dgalehouse

All of the Luxury Tax teams are in the playoffs except the Red Sox.

John Henry was conspicuous by his absence at that session.

Any playoff predictions? I would say that the Dodgers are clearly the favorites. But I like the Mets chances. They have a lineup that can score enough to win. They have DeGrom and Scherzer with Diaz to close. Showalter is one of the best managers in the game and he is way overdue to win one. They have to get by a dangerous Padres team in the crap shoot , but I think it could be their year.

I agree.

Verlander has beaten the Sox a few times in the post season. All within the last five years.

You can't be serious. Do you even follow baseball ?

Decimated the farm ??? Dombrowski could have been arrested for larceny the way he outsmarted the other GMs. Kopech and Moncada were traded six years ago. So far , they have amounted to very little. Margot was traded seven years ago . He is having a mediocre , run of the mill career. Who was that other stiff ? Logan Allen ? Too funny. The Sox actually beat the Yankees and won the division three straight years. Light years better than finishing dead last. Now we are actually still blaming it on trades that were made six and seven years ago ? Give me a break.

The Cooler.

If you overhauled and significantly improved the bullpen, without doing anything else except signing Bogaerts, this would be a much better team. That should be the main focus.

The Sox played the A.L. East schedule. And all the other A.L. East teams seem to be doing okay with that schedule. In Inter league , they played the N.L. Central , the weakest in the N.L. It would probably have been worse if they played the N.L. West or East. Don't complain about the schedule , assemble a better ballclub. The Sox won the " toughest division in MLB " in 2016, 2017 and 2018. That should always be the goal. Last place sucks.

The players you list as Bloom's " hits " are actually just the kind of guys who fill out the roster of bad ball clubs. Nothing to build on or write home about.

My answer is " no". I think 2021 is only good as compared to 2020 and 2022. It was not a rousing success. The Sox tied for second and third , 8 games out of first and just one game out of fourth. They did have a nice little run in the playoffs. In no way does that compensate for the two dismal last place finishes.

The won - loss record is what matters the most. It 's not about " Bloom bashers " , it's about reality, honesty and success or failure.

The results speak for themselves. Our Red Sox are in the cellar , 23 games behind the Yankees. The Blue Jays are beating the Sox like a drum. It has been a very disappointing season , to put it kindly. Bloom is the man in charge of baseball operations. He has not done a good job . Cora is the manager. He has not done a good job either. How many of his moves are dictated by the front office ? We don't know. The off season is approaching. Both Bloom and Cora will be back next season. We can only hope they do their jobs differently and much better. We cannot have a repeat of this year.

Last night slammed the cellar door shut for this season. No getting out now. Nice job guys.

We will soon find out if this year's results cause Henry to decide that he has to spend more money to put a better product on the field.

Toronto hasn't locked up the fourth seed ( first wild card ) spot yet. It matters because it would give them home field for the best of three series with the Rays or Mariners. Until they do that , they will probably play their regulars.

Anyway , I think the Sox will , and should , sign Bogaerts and extend Devers. How much it will cost is another matter. Xander certainly deserves more than Story. Raffy is a very good , young hitter. But he is not the multi talented , Hall of Fame caliber superstar that Mookie is. Nevertheless , the Sox do need to retain these guys.

Last I saw , it was his heel that was hurting. Now , it seems he is just under the weather. Maybe just bad luck. He was pretty reliable in Colorado.

So far , I think it is a bad signing . He is being paid a lot of money. Missed almost 70 games. Hit .238 , with an OPS a bit over 700. Turns 30 next month. I do agree that he has home run power and made some nice plays at second base.

Looks like Story is not feeling well. Not expected back for the remainder of the schedule.

Personally, I would have walked Vlad, but you could argue that Kirk actually has a higher batting average than Vlad, in a situation where a base hit will beat you. Anyway, the whole " ghost runner " thing is stupid. Are they going to keep it in the post season ?

One of Dombrowski's biggest mistakes was in the 2018-2019 off season. Kimbrel (40 plus saves) and Kelly (hard throwing set up man) both left and he did literally nothing to replace them. He just figured that what was left in the bullpen could take up the slack. But they couldn't and it was one of the reasons for the team's decline that wound up costing him his job.

Signing Bogaerts and Devers can and should be done. Just have to be willing to spend the bucks. But that alone does not improve this team. Signing a so - called ace is fine , but he is only going to pitch about six innings every five days or so , and could break down any time. You need the bullpen almost every day. It is very difficult to be a winning team without a first rate bullpen. That is more so the case today than it was years ago.

Here is the list. Team ERA SV H ER WHIP HR BB SO Pittsburgh 4.84 30 612 331 1.45 68 282 562 Colorado 4.77 40 511 285 1.39 60 235 496 Cincinnati 4.72 30 547 305 1.42 78 281 596 Kansas City 4.70 32 553 290 1.49 58 276 516 Boston 4.55 35 537 299 1.35 65 259 597 Arizona 4.55 31 527 269 1.38 62 210 455 Oakland 4.44 33 520 267 1.38 61 225 504 Chi. Cubs 4.25 40 570 295 1.33 97 264 678 Philadelphia 4.20 40 454 234 1.37 47 234 547 Miami 4.16 36 515 241 1.40 63 216 546 Chi. White Sox 4.12 44 510 253 1.31 56 214 574 San Francisco 4.01 38 599 266 1.37 61 218 532 LA Angels 4.00 33 481 251 1.24 80 216 527 Washington 3.99 28 553 265 1.30 80 226 548 Milwaukee 3.93 50 470 243 1.22 77 208 601 Minnesota 3.89 27 572 269 1.30 76 238 645 Toronto 3.85 43 509 247 1.24 76 204 569 San Diego 3.81 46 447 213 1.22 50 165 493 Texas 3.78 35 513 253 1.26 61 245 584 NY Mets 3.67 40 460 213 1.24 66 189 597 St. Louis 3.65 36 470 219 1.24 57 198 480 Baltimore 3.46 43 542 230 1.23 61 196 557 Detroit 3.46 34 491 220 1.25 43 223 557 Seattle 3.34 38 387 188 1.10 59 173 538 Tampa Bay 3.32 43 555 241 1.15 82 197 625 Cleveland 3.09 47 398 176 1.13 50 179 546 NY Yankees 3.06 44 417 181 1.18 36 214 540 Atlanta 3.05 51 419 177 1.16 50 185 592 LA Dodgers 2.97 40 403 178 1.05 52 164 577 Houston 2.78 50 359 145 1.14 32 174 535