oldtimer

What about Trevor Story to throw another name out there. He is kind of another Bogey and nearly at the same price. Is he a possible 3rd base candidate?

A shame that he couldn't put the ball in play and then Kike struck out and opportunity lost. Rodon is a tough guy to hit.

I presume you are having a go at solving the poor defensive quality of the 2021 team by changing the roles of or trading away three of the weak defensive players. In addition you are looking for the resources to add pitching quality and star field players to fill some of the holes. It's great to throw around novel ideas, but I believe it will be very difficult to make the moves you suggest without creating future problems. Bloom will be aware of the issues and will likely go in a different direction. Some of the issues are listed below: 1. In trading Bogey, presumably you are trying to improve the defense at SS while saving money to be applied to some other areas of need. You identified Simmons who will be 32 and turn 33 during the season. He is a good defensive SS but is starting to get past his prime and you sacrifice quite a bit in hitting ability. I know Mayer is coming, probably by 2024, so Simmons is a short term fix and currently has a $6 salary. I believe Bogey and Devers are close friends and I wonder if a move of Bogey will hurt our chances of resigning Devers in future. You also suggest trading Bogey for a mid level starter. I wonder who we could get with his FA year coming up after 2022? 2. Moving Devers to first base may solve a problem at third, provided we sign a top notch replacement. You identify Chris Bryant if we can get him he won't come cheaply. I suppose thinking big is being creative. Meanwhile, we have no knowledge that Devers would be an effective defensive first baseman. Would he consider that to be his future or would it be another reason to look elsewhere. Then there is the real issue of blocking Casas with that move. Since he is our current top prospect, it seems the wrong thing to do. 3. Moving Dalbec to DH does remove him from the defensive issues at first and third when he has played there. That means no Schwaber, who may be the best hitter on the team, in hopes that Dalbec can hit front line pitching. It does reduce the cost of our DH. I too believe that JDM should be moved. He still is a viable DH but may be getting past his peak. 4. Iglesias would be a good get but expensive. Lots of competition for his services. 5.Scherzer is a short term fix. A great pitcher would might last another year. How does he fit with making the team competitive on a continuing basis? I see that Bloom and the front office will struggle to deal with the issues I mention while trying to integrate our best prospect (Casas, Mayer and Yorke) into the team going forward.

Maybe it will be a big role.

I don't see Martinez in the official lineup.

You certainly go out of your way to make disparaging remarks about Duran.

I was thinking of who Bloom added that has provided the most value for the money and or prospects/players used in the acquisition. To me, it is Renfroe and I didn't see that coming. I think he comes first because he is an everyday player and is having his best ML season. A second is Whitlock who has been great and was a steal for us made better because he came from the Yankee system. If he had gotten to play more often he might be up there at #1. Pivetta was also a steal but rates below the first two in impact. I would rate Swamamura as an honorable mention. Certainly Kike is also high on the list as he is a high value player but was more costly for us. Schwaber would also be up there as well except for being a shorter term guy. Richards has been a helpful, if not great player but we spent a lot to get him. Bloom has done a lot of dumpster diving and viewed from the list above has struck gold a few times. Let's hope with more money for 2022 he can find another 5 or 6 guys to bolster the program.

Duran has speed and his bat will likely come around. He probably would have made the catch that Verdugo couldn't get to lose the other night and probably the one Santana missed last night that Renfroe saved with his incredible throw. I wouldn't trade either Verdugo, who can hit and play left field or Duran who could fill in and get plenty of PT in 2022. I would find a way to cut JDM loose and play Schwaber primarily in the DH role.

With E-Rod as a FA, we have to see what we can get for equal money. I'm not for or against him but do wonder if we can get a better fit. I'll accept whatever Bloom and the front office without complaint as they are in the best position to make that judgment. I would pay for a top reliever. Competition for Iglesias will push his cost way up but he still may be the best choice for us. Maybe Robles will come through enough to fill a slot on the roster. He has the velo and the stuff. His problem has been command which might be a reflection of his lack of composure. I see him as the best bet among our crop of substandard relievers. We need 13 total pitchers and he might just make the team where Davis, Valdez and Peacock probably will not.

At least we should get some players back. Maybe as early as Friday.

A righty in with Verdugo and Schwaber on the bench and we take 3 strikeouts. Can't win if we don't score.

Nate's our ace these days. Now we need to get him runs. Imagine if we gave him 5 to work with or 10 that Sale had.

By not assigning positions to players you are leaving open the potential for positional moves, mainly to correct defensive weaknesses we have seen this season. I take that position as well. but also think it would be difficult to accomplish. We may need to consider a FA infielder and perhaps trade a stalwart. I hate to even suggest a name in that regard but there are some quality FA's infielders coming available. As far as pitching is concerned I think of Sale as a third starter now, even though he is getting ace money. In my view, another miss on a contract. So I would just do a minor switch to your list. Eovaldi,__FA__, Sale, Pivetta, Whitlock or Houck, Possibly Seabold (although I want to see him in a ML game before elevating his chances) __FA__,Barnes, Richards?, Whitlock or Houck, Sawamura, Taylor, D-Hern, Robles or Brasier In general, I think Bloom will want to hang onto his best young prospects but perhaps let go of some who have been high on the list but not showing the expected promise. It won't be easy, but opening the pocket book would help.

The list that Moon laid out for field players still makes some sense and requires only a minimum number of actions by Bloom, although some are important. Hernandez Verdugo Renfroe Dalbec* Arroyo Bogaerrts Devers Schwaber Vazquez* Util: Plawecki Arauz Duran ____Temp 1st base help until Casas is ready This requires that JDM opts out or is moved. Improving the catching position might prove difficult. Of course this doesn't do much about our defensive issues in 2021. We have significant issues at 3rd still, Bogaerts has range issues and Dalbec has been subpar at first. He doesn't seem to have the soft hands and agility to play 1st or 3rd that well. Can we move these players around and improve the defense? Moon had suggestions for moves as well. Mayer is not coming anytime soon so do we add a SS, move Bogaerts and Devers and make Dalbec a Utility player with 1st, 3rd, DH and pinch hitting roles? It may take something drastic like that to get much better and then we are moving two guys into unfamiliar positions (3rd for Bogaerts and 1st for Devers). Those moves would also block Casas, who may be the soft-handed power hitting 1st baseman of the future. I don't see an easy transition that improves our defense.

The Rays hitting coaches seem to develop game plans that work by adjusting to what the pitcher does best. Perhaps they also pick up on delivery giveaways. They have good young hitters and some speed on the bases, but not enough to justify their run differential, without something they are doing to gain an advantage. On the other hand, our pitchers don't seem to pick up on opponents game plan all that well and get knocked around all to often. I suspect it's equal parts of coaching issues and player issues that make our pitchers look so inconsistent.

While I agree that having both Schwaber and Martinez in the lineup at the same time hurts our defense, I don't see Cora sitting either of them. With that situation. either Verdugo will sit or Kike will play 2nd base for the time being. What we have been talking about for the 2022 roster is to avoid having both DH's on the same team.

Just one more game of defensive screwups. Do we even make the wildcard?

It's frustrating to watch. I believe you are correct. Too many changes in positions. These have been forced by our incredible Covid and Injury numbers.

Lets see how we do with the Rays, White Sox and Mariners. No easy task. Need to win at least 1/2 of these games and hope other competitors can't do better.

Cora was forced to use to minor league pitchers in succession giving up a six run disadvantage. The Sox came back although failed to hit in several key situations when even a fly ball would have helped. Cora probably wouldn't have used Valdez with the lead. He has pretty good movement but his command is shaky because of it. We had a base running error and a defensive misplay at 3rd and one at short that didn't help. It's a likely scenarios when playing so many minor leaguers, and players out of position and having a lot of RPs on the IL. Just have to move on and hope that we get some guys back soon. Kike is rumored for Tuesday.

I am thinking 13 field players on the active roster as you describe here. Catchers with excellence are hard to find and therefore expensive. We will have to weigh Vaz against what would be available. The FA utility player might be a left handed part time first, since Arauz and Duran can fill utility infield and outfield positions. When and if Casas comes, we may have two first basemen who could play every day. At least Dalbec could play third. I think Casas is strictly a first baseman. The lineup and utility group described is a competitive one. When you talked of starting pitchers earlier, you didn't mention E-Rod. I put him in the same category as Vaz, that is, let's see what we can get for equal money and risk as left handed starters are hard to find. t baseman

Covid continues to hurt the Sox lineup and depth. I had hoped Duran was the last. but now Pivetta which forces us to try a good but inexperienced guy against the Guardians. We also have the Rays, the White Sox and the Mariners coming up. I'm hoping for a minimum of Arroyo, Kike and D-Hern to return during next week. We'll need all the relief help we can get during that stretch. Barnes, Taylor, Swamamura?

JDM turns 35 in August and some teams will give him a bye for 2020. It is possible that a team would offer him 3 years for $40/45 Mil. It might temp him since it would guarantee good money for his age 36 and 37 year old seasons. It he had a fall-off in 2021 he might be left with less.

I agree that we need pitching. I see it as Eovaldi Sale ____ (Solid Starter) Pivetta Whitlock/Houck Whichever works best Closer by committee: ____High leverage reliever Barnes Richards Houck/Whitlock (whoever doesn't start) Taylor Swamamura D-Hern Seabold/Valdez/Brasier Get rid of Davis and Robles while keeping Bazardo and Rios in reserve.

I would think that if the data says he made 46 out of 47 plays, it wouldn't matter if he took the wrong route. He got the catch, which is what counts.