Hugh2

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

I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again, the Sox are better when Kike plays anywhere but SS. Great pitching performance. This is definitely not the best Sox team we’ve ever seen but if they can get the pitching and offense going at the same time they can stick around for a while.

Then you’re out Yoshida or Verdugo. Unless you’re playing Verdugo in CF. Which given the way this season has gone….isn’t the worse idea

Last year was a disaster, this year could be too, but getting under the tax line should be zero issue because….well they’re already under. Sox actually have a lot of room. Hypothetically they could take on salary to either lesson a prospect package for a player or buy some prospects.

If the Sox are in "sell mode" it wouldn't be the worse move. Bloom seems to love this sell-and-buy strategy at the deadline. Wouldn't mind seeing them cash in on someone like Verdugo and bringing in a big RHB. I'd love a CF/RF RH who can hit, or a RH SS with maybe 1.5 years of control left. Perfect bridge to Mayer. You could probably make moves like that and still be set up for an October run if everything breaks right. That kind of seems to be Blooms M.O. too......straddle the deadline.

Yeah, but who was available in the OF market this past season? I know how much you lose this question.

One can only hope he can pick up where he left off. He really set the roster straight by sliding into SS.

Not that I'm against selling high on Rafaela, but why do we think we are "selling high" on him? any deficiencies you or I can see in him you better believe a MLB team scouting him has seen. The risk of him not hitting because he swings at everything is built into their value models as well.

I mean, our we that concerned with the AAA roster.

Not really sure why people are getting upset by Dermody, he was literally acquired to be depth in case they needed a starter for a game and he served that purpose. THey obviously do NOT want to move Kluber and Pivetta back to the rotation (something I think few would be unhappy with around here) and they can't recall guys they just option down to Pawtucket, so they had limited bullpen options if they even did wanna move a guy out of the bullpen and into the rotation. All MLB teams end up making a few moves like this every year.

Devers has been a disappointment so far this season. I just don't think he's truly a #1 $300 million player. I think he has a better chance of being that guy if you slide a big-time bat in next to him. I think he can be a 1A 1B type player in the same way that Ortiz/Manny were to each other. Just another reason to go hard after Ohtani next year.

Yeah, well....he doesn't have to have a half-a-billion-dollar payroll to make some big splashes either.

I'm not one of these fans that's going to rag on the Sox when they don't land Ohtani......but I won't be upset if John Henry channels his inner Cohen and goes 480/10 and brings him into Boston.

First off when is the last time the Sox gave anyone $300 million? I mean you have Devers but that's it, no other example and he was an extension and not a FA. No, middling moves look like your Trevor Storys, Kenley Jansens, Adam Duvalls, Nathan Eovaldi, and Michael Wachas of the world. We've seen that strategy tilt in both directions. No better example that the 2013/14 seasons, where Drew/Victorino//Napoli helped you win a WS and then all your investments fell off the bridge the next year and you stunk. To me that's a real bridge year, bridge year doesn't mean NOT going for it. I'd say technically the 2013 WS team was a team that won during bridge years between the 2004/7 team and the 2015-2018 team. Yeah that's my argument, when I argue it's not worth going after Ohtani, but today I identify as someone who really really wants Ohtani on their team. I'm also not so sure he gets 600, even 500 is pushing it but I think he could eclipse that. Yes, teams are going to go hard after him, but it's like that for the top free agent or two every year. He's currently worth two 30 million players a year, but he's probably just going to be a DH 5-6 years into the contract. That puts him at about $450.....someone probably throws another 50 million at him somewhere. This is why I like Yamamoto, he might just as good and will cost 1/3 of Ohtani and that's assuming worse case scenario in a bidding for Yama. He's also 5-6 years younger than Ohtani too.

That's kind of been the Sox M.O. now......with mixed results.