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First of all, simply assuming changes will be beneficial is advocating for change for the sake of change. So what do you think DD would have done? I’ve asked you many times he would have gotten out of the mess, and you have repeatedly ducked the question. Bear in mind, I’m not asking what he would have done; I’m just asking what you think he would have done. It’s not an unanswerable question. On the contrary, it’s an opinion. (Not a theory, if that helps you.). And please don’t say it adds no value to the discussion. It’s an internet forum. That’s all we do. Nothing you have said in any post has added value. Same goes for me. And everyone else. Except maybe mvp. Maybe. And certainly anyone who could spy on Day One Bloom would not work out and has repeatedly defended Dombrowski must have some sense of how he would have handled the aftermath of 2019. If you’re familiar with his history, use it. What would he have done? Bear in mind any counterarguments are just as unprovable and indefensible. Except one - the simple question “then why was he fired?”

2020 was an obvious planned punt. The worst thing about that year once it got started (the preseason was horrible) was that Bloom did give up too early on Jeffrey Springs.

He’s Bloom 2.0…

Point? It also makes no sense to assume any change will be beneficial…

It started off going through the pitching changes…

If DD has to trade Betts, I do think he simply takes Graterol. His pitching philosophy has always been simple - radar guns! (That’s not a knock; I’m a fan of flame-throwers, too) That’s my only take on the team if they never fired DD that I have true faith in. Well, that and they wouldn’t be in the postseason without increased spending…

Most teams in 1967 were homegrown. You either came up though the organization or they traded for you. Ah the days of relegation…

Neal Huntington? So MLB experience and a pulse? With experience being optional, I guess…

I did

There were moves made, you know. The only two players on the 2019 team and 2023 team were Chris Sale and Ryan Brasier. How would you characterize the state of the Sox after 2019?

The 4.95 ERA from the rotation wasn’t a factor?

Not at all. The Marlins sell off, while planned, was to avoid all the contracts they gave out. Those contracts absolutely could have gone very bad and turned the Marlins into an expensive flop. The Sox made a series of moves to alleviate some of the financial damage DD did leave behind. David Price, for example. Remember they had $300mill (ish) still tied up in Price, Sale and Eovaldi after 2019. Those three gave the team exactly one full season and a bunch of partial ones. They weren’t exactly flush with pitching prospects coming up to help. They still had the Betts contract situation. And an owner wanting a reset. That’s not devastation? And then Sale needed TJ in the first year of a 5 year deal? And with all this money dedicated to pitching and more needed for Betts, etc. what minimum wage players was the non-emptied farm bringing up? Michael Chavis, Bobby Dalbec, Darwinzon Hernandez and Tanner Houck. Those are the only rookies to debut in 2019 and 2020 to come to Tori the Sox farm and have a positive fWAR. Not sure they were going to ease the financial burden at the other positions. Are you really arguing he left this team in good shape? John Henry might side with me here…

I don’t think that’s fair. There is probably someone who could. The A’s been cheap for a long time and has some very successful seasons…

No. I don’t think that. Why would they think that? Do you think Sox fans thought like that when the Cubs won the World Series in 2016?

And you might be shortchanging him. He may have taken the Sox to two World Series if not for Alex Cora and his All Percussion Band. But the issues many have with DD isn’t his abilities as much as it is his short-sightedness. He makes moves that work short term but leave a devastation in his wake. This has been true in Miami, Detroit and Boston. Those teams all j just didn’t hire incompetent people; they hired people to clean up what he left behind. Really the whole Noah Song scenario is sort of a microcosm of his methodology. I understand his having faith in Song, but he seemingly turned it into a “Song had to pitch now Now NOW” scenario by taking him in the Rule 5 draft and then following up with nothing to get the kid ready. Had he completed a trade to keep Song, he could have taken him along properly rather than just throwing him into the fire and watching him burn. The last 4 years were the cleanup. Granted Bloom appears to have made it more painful than he could/should be have through his own inability to follow through with anything. But some of that failure was inevitable. And history has shown this two previous times…

He could never do it. How about Las Vegas?

Not much of an answer. But since he was clearly unable to convince Mookie to stay, what next? Did he trade him? Or let him walk? I will say he might have been able to extend Bogaerts after that weak ass extension, assuming Bogaerts really did only want Story money. If he passed on Yoshida, he has $90mill to spend on pitching. As he clearly likes Taijuan Walker, let’s say he gets him in Boston. Now does he sign Martin and Jansen? Tough call. He sort of has a rep for ignoring bullpens. But let’s say he does. Do Bogaerts and Walker (in place of Yoshida and Story) get Boston yo the postseason? Also Boston has no Verdugo and Wong…

I openly said I was baiting in the post. In the sentence before the part he responded to. One could argue your post about Citizens Bank Ballpark was closer to trolling…

Willingness to spend. Dombrowski is not an idiot, but he does have an addiction to spending that has negative long term repercussions…

How do you think things would have been different if the Sox kept Dombrowski?

Need any help getting that hook out of your mouth?

Granted. Neither of us is wrong. And you (willingly?) proved my point. But the bottom line for most fans actually isn’t the wins and losses so much as the passion and titles and don’t want excuses. So (and I agree with you on this) if the goal was prolonged mediocrity with an eye on 2025, just keep Bloom for one more year. I hope the change signals more than just putting a new nameplate on an office door…

If you publicly demand success, you have to follow up and work towards it. Another year of mediocrity under a new regime just causes fans to lose faith in the people ultimately in charge and ruins their narrative. And you certainly cannot say “well this was because of the last guy.” Trust me on that one. I’ve thrown out my negative yet factual picture of the end of 2019 and yet people still think Dombrowski had nothing to do with that and the Sox would be in the postseason of he was still here. I can publicly bait people and get responses on this. Watch. How many realize that in the 3 years since DD was hired, the Phillies have only won 11 more games than the Sox and only made the postseason one more time?

If that was the plan, the simplest course of action would have been to give Bloom another year…

Agreed. But then was this ever a consideration? Fairly certain hitting Bloom to build a farm while slashing payroll was not designed to sit well with the fans either…