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Other than exonerating DD, do you have a point? Are you really trying to say DD never even attempted to extend Betts? If so, that’s far, far worse than anything Bloom did. Times 100…

Even at the time, I seem to recall DD shifting to Bogaerts and Sale once the negotiations with Betts went sour. I don’t think the choice was Bogaerts and Sale over Betts as much as those two were Plan B. The notion that Bloom could have signed Betts over Story and Yoshida is simply wrong, as it ignores the entire timeline, the existence of luxury tax, the signings of Sale and Bogaerts, the total value of the contracts in question, and that David Price was still alive…

I can absolutely make that argument. Especially if “winning” is measured by rings. MLB recent history is loaded with teams that went all in on spending, didn’t win, and then found themselves stuck with a load of aging and cumbersome and largely immovable contracts. Players winning isn’t a guarantee. Players aging and declining is…

Stop trying to disassociate Dombrowski. No one blames him like you do to Bloom. But he absolutely had his chances to extend Betts, and was actively trying as far back as 2017. Betts just wasn’t going for it. That’s not DD’s fault, but it isn’t (as you repeatedly claim) Bloom’s fault either. And THAT is the reality. Bloom was basically the hatch hey man charged with dealing Betts. I’d be surprised if he was even given the resources to sign Mookie.

I’m ok with counting 2020. If the Sox won it, I’d have counted it. Plus I really wanted baseball that year…

Do you have a point? We’re those were the only 4 years? Sox were also a top payroll team in 2012, 2014, and 2015. Also they had the highest payroll in team history in 2019. And they weren’t far off the top payroll in 2020. Like I said, spending doesn’t guarantee winning. Are you really going to argue that it does?

Seriously? He didn’t say anything there that was wrong. You just like to get down on Sox fans for being fans…

The Betts move is going to be up there with Babe Ruth, Bagwell, Herb Pennock, and Red Ruffing on the list of Future Hall of Famers the Sox just gave away for no reason. The only thing keeping Betts from being higher on the list is that the Dodgers haven’t been able to turn that gift into a bunch of rings. My problem with this team is they refuse to embrace what’s working. Houck, Bello and Crawford might be the best internally developed trio of pitchers since Clemens, Hurst and Boyd. Why do they keep trying to force Whitlock in there? I figured that was a Bloom thing and it would stop this year, but nope. And if you have this young trio, you need to support them with inning-eating veteran SP. I get why Sale was moved and Giolito brought in. Sale was not an innings-eater anymore. Giolito was even during his least effective stretches. But when Giolito went down, there were still options. Why were they ALL ignored? Ok you pass on Montgomery. He wasn’t the only arm left. I also don’t get ignoring the SS position once Story went down, unless Wilyer Abreu forced that issue. Which I’m ok with. I don’t care if the Sox ever become a top tier payroll. They did that enough times to shoot me it’s not always a formula for success, but it is more likely to be a formula for stagnating mediocrity. But if you want to be a team that runs itself smartly, don’t do stuff even idiot fans like me think is dumb…

I assume by “run prevention”, you mean “pitching.” The Sox have little to no interest in defense…

Can we at least miss the playoffs before we condemn the team for missing the playoffs? The season isn’t over yet just because you found your white flag…

The Sox draft middle infielders. People complain. The Sox trade those same middle infielders for team needs. People complain…

No we didn’t. The most promising one was an 18yo in A ball, and he’s so far from MLB, he might lose his shine by then. The bulk we have the Angels was largely a bunch of players who’ve never cracked the Sox top ten despite multiple years on the system and were all going to be exposed to the Rule 5 draft anyway

That was a terrible at bat. Bunt if you have to, but get Devers to third…

Nice jinx…

The Sox are dead last in fWAR from 2b. These contributions aren’t as great as you want them to be. And not sure why you think you get to determine who’s earned what, but the Sox clearly don’t roll that way. The only 2b who earned anything in spring training was Sogard, and he didn’t get his chance for 3 1/2 months and behind a slew of others, including lots of AAAA talent. It’s like last year at shortstop. Kike clearly didn’t earn anything there and repeatedly showed he didn’t belong there, yet they kept trotting him out there, game after game, error after error. And they didn’t do it because he has a good postseason in 2021. Meanwhile David Hamilton was lighting up the International League, clearly earning a chance. When he finally got one, apparently in order to displace Kike, he had to set the world on fire in 40 plate appearances. And he went back down. If you think it’s about “earning a position,” you have NOT been paying attention…

It’s a question whether or not he has to earn it. Not like we have Ryne Sandberg out there…

Unfortunately “Walk ‘em In” is more accurate…

I’m surprised no one has nicknamed that guy Walkelman at this point…

The late-season collapses of Houck and Crawford might be why the extension went to Bello. While neither had fallen apart at the time, maybe the FO had similar durability concerns. Now why they didn’t act on them and get a less fragile SP at the deadline is another matter…

The in-season guys have are shaky. Criswell has pitched very well on occasion, but his track record is negligible. Paxton is not exactly a durability machine at this point in his career either. But it takes a lot for someone to start touting for Jason Alexander to provide some relief…

I’m glad that data does exist. So Crawford has managed to throw more pitches in the past, but he is still clearly gassed at this point. 17.9 pitches per inning in A ball seems like a lot. Even for a pitcher striking out 10 batters per 9 innings…

But it’s also not uncommon for pitchers to wear out and become much less effective as the IP piles up. This is a big part of the reason many pitchers struggle in the postseason, sometimes to the point of struggling the following season as well…

Minor league hitters, on average, don’t have the same level of plate discipline as MLB hitters, aren’t as good at fouling off pitches to extend an at bat, and, well, get fewer hits. There’s a reason many of them never advance to the next level. All of this can result in a pitcher throwing fewer pitches per inning. It’s not like there is a hard limit attached to number of pitches in an IP. And it’s the pitches thrown that matter…

The Sox should have stayed with the bionics and signed Steve Austin, and saved $211 mill in the process…

He’s likely gassed. At 131 IP, he’s at his career high already. Unless you count the 143 IP back in 2019 in A/A+ ball…