oldtimer
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Everything posted by oldtimer
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Good first real move by Bloom. He is attempting to address the biggest non-pitching move by shoring up the outfield. I doubt we can really know what the thinking is here but there are several that have been talked about. 1. Platoon Beni/Renfroe in left, Verdugo in center and other added for CF/RF. 2. Platoon Beni/Renfroe in left, bring in a CF or try Duran, leave Verdugo in RF 3. Bring back JBJ, Verdugo in RF and Beni/Renfroe in LF I think this move may link to Chavis leaving as we don't need a bevy of swing and miss power hitters. Perhaps Beni could go depending on who else we might acquire for the outfield.
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I'm with you on length of contracts. I would tend to use a sliding scale of length on contract based on the age at signing. If a player is younger than the period of peak performance I would be more likely to go beyond 5 years if it was deemed necessary to sign the player. When players are 30 and over, I would elect to limit offers on a sliding scale with 5 years being the absolute limit. Pitchers with a lot of wear and tear on their arms become more risky than field players and probably should have a maximum of 3 year contracts offered. The Price deal involved too much money and the 7 years far too long. We might well have gotten a pitcher good enough to help us win at less money and a shorter contract.
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I don't see why Pedey wants to remain on the roster.
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This will be a difficult year to sign players as they will rightly want to draw out the negotiation phase to get the best offer. On the other hand, a lot of clubs have financial issues where they want to sign players for less than in a normal year. The Sox are in the position of really needing to make changes and the environment doesn't make that easy. The winter meetings have come and gone with no important signings. The realist in me tells me that we won't have changes made until nearly Spring Training. that will be hard for me personally and probably others on the site as well. I think Bloom is out there trying hard in a difficult situation.
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I agree that Bloom is focusing on pitching staff moves and he should be. That doesn't prevent him from making moves with our outfield at the same time, particularly if a means of improvement at a reasonable price crops up.
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The 2020 season was so different in many ways for the players. It would be a mistake to judge jDM's performance and make decisions based on just that. No desire to try to move him and having Cora back may give him a boost. However, I would be monitoring him closely during 2021. Beni's case has a longer period of declining performance. His benefit to the team as an average defender who doesn't provide a lot of power lies mainly in his on base percentage and his decline in that area has been continuing. He was pathetic is his few 2020 games. i would monitor him even more closely as better options must be available.
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It's a nice trait to be optimistic. It hard to remain that way when virtually nothing occurred to help the Sox during the winter meetings. i would put myself ore into the realist category, happy to be surprised when something good actually happens. Hiring Blood and Cora made me happy.
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I wouldn't destroy what's left of our team by making any of those trades.
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I would start with Arroyo, who has a chance of filling the position on a long term basis or at least we get time to look at Jeter Downs. I say that because we have much greater needs in the pitching department and that is where the budget should be focused. Our second greatest need will be in the outfield. Besides center field questions, I have made no secret of my concern with Beni. We may need to replace two outfielder on a long term basis and it would be good to get one of those as a right hander power hitter.
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Maybe the COVID situation will depress the value applied to starting pitchers.
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Who should the Sox have play CF on opening day?
oldtimer replied to mvp 78's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
Vedugo is the only outfielder that is a sure thing for opening day, whether right or center field. I would like to see JBJ back but that is probably wishful thinking. I am not high at all on Beni's return to form and would look elsewhere for another outfielder. Be nice to add a right hand power bat into the mix. Ozuna could be that guy. I am not high on Rosario either, as he may already be declining defensively and while he has power, hitting at Fenway with the deep right field may not be a good fit for him. -
The winter meetings are underway. Lets go after Zach Wheeler's remaining contract with the Phillies. They are anxious to make a trade where the trading partner would pick up the bulk of the contract. The Sox are in a position to do that both from a need and the wherewithal to do it. Would give us a #1 or #2 starter we need for a fairly short contract.
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If he doesn't start until the projected mid June, it is hard to see him getting 24 starts. He would have to start on a regular rotation for the rest of the season to do it.
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The current DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has evolved over the years. The idea of mental disorders means inability to cope with life circumstances in our varied world. Some don't like the term mental disorder and instead would like to consider minds which cause divergent behavior. There are those with varying sensory perceptions and/or autism spectrum people who are intelligent and creative. What is normal behavior anyway? I think there are wide variations in the perceptive folks we consider normal. As it applies to baseball players, some will do better in some situations (under pressure) than others. The Jimmy Piersalls of the world show that even people with aberrant behavior can and have succeeded in the game.
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Beni can play center but isn't an optimum defender. He is better suited to left in Fenway but of course half the games are played in other parks. His bat is a significant question now as well. I know his trade value is low at this point but if we hold onto him and he lays an egg for$6.5Mil when we could have made a change, then we have made a bad gamble.
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Of course Bloom and his team are looking at all sorts of creative ways to improve the team and no doubt he has in mind a budget in place for this year. I think Bloom will ask himself if any move they are considering will fit the goal of making the team consistently competitive. We know the weak spots. Those are CF, 2nd Base and Pitching (both starting and relief). We also have other questions we have to consider such as will Sale return and be competitive, will Beni be able to hit effectively, will Devers defense at third improve, will E-Rod return to form, will JDM also recover his form, will the Pedroia situation get resolved? He has to consider his prospect list and decide who looks to be worth a try in the majors and who he believes need to be replaced. I still consider Dalbec to be a prospect and then there are Duran, Chatham and several pitchers. Yes, Bloom has his plate full and probably will not be able to solve all the issues in one year, but I look for good progress in 2021 to build from.
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The thing with Devers is not should we sign him to an extended contract but how should we use him going forward.
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With Arroyo probably getting first dibs at the 2nd base slot, with need a utility guy or two. Flexibility is a desirable quality for a utility guy and Chatham has possibilities at 2nd and short and possibly in the outfield. He's a contact hitter. Arauz is less experienced but offers similar abilities. Of the two, I would take Chatham now and stash and develop Aruaz. Everything changes if we go out and get a quality 2nd baseman, then maybe Arroyo gets looked at for utility duties.
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In the immortal words or Ronald Reagan, "There you go again". I'm just glad we have Bloom at the helm since I expect that he will stick to the plan of making the team consistently competitive. I see him making an effort to hang onto our best young talent while dealing away those who don't fit that description. DHern is in an area of critical need and should be kept. We can probably do better than Chavis and that applies to Beni as well. Dalbec is worth keeping but is certainly no shoo-in, especially since Casas may be a long term MLer at the same position. Downs and Duran are young and promising and should be kept. JDM does not fit the plan that well but is probably not tradable. I'll wait to see how Bloom goes, but I hope he really sticks with the plan.
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You and others have speculated on many of the possible moves. hang in there and the management will make some moves. We have a lot of holes to fill. The questions for me are 1) Will they take on veteran players to make us somewhat competitive in 2021 or younger players with high potential who we can develop? and 2) Do they try to stay under the salary cap this year, realizing we cannot turn this sows ear into a silk purse in just one year?
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Sure we had to give, so it was a win for both teams, and that is the way it should be. Betts put them over the top for the title and may contribute to them for years to come. How many is anyone's guess. They had to pay Betts big time on the kind of long term contract that a number of us on this site like to avoid. Price may be able to give them some value for the contract they took on, but probably not much. We weren't going to sign Betts so instead we got Verdugo and Downs who may prove to be a MLer and we got a prospect plus we got out from under half if Price's contract. The trade has started us down the path of recovery, but there is a long way to go. The next activity should be expected early in December.
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Beni got some ink today. Other teams note his metrics are trending down and his trade value may be even lower than currently projected. If JBJ does leave, we have Verdugo with Beni questionable and Duran untested. Looks like the outfield will need some attention.
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That is the problem. We can draft a top pitching prospect, but even that is risky. How many pitching prospects get injured or bomb out? We certainly can try to develop the best of the pitching prospects, something we have done poorly. As you say, trading for one is tough, since no organization wants to trade away their future. So to improve our staff, we need to get veteran pitchers and perhaps journeymen through FA or trades. Its not easy to improve our staff, so we will have to focus our offseason efforts in that direction.
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Maybe Betts left just for the money or maybe there were other issues. Cora going, race related thoughts, just incompatibility with the northeast, or other issues may have been involved. As far as race is concerned, I have been in other big league parks and you always have jerks yelling in them. If it's not enough USA born African Americans on the team I am reminded that we are all of African heritage if you go back far enough. If it's not enough players of color, I would say there are quite a few, but they originate from Latino heritages. What I think is that it wasn't a main driver for Mookie, but I may be wrong. as far as Cora leaving, Mookie probably knew he would be back. Maybe he just liked the idea of being on the West coast and we were bound to lose him. We made a stong offer and he wouldn't accept it. It may play out in a positive or negative manner for us. With the length of the contract, I will probably not be around to see it.
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Houck is working on a third pitch (changeup) which might help him succeed as a starter. Even the top aces on their respective clubs only had 17 innings pitched in the majors at some point. Right now the kid is one of our best prospects going forward. I still think we need to sign quality younger starters if we can find them.