notin

Or add Nimmo?

They added Wilyer Abreu (.858 OPS in AA) and Corey Rosier yesterday…

There is a difference between asking the scouting director or the manager and assuming everyone in the office had a say. Duquette was allegedly notorious for not only not asking, but actually thwarting the plans of his underlings. Manager Jimy Williams pet some reports envisioned a middle infield of Adam Everett and David Eckstein. And as Duquette had other visions, and against Jimy’s wishes, he traded Adam Everett (for Carl Everett no less) and released Eckstein…

I have my doubts there is any truth to this. I’d bet there is a significant chunk of players who are critical of the GM, and certainly they don’t all get traded. Even if Vazquez was critical of Bloom, is there any reason to believe he’s the most critical player? This sounds like Internet conspiracy BS that likes to focus on finding a villain for fans to blame. Vazquez was most likely traded because 1) he has an expiring contract and 2) another team wanted him and was willling to pay the price. Other players met that first criterion, but did anyone else meet the second?

I find it hard to believe Vaz was ambushed by the trade. Rumors of his deal to Houston had already been circulating for a couple hours, and while I don’t know about Vazquez personally, I do know there are players who follow this kind of thing online. It’s a safe bet even if Vazquez didn’t see any rumors, one of his teammates did…

When compared to Franchy, he transcend Gold Glover. He shoots right past Platinum Glover straight up to Unobtainium Glover….

True. Hosmer is successful when you look at his defense in terms of gallons and acres, but a virtual flop when you use Newtons and kilometers. I find it befuddling, too…

Not to mention that zone parole who do overemphasize the farm do so for a couple reasons. Fans like superstar players. Understandable. They help the team and are fun to watch and easy to root for. But there are only 3 ways to get them. 1. Develop them 2. Trade for them 3. Sign them as free agents. For all of these, a good farm is essential, whether it’s for having prospects who can become said stars, be traded for said stars, or just become cheap MLB players that enable affording said stars…

Absolutely true, and you were right to point it out. Max was wrong to do it but right to cop to it and not defend it. And it’s fine to disagree on baseball and how to run a team. But when you start talking about the Bloom Aporeciation Society or whatever, and say they’ll justify anything and everything he does, how is that any better? Are t you essentially labeling people as mindless drones?

I don’t want to re-write history, but if he said this pre-Story, when Suzuki was on the alleged radar, that’s a different matter and an Arroyo-Bradley platoon made sense and worked out defensively. After Story was signed, it looks like Cora was just forcing square pegs. Like I said, there are arguments for and against it, but I don’t agree with the ones for it…

To be fair, while Max is certainly guilty of what you say, he isn’t calling out posters in one post and then telling others not to in another…

If that’s the buzz on the Internet, how could it possibly be false? I imagine every team has players who criticize the GM. Praising is probably more difficult to come by. But I would bet the overwhelming majority are neutral and just play. Probably because we as fans see team weaknesses, but players are probably a lot more hesitant to throw teammates (or themselves) under the same bus. And, let’s face it, complaining is more in our human nature than praising. That’s why yelp.com exists. Of course, this is just a theory.

If Cora devised his own platoon, that’s not a friable offense IMHO. At that point, presumably Bloom should help work with Cora to get to a viable platoon - something more necessitated by Bradley’s offensive ineptitude. And the Sox did find a guy who could hit RHP and play RF. He just came in a very unlikely source - Rob Refsnyder. He was certainly a guy we all looked when acquired and thought “Worcester roster filler” but he’s been here all along…

I think his biggest mistake was not getting at least one bullpen arm. I’m pretty anti-Hosmer, but his contract is a non-factor and he’s Keith Hernandez compared to Cordero…

Possible. Ultimately filling out the lineup card falls on Cora, and if he decided “Bradley everyday” it would have made me think he just took the defensive upgrade and eschewed any notion of a platoon. If he penciled in Arroyo, he was clearly focusing on offense and probably has faith that Arroyo would at least be passable on D. Arguments can be made for and against both lineups, but I just think ultimately those are Cora decisions…

I was all onboard the Pham idea once (I believe) you suggested it. But that doesn’t mean a platoon was ever necessarily the plan. The Sox could have simply trotted JBJ out to RF every day solely for the very reason he was acquired in the first place - defense. Which is an aspect of the game that is independent of the arm used by the opposing starting pitcher. But somehow, Arroyo got into the mix. A lot of people have said this was Bloom’s idea or that Cora had no other RHH options. (In his previous job, Tampa never just thrust a player into a position he never played before for the sake of a platoon.) So did Bloom decide Arroyo was the RHH corner OF? Or did Cora use him because he wanted a platoon in RF? You can argue that maybe Cora wanted a RHH OF for a platoon and Bloom didn’t come through. I’m sure that kind of roster oversight is rampant in MLB. But Cora still would have had the option of simply not platooning JBJ. So again, whose idea was it to put Arroyo in RF? On this board, that decision appears to fall unilaterally on Bloom. I know at one point, Bloom talked about getting a RHH OF. But was that to platoon with Bradley? Or was it to start in RF? As Story was not yet onboard, it is possible the plan was Kike at 2b, Bradley in CF, and the RHH OF (Suzuki?) in RF. That the Sox were interested in Suzuki at all indicates this is possible. Certainly their interest in him wasn’t to platoon him with JBJ. That would make zero sense for the expected money involved. So maybe the “RHH OF” some were expecting turned out to be Story, and the roster was built without a RF platoon? So how did Arroyo get into the mix at all? Too many seem to think “Bloom did it because he’s clueless.” But maybe Cora - who has absolutely shown he is a fan of Arroyo - decided it was one way to get his bat into the lineup on occasion and thought he was athletic enough to handle the change…

Or at least improved beyond giving Cora the chance to let Diekman pitch. Although I will say the Houck-Whitlock-Schreiber late inning combo is actually very effective so far. However, the middle reliever core is suspect, to be kind. There’s nobody the Sox can bring in in the 5th or 6th innings to get the starter out of a jam that makes you think “Goid. This is the guy we want in there right now.”

Stop. So you’re going to pretend Cora had no other options but to play Arroyo? And Bloom forced him to do it. I don’t pretend to know the ins and outs of being an MLB GM, apparently unlike a lot of people here. Of course for some it appears to simply be “I don’t like this idea or that GM, so clearly it’s his fault.”

So was Arroyo in RF Bloom’s idea or Cora’s? And don’t defend Cora by saying he had no other choice; he absolutely did…

The Sox did load up on some outfield prospects, giving them, well, some outfield prospects…

All he ever did was get injured and lose velocity…

I keep Sanchez over Cordero…

Are any other players involved? If it’s just Hosmer plus his money, use him until you’re sick of him and DFA him while SD pays the fee…

But with Mookie, it was also the only way to keep him, despite a long shot. Ownership wanted to reset, which was next to impossible with Mookie and Price on the roster. The thoughts weren’t that the Sox could simply do it. The thought process was, there was no other way. Especially amidst the buzz about his desire to be a free agent…

Did Dalbec die?