5GoldGlovesOF,75

It's always reassuring for Red Sox fans on this Red Sox forum that -- even when things look grim -- we can always count on another empty diatribe by a bitter fan of their annually choking arch-rivals. Where would we be without our Optics Mystic?

A quick list of Red Sox pitchers paid like top-of-the-rotation starters: Sale, Eovaldi, Price, Lackey, Beckett, Schilling, Pedro -- JFC, they all got hurt and missed considerable time on the IL. All had good to great runs, but none were really good investments for the life of his contract, except Pedro -- whose arm still required a two-week vacation every summer. In contrast, a lot of big money position players played or tried to play through their aches and pains: Bogaerts, JD, even Pedroia (whose jersey they had to rip away, just to get him off the diamond). Was Manny ever hurt? This excludes Story, who was clearly damaged goods no matter how hard he threw having a catch last month...

Bloom spoke directly to the fans at today's Devers Forevers presser (I'm totally with you on Raffy, but can't give Chaim much credit for trading Diekman, when he's the guy who signed him in the first place; but, at least he dumped him in time to get something useful). When Bloom said the plan was to build around Raffy, and alluded to what the Sox have coming, I took that to mean farmhands and not mercenaries. But don't get me wrong, like anyone else I'd love Soto, and maybe mega talents are the best get-what-you-pay-for way to invest. We know spending large and long on pitching has to be the worst odds -- as far as getting entirely healthy returns on the life of their contracts. Maybe the best plan is to pay big for star position players while just keep acquiring established MLB starters over-30 with a lot of mileage but know-how -- 1-3 years at reasonable rates -- and go heavy on cheap young power arms recycled from the minors to eat up the bulk of relief innings... which comprise half of every game nowadays. It works in other places.

You be clutching at semantics. And......... that clutch is measurable, notin (Red's 12-word post).

And yet, the ones constantly typing the label sometimes read like the biggest ones of all. Fans want their team to win, so they can cheer. When they lose, they boo because they can't. When their team loses a lot -- or even a little, because of what looks like obvious flaws -- fans complain, because they wish it was better. All fans are experts on how to improve their team (some even post ideas daily on webs blown into clouds). However, very few fans aren't disappointed in the present, but secure in the knowledge that in the future, a plan might work... especially if it's supposed to be five years from now.

Monarch might be the most appropriate if they're indeed endangered now (because humans are endangering everything).

The glass is half-full in the bullpen, with a new old veteran closer and a set-up man who doesn't walk batters. If only we could count on the good Whitlock or Houck to be part of it... The glass is half-empty in the rotation, with two new old veteran starters, plus the Flying Stickman from the 20teens, along with Bello and Pivetta. If only we could count on Whitlock or Houck to be good parts of it... The line-up? The only known commodities on the field are Devers and Verdugo. Casas could be good, Kike could be healed, and Yoshida could be a big leaguer. There's weakness up the middle: catcher, where Chaim wants an upgrade; second and short, where there aren't nobodies -- but no bodies; even center, depending on whether Kike moves to the infield. Turner can still hit enough to DH, but the holes are dire... right now: half-empty. This thread isn't called A Pessimistic View of '23, but no one can feel confident today these Red Sox will win more than they lose.

Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard!

I'd like to replace entitled with liable, please. It's a fan forum, after all.

Agree with all of this, except Kike on his one-year contract plays SS, Duran/Ref platoon in CF, and Rafaela is promoted to take over center midseason. What's the point of spending money on Elvis to win three more games, when 75 wins isn't much different than 72 wins...

bWAR 2019-22 (through age 25): Soto 20.1 Devers 14.0 Acuna 13.7 Alvarez 13.6 Tatis 13.6

Normal fan reaction to gaping holes in favorite team's starting line-up (and/or starting rotation and/or back-end-of-bullpen): let's go, make some moves. Normal front office uses resources to acquire the best available talent. Bloom Era: reported interest in all options, but only do what "makes sense," which is somehow to wait until the best players have found new homes, and only then pick off the leftovers with one year contracts.

I am -- in Florida next month. Throw them right in there and see what they got (with no pressure, since only Sam Kennedy thinks we're winning the World Series). There will be plenty of cheap replacement players available by the end of March if the front office thinks we still need to pretend.

No reason to spend any more money on acquisitions for '23 now. But -- looking forward to some February rookie excitement in Florida! Not going to suggest Mayer, who just turned 20 (only top prospects like Raffy and Xander make the bigs at that age)... but how about Valdez hitting bombs over palm trees and platooning at 2B, or Rafaela and Duran splitting CF and stealing first (now that Kike's our SS).

Don't worry, the Red Sox already hired a police escort to bring back Stephen Drew to play shortstop. And JD Drew to play right field. And Nancy Drew to solve the starting rotation.

The Story narrative officially sucks. It sucks that he missed almost the entire second half of last season, and will now miss at least the first half of this season (and that he struck out 30 percent of the time when he played). Most injuries are unpredictable, but everyone saw this one coming. Masa Yoshida better be good. We've got one last chance to make it real...

Some posters are obsessed with defending a CBO who told us less than a month ago that Story playing shortstop is "on the table." He just didn't specify lying on the surgeon's table. Remember, Bloom insisted that Story's range is so good he can compensate for having no arm, by throwing on the run. So why would Trevor have to miss any time? There's just no excuse for the front office on this, with Spring Training a month away. They need to better monitor the condition of all their players and have a better rapport with all their agents... so they can plan for contingencies, like losing one of their key, highest-paid players for a big part of the season. Again.

It would seem unlikely that Rafaela, 22, would be a huge upgrade over Jesus Sanchez, 25, who played half Miami's games in CF in '22 and has already shown extra-base pop in the big leagues the past two years (162-gm avg of 25 HRs). Sanchez did it in the minors, too, with a 1.000+ OPS in AAA, which Ceddanne hasn't even reached yet... I don't doubt Rafaela's D, since I watched him from the stands last summer. But like you said, the Marlins are looking for MLB offense this year. Verdugo and Dalbec would seem most expendable... But they're definitely preparing to deal a young arm, since they just sign Cueto. Scuggs on MLB.com says clubs are asking more about Cabrera over Lopez, coveting the big arm.

Good point. Lopez would be a good addition to an established rotation on a club pushing to go deeper into the postseason. But a case can be made that it's not worth trading future core Red Sox like Casas for even two of Miami's starters not named Alcantara. After all, the Marlins' under-30 rotation started for a team that lost 93 games in '22, and 95 in '21. And Miami also has two young position players better than anyone under-25 in Boston right now. Arguably...

Sale had a bad record in '19 but still had big strikeout games, like when he fanned 17 Rockies (but didn't win because he couldn't hear me screaming at the TV not to throw Arenado a fastball). He actually just beat ERod for team lead in Ks with 218... and no Red Sox pitcher has broken 200 since. Sale helped the Sox make the playoffs in '21, but was just coming off TJ rehab and was only really effective vs. a bad Baltimore club. Two years later, his arm should be plenty rested, at least. But we just have no idea to what extent a healthy and happy Chris Sale will recover and regain his mojo. It's similar with Devers -- who played at an elite level swinging with one arm at the end of '21, and not so much swinging on one leg the second half of '22. The difference is, Raffy will be 26 this season. Chris will be 34...

Sorry, still can't forgive her for poisoning the cannoli in GF III. All the technology in weaponry by then and she has to go ruin a good pastry. Clemenza was turning over in his gravy.

Only two more years at third? After all his progress last season? DH at age 28? We'd better pray not, but he won't be replacing lockdown discount candidate Casas, who's already as good as any Sox first baseman since Mientkiewicz stole the game ball (unless he's traded for Alcantara). Maybe Raffy won't be the next Adrian Beltre, but he won't be the next Adrian Balboa.

I was in on Chafin early in the offseason, and then I saw that he opted out of his contract. We know what that means: he'd want too many years in Boston than Bloom would want him in Boston. Calling Dombro, calling Cohen, calling Mickey D's!

Interesting prospect list by one website, dated 1/5/23. After Mayer-Casas-Rafaela, they have #4 Niko Kavadas, #5 Yorke, #6 Matthew Lugo, and #7 Bleis. It's a fantasy site, so Niko's .437 OBP is big... also, noted is Lugo's rise after shifting full-time to third base (he's 21, so there's still time to move him to another position, unless he can wait until he's 32 and Raffy's gone). https://www.pitcherlist.com/boston-red-sox-top-fantasy-baseball-prospects-2023/

Dusty Baker said Houston traded for Vazquez to pinch-hit for Maldonado and play in late innings -- not to upgrade the position, but to augment it. The Astros were never going to replace Maldonado as the #1 catcher last year. The reason they didn't trade for Contreras, instead, is that Dusty said he didn't want an All-Star pouting on the bench. Maldonado's been the Astros' top backstop the past three seasons, which includes two World Series teams, and the pitching staff -- a major strength -- is obviously comfortable working with him. The question for the '23 Red Sox catchers is how well will they adjust to the new pitch clock and pick-off limitations? The running game may be a bigger factor than ever... ... and a clever club may really benefit from the thievery possibilities. Maybe that's why Bloom hasn't been overly concerned with replacing power hitters since '21.