5GoldGlovesOF,75

How many corporate patches does a team have to sell before it can afford a big league first baseman? Ok, Casas wasn't quite ready to take over fulltime, before he was injured again. But the Red Sox knew Shaw wasn't the answer when they cut him after the first month for hitting .000 (zero). Can anyone imagine the Yankees or Dodgers not spending funds or prospect capital to immediately acquire half of an MLB platoon at the one of the most common positions to fill in the majors? Can anyone imagine NY or LA instead promoting a minor leaguer who already proved he couldn't play outfield in the bigs to learn an infield spot in. The. Show? And finally, after 100+ games of paralysis, Boston adds a major league first baseman to its roster only because another club paid them to take him?

Would it surprise if Henry (or one of his acolytes) votes "He's great!"? What if Bloom is doing exactly what he was hired to do, which is carry out a grand plan of cost-cutting -- while mouthpieces like Kennedy insist they're still going for it -- with a eye on ultimate contention via sustained salary "sanity" (translation: below big market market-values)? The goal is still to win, not tank, but ideally when actual young pre-arb talent gels at the big league level... and most importantly, the "sustained" aim of Bloom's sustained contenders is to keep cores together by pre-empting free agency and buying out years on big but not bank-busting contracts. Imagine Casas, Mayer and Bello all making MLB All-Star teams in a few years, and the Sox locking each of them up longterm for $100 million apiece... instead of spending all $300 mil on one Devers. What would be best for the franchise?

... not for someone working for the PR dept.

I agree there's always an adjustment period that includes new pitchers, coaches, teammates, systems, apartments, menus, time zones, groupies, etc. A few posters for some reason dispute such factors (except for maybe prevailing winds). If we accept that many big leaguers are guess-hitters -- since it's almost impossible not to guess for humans facing pitchers with 100 mph fastballs mixed with same arm-speed change-ups -- then how much difference is there really between Trevor Story and say, Dalbec-Duran-Downs-Franchy, who are also seemingly in constant 0-2 counts? And don't say: "$139,300,000 dollars."

Vazquez was maybe overrated as a receiver the past few years (though a rare catcher who could hit). However, disruptions and ambivalence in the clubhouse over trading such a valued comrade in what is supposed to be a playoff push can be underrated. It's still arguable the Red Sox are better with three new big leaguers, even if Bloom had no intention of adding an MLB first baseman until the Padres basically paid him to take one. A wild card is a longshot but not impossible... though old (and new) pitching has to get and stay healthy -- btw. Bello looked good vs. Houston yesterday. For '23, a middle infield star is not a top priority, even if X is Xed off; a glove guy like IKF is more important at SS for a contender. The big market Red Sox should be able to find a big bat or two for the outfield, to replace the lost production of Kike and JD from this summer and Schwarber/Renfroe from last winter. And while every team can use a star catcher to build around, Bloom isn't going to deal Mayer, Casas and Bello for Sean Murphy. After the Barnes' burn, he also isn't going to invest in any established relievers, so the other priority -- where it always comes back to: young, healthy, upside starting pitching. For a CBO who doesn't run a true big market club that is going for it in NY, LA or SD, finding at least one good outfielder who can hit and catch, and at least one good starting pitcher, is a worthy goal.

I've never faced 100 mph pitching, but if I did and held my bat over my shoulder with the barrel pointing at my heels like Story, I would definitely hit .000 (and maybe die). Is it possible that the thin air at Coors makes it easier for pro athletes to whip such wayward lumber into the hitting zone faster... than, say, the thick humidity of the East Coast?

For all the Coors experts: what factor there causes a batter to strike out 105 times in 307 at bats in a new park and league? Does Coors have a special sky or batter's eye background that makes it easier or better to see a pitched baseball?

In his first game at Worcester, Valdez homers to the opposite field! That's what he was thinking...

Compared to Franchy, all anyone needs to be is a glover. He can't even put one on -- once, he misjudged the finger holes and poked the centerfielder in the eye; another time, his hand missed the glove entirely and it slipped out of his other hand... it flipped up in the air, Franchy and the second baseman stared at each other, and it fell on the floor between them.

This is the USofA, where we use standard units of measurement! The rest of the entire planet is strange for insisting on using the metric system.

It really is mind-boggling that the Red Sox are a better team today because they finally added an actual big league first baseman and outfielder. Fans can argue they lost a catcher who can hit, but at least they replaced him with another actual MLB catcher. So at the deadline, Boston subtracted one major leaguer position player, but added three. And they got rid of a reliever known as a notorious foot-finder...

I didn't hear it, but thought it when the Bloom henchman grabbed Vaz and wouldn't let him talk to the media after he was traded. It was live on NESN, and the thug escorted Vaz right off the field in Houston. Maybe they wanted their Red Sox BP shirt returned.

If Hosmer revives with a change of scenery for the next two months, Bloom will have another offseason trade chip. Imagine the value of a decent first baseman being paid $44 million by his old team not to play for them?

All speculative albeit viable points. So let's say Arroyo RF was all Cora -- and the CBO watched the debacle (that also necessitated using Duran and Cordero in the outfield) just like the rest of us. Isn't this also on Bloom for not realizing it was not working at all, and not providing competent reinforcements? Or if Bloom's manager was so misusing the roster he provided, why hasn't he fired the guy yet? (granted, it's not like telling the Yankees manager in 1920, "I bought you the league's best left-handed pitcher of the past decade, and you're playing him in rightfield?")

None of us are pretending. Before the season, you and I both agreed Tommy Pham was a decent option for a right-handed hitting outfielder. For whatever reasons -- which we'll never know for sure -- the Red Sox went an entire half season without one more legitimate MLB outfielder on their roster. Once Kike got hurt, the choices were an infielder, a guy not ready to be a big leaguer, and a guy who has proven over and over he is not a big leaguer.

Your second line answers your first. And I agree Cora had other choices: First he asked Xander to move to the outfield, but was refused. Then he tried to get Shaw to do it and switch hit, but ol Trav had put on too many lbs. Next AC placed a call to Hanley, to try to get him to come out of retirement, but he was still sleeping. The worst part is during all this, Vazquez volunteered to play RF -- but Bloom forbid it, lest he get hurt before the trade deadline and the Sox only get someone's #30th or #31st best prospect for him.

Haven't you read elsewhere that team interns posing as fans join forums like this to put positive spins on their organizations no matter what? It's their jobs; just accept it. And instead of complaining about them, call out their boss for specific moves or non-moves... like: 1) why add a legitimate 1B and right-swinging OF now -- did it really take 100 games to realize Arroyo in RF and Franchy anywhere on the big league diamond wasn't the answer; 2) why not add a legitimate bullpen arm or two or three -- or is the plan to burn out Schreiber, Whitlock and Houck in every game sniffing a lead the rest of the season and postseason (except in Toronto); 3) next time replacing an important regular position player -- like catcher -- get the new guy first, because really, it's ok if the tradebait return is then a little less than someone's #28 and 29 prospects.

Someone who once won a Gold Glove in the big leagues over someone who drops every glove he has ever tried to put on?

Panda was an impact player, the time his belt broke and he belly-flopped off the infield dirt. Grounds crew is still waiting for him to replace his own divet.

I just read Franchy is going back to SD as the player to be blamed sooner. Reportedly, talksox will subsidize a hundred posts to help talkpads kickstart a new thread: Yoko... OH NO!

Because they can't function like they used to in parked cars anymore, not with partners or even solo, like big league catchers?

I am not a Bloom guy, but I support his moves yesterday, and today, because moves had to be made. I also agree with you that they should've been made a month ago, when even dumb fans like me knew they needed serious help to get through a tough July schedule.

You mean like only posting on a rival forum when your team's having a good regular season, and not when they choke in the last three postseasons they met?

Was it OJ's private investigators (still searching) who ran into Ugueth Urbina with a machete?

And Verdugo was at a party where Buchholz took a laptop and erased Oil Can's overdue tapes while videotaping Yaz smoking a cigarette! OMFG!!!