5GoldGlovesOF,75

Some talksox poster is running his fingers to baseball-reference right now to find some stat to prove to you how bad that team was because those three were paid too much money, and none of them could play second base in case of emergency or save the pen by pitching the 9th inning of a blow-out.

The Little League analogies to bad big league baseball are overdone... but not necessarily when comparing Red Sox pitchers throwing to any other base than fourth base. ... I've seen a lot of LL games the past three years, and the average LL pitcher makes better throws to first, second or third than the average Red Sox MLB pitcher. Maybe it's because the kids are mostly the best players on the diamond or because the distance is shorter, but it's true. But regarding Boston, it's always looked like a systemic problem...

For me, above all else, it's 1. SP, 2. Pen, 3. CF... I think they already have a plan for SS and 1B, and C isn't a club priority, because other teams have shown you don't need a star behind the plate to contend (I won't name names of teams or no-names). And they can't wait to fill DH from within, and are grooming prospect Valdez to dazzle the batter's box as one-half rookie of 2023...

Maybe some posters are too overconfident that when Bloom finally has a bigger budget, he will actually spend it -- hopefully on quality big leaguers to finally "go for it." But if your only evidence is that John Henry has a history of allowing past GMs to spend big -- "when the time is right" -- then you also have to admit that Henry hired Bloom, and hasn't fired him yet, for doing exactly what he is doing now. The only long and large signing in the Bloom Era thus far has been Trevor Story... instead of say, Schwarber, Rodon and Jansen for around the same amount of money.

Mookie's going bald!

You just wrote that because you knew I'd read it and punch myself in the head.

It was Bloom -- who didn't add a right-handed hitting outfielder to the roster before the season or before the mid-season trade deadline. It is Cora -- who looks at the list of 25 available players given to him each night, and writes the names of the starting line-up... whether it's Arroyo, Dalbec or JD Martinez in right field. Cora did a great job not trying Hansel Robles out there in RF; that could've hurt the team.

No one can deny what didn't happen the first half of this season, even the Sox intern using an alias to protest Gee, we thought Travis Shaw was our guy... But I'm sticking to my claim that Bloom's moves at the deadline made the line-up and roster better overall. Whether some of the players are still bitter over losing their buddy Vaz shouldn't really affect any at bats when they're all isolated hitters vying for individual glory -- which ultimately adds up to scoring more or less runs than opponents. But overall, the Sox seem to have more opportunities to score now, and better ways to prevent foes from scoring. Of course, not improving the bullpen, and leaving it to old unreliables, also shows fans -- and players -- how much a front office is invested in the now.

Seriously. The first thing I said is I'm not criticizing. Then I said I've always assumed all professionals could play any position. And of course every team values versatility. But it's been overdone here since Bloom came aboard -- and if it's a trend, then I challenge him to be crafty, and start a new one: target players of actual quality who play specific positions the team needs filled, and fill them. Since the Top-6 Payroll Sox will already be paying a luxury tax, what's stopping them from making some luxury purchases? Is that such an outlandish request from a fan tired of watching mediocrity move around the diamond and in and out of the batting order... on a last place team?

Not criticizing nor applauding, just weighing in... John Kruk once famously said, "I'm not an athlete, lady, I'm a ballplayer" -- and yet, here's one poster who always assumed a big leaguer could adjust and play just about any position (including pitcher and catcher, which the majority of the best players still all play growing up). But we can't forget the disaster that resulted when the Red Sox signed a square peg named Hanley Ramirez to fit the nook and crannies of the Green Monster. Or when Hawk Harrelson GMed the White Sox and made Carlton Fisk a left fielder for about a minute. Remember when Yaz and Johnny Bench tried to play third? There are just not a lot of Hall of Famers like Robin Yount who were stars at both shortstop and centerfield... or Ruth at lefty pitcher and bambinoer. For sure, a lot of HOFers could've been great at a lot of things, like Williams at fighter pilot or fly fisherman, DiMaggio at landing movie starlets, Mays at anything. But average guys learning a new position at the MLB level? Enough with trying to induct butter knives into the Swiss Army. Every tackle box needs a good Buck knife and an a actual fillet knife, too...

In the next year there's going to be a lot of disappointed Red Sox fans, indignant media, and Boston interns with aliases lauding new prospects on Talksox. And yet, one of the latter will soon become a borderline star and lead the Sox back to the postseason... ... where they'll then live to regret facing X in Houston and Raffy in the Bronx.

One shred of hope for fans when it comes to Bloom: last offseason he invested in one bullpen arm for two years, then halfway through the first, recognized the move was a failure... and dumped the guy at the deadline. Obviously, there are plenty of other pitchers and hitters, and even a few fielders, that we Sox watchers have already seen enough of -- but at least when it came to Diekman, Chaim agreed with us... unless, it actually pained him to lose his favorite foot-finder to pry McGuire loose from back-up backstop land.

Trade Simulator accepted this: Devers and Houck to Miami for starting pitchers Pablo Lopez 26 and Jesus Luzardo 24, centerfielder Jesus Sanchez 24, third baseman Joey Wendle 32, and World Series MVP Jorge Soler 30 (the negative contract that makes it all happen). Which group will help turn around a rebuild faster?

But Vaz was the team leader! He led them to an 8-19 record the last month before he was traded.

Something about rising stiff levels; prob confused them with the guy they got for Diekman...

Millions of fans, ballplayers, agents, and even a few GMs and team owners would say no. But ultimately, only two opinions really matter (and I wish their titles began with Mr. and Mrs., but they don't).

Traditionally, the manager plays the players on the roster provided by the front office... but as he sees fit. Lately -- the past decade anyway -- it seems more risky for a manager not to use the roster as the front office sees fit.

Since this board and most of Red Sox Nation is blasting Bloom these week, this dawned on me: before the deadline, were there ever any players acquired or promoted the past three years to be regulars at their actual pre-Sox positions... or was Chaim and his boys always focused on outsmahting other front offices? I got Renfroe for RF... all the rest were so versatile in their utility, the Sox contrived new spots for them: Dalbec, Chavis, Pillar, Kike, Marwin, Franchy, Schwarber, Iglesias, Story, Verdugo, Bradley (shifting outfield slots isn't abnormal, but three or four guys a year?)... I'm not counting Vazquez filling in at first or second out of desperation.

Ahmed is the kind of placeholder shortstop a team needs when rebuilding towards respectability: good glove (two-time GG), inexpensive, and veteran presence -- maybe he could even guide some of the youngsters on how to conduct themselves with professionalism. Omar Navarro should be easier to acquire now that Ozark has finished its final season.

Sign me up for your OF and DH options. As for C, I'm still hopeful Bloom lands a bonafide starter, along the lines of Stallings (who they were in on, last winter). It looks like Bloom values a top defensive catcher, and didn't view Vazquez at that level going forward, which I agree with. My only ish is 2B; I don't see moving Story back to SS, since he, himself, said he's not, and because he looked really good at 2B once he adjusted. Some assets of a good second baseman are soft but sure hands, a quick, accurate arm, deft footwork, and decisive instincts, like knowing when to cut relays or catcher throws and fire back to third or home... or even getting jumps and calling pop-ups down the line between the first base bag and the right fielder. Do any of those qualities read, sound or look like Jarren Duran? I know he played 2B in college, but is it possible one of the reasons he was moved to the outfield was because he was a bad infielder?

!!!!!! Was this post just typed by a fan of a team whose highest-paid player is not just snakebitten, but whose entire body is made out of snake food: rodent nests, frog lilypads, snips and snails and puppy-dog tails...

Ask any Dodgers fan or put anyone in LA's front office on a polygraph, and they'll all rejoice and admit that they traded Verdugo, a button and a bottle cap for 12 years of Mookie Betts. It will be the same thing if the Sox trade Devers. His new team that gladly swaps a 12-pack of empty (but redeemable) Coors Light cans and two eBay re-packs of 1990 baseball card commons for one year of Raffy wouldn't even be dealing if they didn't intend to make it a entire decade of Raffy.

Good to see you're coming around on front office meddling, since it never made sense that a manager wouldn't want to put his players in the best positions to succeed this year -- the one he's actually in charge of -- and not worry about weakening his bullpen by stretching someone out to be a starting pitcher for next year.

... starting in the offseason, when all of us here waste too much time speculating and wishing and hoping for significant roster changes and upgrades that won't happen... and instead, will yawn at a new group of retreads added to the rotation and bullpen that will inevitably get hurt, and hurt the club's standing as a result.

I suspected the location was Heartbreak Hill on the Marathon route. But you make a good point; that time of day there had to be entire Big Foot families roaming the streets taking cellphone vids. Plus, at least one or two UFOs would've posted surveillance tapes of the mid-day ride of Chris Severe on social media by now.