Hugh2

Chris Murphy has always been a starting pitcher up until very recently. So he's not really not "back" to relieving, but it's nice to see him doing well in that role. Teams are always going to develop a guy as a starter and let him fail before moving him to the bullpen, sometimes even if they think a move is inevitable it makes sense to give them the innings to work on developing a pitch, gaining strength, and work on other things. Sometimes I do with the Sox would be a little quicker to take some of these starters at the AAA level and move them to the bullpen.

For the first month of the season the Sox had one of the best offenses in baseball but couldn’t pitch to save their life. Ironically the script has flipped. The staff is 6th in MLB in era the past month. 5th in average and 4th in obp allowed. That’s crazy. The one constant is the defense sucks. You kind of have to hope they can just pitch and hit at the same time, If they can ever do that this Sox team will be one of the most potent teams in all of mlb. The only real way to improve this team is to shore up the defense. Hypothetically, that should happen with a healthy Chung, and Story back.

Well as someone who has a vested interest in changing people's hearts and minds, I can tell you personally that persecuting them for their beliefs is not the way to change their minds. If he refused to take down the posts and doubled down on his sentiments I would not have that opinion, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.

I mean, I'm about as optimistic as anyone about how well the Sox could be if they ever decided to hit and pitch at the same time but I don't think they could ever not lose. I mean, this team has certainly showed us they can lose the game they were supposed to win.

Yeah, I don't get that either. I can understand the argument for saying they were homophobic but being gay isn't a race.

I didn't realize he was that old when he tweeted it. Still, I know 15-year-olds are more mature than 60-year-olds. His comments were rooted in his religious belief, I still don't blame him for being brainwashed when he was a child.

I'm honestly not all bothered by the Dermody situation. What I would be more concerned about is if the guy currently still harbored those feelings and was outspoken on the issue, that guy I wouldn't want in my organization. I could really care less about what a young kid said, peoples hearts change.....and they certainly are less likely to change when you crucify them for the rest of their lives. I would be concerned if the Sox went and signed people that said something like that yesterday. That I would find much more bothersome.

The Mets, Padres, and Phillies are #1 #4 #5 in spending and are all sub .500 teams. I'm ALL for spending, and I believe there's a relationship between spending and winning but it's blatantly obvious that baseball has succeeded at bringing parity to the game. You can't just throw money at the problem as Steve Cohen is teaching us this year. YOu have to develop talent as well. If you trade 4 guys for one star that's fine, that's great, but if you have a mediocre to worse system then you're only creating other holes that can't be made up for by just throwing money at the wall. Look at a team like LA, yes they spend like drunken sailors, but they're looking much better than the Mets and have a much longer track record of doing it because they ALSO develop talent as well. The time to start cashing in your chips is when you're up, not when you're at break even.....which is what trading for ACE would be right now. It's not just about strategy, it's also about timing.

Don't apologize for having an opinion. Apologize for being completely wrong on this. I get it, I'm not opposed to your strategy either, but I'd rather make a move like that when both the farm and the system is rolling, which is not the case. We are still building for the future and while I agree that takes investment I just have a different opinion here. I'd be all in on Ohtani and/or Yama next year.

agreed. Blooms regime is truly a mix bag. He's done a good job of rebuilding the system and building depth and that bodes well for the future, but their moves at the MLB level are real head-scratchers. If at some point the Sox have a solid core with guys like Bello, Mayer, Casas, Rafaela, Whitlock, Houck+++ they are still going to need to supplement that team with big league talent.

I get that, but I don't think it's the difference you think it's. It's different, but there's not difference (if that makes sense). If a guy is on the trading block, you're competing in the market for him as well. Do we really think that the Red Sox were the only team in the market for Chris Sale when they traded for him? Yes, you have to pay the guy money, but you gotta pay someone that money. If you want to trade for a true ACE, you can say goodbye to guys like Mayer/Bleis/Anthony (although I'm sure a team would want some pitching prospects as well. So a package more like (Bello/Mayer/Anthony) likely gets you the deal. Yes, now you don't have to pay that guy, except in 2-3 years you probably do anyways, and now you have to pay to replace Bello, you will have to spend money on a SS now, and probably an outfielder too. Next years free agent class is good for starting pitchers. In my opinion, it would be very unwise to sit on the sidelines. You have also just reset, and have a boatload of money coming off the books sitting well below the cap. Houck/Bello/Whitlock would look pretty amazing with a true ace leading them AND knowing we will have Mayer behind them in a year. You can't buy a winning team with money alone, the Mets are proving that this year, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't strike when the iron is hot either. Next year is shaping up to be the right time to go big for starting pitching for this Sox team. It makes all the sense in the world.

exactly, and how much does a good hitting/pitching coach in A ball cost? or a strength and conditioning coach? not $300 million dollars. Good investment into personal pays for itself.

I'm sorry Red, let me answer your question properly. I want the Red Sox to be the best at scouting players on all levels, from the international markets to the amateur markets (high school and college) to the minor league and MLB level. I want them to invest in analytics, but I also want them to have scouts with the "best eyes" and I want the best trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, nutritionists, pitching coaches, and hitting coaches, from the DSL to FSL to A ball all the way up to Boston. There's zero reason why you can't be better at bringing in a better supporting cast with recruiting and $$$$

A.) is 33 average? B.) What does A even matter if all 33 of those people suck. C.) analytics isn't scouting, training, and player development.

Given how parity has come to baseball it should be blatantly obvious now that if this team wants to succeed they need to start really developing and investing in good scouting and development personal. Some armchair GMs might not like this, but you can't spend your way out of this. No matter how much you complain you can not speak that into existence. Just look at the state of the game, MLB has succeeded at bringing parity to the sport. The best way to flex your financial might may just be to spend more on scouting, coaches, trainers etc. Unfortunately, the best way to evaluate how well you're doing is in hindsight so it's hard to judge the current state of affairs but it seems reasonable to say they've done a decent job at improving at player development but their MLB scouting department sucks. They really can't afford to swing and miss on guys like Story, and even a lot of their smaller moves either don't work out or the guy gets hurt. Even guys like Duval who seem like good signings haven't contributed much because they've been hurt. Yes, Adam is back now but Joely is still out, will we ever see Mills or Mondesi on this team? Even the best moves aren't going to work out, but it really feels at the MLB level the Sox have been "swinging and missing" a lot more than they should be, and that needs to end. If the farm really is improving and a good core is coming up, you still need to make big league moves to supplement that roster. This may be an unpopular opinion but the Sox philosophy and strategy is a sound one......it's their execution of it that sucks.

I like Houck in the pen too, but I’m curious to see how he can develop as a starter. Wink stays in the pen. He’s the classic example of a guy who can’t cut it as a starter, but his stuff takes a big step up when you simplify your arsenal and can dial it up out of the pen. Sox actually have a nice young core I’d pitching if they can add 2 starters. One of them being an ACE. Seems fitting there’s a nice market for ACES this offseason

Urias, Yama, Ohtani all free agents next year. There’s no way this team should trade away its farm for an Ace. Go out and buy a guy to headline Bello, Houck, Whitlock

I knew I was going to miss someone.

They could also get extra draft picks for type a/b free agents too. You still get A pick now depending on where you stand on the luxury tax if a player rejects a QO and signs with another team. But you used to get TWO picks for some players. YOu could trade for a rental at the deadline, let him walk, and then get two prospects out of it. Some notable players they drafted because of that system. Clay Buccholz Jed Lowrie Brandon Workman JBJ

Anderson would cost a little more because he has an extra year of team control. I suppose the term "blown away" can be very subjective. He's going to cost more for the reasons I said, but it's not going to be an arm and a leg. I think someone like Yorke gets it done. And BTV has that as a HUGE overpay for the Sox, but I think realistically it's closer to fair.

the White and Red Sox also have recent history of trading with each other.

They are in third place behind Cleveland and Minnesota who are both better than them. If they're even more than 4.5 games out by the deadline they could easily become sellers. His option for next year doesn't make him unavailable, it just makes the return that much better for CHW opposed to going after someone like Amed who would just be a rental.

This team at the very least should be teaching the Sox the importance of defense. Yes, to some extent the defense has been made worse by injuries, and they've been forced to play with what they have to work with. And while some of that is due to a lot of injuries and misfortunes, it can certainly also be attributed to poor roster construction. Moving forward I hope Henry and Bloom take good hard looks at themeselves in the mirrors and say "Wow, our defense sucks, this is our fault, we shouldn't be so damn stingy on up-the-middle defense." What is mind-boggling is the fact that there is evidence the Sox value up the middle. Sox draft heavily up the middle players who can pick it, so they obviously value that type of player. If the Sox are buyers at the deadline two names I think they should take a good hard look at are Tim Anderson and Amed Rosario. Both these guys are having sub par seasons at the moment, but offer a lot of upside and could be poised for big second halves at a very low price. Even now, they would offer substantial upgrades over Kike at SS. I like Anderson, because he has a team option for 2024 and would offer a nice bridge to Mayer. They would also keep Story at 2nd, where I think his defense could be elite. But we will see how he looks after coming back.

It certainly is frustrating, it makes one wonder what this team could do if they could fire on all cylinders at once. Players struggle and go into slumps, but it's been a little surreal to see practically the entire offense disappear after looking so strong for the first 6 weeks

Not just stop getting freaking swept after winning a series