5GoldGlovesOF,75

Bloom inherited the core of the greatest Red Sox team in franchise history. No fans know exactly what he was told to do with it -- all we know for sure is what Bloom did do, which is strip it down in four years so the only guys left are a brittle overpaid pitcher he can't move, and a still maturing slugger he admittedly "bet on" who could become another Miggy Cabrera or another Pablo Sandoval (but most likely, someone in between). The moves Bloom has made that we can't judge yet are additions to the farm system. A lot of prospects look promising, but right now it's all speculation. The moves Bloom has made that we can judge are the additions to the parent club. His strengths are finding some decent role players, like Whitlock (whose best days so far were as a rookie set-up man). At the same time, Bloom's weakness is jamming square pegs into roster holes, relying too much on utility disguised as versatility... resulting in mediocrity. But no one can say Bloom doesn't spend or sign free agents -- it's all about who he recruits. For every Wacha, it seems like there are a Richards and a Kluber. Luckily for Bloom, when he lets Wacha walk, interns posing as posters try to pretend Kluber is better, and Wacha's a mirage (just like he still must be this season, deluding voters into awarding him NL Pitcher of the Month). Bloom's big money signings excel in one or two aspects -- Yoshida is a consistent hitter and fundamentally sound; Story is a top athlete, with impact potential of speed and power (albeit with inconsistent contributions so far). Neither can be called complete ballplayers, but both are at least elite role players. Let's hope both stay healthy long enough to help form the next core...

That trio has two things in common: each guy made the majors at a really young age (20 or 21), where high levels of stardom earned them contracts averaging about $300 million dollars. Nick Yorke, Bloom's first first-round pick in 2020, looks like he could be a good big league hitter someday. But he's already 21 and still in Double A...

DEFENSE! Duran robs Vlad, who tipped his helmet, and the infield actually looked good last night. Hamilton and Arroyo turned a sharp DP (not "nifty" OB, because that's just uncool), Casas made some professional stretches and scoops, and Devers showed quick reflexes. Then Raffy plowed into Arroyo on the 9th inning pop-up, and Christian still looked pissed at the end of the game... doubt that happens with a veteran presence like Bogaerts directing traffic from short. Sure, it may take years for Mayer to take charge -- but Sox fans need only look to Baltimore and how quickly the O's turned respectable, once Rutschman became catcher.

Justin Turns on one!

Too bad the Sox' fast guys like Duran and Hamilton couldn't just bunt their way on base and steal around the horn to score a few runs. I know: how ignorant of me, a lowly fan, to expect professional ballplayers to be proficient in a basic hardball skill...

His legacy may be identifying, drafting and signing a lot of adolescent yet toolsy position players who develop into big leaguers... ... but Bloom sucks at assembling rosters fit for competing in the majors.

"A product" where fans "don't care about the players" is a worthy statement in the criticism of the Bloom Era. Some posters have said they don't care if the Red Sox have stars, as long as the team is competitive. That may sound like a logical take, but so is rooting for familiar faces, especially some who came up through the system and matured into mainstays. For a lot of fans, continuity still matters, and we're not just rooting for the laundry. Replacing mediocrity with different versions on new one-year contracts every winter has little fan appeal...

Maybe, but Philadelphia had legitimate star players last year, with the home run king all season, and the reigning two-time MVP coming off the IL and doing MVP things. Philly also played .700 ball in June, and .600 ball in July and August -- not exactly doing the one-step forward, two-step back dance that Boston has perfected in '23.

Putting this in the Realistic thread... ... entering the second half, optimists like to point the Sox are only five games out of a wild card spot -- just get in, and anything can happen; look at the '19 Nats, the '21 Braves, the '22 Phillies, the '04 Curse Breakers, etc etc etc. Realistically, even if '23 Boston rebounds to squeak into the postseason... what does anyone envision will be a scenario where anything really good can actually happen? They don't have Cy Young/ Hall of Fame starting pitching, like '19 Washington... or four new home run hitters acquired in-season, like the '21 Braves (though they already have Duvall)... or both the league MVP and HR champs, like the '21 Phils (though they used to have Schwarber). Maybe Duran, Hamilton and Rafaela will steal first more, so they can steal more runs, and stun opponents. Go-go-go Sox!

Oh my stars and garters -- don't you understand how risky that would be to the future well-being of the youngster, the Red Sox team, and the universe? I can't believe anyone would propose giving a baseball player a chance to play baseball in the best ballparks with the best-groomed surfaces and best lighting, in front of the best umpires and best crowds, vs. the best competition, under the best travel conditions, sleeping in the best accommodations, eating the best meals, and getting paid the best money. That could ruin a guy for life -- imagine how spoiled he could get...

Who are they CBing? That's a lot of SK. In fact, the whole team is full of JH.

The late-70s Red Sox loaded with borderline Hall of Famers signed the then-best reliever in baseball, Bill Campbell, who had 17 wins in '76 (not a typo), and the next year traded for 23-year old All-Star starter Dennis Eckersly, and signed the pitcher who won the '77 World Series in Mike Torrez. That was the first time in my life they ever were all-in acquiring serious pitching... and the '78 team won 99 games -- more than any other year the past half century except 2018... it just didn't work out.

You're talking Earned Run Averages? That ERA is different than Error Run Averages... or for Boston pitchers, those extra outs they're forced to get every inning are calculated into their Burned Run Averages.

LA also had more depth, as usual; of their top five in games started in '18 (21 or more GS), only two started that many in '19: Kershaw and Bueler, 24 years old at the time -- and the kind of young stud Bloom should be scouring the universe for...

That last line about getting lucky made me think of the recurring sentiment -- and exactly why I had no faith in this roster -- going into the season: "If everything breaks just right, this group of players could contend for a wild card berth..." ... and now, it could bring back a prospect at the deadline -- if we get lucky.

That '19 team was doomed from the start by two things: 1. the reason no one ever repeats -- pitching staff burnout (not "restgate") from throwing high leverage innings up to the previous November; remember, none of the guys in the championship rotation were as good nor healthy the next year, except ERod -- the youngest starter, and also the one who threw the least amount of innings the previous postseason. 2. the early schedule -- MLB conspired to send the champs on a dreaded 11-game West Coast road trip to begin the season (actually 13, since they made the Sox stop in Arizona to play two meaningless games vs. the Cubs after the Grapefruit League ended, including the day before Opening Day). Meanwhile, the first-place Yankees got to play their first nine vs. Detroit and Baltimore, two last-place clubs who combined to lose 222 games in '19. It's not unreasonable -- if the two rival schedules were reversed -- that the Sox might've opened 9-3 instead of 3-9... which maybe changes the way they approached the deadline and September (when they had a losing month, playing out the string).

I've said this before, in different iterations: Hitting a baseball is hard, and fans accept that even the best batters will experience slumps. Also, throwing consistent strikes is an art, and fans accept that even the best pitchers will have off days or nights. But nothing -- no aspect of baseball as a form of spectator entertainment -- turns off fans more than shoddy, erratic, piss-poor defense. Most of us acknowledge we can't catch, field or throw at a professional level... but that doesn't excuse the pros from not making the routine and even routine-difficult plays that are presented on a nightly basis. It's their job. The Red Sox are last in the American League in fielding percentage and first in errors (and that doesn't even count the confused/benevolent/on-the-take? Fenway Park official scorers). It doesn't matter who is coming off the injured list or when -- this team will never truly contend as long as the defense sucks.

At least the Red Sox are keeping pace with the Yankees... New York throws a perfect game, Boston fields two perfect games -- ZERO ERRORS! Never mind what your eyes told you (if you were actually watching the last two nights, or at least viewed the lowlights) -- just ask Fenway's official scorers! ... really wish some reporter would interview a few Sox pitchers and ask how they feel about the perfect D behind them.

I was a kid in the late-60s when I started rooting Red Sox, and they had a winning ballclub every year -- over .500 and usually contending through the summer -- from '67 through '82... They never won it all, but some of those teams were powerhouses in the Seventies when only two division winners in each league made the playoffs. The Sox were always entertaining with Hall of Famers and plenty of All-Stars, young studs who they usually made sure to keep in Boston at least through their primes -- except for underestimating the value of Fisk-Lynn-Tiant, which briefly led to the first fallow period. Then Boggs and Clemens put them back in contention through another decade, and after a few bad years, they got Nomar-Manny-Pedro and eventually rings. Nowadays, which Red Sox players do you look forward to watching? Which guy is a can't-miss at bat? Whose defense do you marvel at for its athletic excellence? What pitcher makes you want to wait in line to buy tickets to see?

Duz dumber rhyme with lumber... or qcumber?

Wait -- what? Sign some decent pitchers? Before the Red Sox are good again? Why waste good money on good players for a bad team -- haven't you been paying attention to the plan? Don't you read all the logical posts on talksox?!?!?!?!?! In Boston, you get what you don't pay for -- unless you're a fan, who pays Fenway prices for tickets, parking and concessions in pursuit of entertainment...

No, the low bar is building the farm system... because that's a basic part of the duties for any chief of baseball operations. I can't give Bloom credit for just doing his job -- and it will be years before we know whether any of his many high school draft picks become big leaguers with potential (much like Bello-Casas-Duran now, as products of the Dombrowski days). Bloom defenders laud his work in replenishing the Red Sox minor league rosters that were supposedly ravaged by Dombro. But how much grief does Dealing Dave deserve, when his trades fortified a parent club that won -- isn't that the ultimate goal of a GM? And even revisionists realize there were no Bagwells swapped out; the best prospects and their combined bWAR -- Dubon 3.5, Espinol 5.4, Kopech 5.5, Margot 12.1, Moncada 13.3 -- equate to the career value of John Valentin 32.2 and Daniel Nava 7.8. Valentin was underrated -- 12th in Boston bWAR since 1969 (just ahead of Fred Lynn and Yooook) -- but what GM/CBO wouldn't trade Val and Nava for a ring?

No doubt those players fill specific roles necessary on a big league roster. But when Bloom was hired, it felt like we were led to expect a boy wonder who would not only "win every trade" but land some superstars. Maybe not a Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields steal, but at least a Joe Ryan for Nelson Cruz type deal...

Look, I'm glad the Sox have some decent prospects in the minors. Some seem to have potential to become stars in the majors. For example, Bello dominated at every level, so it's reasonable to hope that will continue when many of those same peers from lower levels also make the big leagues. But for a GM or CBO, building the farm comes with the badge. Every club has the opportunity to draft and sign amateurs. There are zero bosses who build world champs solely by signing players from other teams. So it's hard to give Bloom too much credit for just recruiting prospects.

Bloom is definitely not running the Red Sox... can't say he's walking them, either. Meandering? Certainly, contorting them... but after four years, it's not so curleycute anymore.