Jack Flap

Amazing story. How many guys have come back to pitch at that high a level after such a long layoff from the major leagues (7 years since his last appearance in 2013, and 9 since he was last any good in 2011)? My guess is not many. Congrats to him.

I came by just for this post...I'll be drinking a cold one for ol' Smiley today.

If anyone was expecting more than this for Moreland, I think they need to adjust their expectations. So far for Workman, Hembree, and Mitch (not exactly the most sterling trade chips in the world), Bloom has gotten 3 legitimate prospects and a reclamation project in Pivetta...hard to complain about that. All hail the Bobby Dalbec era.

Sounds good, Mario.

!!!

There's really no reason not to be handing out minor league offers like candy at this point, so I'm hoping Bloom has a few irons in the fire soon to come to fruition. Bringing Lucroy in to see if he has anything left was a nice no-risk move...Gennett would be as well. We'll see.

Bloom is a genius.

JBJ isn't blocking anyone better, he appears to have little to no trade value (or he would have been moved already), and the Red Sox are now far enough below the CBT line that they shouldn't need to engage in further payroll-dumping just for the sake of it. What purpose would trading him now serve?

That's, uh...not what the story you linked says. As I understand it, Verdugo filmed the two drunk girls beating up the other drunk girl...obviously not good. But I have yet to find anything saying he was present during or in any way involved in the sexual assault. The way the media has reported this story has caused a lot of confusion, though.

We have had good luck with Kevin _illars in the past, so I like this.

Manfred also appears to have known far more about the involvement of Luhnow and the front office than he let on in the official report, which pinned the blame on Cora and the players. Woof.

I'm getting the impression that the reason the Twins were so willing to trade alleged stud prospect Graterol for 32-year-old Kenta Maeda was because they knew he wasn't going to be a starter...their apparent unwillingness to substitute lower-ranked and further-away prospects for Graterol only bears this out. It might be time to forget the Minnesota connection here and go back to the drawing board with the Dodgers.

Is there a source on this other than random Twitter chatter? This is a Twins beat writer for the Athletic... Dan Hayes @DanHayesMLB Other names have been asked about as possibilities for Twins-Red Sox-Dodgers. Jordan Balazovic is not a prospect the Twins would make available.

I share your view of Bloom, though I tend to think ownership set him up to fail this offseason. Hopefully you're right and this will all work out for the best.

What a slow-motion disaster this has turned into. It feels like the Red Sox realized too late that they were about to get bent over (this deal is very different if Graterol has a strong chance of being a front-half-of-the-rotation starter vs. if he ultimately belongs in the bullpen, and something seems to have brought the Sox around to the latter opinion) and now want more, but I don't know why either LA or Minnesota would be motivated to give it to them at this point.