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Tom Bolton 2.0?

He never left. But his bat was a late arrival…

My guess is they’d rather use Dobbins because his start doesn’t mess up the rotation.

Breslow has done a better job dealing Bloom’s prospects than Bloom did..

Yes, but only at division III college and lower…

Abreu has a long history struggling with LHP, but I won’t let that get in the way of an extension. But right now he’s not even arbitration eligible…

Turner was a good addition, but Bell’s point was he wanted to spend on pitching. I actually didn’t, because free agent pitching is a bust more often than not. Trades are a better way to get pitching, but I will always question if Bloom had the guts to trade products for pitchers. Breslow clearly has no issues doing so…

Calling Turner a DH is some mild typecasting. He played over 50 games in the field for Boston, 31 games in the field for Seattle last year, and already played 4 games at 1b for the Cubs. He’s a useful role player. to me, what Bloom did right was the one thing everyone called him out for - he didn’t waste high draft picks on pitchers. Instead he drafted less risky players that could be traded for pitchers, like Yorke, Teel and Montgomery…

And his stance was VERY closed with his feet right near each other

A multibillion dollar TV contract with FOX definitely made it a worthwhile gamble. Paying $700mill to a DH/SP who has already had TJ twice was a much bigger gamble. Certainly Shohei can hit, but he’s one popping slider away from doing only that…

Abreu making half of MLB regret not taking a chance when he was available…

Or because Wong has fewer hits than Kajagoogoo…

It’s a possibility. Let’s not pretend any of us know him. Sure, he’s always been a good clubhouse guy, but he’s also always been a starter…

Story might not be such a good clubhouse guy if benched…

Most expensive bench in town, including the Patriots…

StatCast has him roughly equal to Bregman…

I think you’re a streak!

Or Story at 3b. Assuming Bregman walks away from $80mill over 2 years (which I think is very unlikely)…

These bats have been around for a few years but no one ever really made much of it until the Yankees brutalized Milwaukee pitching for 3 games. I was watching some random game this weekend and the commentators were talking about them, and one guy said “every hitter has a different sweet spot.” This is pure nonsense. The sweet spot on a bat is the center of mass of the bat, and it doesn’t move around based on the hitter. If a batter hits the ball at the center of mass, then the kinetic energy transferred to the ball is at a maximum. The entire point of the torpedo bat is to move the center of mass further away from the hitter, if only slightly while staying within the rules. In this respect, it attempts to inch closer to being a fungo bat while still being usable in games. The fungo is the epitome of what happens when you move the center of mass furthest from the hitter - lots of flyballs by design. Moving the center of mass is why torpedo bats are smarter and corking bats (which does the opposite) is stupider…

Houck has made one start. No one cares about spring training numbers.

He was so shocked they were able to take that photograph days in advance!!

Never understood that tradition. Why not just play Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and leave Thursday open? (Unless it’s for ticket holders who want to see the guest game of the season.)

Even a mediocre deal would have been fine. In 2022, the Sox were one season removed from an ALCS appearance. And to repeat that flop in 2023 was unforgivable. St. Louis is a young, rebuilding team. He’ll do well for them Theres for a while. But once they start winning, we will have to see if it’s a different story…

I liked the idea Bloom was supposed to implement, but I think his firing was merited after two consecutive failed deadlines when his attempts to bolster teams that were within striking distance of a wild card slot. He lacked the killer instinct to pull off a big deal, simply put. He did it with well in 2021 with Schwarber and two mediocre relievers who at least gave his bullpen some innings. But he gave up nothing in those deals and was unable to pull anything off if he had to actuypay a reasonable price. Bloom strikes me as a useful CBO for a team in need of a farm system and a rebuild, but not one who can put a competitive one over the top…

Then the Sox need to bench/rest/cure him. If he’s hurt, it’s clearly affecting his play to the point where any healthy ball player would be a step up. If he’s not hurt, which he insists, then I am wondering about the story behind the new, wide open stance. It seems like it would be more taxing on his shoulder. So is he just trying to be pull-happy? If some non-ball player like me tried to bat like that, it’d take me some time to learn to wait a little longer and not be way out in front of everything. I assume a hitter with Devers’ pedigree could adjust much faster. But maybe not?