oldtimer

Just back from Budapest following a nice Danube cruise and catching up on the happenings. All I have seen so far is the firing of an assistant hitting coach. It is really difficult to assess the likelihood of major changes for next year until a new general manager is named and until some statement of direction is made (if the Sox choose to do that). I would think Sale, Price and Eovaldi are all moderate to high risk players going forward. With that in mind, I would think a reset is coming for 2020. A reset means dealing with Moreland, Holt, Bradley, Leon and Betts. It will also be affected by what jdm chooses to do. The sooner the Sox take care of the GM naming and the establishment of a game plan the better. Things left undone will wind up done anyway, but maybe not to our liking.

Be cruising on the Danbube for the next 10 days. Maybe something will happen with the GM in that time. Once in place, things can move on players like Porcello, Moreland and Betts. Hope the news is positive.

On the Sox in 2020 it will be how much we have to spend that will be a major facor in who we keep and who we get rid of. Guys like Porcello and Moreland have value but can we keep guys like them and still manage to keep our core?

Why did Cora substitute Leon for Vaz? Was Vaz hurt?

Hard to come to that tonight with our 7,8 and 9 hitters. GHern .118; JBJ .225 and Owings .129. Actually Bradley is by far the best of those. Why we are playing G Hernandez and Owings is a mystery to me since we shouldn't e thinking of them for next season.

I wonder if the impossible to satisfy demands is a cop out for having a dreadful year, not just a bad one. I can see a team having an off year, but if it is the result of bad moves that compromise the teams chances, even going forward, then I think the firing is and was justified. A GM candidate can see that ownership wants to win and is willing to put resources into doing that. Ownership also must now know that the path to competitiveness will require a reset, a rebuilding of the farm and a way past the non performing contracts. That should result in an ownership that is willing to wait and see if progress toward the goals is being made. The negative I see is that decisions regarding the manager and some front office and scouting positions has been made before a new GM is chosen. As a new GM, I would want a commitment from ownership that I could make changes where people and policies are not working.

Betts went out with a sore foot so Gorkys is their backup outfielder. Owings, I don't know Travis could backup but maybe they are trying to showcase them for potential trades. Neither is really MLB capable.

My mistake.

It probably wont be Owings, G Hernandez or Leon. Hard to make a case for why we acquired two of them and in Leon's case, it is more about time to move on. In the case of Marco Hernandez, do we really want a left handed second baseman going forward? It is difficult to know who will be on the team next year with Cora staying and the new GM not chosen as yet. I just hope cora doesn't set a pattern for next year with so many folks out for long stinks with minor injuries and so little willingness to bring people up from the farm.

There have been moves made within the organization to promote people into staff positions in addition to keeping Cora. That suggests the new GM will be an interanl promotion since it would be hard for a new GM to come into a situation where he had no say about his underlings. I wonder if it is the best strategy, since unless DD completely dominated this past year, some of the remaining people were involved in the failure we just experienced. I'll wait and see what happens before rushing to judgment.

of the Globe sh If you remember, deflate gate was overblown. The footballs were correctly inflated on the lower side but the cooling brought them down just below the minimum. The one football that caused the problem was the one substituted by an NFL employee who stole a original and replaced it with another underinflated ball. The Patriots totally cooperated although Brady did not want the fulll contents of his private e-mail to be in the hands of a bunch of NY lawyers. They no doubt would have leaked any and all controversial conversations he might have had. A person has a right to privacy afterall. I had a background as a chief engineer for a large corporation and sent an analysis to Shaunessy of the Globe showing how application of the simple universal gas law made a reduction in pressure likely and there had probably been many similar instances when balls were taken from insides into very cold environments. The Pats did attempt to steal signs using cameras. I'll bet there have been other equivalents that weren't talked about because the other teams were unsuccessful. In baseball, teams are almost paranoid about sign stealing these days and my guess with good reason.

You have bought into the coolade of the envious.

Another loss to the Rays and a question comes to mind. Are we putting our best available team on the field in these games or are we using a pecentage ouf our best team, and if so why? Cora had often thinned his team down during the season after stating certain players needed rest on those occasions. I am not arguing with whether it is the best course, but I do think his mind set was to rest players regularly. My contention is that by doing so, some games we lost by a small amount might have been won with our strongest team on that particular night. On the other hand, maybe his resting strategy did result in wins on other occasions. I'm not sure who was available tonight but Cora used Owings, Gorky Hernandez and Leon to make up the bottom of the order and none of them hit. Just seemed to me like handicapping the chances of succeeding. The margin between winning and losing is small against our better opponents. Is it sensible to reduce our chances of winning with Cora's approach?

I for one hope that you stick with it as I often find your input thought provoking. Same with dgalehouse. It has been a tough season for the club and obviously fairly major changes are needed and are coming. I am guilty of looking at the club as if I am in a managerial position and slant my posts in that direction. I have been a fan since the 1940's and really have hopes that the organization can find the right management and approach to return them to competitiveness. Much of what gets posted of late is speculation about where things will go. When we are told what will happen it will get more interesting again. Hope springs eternal.

You are more willing to trade away the farm than DD. Glad you're not the new GM.

I like this guys background and accomplishments. He would be a viable choice for GM although there no doubt are others with very good backgrounds. Matthew Arnold Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager Matt Arnold, 40, begins his fourth season with the Brewers after being named vice president and assistant general manager on October 14, 2015. Arnold assists President of Baseball Operations and General Manager David Stearns with day-to-day baseball processes and provides functional oversight of all departments within baseball operations. His areas of focus include Major League operations, roster construction, financial planning, staffing and personnel development, contract negotiations and player personnel decisions. Arnold also provides supervision within player development, medical operations, integrative sports performance, scouting and analytics. Prior to joining the Brewers, Arnold served as director of player personnel with the Tampa Bay Rays. During his time with the Rays (2007-15), Arnold assisted Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and President of Baseball Operations Matt Silverman with player acquisitions, contract negotiations and player evaluations at all levels. His responsibilities also included strategic planning, foreign and domestic special assignments, and coordinating advance scouting for the postseason. Additionally, he worked to develop the process of integrating science, biomechanics and human movement analysis within all levels of baseball operations. Arnold joined the Rays following the 2006 season as a professional scout and was promoted to director of professional scouting in November 2009. In that role, he supervised the team's Major League and pro scouting departments. He was promoted to his most recent position with the Rays in June 2015. During his tenure in Tampa Bay, the Rays won over 90 games in five out of six seasons between 2008 and 2013, and qualified for the postseason four times (2008, 2010, 2011 and 2013), including the franchise's first World Series appearance in 2008. Arnold, who has 18 seasons of professional baseball experience, also worked in the baseball operations departments of the Los Angeles Dodgers (2000), Texas Rangers (2002) and Cincinnati Reds (2003-06). While with the Reds, Arnold served as assistant director of professional scouting with his duties including player analysis, financial planning and arbitration, as well as involvement in advance, amateur and professional scouting. Originally from California, Arnold attended the University of California-Santa Barbara, where he earned a degree in economics and merited academic honors, including Sport Management Student of the Year. While there, he met his wife, Jodi. The couple has a daughter, Julianne, and a son, Tyler.

Maybe we should go slow on wishing for him to return. We need someone with better judgment than to take Kimbrel on for big bucks.

I have read that the White Sox may well have an interest in JDM for their DH. He would improve that position for them and help bring the young hitters along, plus they have the cash. JDM does sound disgruntled with MLB and the FA process, not the Red Sox. I had thought no one would step up, but after reading the article, it sounds possible. The Red Sox have put a lot of effort into bringing Dalbecs hitting along and it looks like that effort was aimed at him joining the team at 1st in 2020. It makes some sense, particularly if they keep a left handed bat to platoon with him. Holt and even Moreland might be in play should JDM leave. I believe Chavis will be the most likely choice at 2nd next season. The Sox hitting coaches are working on his ability to hit the high FB. An upturn by him would solve our 2nd base issue. Chatham is an intriguing possibilty as a utility infielder with possibilities even to role play in the outfield. He is a line drive hitter who could add some muscle and become a solid backup. All three of Dalbec, Chavis and Chatham are low cost players and we do need some of those. Our outfield is still a question. Beni appears to remain as a primary in 2020 and the hope is we find a way to retain Betts. The big question is Bradley. He has been a very good CF defensively but has enough years as a very streaky hitter to exxpect more of the same. At his likely FA cost, I think we will cut him loose and try to back fill him from the FA market or with Duran, who may be a year away from real consideration. It is clear that the Sox are trying to bring Duran along quickly so it wouldn't surprise me to see him getting a look during spring training. No sure thing that either MHernandez or Travis will be around next season. We will need to make a decision about the backup catcher. It is probably time to move on from Leon but I don't see anyone in the organization ready to take over. Would we go to the FA market to find another satisfactory talent of just stick with a .189 hitter?

Moon, maybe you could but I find that idea a little nutty. He shelled out for the highest payroll in the ML and you would argue that he is greedy? Doesn't stand up to scrutiny. What I think he wants is a competitive team and his hirelings have let him down although he provided them with a generous payroll to spread around. I hope he gets a GM who has the sense to rebuild this team by resetting this year and moving ahead for 2021. I would think keeping Mookie is a priority, but paying beyond his real worth is foolish and would only lead to more problems down the road. If Mookie would go anywhere to get paid and some owner has very deep pockets, I don't see that we should outbid them. Maybe establishing worth is measured in how many backsides that will put into seats or the like. Whatever the approach, they need to decide and set limits.

I was assuming several of the star players would hang in there for 10 years. Guys like Bogie, Devers, Betts and E-Rod are likely to last well more than 5 years so the real number needed would be about 5 or 6 FA's on the 26 man, and some of those fill-in players on 1 to 2 year contracts. No doubt the roster needs to be brought into conformance with some sort of ideal as the way intelligent posters have talked here, we could lose 20 of the 40 man roster players. Hard to replace that many, even from a top farm system.

DHern looks like a possible BP closer but needs to get consistent command. Dalbec is a possible 1st baseman, who has to cut down on the strikeouts. Chavis has some promise but also has to cut down on strikeouts. Chatham is a potential utility players (any infield position and possibly outfield) who is a linedrive contact hitter and may have some power but has to gain muscle. Duran is raw and is moving through the system quickly. He has excellent speed and could be another any position outfielder. Can he hit ML pitching? TBD. Then there are Houck and Mata as potential starters. That to me represents the low cost guys who have a shot at making the team next year. With the number of guys likely off the payroll and with our huge payroll commitment to iffy players, they may represent the best hope.

Thanks

Anyone understand what the limitations are relative to talking to GM candidates during the regular season or during the PO's? Clearly, the sooner we get our new man in place the better for the organization and for getting the moves started. I would think that for clubs out of the PO's, the end of the regular season would be allowed, but I don't know that.

You beat me to the punch. Consistent team competitiveness does require a contribution from the farm on a regular basis. Spending to keep players who distinguish themselves and effective trades and FA pickups are also important. The way baseball is currently arranged, balance is required. The Yankees are spending $233 million this year, so they are spending and they also were smarter with their farm. I am optimistic that the Sox can get their act together and reverse their current trend during the next couple of years. The first thing to do was to recognize that there was a problem. That was brought home in spades as we are out of the POs with 9 games to play.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi left Friday’s game against the Rays due to a left thumb contusion, the team announced. He’s considered day-to-day. Benintendi got jammed on a pitch during his second-inning at-bat and was replaced in the field by Gorkys Hernandez in the bottom of the inning. Benintendi popped out to third in his only plate appearance of the night.