oldtimer

Maybe the Astro's success is because they were willing to lose Correa since they has an upcoming and low cost shortstop. Saved them a ton to spend elsewhere. Food for thought.

Javier is a pitcher with a fastball in the low 90's. I wonder if some execs would pass on him in the quest for pitchers with higher velo? There more to pitching than velo!

The cards are on the table for Devers who is looking for $300 Mil over a 10 year period. Are the Sox willing to go that high? Some have opined that Devers might go anyways unless Bogaerts is signed. So far the Sox have not shown a willingness to meet Devers view of his worth. How would you feel if Devers winds up on the hated Yankees?

Under $134M lux Tax Total, I would have put before any additions or subtractions. Surely the probability of losing such notables as Brasier, Cordero Almonte and Chang is high and others may go as well. Casas, Bello are all but guaranteed to be in and Rafaela likely.

WHAT? Sluggers on long expensive contracts who don't slug against playoff pitching.

Devers is one of those natural hitters who also has power. His defense has improved. He is young and athletic for his size. Those are all plusses. He does chase out of the zone and could improve if he chases less. What is he worth on the market and to the Red Sox? Hope those two are similar. The Sox need to decide what type of team they want to become. The Astros would be a good team to emulate. Good at developing players and recognizing talent, especially pitching. Very good defensively by signing players who have shown to be very good defenders. Professional hitters who can grind out at bats and who typically swing and miss at a lower rate than average.. When they get a player that fits their framework, they ink a contract early before reaching FA's. To me, the Sox have to improve their talent recognition and development process. Too few ML players coming out of the minors in the past. Sure, Casas an Bello look like they will make it and perhaps Rafaela for next season. We will need to bring up a few ML capable players per year to have a consistently good team going forward. We are coming off a period of unwise signings. Price will be off the books. Sale's signing has been a disaster. Can he have a couple of good years to finish it up or will it be one of the worst signings in Sox history. What's done is done. The thing is to recognize if a signing will move the Sox toward the kind of team that can consistently be winners. Signings of Devers, Bogaerts, Wacha and Eovaldi have to be looked at in that light. That we didn't reset in 2022 is evidence the current management has not acted wisely and with a plan going forward. That too needs to change and if not, we need to find management that can deliver and not just talk a good game. It's like AAA, first you have to admit you have a problem before fixing it. A last place finish should be enough of a dose of realism to drive the point home. Act wisely and act decisively.

I wouldn't mind signing Mancini for a combination, 1st base backup, DH and RF. He might cost more than you would like but his versatility and veteran ability would make us more competitive. That would also allow us to trade away Dalbec an Cordero.

I was thinking, would the Astros prefer to have Correa at $35 mil on a long term contract or Pena at $700K. Both are very good shortstops but one comes $34 mil higher and with additional risk to boot. The Astros chose well and could use the extra bucks to retain pitching and other assets. Do the Sox have a similar choice to make?

Since when do people automatically get inflation protection? I'm reluctant to go to 6 years but if that is a must, I think $150m/6 is a great offer for a player in his 30s. I might go a little higher in AAV if the term was for 5 years. How many stinko contracts are out there in MLB?

Won't the analytics change next year with the banning of the shift?

I want my leadoff guy to get on base and then be a treat to run. Good plate discipline good bat to ball skills. I also want enough speed to put pressure on the pitcher by being a threat to run. I'm okay with having my best hitter up second but I also want a guy behind him that is a treat so they have to come in to the 2 hitter. A Dalbec type hitter behind your best means he never sees a hittable pitch.

I'd like Bogey back for several reasons but was reading that Boras is likely to delay any decision until close to Spring Training trying to squeeze the last penny out of any contract for him. If he does that, it could leave the Sox high and dry and without an alternative. I would offer Bogey a competitive contract and stick with it. If there is no movement by the end of the Winter meetings I would look elsewhere.

I'm impressed with Steven Kwan of the Guardians. He's a guy with minimum swing and miss in his game. He is a prize at $700 k per year. Obviously the Guardians will want to keep him but we should be looking for another like him for our leadoff man. I am not a big fan of putting a HR hitter up first, I'd rather have a high OBP man.

In watching the playoff games I was struck by how many ball and strike calls were awful. One game that stood out was the last 18 inning game between the Mariners and the Astros. Strikes were being called on balls both 2 inches below the zone and 2 inches above. Hitters were frustrated and wound up having to swing at balls way out of the strike zone. When will we see technology aided strike and ball calls?

The game is evolving with the shift gone and bigger bases. The Sox are talking about becoming more athletic and that makes sense to me. Defense, base running and on base percentage are traits to look for. The Sox have money to spend but likely will wish to keep the salaries below the tax line and reset in 2023. Bloom should have recognized the situation in 2022 and reset then but didn't leaving 2023 as the most reasonable time for a reset. I feel that if we truly wish to keep Raffy we will need to sign Bogey as they are close. If Bogey goes, Raffy will likely go as well. So resolving the issue by keeping Bogey, who is a very goo player in his own right, would give us a starting point for signing other. It's pitching we need first with Sale iffy and Bello young but upcoming. Whitlock is the other lock. So sign at least one front line starter and one dependable high leverage reliever. Look to Casas and Rafaela to provide young low cost talent and rid ourselves of the deadwood. So who would are athletic players be in that case? Story, Kike, Rafaela with sort of average athleticism out of Bogey, Raffy and Verdugo. There was a list published about the worst contracts held by each club. It was surprising to see how many long term $25 million ++ contracts there are in MLB that are underperforming. Ours is Sale currently and Bloom needs to be wise not to handicap the team by taking on others.

I agree that we have fallen behind clubs like the Jays, Astros and Yankees and are just barely competitive with the Rays and Orioles. We have a big hill to climb in 2023 and with Sale iffy and possibly losing 5 to free agency, it might just be more than we can expect, especially if the goal is to get below the tax line. If I was Bloom, I would try boost the teams competitiveness in 2023 and splurge in 2024. Guys like Casas, Bellow and Rafaela might give us an infusion of low cost enthusiastic talent that can be built on. I would look to emulate the Astros or Braves by locking up quality players and putting players at every position who play solid defense and can hit. We definitely need pitching and that is where we should spend the bulk of our available money this offseason.

I'm glad that you aren't the GM.

It doesn't help much to be fast if a player has a low on base percentage. With teams going with 12 position players, I would think they would be reluctant to use one position for pinch running. That said, Turner is the best of both worlds, hitting and speed along with excellent defense. That's why he would be very expensive if he could be pried loose from the west coast.

Maybe the Sox will go in the direction of resetting the payroll in 2023, particularly if they can't or won't resign Bogey. In that case they could go low cost and bring up some of our prospects early and supplement that with a veteran and use the money saved on pitching across the board. Such a solution would include Casas, Rafaela and perhaps Mayer as our players of the future, supplemented with perhaps a Trey Mancini as a veteran presence. It is a far out idea but since in 2023 we are unlikely to be fully competitive anyway a reset makes some sense. Go for pitching to supplement the Sox pitching staff which has some quality but needs additional depth.

So if we are able to resign Bogey at around $25Mil for 5 years, then our field players look like: Devers 3rd Bogey SS Story 2nd Casas 1st Verdugo LF Hernandez CF Impact Player RF (Could this be Rafaela)? McGuire C Impact Player DH Arroyo Util IF Hosmer Util !st Refsnyder Util OF Wong BU C Pretty Expensive group and not fully competitive with the Jays, Astros and Yankees who will also try to improve. May have to avoid paying big for a DH but we need both power hitting and depth. It is also a concern with the 162 game grind whether we have the depth available on thee 40 man as Rafaela and Casas appear to be the only two field players in the minors that are likely to make the jump in 2023. I hope the experiment with Dalbec and Codero is over.

We have talked about the need to have a productive farm system. To do that, we need to draft well (lot of competition there), we need to develop our raw talent and perhaps we need to trade players who are either near decline or off of a top but unlikely repeatable year, and by doing so acquire developmental talent. The better teams are able to promote a few low cost but higher potential players each year to supplement it's core players. The core players are subject to the wear and team of the 162 game season and all teams suffer injuries so the farm is an important part of the depth equation. The Sox haven't done well in this area in the past and with Bloom we see farm improvement but the verdict is out. Let's wait and see what he does to strengthen the core and how well the improved farm produces the needed depth and energy players in 2023.

A variation of the old joke. Bloom was hired to take over the Rex Sox as GM. Dombrowski, who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three numbered envelopes. “Open these if you run into serious trouble,” he said. Well, three months later win totals were still way down and Bloom was catching a lot of heat. He began to panic but then he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, “Blame your predecessor.” Bloom called a press conference and explained that Dombrowski had left him with a real mess and it was taking a bit longer to clean it up than expected, but everything was on the right track. Satisfied with his comments, the press – and Fans – responded positively. Another 3 months went by and the Sox continued to struggle. Having learned from his previous experience, Bloom quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, “Reorganize.” So he traded key people, brought up rookies and cut costs everywhere he could. This he did and the Fans, and the press, were hopeful about his efforts. Three months passed and the Sox were clearly worse than before. Bloom had to figure out how to get through another series of severe criticisms. Boom went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope. The message said, “Prepare three envelopes.”

We certainly are getting a look at how far the Sox are behind the AL East during the series against the Jays this weekend. Lack of pitching, poor hitting and generally poor field play. Obviously we can't put the same guys on the field and expect better in 2023. Just as obviously, we are limited by budget and prospects available to only be able to improve and close part of the gap in 2023. Bloom and the front office will be judged by how much forward progress we can make.

I believe the pessimism stems from our last place finish, where we were not competitive with the AL East teams. Others got better while we were worse. Yes we had injuries but so did other teams. Rather than debate what happened last year, we need to be looking at the possibilities of making a major turnaround inn 2023. We still are carrying Sale and people rightly are questioning the probability of him returning to anything near Ace level. We will have Bello and Casas as hopeful additions, but we will lose JD and possibly Bogey along with potential loss of Eovaldi and Wacha. It leaves Bloom with a lot to do in the starting pitching area. There is a depth need in thee RP area and some position player areas. Possibly SS, RF, DH. There is a lot to do and we can't just go with average players and expect to gain competitiveness, we need impact players and that means spending. Since we had a real chance of resetting in 2022 and didn't, now the question is whether JH will ask Bloom to reset in 2023, limiting the money available to make major acquisitions. Bloom will need to be a miracle man to return us to real contention in 2023. I would be satisfied if we could at least see a significant improvement with a plan to get us back to top tier in 2024 or 2025.

How soon do we think Ceddanne will make the 26 man? He may well be an exciting player and a low cost one at that. I get the impression from the reports, he is knocking on the door of making the team sometime during 2023. It looks like he could be a CF or RF candidate. If so, we should be careful about giving long term contracts to other outfielders. I think Kike's is a one year for $10 mil. Based on his offensive performance this year I wonder if that was a wise move.