap JH has become. The Sale extension. Richards & Kluber. Kike II Story Yoshida Giolito. Those are the 7 highest AAV signings since 2019, not counting Devers, which kicked in, this year. (Maybe it's highest 6 after Sale & Bogey) To me, that is the bigger issue, but certainly the 4 drops in payroll in the last 5 years has not helped.

Agreed. I've said ride it until he stops. He can't be worse than Cooper. (Also, Wong has career reverse splits.) This b eing said, I still know Cora knows more than I do.

I do not see Brez as a hand sitter on-er.

A significant likelihood. Same with Jansen, Martin & O'Neill.

I agree. If we keep up like the last 5 years, we will miss out on adding new fans and may lose some old ones in other ways beyond the grace. Nobody enjoys this.

Yes, true, especially factoring in inflation and in relation to several other teams' spending. Our largest drops have been in the last 4-5 years. Add that to just one increase in 5 years, and it looks bad. I get it. I'm not defending it, in any way. BTW, we did see a drop in 4 out of 5 years, before: from 2005 to 2009. There was also a drop in 5 of 7 years (2005-2011). People were complaining, then, too. My only point is about us going up and down very consistently, while never going up or down for more than 2 years in a row. The pattern may or may not continue. I'm hoping we up spending significantly, next year, but I am refusing to expect it to happen. If it does, the trend continues for over 2 decades.

Not a prediction, but here is my top 25: 1. Anthony 2. Mayer (close call) 3. Teel 4. Cespedes 5. Bleis 6. Fitts 7. Perales 8. Zanetello 9. Slaten 10. Sandlin 11. Meidroth 12. Yorke 13. K Campbell 14. E R-C 15. Wikelman 16. Jo Garcia 17. Paulino 18. Jordan 19. Arias 20. Jh Garcia 21. Penrod 22. Castro 23. Romero 24. Dobbins 25. Monegro/Wehunt/Hickey

That has happened, before. No signs, until POW! Again, not saying a "POW" is near or never again. I don't know, and I've given up expecting it.

Indeed. Some other teams- the same. Again, I'm not defending JH. I'm just pointing out a pattern. Of course, accounting for inflation, the numbers would look lower going forward, but there would still be a pretty consistent wave structure on a graph- a consistent pattern.

No doubt, we are in a cut cycle, but really, it's more about spending the money foolishly and letting the wrong star walk, than any major change in JH's spending patterns. Also, several other teams have gone whacky with spending. Nobody knows how the spending will go, going forward. Tell me where the pattern changed, significantly: We were at $108M in 2002 (according to Steve the Ump) 99 '03 -9 125 '04 +25 121 '05 -4 120 '06 -1 143 '07 +23 133 '08 -10 123 '09 -10 163 '10 +30 161 '11 -2 173 '12 +12 151 '13 -22 163 '14 +12 187 '15 +24 182 '16 -5 200 '17 +18 236 '18 +36 187 '19 -49 (84 '20 COVID) 180 '21 -7 (from '19) 195 '22 +15 176 '23 -19 162 '24 -14 The pattern seems obvious: never 3 years in a row of cuts or raising the budget. We are currently in a 2 straight year decline, and almost all of our biggest signings have sucked. That is the major change, not the spending more and cutting spending pattern of ups and downs.. BTW, I'm not predicting JH will ever spend bigly, again. I'm just saying JH's pattern has been up and down pretty consistently. I'm not defending him. I think it sucks he couldn't have at least spent right up to the tax line, this year. So, where was the major departure from the pattern? 2010? 2013? 2015? 2018? 2019-2020? The "pattern" from '21-'24 looks like it fits the mold, except that other teams went nutty and flew past us.

We did finish in last place 3 of 4 years before DD. The formula before DD was spend and then cut, spend and then cut. It hasn't changed.

They stuck with Jimenez, too long. We don't know if they overvalued Flores.

I think they do a fine job. Their reports often say some of our top prospects might be utility players or borderline 5th starters, so high rankings do not always mean they overvalue someone.

The Rays will not gain new fans. The Sox could lose half theirs and still be way ahead.

Sometimes, it's the first placement, after a draft or trade, but yes. I do not think they do it, a lot. Sometimes they seem very restrained. Betts was in the system 2.5 years without being top 10, then jumped to #1 in the summer of '14. Granted, he was in the low minors.

No, the yo-yo is not surprising. You are correct. I will say, soxprospects.com does not usually yo-yo players as much as Lugo. Yorke is one example: 2021: .913 A-/.978 A+ 2022: .668 A+ 2023: .950 AA Rankings: 13th at end of '20 10>8>3 in '21 3>4>5 in '22 6>5>6 in '23 11th to start '24