5GoldGlovesOF,75

... then Moustakas, then Boston tried it with Chavis, and the Dodgers with just about anyone. Personally, I still prefer someone there with soft, quick hands who can pivot when the DP has to be turned; bad teams stay bad with clanky, clunky infielders... and these Red Sox are a bad team. Does a pure, all-around, star second baseman even exist anymore? Altuve's hitting .211, DJ played mostly first last year for NY, and Cano DHs half the time now. It's ok to miss Pedroia...

Well, Shaw was one of the first corner types used as a second baseman who wasn't counted on to turn DPs, but just shift into right field (in an area close enough to almost be a corner infielder). Potts is listed as 6-3, 220 at age 21...

Plus, Bloom just added another future Chavis/Dalbec/Casas/Blaze Jordan type in Hudson Potts (one of the prospects picked up in the Moreland trade)... a corner infielder with big power and bigger K issues in the minors. Maybe these profiles aren't redundant but more typical of modern pros... maybe Blaze Jordan will become a .300 hitter in 5 or 10 years... It's doubtful any of them evolve into an Adrian Gonzalez -- who was a #1 overall pick -- but can we hope at least one will have a Travis Shaw career?

After watching last night's game, Peraza isn't either. Our best prospect hasn't been acquired yet... Happy Reset Day, Sox Nation.

Do the Sox have another outfielder in the majors -- I'm not including JDH Martinez. It has to be Verdugo, JBJ and either Duran or more of Tzu-Wei (Not Freddy) Lin..

Edwin Diaz has to be coming back in any Vaz-to-Mets deal. "It's-Right-to-Bear-Arms" has always been Bloom's favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor...

MLB.com predicts a Bogaerts to Twins trade for Polanco and top prospect Lewis, another ss (neither can pitch). These are the type of rumors that radical posters on forums muse, just a trade for the sake of a trade -- "oh, we get more years, at cheaper cost"... you know, like small market clubs might say.

In hindsight, many believe those signings came after/because they had pretty much given up on resigning Mookie. Remember Dombro's "You can't sign'em all quote?" He experienced a similar situation in Detroit when Scherzer turned down mega millions, then the Tigers extended Miggie Cabrera.

Wind blowing out at Fenway, 5-0 Sox in the 2nd... all the Red Sox pitchers need to do is -- give up one less run today!

A's and Astros both looking for bullpen help. Can we all trust that Bloom is playing auctioneer right now, dangling Barnes? This scenario could net the Sox an actual prospect (and not another low level corner platoon bat with swing-and-miss issues). "Who-wants-to-finish-first; get-your-100mpheater-right-here; do-I-hear-a-top20-starter; who's-got-a-DoubleA-starter; howbout-a-SingleA-power-arm -- that'sONE-do-I-hear-TWO?"

He's absolutely worth it to the Dodgers if they finally win the World Series. Like you said, Betts will be considered the last piece to get them to promised land, and none of us -- even those armed with data -- will be able to prove he wasn't. A player's value to a club in the dugout, clubhouse and airplanes can't be quantified, and even if such settings are compromised this summer, there's also a confidence factor that is underrated when a new star joins a club and takes the pressure off of teammates. History is rife with acquired newcomers who put teams over the top, but it's usually pitchers -- Verlander last decade, Lidge in the 00s, Maddux in the 90s, Willie Hernandez in the 80s. But there are also examples of superstar regulars turning good teams into great teams: Joe Morgan in the 70s, Frank Robinson in the 60s. Over half those guys are Hall of Famers (though I'm sure there are plenty of moves that have backfired, too).

Mookie's the best player on the best team in baseball. He's also a voice of the MLB now, narrating the excellent tribute on Jackie Robinson Day. Hopefully, Boston can find a leader on and off the field like that someday, someone fans can love to root for, and teammates can be inspired by, as he rallies them to glory.

I agree they keep DHern, plus Walden and Taylor (neither is good enough this year to trade for) and have to keep Eovaldi (his contract doesn't make him attractive for a stretch-run pick-up, and I doubt Bloom could get away with paying half the salary of another pitcher to hit the road). Those who may have any value, and so should be dealt asap: Barnes, Perez, Osich, Valdez and Braiser. Look for at least three of them to be part of multi-player swaps by Monday night...

You know I can't work those sarcastic emojis! But I never said there were a dozen worth promoting, just a dozen on the roster worth dropping. This could be a trivia question for the future: how many players from the 2020 Red Sox ever played for them again? My over-under is 14 (and that's if the entire starting lineup returns... and I can't even name five pitchers).

Good point... we'd hate to drop a dozen guys off this roster and expose them to the other 29 teams that already cut them.

They all should be up. What better time for your first cup of coffee than trying to make an impression on a historically bad team in a historically bad season? What's the worst that can happen -- the Red Sox lose more and continue to finish last? In such low pressure situations, can anyone possibly be too rushed and get scarred for life (well, unless he takes a line drive or fastball off the skull)? Before free agency, winners and losers promoted their best prospects every September. Bloom doesn't seem like a guy obsessed with service time clocks, at least from his Rays days (has any Tampa player stuck for six years in their history?)... unless he wants to keep them more attractive as trade bait.

I'm with you (I said "may" have to change). No one argues about the virtues of spreading the wealth to build a contender, but some of us see that as idealistic.

The problem nowadays is that all the really good players demand -- and get -- 10-year deals. Such demands may have to change with pandemic economics and a new CBA...

Ownership may have the patience to see this through, but will a spoiled fandom? It's a balancing act, because it's a business. Perhaps the hope is that people with cabin fever will still flock to Fenway when it's finally safe again, no matter how bad the team is during the rebuild. In the meantime, just be honest with us -- we can take it. For example, don't contrive a NESN report card on the first half of the 2020 season that gives the starting staff a D and the bullpen a C- ... (I give the reporter a big fat F for those evaluations).

... except Red Sox nation would've still had to stomach his negative attitude toward the franchise and industry that made him and generations of future Prices so rich; that would've been a joy this summer (not to mention his no-trade kick-in that would've blessed us with his tired act and diminishing skills for the next three years after this).

Traditionally, big-boned football-physique Yankee specimens named Judge and Stanton always break down by age 28, especially the year before first-time arbitration eligibility. There was a Joe Judge who played until he was 40, mostly for Washington, and finished his career in Boston. But he flew under the goal posts at 5'8, 155. The last Mike Stanton who Yankee fans actually liked was the lefty set-up man who pitched over a thousand games and won three rings. He pushed gravity limits at 6'1, but eight teams took a chance on him, including the Red Sox twice...

But corner platoon DHs are probably the easiest guys to find; the Rays cut one or two every year. Nothing helps pitching work out more than solid defense, especially up the middle. A core of good glovemen with range and arms at catcher, short, second and center can make winners out of all kinds of Martin Perez types (of course, that was baseball tradition for over a century, before analytics just stuffed five guys on one side to get in the way of any one-hop liner or hard-hit grounder). Sadly, if the rebuilding Red Sox consummate all of the past week's rumors -- and trade Bogie, Vaz and JBJ -- they'll have zero core D going forward.

If Im a contender that needs another bat, I'd take Andujar. If I'm rebuilding, the last thing I need is another player who can't play a defensive position as a major league regular.

Bloom warned us the Sox weren't going to be as good this year without Betts and Price.

And yet, spending unwisely -- as well as being unwise in their approach to Mookie from his very first year of arbitration -- is what got us here in 2020, when the not-a-mandate goal of resetting prevented Boston from fielding an MLB caliber club. My point about Betts and winning is that you have to pay for quality results. Everyone talks about building around a core, and what better place to start than a future Hall of Famer about to enter his prime. This is exactly what LA, a big market club, chose to do. Good luck finding a better investment, especially a homegrown face of the franchise: drafted, signed and developed in your own system. Obviously, there will be a lot more options for Henry to spend his Mookie savings on. But it's unpredictable just what quality will be available and when. Three guys like Martin Perez don't equal one Max Scherzer (one David Price didn't, either). I just think that after a few losing seasons, despite deliberate, meticulous rebuilding, the Sox will still wind up signing a star free agent for something close to what it would've taken to keep Betts in the first place. And he won't be as good. There have just been too many impulsive Crawford-Rusney-Lackey-Panda point-of-purchase buys at the check-out line.