Hugh2

As a starting second baseman? the guy never played more than 250 at bats in his life and put up a .693 OPS that year. THat's not a guy who instills confidence as a starter. Arroyo was their opening-day starting 2nd baseman.

It has it's pros and cons. The only thing I dont' like about the lack of moderation in here is not the mudslinging or ramblings, but threads become unorganized. Almost everything gets lumped together into 3-4 threads at a time. It would be nice to talk about specific things in specific threads. Every thread inevitably turns into a few people bashing each other and a few manifestos written about the overall state of the organization. Imagine if there was someone here, who didn't tell people not to post or take stuff down but just moved posts to appropriate threads and kept conversations on topic.

There's plenty of legitimacy to firing Bloom, but he's obviously a scapegoat, and all these stories coming out are obviously a smear campaign to make the FO look good. Not saying any strife towards Bloom isn't justified, but if people can't smell the stink coming out of the FO on this, they have no sense of smell.

If Henry is ready to let it fly and give a guy a long term look. I think it's time to let Eddie Romero have his say, he's been with the organization for almost 2 whole decades, and he's been here for a reason. He's very good at his job, he's well respected, he knows Boston and our system, and he's our guy.

Doesn't exactly promote a selling point when looking to hire someone new. There's value in continuity, I'm hoping it hasn't been broken to the point that the Sox can't get and retain talent.

Edit. STarting pitching.

How often does a free agent signing, especially the big ones, ever return exact value or more? The trick is to not get completely screwed. The Story isn't out yet on Yoshida, or Story if he can stay healthy. Next year will be very telling. Can Yoshida improve in his Sophmore campaign? with his Elbow healed can Story be the player he was before Boston for a few seasons? If the answer to those questions are yes, then it makes Blooms replacement job simple, maybe not easy but simple. Pitching, pitching, pitching, and more pitching.

Because it's easy because people dislike Bloom so much. IT AIN'T A ZERO SUM GAME FOLKS!!!! It can both be true that Bloom failed in his mandate here AND the front office is instituting a smear campaign to wash all the blood of their hands. As if it was all Bloom and not them. These things can both be true, and as a matter of fact, I think it's blatantly obvious it is. The real question should be......"did you learn you lesson John Henry"????

Yes, which is why Henry is on the hot seat now. Did he fire Bloom to make him a scape goat, only to hire someone else who will "continue the work" or Did he fire Bloom because he learned the error of his ways and he has grown his balls back and he wants a guy who is going to make those big moves. Who he hires, and the decisions that person makes this offseason will answer that question.

That's right I forgot about that, but Story was your 2nd, who did they get to replace him at 2nd when they decided to move him over? Chang? Arroyo? when you look at the up the middle position together SS/2B they obviously left a huge gaping hole there to start the season.

No, Bloom wasn't hired to "rebuild" he was hired to rebuild the farm while still fielding a competitive team. He did that 1 year here. So he was 25% successful at 50% of his mandate. He did rebuild the farm, but half of that was because he didn't trade away guys, the farm could be even better if he pulled the trigger on some deadline deals so I give him b- on building the farm and a D+ Overall he gets a C. C doesn't cut it on big market team, C doesn't get you into a good college, it gets you into community college.

And who has never needed a rebuild at some point?

Kike was never the problem. The problem was the fact that he had to be your starting SS because the Sox didn't get a real replacement for Bogaerts.

Exactly, I'm getting angry all over again about how they threw TITO under the bus and smeared his name.

Anybody who is believes or disbelieves these reports 100% is a very gullible person. I don't disbelieve them, but the timing is questionable, there are obviously elements of truth in them but there's no way Bloom acted on his own without ownership's approval. Their hands are dirty too and they're throwing Bloom under the bus. That should be obvious to anyone with half a brain.

And yet Kike has been better in LA on both sides of the ball. It's amazing how a player can change when he's used right. This is what happens when you don't get a starting SS and throw the job on a guy like Kike.

half agree. You do have to do all those things......they just shouldn't take 5+ years. A well-run organization can rebuild in just a few.

I'm not ignoring the smoke, I'm questioning the timing and the spin. Henry very well could have instructed Bloom to trade Betts, or gave Bloom a no when he conveyed Betts price tag. That doesn't make it a lie when they say "yeah, he traded away Mookie Betts" I don't not believe these stories, I disbelieve that Henry and Co were in the dark and not on board with them, and to some extent may have even instructed them to happen. Bloom had his disadvantages and it may have been his time to go regardless, but this reeks of a smear campaign with the FO throwing him under the bus. As if they want to wash their hands clean of the last 4 years and say NONE of it was on them. That's BS.

This was Blooms biggest asset and disadvantage. He had a value system attached to guys, and he may have too good at that for his own good. Heres how. If you're the most rational guy in the room, and you have determined that player XYZ is worth $100, and someone else comes in and wants to pay $102 and you stick to your guns, you never get said player. Being too rational is almost a disadvantage. This was Bloom's problem, and it's why I think he never got a Right fielder in 2022. Those of us who defended the JBJ trade did so because at the time we thought it was a precursor to signing a starter to play RF, JBJ was going to be the 4th outfielder to shore up the defense. But Bloom never signed anyone else, because he was outbid on EVERYONE. This is why he couldn't trade Paxton, Eovaldi, JDM, and others in recent years at the deadline. He had unrealistic expectations. The Vasquez trade is actually starting to look like a very very very good trade. Two guys, 12 years of MLB service for 2 months of CV. Because one time he found a team willing to overpay and meet his price. At a certain point you have to be a little irrational if you're going to win the bid and get the guy. That's what Dave D was good at, and it's what the Sox need this offseason if they're going to fix the rotation. Because realistically they need 3 starters, and the place should be burned to the ground if they trade everyone they got to get them. They're going to (or at least should) be filling two of those slots in FA, and that will never happen under Blooms rational value system.

Agreed, I think he's a good one too. Wish we could clone 10 more of him.

Today I'm starting to see the forest for the trees, I find some of these reports troublesome and I'm certain there are elements of truth to all of them. But it just reaks of BS and Smear and Spin from the Sox front office.

I don't believe those reports for one second, that's the first thing he did and Henry let him live here for another 4 whole freaking years. If that is true, then it's on Henry that he kept him on for 4 years after trading Betts. Everything coming out now has to be taken with a massive grain of salt. There's no way Betts got traded without Henry's approval, he also may have been traded because Henry wouldn't allow the money it would have taken to resign Betts. There's no way Betts can not be on Henry.

People under estimate how desperate teams get. Pitchers losing a year and coming from TJ is so common nowadays that we have to look at it minus the lens of our own biases. It's perfectly believable a team could have thought they were buying low and could get a highly talented guy like Chris Sale for next to nothing.

So, I suppose O'Hallaran really is moving to another position. Not GM, not CBO then.

That's fair, but if he does Blooms bidding and then gets thrown under the bus and the organization loses a highly talented guy I'm going to be pissed. At a certain point there's value in continuity, and having a mass exodus of talent can have long-term implications.