TODAY: Gossett will earn $750K in guaranteed salary if he makes Boston’s MLB roster, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
JANUARY 4: The Red Sox are signing right-hander Daniel Gossett to a minor-league contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). The deal includes an invitation to big league spring training, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter).
Gossett, 28, was selected by the Athletics in the second round of the 2014 draft and became a decently-regarded prospect. After a few years of generally solid minor-league production, he reached the big leagues in 2017. He didn’t find much success at the highest level, however. Gossett threw a fair amount of strikes but never missed many bats (striking out just 16.3% of opposing hitters) and was plagued by home runs. Altogether, he managed just a 5.91 ERA in 115.2 innings over 23 starts.
An ill-timed Tommy John surgery in August 2018 sidelined Gossett through the end of the 2019 season. He was released by the A’s this past July and sat out last season. Gossett is now fully recovered from the procedure and throwing bullpen sessions, Cotillo relays.
Two and a half years removed from his most recent big league work, Gossett will look to work his way onto a Red Sox pitching staff in flux. There’s room for him to claim a starting or multi-inning relief job if he shows well in spring training, particularly with Chris Sale not expected to return until midseason after undergoing Tommy John surgery last March.
MORE B.S. FROM BLOOM
There will be several more you can bet.
I feel like the Red Sox and the Cubs are in a competition called “Who wants it less?”
It’s a minor league contract. They signed this guy for depth. Get a grip.
Why are you even here ?
If you look at his minor league stats the last two years he’s been outstanding so there’s hope he can translate that success he’s had after the Tommy John.
Agreed. Teams sign tons of guys every offseason for depth at both AA and AAA, this guy happens to have some MLB experience. Personally.. I’m happier with this guy than most of the scraps they sign off the junk heap every offseason, like most teams do and really help -0- at the MiLB, nor MLB level and do nothing but block legit prospects.
Exactly. All you need is one of these reclamation projects to work out and sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle… In 2018 Ryan Brasier was an afterthought…6 mos later he’s being used in high leverage situations and dominating his way to a WS ring.
“ So far this offseason, the Red Sox have either signed or re-signed the following players to minor-league deals:
C Roldani Baldwin
C Jhonny Pereda
1B Joey Meneses
1B Josh Ockimey-r
INF Jeremy Rivera-r
OF Cesar Puello-r
OF Michael Gettys
OF Johan Mieses
LHP Emmanuel De Jesus
LHP Stephen Gonsalves-r
RHP Kevin McCarthy
RHP Seth Blair-r
RHP Raynel Espinal-r
RHP Caleb Simpson-r
RHP Zack Kelly
RHP Jose Disla
RHP Daniel Gossett”
(r is resign)
All AAA and AA players, so John and many of us have been saying all hotstove season “these signing are for AA and AAA and not meant to be signing at the mlb level.
You can skip the:
“MORE B.S. FROM BLOOM”
“ I feel like the Red Sox and the Cubs are in a competition called “Who wants it less?”………
….minor league signing….happen every year….
Yes, more to come Jeremy Rivers resigned today. He has been with the Red Sox since 2014 as a utility infielder.
You are in the Bloom era. It will be short and it will be signings like the long list provided by Yaz1971. It’s what he knows. He never signed a big contract in TB and he’ll be gone before he signs one in Boston. It’s tough as fans to go from a Mercedes GM to a Kia GM because fans get used to being able to bring top talent to Boston and Bloom has no clue how to do that. He’s more expert at building $60M payrolls than $200M payrolls. But hey he did promise sustainability. He’s delivered on year one of the sustainable future of Boston. I figure two more and the Red Sox fans will force the owners to hire a real GM.
He never signed a big contract in TB and he’ll be gone before he signs one in Boston.
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I remember when they said the same thing about Friedman. Hopefully, Bloom does as well.
Kiddy217 – you totally missed the point. The majority of those signings / resignings are specifically to play for the AAA and teams. Yes, the Red Sox field teams in:
AAA Worcester
AA Portland
A+ Salem
A Greenville
A(short season) Lowell
RookieLeague
2 Foreign Rookie League Affiliate
The Boston Red Sox are 1 of 9 teams in their organization. Over 90 percent of the players are organizational and will NEVER play in Boston!
Did you even read the post before you commented? I highly doubt it.
Agreed. He’s just got to keep his walk rate down.
C’mon Bloom, spend some fu**ing money
The top 10 FAs are still available. Other than San Diego, none of the teams are doing much. Why is there so much complaining?
I honestly think I’m consistently one of bloom’s biggest critics on here…
That said, signing this retread? Nothing wrong with a ST look. Nothing wrong with this move on its own.
The bigger problem is this type of move is the ONLY activity bloom has really been making for a second offseason. Who knows what Henry is up to, but, it’s becoming clear they’re NOT trying to win and just riding out the existing big contracts.
Bigger picture – Henry appears to be lowering payroll and raising profitability to cash out on the team. Winning, evidence shows, no longer matters.
You want to complain about bloom, complain about his not doing anything to fix the holes on this team to build a contender. He didnt try last year, and hasnt shown anything yet this year. Maybe its the best misinformation campaign for bargaining power ever.
But this move? It is just normal organizational filler all teams do.
I think you’re assessment of John Henry cashing out is on target. What better man than Bloom to facilitate it. I doubt that anyone is untouchable on this club. 2022 will be the plan to climb back in to contention, stay tuned.
What teams other than San Diego and the Mets have been making offseason moves? All of TB’s moves so far have weakened that team. The Yankees haven’t don’t anything at all. Neither has Toronto, or virtually every other team in the league. If there had been a flurry of free agent activity and Bloom still hadn’t done anything people would have a case for complaint. But that’s not the case.
The Braves struck early by signing Morton and Smyly. Unfortunately, TB’s market sucks so I can understand dealing Snell. They got a very decent return. And I don’t see them out of contention next season for a playoff spot.
Every year tampa makes moves that “weaken” their team but those moves always wind up being lateral moves or moves that make the team better
The bigger problem is this type of move is the ONLY activity bloom has really been making for a second offseason.
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At least you aren’t panicking over minor league moves like some RS fans in here.
But almost no one has been signing,
If the standard for cashing out, is no FA signings yet, then I guess most of the teams in baseball will be sold in the next few months.
I look at the 2 offseasons bloom has been around now. The 2021 redsox have the same glaring holes the 2020 version did. Some solid players that would’ve filled those holes have signed elsewhere. Other guys on the team have become free agents, and either haven’t been replaced, or were replaced with cheaper lower talent alternatives.
Face it, after last season’s debacle something is up in redsox land. Controllable relatively cheap guys were ignored by bloom in 2020 on waivers while he grabbed min salary garbage.
The focus right now isn’t on contending even though the major parts are there and just need some patching up.
At least bloom and Henry get their press time… signing the first black female coach for a minor league affiliate. I believe to be hitting assistant. Not the signing the team needs, but gets the press
Who were the guys that signed, that we needed? Morton wanted to stay local. McCann is a catcher. Kim signed l/t, and we’ll have Downs up maybe by mid-season.
Who are all these guys?
@Joe brady- I get your point. But jeter downs isn’t debuting mid 2021. He’s 22 years old, just missed a season of development due to covid and has less than 20 career games at AA on his resume.
2021 is an evaluation year for both chavis and dalbec. And also Arroyo to some extent. Dalbec will get the bulk of at bats at first and Chavis the bulk of at bats at 2nd. Arroyo is a former well regarded prospect and is only 25 i believe.. This allows the sox to see if these guys can be viewed as part of the future before second baseman Jeter Downs, second baseman Hudson Potts and first baseman (2018 first round pick) Triston Casas arrive in boston in 2022 or 2023.
I mostly agree. Just for the record, I’ve looked at several of you recent comments, and they are mostly spot-on.
I actually think we will be quite good this year, but guys like Dalbec, Arroyo, and Chavis will get a legitimate shot at starting, and the range of outcomes for those guys is huge. I think all three could actually be legitimate starters, but I also confess to being a big Dalbec/Chavis skeptic prior to 2020.
can we ban anyone who complains about depth deals? people are absurd.
To be fair we already have enough “depth” guys. Especially pitching. Bloom signed about 10 of those “depth type” guys last offseason. How many turned out??
So I’m not big on this depth signing. Gossett is homerun prone and that doesn’t mix well with fenway. But he is more established than a lot of the guys the sox went through last season.
You are kidding right??. how many minor league games did you go to last year?
Most of those depth guys were sitting around or throwing to a net.
If you think last year was any indication of this season you were not paying attention. It was a monetary reset with a short season played in an empty park. If you invested any emotion in 2020 you were just desperate for entertainment.
Let’s just take a quick accounting of all that Bloom has done in over a year’s time. The MLB team is what fans care about most and it’s fallen off dramatically thanks to ownership and Bloom. We can safely blame both parties and there is no need to debate the more culpable party, they both are..
The much criticized minor league system which graduated nearly 2 dozen MLB starting players since 2013 continued to produce more MLB talent in 2020 but the big impact player wasn’t acquired by Bloom. Houck like the previous graduates, came up in 2020 along with Dalbec from the terrible farm system that got DD fired. What a joke. Fans need to pull their heads out of their rear ends and start evaluating farm systems by their graduates not those highly ranked yet to play prospects..
Bloom’s job was to raise the quality of the minor league system and he has yet to accomplish that. Bloom’s job was to put a winner on the field and we all know how well that worked out in 2020 and how likely it is that 2021 won’t be much different. So what has Bloom accomplished? He’s rehired a once convicted and twice accused cheater for the manager. He’s given away the two best black athletes on the team and made up for it by hiring a female black coach. Optics are great but they don’t win rings.
Bloom supposedly had a system of evaluation that weighed contribution against cost and he was to eliminate the players who produced less than they cost. Mookie got eliminated and was far more valuable than his cost. That’s a huge mistake. Price would have been a good deal had we given him away but instead we paid LA half his salary so he can perform for them. Another incredibly stupid move.
The first year grade for Bloom is a D. It would be an F but I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that sometime after he is long gone a few of his inconsequential pick ups could pan out and be MLB quality players.
I’m curious to see how patient the fan base will be as year 2, 3 and 4 happens. My over/under on Bloom was 2 years but most disagreed and said it takes 3 years for a fair evaluation. I’m don’t believe winning 50 games out of 162 in 2021 will satisfy those fans saying give him 3 years. I think folks will be calling for his head next September and I expect Cora to gone by 2022 as well as he continues to make daily mistakes as the manager.
We should have shirts made up that say “It’s going to get worse before it gets better!” That will be the Red Sox motto during the Bloom/Cora era. Put your seat belts on it’s going to continue to be a very bumpy ride.
Bloom’s job was to raise the quality of the minor league system and he has yet to accomplish that.
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So the addition of Seabold, Rosario, Potts, and Wallace didn’t improve the quality of our minor league system? They are ranked #9, 15, 17, and 23 in our system.
That certainly looks like an improvement.
You can’t seem to wrap your arms around the concept of value when it comes to farm systems. Is a player ranked 9th better than the 25th ranked player? NO. Why? Because neither guy has added value to the Red Sox!! All minor league players have zero value until they are traded or promoted. Until then, they are raw material not a product.
Bloom has significantly down graded the major league team and by doing so fans want to think the downgrade is offset by an upgrade in the minors. Let’s test that theory!
He parted with Mookie and Price but we got Verdugo, Downs and Wong. A General Manager’s job is to improve the intrinsic value of the team. Mookie’s value alone far outweighs the three clowns from LA. Then adding in the loss of Price’s talent and the $16M a year to LA makes the deal a monumental disaster.
The value of the franchise dropped significantly because the value of it’s assets dropped significantly. That’s on Bloom and ownership.
Adding potential is only good if it is realized. That hasn’t happened yet and may never happen before Bloom is let go. I wouldn’t be surprised if other members of that terribly ranked farm system Bloom inherited graduate to the majors before the Bloom additions. Will that get anyone to acknowledge the flaw in the rating system? No, because for a decade the Red Sox led baseball in adding productive minor league players to their major league roster while their farm system got blasted for not having enough players ranked in the top 100. The Ranking Systems are a joke. Count the players who graduate and contribute to the MLB roster. That’s what a farm system is all about.
Jenn Finch next?
Finch passed that’s why they signed Gossett
I wouldn’t mind that at all…
Many recovering from TJ do very well. It could be a lot of his problems was injury related. You never know till you try, n the RS have nothing to lose.
Yeah just like all the scrubs Bloom signed last year disguised as MLB pitchers. This guy has NEVER been any good.
Philips Valdez likes this.
Actually, I think it could work out for them, as long as they don’t plan on contending this year.
Somebody give Chaim Big Sexy’s phone number…likely starter on Opening Day….
Gossett will help to replace Chris Sale….a little like saying Stephan Hawking can be replaced by Soupy Sales…..
(Sorry, you have to be old)
Lol excellent!
Bob – Old and senile
Is there a limit to how many players can be invited to spring training? Obviously, there’s a point where it’s impractical insofar as getting a decent look at everyone… Just wondering if there’s a CBA imposed limit or some such thing.
No limits but teams generally have self imposed limits, especially 4 weeks into ST. You see a lot of guys get sent down in the first month.
YES!!!
This is proof that Jesus loves me.
The guy had just seemed to have broken though, his last 3 games were sensational. Then immediately blows his arm out. Ugh.
Chaim Bloom: master dumpster diver
Depth to stash in the minors.
Way to go Bloom! Another Stellar Pickup!!! Where do I get my World Series Tickets ?
In New York
Can probably find lots of old NYY, used WS tickets on sale in NY from way back in 2009 for sale there, then have to go back about another decade for another..
U johnny-come-lately red sox fans have no idea what it’s like to have watched and been a Sox fan for decades before Boston won these 4 WS so quickly and jumped upon the bandwagon.
You’re right. I don’t, but still… I can only work with the time I’ve known the team. By the way, this was a joke.
This guy is related to Louis Gossett.
Some of these comments are ridiculous. Very few free agents have signed with anyone but people are saying Bloom is clueless, a failure. Get a grip, none of the big names have signed so the market hasn’t been set. Bloom was hired by Andrew Freidman of the Dodgers. It’s the Dodgers the Sox want to emulate, not the Rays. Both of those teams have strong minor league systems and all Bloom is doing is building up depth. We have to bide our time for some of the minor leaguers to develop. It;’s not like the Sox haven’t had to do this before.
Fingers crossed that we hear tomorrow that Boston has signed Sugano to a 3 year deal with a 4th year vesting option.
Gossett is a great AAA depth piece for Boston. It was a bit of a stretch by the author to suggest he could fill in for Chris Sale in the rotation though. If his arm issues are behind him and he shows well in spring training then maybe he could find his way into the Boston bullpen as their long relief option but things would have to be pretty bleak for him to earn a spot in their rotation.
I wouldn’t rule it out. Team used a ton of pitchers last year.
I had hopes for prospects like gossett, cotton, Overton, etc being at least serviceable back rotation types but then all got injured at some point and never got that next opportunity
Jhalel Cotton has upside. Gossett is a pitched that gives up ton of homers coming to pitch in fenway, a hitter friendly park. Not a good match. … and he doesn’t strike anyone out
These are just the kinds of low risk contracts Bloom did in Tampa and is now doing in Boston.
Although I suspect Boston fans will be impatient with this new philosophy.
Of course they’ll be impatient. Some comments are comical.
None of the bigger names have signed, so names like JBJ and other 2nd and 3rd tier guys have to wait for the top guys to set the market. NO GM has really done much in free agency yet. Trades? for sure. Preller is on fire in SD. But they’re in “win now” mode.
Once those top names go, it’ll start going real fast and I believe Bloom will make the moves needed..
I don’t think any sox fan wants to see springer, both as a cheater and because he will be too old at the end. Coral might like him though.
Other than that, who is out there that needs waiting for? You want bauer, send a high aav 1 year deal over with a time limit. You want to give a knife to the gut of Yankees fans everywhere pull a page from the braves handbook and do a one year avoid QO baggage deal to DJL.
Otherwise you know you don’t want the top tier and so be bold, go after who you do want. Other teams already moved on the top bullpen arms available, Boston biggest weakness. The failure to act there is proof this will likely be another trash off season just like bloom’s first.
You’re assuming that we are going to offer Bauer and/or JDLM one year deals, and that they will accept it, because we are the RS? I’m betting the JDLM gets north of $80M, and Bauer is loser to $150M.
The one thing the critics often disregard is the fact that the FAs have to actually sign. Sure, we can sign anyone we want, and do it today, but only if we blow the rest of baseball out of the water. We need to be smarter.
You should do yourself a favor, and not criticize Bloom for not having signed guys that haven’t signed with anyone. In 6 weeks, most of these guys will have signed.
At that point, instead of criticizing Bloom for not signing anyone, you can criticize Bloom for the guys he does sign.
Someone has to get guys to sign. Work oitside the top tier and maybe theyre happy, maybe you shorten the deals with a higher aav. Who knows. What we do know is what we saw last offseason, last season, and so far this offseason from bloom.
If bloom signs some talented players that plug holes, who have succeeded at the MLB level, and who are not trying to make a comeback from injuries or time away from the sport, then there isn’t anything to criticize about them.
If bloom signs a bunch of injury prone retreads for MLB positions, and guys who haven’t contributed at an above league average rate the past few seasons, looking for scraps at bargain basement prices, then yes, there will be lots to criticize as yet another losing season squanders the existing talent.
There is no indication either Bauer or djl would or wouldnt absolutely sign a one year deal. Then again they might, you’ve got Bauer former quotes, and if djl believes in himself he might want a QO-free shot at a contract while denying NY their draft pick for being too cheap on him. Enough money may get it done.
But look at this, on a one year-basis, even if you dropped 65m on both, for that one season you’re instantly a ws contender if you can plug the bullpen. Then 2022 you’re back below cbt and on your merry way.
But to have this amount of talent and not even try to take a shot?
It would be a horrific move to bring in Springer, baaaaaad move.
If you look at the payroll, I suspect the Sox are going to wait until 2022 or most likely 2023 to start spending. Price and Martinez will be off the books. At that point it is Sale’s contract and whichever the kids make the most in arbitration. They are going t bank heavily on the draft and sign fillers until then.
Agree. 2022 is the year to start spending and continue into 2023. 1st off, Sale will be back @ a true 100%. in 2022. it usually takes some more time after recovery to get it ALL back, so I see 2022 as fully back to normal for Sale. 1b Casas, SP Mata, 2b Downs, cf Duran, and well get so see what Houck and Pivetta can do in a full year. I still want to see what Noah Song can do once back from Naval Academy. IMO The kid has the makeup and tools to possibly make a big impact in the rotation.
Theres also a few more names in the minors that will be making some more noise in 2021-2022 and getting our attention. Bloom has already started improving the minors with some trades and Im sure will continue to do so until we are again one of the top farm systems in MLB.
having to navigate the rays system on a 60M payroll with great success is only going to benefit this team when Bloom, like Freidman in LA, has a 200M + payroll.
When friedman went to the dodgers at first he spent, and spent BIG while developing the farm. There were none o the severe austerity measures henry/bloom are shoving down sox fans’ throats.
Talk all you want about developing the farm, the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Meanwhile you’re wasting control over the likes of verdugo, devers, vazquez, sale, erod, bogey, benny, etc etc etc. And all for nothing.
This roster has more to build around than many WS winning rosters in MLB had, they just have to GO FOR IT and sign contracts that don’t block promising prospects.
Last year the bull was resetting cbt. Well, it’s done. So where is the contender we were promised?
GA I’m with you 100%. Years of control are being wasted on promising players. They have the bucks to spend. They just need depth and they have the money to get it. I’d be interested in signing guys like Chase Anderson, Schoop, Arrieta to short term deals that you know you can squeeze production from in the backend of the rotation or bottom of the order.
Sale and ERod missed the full season and are gonna need time off. 6 man rotation would be nice. Andriese, Houck, and Pivetta can swing between backend of the rotation and pen to ease up the pressure. You don’t need to rely on those guys but
Well, it’s done. So where is the contender we were promised?
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No one has signed with anyone. Only one of the top-28 players are signed, and that was a catcher.
JoeBrady – let’s make a little pact here.
If bloom goes out this offseason and gets a top-tier 2b, a true CF that is a plus-defender (jbj or better), a #2/3 SP or better, and a #4/5 SP or better, as well as fixes the bullpen with 2 established top flight arms one having close potential (or moves eovaldi to close)…
basically he needs to fill the team needs with guys who AREN’T coming off injuries and who AREN’T failed prospects with good pedigree but no/poor MLB results. Basically a gamble like kluber doesn’t count, nor do andriese, renfroe, or peraza type moves.
If Bloom does that, THIS OFFSEASON, I’ll admit that I had the wrong idea about him.
BUT if bloom DOESN’T do all those things, and holds true to the bargain bin bloom we’ve seen for a while now, then you admit he isn’t everything you keep trying to prop him up as and that he isn’t trying to contend right now.
What say you?
Poundsy24- I think 2021, if they do the full year, is going to be all about pitching, pitching, pitching.
In 2020 lots of guys were getting hurt, and nobody was throwing tons of innings because of the short season. Guys finished with 40, 50 IP on their arms.
You don’t go from that to 200IP easily, and without injuries.
This means BULLPENS will be HUGE, if not 6th or even 7th starter depth that is high quality.
Bloom sat by while top relievers signed elsewhere. I expect he plans on running another retread mill out there hoping to hit gold.
The best teams in 2021 may be the ones who have a strong enough pen allowing managers to reduce workload via shorter starts. That’s saves your SP wear and tear.
1-Some of what you say gets into judging the moves. I’d love to sign Hill, but you might not like him. I like Wong for 2nd, but if Bloom wanted to go with Arroyo/Chavis, with Downs as a mid-season call-up, I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with that. I also disagree with the need for a true CF. I’d like to someone of Pillar’s stature signed to fill in as needed.
2-Just from the things I’ve seen you post, my guess is that you will consider everyone a bargain bin. There is no way to make a subjective deal with someone whose mind has already been made up.
At the end of the day, my list is similar to yours, maybe differing in scope. I’d like Pillar, Moreland, Wong, 2 RPs (hopefully one a closer), and two SPs.
But there is no way to figure out what Bloom is looking at. I like Hand, but maybe the Indians released him for a reason. Same with Archie Bradley. They could sign both, make me happy, but they might see Yates and Melancon delivering similar results for half the price,.
The only thing I really want to see is us spending to within about $10M of the cap.
Agree. A 1-yr $7MM deal for Hand seems reasonable (yes, velo down a bit but would instantly be Sox’ top reliever), and I’d sign Archie Bradley as well. For CF, there’s some logic to re-signing JBJ, but I concur that Pillar would be fine, probably $4-5MM to play vs all LH and some righties (same as Renfroe), to give Benintendi/Verdugo periodic days off. Sugano is key, plus Odorizzi or someone of that ilk. Wong I’d be ambivalent about since Sox have 2 or 3 guys that can probably handle 2B until Downs arrives. I would not go near any top free agents. Unlike many on this site, I do see Sox as a viable WC team this year.
I say the Sox will move veterans at the conclusion of spring training and at the trade deadline. They’ll forgo the season and perhaps 2022 in order to put together a juggernaut to compete thereafter. With the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and a new uncertain CBA, what better time to tank and rebuild. They know the fans will come back when they begin to win again. Gotta be patient with Bloom as only owners know what handcuffs he wears.
You’ve got to stop talking about Downs as if he is anything more than a kid that struggled at ROK,and A ball then played a dozen games at AA against bad pitching and gave everyone hope he’ll be a superstar. His minor league numbers suggest a bust not a super star that will start in 2021. We should trade him while his value is high but that’s not Bloom’s style. He prefers to sell low so we’ll hang on to Downs until AA pitching eats him alive and he drops out of the top 100.
JoeBrady, you should pay close attention to what GASoxFan writes. He has far more insight into the game, the way the minors work, the terrible job Bloom is doing and evaluating players. I love reading your debates but at some point someone needs to tell you that you are significantly losing the discussions EVERY time.
You’ve got to stop talking about Downs as if he is anything more than a kid that struggled at ROK,and A ball then played a dozen games at AA against bad pitching and gave everyone hope he’ll be a superstar.
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I don’t recall anyone suggesting he will be a superstar. All we know, and all we need to know is that FG ranks him as a 50 FV, and that BA ranks him as the #86 prospect.
IRT GASox, I agree that he knows BB, but IMO, he has blinders on. There is absolutely no way to criticize Bloom, or any of the other 29 GMs, for not signing anyone. Virtually no one has been signed yet. And there is absolutely no way around that.
It is not possible to criticize someone for something he has not yet done.
Who cares .. 4A guy
This guy has exceptional talent. Look at his IP vs hits allowed, it isn’t easy to hit moving bats. Daniel is exceptional at it.
So, obviously there is frustration by some people over the lack of any substantial deals to address the actual holes in the starting roster. Many of the moves thus far are simply to add depth, and to possibly get lucky on reclamations, or untapped talent. Very little upside to this stuff usually, but most teams do this in hopes it will unearth a productive year from (insert name). I think what we are seeing is a focused targeting of very specific players, and needs,. We all know starting pitching, relief, and second base are the biggest holes (I am not counting the defensive void at third base). Landing the Japanese ace is obviously step 1 before the team actually knows what it is doing. That is a big expenditure, and until they know where he picks, they are in limbo on other options. Till we lose out on that bid, do not expect much action above depth building. If we land Sugano, I would expect an announcement on another mid tier starter to follow fairly quickly. If we do not, then I would expect the buzz to heat up drastically on Kluber, Odorizzi, relievers, and possibly even DJ LeMahieu to either land him, or drive up the Yankee price tag. Either way, not too optimistic for this year. Way too many things have to pan out health wise, and we would have to count on an extremely high amount of bounce back years.
Spot on William. I think the biggest question is will J D Martinez bounce back. If he does I think the Red Sox take advantage of that. If he hits 202 again they could pass on this year and continue dumpster-diving. Especially with sale Out Half the season.
I truly don’t undersand what some of you actually expect from the Red Sox. They lack top tier prospects to make a major trade, especially when most of their best prospects will be needed to fill holes on the roster. Tanner Houck and Nick Pivetta were both pleasant surprises in the last few weeks of the season. Due to the coronavirus, no team had a pitcher go much over 100 innings last season. I suspect, even with a full schedule this year, even the top pitchers won’t go much over 150-170 and will have 5 full time starters with a 6th starter during long stretches of games without a day off. Right now, barring injury, we can expect Rodriguez, Eovaldi, Houck and Pivetta locking down 4 starter slots. I envision Andriese as a possible 6th starter/long man. They have their fingers in a lot of different pies for starters and relievers and we’ll soon see who the names are. They will not be playing in the top tier of the market. I would be highly surprised if they did. When J D Martinez leaves, I see Devers sliding to DH, Dalbec to 3rd base, and Casas to 1st base (hoping he’ll be ready for the jump to Boston at that point). I see a one year “bridge” player at 2nd base until Jeter Downs is ready. Also wouldn’t be surprised if the outfield is set with the expectation of Jarren Duran making the club out of spring training or soon thereafter. I envision the Red Sox signing 1 or 2 more starters depending on the Red Sox’s feelings about Bryan Mata. If they believe he will be ready for Boston out of spring training or in the first month or two, they’ll go with one addition. If not, they’ll sign two. Just my musings, but we’ll see what happens.
MunsonManor71 – great stuff except your expectations of Downs are beyond optimistic. Check his minor league numbers. His average is an indication of his ability to hit to get on. OBP is great once you are in the majors but as a minor league player it’s often exaggerated by the bad control at the lower levels. Downs struggled to live up to his hype for his entire minor league career except for the end of 2019 when he faced some horrible pitching in AA that convinced evaluators that his prospect rating should go up. The 12 game results were totally inconsistent with his previous performance. His first 277 games were at best mediocre and yet his last 12 games have defined his future. If you evaluate players, I think you’ll find the first 277 are far more likely to represent his future not the last 12 games.
JD17, then I wonder why Downs has been a highly regarded Prospect? What are you missing that teams are seeing? Is it because teams are giving up a lot for him and keep him highly-ranked but are incorrect in doing so? There has to be something about him that he’s not dropping in the team’s Prospect rankings.
Gary, Downs is not the first guy to be a highly-touted prospect that does not perform and won’t be the last. The obvious answer is athleticism.
Toronto had great athletes that were highly ranked as prospects yet did not perform all that well. Anthony Alford, Anthony Gose, Anthony Sanders, anyone named Anthony, clearly. Downs is the throwback; has all the tools in the world to succeed. Although his numbers aren’t all that bad at second glance.
Downs struggled to live up to his hype for his entire minor league career except for the end of 2019
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It feels like you are fixating just a little bit.
A .753 OPS K/W 102/53 Age below average -2.4
A+ .862 OPS K/W 97/54 Age below average -2.5
AA 1..116 OPS K/W 10/6 Age below average -3.8
There is absolutely nothing wrong with those numbers. And the ranking agencies reflect that. If I had a complaint, it would be that I’d like a few less Ks, but he is also slightly young for those levels.
Just for fun, take a look at his last full-time assignment with Rancho Cucamonga. He led the team is PAs. Of the top-9 in PAs, he had the highest OPS. And the youngest guy in the top-9 was 22, while Downs was only 20. And this is in the LAD system, where they have good depth.
JoeBrady – Here is a break down of your misleading stats. First, the AA data is 12 games against 2 of the 3 worst pitching staffs in the league. These stats are completely different than his ROK, A and Hi-A stats.
Lets take your cherry picking data and break down why you presented it. First, the age thing is meaningless. Taking the average age of a level of the minors and comparing to the player is ridiculous. Any player just joining baseball will be younger than those in the league. Age doesn’t represent experience. If a college grad is in the same league because he attended college he is older and therefore not as good? Age is irrelevant.
Next, you present OPS, a completely worthless stat since it’s average biased. Take the components of OPS and present the player in a fair light so people can see his strengths and weaknesses. The numbers you show don’t speak superstar. In fact, they say nothing worth evaluating.
At 18 (he is 27 days from being the oldest player in the 18 year old group) so if he’s born 28 days earlier he’s a 19 year old which is his age for nearly half his 18 year old season, he hit .267 in ROK ball. Sound like a first round performance to you? His ability to walk was good and contributed .103 to his OBP. That is first round performance. His isolated power (SLG-AVG) was .157. That’s not first round performance. And he stole 8 of 13 bases. That’s good but not first round performance. So overall his ROK year was very average and not comparable to other first round picks that ended up being successful in the majors.
Year 2 he’s in Full A as a 19 year old who is 20 for half the season. He hits .257 that year, 10 points lower than ROK ball. Again, not a first rounder’s performance level. His ability to walk is consistent in that it contributed .094 of his OBP which appears to be his main strength after two seasons. His isolated power drops to .151 down 6 points from ROK ball so his power hasn’t emerged yet but he does steal 37 of 47 bases improving both his volume and success rate making him a fast 2B that can’t hit for average or power after 2 years. Hardly 1st round stats at this point.
Year 3 is 2019 and Downs starts at Hi-A and hits .269. A solid average and improved from the previous two years but he’s now a 20 year old who plays much of the year as a 21 year old and he’s only progressed to Hi-A in his third year. That’s not impressive for a first round pick. Down’s walk rate drops at Hi-A to .085 which is above average but not excellent like the previous two levels but his isolated power jumps to .238 which is an excellent increase if it can be sustained. He steals 23 of 31 bases so his speed is good but he still gets thrown out too often but he’s learning so that’s an acceptable mistake. These numbers represent an improvement over his first two seasons but still leave him as very average and below the standards for a first round pick. He gets promoted very late in the year to AA and plays 12 games against just 2 teams. He gets 48 at bats compared to the roughly 1000 previous at bats where he hit .in the low .260s and hits .333. His walks during the short AA stint are good again so his primary value of being able to walk to get on is intact. His isolated power jumps to over .300 for the 12 games which is nearly double that of his first 1000 at bats prior to AA. Is it sustainable or a result of the bad pitching he faced? During the 12 games he stole 1 base on 1 attempt which says very little but clearly he has good speed.
So rather than throwing up some innocuous cherry picked data I chose to present the real picture of Downs career. It shows two very average years, far below the expectations of a first round pick and then a third year where he shows some signs of improvement but is still mediocre. Then, for 12 games he goes off against a miserable pair of pitching staffs and he jumps from obscurity to the 44th ranked prospect in baseball. Many of the players he surpassed had excellent 2020 years in the majors which further discredits the ranking since Downs wasn’t good enough to play in the majors in 2020.
Draw your own conclusions but next time don’t cherry pick your data to obscure the facts. He’s done NOTHING to deserve a top 100 ranking except for 12 games in AA against some very bad pitching. When he faces AA pitching from good staffs we’ll see if his numbers drop back to the previous 2 1/2 seasons in the minors.
Top 100 prospect, absolutely nothing to support it other than 12 games in a 289 game minor league career..
I prefer a well-timed Tommy John surgery to an ill-timed one.
Free agency season just drags out nowadays. This is probably the most exciting news in days, and it isn’t exciting at all. Everything about baseball is getting slower.
SOXPROSPECT
“ The facts!
Andriese’s the Sox second-biggest signing, right? How many clubs can top that?
Three.
The Sox rank 8th in MLB in free agent acquisition expenditures and are one of just 5 clubs to have signed more than one player. (The RedSox) outspent 12 of the 16 playoff teams.
Edit: (The Red Sox) rank 6th in acquisitions – losses in free agency (Mets, Royals, Padres, Braves, Rangers).
The Mets (McCann and May), Royals ( Minor and Santana), Braves (Morton and Smiley), and Giants (DeScalfani and 4 guys for less than $1.2M) have been the only more active teams. Two of the three teams that have outspent (the Red Sox) by signing a single player are the Padres and Rangers with international signings (Kim and Arihara. Eaton to the White Sox is the other, but they had a big loss in McCann.)
Thirteen teams haven’t added anyone via an MLB deal at all, including the Yankees, Blue Jays, Astros, A’s, Indians, Cardinals, Brewers, and Phillies (also the O’s, Red, Pirates, Rockies, and D’Backs). Three other clubs, the Cubs, Nats, and Marlins, have signed a single player to a contract of less than $1M.”
After this, the RS whiners will start claiming that Bloom is trying to buy the pennant.
I just think the Red Sox need to blow it up. Devers has an awesome bat, but his defense has been terrible. Have to hold my breath on every throw over to 1B. Crazy move, but I’d love the Sox to deal for Arenado. I think he has the bat, glove, and leadership to help this team grow. Here’s how I see it happening:
Sox deal Devers, Eovaldi
Rox deal Arenado, prospect(s) (maybe Bowden, Brenton Doyle, Carreras)
Won’t happen and leaves the Sox on the hook for a lot of money but a guy like Arendo doesn’t end up on the block all too oftern (neither does Betts, but here we are).
Devers is cheap right now so they are not trading him. Why would you either? He is a good your player who needs to work on his defense. Bloom needs to pick up relief help, starting pitching, a second baseman, and a closer. This is the same thing he needed last season.
For God’s Sake get Pedroia to retire already! Pay him an injury settlement and get him off the books already! He has not played in three years already!
I picture Arenado as a guy who will fall off the map when he leaves Denver. Those numbers won’t continue. I wouldn’t touch him at that money.
Poundsy24 – Loved your comment. Arenado wouldn’t fit in with the Red Sox mothering clubhouse. He’s more like Varitek from a personality perspective and that’s the opposite of Cora and many of the young ball players who need mothering.
Your idea would improve the ERA of the team without changing a pitcher!! Your idea would put a big right-handed bat in the 3 hole in hopes that Bogey or someone else can move to the 1 hole and replace the 260 times Mookie used to get on base.
Eovaldi’s salary makes the net cost roughly $10M a year cash to the Red Sox and slightly more to the luxury tax. Is there a better way to spend $10M? Bloom fans would say we could probably get 5 more $2M a year guys who might some day be good but most Red Sox fans would love to have Arenado instead of Devers even if he costs more. Devers unwillingness to do what’s best for the team is a perfect reason to deal his salary for somebody who is more team oriented.
If ownership hadn’t chose to hire Bloom and go on an austerity program your idea would have worked, especially with DD here. The next ring would have been around the corner had the changes of the last 17 months not occurred. Red Sox fans should remain steadfast in their desire for ownership to put a competitive team on the field and as of now the last 17 months has rendered the team impotent.
Just to put it out there. Wouldn’t it be helpful for pitchers coming out of Tommy John Surgery to come back as relievers to regain the strength on their shoulders. Take things as inning at a time and work back in small samples. it could help with Being mentally Strong and trust within yourself. Loving the game and not trying to overly stress the mind.
What did they see in him….