5GoldGlovesOF,75

You really think he'll stress about guys on a mound the same distance away as in the minors, when there'll be so many new choices to adjust to: filet mignon or the crab legs? silk pjs or robe? monogrammed hood ornament or racing stripes on the hot rod?

As a 64-old guy, I'd just like it.

How can a big league promotion ruin Rafaela with instant career improvements: better ballparks with better lighting, bigger crowds, first-class travel and hotels, and an increase in daily meal money from $25 to $117 (real restaurants, no more fastfood). Not to mention, a slight raise in wages -- Double A minimum $27K to MLB minimum $720K -- and the groupies... oh.

Sale on the IL is as likely as the sky is blue, Kike's shoes are green, and Mookie's last name is Who. I'm sticking to my offseason call: this season (and next) hinges on watching a couple of under-30 pitchers improve and find their groove.

Gotta feel bad for the front office, too. Sale was looking like a guy who could actually fetch someone's top 10 prospect at the trade deadline.

What the---? You know better than to question the favorite anagram of talksox: SSS!!!!! (and that doesn't stand for/surf for Silver Surfer Smiled)

I'm not smart enough to put my billionaire owner's money into a shortstop with an artificial brace implanted in his throwing elbow. Imagine the foresight recruiting a cyborg to play the most important non-battery position on the field! And it's too late for the rest of the majors; Cora said it again last night: Story is his shortstop... when he's uninjured.

By now, Bloom must be all pity pedals over the pitching flops he brings to Boston that keep getting transformed into Marvel movies by the sorcerers and alchemists in the indomitable Tampa R&D department. How much would it cost to lure a few geniuses up to New England? How about $10 million dollars -- the next time he wants to sign a Kluber for one year, Chaim could instead lock up a real front office difference maker for a decade.

That's why skeptics and realists posing as posters warned about it before the season began, during the offseason when GMs are supposed to be assembling. It was obvious to most that the deep but mediocre pitch-to-contact staff was going to need support from authentic fielders at key positions -- and not just versatile athletes that board game and fantasy players can move all over make-believe diamonds. Two quotes from Alex Cora in today's Boston Globe... "We're not a good defensive team." "We have a pitching staff that doesn't have swing and miss stuff." ... tell you all you need to know about making the playoffs.

Our people do, but we're not so sure about the guys who run the Red Sox...

Nothing against Kike the man -- what's he supposed to do, admit he's not a full-time MLB shortstop and ask to be a bench-warmer again -- but the big swing and miss is Bloom acquiring not one but two high profile shortstops that were obviously damaged goods. Neither have played one inning at short for Boston, and even if you're an optimistic fan, the nature of their injuries make it very dubious when they return that they'll be any more effective at such a key position than Hernandez.

There are still sightings being reported, at least of the first two! But I think one was by a couple of fishermen with a cooler of Bud.

Bloom and his pitching acquisitions are becoming more exposed. Labels like hit-or-miss usually mean when they don't give up hits, it's because they miss the strike zone. If Tampa ever has an ineffective pitcher, he's not a guy anyone hears too much about, and then he's gone... it's almost as if their system is a big gang of Bigfoots: a lot of sightings, but never any physical evidence of bodies or even bones when they die -- like their burial grounds are in another dimension. When Bloom came to Beantown, he left that safe portal to anonymity forever. Some college students pulling all-nighters (partying, not studying) swear they can hear him howling at writers and demanding fans in the witching hour. Recently, one undergrad had a brick thrown at him by a guy wearing ERod's old uniform -- same name and number. The projectile missed by a mile... but some say it was just a warning.

According to a stathead search on bb-ref, the best MLB reliever of this century was Jonathan Papelbon with a 5.0 WAR in 2006. Rivera had the 5th, 6th, 10th and 14th best seasons (all between 3.9-4.3 WAR). The next best Red Sox reliever was Kimbrel 3.6 in '17, and then this grouping at 3.5: Koji in '13, Pap in '09, Foulke in '04, Lowe in '00. Boston missed the playoffs in '00 and '06.

Some days he can, some days he can't -- it's why the Red Sox are likely to continue to their win-some-lose-some inconsistency (... or is that consistency?). Cynics may view the Kike-at-shortstop experiment as a ploy by Boston to basically just field a team and sell pretension of contention to the fanbase, but what's also concerning is the lack of any authentic fulltime shortstop in the system's next level at Triple A. The Bloom Era has always overemphasized versatility -- Marwin Gonzo was the Opening Day leftfielder in 2021 -- but shortstop is such a key position in stabilizing team defense. Instead, the starting shortstop in Worcester is David Hamilton, who the Sox won't call up, with multi-position guys like Fitzgerald, Koss, Meidroth and McDonough behind him or in Portland. No one is saying Marcelo Mayer should be promoted to Fenway this year, but there may not be anyone else the system down to Luis Ravelo in Single A projected as an actual shortstop. Remember, the Reds' Matt McLain made the bigs before high schoolers drafted ahead of him like Mayer and Jordan Lawlar because he's 23 and played D1. In the meantime, sit back and avert your eyes...

Hey, give him a chance! At least Dombro's no brittle dino -- he looks at the younger generation of Rays Way execs around the compass, and is willing to copy them.

Queen of Spades (not England)?

... maybe by August, after four months of swinging as hard as humanly possible, Devers is starting to develop some nagging injury or another that slows his production. I'm only thinking of the past two years now that he's slightly older: the hamstring that hamstrung him in '22, and the inflamed right arm in '21 that caused him to wear a protective sleeve down the stretch (that must've helped a little, since he was still clutch).

If we're going to use card-playing metaphors, better stick with spades and just shoot the moon: win all the hearts and the big bad Queen-- -- damn, did it again; not that moon... or that queen.

Are they using him as an opener? Or just as a normal starter in the modern era of short start derangement syndrome? I did notice in his '23 splits on baseball-ref that Strahm's stats as a reliever in 7 appearances are a lot better...

Chaim Bloom to the crowd at Winter Weekend: "... rebuilding for half a decade -- that’s not acceptable to you guys; that can’t happen in Boston.” He did make a multi-year offer to Eflin, who let's not forget was a Phillies' bullpen piece last postseason, all the way through the World Series. What's intriguing is that Eflin -- now 7-1, 3.17 in 9 starts -- was targeted for Tampa's rotation... and maybe Bloom's; was his old front office gang still sharing info or intentions, or does Bloom still think like them? Were any other clubs in on Eflin as a starter? What's also interesting is that Dombrowski in Philly signed a cheaper option, and allowed the new guy to then make a reliever-to-starter transition of his own. Please don't tell me $7.5 mil AAV is too rich to pay for a guy with a 3.90 ERA and 1.048 WHIP in 7 starts.

You know there is separate mold when it comes to starting pitching and Bloom. And unfortunately, it usually the kind growing on musty old arms before he'll offer one-year contracts... with options. Here, I googled it: "When the humidity is above 60 percent relative humidity, molds will germinate causing what is referred to as a mold bloom. These molds can bloom in many colors and are often confused with dust, dirt, foxing, or cobwebs. Both active and inactive mold can have a distinctive smell, which most people describe as musty."

What notin is saying is that if Philly really wants to keep him when the clock runs out, they'll have to deal someone else to Boston. So Bloom would ultimately get the Rule V fee and another body.

A few of us have been saying this for two months. A few more have been saying (in effect) Raffy shouldn't change anything... Keep swinging as hard as you can at every single pitch no matter where it is in the late innings with runners on base. As long as the approach remains the same, what opposing professional pitcher, pitching coach or manager would ever condone a fastball down the middle to Devers in such conditions?

But they'll swap some pelts for a dance.