Fan_since_Boggs

Red Sox Team ranks - OF BA - .235 - 19th OBP - .290 - 25th SLG - .362 - 24th OPS - .652- 25th HR - 19 - 26th And this doesn't touch on the incompetence that Bloom demonstrated with the first base position. I'm not saying Bloom should be fired, but there are legitimate concerns with his decision-making. And how the Red Sox fix this mess for 2023 is not clear at all.

Bell will have a few suitors. I could see the Mets going after him--they need another bat and aren't getting any production from the DH spot.

Jim Bowden suggested Josh Bell for Bobby Dalbec and Chris Murphy. I would trade Doofy Dalbec for a bag of balls but I don't want to lose Murphy. How about Doofy Dalbec and A.Binelas for Bell? The Red Sox will have to trade at least one decent prospect for Bell. Though, I guess so much will depend on how many teams chase Bell at the deadline.

Maybe Boone wasn't all that bad to begin with. Instead, the loudest complaints came from Yankees fans who are a miserable fan base, typical of a northeast fan base: excessively cynical and poorly informed. So many Yankees fans are New York Giants fans, a fan base that wanted Tom Coughlin fired many years ago. We know what happened next--two Super Bowl wins. Coughlin is arguably the greatest head coach in the 21st Century with the exception of Bill Bellichick. But this didn't stop dumb Giants fans from calling for his head.

I would like to see the Red Sox acquire J.Bell without parting with a top prospect. It would be great if the Red Sox could acquire Bell for J.Downs and K.Crawford, but I suspect it won't be that easy. Even though he has limited value, it would make sense to move J.Downs at the trade deadline--give another team the opportunity to fix him.

I haven't written him off at all, einstein, I'm just saying that until those power numbers translate at the AA level the odds are against him. That's the big jump, from high A to AA and most prospects don't succeed. The problem with Binelas is that he has limited tools to rely on beyond his power and that obviously works against him ever developing into a quality major league player.

The Yankees are in a tough spot this season. Anything short of a W.S. Championship will now be a major major disappointment. Mike Francesca, a big Yankees fan, made this point recently. The pressure is on the Yankees to go all the way but as the games against the Astros demonstrated, this Yankees team simply doesn't have what it takes to win a World Series.

As bad as Bradley is, Dalbec is an even worse player. Dalbec doesn't do anything well. At least Bradley can play defense. I would keep Bradley over Dalbec. Better yet, trade for Josh Bell. Although, it is my understanding that Bell is a pretty weak defensive player. I like the idea of acquiring Bell, though, with the goal of keeping him next year as the replacement for JD Martinez.

Jackie Bradley sucks at baseball. More specifically, he sucks at hitting. Bradley is a fourth outfielder and nothing more than that. Yet, the Red Sox are paying him a fortune and have made him a starting OF. Maybe no one wanted Renfroe, but you would think he would have a little more value, especially with the DH expanding to the NL. It looks like Renfroe hurts you in the field, but he can do some damage with the bat. Jackie Bradley is a 4th OF and Binelas is a shaky prospect. Binelas has power but to what extent will it translate at the higher levels? And Binelas can't really do anything else--he sucks defensively.

Casas probably won't be ready at the start of next year. Due to the injury he will likely need more time in AAA. He can't be counted on at all this year (for the major league team) and I would want him to get more AAA work in at the beginning of next season as well. I don't know what that means for 1b next year There is a good chance that next year's starting 1b is not on the team right now. There is a good chance that the Red Sox will have a new starting 1b after the upcoming trade deadline. My man Wong (who should replace Vazquez as the starting C next year) gets some love from Red Sox great Rich Gedman: https://www.masslive.com/worcesterredsox/2022/06/woosox-notebook-hitting-coach-and-former-catcher-rich-gedman-says-connor-wong-ronaldo-hernandez-have-the-tools-to-be-very-successful.html

What happens when Gonzalez comes back? Does Duran go back to AAA? I wouldn't do that, I don't see the point of sending Duran back to AAA. It is time for Duran to gain major league experience as a starting OF. Duran is the future, whereas guys like Gonzalez and Bradley have no future with the Red Sox.

It has been a pretty disappointing year for some of the Red Sox's prospects: Downs: isn't really a legitimate prospect anymore. Mayer: looks very pedestrian so far. Casas: has been hurt, probably won't be ready for the major leagues next year. Yorke: we were so high on Yorke, I'm not sure what happened to him, but maybe he will finish strong. Groome: was hoping he would take a big step forward, but that walk ratio is unacceptable, maybe a bullpen piece in the future. On the other hand, Rafaela has been really good. Murphy has been pretty good. Duran is finally getting a chance in the majors and looks like he belongs, and Bello looks awesome. In fact, you could make the case that Bello is the Red Sox best prospect, the one that has the most trade value right now. Blaze looks really good too. Binelas is a mixed bag, hit with power, but his defense isn't very good, and it looks like his only tool might be power. We will see how he does at AA. Winckowski & Seabold = reason for optimism. Lugo & German have been OK.

The Yankees are going to get a first round bye, but do teams really want a first round bye? It is an advantage in football, but I think it will prove to be a disadvantage in baseball.

The Yankees window is closing, they really do need to win this year. To resign Judge, it will cost them around 35 m per year and they will soon be stuck with some bad long term contracts and they don't have a very good farm system. That's a bad combination.

Uh-oh, Jordan Lawlar looks better than the pedestrian Mayer. I hope that changes. So far it looks like Lawlar was the better pick with more upside.

There is no way that Jeter Downs is on the Red Sox 40 man roster next year, right? If they don't trade him, they can't possibly give him a spot on the 40-man next year (assuming his struggles continue). He is a .180 hitter and the same thing happened to him last year. At some point, it is time to move on and not waste a 40 man spot on a guy who can't hit at the AAA level.

Uh-oh, bad loss for the Yankees. The wheels are starting to fall off. It was fun while it lasted Yankees fans but as I said the Yankees were peaking at the wrong time. No one is going to beat the Mets anyway. Degrom and Scherzer will carve up the Yankees lineup. Go Mets, the best team in NY!

Is it possible Ceddanne Rafaela could be ready as soon as next season? We could have an OF of Duran (LF), Rafaela (CF), and Judge (RF). Oh baby, that would be awesome!

Signing Swanson to replace Bogaerts would be a great idea. Save money and improve the defense.

Verdugo just doesn't fit here anymore with Duran coming up and needing to play LF. Duran will be cheaper, this is a way for the Red Sox to save some money. Verdugo has been so bad--is it possible they could simply not offer him a contract? Or do they pay his arbitration cost and trade him? If he doesn't start hitting this year, how many teams will even want Verdugo for his arbitration price?

This is a fun season for Yankees fans but if they don't finish it off with a championship, it won't be remembered so fondly. I remember worrying about this in 2018 with the Red Sox, worried they would blow it in the playoffs after dominating throughout the season. Fortunately, the Red Sox continued to dominate in the playoffs and in one series beat the crap out of the Yankees before moving on and winning a championship. Will the Yankees play at a high enough level to win a championship this season? I have my doubts--they are peaking at the wrong time.

Yankees with at least 24 HR in the team's first 59 games: Aaron Judge (2022), Mickey Mantle (1956), Babe Ruth (1921, '28, '30) There is no way Judge comes in under 300 m. I'm trying to remember the circumstances behind Pettitte leaving, it may have been due to his desire to pitch in his home state. But then he returned to the Yankees a few years later. That 2009 championship is so tainted with PED guys Cano, A-Rod, and Pettitte playing a major role and god knows who else on that team was juicing.

I would need to confer with my psychic who told me to bet on all 13 games and got it right, LOL. You make a good point, though: once my winnings got close to $100,000 I would be tempted to quit and maybe even sooner than that. The Angels are playing the Mets after the Red Sox. I would really like to see this losing streak continue and maybe get close to 20 games. Losing streaks are kind of interesting to watch. If the Angels can keep losing, they might even get some prime time slots on TV, LOL.

This is what I like about Bloom--he is building more for the next few years rather than the immediate and I think that was a prudent approach. It goes back to the early days and the debate that Theo brought up: is it better to compete every year or is it better to compete 7 out of 10 years, using 3 of those years to build a stronger foundation. Bloom may have made the strategic decision to build more for the future than the immediate and I prefer that approach. I like what Bloom has done with the farm system. The organization is moving in the right direction and I'm hoping the Yankees soon fall off the cliff--they have some big contracts coming up: Judge & Tallion while locked in to some other big contracts (Cole & Stanton) and have a pretty weak farm system. In contrast, the Red Sox have a lot of young talent that will soon be ready to burst on the scene. I wonder what the REd Sox OF will look like in a few years. Obviously, an aging bench player like Bradley won't be there thankfully. Maybe Rafaela in CF, Duran in LF, but RF remains a mystery. They don't really have a future RF in the upper levels of the farm system. Jimenez is a possibility but a long shot.

The contract matters too (the Red Sox are paying him 9.5 m?) and the fact that he is a RF and a black hole in the lineup (78 OPS+). The implications of having a RF who can't hit versus a CF who can't hit seem more troubling to me. To be fair to some of the criticisms leveled at Bloom: they do not only revolve around Bradley but around the entire OF that Bloom has assembled. I'm someone who likes Bloom, but the critics have a point when it comes to the Red Sox starting outfielders.