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This would make Bloom the first ever blogger-turned-GM...

I disagree. At least the Sox will have gotten 5 or 6 great years from Betts. All they got from having Bagwell was a mediocre middle reliever...

Whaddaya mean “sometimes”?!?!?

So squeeze Stanton to get mre ABs for Tauchman? I think if Tauchman got 600 ABs, you'd wish he didn't. Really the Yankees should add a catcher. Yasmani Grandal would be great, but probably not where they should spend their money. So trade Frazier (plus?) for an actual good catcher. The Cubs have two; start there. But get a catcher, move Andujar to 1B, LeMahieu to 2B, Torres to SS. and leave Urshela at 3B. Stanton-Hicks-Judge in the OF with Tauchman as the fourth. They will probably bring back Garnder, but not for $13mill per, and they will need someone who can play CF, since Hicks has not shown himself to be remarkably durable. Oh, and Sanchez at DH. It's still very right-handed, but also better defensively. And a lot of money has been saved to get a pitcher or two. Or trade Happ or one of the bigger contracts to the Giants for lefty-hitting Brandon Crawford. If the Giants take Happ, they save considerable money and therefore would be more tempted to make the deal. And Crawford, while owed more money than Happ, comes with a significantly lower AAV.

In less than 4 innings...

Oh it's a baseball trade for the Padres and a financial trade for the Red Sox.

I don't think the network matters to any players. I doubt there is a single player in MLB history who thought "This is a tough situation for me, so I better not screw it up. But if I do, only people with basic cable will see it, so I should be OK." And I think all MLB players are so insanely competitive (because if they are not, they are AAA players), that the post-season is the post-season. Do you think Cole was out there mowing down Rays and Yankees so easily because it wasn't the World Series? There is no difference between losing the ALCS/NLCS and losing the World Series. You're not a champion either way, and that is the competitive mentality...

I don't see the Yankees getting JD, unless JD 1) converts to pitcher, and 2) is really, really, really good at it right away. With Stanton, Sanchez, and Andujar, the Yankees have the DH position more than covered.

And here I thought the dumbest one was letting Kevin Romine hit for Mike Greenwell. And then lo and behold, Romine hit a walk off home run to win that game...

No. Not me there. I am the fellow who pointed out 1) it was never a "closer by committee," unless you think Chad Fox is a committee, and 2) the real problem with the Sox bullpen that year was coming in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings and not the ninth, as they only blew 3 9th inning leads before acquiring Kim, and only lost 2 of those games. My stance was always, closer by committee is not doomed to fail, but having bad bullpen pitchers in that committee will make it fail. And the Sox problem was not that they had what they called a committee; it was that they had a bullpen full of mediocre to bad pitchers. (Although Timlin did manage to right himself.)

I think a lot of what we call choking (or chocking) is sometimes based on a pitcher's fatigue as well. Cole threw his career high in IP during the regular season in 2019, and then threw another 35 IP in the ALDS and ALCS. What we are calling choking might be simple fatigue. He did have his velocity going for him the other night, but he was still also very hittable and probably was not hitting his spots. And a loss of command can certainly be attributable to workload, as it can effect the repeatability of his release point...

Well, the Astros starting pitching was superior to the Yankees. But I get where you're going. Of course, in 2015, the Mets' starting pitching was superior to the Royals' SP as well. It is possible to make it a bullpen game...

No, I am questioning the moving goal posts here. Before 2018, there were many saying Price was a choker in the postseason. (I believe you were among them.) But now choking has been limited to the World Series (and Sox/Yanks games). And even then, even if i accepted that definition, I don't think Price should be labeled as a World Series chocker after 3.1 IP 11 years ago. Especially since he was only 22 at the time and only gave up one earned run. After all, you have Verlander "entering pre-2018 David Price territory". So Verlander has a 5.73 ERA across 33 IP in the World Series, and he is still not as bad as Price, who had a 2.70 ERA across 3.1 IP? That couldn't make less sense...

I get why he did. The Sox had bullpen issues most of that year...

Chih Jung Poo was on the Sox radar as well, but he was the #2 option. (Yes, I went there!)

Oh there is an absolute risk. I always expected Betts to get something similar to Arenado, who got 8 years, as he will be a little older than Machado and Harper when he hits free agency. But even 8 years is not without risk. And the big question is, how many years will be deadweight? Will he be like Price, and give the Sox one good year and then revert to mediocrity? Or will he manage to be productive for 5 or 6 years and leave a bunch of deadweight years at the end fans complain about? The one team that seems to manage this type of risk well is the Dodgers, who keep bringing Kershaw back on relatively short deals...

The counterargument is that the teams in the postseason should have a certain degree of pitching, defense, hitting, and managing. They had to be doing something right to make it that far and excel over a 162 game season. That leaves clutch, momentum, and luck. So the question is, how much do momentum and clutch depend on luck?

I can't guess on numbers, but I do agree it will be exorbitant. (Such an astute observation on my part.) And the Sox need to position themselves to be in the best position to make that offer...

He apparently used them to increase his bases on balls. That was his big weapon. He rarely swung the bat. Henderson retired as the all time leader in 3 categories - walks, runs, and stolen bases. (Since passed by Barry Bonds in walks.) These are not categories typically bolstered by steroid usage...

Except that Price is 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA in 17 IP in 2 World Series. His postseason issues were in games you defined as not "bright lights"

Not to mention, the Sox bullpen was their main problem that entire season, and the brief turnaround of Timlin in the postseason should not have erased that fact. Leaving Pedro in was probably the smartest choice at the time...

... which opens the door for other bidders, notably those who lost out on Stanton, Harper and Machado, to come in and use the money they were already prepared to spend and try for Betts...

Rickey Henderson did it as well. Ok he was 34 years old and not in his chronological prime, but he also was coming off a season with a .906 OPS. So maybe his prime lasted longer than most players'...

He was not on board with it because he is so unfamiliar with the concept....

I had no idea Musial was so grainy and blurry. Really what dawned on me was, a great swing is useless unless you know when to use it.