oldtimer

Just a thought about what we might have done this season. Hunter Renfroe 250 BA with 25 HR and Kyle Schwaber 213 BA with 39 HR.

So what do you attribute this to? I find it hard to believe the bulk of our players declined in productivity without some underlying reason(s). Was it? 1. Injuries 2. Decline due to age 3. Lack of protection in the lineup 4. Just plain lack of ability 5. Malaise of attitude 6. Poor management leadership 7. Lack of leadership among the players 8. Lack of a sound development process 9. Management flaws in roster decisions If some or all of those apply, what do you think the same management will do that will correct an approach that has put us solidly into last place? It appears that we need a major overhaul and not a small change of direction.

We are bound to look bad offensively with rookies getting a shot in the lineup. One would hope for some signs of life from them, but not much on that front to date. Rookie pitching is leaving a lot to be desired as well. Is the Sox development not up to par? Other than Bello, we are not seeing much.

I agree and that person should be a viable option at DH, since I doubt JDM will be resigned.

I agree that the first step has to begin with Bogaerts. That impacts our decision on free agency. If we can't sign him at near fair market value, we still have Story who can move over and Arroyo who could play 2nd backed up by Kike, who we already signed. Devers is a fixture at 3rd. I don't believe we should resign JDM as he is on the decline and it will likely get more pronounced. With Verdugo an acceptable left or right fielder and Refsnyder at least a 4th outfielder, it looks like we should go for a center/right fielder and a DH who can back up at 1st base as Casas is by no means a proven commodity. McGuire at catcher needs either a back up or a first string. Aaron Judge would be a great acquisition but probably the contract requirements would be so unreasonable that it would tie the Sox hands for years to come. The Rays aren't paying any one player huge money and yet remain competitive. Something to keep in mind. Huge long term contracts come with huge risks and need to be avoided. I haven't looked into the best option for the outfield but would go for a young and up and coming player. For DH/1st base, I still see CJ Cron as someone we should sign. Catcher is very tricky as there are few top of the line catchers on the market.

If you check them closely, you will find they are human umps, just like they always have been. The difference is that they will use up to date technology assistance in order to get more accurate strike zone calls. Denigrating the concept by referring to them as somehow robotic is just a form of the old name calling game to resist a new and better idea.

It was a horrible display by the team. Three charged errors, and I counted more. JDM doesn't touch first, when's the last time you saw that. Time for some new blood and guys who can and will play their positions well. Familia one night Almonte the next, Bloom is picking up guys no one else wants.

That was an exhibition of sloppy play with lots of bush league plays by the Sox. Hard to watch. We need some new blood who want to and can play the position they are assigned. Bello deserved better support than he got tonight. Let's stop picking up washed up players who are flexible in they don't play anything well.

There have been good and bad moves by Sox management, but Familia was definitely a bad move. Dumpster diving doesn't often discover a gem. More often than not the find is trrash,

You have been putting up strawman trades which include many of our top prospects To me those trades seem to indicate you would trade away such people as Casas, Mayer, Yorke and others. Your statement is that we would have to give good to get good in return, which is of course true but it also would deplete the minors of our best prospects. You seem to be taking both positions at once.

Casas is a young rookie and there is uncertainty as to his ability to establish himself as a ML first baseman. It is too early to tell much but there is room to hope he will be a future FT player for the Sox. My thought for next season is to pick up a right hand ML player with 1st base credentials and who can also be used as a DH. That way we can have insurance with Casas and also solve an issue with who will be the next DH. The current in house candidate is Arroyo but the thought of getting Cron or Mancini would give us a solution to obtaining some right hand power that seems to be missing from the current Sox lineup.

Bloom and Cora are busy making gratuitous promises that the Sox will be much better in 2023. The proof will be in the efforts made and the resulting record. i've heard enough of the banal comments by them this year and the result was to wind up in last place. Get with it or get out of the way!

Changes to speed up pace of play will be welcomed by me. After watching a Sox pitcher stand like a statue for 26 seconds, presumably to keep the first base runner from timing his steal and the batter staying in the box that long, that kind of thing borders on the ridiculous. I am not a fan of the shift driven by front office technical nerds either. They shifted Ted Williams long ago, but now players consult their printouts kept in their hats for virtually every player. Doesn't feel like baseball. Yes, I'm for technology assisted umpires behind the plate. There is too much variability game to game and in game. With the pitchers throwing ever harder,, the hitter needs to know that balls out of the zone won't be called strikes and the pitchers need to get a fair shake when they do make a great pitch. The technology is currently available to help the umpires make the correct call consistently.

i No doubt that trade was a blunder which harmed the team. We need to move on and the hope is that Bloom and the front office will consistently make better decisions his off season. It does give one reason to question Bloom's decision making but he deserves another shot.

Another team doing amazing things are the Braves. They brought up 3 youngsters from the minors who are helping them win, Good athletes but none were high draft choices. The Braves are apparently good at recognizing athletic talent and good also at rapidly developing it. They are also not reticent about bringing up guys who are only 21.That kind of movement of prospects help them stay competitive while keeping their budget down.

Our pitchers need to become more Familia with the strike zone. Do we lead the league in walks and hit batsmen?

I was of the opinion that most active posters on the site believe Bloom has made some decent moves but has also not acted quickly to fill holes an has made some questionable moves. What none of us know is what resources he was allowed to utilize. Bloom will be given 2023 to show better results and the expectation is that he will have a substantial budget to work with. How the Sox handle Bogey and Devers will be important and how active Bloom is in the offseason and the wisdom of his moves will be questioned. Ultimately, the results will tell fandom how well Bloom is doing his job.

My suggestion is to get a pro right hand batter with some pop capable of platooning with Casas should he need that. We will also need a DH with JDM most probably leaving. Hosmer can play first as well but his bat is really not suitable for the DH role. Cron could do both as could Mancini and Mancini is also still capable of playing in the outfield. Casas may be a future star, stay tuned but he is still a young rookie and we need to take steps to have a backup plan. I don't like Arroyo there so the suggestion I made was in the spirit of improving the team with a 2 to 3 year acquisition.

Add Paxton to that list.

I would pick up a right handed 1st baseman/DH to platoon with Casas if he needs it. Cron or Mancini would be my choices. We have Hosmer who can also fill in a both but I would go for a right hander with power. If not Bogey, Story to short and Arroyo to 2nd. We need a front line catcher go go with either Wong or McGuire. Moon wants Stallings which is a reasonable choice. I'm ambivalent on Hernandez in CF. If we can sign Nimmo it would lift the team. Refsnyder and be our backup outfielder. Not sure if we want to stick with Kike. Still need a RF with quality.

Now we need to be patient with him. He has a good defensive reputation to go with a good hit tool in the minors. Good time to see what he can do.

Bloom didn't make us better than last year's team. In that respect, the team got worse.

It's a combination of how much you spend and how wisely you spend it. The Sox have a large expenditure this year but are also carrying dead money contracts and woefully underperforming contracts. The extension of Sale was questionable at the time and getting Price of the books will help. W e had a badly underperforming contract with Barnes and the Paxton contract was aa total loss this year. The JBJ/Renfroe trace was the ultimate head scratcher. Not all of this was on Bloom but it is a reflection on the Sox front office. Let's avoid the errors of the past. spend wisely and react more quickly when problems surface, such as relief pitching, the outfield and first base.

My idea of a #1 starter is a guy who can be relied on to make at least 25 starts per year and gives a quality effort of 5 or more innings in 80% of those. Wacha had the quality starts but the total number was low. Sale's inability to provide any reasonable number of innings was a big reason for the Sox issues and Paxton was a total non-entity. More guys like Wacha and less like Sale.