The Red Sox have signed left-hander Alex Claudio to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Worcester, relays Bill Koch of the Providence Journal (Twitter link). The veteran southpaw was released by the Angels last month.
Claudio signed with Los Angeles on a one-year contract over the offseason on the heels of a pair of decent but unspectacular years with the Brewers. The 29-year-old was a frequently-utilized option for Angels manager Joe Maddon, who turned to him 41 times over the club’s first 98 games. Claudio pitched to a career-worst 5.51 ERA over 32 2/3 frames, partially due to the highest walk rate (10.1%) of his career.
That said, Claudio did strike out batters at a 20.3% clip, the highest rate of his career (excluding his 12 1/3 inning debut season in 2014). That’s well below league average for a reliever, but the soft-tossing Claudio has long been known as a groundball specialist. He’s no longer inducing grounders on over 60% of balls in play — as he did at his 2016-18 peak with the Rangers — but the southpaw’s 52% grounder rate this season remains above-average.
In other Red Sox news, Koch notes that Worcester released reliever Marcus Walden over the weekend. The 32-year-old pitched 106 innings of 4.50 ERA ball for the Red Sox between 2018-20 but was outrighted off the 40-man roster in Spring Training. Walden worked 42 2/3 innings with Worcester this year, posting a 4.01 ERA with a 20.8% strikeout rate.
al que tienen que votar es rerrador y al GM por no hacer los cambio necessarily we suck
Dumpster diving again.
Not sure bloom even knows where to find the dumpster. He seems to visit the leftovers in the landfill after the dumpsters get picked over.
Desperate measures.
Signing a guy to a minor’s deal isn’t desperate or dumpster diving. Drama queens.
Well, it is and it isn’t.
They released a not great guy to bring in an even worse guy.
Meanwhile, the fruits of a screwed up trade deadline by bloom are coming to bear, as a formerly 1st place team has now lost 10 of their last 12.
And before we hear about how this team shouldn’t have been expected to compete this year, yes, they should.
Until bloom screwed the team up after coming aboard after the 2019 season, it should’ve been a contender in 2020, 2021, and 2022 and beyond. It had a core still approaching or at its peak with exciting young players with several years control remaining. Teams punt for years to get to have the team bloom inherited.
They had no chance at competing for the next couple of years. Terrible major league depth and no good prospects to fill in
With their financial picture, they have EVERY chance at competing EVERY year. Any failure to compete is just gross incompetence.
Farm system is good? Use it. Farm system is bad? Fill in the gaps. Bloom is ruining a brand that took years to build.
Actually, Bloom is filling in the gaps.
Ah, you do realize that “brand” had trader Dave Dom. as its GM don’t you……ruining the brand…..Red Sox fans have come to accept going first to last and back again over and over again and the “brand” has never taken a hit!
Rocky, the red sox brand is made of loyal fans. We may not like what is being done to the team, but we still love our team and hope for better.
That said, under cherington, and, likely under bloom, nesn and/or gate receipts did suffer, and that’s what hurts Henry.
So in a way some may say the brand suffered in so far as its income producing stream reduced.
Horace Fury – Seriously, that’s how you see it? What gap did Schwarber fill? He’s not a 1B and he can’t pitch. Bloom can’t pretend he’s a great prospect. Exactly which gap did Schwarber fill?
What GAP did Robles fill? We have at least 1/2 dozen Robles on the roster already. He’s not a closer and he’s not a starter. So what gap did he fill?
I could do this all day with Bloom acquisitions!!
They could have made small impactful moves. Get a real closer, get a first baseman, and trade for a mid tier starting pitcher. They would have been in a better position than they are in now.
@ Billie Johnson
1-At the trade deadline, we had an AS Closer who had an ERA of 0.66 over his previous 14 games. You can’t trade for a guy like Kimbrel, give up a major prospect, all because you thought that Barnes would cough up a couple of games 10 days later.
2-Out rotation will be Sale, ERod, Eovaldi, Houck & Pivetta. Why would we want a mid-tier SP?
When you think in terms of trades, you have to start with your real weaknesses, who’s available, and what the cost will be.
wessti – Everything GASoxFan said plus you’ll need to explain why it’s not desperate because the dictionary has Bloom’s picture in it under desperate and several other words. Also, you’ll need to define your version of dumpster diving. A dumpster contains waste that has been deposited by someone and it represents something that person didn’t want any more, something not worth keeping.
How is that not the perfect description of this Bloom action and is it really being dramatic to point out facts?
KD17 and GA: Do you guys ever have anything to say that isn’t trashtalk. Zero fact based statements. Just trashtalk. Personally think its same person with two accounts.
If bloom does something that isn’t a trash move I speak accordingly.
When they made a MiLB signing just a week or two ago for cash with no corresponding move I made a neutral comment.
Not sure what the non-mobile version of the site shows, but if you check my IP address I’m in the metro savannah area. Really a different person, you can verify it if I’m ruffling your skirts.
I agree with gasoxfan. With just about everything he said. That’s someone who actually knows baseball, unlike half the trolls on this site that blabber on about how bad this move and that move is. It’s not everyday teams sign all-stars. Its depth moves, also depth moves for what they need in AAA. Come on guys, throw a fact in your teardown of someone’s opinion if you have one.
Bloom inherited a great team, bogaerts, devers, Martinez among others. That’s a solid base most GM’s would love to start with or have, bloom has added very little to this team, at the deadline he added nobody. Nobody to a 1st place team with a worse bp depth then the Jay’s ffs. Added Schwarber who’s Injured, and doesnt have a place to play?? What the….
@jaysfan… be careful, if you talk sense denny-the-bloom-apologist will just assume I made up your account. It’s his go-to response when he can’t attack a take on its merits.
GASox: I looked for comments when Duquette was fired, you had nothing to say. I looked when Betts was traded, nothing again.
Now your adamant about both moves. That was only in the last couple of years. Where were you back then? Were you out of the country? Or maybe just using a different log in.
Not Duquette firing, meant Dumbroski.
As I said elsewhere in the thread Dennyd, when you accused me of just Monday morning quarterbacking, I used to be atlsoxfan before I moved away from the city. No longer being from atl I madquarterbacks,
And I’ve been consistently critical of bloom since 2020.
Read more, look harder.
dennyd – Your understanding of trash talking is as bad as your understanding of baseball. Things written by GASoxFan and me don’t constitute trash talk unless you are addressing some of my responses to JoeBrady but he invites it. Otherwise, NOBODY calls bringing to light facts about the inadequacies of Ownership, Bloom, Cora, Dever’s defense or any of the other topics I rant about trash talk.
Now, to better understand the English language think about what you wrote. There were no facts presented. It was an insult to both GASoxFan and me. It had NOTHING to do with baseball. It wasn’t anything like what we write about. It was childish and vindictive not factual. Does that sound much more like trash talk than what you accused us of? YEP.
So, in the future, reporting screw-ups by key personnel within the Red Sox organization IS NOT trash talking, it’s fan feedback. Fans have that right because they fund the Red Sox with their purchases. Being concerned fans when something wrong is happened isn’t a bad thing. It might not be liked by the fans being led around by their nose but for the real fans, it’s all part of the fan base obligation to push their team to the level they expect them to compete at.
Dennyd- kd, ga, bob do not have an ounce of brains between them. Lol
So much faux drama.
Well it is in a way when you sign a guy to a minors deal, presumptively to elevate him to the major league roster sooner than later!
Hey Bloom! The trade deadline was July 30 not now. This is all released garbage you are picking up now. You blew it my GM bug time because your inaction is causing this team to drop like a rock.
When your pitching additions are angels cast-offs you know you’re not doing good.
Wrong. It is the players bad performance on the field causing them to fall. A lot of the players who had good first halves are not having good second halves. They actually started faltering right before the all-star break and were 13-12 in July. Not worth gutting the farm system.
AITSTYW – Performance is always on the players BUT team skill level is on the GM. When a team rides an over-performing first half, the odds are good that they will need an influx of talent to maintain the ride through the second half.
Two examples of GM behavior. 2018 DD sees them riding high and expected a regression so he picks up Pearce and Eovaldi. They kept up the championship winning pace despite Cora’s mistakes. 2021 Bloom sees them riding high and may or may not have expected a regression because he’s not really good at his job. Consequently, he doesn’t fill the need for pitching or 1B he got a bad defensive outfielder with lots of power, one of the best talents the team already had!! Bad GM.
Will the players regress to their means? It’s likely so the big three are likely to slow down especially with Cora tinkering with the line-up. He thinks the game is about lucky combinations instead of time tested logic for creating your batting order. I remember Swihard batting at the top of the order having a good game and he stuck with it because he thought he was a genius!! It was pure luck and Cora being good to a bench guy they parted with later. It makes him popular but not effective as a manager.
The month of July wasn’t really a problem, only the last 3 days and then rolling into August. The Red Sox have won 2 games since Houck beat Toronto on the 28th of July. Where is Houck? In the minors AGAIN so guys like Perez, Richards and E-Rod can continue to stink up the place. Knowing how bad Cora is at his job, I’m guessing he’ll take Sale out at the wrong time and cost the team yet another win. It’s standard operating procedure for Cora. He’s a terrible manager. It’s just that simple.
I think all the trade deadline debate comes down to what prospects other teams wanted from the Red Sox. Until that comes out, if it ever comes out, we will never know if Bloom made the right decisions at ghe trade deadline….and the optimists will keep being optimistic and the pessimists will keep being pessimistic and around and around we will go.
AITSTYW – I think you believe being a GM is a passive job and Bloom is a passive GM (some think asleep rather than passive). The good GMs are active. Bloom claimed the deal with LAD was a great one for the Red Sox. He got Verdugo, Downs and Wong. If they were so great why couldn’t we have parlayed them into REAL talent? Because the fact is they aren’t worth much which makes the Mookie deal a bad one. Bloom supporters can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim great prospects and then say he didn’t have anything to trade to get what the Red Sox needed. I’m just glad he didn’t trade any of the prospects that were in the system before he arrived. They are the players of the future, not the trash he retrieved from the baseball junkyard.
Next, after watching what Friedman did to Bloom in the Mookie deal you have to believe he’s got a rep of being someone you can hardball into giving you more than he should because he’s naive. It’s hard to move players if the GM has no valid relationships with other GMs except those that he looks up to and embarrass him in trades. DD found talent. He found Pearce and Eovaldi and this year found Gibson and Kennedy. How much better would the Red Sox have been if they got Gibson and Kennedy instead of Schwarber (who has yet to play and it’s Aug 11).?
There really is no valid excuse for not doing his job. He’s paid a lot of money to make sure things get done on time. He’s missed deadlines, he missed opportunities to upgrade the talent level and he’s focused on trying to build a vibrant functioning farm system when it didn’t need it. He is not qualified for the job. Whoever assisted him in TB was the brains, he went along for the ride and it paid off financially so who cares if he throws away Mookie and Price, who cares if the team got the 4th pick in the draft, he got paid and now is positioned to move to a more suitable GM job with a small market team. He helped his career and to hell with the Red Sox fans. It’s about the money and the career not winning rings.
If Albert Pujols is any indication, Claudio should be pushing for a Cy Young award this year.
Didn’t work for andriese.
He still stinks. Just doesn’t matter since he’s a part time player on a good team. Dude was a cancer in Anaheim
jabronie – I wouldn’t call Pujols a cancer in the sense that he was a great mentor to the youngsters and by all accounts a great clubhouse guy. But he hurt the team because he just can’t play anymore. He should have worked out a retirement package 5 years ago. He might make a decent hitting coach somewhere.
Alex Claudio, Alex Verdugo, Alex Cora…. What’s next? Alex Rodriguez coming out of retirement to fulfill the incomplete 2004 trade?
Angela fans here. You’ll love his .522 SLG be LHB. He’s f’n awful
Speaking of Angels, I really thought Ohtani was going to hit a grand slam tonight to tie it up.
Ahhhh Angels…an annual .500 team with the best player in the game and the probable AL MVP.
I know it’s only AAA and six games, but Michael Chavis is…
10-24 .417 avg
4 2b 3 hr
.958 slg 1.476 ops
sheerterror – I read your comment and thought of the movie “trouble with the curve ball” because the young GM acted much like Bloom. Bad evaluator, bad choices and most importantly not showing respect to many of DD’s guys who deserved better.
Any success Chavis has may simply be evidence that he’s getting positive feedback and guys that can’t field aren’t being shown favoritism like in Boston. I hope he does great in Pittsburgh. It’s always nice to have support from the manager and GM. So many of DD guys were alienated by Bloom and Cora. That’s why the talent level has fallen so drastically since Bloom arrived and Cora returned with his tail between his legs.
Regular playing time in a single spot also helps many guys.
Just like everyone isn’t suited for being a DH, not everyone is suited to be a supersub coming off the bench without regular playing time.
Also, mlb is different caliber than anything milb… lots of good players need time to adjust and just have a team stick with them while they do so.
GASoxFan
Regular playing time in a single spot also helps many guys.
============================
The problem is that Chavis has never hit. His AAA K/W with the RS was 63/17. So when you go to the pros, that only gets worse. And in the pros, he was 209/40, and that won’t work.
And his AAA K/W with PT is 6/1. One of the universal truths about BB is that, if you have a bad K/W in the minors, it follows you to the pros. And both SBs and HRs disappear in the pros if you can’t control the zone.
@joe brady…
And yet we have franchy cordero, the main piece in the benintendi trade.
Hitting a .198, with a career 158/36 k/bb ratio in the majors. Also a whopping ops+ of 40. Yes, 40. But bloom saw fit to bring him on, and, play him instead of dfa if he was some salary offset or something.
So, I can’t buy k/bb ratio as grounds in a bloom FO for keeping or moving someone.
Also, FYI renfroe was 140/27 and 154/46 in 2017 and 2019 during his healthier fuller seasons… so there’s that
JB – You keep saying you don’t hate Chavis but you have distorted his actual performance since the first time you commented on him. You also measure him very differently than Devers. How fair is that? Asking for Chavis to be treated fairly or better than fairly like they did Devers always makes your bias surface.
Over time I’ve tried hard to help you understand what are real measuring sticks for players. You constantly quote irrelevant facts to support your arguments. You once again have pointed out Ks/BBs and once again the number is irrelevant. Why? Because it doesn’t speak to the success a hitter is having or not having. The hitter could K a lot and provide a very high batting average, he may not hit into double plays as often as the person you are comparing them to, he might be a prolific home run hitter who produces so well that a bad K/BB ratio is inconsequential OR as in the case of Chavis he may be a young player in his first year and he wasn’t given a chance to lower the number because of inconsistent playing time due to a bias manager.
So you used a phrase “control the zone”. Do you realize you used the phrase incorrectly? Strike outs are irrelevant because they are accounted for in your batting average just like ground outs, pop outs and base hits. Think logically about who controls a zone. Is it a hitter or pitcher? Cover the zone? Hitter or pitcher? It’s not enough to read something somewhere else and reuse it here, you must understand what it means!!
Chavis is an outstanding young person who got screwed over by a biased manager and a new GM trying to clear out the old GM’s players. It’s just that simple. All Red Sox fans should wish him well just like all the other loyal Red Sox players that got shown the door by a know nothing GM. I hope all of them thrive elsewhere further exposing the incompetence of Bloom.
GASoxFan9 hours ago
And yet we have franchy cordero, the main piece in the benintendi trade.
===========================
Are you agreeing with me? Franchy can’t hit and Chavis can’t hit, and all for the same reason.
The hitter could K a lot and provide a very high batting average
==============================
But, as always, that is not what I said. I referred to K/W, not just Ks. Hitters that take a walk can do well. It means they are only swining at strikes. There is nothing wrong with that.
Just for fun, I ran Fangraphs for 2011-2021. They list 560 hitters as having enough ABs to qualify. Taking the top-50 worst K/W percentages, only 9 have an RC+ of 100 or better, and none are higher than 111. 19 of those 50 have an RC+ of less than 80.
It’s a simple story. If players are going to swing at low-outside curveballs two inches off the plate, all they will ever see are low-outside curveballs two inches off the plate. As prospects advance, they learn to lay off of those pitches, So far, Chavis hasn’t.
“DD’s guys who deserve better” — Your exaggerations are ridiculous.
Do you mean the slumping overpaid DH, who can opt out if he plays good, or stay in if he’s terrible. Or maybe the Pitcher signed to a long-term contract, even though he had arm trouble, and has been on the DL for the past two years?
Thats the only player of mention that he’s brought in. I can give you a huge list of major leagues and minor league prospects still producing, that DD shipped out, if you need.
You ignore all the great years sale had, and all the guys dd brought in did produce… including a WS.
But please, give us a list of all stars DD shipped out who were these AMAZING prospects and were soooo much better than the guys who blocked them on the major league roster.
ALL of them. And how many ws rings, all star, mvp, and Cy young hardware they’ve won.
My guess is the years sale spent and what he produced was better. And the years of Kimbrel.
Did you forget kopech being out? Or did you think Margot was better than benintendi? Please share your delusions.
You don’t know how time works do you? How can a prospect have “many ws rings, all star, mvp, and CY”. You do realize when you trade for a players in their late 20s and 30s, and send out a bunch of teens and early 20 kids, they haven’t been given the time to achieve that stuff.
But since you asked:
==================================================================
Still with Red Sox that DD acquired:
Sale, JD Martinez
==================================================================
Gone while DD was in office:
Still Playing in the Majors —–
Yoan Moncada, Travis Shaw, Marico Dubon, Michael Kopech, Victor Diaz, Jamie Callahan, Deven Marrero, Jalen Beeks, Ty Butterey
Still considered decent prospects —–
Wendell Rijo, Jose Almonte, Anderson Espinoza, Luis Basabe, Esteban Quizor, Elio Prado, Noel Romero
*This list doesn’t count several other prospects that fizzled out.
Are you going to say that Red Sox wouldn’t be better today, than if DD never did a single transaction. He won a WS to his credit, but left the team in ruins.
I will say that. ABSOLUTELY 100X YES. Of all those you cite, who has done much of value? And I notice, you leave out the value both in terms of wins, pennants, award hardware the guys who left had of value.
To get sale, on the extremely team friendly contract he had, you had to give Moncada and Kopech up. Kopech who was also injured.
Would you rather have Moncada playing instead of Devers?
Are you saying Marrero, the same guy who’s cleared waivers and been riding the train up and down from the minors was worth more?
You leave out eovaldi being still with the Sox. Does he have no value, or is beeks a better pitcher?
And since when is “who remains with the sox” the measure here? Are you giving credit for the prospects that were brought in from trading away guys DD signed? Or does giving away a player have no positive value in measuring the assets DD built, only what he paid for them?
What is Travis shaw doing lately? What are dubon. Buttery, Callahan up to? Would you displace current major league starters for any of them?
How many TJs has Espinoza had? And did you seriously call him a decent prospect?
Your list is a joke.
You wouldn’t have won multiple pennants or a WS keeping those guys. They’re chaff aside from that was paid for Sale. DD made out like a bandit when you measure the years of control and the WAR the guys he bought in put up in the place of that list.
@Dennyd
You don’t know how time works do you? How can a prospect have “many ws rings, all star, mvp, and CY”. You do realize when you trade for a players in their late 20s and 30s, and send out a bunch of teens and early 20 kids, they haven’t been given the time to achieve that stuff.
≈==≈==========================================
You can’t have it both ways. Ignoring the fact that these guys haven’t done anything, it’s been a good 5 years now.
Either a prospect was considered legitimate, and in that time would have been getting looks in the majors, or, he was just a fringe nobody at the time of the trade and basically a lottery pick.
Marico Dubon – age 27, debut 2019. Hitting .232/.294/.696 ops+ of 70
Victor Diaz – age 27, still hasn’t risen past class-A ball
Jamie Callahan – age 26, played 6 2/3 innings in 2017, relegated to the minors since.
Deven Marrero – age 30, career .198 hitter with -0.1war riding the shuttle from the minors where other teams don’t claim him.
jalen Beeks – age 28, rides the minors shuttle since 2018 debut, has 174.1IP of 4.54 era ball to his credit
Ty Butterey – age 28, debut 2018, has 115ip of 4.31 era while riding thr shuttle in pitching hungry LAA of all places. Trending downwards with a 5.81 era in 2020 and not even given a chance in 2021.
Your “Still considered decent prospects —–”
Wendell Rijo – age 25, plays AA, .240/.322/.691 career that almost the same as his 2021 output
Jose Almonte – age 25, independent leage player for NJ
Anderson Espinoza – age 23, the TJ wonder having multiple surgeries. Traded again this year, plays class A+, with a 4.89 era
Luis Basabe – age 25 in 2 was, cup of coffee with SF hitting .143. In the minors a .246/.346/.740 hitter
Esteban Quiroz (fixed your spelling) – age 29, in the minors, spent most of his career in Mexico
Elio Prado – played 2019 in Dominican summer leage, nothing since.
Noel Romero – age 19, played Dominican summer league hitting and not FCL .265/.336/.699
Yes, aside from the kopech/moncada in the sale trade, those guys you list are the stuff dreams are made of. Many, aside from the 2019 trade with BAL are also a bit long in the tooth.
I swear you must be chaim blooms braintrust if you think those guys are quality or decent.
You act like one players World Series rings mean they are good players. If I play on the 1927 Yankees and hit 060 or something, I get a ring. On the other hand, Ernie Banks is a HOF, and never got a ring. You don’t have to win Cy Young or a World Series to be a good player.
Agreed dodgers…. I was grasping at straws for ways anyone could try to claim the chaff DD discarded in trades was as good as denny makes them out to be, but, reading the stats above show they never were, and aren’t, anything.
dennyd – So as a Yankee fan do you find it to be fun to go on the Red Sox website and try to stir up controversy with incredibly stupid and inaccurate comments? You do realize that having people repeat the same thing over and over again is therapeutic not upsetting?
Here goes –
DD’s guys that deserved better is NOT an exaggeration it’s a fact.
I’ll use ONE simple example.= Andrew Benintendii
2016 – he comes up and produces very well in 34 games OPS+ 118 i
2017 – sophomore adjustment period OPS+ drops to 103 but he drives in 90 runs and scores 84 times. Not bad for an average sophomore year.
2018 – OPS+ jumps back to 123, Sox win a ring, he makes a diving catch that saves the day and he’s beloved by DD and the fans
2019 – Cora screws up Spring Training and destroys the team’s chances for repeating. Career years regress and Benny is part of the regression like almost every 2018 star. Devers in 2018 sucks so his accent in 2019 is what transfers the spotlight from Benny to Devers but Benny still puts up a 100 OPS+ which is league average. In 2018 Devers OPS+ in his second year was 94 so for comparison’s sake Benny’s sophomore slump landed him at 103 which is much better than 94. After 2 years, Benny had outperformed Devers and I haven’t even mentioned defense!! Devers goes to 133 in year 3 compared to Benny’s 123 so after three years their performance is nearly identical with a bat, Devers still sucks on defense..
Benny’s OPS+ has been 118, 103 and 123 and Devers OPS+ was 112, 94 and 133. Anything other than defense distinguishing Benny over Devers? YEP
Benny peaked during a year when the team won a ring and Devers peaked in a year when the team stunk so the clutch factor goes to Benny!!
In 2019 (year four) when the season was lost by the end of April, Benny regressed to a 100 OPS+. This downturn can be directly attributed to the coaching staffs need for Benny to bulk up and change his launch angle to hit more home runs. The results were disastrous
In 2020, when COVID hit and Benny got injured he played in just 14 games and got a whopping 52 plate appearances! He typically gets more plate appearances in spring training!!! That was his ONLY bad year and it was closer to 2 bad weeks NOT A YEAR!!
Based on the extremely small sample size Bloom moved Benny for a guy who hadn’t played more than 44 games in any of his first 5 seasons and four teenage prospects, one of which actually has a shot to make the team and contribute but no in the near future. HORRIBLE TRADE.
Did the Benny trade help the Red Sox? NOPE. Was it just a new boss clearing out people to replace them with HIS people? YEP.
Was that fair to Benny? NOPE, especially in light of the huge mistake the coaching staff made in trying to convert Benny to something he is not.
Is saying Benny deserved better and unfair statement? NO. Why? Because in four full seasons prior to COVID he averaged a 111 OPS+ and during Devers three full seasons prior to COVID he averaged 113 OPS+ but NOBODY EVER considered getting rid of Devers but Benny was traded for a bad utility player and four unproven prospects.
There was NO FACTS to suggest Benny needed to go. He wasn’t over-paid. He was young and recovering from the poor adjustments the coaching staff made to his swing and approach to hitting and he was a very key participant in the run to a ring in 2018. He deserved loyalty like Devers gets. Instead, he gets treated like Chavis and gets sent packing without getting a chance to show he belongs. This is a way to common story since Bloom arrived.
BENNY DESERVED BETTER, he earned a chance to show his long term value rather than his 14 game 52 plate appearance value.
Last counter point – A list of major league and minor league prospects still producing? Seriously?
First, minor league prospects ARE NOT producing they are biding their time in the minors in hopes of producing one day and their performance is irrelevant until they play in the majors.
Next, the ONLY player that has made a noticeable contribution that DD traded away is Moncada who was an over-rated prospect and DD moved him to get an elite SP and a ring. It worked beautifully and was a brilliant acquisition that paid off. If Moncada had stayed he might have replaced Peddy after Machado ended his career but his contribution during all those years has been inconsequential compared to Sale.
Give me the long list and I’ll shred it because the players you put on the list can’t have produced like you over-stated!!
Alex Claudio would have been a decent addition prior to 2017 so roughly 5 years ago.
His issue since then is he either struggles giving up way to many hits per inning and when he actually reduces it to roughly 1 hit per inning his walks jump up so he’s constantly pitching with runners on base. In 2021 he’s given up 37 hits in 32.2 IP and 16 walks for a 1.59 WHIP. He’ll fit right in with the current starters other than Sale, Houck and Eovaldi. Not sure he can be trusted to relieve.
I’m beginning to think that’s what Bloom is looking for in his acquisitions. I guess all you Bloom fans see this as him fixing the broken farm system DD left to him. hahaha
By acquiring trash and cutting someone Bloom soon will be able to claim responsibility for the majority of trash in the farm system. The players that project to graduation in the future are all still from DD’s era and earlier!!
What bloom is looking for in his acquisions are four things:
1) cheap salary
2) former prospect pedigree that failed to produce
3) spin rate in pitching, other talent be d*mned
4) raw power in hitting, other tools be d*mned
If you can check any 2 boxes he bends over backwards to acquire you, and, results of the team be d*mned.
FWIW, I agree with points 1-3. However, I do prefer zone control over raw power.
The sound of Red Sox fans scrambling to get off the bandwagon. This team overachieved all year. The same sheep that praised the Betts trade, Bloom hire, Cora boomerang … sheep. Yes, I’m a Sox fan, but I’ve been in full revolt since the billionaire decided it was time to trade, in my opinion, the best player in baseball. Boston’s front deserves this collapse.
I hated, and still hate, the Betts trade (no need to include price because the salary included plus replacement cost give you a worse player).if you wanted to move mookie, fine, but the rest made no sense.
I hated, and still hate, the Bloom hire. A blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while and bloom’s hundred or so roster moves since taking over have shown very little finding of bargain talent. He inherited a perrenial ws contender, tore it up, and the replacements are…. meh.
I hated, and still hate, bringing Cora back. Once a cheat always a cheat. There were better options to lead a talented squad.
Easy to say, because Price is having a bounce back year. Monday Morning Quarterbacking at its finest.
@denny
Umm… I ALWAYS said that. My old name was AtlSOXfan before I left that h*llhole. Look back if you’d like.
I was just as against the trade before it was completed as I am now.
In fact, I pointed to many metrics to argue price was a better pitcher than people were giving credit for using fip, xfip, era+, etc.
Price is having a bounce back year.
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It’s barely even that. I liked Price a lot, but his ERA in his last 4 games is 4.41 and his season FIP is 4.21. He is basically a long reliever at this point, and costs $16M.
I’m think I’m in the minority but I love the Betts trade. There’s no way I’m giving Mookie Betts the biggest contract in the history of baseball at age 28. He has Andrew McCutchen written all over his future and in my mind those things don’t work out a lot more often then they do. I like getting three young guys in the place of a star, in his contract year, and who has verbally mentioned shopping himself on the free market as a thing he looks forward to. But I’m also for shipping out some young guys to bring in a star too. I just like change, I like trades.
Once a cheat always a cheat? Well then no one should ever hire or date or marry or become friendly with me because in my 20’s I was an awful human being. Lie, cheat, steal, and all the rest of it. Big time loser. Thank God someone got ahold of me and explained that’s not the way to live life. Fortunately people get Second Chances and third chances and 10th chances. I’m thankful for that.
GMM Bloom inherited a perennial World Series winner? I think they won the World Series and then ran it back the next season with the same Squad. That didn’t work so they broke it down a bit. They kept the core but offloaded pieces to try to contend again. Two years later lo and behold they’re already in first place and on top of baseball for most of the first half of 2021. Things are looking up. But not if you read some of you guys here. Why the long faces? Things are looking up as a whole for this franchise.
I agree with you on Betts. He should have been signed. He is a good player and the Red Sox could have afforded it. Jeter Downs is hitting a solid .196 in Worcester. He is struggling big time in Triple AAA. I did not like the Benintendi trade either. He was hurt last year. We have a cheap minded GM and all he cares about is money.
AL34
We have a cheap minded GM and all he cares about is money.
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That statement makes absolutely -0- sense. It’s almost like you want someone to ridicule it.
1-The GM doesn’t decide what the budget is. If he did, I could be GM and decide to spend $300M.
2-Why would he care about the money? He doesn’t own the team. If the RS make an additional $10M because the payroll doesn’t increase from $209M to $219M, Bloom doesn’t see a dime of the money.
Ah.., 30Parks…, the ray of sunshine in this sky of pessimistic Red Sox posts by a handful of bitter Mookie fans. That “sound” you hear is the same six guys who pound out posts of disparaging talk the very moment the Sox lose 8 of 10. I guess they were expecting a gun-2-flag first place run? “There better not be a speed bump along the way or we will trash everyone in the organization from the owner to the GM and manager.”
Some folks don’t adhere to the principle of “sticking it out” or “riding the horse you came in on” or “we’re with you to the end..” Can you imagine this type of thing as a pirates or Reds fanbase? They would be protesting outside the stadium before every game !!
Yep I wouldn’t call six guys who were ALREADY on the sidelines blowing their trumpets, “fans who jumped off the bandwagon.”
Bloom had nothing to trade at Trade Deadline. Because DD had gutted farm system, and put team over the Cap for 2 straight years. This caused a large scale pull back of any talented players being acquired. To gut what little left at this year’s trade deadline, just to try to compete with this woeful lot, would’ve been moronic.
This team has a bright future, don’t listen to a multiple account owners, who’s negative on everything.
Hrmm… I see hyperbole here with zero basis in fact.
DD didn’t gut the farm. It’s a fact. Players graduated to the majors at a faster rate than just about any other team.
Then. After winning the division multiple years in a row, and picking lower in the draft, he reloaded with some of the better players currently in the pipeline.
Aside from trading Moncada (Devers has a better bat, and Casas is coming) and a wildcard pitcher with promise but nothing proven, nobody, nobody DD traded away has been anything spectacular. The guys who were in place at mlb, and young, and cost controlled, were better than anything he gave up and he bought in Chris Sale on a team friendly deal, who, in case you forgot, was a key component of that winning program.
Now, are you going to blame Hanley and Pandas contracts on DD? Because that’s what put the team over the cap, and, it’d be hard to contend without going over while carrying those for anybody.
Sounds like you need to spend a little more time getting some actual baseball knowledge before running your mouth.
I am one of the ones that do NOT feel like DD gutted the farm. But Denny is right when he said we had nothing to trade. I like the last two drafts, but those guys are years away. But for current trade value, I do not hold the farm in high esteem.
IMVHO, the guy that the NYY gave up, Alcantara, is about as valuable as either Casas or Downs. Plus they gave up their #11 prospect. IMO, that was a substantial overpay. I’d have paid a real price for someone like Scherzer, but that’s about it.
Alcantara has a long way to go to be valuable. Any of these “prospects” are questionable as to whether they will ever even make it to the majors.
DD did not “gut the farm”. The Red Sox farm DID deplete under him due to graduations but mostly do tho draft picks. DD is terrible at building a farm system, so after it had gotten weak the owner hired Bloom.
Everyone overpraised several players on this team.
Matt Barnes- excellent first half but falling back to norm now. Not the best closer, never was. This one I almost bought but should have known better.
Eduardo Rodriguez- some claimed he would be our ace or #2 but he’s done that one season.
Nathan Eovaldi- a World Series success gave him an ace vibe but he has never once been an ace in the course of a season. #2 or 3 at best.
Barnes – Agree
Rodriguez – Was on his way to becoming an Ace. but 2019 happened: Covid an other injuries wrecked him.
Eovaldi – Signed 68mil contract. Thats not Ace money, nor was more expected of him. He is what is is a #3 Starter.
I still believe Eovaldi was a huge overpay but that was DD, not Bloom.
ERod was never on his way to being an ace. He had one good season and he’s always had a high WHIP his whole career. He has a decent FIP this year, I will give you that, but the WHIP doesn’t help.
I could not believe the Eovaldi contract. I thought there would be real questions about whether or not we should even re-sign him, given his injury history. I wanted the guy back, but only because he dominated the Yankees, and that has value. But I thought his price should be $39M/3.
IRT ERod, he was never ace material, but was trending well until Covid. In 2019, he had a 128 ERA+ and was #6 in C.Y voting.
They should never have extended Barnes in this contract year. He was pitching so well with that pressure of a new deal. Now that he has it he’s back to his same old self in walking too many guys and not performing as an authentic closer on a championship team. He’s always been and always will be a decent setup guy.
The one thing I love is that the Sox have not extended Eduardo Rodriguez. That would have been a huge error. But I guess you can’t have everything. No one can predict the future of course. You win some you lose some.
What I do know is here we are August 11th and the Red Sox are in the pennant race. I love it and I’m happy I’m a proud Red Sox fan. Go team !!
In free agent acquisitions, Bloom has been pretty bad. In terms of trades, Bloom has been adequate.
Like the Betts trade or not, it had to be done. It should have been done in prior seasons but was not. Betts wasn’t coming back. I think we got a good haul considering the circumstances and Verdugo is a solid player. Price was a big mouth who hurt team chemistry, so he wasn’t a huge loss.
Not sure on the Benintendi trade. I’m a little biased there because I wasn’t a huge fan of Benny, but it’s obvious we lost that trade big time (so far). We should have gotten more back.
As for free agents, Bloom has made some bad decisions. Martin Perez? Signed him two years in a row when it was clear his upside wasn’t better than a 4.50 ERA. Some of the others aren’t bad players but they weren’t big enough to make an impact. That’s where he falls short.
Benintendi Trade: Red Sox “lost big time” in that trade. What?
Benintendi a below average OFer who’s a FA in 200 games, for Cordero and 4 other minor leaguers. Are you kidding.
How’s Garrett Whitlock?
He’s good but Cordero was the main piece in that deal that hasn’t looked good. I look at the whole deal there- Whitlock has easily been overused this season as well. Plain and simple, we could have gotten more.
Whitlock wasn’t part of Benny trade. But, either way, you can’t just dismiss parts of a trade that weakens your argument. Remember Red Sox obtained Brock Holt, even though he wasn’t the main part of the deal.
Lets look at the both sides:
KC gets:
Benintendi: .442 OPS in 2020, followed by .719 OPS in 2021. That is a below average bat, above average glove, and terrible runner. (leads league in Caught Stealing, while only having 8 SBs)
Bos gets:
Cordero: .517 OPS in 118 AB, followed by .955 OPS (AAA)
Winckowski: 5 -3 3.86 ERA, (AA), 16 starts, only 23 years old
De La Rosa: 2-1 2.33 ERA (Rk) 2019, 9,53 ERA in 5inn in 2021 (Rk) only 19yo
Valdez: .743 OPS in 2021 (Rk), only 19yo
Gambell: Throw in on trade, 3rd rd pick only 23. Worthless
A fringe major/minor player in majors, in Cordero. A decent starter in AA in Winckowski. 2 19yo with potential in De La Rosa and Valdez.
Are you kidding? for MEDIOCRE OFer, whos a Free Agent in 200 games. Come on, you want more in that trade?
Winckowski ALONE makes the Benintendi trade a good one for Boston.
Whitlock was a Rule 5 pickup from the Yankees!
Downs is not doing well in Triple AAA, .196 average. I do not like Bloom and he has been mediocre with free agents Perez and Richards are awful. Perez had always had an ERA north of 4. Spend more money and get a better player. I do not see anything positive out of the Benintendi trade at all. Betts I loved and thought he was a superstar. We could have afforded him too. I am tired of gearing this nickel and dime crap from ownership.
I ask the same question as I always do.
Who would’ve been a better pitcher than Perez for the same money that was a FA?
He deserves part of it too. He picked up an injured player who does not fit into the roster and is of not help. He picked up two mediocre relievers and that is on him too.
Maybe no one, but why invest in a pitcher who just isn’t that great? I bet pitchers in AAA could be better.
At the time Perez was first signed, heading into 2020, there weren’t that many guys in AAA who’d shown they would be better.
After the 2020 aberration season, where MiLB had no meaningful competition, it’s even harder to plop someone in who hasn’t played. The young guys aren’t stretched out and didn’t proceed in development.
Now, a better question is why one of Perez or Richard’s wasn’t pulled to the pen in favor of Houck earlier once they showed who had the stuff and who didn’t.
Ideal move would’ve been bump Richards when he was throwing hiss fits over losing spidertack and plug houck in permanently. Then you axe Perez when sale is ready.
we lost that trade big time (so far).
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So far, we won that trade big time. Benni has a 0.6 WAR this year. Without improvement, he might get non-tendered over the winter. His OPS+ is only 95, which makes him a below-average hitter, he has negative DRS and UZR/150, making him a weak fielder, and he plays leftfield, adding no defensive value.
He had a mini-hot streak, which naturally made every headline by the incompetent Boston writers, but has a .503 OPS in his last 64 PAs.
I don’t have much use for Franchy, being a big believer in K/W, but he still qualifies as a lottery ticket. And Winckowski has been pretty good so far. He has the look of maybe a #4/5 SP in the pros.
Barnes – Agree
Rodriguez – Was on his way to becoming an Ace. but 2019 happened: Covid an other injuries wrecked him.
Eovaldi – Signed 68mil contract. Thats not Ace money, nor was more expected of him. He is what is is a #3 Starter.
dennyd – Lots of ground we’ve covered before. Short on time so here is the bullet point answers:
1 – Price is having a normal year. He’s a very good pitcher but he fell out of favor in Boston due to comments about Eck. It didn’t help that he belonged to the wrong race for the owners to like him and it didn’t help that after a few years of great service to the team he became a bit injury prone. The ability is still there if healthy, just like Eovaldi.
2 – E-Rod was about as far on his way to being an ace as an ant in NYC taking one step west and you say he’s on his way to Los Angeles! He is and always has been a #5 SP at best. His numbers are his documentation.
3 – Benny is a proven commodity that is still needed in LF and instead we got another bum and four future bums. I hate to think who the teenage future prospects displaced but I bet we’ll be reading about them thriving elsewhere!!
4 – You got Eovaldi and Barnes right!! Congrats. Facts support your points.
5 – Bloom had plenty to trade – Downs, Verdugo and Wong. It’s already been established that their value is one year of Mookie. All we needed was one partial year of Scherzer and then to resign him. Let’s call it a reverse Mookie! This time we collect an All-Star and give the other team trash!! Ownership should have been fine with this suggestion, after all – he’s not black.
6 = People aren’t simply negative like you suggest. They document the screw-ups by ownership, Bloom and Cora and post them in hopes improvements will be made SOON.
Ticket prices are still sky high and the product is near the bottom of the barrel (4th out of 5 in the division). All because they threw away great talent and have NOT replaced it!!.
I’m not negative about JD, Bogey and Devers’ hitting. They have been outstanding. Eovaldi, Ottavino and others have performed better than expected too. Dalbec and Vazquez may not have blossomed this year but they still helped get the team to perform over their talent level. That’s all a good thing until people start thinking they are as good as their record.
I still say without Sale this is a 65 win team from a talent standpoint and that’s down from the 108 in 2018 with Sale which was still for the most part present in 2019 when Bloom arrived.
That’s enough for me to call for Bloom’s head!!
The team needs to start acquiring talent not wanna be players. Has Bloom acquired a pitcher as good as Houck? NOPE. Has he replaced Mookie? NOPE Has he replaced Price? NOPE He also hasn’t addressed the need for a real CLOSER. What’s he done for 2 years? Sit on his hands and dumpster dive.
30 PARKS – You’re awesome!!!!!!!!!!
@KD, prior to the deadline there were reports that ownership was pushing Bloom to trade for scherzer.
Now, Henry didn’t come out and say it, but, IIRC some of those reports were repeated by Boston globe reporters, so… that’s a connection if my memory is right on that one, can’t say 100% on who all the sources were beyond there being multiple, and, that some pre deadline chatter was coming from globe reporters.
I don’t believe a single thing that Boston writers write, except for Pete, and of course, Lou Merloni. Neither Henry nor Bloom are the type to let anything leak. These are the type to look out the window before saying ‘good morning’.
But it is a moot point. We were really unlikely to get Scherzer. We simply don’t have the farm that either LAD or SDP have.
t didn’t help that he belonged to the wrong race for the owners to like him
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I seldom like to add race to discussions, because most everything in this world is about economics, but I believe 100% that there was a racial component to all the writers piling on Price.
Price did exactly what team leaders do. He stuck up for a teammate. Eckersley was out of line with his initial comments. Price called him out on it. Price could’ve handled it better, and he admits that, but as a fan, that is exactly what I want from our veterans.
But, and feel free to disagree with me, I do not think the Boston press would have vilified Price quite so much, had Price been white.
How was ERod an ace? He had one good season. That doesn’t make you an ace.
He also started this season pretty well but has since faltered. I think he’s a lock at 3 or 4 with 4+ ERA but I would not expect better.
I don’t put any of this on Bloom. He’s doing the job he was hired for. That’s to keep payroll under the threshold.
This is on ownership. Period.
He deserves part of it too. He picked up an injured player who does not fit into the roster and is of not help. He picked up two mediocre relievers and that is on him too.
@Al34, don’t forget he overpaid as well. Probably could’ve had Rizzoli for the same price as schwarber….
I agree. He picked up a guy who cannot play first base and is injured. Rizzo should have been picked up. I am no fan of Bloom. Tampa Bay never won squat and they look at this guy like he is a God. He was brought on to cheapen the payroll.
Rizzo cost the Yankees their 9th and 13th best prospects, mid season. Schwarber prospect didn’t crack Top 20, in mid-season rankings for Red Sox.
Schwarber also hasn’t played, has no experience in the position, and has new nagging injuries popping up.
Rizzo has been mashing HRs until picking up covid in that covid riddled Yankees org, and helping them win games – coincidently making up ground on the reason who’ve sunk like a rock under blooms blown deadline approach.
Os have been hoarding prospects and draft picks for years now. They’re doing great right?
Flags fly forever. Most prospects bust.
The Yankees gave up “prospects”. No sure things there.
Of course, but not particularly meaningful, since there is no such thing as a sure thing. For example, the NYY could trade for Rizzo and he could catch Covid.
Absolutely correct. Another example would be Boston trades for Schwarber and he is unable to return from the IL,
So maybe wait to see at least a few weeks to see how we did.
Another Stellar Pickup by Bloom. He had been doing so much dumpster diving in his trades and pickups, that he needs a shower to wash the banana peels, onions , and rotten garbage. Why pick up all this garbage? What does he think he is going to trade it to another team. Teams know garbage is garbage! I just di not get it.
Right now, the Red Sox are the Orioles; they just stand around waiting until they find a way to lose. If they get swept by the Rays over the next two days, the ONLY way to save Red Sox Nation is to fire both Bloom and Cora. (Do they deserve it? Yes and no). But ditching both of them will stop the bleeding.
Hearing that they’re “building for the future” is offensive to anyone who has even a modicum understanding of financials. For quite a while, they were the gold standard of “brand building”; now, they’re a train wreck propelling its way to a dumpster fire.
Not sure that you would get a lot of agreement with your statement about the Sox being the “Gold Standard” of brand building as there are a few other teams out there that might disagree with you if your putting the Sox at the top of the list bar none!
Also, the Sox have a pedigree of coming in last, and then rocketing to first over and over again….and without major changes in their lineups….the fan base becomes accustomed to that and frankly counts on it…so your comment about propelling themselves as a train wreck on its way to a dumpster fire again is off base…..in my opinion!
Finally, financially, while successful, the Sox have a somewhat limited ability financially to be the “gold standard” as far as revenue…..even though their fan base does exceed New England and is somewhat a national base…..
To deny teams have to rebuild from time to time is assinine. Red Sox have 4 WS, in the past 18 years. Orioles haven’t won one since 1983, and only have 3 in their history. Comparing the two is equally idiotic.
No, what’s assinine is claiming a revenue behemoth like the Red Sox have to go into “rebuild” mode. The Dodgers don’t; the Yankees don’t. And they’re the Sox’ financial equals; I won’t even mention Tampa.
Yes, they’ve risen and fallen a lot over the past few years. They fired Farrell, they fired Valentine, they fired DD. That’s precisely why Cora and Bloom have to go. Again, do they deserve it? That’s up for dispute. But it has to be done.
Sometimes, in the real world, you make a change just to make a change. And please, saying the Sox have to operate like the Royals is just some monumental Kool Aid drinking.
bobtillman
No, what’s assinine is claiming a revenue behemoth like the Red Sox have to go into “rebuild” mode. The Dodgers don’t; the Yankees don’t.
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And, since 2004, how many WSCs do we have, and how many do the LAD and NYY have?
And you cannot cut off the line at 3 teams. The Cubs and Giants have similar revenue to the RS, and both of them have had rebuilds.
I cannot imagine not having one-year resets. Every team should do that.
@Bob Tillman – If the Yankees don’t rebuild or have financial constraints then why were the Yankees so adamant about dipping below the CBT this year? Every team, including the Yankees and the Dodgers, have their financial limits. The Dodgers deftly stayed below the CBT the last two seasons so they were able to splurge again this year. The Yankees are paying their price this season and Boston is doing to the same. The Yankees are absolutely heading towards a soft rebuild. The Dodgers rarely have to rebuild because they have been so good at drafting and developing prospects. The Yankees are coming to their end of projectable prospects that they can count on for 2022 & 2023, so they are going to have to trade some veteran players this offseason to get some young talent in their organization. None of these big market teams will go the Baltimore ‘full rebuild’ route, but they all need to do partial rebuilds every 3rd or 4th year, or at least bring up 2-3 rookies who can help balance out the overall payroll. The Bauer contract is the first big mistake Friedman has made in LA. If Bauer’s contract isn’t deemed voidable then it’s going to cost LA big time over the next two seasons as there is no way Bauer is opting out; no other team wants him. So every team has to make tough decisions each season in respects to which veteran players to retain, which ones to trade or let walk (Seager is gone from LA after this year) and which players to draft or acquire via IFA or at the trade deadline. Sure, the big market teams have more resources but what wins over the long run is making the right decisions on spending, player development and retaining the right young talent for the next run at a title. Even LA has tough decisions to make this offseason.
As good as LAD have been in building its farm, it is starting to hit the wall. Verdugo, Downs, Gray & Ruiz are all gone, and Lux still is taking over. They have $152M committed to 2022, and that doesn’t count Kershaw, and doesn’t include Bellinger, Urias, or Turner year 3 arb,
These older guys are going to get expensive, and i am not sure their farm can keep flipping new prospects every year.
Let’s be honest here. Bloom and the rest of the executives saw no path to the Red Sox winning the World Series this season. In order for them to get to that level, they would have had to add Scherzer, Berrios, Rizzo and a proven closer. Most of Boston’s best prospects are young now (A ball or AA) and while their prospect depth is improving, they didn’t have nearly enough resources to get the players they truly needed to become WS champs this year. Given Boston’s recent success (last 15+ years), their goals are to win it all, not to just make the playoffs or make it to the ALCS, so I understand why Bloom didn’t mortgage the future for the next 5+ years to try and win it all this season. While they are under the CBT, adding all of those pieces at the deadline would have put them over and they wouldn’t be able to retain all of them for 2022, especially with Devers and Xander needing new deals soon. So Bloom wisely chose the long game versus burying the organization for a chance to win it all in 2022. It’s difficult for the avid Red Sox to see them punt on a season where they were leading the AL East but the true Sox fans know this team is at least 4-5 impact players/pitchers away from being true contenders. With Sale coming back and hopefully Schwarber coming soon, they still have an outside chance at a wild card, but no one really thought they’d be in this position this season so I’m optimistic about their future and while I hate to see them piss 2021 away, I like them direction they are heading in and it makes more sense to play the long game than the Dombrowski game.
On a side note, do the Red Sox get Noah Song back this year? I believe it’s been two years since he was drafted. That would be a great piece to get back for sure!
That’s my figuring as well. I want to maximize our chances over the next ten years, not just this year. I think some of the commentators in hear don’t understand how confused they sound. They think the team stinks, but still think we should trade away the farm for a WS chance.
I’d have liked to have seen Scherzer, at a reasonable price. But even adding Scherzer doesn’t guarantee a playoff spot. And, even assuming we would grab a WC spot, that still leaves us with, at best, a 1 in 16 of winning a WS.
If we had a vintage Sale, Eovaldi & ERod, I’d have felt a little better about going for it. And, while I hold out hope, with the way that Eovaldi & ERod are pitching, we are a pretty fair underdog to any team we face in the playoffs.
This is one guy I’m happy is no longer coming out of the Angels’ pen. Good luck Boston… you’re going to need it!
Instead of it being reported by Bill Koch, we’d be better off signing Billy Koch!
First and foremost before you criticize the organization just take a step back and analyze what you’re criticizing.
All teams are :
1/ businesses – whether you like it or not. Fans don’t own teams, owners do and like all businesses their aim long term is to be successful FINANCIALLY. We (myself included) want the Sox to be winning the WS yearly but that is a utopian possibility.
2/ the CBA threshold puts a constraint on 1/ and obviously Henry and co. Don’t want to pay yearly multiple « tax » charges for economic but also simple business acumen – better 50-70m spent on players or even Fenway than giving it (indirectly) to the Pirates. Also multiple over budget would affect draft picks/International free agency after a certain time.
3/ Bloom is an employee who gets his orders from his bosses. He has work within those constraints and with the players (both MLBers and MILBers) and within the rules of baseball (limited cash movement). It is that he was hired to keep the total budget below the luxury tax threshold and with the deals in place his « wiggle » room for additions was very limited . Getting Scherzer or Berrios would have cost simply Xander or Dévers plus 1/2 the farm. Why ? Simply because we don’t have the farm that the Dodgers or Padres have – it’s a fact.
4/ And this maybe is the most important point , the team has over-performed (we were slated to finish 4th in the division let alone our « ranking « in the AL) but would X or Y additions mean that this 2021 team would win the WS ? IMO no … there are too many holes compared to the contenders for the title . So sacrificing good players and good prospects just to get into post season but with a very low chance of actually being a TRUE contender means that the cost would have outweighed the benefit.
As said by other posters, the goal is to be competitive over 10 years and not 6 weeks of « possibly « being in the playoffs. Hindsight has shown (and you can go back 10-20-100 years) that at trade deadline you always overpay as a buyer but you don’t always win the trade.
We fans,because of our love for the team and the sport, are vehement in our support and opinion but sometimes forget the team is NOT ours – we support it and to an extent pay for it (maybe 0.00001% of a single contract) but the guys who pay JD or Sale millions have the right to decide whether or not it is financially and sporting successful to do so