Fan_since_Boggs

Bradley is a starting RF with above average defense in RF and with a 78 OPS+. That's a backup player, a fourth OF. We can only speculate on how well he would play defensively in CF. At one time he was an outstanding defensive CF, but he is older now and defense declines pretty rapidly. Obviously, it comes down to his bat. If he could hit, he would be a nice player but a guy with a 78 OPS+ isn't producing offensively.

Bradley sucks. He can't hit--he is a fourth OF. He plays quality defense in RF--you can find players like that all over the place without it costing what Bradley is making. He's a fourth outfielder, he is not a starting OF anymore. He should not be the starting RF. True, fourth OFs aren't "garbage," they can do a few things, they just shouldn't be starting.

Fun info. The Angles losing streak is now at 13 games. If you bet $100 that the Angels would lose on game 1 of the losing streak and kept betting the same for the next 12 losses, putting all your winnings back into the bet, you would now have around $170,000 after the 13th loss.

This is meaningless though for a couple of reasons. (1) We need Renfroe to get injured to make the deal look better for the REd Sox, which is pretty sad. (2) The Red Sox could have traded Renfroe without replacing him with the clown show of Bradley and Arroyo. There is no excuse for the garbage in RF this year--Bloom should have known better.

If he wasn't a steroids guy and his stats were legitimate, he would be in the HOF conversation. After all, he is approaching 3,000 hits. If he didn't lose time due to PED suspension, that is if his stats were legitimate, he would be very close to 3,000 hits. But as things currently stand, Cano has 0% chance to the make the HOF.

. This is true. It looks like the return for Betts is going to be disappointing but how many teams were even willing to trade for Betts? Probably very few and so Bloom took the best offer on the table. In the retrospect, the best move would have been to resign Betts, but I don't know what happened there, I'm not sure if anyone does except for the few people involved in the negotiations.

By the way, Jordan Lawler has been a stud so far in his production, more productive than Mayer so far. With that said, I don't know how the leagues compare. It is too early to get a full read on Bloom. He has done some really nice things with the minor leagues but his critics make some reasonable points as well. But just because Bloom has made mistakes doesn't mean he can't improve and get better. At this point, it wouldn't make sense to fire Bloom, he deserves more time to see if he will build something special and sustainable. He does seem to prioritize the minor leagues, but maybe that will be in the best long term interest of the organization.

It'll be Steinbrenner's decision (not Cashman's). They probably bring him back but they will have to pay him top price or very comparable to the top offer. The one thing we have learned is that these players rarely take a discount. I also recently learned that Judge grew up not far from the Bay area and was a huge San Francisco Giants fan as a kid. The Yankees have a history of keeping their guys. In that respect, they are very different from the Red Sox who lost: Lynn, Fisk, Boggs, Clemons, Vaughn, Betts, and probably Bogaerts. The Yankees usually keep their homegrown stars like B.Williams, Jeter, Rivera, Mattingly. Maybe I'm forgetting some contrary examples--this is just off the top of my head. As far as Cano goes, I wouldn't be surprised if Cashman knew that Cano was a steroids guy and that mitigated the Yankees interest in matching a top offer. In contrast, Judge doesn't have any skeletons in his closet and so the Yankees will probably resign him. Cano is such a disgraced player, a guy who may have been on a HOF track due to his production at 2b But now he will get so few votes in his first year of eligibility that he will be off the ballot after his first year.

I don't think it is going to happen either. But I do think some team will make Judge a massive offer (maybe the Giants as has been speculated) and then the Yankees will need to figure out if they should match the offer or let Judge leave town. It'll be interesting to see how the Yankees proceed. Judge is not only great in terms of performance, but he is a GM and owner's wet dream. He is a leader, the face of a franchise, no one is concerned about Judge putting in less work after he gets paid. The intangibles matter too and the intangibles work in Judge's favor. The point that Judge is from California is a good one. I never realized that. The fact that he is from the west coast will probably make his decision to leave the Yankees a much easier one.

The mistake was going into the season with two losers in right field: Bradley and Arroyo, along with the same old issues at 1b. If the Red Sox wanted to trade Renfroe, fine, trade him, but don't trade him for garbage like Jackie Bradley. Get a prospect for Renfroe and figure out another plan for RF other than the clown show of Bradley and Arroyo.

The Renfroe trade was far from impressive. The Red Sox weakened themselves in RF and what for? Binelas is a decent prospect but he is in Single A hitting .231 with power; I like Binelas but I could live without him and would prefer Renfroe's 123 OPS+ over Bradley's incompetent 76 OPS+ and Arroyo sucks even more than Bradley. If Binelas doesn't develop into a quality major league player, the Red Sox basically gave away Renfroe for free, since Bradley is largely useless, a fourth outfielder. And of course the Red Sox took on Bradley's contract, which is a massive overpay for a weak hitter.

True. In signing Judge, the Red Sox would be admitting that the Betts decision was a mistake. But maybe the organization should own up to the mistake and attempt to rectify it by signing one of the best players in baseball who also happens to play for the Red Sox's biggest rivals. Sign Judge and the Red Sox weaken the Yankees--an extra benefit.

Jackie Bradley has an OPS+ of 76. That's pathetic and he is a pathetic offensive player. He is probably playing stellar defense but he is a fourth outfielder with the bat. The idea of going into next season with J.Bradley as a starting OF would be pretty dumb unless we are talking about CF than OK, but how many years of stellar defense does Bradley have left in him as centerfielder? Maybe none. Trading for J.Bradley and making him the starting RF (platooning him with a loser in Arroyo) and perhaps getting nothing for Hunter Renfroe (Binelas might not amount to much) is one of the reasons why Red Sox fans are worried about Bloom's ability to make sound baseball decisions. The mighty Red Sox, with their big payroll, have a RF platoon combination of J.Bradley and Arroyo. The Red Sox couldn't do better than that? Bloom couldn't do better than that? The situation in RF was doomed from the start and it amazes that Bloom couldn't get that figured out. In the meantime, Renfroe is having a pretty solid season for the Brew Crew.

Future starting CF for the Red Sox, maybe as early as 2024.

I'm a little worried about Simmons' age, I want a younger player. This would work if the Red Sox could afford to sign Judge while extending Devers: 1b: Casas 2b: Story SS: ???, trade for a defensive whiz, 9th hitter 3b: Devers C: Wong (I'm a believer) LF: Duran CF: could resign Hernandez to a two-year contract RF: Judge DH: Cordero Trade: Verdugo Say goodbye to: Eavoldi, JD Martinez, Bogaerts, Vazquez, and Verdugo Starting staff: Sale Pivetta Whitlock Winckowski or Bello Free Agent

Some GM will see that Dave Winfield had a .867 OPS at age 40 and that Judge can do the same. There are now 30 teams that can count on having the DH for Judge's "golden years." Is it crazy to give Judge 300 million for 9 or 10 years if he leads you to a couple of championships? It could be a sound investment. It's funny to hear Yankees fans try to convince themselves that Judge isn't going to cost 300 m. The Red Sox have to be all over Judge in the off-season--they shouldn't pursue Bogaerts until the Judge pursuit is over. Judge is a perfect fit for the Red Sox. I'm not sure if the Red Sox would be willing to shell out the money, probably not, but he would solve many of their problems going forward.

It is almost like Duran should be a LF, but I'm assuming the Red Sox don't like Verdugo in RF. This teams has problems--the pieces don't fit together and I can't help but wonder what Bloom's plan is. Who is the CF next year, who is the RF next year, who is the C next year, who is the SS next year? This is assuming that Casas is ready to take over at 1b, otherwise the Red Sox need to address that position as well.

OK, Koss was a reach. I'm looking for an above average defensive player for SS and I don't care if he is a ninth hitter (and Koss is clearly a weak hitter) but maybe there is a better option out there with MLB experience who would upgrade the SS position defensively while also being a weak hitter (and relatively inexpensive to acquire). The problem with resigning Bogaerts: he will want a boatload of money and does it make sense for the Red Sox to give him that money when he doesn't excel defensively? He is a weak defensive SS and his defensive is only going to decline, it isn't going to get better.

Would this be a crazy idea for 2023: 1b: Casas 2b: Story SS: C.Koss (great glove) 3b: Bogaerts (resign) C: Wong LF: Verdugo CF: Duran RF: ??? DH: Devers OR 1b: Casas 2b: Story SS: Koss 3b: Devers C: Wong LF: Verdugo CF: Duran RF: Judge DH: Cordero I'm into this idea of making C.Koss the starting SS next year. I know, his bat is problematic, but his glove is first rate and the Red Sox need to adapt to the end of the shifts with a more athletic SS. I like T.Story at 2b. Koss and Story = great middle defense. The big question: should the Red Sox pursue Bogaerts or Judge in free agency? They are the same age basically. I guess it depends on how much more money Judge wants over Bogaerts, but Judge fills a big hole for the Red Sox in RF and Devers might not want to move off 3b The other option: 1b: Devers (move to 1b?) Casas gets another year in AAA, which might be good for his development 2b: Story SS: C.Koss (great glove) 3b: Bogaerts (resign) C: Wong LF: Verdugo CF: Duran RF: ??? DH: Cordero The problem with moving Story to SS: the Red Sox will have a hole at 2b. Arroyo sucks, and Jeter Downs is a huge disappointment. Who else is there? I would rather keep Story at 2b and bring up a quality glove at SS in C.Koss.

Bloom has done a nice job with the minor leagues. He hasn't excelled with the major league team so far, and that includes his shoddy work at last year's trade deadline, and he did too many weird things in the offseason: the poor bullpen, the losers in RF, the losers at 1b. This is all unacceptable, but Bloom can grow into the job and get better. I would never fire him at this point, but he hasn't proven himself as an elite GM either.

We can now safely assume that Judge is going to get over 300 million. The only question for Judge is whether the contract is closer to 300 or 400 million, but it will be over 300 million.

Interesting: Bogaerts and Judge were both born in 1992. Judge is roughly 6 months older than Bogaerts. Judge is going to get a bigger contract than Bogaerts, right? And if Bogaerts is going to hold out for Judge money, the Red Sox might as well pursue Judge instead.

You're probably right. But the Red Sox need a CF, RF, and C next season, and they may need a 2b as well (if they don't resign Bogaerts and move Story to SS). As such, I'm trying to cut corners with catcher and invest more heavily in the other positions. Where do the Red Sox find a starting catcher anyway, there are so few available?

Dave Winfield was 6'6, more lanky than Judge but athletes today tend to be more muscle-bound. Winfield was hitting 26 HR at age 40 and 21 HR at age 41. I think Winfield is our best comparison and Winfield had an .867 OPS at age 40. Open up the check book for Judge.

You only need one team to fall in love with Judge and decide they want him as the face of their franchise and the price can go over 300 million, especially if Judge continues to rake this year at an MVP level. And since the NL has the DH now, that increases Judge's marketability in terms of a long term contract--NL teams like the Giants can move him to DH in his late 30s. If a team like the Giants make him a 300 million dollar offer, it'll be really interesting to see how the Yankees respond to that. Will they let him leave or do they increase their offer to keep him? I think Steinbrenner gets involved and resigns Judge but it will cost the Yankees a fortune.