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And Zimmerman isn’t the bat anyone needs to reach…

I am going to make the assumption that you do not know Verdugo is only 4 months older than Duran. (It’s ok to not know that; I didn’t until I looked it up.) But keeping that in mind, why would the Sox trade the far more-talented player who will have much less trade appeal (due to salary and only having one year of control left) and hang on to the cheaper, fringey player who has never been able to hang on in MLB until this year? I think Duran has potential to be a very exciting offensive player. I have doubts about his limited defensive development and think he is a bottom tier CF (which someone has to be) and probably best left out of right field altogether. It makes no sense to me to say “the Sox need to act like a large market team”, and then dump Verdugo for the lesser, cheaper player. That’s a small market move. Extend Verdugo. Trade Duran. A small market will give up an arbitration-eligible (re: getting pricey) starting pitcher for a package built around him. Or is all this because Verdugo missed two games for coach suspension and is therefore a “clubhouse cancer”? Don’t overreact to that…

Shota Imanaga isn’t a starting pitcher. Now he might fill the need for a LHRP..

It’s very rare for position players. But Ryan Zimmerman was drafted in June of 2005 and made his MLB debut September 1, 2005. But this is probably not the level of expectation we should be going for…

Teel was playing college ball 5 months ago. No reason to rush him…

He’s opting out. You’re rationalizing. And not very well…

I think you’ve been more critical than everyone. Combined…

The thing is, he kept managing to stay in the postseason hunt without spending on the rotation. And then when it came time to bring in re-enforcement arms, he just flat out quit…

Sure. No problem. That’s always worked out so well in the past. And luckily today the risk is mitigated by having to sign the pitcher for seven or eight years. I mean, with that many years, we’re bound to get one or two good seasons, right?

Some shortstop prospects? I think there’s really only one who has the ability to bring back controllable pitching. Unless you don’t care about the quality of the pitching…

Even if that QB is Drew Bledsoe?

If the players like it and there is proof it helps, why on Earth do people think it’s the wrong idea?

I don’t mind him gone because he’s simply shown he cannot make moves at the deadline to help the team. Both the 2022 and 2023 teams were in the playoff hunt at the deadline. And both years he did essentially nothing. The team didn’t need Eric Hosmer. Not even remotely. Off the plan is to buy, then buy. If the plan is to sell, sad but at least trade some players off. Want to try both at once? I’m all for the challenge! Make it happen. But the one thing you simply cannot do is nothing, which Bloom did twice…

I didn’t ask about Bloom. I simply asked when was the last time the Red Sox spent money on the right free agent starting pitcher. As in the last time in Red Sox history the team did so.

None? But the Sox have been spending on starting pitching for decades.

ERod was a good pitcher (albeit lousy at converting 1b), but he signed with Detroit on November 16. He didn’t even see what his market was. Signing that early means just leaping at the first offer…

It depends. If I’m buying, I turn it down. If I’m selling, I take it. The problem was, Bloom wasn’t either buying or selling. He talked about doing both. That didn’t happen either. He dealt away Kike and acquired Urias. That was the extent of his deadline. I don’t call that buying or selling. More like napping…

It doesn’t say who turned those down…

Arb-eligibles have 1-3 years…

Suzuki also only played 111 games last year and only once played more than 22 in a month

No surprises. Joey Gallo put one on me last year, too…

If DD was not allowed to sign Betts, why did he hold on to him up to the final year of Betts’ deal? You yourself have said the decision to trade Betts was made before Bloom and that Bloom was just the hatchet man (your exact woods). I agree, but that also means if they really wanted to get something for a Mookie, the time to move him was clearly the 2019 trading deadline, when they were clearly out of it and DD didn’t exactly try to turn the team around by only trading for Andrew Cashner. That half-ass indecisive trade deadline was completely Bloom-esque…

Newsflash - people still do…

Really the only good news there is half those guys are off the books next month. Story and Yoshida still have time to justify their deals. All a Sale can do is at best end on a high note…

Who was the last “right guy” the Sox spent on as a starting pitcher?