oldtimer

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.

Just musing, but isn't the Castillo contract complete this year. Would he be 4th outfielder material. Maybe he's too well off to take a small contract/

I didn't expect both Beni and JDM to fall flat on their faces this year either.

One way to have determined if Duran was ready was to bring him up and let him play some outfield. He was getting positive reviews at the alternate site, so I imagine they didn't bring him up to preserve his years of arbitration or something like that. They brought up Puello who I doubt will be on the roster next year instead.

The guys who may have a lasting impact brought from outside and currently on the roster include Verdugo Arroyo Munoz Pivetta Valdez The internal additions to our roster who have had an impact are Houck Dalbec That represents 7 of 26 in my book and with Mata, Downs and Duran likely to make the jump next season plus a FA starter and several FA/Trade relief pitchers, and possibly a FA outfielder, we could see more than `1/2 the team changing from the beginning of 2020.

Mata may fill a starting role as early as June, but the team needs at least 6 starting pitchers on the roster and probably more over a 162 game season. D-Hern may get a look so there are options, but we do need at least one quality SP through FA. Trust in Bloom to find him.

I agree with your thinking and it is still early to assess what Dalbec can do offensively when pitchers find weaknesses and exploit them. If he can adjust, his power will carry him forward even without a high on base percentage. There is the question of how the roster gets constructed, as it would be different with Dalbec at third and Devers at first. Just one of the dilemmas facing Bloom as the general manager.

The Sox may be playing themselves out of an early pick. Baltimore may well finish behind the Sox. Who would have thought just 2 weeks ago.

Ian Brown is raising the question of Devers defense at third and mentioning Dalbec as a solid 3rd base prospect. Clear to see his meaning. With that switch, if it were to happen, there would be no need for a left handed platoon player at 1st because Devers pat is needed in the lineup anytime he is healthy enough to play. Decisions of this sort should be made before bringing in other players.

Latest story has Duran up sometime in 2021 and the interest in making an offer to JBJ but no certainty he would take it but rather he would weigh his options. That makes sense to me as he has given good time to the sox and should see what is best for his family. There is talk of pursuing Springer if Bradley goes, but that may be a pipe dream as A) Springer will be expensive, and The Astros may decide to keep him and make an acceptable offer. The article also says Beni is entrenched, something I don't believe. we'll see on that one. Bloom has done well so far and will continue to make decisions for which will improve the club.

Don't count on it. The kid has swing and miss issues that he needs to improve on. He does have power, so there is hope. Did you see where one writer proposed using Ockimey as a platoon player with Dalbec?