Hugh2

I'm not sure who to blame more with this thought I'm about to share but I'm leaning John Henry's way. Sox are a big market team, and after resetting the luxury tax and sitting 100 mil below I'd fully expect them to add pieces to the team of the future with the core thats here now and guys like Mayer on the cusp. If Payroll goes up and it's jut more middle-of-the-pack guys then I blame Bloom, but if the Sox don't go big at all I blame Henry. If not, then heads should roll. I have zero problems with them doing what they did the past few years if they go out and sign someone like Ohtani this offseason.

No you shouldn’t go on, you’re just making anyone reading your posts dumber.

I saw that attitude when he was in Portland. His stuff is unhittable when he's on, he's still so young, it's great to see a pitching success story in Boston after so long.

When Sale was still in Chicago it was widely speculated that he was going to need elbow surgery one day. Scouts always saw an effort in his delivery. Sale getting injured was extremely predictable. They took a chance with the trade. They took a chance with the contract. They ended up going 1-2.

His average/ops by month April .137/.585 May .257/.766 June .267/.848 Keep in mind, the average batting average and OPS for 2023 so far is .248/.729 You take out his first month this seasn (as a 23 year old rookie) and he's an above-average hitter. It's not unreasonable at all given his talent, age, and upward mobility that he's only going to get better.

Told ya'll Bello was going to be good.

Are we seriously complaining about Mickey Romero and Nick Yorke here???? haha

I remember when I had my first beer.

What's the point of trading Kluber though? you won't get a thing back for him, especially if this is not a phantom injury. Don't say salary relief, the Sox don't need it.

The scouting report even says will likely move off of SS at the pro level. It helps to read up on these guys other than just reading their names and position.

I always thought the reasons for not developing pitchers was multi-faceted, and I think few would disagree. 1.) Drafting more hitters than pitchers. 2.) The player development personnel on the pitching side failing young players. 3.) Luck...yes I think it's partially luck. Because at the end of the day, no one can predict or mold how a human being is going to develop with precise precision even if you do everything right. The thing is, if it's #1 and #2 more, it's going to take a long time to see the results. Think about it, if you put into place the best pitcher development staff, and the best amateur talent scouts for pitchers alive it would not result in instantaneous results. It would take years to see the fruit of that labor. What we are seeing now is encouraging, but I'm not ready to declare victory yet. How things develop over the next few years will tell us if it's more 1&2 or if this recent trend is more #3. You'd think if it's more 1 and 2 they'd have a pretty good ideal internally, and maybe shift towards spending little bit more draft capital on pitchers. Which to be fair, in terms of numbers they do enough, they're just taking pitchers later in the draft.

Next year we are one year closer. I see the next wave of talent percolating up 2024/2025. Also, it's my opinion to look at things over a multi-year horizon. If you want to add an ace, maybe it makes more sense to add an ACE in 2025, but the market is better for it in 2024. So you buy in 2024. That's my reasoning, otherwise, I can understand why those two statements seem contradicting.

Got to spend it somewhere....unless we truly want our beloved Sox to become Tampa North.

Yes exactly, they couldn't develop talent, so why waste resources, until you see your development machine, is turning out product, then you add to it.

Do the people advocating for trading for an ACE realize how many aces are on next years market?????

An ace does nothing if the rest of the team isn't also great. Angels literally have two of the best players to play the game in the last couple of decades on both sides of the ball and they've sucked for years with both Trout and Ohtani. This is why I fall into the category of, you acquire a pitcher to finish off a team, not to build a team. I want sustainable success, I want multiple championship runs. I'm a spoiled new england sports fan, but I'm also a patient man. I have zero problems waiting an extra year or two if it means a decade of dominance. Now maybe Bloom is far far far from the man to bring us there.....but the strategy is sound. If I was John Henry.....and I'm not, I'd bring in Ohtani at all costs.

If anything Casas is the golden example (or starting to look like it at least) that you don't always mess with a guys approach, even if the results aren't there if the approach is sound. Casas is still just 23 and a rookie, he's still adjusting and getting better. Sometimes guys just need time and NOT to be tinkered with.

You're not getting one for Rafaela either. You'd need 3-4 prospects of his caliber to get an ACE with one of them being closer to Mayers caliber. Emptying the system means you're adding to this team less in the future. So unless you think an ACE makes you a lock to be a WS contender for the next several years it just feels like the wrong time to strike. Especially when one considers that next year you're sitting 100 million under the cap, just reset, and have a much better ACE class than you did this past year in FA. I'm very very very encouraged by Duran, but I wouldn't be making him a lock to man CF for years to come just yet, Yoshida is not a good defender, and Verdugo will be in his last year next year. I'd rather buy and ACE than an outfielder for 2025, and I'd be perfectly happy adding him to next years team. Ohtani? Yama? Urias? Nola? just to name a few off the top.

Plus we still don’t truly know what Duran is. Sure, his stock is up, and looks like a much better big leaguer than he did last year. But more important is the fact that there’s three outfield positions. Yoshida might really only be a DH in a few years and Verdugo is a free agent after next year. I’m not looking to trade my outfield depth right now. I’d be more open to it if it was for an Ace with good FA options. But the outfield market year in and year out is very very thin. Who can we sign next year? Teoscar Hernandez? Michael Conforto? I actually wouldn’t mind Teoscar on this team, but I love the ideal of a GG defender in CF more.

You expect people here to have memories and stand by their opinions of the past? you expect too much.

JD literally looked like he was toast last year and everyone was ready to move on from him. I always liked him, I'm happy to see he's got a little bit left in the tank. That's one thing I'm never going to fault the front office for however. He played his contract here and performed, they moved on, he looked burnt and NO ONE wanted him here. It's a completely hindsight opinion.

I don't think they should sell.

If the Sox DID sell, seeing how they're below the cap I think it makes sense to maximize their value by throwing money in. Don't think that happens with Sale and Story, but certainly guys like Kike, and Jansen could make sense. Jansen is probably your best shot at a good prospect. If we are truly sellers, Martin could be thrown in there as well.

Yes, logically that's probably the best decision until Houck is back. I wonder if they try to move Kluber back, with maybe Pivetta set to piggyback him on days if he doesn't "have it" which by my about 60-70% chance on any given start)

That's not new, although I would say it's new and the trend that guys coming out of the pen are valued more in todays game, evolving all the way from hardly existing. But I think anyone would be, or at least should be better out of the bullpen. Any pitcher that had to go from throwing 6-7+ innings per start to going 1-2 is going to shorten up their arsenal and reach back more adding velo. That's going to make any guy better only having to face a lineup one time.