oldtimer

In Summary, the Sox got a marginal offensive right hand hitting outfielder with a good glove and gave up a better hitting , but less power, left hand hitting outfielder with a good glove but some difficulties with management. The Sox got pitching prospects and gave up pitching prospects. Did the Sox get better pitching prospects? That remains to be seen. It looks to me that these were sensible trades for the Sox but not ones that will make a significant difference in our 2024 win/loss record. Breslow has to do better and let's hope he will.

The Mets and the Padres threw a lot of money at players and got poor results. Just spending big on FA's can result in disappointments. Let us hope that when we spend, we get value and that our management is wise enough to have a plan to improve the team and sticks to it. Our contract with Sale has been a disaster and most teams make serious blunders. Good management is critical to our performance going forward.

Bloom watched and waited and was rather indecisive when making moves to improve the team. The result reflected his approach. I am waiting to see what Breslow does but time is going by and I'm hoping he is going to make meaningful deals early on. He really hasn't shown much yet, other than a pitching coach.

I hoping that Sox management will aggressively make moves that will be unlike anything Bloom was willing to consider. There are no real star level performers in our outfield. They are average players with some attractiveness and other issues, or they are too new to really count on. I would like to see changes that make us more dangerous. If Dugo has to go then so be it. Same with Yoshida and even Duran and Ref.

Ifr some team will pick up Sales contract it would free up money to go big on at least one starter. Sort a replacement with a more reliable starter.

It's my view that we have to keep both Devers and Casas bats in the lineup as full time players. Casas may well improve at 1st but he doesn't fit anywhere else while Devers can play 3rd, despite his tendency to throw wildly. I differ with you on Yoshide and would like him to be gone and instead find an older right handed power hitter for that role. I don't see where getting Devers reps at 1st does anymore than complicate his handling of 3rd base.

I'd much rather we unload Yoshida and his salary if at all possible. He is slow, hits fairly well from the left side, but without great power and is a below average left fielder. He may have some value in attracting Yammamoto. On the other hand, Duran cost less, has above average speed is flexible enough to play any outfield position, but certainly not at the GG level. He is younger and hits similarly to Yoshida. If we can rid ourselves of Yoshida's contract we should be able to find a quality right hand DH who could at least provide some flexibility in the infield. I'm okay with trying Rafaela and Abreu in the outfield and see if one can shine enough to take the position, while the second becomes our utility outfielder. I would consider dropping Ref. It looks more and more like Dugo will be traded and I like the idea of signing a quality right handed hitter with good defensive capability as our every day right fielder. It what you mention happens, we could wind up with two right handed hitters in the outfield and my thought would give us a right handed H. With SS and Catcher being right handers anx 2nd unsettled, we could achieve more lineup balance. Teal, Anthony and Mayer seem closest to the majors and are all lefties. It will be interesting to see who Breslow offers in trade since we will have to give to get 2 starters unless we can sign Yammamoto and a quality FA I am anxious to see Breslow get started early instead of approaching the business with delay and indecision as was the case with Bloom.

Somehow, we need to lose Kluber, Paxton, Sale and Jansen's contracts and maybe offer Houck as trade bait. That would free up money for two top quality starters and perhaps a different closer.

That possibility would relegate Yoshida to the trade market. That move would remove one defensive liability, however neither Mayer or Yorke have proven themselves at the ML level.

Interestingly, a look at the Diamondbacks makes one wonder about all the whining by Sox fans about how little JH spends to get competitive players. Somehow, the Diamondbacks have put together a very competitive team while spending a very low $119 Mil. How have they done that? Well, they have very capable people coaching and in the front office. Louvollo and Hazen come to mind. As you point out, their pitching is very solid but without having the biggest names. The do feature a very good defensive team with a lot of speed. They seem to be a determined bunch who look to get on base and are willing to run and do it effectively to get into scoring position. Getting a run or two is enough in some cases, with their pitching and defense. So far they have shown themselves competitive with teams with more than double their spending budget. Does that mean I am against spending big bucks to get very competitive players? Not at all, as I would love to see a Cory Seager in a Red Sox uni for instance. What I would like is for our baseball operations to be wise enough to go after or develop players who have speed, play defense, can pitch and or hit better than some of those we currently have. I use Yoshida as a case-in-point. A decent hitter but slow and below average defensive player who we overspent for. I'm optimistic that we have new key management and hope he has the talent and will be allowed to use the talent we all ready have along with moves to replace substandard talent to produce at least a competitive team in 2024. Time will tell.

My father was a newspaper man in Boston many years ago and early on )late 20's and early 30's did court reporting. One of his stories was of a prominent banker by the name of Jacob Lipschitz who grew tired of his name and went to court to have it officially changed. When he came from the court, the reporters asked him what he had chosen as his altered name. He said it was Solomon Lipschitz.

Clearly the slate of candidates was much reduced as a result of the many turn downs experienced. So Craig may turn out fine, let's hope so.

No way to rank the front office and coaches. Cora will stay although we will have some new coaches. I expect that Bloom leaving will be a positive, although that remains to be seen.

Funny how much hate gets expressed against Henry. Personally, I'm glad to see Bloom go. On the other hand, I'm not optimistic the next person will be a world beater.

I'm glad Kimbrall is in the Red Sox past. He seems to struggle when he closes games. Tonight was another example.

One omission we heard about is the failure trade Sale when we are told a team was lined up to accept his full contract. That would have freed up $27 mil or enough to sign a durable ace. Bloom supposedly held out for more and instead got zero. Sale did pitch better toward the end of the year but not in comparison to his contract and now he is likely to remain with the club in 2024. Nothing against Sale, but his durability remains in question. To me, this situation just added to his display of indecisiveness. Taken together, his approach was not adding competitiveness to the club and he was let go.

On the other hand, Nate performed far better than Kluber, so at least we would have done better.

Don't know where to put this but as the blather during the Rangers v Orioles game the pundits were discussing with the current technology, the coaches can identify release point spin rate and velocity of all the pitches that the opponent staff will throw at them during the game.. Furthermore, the pitching machines are so good now that they can exactly duplicate those so the hitters can practice against that pitching even at the park. That seems to be an advantage to the team who has a coaching staff energetic enough to provide that facility. I don't know if those points are true, but at times it looks like the Rangers hitters were was as a group, better able to handle at bats

The majority of our team by position, including the starting pitching rated below average last season. It's difficult to see how they could be expected to make the playoffs with below average performances. I agree with those who feel we need to make major upgrades, particularly with some of our field positions and the starting pitching. MLBB is a very competitive business, so I don't expect the new GM, along with the front office to make a major jump in one year, but would like to see progress toward that end in 2024. I don't believe that our front office under Bloom was making significant progress and as a result he was rightly let go.

He is getting $18 mil so not quite worth his contract value, if you take their word as accurate, which I don't think you do.

I was watching the Rangers vs Orioles game today. In general, they both play good defense although not perfect. I was surprised at the Orioles pitchers, most of whom were so reluctant to throw strikes they kept getting into deep trouble. I also noticed some of their young hitters were swinging for the fences, even when they had a base runner in scoring position and were in a full count situations. Looks to me like they are not being coached to win in the playoffs. Maybe it can be chocked up to youth and nervousness, but their best hitter was a young rookie batting ninth in the order, so it is not totally inexperience that is causing the Orioles problems.

It's not just spending more money, although the Sox certainly should spend at least to the limit if they want to be competitive. It's also about spending money wisely and that means avoiding wasting as much as we have in the past. Spending money wisely requires having a solid front office and it is why we need to get a GM who can and will upgrade the Sox roster in a disciplined manner. We we at or below average in most field and pitching positions this year and we need to be at or above average in most or all field and pitching positions to guarantee competitiveness. I tend to agree with you that Duran should remain on the roster. If I was to get rid of a left handed outfielder, it would be Yoshida first. While he can hit, he is slow and a far below average defensive outfielder. Just getting out from under his contract would give us resources to find another preferably right handed hitting and solid defensive outfielder. We shall see what our front office brain trust will do.

Both the Rays and Jays are out. The ALE is not looking like a powerhouse, yet we were last in that division

Kennedy saying the Sox will undertake an exhaustive interview process as the selection of the new GM goes forward sounds good from the standpoint of getting the best candidate, but it does also seem worrisome because we will need our GM active very soon as there are many decisions to be made if this team is to improve going forward. 1. Who to trade and who are untouchables. 2. Who to trade for and what FA's to go after. 3. Decisions on the coaching staff 4. Decisions on which players to draft. 5. What activities to expect from existing (young) players to facilitate development. Too much delay will put our new GM at a disadvantage and that Boston doesn't need.

What if Devers turned out to be even worse defensively than Casas, who is likely to improve with experience?