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I think he wanted a better AAV. And with 2 1/2 years to go figured he has time to work something else out. The offer was well under the $30mill AAV threshold people are saying was simply not enough for Mookie 5 years ago. In fact, if the Sox offered/floated that extension it looks very much in the area of the offers Judge and Soto received. Not to mention roughly the same as what Mookie actually settled for in LA. So my thoughts are if the Sox offered/floated/discussed a $30mill AAV offer to Mookie, they did their due diligence and Mookie simply wanted to see what was out there. If it never got the that far, that is a blunder and it happened before Bloom’s watch. If Henry nixed any attempt to spend that after letting Price get approved at a higher AAV, then not sure what was going on there at all…

Ok. And the Sox had to pay him more than that allegedly offered / floated to Betts. If anything Devers does support it looking like the Sox needed closer to the $420mill to sign Betts. Matt Olson also works but I don’t put him in the same class as Betts either. And Olson looks like an insane bargain right note…

Based on what? You think he craved more success than he was getting from the organization that got him a World Series ring in his first full season?

And Pedro Ciriaco looked good for a while. Reyes deserves a utility INF role, but let’s no go overboard with the small successful sample size of a career minor leaguer…

I don’t think either one is one the radar. Chapman is only on mine. And last I checked, my influence with the Sox roster construction and spending is, to be blunt, fairly minimized…

I strongly doubt the Sox go into 2024 with no better options at 2b than Reyes and Valdez. Despite all of the “Sox should only spend on pitching!” banter, it’s pretty unlikely that’s the only thing they spend on. They are likely to either bring in a 2b, bring in a SS and move Story to 2b, or trade for a 2b (with Verdugo?). FWIW soxprospects.com has the Sox bringing back Duvall (for CF), and acquiring two pitchers and a 2b. They also have Urias as a bubble candidate for a roster spot…

Stop trying to turn me on!

Even go a tier lower and who extended after 5 years? Juan Soto turned down a pretty ridiculous offer and he had 2.5 years until free agency…

He’sa good player with some hitting discipline issues. Overall him and Story would form an interesting duo up the middle, combining for 40 HRs and 400 strikeouts. But at least give some seriously slick defense…

But by the time Bloom got hired, it was too late. The Sox leverage with Betts did drop with every passing season. You rarely if ever see a player of Betts’ caliber sign with one year to go. For comparison, Cashman went public with his initial offer to Judge which was 7 years $30.5mill because he wanted it known he was trying. That offer was roughly the same AAV as the alleged Betts’ offer but 3 years shorter, which makes sense since Judge was older (and had not yet hit an AL record for home runs). Was that offer so crazy for their generational talent? Similar AAV, better years, but Cashman was confident enough in its market value to go public…

Yes it was a joke. Didn’t you finish reading it?

As bad as the Sox and Bloom were at the deadline, Baltimore was the runner-up. When you have the consensus best farm system in MLB and only leave the deadline with two months of Jack Flaherty Still on the Way Down, you done made up…

Right idea. Unsure of the names. A lot will depend on: 1. Who is making those calls? 2. How much they have to spend? You can state all you want about Nola, but if the new guy doesn’t like signing players with qualifying offers, he may pivot to Yamamoto or Bauer over Nola or Snell, for example…

I don’t think they have done updates in a while.

Cabrera is a ton of potential that just never seems to amount to anything. I would have dealt Turner for him, but I would be hesitant to deal Duran..

The Yankee bullpen is better? Red Sox bullpen - 4.7 fWAR Yankee bullpen 4.2 fWAR. And that’s without Houck and Whitlock getting the full time reliever tiles they both deserve…

Or… See if Javier Baez Ops out and sign him. He checks all the boxes. Right-handed bat? Check. Hit for power? Check. Good middle infield defense? Check. Walked away from 4 yrs $90mill to obviously get more money? Che.. wait a second…

Is Yoshida really a valuable trade chip?

Batting average is such a useful tell-all stat. That’s why no one wants Kyle Schwarber back…

To me it depends on what gets offered for Duran. But I do think he has lots of offensive potential and is best left out of CF. I imagine Verdugo is a more likely trade bait. But he isn’t going to be with as much in a deal. Of course, standing on pitching is easier said than done. Especially if the new guy has no budget to work with…

So tell me again - if Dombrowski didn’t get fired, what does he do with Mookie?

Ok. Bloom gave one year to a guy coming off a 3.1 fWAR season. Dombrowski gave 4 years to a guy coming off a 2.5 fWAR season. Clearly both were operating with different financial parameters. Just ask Trea Turner’s agent if you doubt me. If you can’t reach Trea Turner’s agent, contact the guy who maintains his new boat. My problem with abloom isn’t that I can use hindsight to compare his moves to those of other GMs with different budgets. My problem with him is twice he quit on the team in July when they were in the playoff picture. The off-season moves youre still hung up on we’re actually part of a team that was working. Want some data? They are 3 games out at the 2022 trade deadline and 2 games out at the 2023 trade deadline. They added Hosmer and Urias to those teams that both needed pitching. That’s why Bloom is gone. At least I hope it is. As for Dombrowski, he left begging a mediocre team with the highest payroll in MLB and (I know you like to omit this part) $300mill tied up in 3 off-injured starting pitchers, and no minimum wage help on the horizon. Do you g honk that had no impact on Bloom’s role? Heck it might impact the next guy. Some of we’re not surprised by it. And said so on this board.

Actually none of the ones you listed that he kept were in the system at the time…

Well three. You’re counting 2023, which has not happened at the time. Why the Hangup on Walker? I’ve never said Kluber was the only option. There were a few others that Bloom could have signed instead. Senga was one guy who I liked. I’d have signed Taillon over Walker. I think the issue Gate is abloom didn’t want to go long term with some of these high mileage guys. Although the entire Eovaldi thing was mostly. He did focus on Eflin, who turned out to be a good target that unfortunately wanted to play elsewhere

And which one that I mentioned qualifies as a man off the street? Remember we are refuting the notion that anyone DD dealt away failed to become a star so therefore they were all expendable on a team that had no talent between A ball and MLB. The notion that players were useless because they aren’t on a fast track to Cooperstown is ridiculous…