Feb. 3: The Red Sox have formally announced the signing. Richards will earn $8.5MM in 2021, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link), and he has a $1.5MM buyout on the 2022 club option. The value of that option increases by $250K for reaching 20 and 25 games started, and would increase by an additional $500K if Richards starts 30 games. Richards, it should be noted, has made 30 starts just once in his career and has only reached 20 starts in a season on two occasions. His 2022 base salary would also increase by $500K if he’s traded.
Jan. 23: The Red Sox and right-hander Garrett Richards have agreed to a one-year, $10MM deal, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link). The contract also includes a club option for 2022 that is also worth $10MM, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier (Twitter links), with escalators that could increase both the base value of the option beyond $10MM, and also increase the value of the buyout. The deal will become official once Richards passes a physical. Richards is represented by ISE Baseball.
Reports circulated yesterday that Richards and the Sox were making progress towards an agreement, and with Richards now in the fold, Boston has taken another big step towards strengthening its rotation. Martin Perez was also re-signed last week, and between Richards, Perez, and swingman Matt Andriese, the Red Sox have added some veteran arms to the rotation mix and pushed some less-experienced arms (i.e. Tanner Houck, Chris Mazza) further down the depth chart.
Of course, the 32-year-old Richards also cannot be called an entirely sure thing, as he is less than two years removed from a Tommy John surgery that wiped out much of his 2019 season. Richards did post some solid results in 2020, however, delivering a 4.03 ERA, 21.6K%, and 13.6K-BB% over 51 1/3 innings for the Padres, starting 10 games before being moved to the bullpen for his final four regular-season outings in anticipation for the playoffs.
Richards did have a 4.55 SIERA last year, and his Statcast numbers aren’t much to write home about apart from two key categories — a 99th percentile curveball spin rate, and a 97th percentile spin rate on his fastball. Those types of elite metrics could hint at Richards reaching another level of production under the guidance of a more analytical front office and coaching staff, like the one chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has assembled in Boston.
Perhaps moreso than unlocking spin-rate potential, the biggest issue facing Richards and the Red Sox is just how much durability can be expected from a pitcher who has thrown only 198 2/3 total innings since the start of the 2016 season. In this sense, Richards becomes another injury question mark on a team that already has Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodriguez as its top two starters until Chris Sale makes his expected midseason return from his own Tommy John surgery. The presence of Houck, Andriese, Mazza, Nick Pivetta and company allows the Sox some flexibility in the event of an injury, and if everyone is healthy, the club can get creative in resting pitchers or moving spot starters into the rotation to keep everyone fresh.
With Richards and the newly-signed Enrique Hernandez now on the books, the Red Sox have a projected (as per Roster Resource) luxury tax number of just under $198.5MM, putting them within shouting distance of the $210MM tax threshold. If the Sox wish to stay under the threshold, some creativity may be required in carving out more payroll space, which could be part of the reason Andrew Benintendi’s name has been floated in trade speculation.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Talk about a quietly lucrative career thus far. Pitching is expensive.
Quietly is right. In the past 5 seasons he’s appeared in 6 or fewer games 3 times. And the other two he appeared in 14-16 games. He hasn’t been a strong effective pitcher since 2014
He hasn’t been “effective” because he was trying to avoid TJ surgery with PRP injections and rehab.
The Red Sox got a sleeper that Preller couldn’t wake up.
@SDHotDawg: “But, but, but, but, but…excuses!”
Yeah, you’d think there’d be a lot more relievers complaining/pushing/demanding/advocating to become a SP. That’s where the big money is. Josh Hader, for example, will do well but not as well if he had stayed a SP.
It is a beef indeed.
Raisiel Iglesias was not happy being converted to an RP for this very reason – Then Cincy goes even further toying with him in the pen (saves)to keep arb rates down -Eventually they just had to settle on a contract in the arb years to diffuse the situationbut he wasnt happy and it lingered ever since (prlly helping him to ANA this year)
Players know exactly whats going on with thier money$
That’s what Daniel Bard did and it blew up his career for almost 10 years.
No, Daniel Bard has had the yips since he signed his first contract 15 years ago.
Yup, he sure did have issues (but did shine a bit too).. Boston knew his velocity was most important and that also added into the equation of putting him in the BP (that and not having Papelbon closing).
I like al conln,
Agreed. A Major League team has to fill upwards of 1,460 innings per regular season. I’ve never understood why a team would draft a young pitcher with electric stuff, them make him a reliever rather than help him develop a full starter’s repertoire. Having the pitchers with the best raw talent pitch the fewest innings makes no sense. Relievers should be guys who don’t have the arsenal to face a lineup multiple times.
Hader is a great example. The Yankees moving Dave Righetti to the bullpen is another. The guy had proven himself to be an effective starter. So, why reduce his innings from 200 to 60? Yes, getting the last three outs are important, but you need to get the first 24 outs first. The most-talented pitchers should be trained to get you the majority of those 24.
Some of that depends on their K/W. Even using Hader as an example, last year he had a 14.7/4.7 K/W.. but you might not see many 6-inning outings. As a RS fan, I see the same thing in Darwinzon, He’s completely unhittable, but my guess is that he’d be at 25-30 pitches after the first inning most games.
Great point. One thing that’s killing starting pitcher innings is the stress level. Back in the 60s and 70s, every lineup had multiple guys who were not power threats. You could put the ball on a tee and they would not crush it. Now, every guy in the lineup not only can hurt you but grind out long at-bats. A batter might strike out, but after a stress-filled nine pitches. Those 25-30 pitch innings you mentioned are staff wreckers. It’s not unusual to see a three-up, three-down inning of 18-22 pitches. I saw that a lot in recent years where the Dodgers would bat Pederson and Muncy 1-2. Both guys fouling off pitch after pitch while waiting for one they like. Stress-wise, that’s a far cry from the ’88 Dodgers when the first two batters might be Steve Sax and Alfredo Griffin. Modern pitchers can’t get away with mistakes. It’s problem, no idea how MLB fixes it because the result is the three-outcome game we now have.
Put arm guards on Sax and Griffin and it’s a different story.
I will always love baseball and welcome whatever changes can improve the game, though I am concerned with the over-reliance on power hitting and power arms. I don’t know how you reverse the trend. How do we get more balls put in play? When I was a kid playing Wiffle ball in my backyards, hitting the ball over the fence was an out. I’m pretty sure MLB won’t go there..
More regarding power ball: Yesterday, I was thinking about how it was kind of a shame that Henry Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record. Not because I didn’t want him to hold the record, but because Aaron was so much more than just a home-run hitter. He was an all-around player, something that often gets lost in the conversation. It seemed to make him not properly appreciated, at least to more casual fans. That record ruined Barry Bonds, a brilliant all-around player who turned himself into a padded pinball machine. The numbers he put up were astounding. It just didn’t feel much like fun because you know why it was happening. In the future, I’m wondering why kids will want to grow up to be pitchers. To be an opener?
Righetti is a bad example. Back then, closers still pitched 100+ innings. So, instead of getting 200 innings of mid 3 ERA, you got 100 innings of mid 2 ERA. That is a decent tradeoff
99% joking but I’d love to see an official ‘throw it back’ rule put in play. Ultra home field advantage. Home fans CAN get an MLB Assist. That’d put a premium on outfield ticket cost. I’d try to get my Henry Rowengartner on!
Cey Hey – with all the injuries on the mound there is an available, high(ish) paying job waiting for pitchers. I’ve said numerous times, Tommy John surgery is baseball’s greatest job creator. Baseball has no push on resolving the issues on the mound. The main voices at the very top believe scoring and homeruns wins fans.
They continue to be wrong.
If the league saw the injuries on the mound as an issue they’d bring forth real ideas for change. They haven’t. They are fine with seeing a top pitcher go down, next man up. That next man gets paid league minimum which is a hefty raise. Job creation.
@CeyHey I know what you mean about Aaron. Some sports sites I visited I had to flip out a bit because all they talked about were the HRs. Uh…. He’s third all time in hits. He is NUMBER ONE in RBIs and Total Bases. He is 7th in bWAR. He has TWENTY FIVE all star selections and is tired for most ASG played (although I still don’t understand how he played 23 years and got 25 but who cares).
He can be argued as the greatest player in the game, the greatest offensive player in the gamez the most consistent player in the game…. All while getting death threats his while career.
So I had to remind some of those blogs that the man deserves more credit. Career OPS+ of 155 with like 10 seasons well over that number. He definitely tailed off defensively but still got some GGs and never posted a negative oWAR. Just so much to say about him… But most remember he just broke Ruth’s record.
ludafish – RBIs, Total Bases and even bWAR are all cumulative stats and Aaron played in 23 seasons meaning 3298 games with 13941 plate appearances and 12364 at bats. These are also some of the highest numbers in baseball history so to normalize his numbers for comparison purposes you must divide by games or seasons. Was Aaron able to avoid injury better than most super stars in baseball? ABSOLUTELY. Was he great? ABSOLUTELY.
Now lets compare some numbers to put things into perspective:
HRS
Aaron – 755 so .229 per game and 0.061 per at bat
Bonds – 762 so .255 per game and 0.077 per at bat
Williams – 512 so .227 per game and 0.068 per at bat
Ruth – 714 so .285 per game and and 0.085 per at bat
Mays – 660 so .221 per game and and 0.061 per at bat
Aaron was a great player but clearly not the greatest of all time. The single biggest factor for Aaron in the argument for being the greatest is his endurance and lack of games missed due to injury or war.
The KING of baseball will always be Babe Ruth, the greatest player of all time. First, he played in both the dead ball and live ball era. The juice in the ball when he played averaged roughly one half to one third the juice in the ball that Williams, Aaron, Mays and Bonds experienced. The older the player the more you have to gross up the total for the juice in the ball.
Williams, Bonds and Mays can all make arguments for being #2 rather than Aaron based on their performances. Williams missed seasons not because of injury but because of contributing to the defense of our country. Mays lost one year for the same reason. Mays stole 100 more bases than Aaron and was a better defender. Williams finished his shortened career hitting comparable to Ruth and 40 points higher than Mays, Bonds and Aaron. From an OBP perspective Aaron was the weakest of the five players with Mays being a close second. Bonds was roughly 50 points higher and Williams and Ruth were 50 points higher than Bonds. So while Williams and Ruth didn’t steal because they weren’t fast they got on base by so much more than the others they more than make up for not stealing bases.
Again, it’s not a slam to suggest Aaron is maybe the 5th best player of all time but clearly his numbers are as great as they are because of his number of games played. Think about the fact that OPS+ of 155 is incredible and YET he’s fifth once again on the list at 155. Mays finished at 156, Bonds finished at 182, Williams finished at 191 and Ruth finished at 206. Oh yeah, and he was an excellent pitcher too!!! That’s why he is the KING and there is no competition for the crown, just for second place.
Aaron was a great player and should be considered one of the top 10 players of all time. I’ve shown you 4 that were better and I didn’t even mention any pitchers. Is it a slight to say he is top 10? No way is that disrespectful of a great player like Aaron but proclaiming him the greatest is an argument you can’t win. He can be the greatest to you but the data shows he’s not the greatest based on performance.
Cey Hey, they can start using humidors at every park and make every game a pitchers duel and nobody will buy tickets. Fans like that flashbulb moment which was a homerun in the 1990’s during the steroid era. Every swing would light up an entire stadium with camera flash. MLB now making it mandatory to steroid test, put the steroids in the ball instead. Homeruns are cool, but I really enjoy manufactured runs and the double into the gap or down the line. The double or triple is more exciting than a home run.
picking up the Padres scraps
The Padres just traded five players for a guy from the lowly Pirates who hasn’t proven to be any better.
After this year Richards will have earned something in the range of $45 million in career earnings.
“Oh….. He.. looks.. Like.. That.. These days…” -Jomboy
Solid signing for Boston now add a closer and call it an offseason.
I’m sure Boston wanted to sign Kluber but Richards probably has the most upside besides Kluber of the guys not going to require multiple years.
Archer? Paxton?
Huge pass on archer, he has flat out LOST IT!
Archer had TOS surgery. Much worse than TJ. He’s likely finished.
Paxton has lost several MPH off his fastball and had a terrible year last year. Archer is still a ? health wise so I’d definitely rather have Richards than either of them. Or at least agree that beyond Kluber I think Richards has the most upside of the guys available on 1-year/short-term contracts. I’d probably prefer Kluber but once he was off the board I agree that Richards was probably the best ‘plan B’ option out there… at least potential upside wise.
If any team signs Archer, it’ll be one that has pitching depth and is willing to take a low-risk chance on him rebounding. Instantly plugging him into your rotation would be foolish.
Paxton is a decent signing if the price is right. Just make sure you have six other potential starters in case he misses a bunch of time.
I see Archer spending a season or two in Japan or Korea to rebuild his value. I just don’t see any MLB team giving him meaningful innings at this point because he’s shown nothing the past 2 years.
He just signed with the Rays.
Not my choice as he reminds me of Eovaldi. What are the odds they both stay in rotation just until Sales returns?
They would jettison Evoldi in a heartbeat
Richards getting $1 mil less than Padres are paying Snell.
But Blake signed a team friendly extension…..just saying
Garrett is looking to cash in, but we can see what Blake reups for next…..
A million less than Kluber too. This and the Kiki signing are fine but geez, the $$$. The price is too damn high!
Sad to see some of these teams that tried to wait out the market are now spending more to fill out rosters, not less. Not the best planning and maybe COVID is partially responsible. But even with the pandemic, it might have been smarter to sign some of these guys earlier for a bit less. Especially guys who are getting multiple years like Hernandez. Every penny needs to count.
You mean like the bargain Atlanta got signing Smyly early?
Hernandez I can’t explain but just about all pitchers are expensive. I’m not expecting him to be healthy in July and would have preferred a Lester reunion which at least would have made the fans happy, While I’m trying to think long term and give Bloom time, he could have thrown us fans a bone. Last year with Holt and this year with Lester. Bupkis.
Kluber would have been a better signing than a guy who has thrown only 200 innings combing 2016 to 2020
Kluber would of been a better signing but I think Kluber preferred to go to the Yankees do really blame him? The Yankees have a much better chance of going to the World Series then the Red Sox.
Yankees sign all the big name players who were successful in prior years. Look at Stanton, Ichiro, Randy Johnson. They love washed up winners. I wouldn’t be surprised if they signed Betty White. Still, it does occasionally pay off.
They didn’t sign stanton tho it was a trade.
The Pirates have as good a chance of winning a ring as the Red Sox!! Kluber going to the Yankees seems so appropriate for an injured guy or an injury risk guy. He’ll be great, then get hurt and the Yankees will reach down to some guy nobody has heard of and he’ll carry them to the playoffs then falter. The script to this story has been written many times. The sign of a losing team is to go for inexpensive players like Richards and to hope he can regain something he lost years ago.
Red Sox fans need to consider all that Bloom has done. We still have Sale and Bloom has done nothing to botch that so far. We now have Richards instead of Price at a cost of Richards $10M and $16M of Price cost so instead of paying $32M for Price we are paying $6M less for Richards. Brilliant move Bloom!!! We still have E-Rod so Bloom did nothing to improve our 3rd SP. We still have Eovaldi so once again he’s done nothing to improve the starting staff. We have Houck who was already in the minors when Bloom arrived to be our 5th starter. Thus, Bloom’s net impact on starting pitching is negative.
Did he boost the relief corp? We had Kimbrel and Workman when he arrived. Now we have Barnes at closer and two guys we had before he arrived (Taylor and Hernandez) as set up men. Are we better off? Maybe but who cares because the pen still sucks.
The Red Sox hitting improved with Bloom, right? Let’s see… we downgraded in right field from Mookie to Verdugo, Devers, Bogey Benny and Vasquez are still playing. E Hernandez upgrades our pre-Bloom 2Bs of Chavis and Nunez. By a lot? NO. JD is still the DH and we upgraded our other OF spot from JBJ to Hunter Renfro. That’s probably the most positive thing that has happened which speaks volumes to how ineffective Bloom is.
Did we really hire this guy to add a couple of minor league players and destroy the hitting? As documented, he’s hurt the starting pitching, he’s done nothing for relief pitching and our hitting has significantly dropped off. I can’t wait to see what he does in the next year and a half before he gets fired and the Red Sox have their 3rd consecutive top 5 pick in the draft.
Interesting strategy by ownership and management. Destroy a perennial champ by dumping two of it’s best players, hire a small time GM who can’t bring talent to replace the big stars lost, promise the fans a HUGE and CONSISTENT future and achieve that by trading for a couple of so so minor league players. Net impact – Costs go way down, quality of product goes way down, fans get cheated, future of the team gets destroyed and the integrity of the team is eliminated after hiring a convicted cheater or more appropriately a serial cheater. Is it any surprise Red Sox fans are either shaking their heads or giving up and jumping ship?
This story will be taught at the Harvard Business School as a case study in how to destroy a franchise in less than two years!!
KD. Regardless of what I wrote elsewhere, your summary should in fact explain in schools why fans make lousy GMs. Bloom took over a team with no money to spend since he was ordered to get under the threshold. He knew he couldn’t resign Betts so secured in return a quality outfielder that the fans already love. One who has shown in his little time in the majors an upside that may not reach that of Betts but could come close. The trade also secured two other minor league players when combined with his other moves has greatly improved the team’s minor league depth which was amongst the league worst when he arrived. Bloom cannot be judged during a pandemic under the conditions he took over under. Judge him after 2022. That’s when us fans, his bosses and business schools can best evaluate his body of work.
KD17, don’t tell me “what I need to consider.”
You guys are funny. For whatever reason, you seem to forget that we had to trade Betts & Price to get under the cap.
And, boo hoo. We haven’t won a WS in two whole years! Oh No!
loolebelongsinthehall – Lots of ownership speak in your response and very few facts.
Facts
– Red Sox payroll was $4M over the $228 threshold when Bloom joined.
– Price’s salary alone would have gotten the team under the cap
– Tax paid if the total was $228M or less – $10M max.
– At $228M or less no picks impacted the following year during the draft
– Money to be paid to LAD is $16M, $6M more than the luxury tax cost!
– The timetable for getting under is dependent on your desire to go over
– No plans for going over meant that getting under was not imminent
– Two year plan to get under saves $6M per year
– Mookie was offended by ownership and insisted on leaving
– Timing the Mookie deal to max value SHOULD have been Bloom’s goal
– July deal with ATL, LAD and SD all wanting Mookie brings more
– The Bloom minor league players are unlikely to contribute soon
– Verdugo is the only solid player but will never equal Mookie
– All other acquisitions are of no value today, they are potential value only
– Pandemic helped Bloom because the money outlay was 60/162
– Bloom can be judged just like every other GM, especially those fired
– Judge Bloom EVERY DAY just like players and managers
– 3 years means it’s mid semester and his grade is a D in my book.
– Obviously you lack business savvy. Evaluations are continuous.
– Employers give year end reviews – I gave year and a half review
– Significant downgrades during his tenure.
= No significant upgrades during his tenure.
– Worst finish in 2020 that I can remember
– Did costs to fans fall equivalently with the product drop-off? NO.
– Did prices rise when the team won under DD? YES.
– Are the Red Sox as an organization better off a year and a half later? NO
Fans can pretend things are better than they are, if in fact you are a fan and not a marketing deployed influencer. It’s hard to believe anyone would say the naive things you said. Maybe you are related to Bloom. Otherwise, you are simply pretending that the cow pie that is the Red Sox today is really an apple pie. It’s not!
You are right that loyal fans make for lousy GMs. Obviously, I am a financial analyst who sees a team spiraling into disaster. The ownership destroyed their product and their profits will fall accordingly. Bloom was hired to be the henchman so why ANYONE would justify his existence is beyond me. All his potential for improving the team by using formulas that evaluate value over cost have not prevailed. He’s only demonstrated his ability to cherry pick estate sales and comb the thrift stores for bargains. That’s what he did in TB so there is no surprise to his actions. People need to wake up and see him for what he is …… A small market guy who was on an executive team that did well finding cheap players. We don’t even know if his role was major or minor in TB. We only know he had a great title and was a participant. Based on TB moves and the Red Sox moves since he arrived, my guess is he had no major role in their great acquisitions.
Somehow you’ve mistaken me for a fan. Because I don’t agree with you, you have tried to render my opinion insignificant. I recognize many loyal fans whether they are loyal to the Red Sox, Bloom or have been paid to be loyal will support your arguments. For me, it’s only about the facts and if you evaluated the financial stability of the Red Sox since they shed Mookie and Price you would find that their revenues are down and their costs are down less thus their profits are significantly down and the rate of decline will increase over the next several years until Bloom is gone. Maybe beyond that if they don’t find a big market GM.
History repeats itself. The Bears future dynasty was destroyed after one championship by bad decisions. The Bulls dynasty was destroyed by their GM. This ownership group destroyed the Red Sox with both their lack of diversity driving Mookie out, firing a GM who would have kept them competitive and by making two HUGE hiring mistakes in Bloom and Cora. Stick a fork in them, the Red Sox glory days are done, much like the Pats as they watch Brady return to yet another Conference Championship. Organizations are always ONE bad choice away from oblivion. The Red Sox exceeded that ONE choice and the Pats made just ONE but it couldn’t have been more costly.
Gary – I’ve read many of your comments in the past and I’m good with you simply passing on mine. For you to write what you did says volumes about you. My points are meant for intelligent baseball fans who can articulate their viewpoint. Again, please feel free to skip my comments.
Do you consider yourself a Red Sox fan and that’s why you wrote what you did? See I consider you a troll with a grudge. No other comments except to lash out at me ignorantly for suggesting what Red Sox fans should consider. Your issues run deep so again, please no more comments on my statements.
Rgrddy = next time just say na, na, na, na, na and stick out your tongue! Grow up.
Another interesting Saturday night in the KD17 household. Either you’re by yourself on your computer and you finished doing the other thing so now it’s on to baseball.., or you’re married and your wife is in the other room by herself watching TV. I assume your Friday night was the same LOL.
You’d appreciate me passing on your comments. I’d appreciate you stop bashing on the Red Sox and ownership and management. Your sense of how baseball works is off base in my opinion. I believe Bloom is doing a good job in building the Red Sox into something better than they were last year. And in 2022 he will build them into something better than they are in 2021. Lay off the sox and I’ll lay off you.
And yes I’m a HUGE Red Sox fan. (I thought you’ve mentioned in the past you’re one too?) But I’ve been a Red Sox fan longer than you’ve been alive. Your writing style tells me mid-thirties at the oldest, make over $200,000 a year and that provides you license to stand on a box and insult and save maturity for your 40s or 50s like the rest of us.
Enjoy this time while you can, it slips away fast. But I’m sure you’re putting away your cash so you can kick back and retire early. Hopefully at that point, as I said early 50s or so, you can tamper down the condescending and pointed, insult driven replies. Hopefully the negativity subsides as well, but sometimes that never goes away. Good luck.
Enough for now, I’m heading out. Have fun on your computer.
Kiddy17 – always full of it….the one constant we can count on. Lol
We have no idea what ownership told Bloom behind closed doors . We do know that Boston ownership has a history of being more involved than maybe they should. They’ve had some bad breakups over the years.
Bloom has proven himself to be an effective GM over the years so let’s let
him do his thing before judging him. He came into a bad situation in Boston with some bad contracts.
Look at the Sox over the last 10 years. 4 fifth place finishes and 3 third place finishes. They also won 2 world series.
What’s happening now is no different than anything that’s happened over the last decade.
If you’re a true Red Sox fan (or any team) then you never jump ship.
Gary – That’s not how these websites are supposed to work. See you have no right to demand that I not give my opinion. Seriously, what’s wrong with you? This is a public forum where people voice their opinions and rather than expressing your opinions and debating baseball you try to insult people. You have serious issues.
As far as my personal life goes you couldn’t be more wrong. I’m retired so I’ve followed baseball much longer than you. I’ve played, coached, managed and developed players but I’m now a disgruntled fan who thinks the Red Sox screwed up so badly they won’t recover from it before I pass away. I waited half a century for an ownership group to show up who provided the money needed to compete with the Yankees. It’s 20 years of glory and now another 86 of defeat. The spiral is downward right now and a small market GM and a cheater for a manager certainly won’t fix the situation, they are the problem.
As far as my replies go, I wrote a comment and you did exactly what you always do, you make it personal instead of arguing using baseball logic and information. My negativity for the Red Sox won’t fall-off anytime soon. Ownership destroyed an excellent team for no reason and Red Sox fans will suffer for years. For those old enough to remember the suffering between 1918 and 2004 it’s deja vu all over again. Bitterness should be expected and NEVER needs to be justified to others like you who simply don’t get it.
Your replies aren’t just baseball. If that were so I wouldn’t come back with my attempts at matching your personal degradations.
Just stop spouting nonsense on the Sox. You’ll save yourself and me a lot of time. I can’t sit down and write a book or a 26 paragraph essay on why Bloom is not a knucklehead. When you take the time to say he is, and I comment on one sentence, don’t come back with personal insults. Follow those rules and everything will be fine.
Yaz1971 = stop disgracing the name.
He’s only demonstrated his ability to cherry pick estate sales and comb the thrift stores for bargains. That’s what he did in TB so there is no surprise to his actions. People need to wake up and see him for what he is …… “A small market guy who was on an executive team that did well finding cheap players. We don’t even know if his role was major or minor in TB. We only know he had a great title and was a participant. Based on TB moves and the Red Sox moves since he arrived, my guess is he had no major role in their great acquisition”
BINGO
You’re overlooking some facts.
In 2019 Boston had the highest payroll in all of the MLB and failed to make the playoffs.
The owner said they had the team if they only could play as they were supposed to play implying they were dogging it.
This was the team that had just won the World Series in 2018 with the same manager.
Boston’s had this same problem before in 2011.
They fired Francona as a result of it.
The fried chicken and beer thing.
I bring that up because the same thing happened in 2019.
So the problem wasn’t that Boston was spending to little.
The problem was they were spending too much.
Ownership, not just Bloom, realized prima dona’s and high priced players are not a good return on investment.
They get the big contracts and dog it and you have to play them because of the money and they are a bad influence on other players.
So Boston got rid of Price and moved the legend Betts to acquire players that are hungry and inexpensive.
Even with all the reductions in payroll that Boston did this winter and in 2020 they’ll still be among the highest payrolls in the MLB.
So now the tough part. Finding, acquiring and developing talent.
As the dead-weight prima dona’s and bad decisions come off the payroll through attrition the Red Sox will then be able to free up some money to be competitive again.
But this time hopefully much more carefully so that class act players with integrity are the ones they select.
The worst thing Boston can do is go back to that dog it prima dona culture with lengthy high priced long term contracts just to appease their fans.
And that’s why Boston fans are going through a change.
Just just remember Boston won 4 World Series in 15 years and I expect they’ll be right back in the race again in 2022 and beyond.
“A small market guy who was on an executive team that did well finding cheap players.
==================================================
1-Great, thank you for agreeing that Bloom is a good match for this team.
2-Did you say the same thing when Friedman went to LAD?
The evidence doesn’t support your argument. I wrote about Bloom then you attacked me. As always, I chose to counter punch and make you look foolish which ignites even more crap from you. It’s been that way for months.
The answer is simple. Stop insulting me when responding to my baseball related posts and respond instead to what I say and why you disagree. You seem to think you have baseball knowledge, I’m just suggesting you show some of it rather than your childish attacks on me.
Your latest comments are a perfect example. You say my replies aren’t just baseball and I’ve said that in the past too. I have pointed out on many occasions that I am a counter puncher so if you attack me I attack back. I said my initial comments are always baseball and not attacks on other writers. My responses to insults are the colorful comments you are referencing. They aren’t my original posts. Those are always baseball.
That is why I have many great exchanges with intelligent baseball fans who understand that presenting their viewpoints with documentation is a normal way to debate a topic. Most people on the site get it. You don’t.
If you really did what you said in your last comment and simply respond to my insults please explain how that is the case here. Why did you initiate this discussion by telling me I couldn’t tell you what you need to remember? You cherry picked one sentence in my famously long comment that was addressed to all Red Sox fans and behaved as if it was directed at you. I never once thought about you while suggesting to Red Sox fans what I think they should consider yet here we are many comments later with absolutely no baseball discussion just you posturing to suggest I start these interactions. I do start them by writing what I believe on many baseball topics and you continue them by insulting me and I follow suit. I’ve said this many times now. Just ignore my comments and choose others to insult because they too don’t agree with you.
Cyber bullying is how you define your first comment in response to my beliefs about Bloom. There is an entire subset of writers on these websites who try to force others to be quiet with their viewpoints by being aggressive. Many comply, I don’t. I fight back against the ignorance. Talk baseball going forward and you won’t have issues with me. Talk trash and you will. It’s really that simple.
SG – Interesting opinion. You assumed the owner(s) that suggested there were prima donas were correct. I see a breakdown in leadership by any owner who publicly makes comments like that about Price and Betts. Is there any wonder why folks believe there is a diversity issue in the Red Sox organization? Is there any wonder why a class act like Mookie wanted out?
I hope you are right that the future looks good for the Red Sox. The 2020 record suggests it doesn’t. The lack of action by Bloom suggests it doesn’t Bloom credentials don’t suggest a big market GM approach to the game.
Please name all the players you believe to be Prima Donas. You’ve stated Mookie and Betts so far. Are there more? The 2011 issue you reference proved ownership wrong since Francona will be a hall of fame manager some day. His issue related to the pain he had and the drugs he took to relieve the pain. I really don’t see that as a valid comparison.
2019 was a failure because Cora screwed up Spring Training and the pitching preparation for the 2019 season. The schedule magnified the situation with a long west coast trip to start the year. As a result, the team got off to a bad start and then injuries began to pile up. Cora couldn’t let Sale fix himself so he stepped in and then TJ was necessary. On top of all that, the manager cheated in 2018 with respect to stealing signals so there was corruption in the clubhouse. That abuse led by Cora couldn’t be brought to trial after the Astro example played out so poorly for the players testifying so he only got convicted once not twice.
A bad manager can impact wins and he did both years. Fortunately, in 2018 the players overcame his mistakes but due to the many injuries they couldn’t in 2019. Was the 2020 team going to be a contender before Mookie and Price were handed to LAD? YES. A bounce back could have happened like happens in most cases but COVID and a psychotic break by ownership prevented that. Instead, Red Sox fans got the worst team in recent memory. The talent level dropped significantly and the a key injury of 2019 carried over to 2020.
Right now if the Red Sox had their pre-Bloom team they would be competing for a division title if Sale gets back by May. Their starting five would be Price, Eovaldi, E-ROD, Perez and Houck until Sale returned. The lineup would be Mookie, Devers, JD, Bogey, Benny, Vasquez and Dalbec. So pick which you like more…. Mookie or Verdugo, Chavis or E. Hernandez and Renfroe or JBJ? As a group of three which is stronger. Yep the old team. Same is true with the starters. Same is true with the relievers that were present when Bloom arrived. The team is far worse off now and most say it’s because of money spent by DD. That’s not true but lets look at why it’s not true.
$228M payroll in 2020 (before COVID hit) means $10M in luxury tax. That meant ownership spends $238M in total. Trading away Mookie’s $27M and $16M from Price reduced payroll by $43M. $228M less the $43M suggests the owners paid $175M rather than $238M and the team finished 4 spots from the worst in baseball. They weren’t competitive.
The original team would have finished better than that if they repeated their downturns from 2019. If they played to their 2018 level they make the playoffs. Reality probably lies somewhere in between
So are Red Sox fans better off now than they would have been by keeping Price and Betts and paying the tax? NOPE. Not even close. Why? Quality of product presented to the fans of the Red Sox. Mookie is far superior to Verdugo, JBJ and Renfro are a wash in that the Red Sox swapped defense for power and E Hernandez isn’t significantly better than any of our 2Bs pre-Bloom.
So ownership saved roughly $50M to go from a .500 or greater team to the fourth worst team in baseball. That’s the bottom line. As a long time supporter of the Red Sox and person who has researched the profits made by the Red Sox during their tenure as owners and competitors for rings, that’s an insignificant savings to eliminate the chance for rings in the next half decade. Penny-wise and Pound-foolish describes the current behavior of a once great ownership group. It’s time for them to sell to someone who likes seeing the Red Sox compete for rings, like they used to.. It’s time to hire a big market GM who wants to flirt with the luxury tax 1st threshold to win rings. After all, the Yankees don’t hesitate to step over the 1st, the 2nd and even the 3rd threshold in their pursuit of a ring. That’s what the rivalry is all about. Showing you can win by spending less than the Yankees but enough to use good decision-making as the differential that wins rings.
Yewed – Do we really know Bloom has proven himself? His organization was successful while he held a title but we haven’t seen any evidence so far that he was the driving force behind the good moves TB made. In fact, since he came to Boston those left behind have completely outperformed Bloom. That to me suggests maybe his role was over-seer of the talented people. Apparently, he needs a few of those talented people under his command in Boston. He took credit for a highly praised player development manual but again that may have been the folks that worked for him.
His decisions speak for themselves. He either screwed the pooch on Mookie or was forced to make the huge mistake. He may have been forced to commit financial suicide with the Price contract but we’ll never know. All we can say is he’s traded off guys like Workman and brought back a few potential contributors down the road. That’s not really what a big market team’s fans expect from a new GM with a very talented team.
The Red Sox have been inconsistent since 2004. Baseball is highly competitive and dynasties like the Pats had haven’t existed since 1962 when the Yankee dynasty ended. As a fan, I prefer winning four times from 2004 to 2018 with lots of ups and downs to not winning at all but winning the division for most years since 2004 like the Yankees have done.
Also, when you are in a division with the Yankees you are forced to spend more money than most to compete with their huge salary. Since 1988 the Yankees have spent roughly $22.4M a season more than the Red Sox. That’s not as significant now as it was in the 90s and 2000s. In 2020, prior to COVID the Yankee payroll was 50% higher than Boston. Almost a $100M difference which is the biggest difference in history.
The ownership response was to rush a payroll cut to drop below the 1st threshold by giving away Mookie and Price. That’s a lot different than what has happened in the last 20 years. The normally consistent ownership has completely derailed. Hiring a cheater was the last straw for me. I’ve suspended my support for the Red Sox until they lose the cheater and dump the small market mentality and try to compete with the Yankees again. I may need to wait until new ownership comes along but I hope not.
Jumping ship isn’t the right phrase. If your family member does something despicable you don’t disown them but you are incredibly disappointed. If after that they show no integrity, you don’t stop loving them but you distance yourself from them to show you don’t approve of their actions. That’s where many Red Sox fans are today with the Mookie deal and the rehiring of a convicted cheater.
KD17, you really have no clue. Let’s just look at your last post and I’ll show you why. Now pay attention and try to learn something here.
Your comments are contained within double asterisks.
**That to me suggests maybe his role was over-seer of the talented people… He took credit for a highly praised player development manual but again that may have been the folks that worked for him.**
Every single business I know on the face of the planet that utilizes management, uses them as overseers of the staff. You weren’t aware of this?
**His decisions speak for themselves. He either screwed the pooch on Mookie or was forced to make the huge mistake.**
Myself and many others, even commenters here on this site, we’re 100% behind the dealing away of Mookie Betts months before it happened. He wanted to test free agency, the Sox gave him a 300 million dollar offer, he said no. Let him walk. Let Johnny Damon walk, let Pedro Martinez walk, Jason Bay, let Nomar Garciaparra walk, oh wait no we traded him before he could walk away for nothing because he was a little younger than those 30 plus over the hill big money hasbeens.
**He may have been forced to commit financial suicide with the Price contract but we’ll never know.**
Trading away price and paying half his salary was a great move. He’s mid-30s, had arm injuries, and we don’t even know what we’re going to get for our 32 million dollars. Sox can eat 16 and have the Dodgers pay 16 for this guy… and walk away smiling. That’s my opinion but I am a little bit financially prudent. I believe in circling the wagons at times and reassessing and cutting back and then building back up again.
**All we can say is he’s traded off guys like Workman and brought back a few potential contributors down the road. That’s not really what a big market team’s fans expect from a new GM with a very talented team.**
What good is keeping Workman when he’s a free agent at the end of the year and Sox are out of contention? That’s a real question. I wish they had traded a couple more relievers. Dump Matt Barnes, so tired of that guy and his walks. But that’s beside the point. Trading workman was clearly the biggest no-brainer in the history of the universe. Hard to believe you don’t see that.
**The Red Sox have been inconsistent since 2004.**
What are you talking about? When has a team ever been champions for 15 years in a row or gone to the finals or World Series 15 years in a row? The Sox have been very consistent winners and I say consistent because the process as guys get older and move on and new guys come in, is some down years. But with the same ownership that knows how to get it done and will spend the money, you wind up with four championships in that span. That’s fairly consistent to me. I don’t see players staying with one team for 15 years and dominating. It’s a constant flux of roster moves.
**Baseball is highly competitive and dynasties like the Pats had haven’t existed since 1962 when the Yankee dynasty ended.**
Excuse me. Are you that clueless? Are you forgetting the Yankees Dynasty in the late 90s? Are you forgetting the Oakland A’s Dynasty in the 70s?
**As a fan, I prefer winning four times from 2004 to 2018 with lots of ups and downs to not winning at all but winning the division for most years since 2004 like the Yankees have done.**
Yay !!! Logic !!
**The ownership response was to rush a payroll cut to drop below the 1st threshold by giving away Mookie and Price.**
Your preference was to let mookie walk for nothing at the end of the year? Did you realize we got Alex Verdugo in a trade 4 mookie, and the Dodgers took price and will pay 16 million dollars a year for that guy? We have a difference of opinion regarding mookie and how the whole situation was handled.
THE TEAM DID NOT RUSH TO A PAYROLL CUT. You see it’s statements like this that you make that are so far off-base and untruthful that irritate true fans.
After they won the World Series the team ran it back with everyone back. That failed and that’s okay. You’re supposed to run it back if you can with the same Squad. When that did not work then they had to break it down. THERE WAS NO RUSH TO CUT PAYROLL. It was A YEAR PLUS LATER. So that is an incorrect statement and is an example of your horrendous negative slant regarding the Boston Red Sox. It simply is not true what you assert.
That’s it for now, time to play golf.
KD17
“You assumed the owner(s) that suggested there were prima donas were correct. I see a breakdown in leadership by any owner who publicly makes comments like that about Price and Betts.”
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Care to document that statement? I never heard anyone ever call Price or Betts a prima donna. Price is extremely well-liked by his teammates, and Betts I have never heard anyone say anything negative about.
So kindly cite a reliable source for your outlandish comments.
KD17
Yewed – Do we really know Bloom has proven himself?
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Of course we don’t know. That’s the whole point. It looks like a good return for Betts, and I like the August trades.
But past that, virtually nothing he has done will reveal itself for another year or two. It is like that for every GM. Again, this is true nimrod-speak. We can talk in September after we see how his most recent signings make out. Or we can talk in 2023 about how the 2020 draft looks.
But trying to judge a GM, without even seeing any of his acquisitions look, is ridiculously stupid.
KD17- You never now how much of a true impact leaders have. I’ll agree that a leader is only as good as the people under him but he is also responsible for those people. Whether it be hiring, training, etc… You reap the benefits or you crash and burn. That’s part of the deal of being a leader.
It’s still a learning process for Bloom. From Tampa to Boston is almost complete opposites. Since 2004 Redsox front office has varying degrees of success and failures. Some great trades and acquisitions and some that left us wondering WTAF?
I don’t necessarily think Boston needs to spend more money. Just smarter money. You stated that they are “forced” to spend more money.
Yankees HAVE spent that money and have only 1 world series in the last 20 years. Not saying Boston hasn’t spent money but they have spent less and won 4 titles.
IMO, ownership has a lot to do with this. Losing Mookie was a travesty.
No two ways about it. To me they lost him when they went to arbitration with him. Arbitration sucks to begin with. They tell why the player should make less then say but we want you to be part of our future. Some players don’t forget that. I honestly don’t think I could forget that.
I was surprised when they brought Cora back. Not shocked just surprised.
Then again if you can’t get over cheating then baseball probably isn’t the sport for people. I’ve already given up on the NBA and NFL., baseball is
all I have left.
I’ll still cheer for the Sox and will support them. Over the years they’ve done a lot to leave me questioning but I’m still around and will be for life.
Over the years they’ve done a lot to leave me questioning but I’m still around and will be for life.
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Anyone that stuck it out from 1967-2003, will never quit. We have absolutely dominated this century. I’d like to keep winning a WS every few years, but winning 4 in 17 years is incredible.
KD17
“You assumed the owner(s) that suggested there were prima donas were correct. I see a breakdown in leadership by any owner who publicly makes comments like that about Price and Betts.”
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Sorry, did KD ever pop in to document this little piece of insanity?
Kiddy17- always full of $hit
More kiddy cr$p
Kluber wanted strictly a one year deal and the ability to be a free agent after this season. The Sox know they aren’t likely to be contenders for the postseason this year with Sale likely out for half the year, so wanted any pitcher signed to a deal that contained at least an option for 2022 when they expect to have a chance to contend again. Because of that Kluber was not an option for them.
Well said king
The details will always tell a story……. Options are so important and agree the +1 was a big deal for Bos and a big deal for Kluber to avoid
Cue Angels fans with scenarios how they can still sign Richards and win everything
all they need to do is sign Bauer and Realmuto, trade for Castillo and Gray, sign Hand, Colome and Kintzler, and then they are playoff bound!
Hahaha I swear I’ve seen that same argument posted unironically
because you did. i was half copying someone else.
Lol. 2020 Reds definitely gave Angels’ fans some pitching envy.
I know you’re busting chops, but the LAA should either trade Trout, or do most of what you just said, or maybe half of it. Doing just enough to maintain a .500 record is a waste. You remember what Miyagi-san said about Karate do, or karate don’t?
I totally agree with you Joe
LAA will never trade Trout.
Joe
are you nuts trading the best player in baseball
why Jealous
You coward….LOL
That’s an extremely strange reaction. But if your goal is to finish 3rd every year, hoping to reach .500, then so be it. I have a little more ambition.
All i can hope for is just one thread on the Angels that doesn’t have a trade trout post…
Trout is the best player in baseball. Too bad he will NEVER play in a World Series.
Correct. Geno thinks it is a matter of courage, for some extremely strange reason, but they need to decide which way they are going. Maybe Geno is used to losing, but they need to make a decision to go big, or go home.
I say they still find a way to miss the playoffs, it’s the angels remember? Where talent goes to die!
$10MM for a guy who’s pitched 198 innings combined in the last five seasons. Pretty, pretty good.
It pays to save your health for a FA year.
It certainly pricey given his injury woes the last 5 years
Garrett Richards Nice Red Sox’s picked up
My concerns are a 4.00 era in a big park and the fact that it was on,y a 60 game season. While he could have done better in a full season, a more likely result would have been either injuries keeping him out or his arm tiring and his stats look even worse. I think the team is betting that if they’re out of the playoffs but he stays healthy, he could be the most sought after player on 07/31.
I’ll trade you Quintana and Claudio for Richards. That will free up a spot on the Angel’s man roster and you get two scrubs. I’d much rather have a pitcher who might be good with great stuff.
If Richards pitches, which is more common than not two years after Tommy John surgery, he’s going to be good.
Another FA prediction wrong
MLB Trade Rumors predicted Garrett Richards with a two-year, $16 million contract.
One year at $10 million with a team option for 2022 is pretty damn close.
That was posted before team option was reported
I finally got another one right! Up to 3 (of the 22 signings in the contest). I’m a genius!
I actually picked Richards to go to Boston in the FA contest! Even a blind squirrel finds a nut from time to time.
LOL. My saying sometimes about others and sometimes about myself is even a broken clock is right twice a day.
I might as well add even a blind monkey finds a banana once in a while, which is the version I’ve heard most often.
he will be very good for the sox.
Good fit for both.
Dang. Would have made a good fit for the White Sox in the #5 slot. They need another quality backend to make a World Series run.
Hopefully they don’t do a dumpster dive again like Gio Gonzales last year for 5mil. Waste. And nobody wants to see Reynaldo Lopez starting anymore.
Cmon Jerry spend just a couple extra mil, and you will have the SP depth for a championship window. Paxton?
The WS need Rich Hill. Control his innings, but come playoff time, a pitcher like Rich Hill can really make a difference in a playoff series. Richards doesn’t.
Rich Hill stinks. Besides, he’d fit perfectly for my RS.
Hell, I’d take Rich Hill if you look at his numbers he’s pretty good when healthy (That’s a HUGE if though.) I’d like my team to add him and keep him fresh for the playoffs if he signs a cheap contract like last year.
@JoeBrady are you a Dodgers fan? I’ve only got to see him pitch a handful of times but he has looked good every time I have watched him. I was wondering if there is something I had missed cause I don’t get to watch him play that often. Other than his health what makes you think he sucks?
RS fan, I was being sarcastic, which is why I said he’d be perfect for my RS. From my perspective, if he could pitch well for at least three months, that gets us to Sale. I like adding guys like Perez & Richards,who are good enough to pitch .500+ with out offense, but we also need guys that can win at a .600+ clip as well. I think Hill could supply that, at least for a half-season.
Mttwotone, I’m a Dodgers fan. I like Hill and feel he has a bright baseball future beyond the playing field, perhaps even in a front office. But he’ll be 42 in March and has appeared in more than 25 games just twice in 16 years: 32 as a starter for the 2007 Cubs and 63 as a reliever for the 2013 Indians. Terrific curveball and he’s fun to watch, but he can’t be counted on due to nagging health concerns. Looking at him as a crucial part of any team’s rotation would be a mistake. I would love to see the Dodgers bring him back in a nonplaying capacity. A bright baseball mind who isn’t afraid of having baseball views that are different from the masses, which is needed in more than a few front offices.
My gut is telling me Hill is the RS last signing. Local product and I can see an incentive laden one year deal.
Joe, I’m thinking Hill and Richards combined is a full year pitcher with the one healthy enough to be traded in July adding more depth for 22 and beyond.
I’m thinking the entire RS rotation are 120 IP pitchers, hence the need for so many of them
Put his locker next to the freshest smelling guy on the team and it won’t be as bad
Rich Hill is phenomenal when he is on the field. The problem is he’s on the field only 20% of the time. Curveballs are more effective at giving him blisters than they are at getting the job done.
Well, 20% is a bit exaggerated imop. I think you have a chance to get 120 innings out of him. BUT, have him healthy, and ready for the postseason, and he is a much better pitcher than a lot teams can throw out there in a short playoff series. That is when a contender really needs the stud pitcher the most.
Looked up his advanced metrics and everything and have to agree. Hill is very effective…he creating soft contact.
But he only averages 4-5 innings per start. Then it’s bullpen time. He’s not lance lynn eating innings.
Only issue is his velocity dropped 2MPH last year compared to his previous 4 seasons average. I know he’s not a flamethrower, but not good to see it drop to 88 at age 40.
Maybe the white Sox can get him for 4million or so. Get 100 innings, and have room for Kopech when he comes up. Use him in postseason for strong 4-5 innings
But he only averages 4-5 innings per start.
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More like 5.3. The league average in 2019 was 4.99. At his levels, there are always going to be some negative marks.
You, also, have 13 man pitching staffs now. Many teams, after last year’s Covid shortened season, are going to be trying to go to 6 man starting staff’s to limit the innings in their starters, not to mention the pitching injuries that always occur throughout a normal season. Get your 100, to maybe 120, innings out of Rich Hill, and hopefully have him fresh for the playoffs. With the expanded playoffs, that will almost certainly occur again this season, there are a lot more “potential” contenders he could really help. I am a Rays fan, and I would love to see him pitch there at around 1/2 what they were paying Charlie Morton. He would be their best starting pitcher right now in a playoff series imop. A lot of teams could use him…WS, Blue Jays, RS, Yankees, Angels, the list goes on and on, where he would not only help in the regular season, BUT could be any one of those teams top 3 starters in the playoffs when they need him the most.
Be perfect for the Rays
*golf clap*
More meh pitching.
$10m from a team that is not lacking just one piece and already have Sale, Evoldi and E-Rod that can’t (Evoldi) or won’t be able to throw without an innings restriction. I guess $10m won’t go as far as it did a few years ago. I don’t like it at all.
Red Sox fan here is quite the overpay tbh.
Red Sox would have been better served picking up Hand and his contract when it was made available over Richards.
Sox rotation is full of question marks, and they’ve just added another one.
Deferrals in this contract too?
He will be their best starter this season. Although, that’s not saying much.
Really? What planet do you live on? Certainly, not Earth.
Haha who’s better? Eovaldi? E Rod? If he can return to form. Richards is good. He’ll put up decent numbers if he can stay healthy.
Both Sale and ERod are better.
Obviously I wasn’t counting Sale because he’s still recovering and ERod had a tough go. A heart infection ain’t no joke. But if he returns to 2019 form he’ll be their #1
Richards is still being paid on his potential rather than results. He was amazing for the Halos… in 2014. But that was ancient history. Does he deserve more than Quintana on a one-year deal at this point? Does Richards still have a high ceiling other than making it through a season without injury?
You’re probably talking to the wrong crowd here. They won’t understand his ceiling. Richards has a better career ERA than Bauer, but twice as injured. If he was a reliable 180 IP guy, we’d be talking about Wheeler numbers, not $10M.
Yes, I agree.
He has a reasonable probability to come back from Tommy John.
And his ceiling is high.
But he does have to get his act together again.
A one year deal with an option makes sense.
I’m surprised there weren’t more teams willing to roll the dice on Richards for that price, as his upside is still pretty decent despite all the injuries. But then again, it’s been that kind of off-season.
Richards had a solid bounceback in 2020, so the 10M isn’t unreasonable. Also, it’s only a 1-year commitment. When you look at Boston’s rotation from a year ago they desperately needed another arm who can actually give them big league innings. Outside of Eovaldi and Perez, it was basically a rotating door of place-holders (that’s the most generous term I would use). The return of E-Rod and the Richards signing actually gives them a MLB-caliber rotation. I still don’t think Boston will be able to compete against the Rays, Yankees and Blue Jays, but they might avoid last place.
If you call 4 #3 starters as “MLB caliber.” There is a 0% chance we will get anywhere higher than third place and I think third place is even out of question. 4th or 5th is far more reasonable.
It’s just numbers, but if we had a league-average ERA, and scored 5 rpg, we’d win about 88-89 games.
Highly doubt it. That’s big ifs. We won’t score a ton of runs if we keep playing guys like Kike Hernandez who hits .240.
A lot of upside…
Paying for upside has never not worked out! Cy young award on the horizon.
This could be a great move. This could also be a complete flop. With his injury history, I feel like it’s one or the other, no middle ground.
I do think Boston overpaid a little on Hernandez and Richards but maybe the options caused the slight overpay.
I agree Kiki got a lil higher AAV than I woulda thought but I like this Richards deal a lot w the 22 option inc
With so many players avail the guys going in the next wave will get more compared to the guys that wait till the end – Their are reasons for this this imo, these guys are coveted for various diff reasons, Kiki id say for versatility, exp, and clubhouse appeal and Richards for upside –
I do agree tho if you look in 20 days at some of the 2b values that sign they might
look like better values- La Stella Wong Schoop Villar Cesar Hernandez are all left and probably not enough chairs in the end when the music stops- If I was Bos I still might circle back then and try and swoop and have Kiki play util….still dont think thats outta the realm yet . Guy like Schoop, if you wait him out long enough, might take a 1/3
At this point you have to overpay to get anyone to come aboard
Good move. Richards was at the top of my list, followed by Hill, Porcello, and Teheran.
The objective, in my calculation, is to get 960 innings of reliable 4.00 ERA. We needed about 300-350, and Perez & Richards gets us close. A guy like Hill could get us to my 960 IP goal
Real solid deal here getting that +1 on GR
Hill 1/6
Porcello 2/12
Teheran- 2/11
I wouldnt sign um all but those are the contracts Id look to ink…Do like all 3 candidates- Would be super cool to see Hill make it all the way back to Bos
LOL!. I mentioned these exact four SPs in a post a couple of days back. I’d still Hill, Moreland, and a flyer on Melancon or O’Day, but apparently Randy, AL34, and GaSoxFan all think we are TB-North, while the accountants think we are rapidly approaching the $210M payroll cap.
Id def like to see them put an ink to another SP that has at least an option to be kept next year as well like they just did with GR
Expectation needs to be nothing more than SP 5 but durable-
Porcello and Teheran are really good calls for 2022. Trust your scouts, make a 2 yr commitment today and it could pay off handsomely this time next year.-
People value open payroll, as they should, but they dont give enough credence imo to locked up contracts already on the books that are in the green or even net neutral. Its hard to make bread in free agency but it can be done if bold/good scouting
Joe Brady, that’s the hit squad you named there. Instead of the Bloomsbury Group, they’re the BuryBloom group. I’m astonished by all of the commenters who really should switch out and start following the Padres to satisfy their screaming need for big splashes and shiny new toys. Apparently being a Red Sox fan means picking viciously at each movement or non-movement the club makes.
There is seldom good value in the big moves. That doesn’t mean you can’t make them, but you seldom win them. I think, for example, that Cleveland will certainly win the Clevinger and Lindor/Carrasco trades, and the TB will win the Snell trade. But that doesn’t mean the SDP & NYM made a bad trade.
I’d also add that making the playoffs is more about getting 1400+ quality innings, not necessarily getting 1400 star innings. With a top-tier offense, you don’t have to have a 3.00 ERA to win games.
Joe, I was hoping the Angels would re-sign GR, but hope he’s healthy and effective for Boston.
960 innings from your starters is a reasonable, if aggressive, goal in today’s MLB. Do you know where we could find teams ranked by SP innings pitched? This may be an interesting and perhaps eye opening stat to monitor.
I think 900 is more reasonable. Another way to look at it is that if you lose 60 games, you’re really good. That’s a good 500 innings, probably as much as 200 innings from the bullpen. Remember these are games you lose. That’s 4 or 5 relievers worth just for the lost games. Mediocrity is not a problem on your staff as long as it’s limited. If a guy gets good innings you start bringing him into higher win probability situations. Someone struggles and they’re moved away from key games. You don’t want only a few trustworthy guys pitching too many innings. That’s what has blown almost every postseason for the yankees. They overuse their reliable guys and then fold at the big boys table. The Sox understand you can’t go for it every year all year, you have to accept some down years. Their success speaks volumes.
whyhayzee2 hours ago
I think 900 is more reasonable.
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Another LOL! I’m having a fun day. I originally had 900, but changed it to 960 bacause I’m greedy and wanted 6 IP/GS. But you’re right, I’m not getting that with this staff. So 900 it is.
This stiff gets 10m instead of claiming brad hand?
Steamer and ZiPS project Garrett Richards with 2021 WAR of 1.6 and 1.1 while projecting Brad Hand with 2021 WAR of 0.4 and 0.8.
One is a starter and one is a reliever. Enjoy your apples while I eat some oranges.
Angels in shambles.
Damn Garrett is doing well.
This could go in multiple directions. He could be very good or very bad. We know his talent level but we also know his inconsistency. All I can say is I like taking a chance on him far more than relying on Martin Perez.
Still, Richard’s only had two really sensational seasons. Bloom, where is our proven ace?
Those are the two options! #nailedit.
Your proven ace is on the Roster, he’s just banged up right now.
I would argue there isn’t a proven Ace available in this offseason. The Yankees signed the most likely proven ace if healthy. Bauer maybe but I am not sold him especially with what it is going to cost to sign him.
Bauer is for sure an ace, let’s be real.
That’s why you trade for one.
How come we could give Richards one year but not Kluber?
Its a good point. I would rather have Kluber and his upside for the same money. At year’s end, we will see who made the better sign.
RS wanted club options for 22 , as they should have
Kluber wanted a clean 1 yr deal so he can break for a payday with a big year
It was the club options which leads me to believe Bloom believes the Red Sox will really compete in 2022.
Why would an astute guy like Bloom think that 2022 is a time to compete when the only significant money rolling off after 2021 is Pedroia? He’s planning on turning around this sub .500 team with a healthy Sale and Pedroia’s money?
Maybe he’s HOPING for 2022 so he doesn’t get fired after 3 years of failure? I think there is a chance that .500 might be achievable in 2022 with a healthy Sale but at some point Bloom needs to pick up an impact player. That’s his job and so far he hasn’t done his job very well.
I have stated numerous times why I believe that Boston will compete in 2022. The first is the free agent class is much better next year and I believe that Boston will go over the lux tax to compete if it makes sense. It just doesn’t make sense at this time. As we are seeing Boston is going to spend right up to the line this year so I have no reason to believe that they won’t spend it over it in a year they think they can really compete. The second reason is there are just to many questions marks on this team that need to be evaluated. Once that is done next year Bloom will have a much better understanding on what needs to be addressed to compete. It’s pretty simple actually.
@KD17 Completely agree
Bruin1012 – I agree with you. Frankly, Bloom payrolls have never exceeded 100M until he came to Boston in 2020. The 2020 payroll was under the tax even though there was no need for it to be except Mookie was going to be gone since ownership obviously offended him so why not go below since they weren’t going to be competitive..
I think as a loyal fan expectations of exceeding it are inappropriate until there is a good enough reason to exceed it and even then I don’t think it will happen on Bloom’s watch. You don’t dump a generational player to get under for 1 year and then go back over. The Red Sox organization apparently has financial issues we aren’t privy to or they have made a 180 degree turn in their thinking about competing with the Yankees. It’s hard to comprehend the new approach after 20 years of consistently trying to compete with the Yankees.
You have to realize that DD had things planned out through 2022 before ownership fired him. He had a great plan. Here is his team through 2022:
C – Vazquez
1B – Moreland until Dalbec or Casas was ready
2B – Peddy then Cheap roster spot using controlled players / FAs
SS – Bogaerts
3B – Devers
DH – JD
LF – Benny
CF – JBJ and then Duran when he was ready
RF – Mookie
SP1 – Sale
SP2 – Price
SP3 – Eovaldi
SP4 – E-Rod
SP5 – Cheap FA pickups until Houck or Mata are ready
CL – Internal – Workman Barnes etc
Set-up pitchers – Cheap controllable guys
Bench hitters – cheap controllable guys
Key challenge for DD – how to convince Mookie to ignore what ownership had done to drive him to want to leave and pay him his appropriate contract. Ownership didn’t want to and decided to eliminate DD because he would have fought for paying Mookie to keep him. The day DD got fired you could hear the sound of the plug being pulled from the bath tub and the water started pouring out. It hasn’t stopped draining and it’s 1 and a half years later.
Now look at the upcoming 2022 FA class and all the opportunities for the Red Sox to purchase those players. Also, consider the chance that the 2022 season might be delayed or missed thanks to the issues between the Owners and MLBPA about the new CBA. Is it really a great idea to plan your great comeback for the year the CBA needs to be renewed?
So where do the Red Sox stand going into 2022. What are their needs and players available in free agency.
C – Vazquez (same as when DD was GM) – the team is set
1B – Dalbec or possibly Casas if he’s ready – FAs? NOPE
2B – Hernandez = FAs? Maybe but not as big a needs area as others
SS – Bogaerts ISame as when DD was GM) – Opt out needs resolution
3B – Devers (Same as when DD was GM) – Still needs to be DH but can’t
LF – Benny (Same as when DD was GM) = 2021 dictates actions FA likely
CF – Duran ( Young controllable player from DD farm system)
RF – Verdugo – No need for a FA at this position
DH – JD (Same as when DD was GM) – Last year of contract no FA here
SP1 – Sale (Same as when DD was GM) – NO FA here
SP2 – FA NEEDED
SP3 – E-Rod – Depending on 2021 season may need to upgrade with FA
SP4 – Houck – (DD minor league player graduating and providing value)
SP5 – FA NEEDED
CL – FA NEEDED unless one is found in 2021
RHSU – FA needed – Maybe Ottavino re-signs
LHSU – Left handed set up man – Hernandez from DD farm system
RHSU2 – Right handed set up man – Valdez from DD farm system
LHSU2 – Taylor from DD farm system
Seeing the DD planned future and comparing it to the current planned future can you see that Bloom has contributed nothing in 1 and 1/2 years to the immediate outlook for 2022? If the Red Sox are to exceed the luxury tax it needs to be for SPs to upgrade #2 slot, E-Rod and the #5 slot. It may also need to be for a closer. From a hitting perspective they need to upgrade LF, they need Duran to take over in CF, they need to move JD and put Devers at DH and find a quality 3B. They need to keep Bogaerts from opting out and they need higher quality depth in both hitting and pitching. To save money they need to stay under the cap in 2021 so the cost is only 20% of the overage in 2022 not 30%, assuming they actually consider themselves competitors in 2022.
There could be some nice surprises like Pivetta turning into a quality starter, Ottavino turning into a quality closer or Hernandez, Benny could bounce back to being original Benny and Dalbec could prove his high Ks are acceptable at his future level of OBP and HRs.
One needs to be very, very optimistic to think 2022 will be even close to what DD had laid out in his plan. More than likely, 2023 will need to be the turning point because Bloom will be gone, Cora will be gone, Devers will be at 1B and there will be money below the cap available to spend to fix the holes at that time along with some graduating minor league players.
It’s too bad that the Bogaerts opt out is the year AFTER the big SS class of FAs. Boston needs to resolve his opt out by trading him with the expectation of going hard after a FA SS in 2022 OR bump Bogaerts in length of contract to remove the opt out.
Why ownership, after making barrels and barrels of money during the 2010s, had to go cheap and lose Mookie and blow-up DDs plan which was awesome is beyond me. Cora created the 2019 disaster and DD paid for Cora’s mistake and ownership’s inability to incent their greatest player to stay in a Red Sox uniform.
Bruin1012 – your two step process is simple but that’s no guarantee it will happen with Bloom as GM. You and I think like a big market team that wants to win in the near future. I’m not sure Bloom was hired to think like they have in the past. I think this excruciating slow TB process is going to be followed. It will allow for $120M to $150M payrolls and competitive teams that don’t win rings. The TB formula repeated. I hope I’m wrong but so far I’m not seeing anything to contradict my worst fears.
I would imagine Kluber saw the Yankees competing for the World Series while the Red Sox hope to stay out of the AL East basement this year.
I’d much rather gamble on Richards over Kluber… He was healthy last year, and still has near peak stuff, unlike Mr. Kluber.
Of MLBTR’s published 50 top free agents, Richards will be the 25th to sign.
Still half of the top 50 left to sign. Plenty of room for teams to improve before the start of the season.
It shows Richards updated on the leaderboard, as the 22nd to sign
Point still stands, slightly stronger.
The Red Sox rotation scares no one. They are turning into the Angels of the east coast.
Is he expected to start?
10 million dollar mid-reliever? Yeah I’d say they expect him to start!
Had to ask, he’s been made of glass the past couple seasons.
San Diego also shifted him to relief last year at the end. I wonder if they thought he would be like Drew Pomeranz 2.0 and play up out of the pen.
The intent here has got to be for him to start, but if he has issues this year it might be wise to slide him into the pen wherever he goes next.
Like Kiki, Richards is a whole bunch of “meh”. The question is, can you accumulate enough “meh” to be competitive in the AL East?
The Sox have a ton of money (please, no more about the tax; it’s a silly consideration). So the signing makes sense. The core position guys are still strong, so any addition to the pitching staff, at this point, is an improvement.
BUT they now have a 190M payroll, and still look like a 4th place team. They didn’t need wonder boy Bloom to do that.
Only some one whose career peaked at pizza delivery boy would state that millions of dollars in tax is “a silly consideration.”
PKCasimir – bobtillman is right. The owners saved $50M in payroll to drop from a highly competitive team to a joke. That drop will cost them future revenues. The profits gained over the last decade by winning should have been banked to prevent ridiculous actions like dumping Mookie and Price in 2020. The Red Sox organization is a damn sight more lucrative than an individual and $50M is insignificant in the big picture. COVID simply means profits will be off compared to other years, it’s not a going out of business situation like you are suggesting.
If you are a financial genius then explain why you cut a $32M dollar salary that would have led to $10M in luxury tax by paying $16M to LAD? Maybe Boston should hire a few of those pizza delivery boys to improve their financial group.
The luxury tax is a joke since we hired Bloom. The only reason anyone should care about it is if they plan to exceed it. Bloom was hired to not ever do that again. If you don’t plan on going over, there was no rush to get under!! We destroyed the team using a guy who was hired to be frugal and not exceed the luxury tax. Then we blamed the luxury tax as if there was an immediate need to get under so we could regroup and go over again. That’s never been in the plans since Bloom was hired.
I was hoping for a middle ground where we flirt with the 1st threshold so we can compete with the Yankees but as of now and through 2022 we will flirt with the luxury tax because Bloom has no ability to sell players high and buy players low. He’s dumpster diver so we’ll add long-term potential but nothing imminent to improve the team. Lots of high draft choices will be in the Red Sox future if they don’t get a GM who can convince ownership that DD’s way wins rings..
He fails to grasp that payroll isn’t a cost, it’s an investment. Unless the Sox rebound this year, they’ll lose immediate dollars from NESN and other marketing engines, and those losses will be in the tens of millions. Not to mention the “brand”, which John Henry et al fought so hard to build, will have its first negative year in a while.
Even the Bobby Valentine disaster wasn’t as bad, because there was a sense that they would rebound quickly. But now Red Sox Nation is actually talking about a “long term rebuild”, something that’s anathema to a large market franchise.
As I’ve said before, you can never recoup those losses; it’s sunken money. And yes, even if those “losses” are really fewer profits.
And again, it’s certainly not the end of the world as we know it. The core lineup is still strong, and who knows? Maybe they get lucky with the pitching. But in business, “maybe” don’t feed the bulldog.
But now Red Sox Nation is actually talking about a “long term rebuild”
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Not in real they aren’t. Only 3-4 posters in here think we are in a long-term rebuild. At the end of the off-season, we will hae a very good offense, and a mediocre pitching staff. That’s not a rebuild.
It’s a funny thing, but it would be pretty hard to have a $200M payroll, and not be a pretty decent team. That’s just the way it goes.
3-4 dozen not 3 to 4 people believe it’s a long-term build because 1 and 1/2 years into the re-tooling we suck compared to the DD team. This IS a total rebuild when you give up your best player in a generation and your #2 SP for a good prospect and two very average prospects that won’t contribute for years.
REBUILD is EXACTLY what is happening and what better proof than the worst finish in years giving the team their highest draft pick in years. The Red Sox aren’t re-tooling like so many hoped for, they are rebuilding and investing in the Bloom approach which is an attempt to mimic the Friedman approach. Will it work? We won’t know for years. Does it appear to be working 1 and 1/2 years later? NOPE. The Red Sox stunk in 2020 and will stink in 2021 and probably 2022 if the CBA doesn’t wipe out 2022 to save the humiliation of another unsuccessful year.
Pedroia’s big money comes off the books at the end of 2021 but what remains is JD’s Bogey’s, Price’s, Sale’s and Eovaldi’s $100.6M in payroll against the luxury tax. That’s an AAV of over $25M for the contribution of four players. Great idea paying LAD $16M for Price to win 15 games there rather than in Boston.
You status of the Red Sox not realistic!!
Very good offense?
No. Very average offense with many question marks.
Mediocre pitching staff?
No. Bad pitching staff.
Any time your opponent’s #1 matches with your #3 and 2 matches with #4 etc you have a disaster waiting to happen. Add the fact that Devers is at 3B and most of the rest of the defense isn’t stellar with Mookie gone and JBJ gone you have a bad pitching staff combined with bad defense. The offense isn’t good enough to off-set that disadvantage.
The 2023 season will be the fourth season after the Mookie debacle and the first year after the roster built by DD that got dismantled by Bloom. That many years and the team will still be mediocre constitutes a rebuild not a re-tooling. Making the playoffs in 2021 would have been re-tooling especially if there was a chance of winning a ring. Not competing in the playoffs for 3 years is re=building to a big market club.
Bobtillman is spot on once again and you are dead wrong.
KD173 days ago
Very good offense?
No. Very average offense with many question marks.
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Oh good. Another thing for me to offer you a wager on. And another that you won’t back up.
You think they have an average offense, with many question marks.
I am willing to wager that they finish in the top-third.
Loser signs off after the last game of the year, and doesn’t return until 1/1/22. Any interest?
Bloom keeps acquiring question marks…
I’ve been so incredibly unimpressed with his moves as GM so far.
This is a smart pickup by Bloom. While the Sox don’t intend to contend in 2021, if a lot of things go right they could find themselves competing for a wild card. They’ll need their starters to stay healthy first and foremost. E-Rod, Eovaldi, Richards and Perez should be their top 4 with Pivetta, Houck and others (Andriese, Mazza, Mata, Seabold) competing for the 5th and possibly 6th spots in the rotation.
Within the lineup, they need JDM & Benny to rebound in a huge way, Devers to stay in shape and Kike’ to prove that he’s worth $7M/yr. They also need Dalbec to prove he’s worthy of an everyday spot in the IF and won’t strike out 40%+ of his at bats. Other than that, their offense should be the strength of their team. They still need a 4th OF, but will probably opt for a cheap guy who can play CF like Marisnik and wait for Duran to come up late in the summer.
That leaves the bullpen, but their bullpen is in a lot better shape than it was last season. Getting full seasons out of Taylor & Darwinzon will be huge. Andriese will help them better manage games where a reliever needs to go multiple innings in the 4th, 5th & 6th for example. They also made a smart Rule 5 selection for their bullpen and they have a lot of depth sitting in Pawtucket on minor league deals. The only thing they are missing is an experienced closer. While they could look at Hand, Rosenthal, etc..I’m willing to bet they’ll want to spend a little less money than that so they should be all in for Colome so long as he doesn’t command more than $6-$7M per year. Sale coming back in late June or July is icing on the cake.
While Boston has not made many sexy acquisitions this offseason, I’m starting to understand their path back to contention now. 2021 should be better than we all think (hopefully over .500). 2022 will be wild card contenders for sure and 2023 will be their World Series contention year. In Chaim We Trust (or Bust)
As of today, my guess is that we are about a .550 team, albeit with a ton of variance, and thin as a razor. I’m actually pretty happy with the rotation, though I’d still iike to add Hill for insurance.
The offense might be the best in the league, but as you say, I have no idea about Dalbec, and I am not crazy about the alternatives, unless we add Moreland.
The BP should be decent, but we don’t have enough history on Barnes as a closer. And I like Taylor & Darwinzon a lot, but neither of them have a history of control, and I am not sure how missing most of 2020 will affect them. I’d like to see Melancon or O’Day drop to us on a cheap one-year contract.
Goodness sakes, rational thoughts. Where am I?
It would be nice to get a back end guy although I do think Barnes is ready for the job. I just don’t know that he will be elite at it. One more outfielder and I think it’s a good enough roster for the season start.
What really has to happen is for Bloom to hit on these additions. If so, success will likely follow.
Matt Barnes sucks. I really do not feel like seeing him as the closer if the Sox are trying to be good. He walks waaay too many guys.
In the East .550? There is NO WAY you win 90 games in the East. No way.
Fair enough. My .550 was predicated on an average schedule, with 5 rpg. and an ERA of 4.50. But we might have 4 teams in the ALE > .500.
oh I think they could eek over .500 but not 90. JBJ moving on, is addition by subtraction imo. You will need a really nice showing from ERod and a late surge from Sale to make any headway. IF I were a Sox fan, I would have hoped for a bigger rebuild with Yanks/Rays/Jays all very strong right now. Sox do have the money to make it a short term retool work. Time will tell.
Let’s start at 60 Wins and figure out which of the better teams the Red Sox might be able to beat. 70 wins is aggressive. 80 is pure fandom. Anyone suggesting over .500 is absurd.
Remember, you have 19 within the division so 5-14 vs NYY, 7-12 vs both TOR and TB and 10-9 vs BAL. In Division projected wins equal 29 out of 76 games. At this point the team is already buried!!
Figure 2-5 against CWS, 2-5 vs MIN, 4-3 vs KC, and 3-3 against both DET and CLE. So, 14-19 against the Central. That makes 43-66.
Finishing off the AL figure 2-5 vs HOU, 4-3 against SEA and TEX, 2-4 against OAK and 3-3 vs LAA.
Summarized:
29-47 vs AL EAST
14-19 vs AL CENTRAL
15-18 vs AL WEST
58- 84 vs the AL
Against the NL we see 1-3 vs NYM and ATL. Figure 2-4 vs PHI. 1-2 vs WAS and 2-1 vs MIA. That’s 7-13 against the NL.
So if you think the estimates are wrong change them to what you think but the game counts are correct.
I missed 2020 by 1 game and people were not kind when I put up my estimates. I’m sure my prediction of 65 and 97 will be met with just as much contempt. 65 wins should give the Red Sox a great draft pick in 2022 and another feather in the cap of General Bloom!!
80 is pure fandom. Anyone suggesting over .500 is absurd.
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Thank you for posting this first, so I could ignore the rest. I think .500+ is almost automatic.
I missed by one game in 2020 and you had similar comments prior to the season. You lack credibility since your predictions aren’t documented so people can evaluate whether your beliefs are valid.
I take no issue with someone contradicting a specific match-up and explaining why they believe I have under estimated or over estimated but this generalization you’ve made is typical of your responses, they lack substance.
Your opinion is .500 is almost automatic. Way to go out on a limb!! Very gutsy call especially after dismissing a detailed analysis. Your lack of baseball knowledge showed through with your ignorant comments about a detailed analysis which allowed you to be specific in your criticism..
Try having opinions instead of insults and people will respect your comments more.
KD17
Try having opinions instead of insults and people will respect your comments more.
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You think 80 wins is pure fandom. So let’s make a honor wager.
After the season is over, if the RS win 81 or more, then you don’t post anything more for the rest of calendar year. If the RS win 80 or less, I don’t sign on for the rest of the calendar year.
Do we have a wager?
what a great signing!! the sox will now win 18 games instead of 17
Who gets bounced off the 40 man? Pedroia and Walden?
There’s rumors that the Sox are trying to work out a deal to release Pedroia, so probably his spot.
Waldon was terrible last year but very good in ’19 so i do not think they would give up on him so quickly.
They are trying to work out a buyout on Pedroia but will need a second 40 man spot to add both Kike Hernandez and Richards so i would think Chris Mazza and/or Jeffrey Springs could be cut
I think they consider Mazza a real piece of their starter depth, so he’s staying on the 40-man. If one slot has to come from a pitcher, Springs or Walden might be it, but I lean more toward a trade of the sort in which Chavis goes for a PTBNL, following the Chatham route.
hes doing what he did last offseason, get no name, average veterans to make a name and make it appear they are decent, then they had a bad season, no playoffs and done, after this season, again when they will not make the playoffs, or they get knocked out, management will say ok! we just had 2 bad years like we always do- 2005-2006, 2011, 2012, 2015-2017( notice a trend? they will next go out and overspend on free agents, which for all intensive purposes, works for them, its led them to 4 titles, say what you want about shilling, price, sale, everyone of those eventually won you a WS.
I like it. If Richards is fully healthy this is a good pickup. Rodriguez, Eovaldi, Richards, Perez, Houck/Pivetta is a decent group until Sale is ready. Gives some added insurance in case Rodriguez isn’t ready either
I like this signing for the Sox. The thing with Richards is, while he has missed a lot of time with injuries, a big chunk of it was a failed attempt at treating/rehabbing his UCL. He almost surely wouldn’t have missed as much time if had TJ off the bat.
Obviously in hindsight it’s easy to say he should’ve gone under the knife immediately, but regardless, he seems past it.
$10 million is expensive for a question mark!
Welcome to the Nation GR…
Oh, my. $10M. I am no longer questioning Tanaka’s request for $15M+ after Richards gets $10M and Happ gets $8M.
Red Sox overpaid.
We were the 4th worst team in baseball, to get anyone to come you probably have to overpay a little. The Sox are no longer favorites to win anything, we are only favorites to finish last until we prove otherwise.
I know that Richards has been a train wreck of injuries, but truthfully, if he can just make it to june with some wins, it will keep the Sox in contention until Chris Sale comes back. Then, expect him to fill up the DL a lot after that.
Overall, the Sox made a few low cost moves to try to contend, but i hope we get to see Durren, Cases, and perhaps Downs sometime this year in callups. We wont win it all, but we are slowly reversing the the barren farm that Dumbo left us with.
I like this signing of Richards, but not for the Red Sox. This is another example of how bad the financial system really is. The Red Sox signed a 10 million dollar pitcher to come in 4th place. Obviously, for them, it’s not a big deal if/when they miss.
I kinda like the moves the Red Sox have made this team can be competitive.
I kinda like the moves the Red Sox have made this team can be competitive.
10m might be a slight over pay but hey, that’s free agency. I thought it might be more of an easy incentive based contract to get him to 10m.
Is Richards a good signing? It’s very hard to determine since ownership has set a direction of sustainability then got rid of Mookie and Price. Is it sustainable lower payrolls? Sustainable 4th place finishes? A sustainable highly rated farm system and no rings? I can’t figure out where the owners are? If they are going for high draft choices like they did in 2020 then the Richard’s contract is bad. If he is healthy, he will be an asset. Maybe not worth the price but still a positive asset.
Bloom was supposed to have this intricate evaluation process to determine cost versus value. If he in fact has one, then his system says Richards will contribute more than $10M worth of value. Of course, if he has a system it told him Mookie would contribute less than $27M in value in 2020 and he won the NL MVP so if he has a system, it doesn’t work. If he had given away Price rather than paying for him to be taken away his system would have said Price had NO VALUE. Instead, his system said Price had a -$16M value. COVID made 2020 moot with respect to Price since it forced him to opt out but if in the next two years Price contributes more than =$32M of value his system was wrong a second time.
If Bloom had taken the time to compare Mookie’s value and Price’s value at later dates versus when he evaluated Friedman’s trade offer he might have found a July deal would have reaped greater rewards so for a third time, his system didn’t work. There are a lot of people who think this guy has some kind of magic and he’ll save the Red Sox from the disaster they created when they fired DD, tossed Mookie and Price and hired the cheater. I hope they are right but so far, there are absolutely no indications that Bloom is any type of savior and his 3 year window is half over.
Wouldn’t it be nice to take a multi-million dollar job that required no results for 3 years? If you fail, you go on to another multi-million dollar job in another organization. If you spin the results to be positive by rationalizing why there are no rings you might keep the multi-million dollar job several more years.. What a great deal for Bloom. What a crap deal for fans.
Is it sustainable lower payrolls?
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We’ve been over this. The RS will spend to the cap, +/- a few dollars to spend at the deadline.
How do I know this? Because I am an unparalleled genius.
And because we’ve done this every year for the past 20 years or so.
For you and the rest of the whiners, feel free to continue bashing 100% of Bloom’s moves. But questioning facts, like the RS spending money, is pointless, since it easily proven.
JoeBrady – Obviously you haven’t noticed the huge change in ownership’s willingness to spend money. Usually trends have validity until something impacts the trend. The Mookie/Price and Cora activities break their trend and make them unpredictable.
The knowledgeable baseball fans that aren’t impressed with Bloom aren’t whiners, they are realists. They guy has done nothing and the team sucks compared to prior to his arrival. Those are simple facts you keep trying to spin.
I always laugh at how you prove points by saying them instead of providing actual facts to support what you think. Your approach is basically “It is because I say it is”!!! You’ve used it hundreds of times on this website. Haven’t you figured out nobody cares what you believe, they care about facts not your opinions?.
FACT – Spending is down since Bloom arrived. FACT – Bloom has never been in charge of a team with a payroll over $100M. FACT – Bloom’s team in TB never acquired a big name player, just controllable players like Glasnow.. FACT – Bloom is either a blithering idiot for the Betts/Price deal or he did his mentor a solid by colluding with him OR he got ordered to make the huge mistake by ownership. Which one to you pick? Probably the last because it’s best for Bloom. He’s just weak not an idiot!!
KD172 days ago
JoeBrady – Obviously you haven’t noticed the huge change in ownership’s willingness to spend money.
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KD17 posted this two days ago. I think it was about 15 minutes after KD posted this that the RS were up to ~ $205M.
How is it that Henry can spend to the cap, or over, every single year. And halfway thru the off-season, some folks assume we are breaking a long-held tradition?
JoeBrady – Once again with the wrong information.
“Ownership’s willingness to spend money has changed.” That’s what you are refuting? The fact that you don’t see it doesn’t make it a false statement. Check out the numbers, they don’t lie.
The Luxury Tax began in 1997 as a deterrent to Yankee spending. The first tax imposed on teams was calculated to make the top 5 spending teams pay for their extra spending. The formula was to subtract the top five payrolls from the average of the 5th and 6th highest payrolls and each team would pay 34% of the difference as their luxury tax or competitive balance tax. This attempt by small market owners to level the playing field lasted 3 years from 1997 to 1999 and then was dropped due to pressure from the big market owners and a weasel commissioner named Bud Selig!! In the 2002 CBA the current version of the competitive balance tax was born.
Starting in 2002 the 1st threshold was established rather than using the 5th and 6th greatest spending team. Each CBA in 2002, 2006, 2012 and 2016 defined the first thresholds by year. Here is the direct quote from the 2016 CBA:
(2) Base Tax Thresholds
The Base Tax Threshold shall be $195 million in the 2017 Contract
Year, $197 million in the 2018 Contract Year, $206 million in
the 2019 Contract Year, $208 million in the 2020 Contract Year, and
$210 million in the 2021 Contract Year.
The previous CBA in 2012 set the luxury tax at $189 for 2016.
Why go through all this? To explain to you JoeBrady how things work so you stop making incredibly inaccurate statements about the luxury tax.
It is important to note that the luxury tax payroll includes many components:
1 – Active Payroll
2 – IR Payroll (players on IR when luxury tax is calculated)
3 – Retained Salary
4 – Benefits
5 – Buried Minor League salary (signing bonuses etc)
Please note that any current GM can control items #1, #2 and #5 with #4 being a fairly standard amount each year. Item #3 is the past mistakes made by the previous owner and/or GM.
Now lets put things in perspective related to the Yankee / Red Sox rivalry. In 2017, the Red Sox with DD as GM paid no luxury tax. In 2018, the Yankees paid no luxury tax for the first time since 2002 when it started. They also paid in 1997-1999. The tax was to deter teams from exceeding spending compared to other teams. If not for the new escalating tax rate in the 2016 CBA the Yankees nor the Red Sox would have ever needed to reset. The tax without the escalating tax rates allowed the Yankees to outspend other team and they paid a whopping $341M in 15 years from 2002 to 2017 in luxury tax. Not really an effective deterrent to keep competitive balance. During those same 15 years the Yankees spent $621M more on payroll than the Red Sox and the Red Sox won 4 rings to their 1.
In 2017, when the Red Sox got under the cap it was very odd because they had outspent the Yankees that year. It was the first time they had outspent the Yankees since 1992!! With the Yankees resetting in 2018 the Red Sox outspent the Yankees $44.5M. In 2019 they were the top two spenders at $229M for Boston and $223M for NYY. In August of 2019 DD was fired and a few months later Bloom took over to reset the luxury tax because ownership was dumping Mookie since he was so offended he wouldn’t sign with them.
So read my statement again and you will find that ownership’s willingness to spend money has changed.
2020 = $201.5M
2019 – $229.2M
2018 – $227.4M
Bloom spending is down over $25M from DD’s. Clearly since Bloom arrived a new approach to spending has been documented by the amounts the team actually spent. 2021 will be yet another year when the 1st threshold will not be exceeded. 2022 will see a whole new scale for the luxury tax if the 2022 CBA gets agreed to. That new scale might raise the amount of money Bloom can spend or should I say it will establish a new level of spending Bloom can not exceed. Face it. The Bloom era is one of austerity and failure. Lets hope by 2023 we have a new GM, new manager and new directive from ownership with regard to competing with the Yankees for resources.
Why do you refute such obvious statements? Hope you at least learned a bit more about the luxury tax. Some day I’ll explained the levels above the 1st level for you. It’s a fairly common mistake that fans make thinking draft picks are lost. They aren’t. They get pushed back by 10 spots but the Red Sox should not fear that at all because spending must exceed the 1st threshold by $40M AND if a team has a top 10 draft pick (which the Red Sox will have for the next few years) the penalty push-back happens with the second pick.
KD172 days ago
JoeBrady – Obviously you haven’t noticed the huge change in ownership’s willingness to spend money.
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Did they spend the money, like I said they would? Yes!
Were you wrong again, like I said you were? Of course!
If you want, I can explain to you why you continue to be wrong. It isn’t very difficult, and it is more widespread than you’d imagine. Think About Nasdaq 2000, the mortgage crisis, and Gamestop. They all have common elements.
He should give a commission check to AJ Preller, being paid to rehab at full pop really paid off.
That’s the problem with these types of contracts. Preller couldn’t anticipate Covid, but as often happens, you wind up paying a guy for a year to simply rehab from the injury. Then it takes a few months to get sharp. So you wind up paying for two years, but only receiving 3 months of good pitching. The 4.03 he gave them in 2020 was plenty good enough, but simply not enough innings.
The biggest problem was the way they “used” Richards. He wasn’t happy about it, and it was obvious.
Richards will put us over the top this year with all the other top players GM Bloom signed. Two starters with question marks in Sale with TJ Surgery, EROD having not pitched at all last year, Eovaldi one pitch away from an arm injury, and the rest question marks! World Series here we come !!!! LOL
Richards started off looking good for the Padres but they became so disenchanted with him, they moved him into the pen and kept him there as nearly every other pitcher went on the injured list. Maybe Boston can light his fire.
Richards got hosed. Look at his game logs. He was doing very well, especially since it was his first season back from TJ. Twice, he walked off the mound ticked off at being taken out. If they were “disenchanted,” it had nothing to do with his performance. Richards wasn’t the only one, either. Tingler/Preller completely mismanaged that staff, including the playoffs when they desperately needed starting pitching.
baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=richaga0…
I don’t disagree. He had a couple of bad games late Aug/early Sept and I didn’t understand why they moved him into the pen when they needed starters. However, it was a 60 game season and every game counted like the playoffs. However the pitching was managed, with all the reliever games – the Padres held it together until the postseason when pitching fell apart. Again, they could have used Richards as a starter. I hope he does well with the Sox
I think he’ll do fine with the Red Sox.
As an Angels fan I’m extremely disappointed we weren’t able to lure Richards back.
Maybe the Angels balked at that price?
Richards and Trout are very good friends, were roommates for a long time. Richards owns a home in the area.
I don’t blame him for maximizing his earnings after what he has been through the last five years.
But man, I would have rather kept Jones and signed a free agent like Richards, Paxton or many of the other names that have come off the board. Trading Jones for just one year of Cobb is just mind-boggling.
My wishful thinking thought perhaps, perhaps a trade for a pitcher is coming.
Nah. Too much winter sunshine bleaching my mind.
WOW.
Most of these posts come with good insight from Sox fans who seem to know their team well. The consensus is that the Sox won’t be competing for the WS or even possibly a playoff spot.
Comparing the pitching staff to the Dodgers…
The team is spending near the luxury tax line as they consistently do.
Why is there never a tear down/rebuild demand towards the Sox (or Yanks for that matter) like other teams seem to be called upon to do?
Not being sarcastic. Just wondering.
Probably because these big market teams don’t have to do a full rebuild In order for there team to fully compete again. They can build up prospects like it’s nothing they can all pay for a team pretty much.
Big market rebuilds don’t happen in general because the ownership needs for the franchise to be competitive every year. The Yankees exceeded the luxury cap for 15 straight years from 2002 to 2017 and only went under because the 2016 Competitive Bargaining Agreement implemented an escalating tax rate for the first time.
The concept of the reset was triggered by the 2016 CBA and fans have witnessed the impact for the first time for the Yankees in 2018 and twice now for the Red Sox in 2017 and 2020. The 2017 season under DD stayed below the cap and the team was extremely competitive losing in the first round to a cheating Astros organization. In 2018, the Red Sox picked up what DD needed to win a ring. That left 2019 to be a year to repeat but Cora messed up Spring Training and lots of injuries set in and derailed a championship team
The knee-jerk reaction by ownership after outspending the Yankees for three straight years was to fire DD and hire a austere TB exec to get the team under the cap and help them cast-off their two best minority players. A very odd request for Bloom to accept but he did.
Why is the team still in trouble financially and failing from a product standpoint? The huge mistake ownership and Bloom made in determining a re-tool plan. They both underestimated the cost of losing Mookie. They both agreed to pay LAD too much money for Price and to compound their mistakes the injuries of 2019 rolled into 2020. Are they rebuilding? Yes and No, the majority of the starters are the same but the huge difference between Mookie and Verdugo plus the lack of a legitimate #2 starter behind Sale makes them exceptionally weak in 2021 just like 2020.
Should they consider exceeding the luxury tax to compete in 2021? No. They would need to add Bauer, hope that Sale is Sale by May and E-Rod is healthy despite heart problems. That would get them more competitive from a pitching perspective except they’d need a closer too which should cost another $15M for a good one or $10M for another Ottavino type.
The Red Sox make hundreds of millions of dollars each year because they are highly competitive. Runs to the World Series like those since 2004 further add to the merchandising and acceptability of rising ticket prices. For a franchise that has climbed in value since being purchased over 20 years ago it stands to keep making money if it’s competitive. The current situation is a result of ownership testing whether winning is really critical to profits, much like what the Wrigley’s did in Chicago. The answer in Chicago was the money will be there whether you win or lose. So profits were good but the Cubs weren’t. Lets hope in Boston the profits fall dramatically and the value of the franchise falls to the point a new owner will come in and again compete with the Yankees from a spending standpoint.
There is a reason small market teams don’t win much, they don’t spend much. The Yankees and Dodgers both spend more money than most but the distance between NYY and LAD in spending is far greater than the distance between LAD and the next highest spender. That’s why the escalating tax was needed. It’s just unfortunate ownership has issues with diversity that forced out Mookie and Price and poor financial advisors explaining how the luxury tax works. If you don’t plan on spending over the limit there is no need to dip below it by losing your franchise player and your #2 starting pitcher. Bloom could have used a two year step down in payroll that would have kept key players that constitute the core of the 2018 team in place. It didn’t happen plus injuries to key players like Sale and E-Rod dramatically downgraded the quality of the team since Bloom arrived.
Fans should be upset that Bloom hasn’t upgraded any of the key positions in a year and a half but some folks are sold on his tinkering with insignificant minor league players that might some day help the team. It’s that type of fan acceptance that has allowed the Red Sox to mistakenly spiral into a re-build not a re-tool. At this point, there are no rings in the future and this is less than three years after building a team that was to endure through 2022. What a huge set of mistakes that have been made. NO REBUILD should ever happen in Boston, only re-tooling.. Fans waited 86 years after ownership’s last colossal error, lets hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
KD17, I appreciate your insights. Always like hearing options from those who see their players/mgmt. activities every day.
I’m not a supporter of tear downs in any circumstance. I know it’s an unpopular position on here, but it’s too easy for fans of other teams to suggest when they don’t have to suffer the consequences.
As a season ticket holder, the years of pain waiting for the “cavalry” to arrive in some predetermined # of years, is not worth it. Some teams have had success in that method, others have not. There are no guarantees.
All it does it set the stage for another tear down when someone decides it’s time to do it again. The fans suffer greatly & the trust in the organization is lost.
For teams who decide to max out the payroll, sure seems like they should have young talent backed up like traffic at rush hour in their minors. I don’t see that either. I realize some is traded away for established players.
Teams who depend on draft/develop are more likely to bring young talent up early, requiring the pipeline to be filled more frequently & without the margin for error than the spenders have. The success rate for impact talent must be at a much higher rate.
Also contrary to what others see, I believe we’ll see a different CBA than we’ve ever seen before. It will not be a continuation of the contentious relationship between owners & the Players. The 2021 date is not coincidental or arbitrary.
A new system will be implemented that will be beneficial to owners/players & fans alike. It will be a great change from what we have experienced to date.
Makes Sense. He’s from SoCal. Most likely overpay