oldtimer

Moving on to a different subject, I notice the sox prospects heavily favor the infield and especially 2nd, short and third base. Since we have Devers and Bogaerts blocking the way, it is hard for me to see where these guys will all fit in. On the other hand, we could use additional front line outfield prospects and we can also always use additional pitching prospects. Might we thin down (trade) some of our infield prospects for positions where we are thin?

He should look at the options. Regardless of the obvious performance of Cora, he also was tainted by the cheating scandal. Bloom has to decide if Cora should come back with that baggage.

You get my point. There was an article in the Red Sox News section which infers the Sox may have ruined Beni by trying to turn him into a power hitter. My opinion is that he needs a fresh start and that could be with another team. Replacing Eovaldi and Beni with a starter and a closer should be possible and backfilling Beni's position from within is also possible. These are the kind of moves a creative Bloom may try to make.

We could trade Beni at full value and maybe Eovaldi as well, freeing up $22 mil to get a decent starter and closer. We probably can fill at least one outfield slot internally. I like Eovaldi when he is healthy, but that is the big question with him, dependability.

Don't underestimate Bloom's willingness to trade away some of our guaranteed list to obtain money for better fits for the team. Could we get a closer and a decent starter in trade or through the FA route for $22 mil?

There was an anthropologist that my father knew at Harvard University who wrote a book, Up From the Apes His last name was Hooten. He sired two children. The son they named Newton and the daughter Ima. My father was born in 1896 and was one of the knot hole gang and had lots of quirky stories. I used to think it something when my dad could throw a baseball well at 75. Now I'm very close to 80 and have a brother 85 and we both still play competitive softball and have good arms. Must run in the family. Enough nostalgia, but not much will get going until after the WS.

Pitchers tend to be fragile. Contracting aces seems to take high dollars over long periods. It's a high risk game, and one I think Bloom is hoping to avoid. He is looking for consistent competitiveness and I am satisfied to wait and see what he comes up with. I doubt it involves Bauer.

That's based on who he assumes will be kept with the team. Bloom could trade a couple of guys and free up additional money. I don't expect a whole lot of action until the winter meetings but I supposed some information may be released just after completion of the WS.

I would use the weighted average approach to player evaluation. By that I mean the most recent year performance adjusted for the number of games played should be valued at 1.5 times the prior years adjusted performance and valued at 2.5 times the adjusted performance 2 years past. That approach would more realistically reflect trends, whether positive or negative. In the case of JDM or Beni, the trends have a negative slope. Any players whose performance comes in below league average holistically should be replaced as quickly as possible even if it has be be done with 1 or 2 year place holders, while we look for longer term solutions, then so be it. In addition, any player who doesn't figure to make the team better in 2023 should be made available for trade, provided Bloom can be satisfied it makes the team more competitive.

To have a team that can sustain competitiveness, we have to have a conduit from the minors that brings up 3 to 5 players a year, probably closer to 5. That means maintaining a quality list of prospects and doing a good job of developing them. The ability to develop pitching has yet to be shown, but there is hope. A second aspect of sustained competitiveness is to avoid the FA albatross contracts that has tied the hands of the club. Even resignings to big and unwarranted contracts for sentimental and other reasons has hurt the team and should be avoided. (Sale, Pedroia, Eovaldi are recent examples) Competitive teams need at least average players at every position with enough stars thrown in to be a threat. in the work place today, you have to be an A or B level contributor to survive. People who don't cut it are replaced. How much rope do you give a guy? Also, to be competitive, the team needs at least three quality starters, a closer, good setup men and a BP that doesn't implode under pressure. I believe Bloom is a smart guy and has his own list of key points needed to make and keep the team competitive. Barring bad luck, I think we will see improvements in 2021 and a fully competitive team by 2023. We need to be patient with Bloom and lets see where he takes us.

How long a leash would you give Beni. You keep him and trade Munoz and after 2 months he isn't hitting .225, what then?

i lean toward the durable, good team mate who is a solid defender and seems to be capable of .750. If we can get him for 2 years in the $6 1/2 mil per year range, he can tide us over until we have a younger but proven prospect.

I think he finds someone other than Cora.

I would hope JBJ is on the roster and I expect Bloom to try to trade Beni. I know my eyes are getting dim but don't think you included Duran on your list. An outfield of Verdugo, JBJ and Duran would suit me with Munoz and possibly Chavis on the roster as backups.

JBJ is still a quality defensive CF who hits fairly well. He'll be 31 and probably is not in our long term plans (meaning more than 2 years), but could fill the role if we can get him at the right cost. Others you mention would cost a similar amount and would be no better. One thing you haven't mentioned about JBJ is his durability. Going with someone like Springer would be costly and his length of contract might not fit Bloom's long term plans. If we were willing to pay Benintendi $6.6 mil a year, why should we offer Bradley less? I would offer him $6.6 mil for 2 years and would love to see him accept that.

Someone else pointed out that there are many players on the Red Sox who obviously have African Heritage although they may not have originated from the US. It's not worth making a list, but certainly guys like Devers, Bogaerts, Valdez and other joint JBJ in having African heritage. i don't understand the logic of ignoring these situations when discussing race. I want to offer JBJ because he is an excellent defensive CF, who is durable, is just 30 and is reaching maturity as a hitter. My contract offer would be around $6.6 mil for 2 years as I believe that is what he will be worth in the open market.

You have said you wouldn't give JBJ more than $4 mil a year while we are paying Beni $6.6 mil. JBJ is better defensively and may have finally improved his hitting. I would offer him $6.6 mil for 2 years and trade Beni. We have Munoz, Chavis and Duran. All of them can fill the left field slot. Duran may become a very good ML outfielder and possibly take over in CF when JBJ leaves. I don't think we have thoughts of bringing in a star like Springer to fill that position so Bradley is an acceptable alternative as we build back into a competitive team.

Watching the playoffs reinforces the notion that to compete at that level you need at least a couple of excellent starting pitchers who are capable of going 6 or more innings and several quality relievers. Those are needed along with good defense and at least an offensive threat from most of the lineup. I don't think we have those starters right now, our relief corp is below par and we have defensive issues. We may be able to get to the playoffs in 2021 but to compete in them we need to solidify the pitching first.

The CDC are now saying a covid vaccine will not become widely available until sometime in the second quarter of 2021. I'm guessing that the process of immunizing the total population will take months. That could have a major impact on getting baseball back where there will be fans allowed into ball parks. How will the owners react to the FA market on that basis? It will be interesting.

Moon I didn't forget Beni, instead I suspect he will go in a trade I agree with your assessment that Mazza may begin the season as a starter and wind up as a long reliever. I didn't mention Seabold but hear he has the potential to make the team in 2021. I don't know enough about Covey to have an opinion JBJ is a question mark who the Sox can keep if they make a good offer. Still, you're right in thinking he is questionable at this point. I thin Duran has a shot of making the team out of spring training and that might make Puello the odd man out. Downs ability to fill in at multiple positions makes him an intriguing prospect. I know Arroyo has that ability as well. Having established who we might believe if we stuck to players currently with the Sox, or who might be made an offer to stay, who do you then think will be replaced with FA acquisitions or through trades? The assumption is that whoever is pointed out would constitute a meaningful improvement in competitiveness. A starter A closer One more relief pitcher An Outfielder

How about the player to be named later. has he been identified? I understood he couldn't be identified until the end of the regular season.

Roneicke was let go, not because he did a bad job, but because he's and old baseball man (65 next season) and they wish to put in a younger, energetic manager who is well versed in analytics. There is a fairly long list of candidates and Cora is only one of those. By going away from Cora, Bloom would avoid the issue of the cheating scandal he was involved in. Bloom will probably wait until the ws is over to give Cora a hearing for the job.

Looking at it a different way which would be to identify the best team we could put on the field in 2021 without signing anyone who is not currently on the team and then suggesting which changes could/should be made to make marginal or significant improvements is an interesting exercise. My try at it will probably get criticism for some of the more controversial suggestions I am makkiing: Starters: E-Rod (maybe available in May) Eovaldi (possible closer candidate) Houck Mata Perez Pivetta Sale (maybe in June)alden Relievers: Barnes (closer) Brasier Brice D-Hern Mazza (long relief0 Valdez Walden Catchers: Vazquez Plawecki Infielders Devers Bogaerts Arroyo Dalbec Outfielders: Verdugo JBJ (resign as FA) Duran DH: JDM Other Utility: Downs Munoz Chavis My guess is that this team would have an 85 win potential. You could argue some are unproven rookies and that would be fair, but what would you rather do and why?

Based on the 2020 season, the Sox have some positives, some hopefuls and some question marks going into the off seasons. It seems to indicate progress is being made and the 2021 season could make us at least somewhat competitive and quite competitive if Bloom can pull off trades and FA acquisitions to fill some of our weaker areas. From what I have seen Clear Positives : Houck Verdugo Hopeful Signs: Dalbec Arroyo Question Marks: Beni JDM Munoz Likely Team Additions From Prospects: Mata Duran Downs Hopeful Additions from FA: JBJ (seems to be maturing as a hitter) I am not addressing pitching to any extent here as Moon did a good job of that. Also we have our core consisting of Bogaerts, Devers, Vazquez and perhaps Plawicki. I can see the team being young but good with Bloom concentrating on adding at least one good starter and several good relief pitchers and possibly a quality outfielder if JBJ can't be convinced to resign with the Sox. Lots of faces from this years will no longer be with the club and possibly we will have a new manager. I look forward to Bloom's offseason moves to strengthen both the team and our prospect list. We do already have a PTBNL, which can be announced after today.

I expected we would win 1/3 of our games and we have done slightly better. Awful season but things are looking up.