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No. Next question...

Bloom has been doing a good job finding these depth signings and AAAA guys for Worcester and emergency depth. But the Sox really need SPs for some non-emergency games at some point. The staff has more backups than starters...

I am not sure how much Quintana weighed into the decision. But the Sox had Vaughn coming up and he did prove to be every bit the beast they hoped he would be. Bagwell did have a better career, but this was a choice of choosing the lesser of two good things...

I don't buy it either. I seem to recall they did not even envision him as a 3B, and that his best position would ultimately be 1B. In which case, Mo Vaughn might have been a bigger factor...

OK. But none of that changes that he clearly played SS in college and can make the throw. Was he moved off SS because they did not like his defense there? Because the Sox had another very enticing SS prospect in Hanley Ramirez? Both? I am not sure. But the facts are 1) the Sox did make that statement in the 2009-2010 offseason during the "Revolving Door at Shortstop" period in team history, 2) he did play SS in college and was good enough to be a finalist for the Golden Spikes and also steal a startig role at the position away from the incumbent Ian Kinsler, and 3) other lesser defenders at 2B such as David Eckstein and Michael Young were both moved to SS, so it would not even have been unprecedented. Now, whether or not Pedroia would have excelled at the position or even played it competently? That's another matter...

Of course, performance against previous winners is completely moot for the award. All that matters is whether or not another rookie has a better season...

Their respective page on B-R..

Scott Cooper gets my vote for worst player in MLB history with multiple All Star appearances. He was dealt away for a disappointing Mark Whiten, a player who had more RBIs in one day as a Cardinal than he did in his brief Red Sox career...

Pedroia won the Golden Spikes Award playing on that side of the infield. College diamond is the same size...

Kevin Morton did give them an outstanding MLB debut, throwing complete game with 3 H / 1 ER against a pretty tacked Tigers's lineup. The rest of his career - not so exciting. The real flop of the ealy 1990's was the Sox had gret expectations from a trio of young pitchers in the minors named Brian Rose, Jeff Suppan and Carl Pavano. Pavano had a decent career and no Sox fan misses him for one obvious reason. Suppan was taken in the expansion draft, but did have a mediocre career that included at least two later stints with the Sox. Brian Rose flopped like a salmon in a fishing boat...

Darwin also was at pretty much the league minimum for IP to qualify for the ERA title, having pitched 162.1 IP when the eligibility requirement was 162.0. He really was not even a SP that year, starting only 17 of his 48 appearances...

They're bluffing. They also once said they would move Pedroia to SS...

Or not... https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/01/latest-on-tomoyuki-sugano.html

Free agent data to date Not counting the wo players who accepted the QO. 39 MLB signings. Over 1/4 (10 of 39) of them for less than $1mill Only 2 contracts (Kim with SD and James McCann with the Mets) are longer than 2 years. Highest AAV is Charlie Morton ($15mill). Second highest AAV is Drew Smyly ($11mill). In the last 4 seasons, Smyly has pitched 140 IP total with an ERA+ of 82. That's a worse ERA+ than Phillips Valdez, Ryan Weber, Chris Mazza, and Colten Brewer had for the Sox last year. Highest total value is McCann ($40.6mill), followed by Kim ($28mill), Mike Minor ($18mill), Carlos Santana ($17.5mill), and Trevor May ($15.5mill). The Sox have signed 2 free agents to MLB deals out of the 39 total. The Yankees have signed 0. The Dodgers have signed one, a pitcher not expected to pitch in 2021. The most active team to date - the Kansas City Royals, with 4 MLB signings (Santana, Minor, Greg Holland, Michael Taylor). The Mets and Giants each have 3. So, despite a complete dearth of activity, Bloom is actually more active on the FA market than most GMs, and it is a pretty safe to guess when all is said and done, the Royals will not be among MLB's most active teams...

Clearly not me. I would have had them signing Jose Urena or Rick Porcello...

Or maybe Heyman still thinks Twitter is limiting his characters at 140 so he left them out? Both are equally likely...

Yeah but we have a guy for RF. Puello is actually a decent defender. I would trust him in CF before I put Benintendi out there. If nothing else, Puello has a very strong arm. I am not even sure Benintendi has an arm. I think he just has flesh-colored glove fastened to the end of his sleeve...

He was the smallest part of a triumvirate of failed signings in a short 15 day span in which the Sox committed roughly $27 million to 3 s***** players...

Not true. 11 days after the Sox signed Matt Young to a 3 year $6,35mill contract, they signed Jack Clark to a 3 year $8.7mill contract Four days after that, the Red Sox signed reigning NL ERA champion Danny Darwin to a 4 year $11.8mill contract. These contracts were actually are pretty big deals for the time. And none of them worked out. So maybe just spending is not everything....

I'm sticking with my gut here. I think 1) the Mets can f*** this up, and 2) a lot of these Japanese players surprise us all by eschewing the East Coast markets for the more proximal West Coast teams. It was not that long ago that Shohei Otani was earmarked for the Yankees...

To be fair, the economic scale of salaries was a lot different in 1991 and even in 1999. In 1991, the highest paid player in MLB was Darryl Strawberry ($3.8mill). In 1999, it was Albert Belle ($11.9mill). For Strawberry's salary today, you cannot even get a decent middle reliever. Jose Urena, who pitched 107 IP in the past 2 seasons and was non-tendered by the Marlins this year, received $3.25 mill from Detroit. https://sabr.org/research/article/mlbs-annual-salary-leaders-since-1874/

Oh there is a decent chance I would invent new personages. Talking about myself in fourth and fifth person are both a given. It's just a question of how many new ones I can invent...

Probably true. In fact, there is a good chance I would create multiple accounts just to talk about it more often...

Sugano expected to sign tomorrow. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/01/latest-on-tomoyuki-sugano.html Most fans expect him to sign with the Mets per MLBTR polling. Notin expects him to sign with San Francisco...

So... I have a chance and my hiring will be quiet?