oldtimer

With a very small payroll, they have already accomplished a great deal.

The latest talk has Andrew Friedman as a target for our GM job. He did a great job with the Dodgers and his contract is up leaving the possibility of the Sox getting him realistic. Only about 42 years old so we shall see.

To me, getting rid of proven and fairly young players would be folly. I would definitely keep Devers, Vaz, Bogaerts and E-Rod. I would like to keep Mookie but if he goes to the highest bidder in 2021, one has to ask if $35 mil for 8 to 10 years is too risky. Beni is another player who looks like his value at a lighter weight would be defense and offensively a high OBP guy. He wasn't that solid at either in 2019 and one wonders if the lighter weight he aspires to and a new hitting coach can up his value. JDM may go on his own and if he does the budget constraints get easier but will have to fill the DH role with less expensive. Barnes has been a good asset at times but also seems to blow up under pressure. I would trade him now. I am not in favor of blowing the team up but the albatross of generous contracts for underperforming asset may be with us for years to come. Anyone cate to speculate on how many games Sale, Price and Eovaldi will win for us in 2020? My guess is about 30 total and that is a far cry from keeping us competitive.

I would like to think the Sox have a vision going forward rather than just reacting to the poor results and structuring of the team by firing DD. So far, without a new GM named it looks like random moves. About all I have heard that looks like at least part of a vision is the strong indication of a reset in 2020. With our high risk starting pitching staff, it looks like the right approach but the devil is always in the details. My opinion seems to line up with Moon's in general as I have understood his posts. 1. Reset in 2020 2. Keep as many of the best young players who will continue to make and impact in 2021 and beyond. 3. Trade or DFA players who wont help us in 2021 and beyond 4. Remain as competitive as possible under the circumstances 5. Try to trade the generous contracts or let them playout. 6. Possibly renegotiate Pedroia's contract for a lower AAV realizing he will not actually play again 7. Rework the coaching staff (being done) 8. Strengthen the farm 9. Bring young low cost players up to see if they can help. The lower cost and less frequent injury likelihood would be worth it

I don't see that as a fact. Its a fact that Henry acts.

It does seem the GM should have a hand in making key decisions like coaches and player contracts.

Blame the innocent

When you have someone who is young and performing at a high level, What is the probability you can improve on that situation with a trade? There is probably a greater probability you can do much worse.

It's now over a month since DD's contract was not renewed and yet no new GM has been named. That indicates to me that Ownership was unhappy with where DD had put us rather than a statement of where we want to go and who should lead us in that direction.

He had a brief spell when he was hitting very well and started to hit with some power. Then he lengthened his swing and lost his hitting feel. Maybe a new hitting coach will do as well for him as getting lighter.

Of course I was thinking Eovaldi and not E-Rod. We do have uunderperforming contracts with those three. These are high risk players going forward and it is hard for anyone to justify their salaries based on what I expect to be declining performance. Blowing the whole thing up means what? Trying to find someone to take one or two of these pitchers on by including a player like Beni or JBJ with them. I do think all options are on the table to try to reset and lower the number of DD's overly generous contracts.

the trip was on a Viking ship and they do a great job. Good food and drink and just enough fellow passengers. I'm not as optimistic about our three high salaried pitchers going forward. I expect their quality to be about like this year, with limited innings and era's in the 4.5 region. I would like the team to remain as competitive as possible in 2020 while going for the reset. To me that means holding onto our best players who can be around in 2021 as well, and revitalizing the team but bringing up our best low cost propects and see where that lands us mid year.

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?