oldtimer

I thought the question was who do we think WILL be up not SHOULD be up. Those are two completely different questions.

Here we are with 3 days left to see some trades take place. Will something occur for the Sox, or is the market just too flat? No one wants to giveaway talent so unless fair offers are made, maybe we stand pat.

Depends on who gets traded. If JBJ or Pillar goes, then Duran comes up. If Moreland and/or Chavis go, then Dalbec comes up. If Vazquez or Palawiki goes then one of our experienced catchers comes up, not a prospect. I don't see any pitching prospect coming up although it would be nice to see one.

I'm with you. Unloading half of Price's contract was better than keeping him. We still wouldn't have been competitive so get rid of the errors and take your medicine now.

I still think the money available needs to be apportioned so that the team is sound at every position. Overpaying a few stars and having too little left to be sound at other positions is fools gold. So keep the core, if they remain close to the planned budget, develop and bring up a few from the minors yearly to keep the cost reasonable. Go to FA to fill in the gaps and also trade away assets that don't meet the plan. The name of the game is being disciplined. No sentimental signings of guys to long term contracts. Once in a while, go over budget, but only if it raises the team to the WS level. Clearly you advocate something similar. Part of the plan is to strengthen our minor league program so that it is possible to bring enough up that can contribute. That is hard to do if the team is competitive year to year. So having a GM and front office that is together is important. No Lucchino like deals that set the plan aside. I believe that Bloom and Henry are a quality pair in that regard unless proven otherwise. Also, we need to put a manager and coach team together that provides good results. To me, having many guys on the roster under-performing at one time is also a sign of bad management of coaching. Another sign is the lack of ability to develop pitching in the minors. Lots of work to get done as the previous organization was run to win now and the heck with tomorrow. The problem is tomorrow comes and it is here now.

By the way, many of our position players have struggled this year. Take away Verdugo, Bogaerts and Moreland and you have a little from JBJ, Vaz early, Pillar and Arauz. Beni, Devers, Chavis and JDM are way off. Not much power in the lineup in a year when the ball is leaving the park. Got to wonder when an opener and a bevy of relief pitchers can hold us to 3 hits in a night. Is our coaching partly at fault here? I am all for trading off those who won't help us in 2021 but not for a wholesale dump. The difficulty is in knowing which players cannot help us.

Yes! The journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.

I'd say the Rays are an example of Bloom's ability to find value and do it on a budget. The Price deal was the opposite. We got one or two years of an aging star for a large 7 year contract. Cashman has been some good trades for the Yankees, but has also made some awful ones by throwing money and long term contracts to players who don't appear to have much value.

The speculation about players must bother them, particularly when there is little chance of any trade being made in specific cases. I prefer to think in terms of the basic goals as Bloom has already stated. He has been tasked with making the team consistently competitive. Unstated, but probably also likely, is that he wants to put an improved team on the field in 2021. To do that, he needs to retain the core players and also perhaps a few veterans who will help the team during the transition and be gone after 2021. To do that, Bloom has to get fair value for those who don't fit the status of core player or short term help for 2021. I doubt if he can trade all of those that don't fit the want to keep categories by Aug 31st. He also has to listen to any offers for our want to keep list, but the offers have to blow him away to be considered, meaning they have to have the appearance of a clear trade win for the Sox. A swap of Beni for Judge would be an example of being blown away ( joke but it demonstrates what being blown away means). I will consider his trades on the basis of the principles above.

Chavis has one ability the Sox are short of, and that is power.The question I have is does he come by that power with a exaggerated swing? He surely chases and has misses, especially in the top of the zone. Could he change his plate approach, raise his contact rate and become more valuable? That would help his career but it is by no means assured or particularly likely. It may come down to how the coaches feel about his attitude and willingness to make adjustments needed for improvement. I forgive him for the one time PED issue. Just don't do it again.

With all the talk of trade centered around Pillar, JBJ, JDM, Moreland, Beni and Barnes right now, with no one completely out of the question, it will be interesting to see where Bloom decides to acquire talent. Of course we need pitching, which is a tough commodity to come by. I would guess ML ready talent will have to come through the FA route and like Kimmi, I resist the idea of very long term contracts. Still, if others offer big, how does one compete? As far as position players, it looks like we will need outfield help with JBJ and Pillar going soon and Beni up in the air. We also are unsettled at 1st and 2nd base and our catching prospects going forward could be improved. In my view, Bloom should be looking to acquire near ML ready prospects through trade in any or all those areas and use the draft to strengthen the farm for the longer term. For 2021, are Duran, Dalbec and Arauz likely to be in the 26 man roster? If Moreland goes through trade, could Devers move to 1st and Dalbec to 3rd or would that be unwise with Casas in the 2022 mix? If Downs is in the mix for 2022 is Chavis gone or do they try to convert him to a utility OF/IF prospect? Lot of questions and options to consider.

[/b] I'd say it's a tough call right now as Beni's hitting failures are not limited to this awful season but also the second half of last season. He is pulling down $6.6 million. If he gets back close to his early form he would be worth that and more. If he has been showing what to expect going forward, he is not worth the money and to improve in the outfield we have to look elsewhere. It would be good to get him back this season and see if he can right the ship. The season is shot anyway and we can afford to be patient with him. It looks like we already need one outfielder with Duran as a possibility. Should we be looking for a second? Pardon the size of the type as my advanced age is catching up with me.

They may be looking to move Beni based on his form in the second half last year and his start this year. Kind of a poor time to talk of this as his value is low right now. It looks like Verdugo is our only sure outfielder for next season so whether Duran or another, we will need to sort the outfield out for 2021.

We have thrown in the towel and well we should have with our record,lack of pitching depth and also problems generating runs. Our schedule going forward will pit us against teams that have more capability than we have. We might have won one more against the O's for instance, but for the Workman trade. That was necessary since we weren't going anywhere as configured and need to rebuild both the team and the farm. I would like us to field a somewhat competitive team in 2021. We can do that by keeping our core and bolstering it with trades, smart FA signings and through our better position in the draft. I see no advantage in trading away other low cost options who can help us in 2021 but will be gone afterward. You mentioned management in an earlier post. I do think the team is playing in a dispirited manner with the exception of a few who have sufficient drive and pride to keep themselves striving in the face of poor results. We need a more spirited manager and perhaps we need to weed out players who hang their heads. I have no suggestions other than being a baseball man is only part of the picture.

I still want a team in 2021 that's fun to watch. I doubt the fans on this site would be pleased with a 50 win season. If we have a low cost guy that can help in 2021 and we can't trade for anything consequential, then why not keep him through 2021? Anyhow, it's up to Bloom to make those decisions, and so far I think he is doing well.

My hope is that we make gradual improvements to the team while trying to field at least a competitive team in 2021. I doubt if we can go into competitive for a pennant until 2022 or 2023. To do that I would keep Perez and Moreland as two fairly reasonably priced guys who can contribute. Moon has done a great job of identifying the core guys and I would add these two to the list.

If Beni feels pressure and it impacts him that much, it doesn't speak well of his future and career. I'd rather hope that Beni gets top notch hitting instruction and uses it to get out of the funk.

He could be a 2021 interim player to platoon with one of our 1st base prospects. He also could do designated hitting and be a plus in the clubhouse as we are headed towards a younger lineup. Besides, he is a low cost player when you consider his production. He is not a long term foundation player but just might keep us reasonably competitive as the team is building toward the future.

There are almost no offers that would be good enough. I think we should keep him and not entertain any offers.

Now what does Bloom follow-up with. I doubt we are done. National League contenders may be looking for a designated hitter. JD is a hard guy to trade, due to his contract and the opt out. Moreland is less costly and is very hot right now, plus he can play first. I really would hate to see either traded but if it came down to a choice, who would you trade and why?

I agree. A fair deal. They have post season hopes and needed to bolster their pen this year. We aren't going anywhere and needed arms for 2021 and beyond. I do expect more but other than Moreland, and Vaz who of that group is attractive enough to draw much interest. I exclude Eovaldi, as he has the very qualities we are looking for.

I was interested in when Benintendi may come back and where they might try to use him in the order. All I could fine was from Aug 13th Red Sox's Andrew Benintendi: Likely out beyond 10 days by RotoWire Staff | RotoWire Benintendi (ribs) is expected to spend more than the 10-day minimum on the injured list, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports. The 26-year-old landed on the IL earlier in the day with a strained right rib cage, and the severity of the strain will apparently require him to be sidelined for more than 10 days. Benintendi should be considered out indefinitely until the team provides a more specific recovery timeline. Alex Verdugo, Jackie Bradley and Kevin Pillar should handle to bulk of the outfield work for the Red Sox.

Brewer goes 4 inning?

My hope is that we can graduate 3 to 4 player prospects a year to the majors and fill the rest of the openings through trade or Free Agency. Notin has suggested Mata, Dalbec and Duran as likely 2021 call ups. The point is we need to keep stocking our minors with prospects who can be developed into MLers. Who are the likely ones for 2022? Casas, Downs and Ward?