5GoldGlovesOF,75

Neither one of us meant to state our opinions as facts. I should have said, it's the the most overblown scandal in my history of baseball. And not just because at least half the teams in the bigs were documented to be involved in similar schemes (except the Yankees, since Manfred banned the public from seeing the evidence against them). There's Pete Rose betting on his team to win and lose. Then almost everybody and his brother sticking sports ball inflation needles in their butts to puff up and break all mlb records that others set on caffeine, nicotine and gansetts. And finally, sign-stealing. Only one has been an accepted part of the game since its invention... in a sport where "stealing" a base is an offensive strategy, and players and coaches are allowed to create, and try to crack, secret codes. And heaven forbid anyone use modern technology, like in 1951 when telescope and electric buzzer conspired on the most famous home run of all time at the Polo Grounds and "the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant!" At least we now have specially-approved transmitters and receivers so batteries can now plot in privacy. You can be sure no club will ever try to get an edge in the future and hire Sheldon and Raj to intercept such signals.

Unfortunately, I'm not amazed by people who read or hear a report from someone in authority like Rob Manfred, and forever after accept his words as fact, when there are literally many voices from the organization in question that have since pointed to offices above field management to expose the true "masterminds" of the most overblown scandal in the history of baseball. Did the coaches and manager use the resources passed down to them from the front office? Absolutely -- and only they paid the consequences of the wrong-doing. The players who truly benefitted got to keep their jobs, their rings, and all the riches that continue to come their way. And Landis probably wouldn't have suspended anyone for sign-stealing, which has always been an accepted part of the game since it was invented. He was more concerned with how the integrity of the game was affected by gamblers, and players trying to lose on purpose.

And for letting fans of the Blue Jays, Cardinals, Dodgers and Mets take over Fenway Park. This is the only antisocial media I frequent, so someone let me know if the Red Sox front office has celebrated selling blocks of tickets every weekend to fans who cheer for the other side... or if Henry and Werner are heroes with the Chamber of Commerce for boosting the tourism economy in the city.

Since Breslow named the big three as guys he's counting on soon, Mayer looks like a keeper. Hearing him in interviews at Fenway's prospect party this week, Mayer's poise already makes him a team leader type... it's evident the way he comports himself that he's been talking the talk and backing it up for a long time in his short life.

But Bloom sure did make some bad moves by not making moves. Ya, ya, it was easy for posters to suggest dozens of guys he didn't or wouldn't sign, or didn't deal for or dump at the deadlines -- and none of us have been hired by the Red Sox since. But none of us has been fired by the Red Sox for not making those moves, either...

What position is Cespedes playing and where does he project once he makes the majors?

You mean the owner of the club who -- after Manfred's scapegoats were suspended -- actually promoted some of the front office execs who devised the sign-stealing system?

You can't hide your lyin' eyes And your smile is a thin disguise I thought by now you'd realize There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes

How blessed we are that there is one poster who knows with certainty that only Houston's manager and owner played no part whatsoever in implementing a system devised by their own analytics department that helped the Astros' players. If only Hinch had more fortitude, and Crane had better hearing (the drumming could be heard on game videos all over the internet), and Luhnow hadn't GMed a front office that presented the scheme he eventually lied about, before throwing the entire organization under the team bus.

Employees of the Astros' analytics department acknowledged they invented the video sign-stealing system before Cora was hired by Houston. Cora admitted he helped implement it, along with the baseball players who confessed to actually using the system to enhance their performances. After pointing their fingers at management, none of the Astros were even banned from one single at bat. If Landis was still commish, they'd be making a new movie about it called "Fifty Men Out."

So Theo actually honored the name Moneyball, while the A's and Rays were No-Pays.

Sounds like he's still shoveling it, even when trying to edit himself: "if I was going to say it again, I would say that we’re going to be pressing all levers"... Shouldn't Tom push or pull a lever? Then press a button? Someone that into TV who sets himself up for a Sheldon loses credibility.

And yet, Cora's shoulder blades were the roadmap of immunity for all the Astros' players and their daggers...

Breslow and Bailey are here to teach pitchers, fix the pitching staff, and change the system. B&B... Bread and Breakfast... or with disrespect to recent comments: No-Bread and Makefast. N&M. With their expertise -- and we'd better accept that this could represent this offseason's big change -- who are the big leaguers they can help improve in 2024? They paid big bucks to show they could turn Giolito around. And certainly, the younger guys like Whitlock, Houck and Crawford would be candidates for some prime tinkering. It's not hard to see all of them become different pitchers after buying into new throwing programs brought on by fresh, new voices with track records of success. Whitlock and Houck are more than a year out from structural procedures, presumably healthy and physically ready to let it fly. Pivetta is another who could benefit. He already showed he is willing to apply lessons learned from Chris Martin, who learned from Ohtani. Which leaves us with Bello. The pupil of Pedro took steps forward last season, but his stuff still seems like it could dominant even more -- at least on a consistent basis. Brez and Bailes are the new mound gurus. N&M. Please stand up, please stand up.

Can the Red Sox just raise ticket prices again?

... he may have believed that then, but the guy is certainly being honest with us today

"But I think the reality is..." But = (dictionary definition): "contrasting what has already been mentioned" I think ~ I've realized the reality is ~ this is not what I agreed to, when accepting this job Quote from Brez' introductory presser, Nov. 2, 2023: “I don’t see financial resources as a limiting factor.”

Basically, we need you to sign an extension to buy tickets and NESN for the next decade and show patience while we draft and develop players who will become big leaguers we can pay MLB minimum to form a decent team. After about 10 years, we could be pretty good for many seasons after that. If you die by then, hopefully you'll kids will take your recliner.

A lot of us? Isn't that most posters? Is someone not old enough to keep looking over his shoulder for a guy in a hoodie holding a scythe? Or is that a new CBO who answers a question about competing with a sentence that begins: "But I think the reality is..."

They sure proved him wrong, because 75% of the seasons of the post-Dombro Red Sox have been good enough to finish as the fifth-best team in the AL East. The only thing Dombrowski did in Philadelphia is turn around a losing club, get them into the World Series the next year, and keep fandom excited with plenty of star players collected on sustained contenders.

He has kind of become the Howard Hughes of MLB.

I don't really care whether the Sox sign Snell or Montgomery, though I've suggested acquiring the latter since last July. But Boston needs more good pitchers now -- not when the team is good again, which is really hard to be without quality starters... (he said, ad nauseum). And there's no such thing as "wasting" a good pitcher's prime if the club isn't a strong contender in any specific year. A good pitcher makes a bad team better in so many ways, not the least of which is to change the culture of upgrading a low-end roster. Lights-out pitchers limit the times a bad D handles the ball, and reduces the amount of runs a bad O needs to win games. That alone improves a ballclub, not to mention the rest provided to the bullpen, which will then be better positioned to help win future games. A good pitcher can even make teammates better, like when Ohtani taught Chris Martin the best way to throw a splitter (Martin is already paying it forward in Boston).

I'd keep Rafaela because elite defenders are rare, especially in Boston these days. If your pitching sucks and you won't upgrade personnel, the best way to help improve it is with good defense.

We all know there's a lot of luck in the development of prospects a GM/CBO drafts, and those kept vs. those traded -- mainly because there are entire departments of employees involved in scouting, analyzing, discussing and arguing who comes and goes. It's also hard to call Dombrowski or Bloom good or bad at drafting, compared to say, Epstein, who had more free reign to give out big bucks to sign top picks. Overall, the draft is just part of their job, and the way most teams operate -- grabbing the consensus BEST player left on the board when it's their turn -- it's hard to be really good or bad at it. But one thing that separates the big wigs is being decisive enough to actually use some of that prospect capital to acquire talent evaluated outside the organization. It was a speciality of Dombro's, a weakness of Bloom's, and a trait that might make or break Breslow... and our summahs!

I've posted before how I was horrified when Dombro dealt the system's #1 pitching prospect -- but of course he never made it, and Pomeranz was a key guy for the '17 division champs. A few points: Espinoza was the first "next Pedro" but those Sox were fighting for first place and going for it. So that trade was more reasonable for a contender than a club that say, finished dead fifth in 75% of the last four seasons, swapping their best all-around positional everyday prospect; that Dombro deal, in retrospect, was also a prime example of how overrated the narrative was that he razed the farm... or how astute he was in knowing which guys to keep and which to sell high.