5GoldGlovesOF,75

That's not silly, if we also acknowledge that maybe -- just maybe -- the tepid Red Sox pin cushions make all those AL East MONSTERS just look better than they actually are.

New perspective: since we all acknowledge that organizations develop prospects into big leaguers... shouldn't the guy in charge at the time get more credit -- even if he didn't draft the kid?!? If Dombrowski gets credit for not trading Devers or Benintendi when they were prospects, then maybe Bloom should get more credit for the progress that advanced Bello, Duran and Casas. We can't blame Bloom and his people for not turning Springs and even Braiser into stud pitchers, without giving them credit for guys they kept that made it. In a few years, what if a new Baseball Chief -- let's call him Breslow -- converts Nazzan Zanetello into a lights-out lefty reliever? Will Bloom be redefined as the hero for drafting him? ... I know, extreme case... but the whole ideal of taking all those best-player-availables is that they won't all stay at shortstop their entire careers.

When it comes to Red Sox GMs, being decisive, going all in on free agents or trade targets, is perhaps a most important trait. Spending really isn't the issue, but who they spend it on. Duquette landed Manny, Pedro, Damon (among others) -- and no one thought they weren't worth the investment. Epstein spent like a drunken Dombro, hit or miss -- for every Schilling and Foulke, there were Camerons and Gagnes -- but when he didn't want to keep a Cabrera or Renteria or Lugo, he never stopped, adding an Alex Gonzalez or Stephen Drew... Todd Walker became Mark Bellhorn -- get back, Loretta... Kevin Millar was going to Japan, but Theo redirected his flight. Cherington collected a lot of good vets that coalesced together to win a title. But his later acquisitions were bad fits: Hanley in left, Rusney in the majors, Pablo anywhere in a Sox uni... As a GM, Bloom was maybe most similar to Ben (sans the ring). Both were tasked with huge salary dumps, and Chaim's big expenditures, like Story and Yoshida also look like awkward investments -- so far. But what separated Bloom from his predecessors and made him an ultimate failure was his inability to lock down better bets with market value contracts, or swing deals for others under control by parting with prospect capital. Some might blame ownership on his roster-building. Then again, isn't his roster-building the reason he was fired?

Protect any pitcher with promise. Let somebody else draft Paulino and not trade him at the deadine.

Billy never made contact with Reggie, because Yogi jumped in, and Bill White pulled them apart. But as the Twins skipper in '69, Martin decked 20-game winner Dave Boswell at a bar. Minnesota got swept by the Orioles in the LCS that year and the next, then never sniffed the postseason for another 17 seasons... before winning it all twice, while Red Sox fans punched each other.

The A's and Yanks featured fistfights among teammates all through the Seventies, and still won half the World Series. It didn't work as well when Manager Billy Martin punched out his own players.

Fredo declined an interview for family reasons.

It's hard to compare the two staffs with stats, since balls fly in AL West air found in places like Arizona and Colorado. But Boston has to pitch in the OMG AL EAST -- the greatest division in history that never won a single postseason game in 2023!

I got a million of 'em (well, not so much anymore). I know a PHD who got scammed out of some funds on her cellphone... even with her husband yelling in the background not to give out any account numbers over the phone. "It's ok," she said, "It's the bank..." The fraudsters had cloned the bank phone number that showed up on her caller ID.

Kennedy was sold on Bloom, after Sam saw the name of the author of the top two books on Yale's reading list, the Iliad and Odyssey. "This guy studies Homers!" he told John Henry. "Don't hire anyone who studies Whiffers..."

That's hilarious -- you know you just posted a challenge to a few bitter rivals here to spend the rest of the day yelling about Schwarber, Strahm and best of all, Noah Song!

One quick search named only three ex-players as recent GMs: Billy Beane, Kenny Williams, and sitcom legend Ruben Amaro Jr. Dal Maxvill might have been the last to win the World Series as both player and GM ('67 Cardinals/'70s A's; '85 Cardinals). John Schuerholz made the Hall of Fame as the architect of last century's Braves division dynasty... but never made the Show (Earl Weaver's autobiography noted his smarts when they were minor league teammates). Maybe smarts broke the mold. Billyball took Weaver's analytics approach and created an entire department of just guys. After Epstein broke the curse, and the mold, everyone wanted their own Ivy League Boy Wonder to do the same. Baseball is full of patterns.

Don't know. Just like the ex-CBO, when it came to understanding the vibe of his players and heeding their pleas for improvement -- a collection he insufficiently changed or left unchanged -- much to their chafrowns. Uniformed personnel said as much the last two trade deadlines (when you said Bloom quit on his club). Their W-L records after that were maybe not coincidence.

Correct: biophysics and biochemistry. More important are his experiences with chemistry as a player and pitcher on big league diamonds, and in dugouts, bullpens and clubhouses. That background cannot be undervalued, especially for a candidate replacing a CBO who had none.

Breslow, 43, is also from Connecticut. While never running a big league club, he has experience as a valued member of the Cubs' front office. Now let's stop the comparisons there with any other "up-and-coming" (or down-and-leaving) execs. Breslow played in the majors for a dozen years. He was a good enough pitcher to be recruited for new teams 10 times. He understands Boston, having played parts of five seasons there -- as a member of both last place clubs and World Series champs. Lately, Breslow has been busy totally rebuilding the Cubs' pitching and developmental infrastructure. He was hired by Theo Epstein.

Fubar was on the IL when we signed him. But just wait -- when he finally arrives, he'll be better than anyone we could get at the trade deadline (for a prospect who might never even make the majors). You'll see. When the Red Sox promotions dept called last winter to offer season tickets, I told them they'd have to throw in free beer, pretzels and parking -- because my bank account was on the IL. But I said if they just wait until I get my tax return, it'll be better than winning the lottery. Then I found out I owe back taxes.

Eggs Romero, w a side of Breslow. Levine toast.

Yabadaba-JUICED BALL! Final Four: Philly 19 HR in 8 games Dbacks 14 HR in 7 games Astros 13 HR in 6 games Rangers 9 HR in 7 games ... vs. ostensibly, some of the better pitching staffs in the majors

No family considerations? It's surprising he even agreed to tell a translator to interview for the Red Sox opening.

World Series denier. Cora never won a single postseason game in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania or Michigan. Or on Pluto, Goofy or Uranus.

I approve of this postage! "Bearclaw! Help.....! Throw me a lifesaver! Noooo -- not Butter Rum... Wint O GREEN!!!"

It was Varitek! The silent assassin. He's the one who gave Cora the Underdog T-shirt. AC wore it, but his most anti-Bloom quote -- on the basis of pure facts -- was only, "The roster is the roster." Cora did not say, "The MAJOR LEAGUE roster is a JOKE, half-filled with MINOR LEAGUERS OR BELOW-REPLACEMENT LEVEL PLAYERS CUT FROM OTHER TEAMS... (that I could've reassembled -- and made a profit on -- by just charging a bunch of talksox posters to wear the laundry instead)."

Unless you specifically hire a CBO whose specialty is signing and trading for those guys; ... but why pay a premium, when you can sift through tag sales and flea markets for forgotten treasures? The unfortunate part is when the Chief finds a rarity, but refuses to take it to the Pawn Shop or Antiques Roadshow before they're off the air. At least you still get to keep what you pay for.

What -- no love for a CBO who won't improve his club because he considers them "underdogs" -- even though he's the one who assembled a roster bad enough to make them underdogs?

Why such venom for the Underdogs?