oldtimer

Using Lin in our lineup demonstrates our weakness.

It's the old story. If you trade your best away, who do you replace him with?

Take another drink and solve the conundrum.

If the Sox don't see a legitimate chance to compete in 2021, why set the CBT running again? Make improvements that can be made for $70 mil (or so) and save the plunge for the following year, when we may be back competing for a run in the post season. That said, I do expect big changes and substantial improvement next season. I'm. A month o still hoping management will bring up our most ready prospects to see what they can do. There will be a month of PT after the trade deadline and we could see vacancies open up on the roster.

First of all, it is not too early to talk about 2021. The 2020 season is toast as we knew it would be only worse, due to the unexpected loss of E-Rod, D-Hern and Walden. And MLBB, who took action to force the change of Manager. Congratulations on putting together a comprehensive and reasonable of players with your expectations of who will return, be traded and where our glaring holes will be. No doubt Bloom and the Sox staff have a similar list being developed and if they are smart, which I believe they are, they have a budget in mind for every position. The 26 man roster: C I agree 1B I agree again although we may be trading one low average masher for another 2B I like Arauz and we have Downs in the wings (maybe for 2022), I am ambivalent with Peraza. These guys offer flexibility for short and possibly 3rd but if Arroyo works out do we need both? 3B Definitely Devers but Arroyo is a crap shoot. SS I agree LF I am not sold on Beni (average defender, no power, questionable hitter). Could we do better? We made excuses for JBJ over the years due to his defense. Is Beni JBJ2 without the defense? CF We won't resign JBJ and Duran may be capable, but more likely we need to look for a trade or through FA. RF I agree DH JDM is probably with us for 2021, unless an unlikely trade takes place. If it does, DH can be filled for less money. I don't expect a championship year so why spend big at that position? SP I agree. Perhaps we can fill one starter from the minors which makes a search of the FA markets likely. Please, no big long term contracts for 2021. RP I don't expect Barnes back so we need a couple from our prospects and some in trade or from FAs. Acquisitions: CF, LF, (possible Duran for one of those or 4th outfielder, SP (Ace), possible 3rd although can we promote a prospect? Closer as Workman is probably gone. Stock the minors with quality prospects through the draft and from trades. Manager: No manager could make the existing 2020 crew a competitive team and yet I think a young manager and some new coaches are needed. What cash will be available sounds like the equivalent of the total Rays budget for the year. Lets hope Bloom will continue to be clever in his acquisitions as he was with the Rays.

Now that's cynical.

I believe they said Urshela was always a very good defender but his hitting became much better when he listened to the Yankee hitting coach about finishing his swing. That is kind of a slap at the Cleveland hitting coaches who never got more out of him. If it is true, the Yankees have a hell of a hitting coach. Sox players like Beni, Devers and Bradley go into long slumps and seem unable to get out of them. Is coaching part of the problem?

Of course you need to use a mix of both to succeed. The amount of each used depends on where you are as a franchise. Right now we have a weak farm, but that doesn't mean there is no talent. Our pitching is poor, party due to picking up somewhat older or injury prone guys, and bad luck. We have had little luck developing young pitchers and the ones that looked good we traded away. We are saddled with overhung contracts that probably won't return in value what we have into them. The good news is if the CBT resets, we will get attractive draft picks. That is something we haven't had in a while. We will also be in a position to spend more and we do have a young core of position players.I don't expect Bloom to turn this around quickly and will be pleased if we take steps to improve the team,, including strengthening the farm. I certainly hope there won't be long term contracts given to players past their prime. Pedroia's will be gone soon and maybe we can trade Eovaldi's away. Sale;s will be with us..

I see that players can expect to get private jet service to their new teams when traded. Takes away one of the negatives.

I tuned out at the end of the top of the 5th and am glad I did. Up til then Eovaldi looked decent with a couple of mistakes but the 4th inning must have taken a lot out of him. Glad I didn't see the carnage.

Bloom is the hope. Look to DD for a culprit. A cliff was predicted by the more realistic posters here and they were right. This is what a cliff looks like.

It was totally predictable that the string of games with the Rays and Yankees would go very badly and leave us with no chance of making the post season. We all knew that so the real story is what moves we can make to improve for 2021 and beyond. It has been discussed extensively but is maybe worth repeating. Admit the season is a lost cause and get the best out of the time going forward, starting tomorrow. 1. Be sure to reset the CBT so money can be spent going forward 2. Bring up our best prospects, both field players and pitchers, and see if any will stick. 3. Cut ties with players who we know we won't keep going forward. We know most of the names. 4. Do the best job of trading for players to fill in our holes, particularly with pitchers and pitching prospects. 5. We should get at least a couple of valuable draft picks. Use them wisely. 6. Enter the FA market with the idea of young pitchers while realizing they are in short supply. 7. Start the search for a quality young manager and for effective coaches. 8. Redirect our minors to stress pitcher development 9. Find and sign some mashers. Our lineup seems short of power hitters. Devers, JGM, Bogaerts, Vaz possibly Verdugo. and Moreland. Repeat the process for the 2022 season, only keeping those individuals who show their worthiness. Perform or hit the road. I believe Bloom has all these steps in mind and will not get us into ridiculous long term contracts where the risk exceeds the benefit.

Probably 2022 and beyond as one year to rebuild this roster and the farm seems like to much to ask. I'm looking for positive steps in 2021.

I'm not a Sanchez fan, but I'd rather see any of the others in my lineup instead of JBJ or Beni.

Maybe Song could make some waves.

We scored more against the Rays than the Yankees, however, the Yankees have pitching and we don't.

I didn't think this team would be competitive due to the lack of pitching. Some of it has been bad luck with 3 of our better pitchers being down with COVID, but it just demonstrated our lack of pitching depth and development. I did expect the hitting to be better although some players had shown signs of weakness before and the loss of Mookie is also being felt. We are totally out of it already so the time has come to see what some of our prospects can do. In the field, we have a core consisting of Bogaerts, Devers, Vasquez and Verdugo. You can probably add Beni to the list due to his relative youth and prior performance. Arauz is showing himself to be a possible long term second base prospect. We probably want to keep Moreland for another year. JDM may also be with us for another year but is not a long term (2022) answer. We have very few mashers in our lineup, whereas the Yankees are living up to the Bronx Bomber name with power up and down the lineup. Should we look for more of power hitters. For prospects who could possibly fill our needs we have Dalbec, Downs and Durran. Time to get them some PT and see who sticks if any. It would be nice to know our desperate needs by the end of the season so we can hit the FA market running. As far as pitching prospects, we have Mata, Groome, Ward, Houck and Song. Could they be worse than what we are currently throwing out there? I don't get the Sox management approach of sitting on guys that are either going to have to sink or swim in the near future. What ever happened to Felton. He came to the Sox as a player nearly ready for the big time but if anything regressed while in our program.

Trading our best player is too radical for me. I prefer to make it back in smaller steps with 2022 being the real target. Give Bloom (room) a chance and see what he can come up with. Look at the Rays and see what can be done on a budget. The Sox have more resources, particularly if we get a reset this season.

Beni's on the IL. That was predictable.

I see Beni is on the IL. Good idea but don't know who will come up as a replacement.

The deadline will be reached in 19 days. After the Yankees, it should be obvious to all but the most die hard that the Sox are out of the playoffs so your points are well taken. As for starters if Eovaldi can be counted on for an entire season in 2021, a big if, we have one starter. I do believe E-Rod will be whole and hope he is back. I would take Perez as a 4th or 5th starter. We may get a starter out of Mata or D-Hern. So we need at least one more quality starter through Trade or FA. The BP wiil be a huge project and that is probably where we have to use our trade chips. While our existing BP will be broken up and younger arms brought in. Whatever happened to pitcher development. The best staffs have starters that can go 5 or 6 innings and then they can bring in numerous live arms that often shut you down. Hard to believe we get there in one year. I believe we will need at least one outfielder to replace JBJ. He'll be too expensive for the value he brings. Keeping Moreland is a good idea. He can platoon with one of our 3 young candidates for first. Chavis, Dalbec or Casas in 2022. I would consider moving Downs up for second and back him up with a utility player. Take you choice, Peraza? Is Araz going to be our utility player for short and third? Dalbec coulc handle 3rd if he is with the team. Don't know what will happen at DH. Reserve judgment until the trade deadline is passed.

Maybe Roenicke has seen something in practice. No one else is hitting in lead off and Devers is still out. What is he goinng to do?

He's not the prototype 95 mph fastballer, but if he can go 5 or 6 in todays world and keep the game in bounds, why not try to keep him as a 4th or 5th option?

The 2020 season is a lost cause. What we do for starters in 2021 is more the question. If Eovaldi and Perez can make it back in 2021 and E-rood is back in good form we have 3. Sale is probably not going to be back for most of the season, if at all. Mata may make the jump and D-Hern may but will likely be a reliever. We need a quality FA in the best of scenarios and they are hard to come by. We have to hope that pitcher development is amped up in the minors and we get surprised with another young prospect making the grade. I personally don't like the idea of an opener, but is probably my having been a fan for over 70 years. I trust Bloom to be on the right path, even if we don't get there in 2021.

You don't need to be Nostradamus to see that coming. After we get worked over by the Rays and Yankees, maybe the management will conclude it time to bring in our best young talent and see what if anything that they can do at the ML level.