Teams are prohibited from contacting players or making any transactions until the lockout is lifted, but every front office still has a plan for areas to target once they’re allowed to again add to the roster. Last night, Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom met with media (including Alex Speier of the Boston Globe) to address the team’s priorities whenever activity resumes.
“We still would like to add more pitching,” Bloom said. “Short relievers, that’s something we have yet to address in meaningful fashion.” Bloom went on to add that the Sox would continue to be involved in the market for position players, pointing to a right-handed bat as a particular bonus in the wake of the trade that sent Hunter Renfroe to Milwaukee for Jackie Bradley Jr. and two prospects.
As Bloom suggested, Boston has yet to upgrade the late-innings mix, at least directly. The Sox’s signings of James Paxton, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill figure to have trickle-down effects on the bullpen. Wacha may be better suited as a multi-inning reliever than as a traditional starter. Even if all three pitchers assume rotation roles (Paxton is expected to miss the first few months of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery), their additions could afford the flexibility for Boston to use Garrett Whitlock and/or Tanner Houck in relief.
Whitlock spent the entire 2021 season as a reliever, eventually emerging as Boston’s top late-innings arm. The former Rule 5 draftee worked 73 1/3 innings of 1.96 ERA ball with plus strikeout, walk and ground-ball numbers. Boston has expressed openness to stretching him back out as a starting pitcher — as he’d been in the minor leagues — but their rotation additions could give them comfort in keeping Whitlock in the late-game role in which he thrived.
Houck, meanwhile, is coming off an excellent season working primarily as a starter. He pitched to a 3.68 ERA with elite strikeout and walk numbers (30% and 6.2%, respectively) across 13 rotation outings. That showing would seemingly earn him another look on the starting staff. That’s still a brief sample, though, and prior scouting reports have questioned whether the righty’s low arm angle and seldom-used third pitch might give him difficulty handling left-handed batters and/or working through a lineup multiple times.
The Red Sox would surely like to keep the rotation possibility open regarding both players, particularly Houck. And both pitchers were already options for a 2021 relief corps that was fine but unspectacular. Red Sox relievers ranked 13th this past season in ERA (3.99) and 14th in both strikeout/walk rate differential (14.8 percentage points) and SIERA (3.94). After a strong start, it became a particularly problematic unit after the All-Star Break. Not coincidentally, that came alongside a second half collapse from former closer Matt Barnes, who struggled so badly after an outstanding first few months that Boston originally left him off their postseason roster.
While the free agent market moved quickly in anticipation of the transaction freeze, there are still various options available. Kenley Jansen, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and old friends Joe Kelly and Collin McHugh each appeared on either MLBTR’s top 50 free agents or honorable mentions and remain unsigned. Craig Kimbrel is the highest-profile bullpen option available on the trade block, while David Bednar and Cole Sulser stand out among the affordable, under-the-radar options who look like speculative trade candidates.
Boston did make one depth addition in that regard. Speier reported yesterday (on Twitter) that the Sox were in agreement with Michael Feliz on a minor league deal that includes an invitation to big league Spring Training. It’s not clear whether that was made official before the freeze — Feliz’s transactions page at MLB.com hasn’t reflected the move — but it seems likely he’ll be in camp at some point.
Feliz appeared with four different clubs, Boston included, in 2021. He totaled just a 7.20 ERA across 20 cumulative innings, struggling with the home run ball. The 28-year-old has been an inconsistent relief arm over the past few seasons, offsetting big swing-and-miss stuff with elevated walk totals. Adding Feliz as non-roster depth won’t have much of an impact on the front office’s search for more stable bullpen help.
As for the desired right-handed batter, Bloom and his staff have the opportunity to explore multiple avenues. Acquiring Bradley could allow Boston to bump utilityman Enrique Hernández from center field — where he spent the bulk of his time in 2021 — to second base more frequently. In that case, a right-handed hitting outfielder to pair with the lefty-swinging Bradley, Alex Verdugo and Jarren Duran could fit. Alternatively, Hernández could assume that role on the grass while a more natural infielder steps in at the keystone.
FunkyButtLovin
Renfroe was a decent right handed bat
Michael Macaulay-Birks
I agree, and as much as I like Jackie Bradley Junior, his ship may have sailed. I think they should’ve kept Renfroe
Astros2017&22Champs
I believe they traded renfroe more for the prospects than jbj
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
So true on the prospects. But Renfroe peaked. He wasn’t going to be better than he was and will probably decline.
KD17
pwndroia – I agree. Most guys regress to the mean after a career year. I don’t know if you looked at the two prospects but I was not impressed with Hamilton. He’s almost a Billy Hamilton type player who plays middle infield. Doesn’t hit for average, doesn’t hit for power, doesn’t put up OBP numbers or OPS numbers but he can steal bases but his defense is not good.
The other guy is a young version of Devers. NO GLOVE. Maybe he can learn unlike Devers but a decent bat with good upside potential. I guess he is the insurance for Devers walking in Free Agency. Was that worth giving up one of your best adds in the last two years so this guy can be here in 3 years? I don’t think so.
I actually liked Renfroe. He and Pivetta to me were the only good additions Bloom has made. Kiki will climb into that category if he can do something other than hit .250 for the season in 2022. Sure everyone remembers his hot streak late in the season but his totals still ended up mediocre just like his career numbers. If he was actually good, he’d be in LA right now. Instead, we got him much like Downs, Verdugo and Wong.
I don’t like Friedman much but at times he does smart things. The fleecing of Bloom was epic. Picking up Trey Turner to let Seager go was a nice upgrade. Giving up on Scherzer was a bad move but NYM went a bit batshit crazy offering Scherzer that much money. Clearly, there is another rich sheriff in town so now LAD, NYY and NYM will be pushing the envelope on exceeding any cap that will exist unless it’s a hard cap.
It’s always fun to watch JBJ play defense but he needs to be moved to Colorado or somewhere his skills will benefit the team more. He’s a late inning replacement in Boston and always should have been. Guys can’t hit .230 and start unless they provide power and good OBP. He only had the good OBP but again I love watching him catch the ball. I also laugh when I see him run off the field because he looks like the actor Omar Epps who played Willie Mays Hays in Major League 2.
Astros2017&22Champs
Im sorry but bloom did not get fleeced. Even if jeter downs busts it was a good move. Paying Mookie Betts until hes 40 is a terrible investment. Betts wasnt a superstar this year either in year 1.
Dorothy_Mantooth
@KD17 – How can Pivetta and Renfroe be the only two players Bloom acquired that you like? What about his absolute best acquisition of Garrett Whitlock from the Yankees via the Rule V draft? That was an amazing addition! Plus we need to wait for Connor Seabold to get healthy. He could end up being better than Pivetta as soon as 2022.
People need to recognize that Bloom was given a mandate to get below the CBT in 2020 and stay below the CBT in 2021. If it weren’t for poor previous decisions (David Price, Chris Sale’s early extension while injured, Eovaldi overpay), Bloom could have kept Mookie and stayed under the CBT but he had nowhere else to turn. No team was going to trade for David Price’s contract straight up, an injured Chris Sale or even JD Martinez. If you want to blame someone, blame the owners for being cheap during his freshman and sophomore seasons with the team.
I don’t believe Bloom had been flawless by any means. Looking back at the Mookie deal, the original offer may have been better after all (Verdugo & Graterol), versus Verdugo, Downs & Wong. Also, the most recent deal of acquiring JBJ for Renfroe makes no sense unless they are finally going to let him exceed the CBT this year. We just need to hope the prospects are worth it. Boston really likes the 3rd round pick they got from the Brewers and I see the other guy they picked up as being part of a new trade once the CBA is done to help them acquire a bullpen arm. To be fair to Bloom, we need to wait until the 2023 season to fully evaluate him. Most of the big contracts will be expired by then (except for Sale) and some of his early draft picks and international FAs will be ready for their rookie seasons. Also, the Red Sox farm system has improved dramatically under Bloom. To have long term success in MLB, you need to be able to add 2-3 players from your farm system every year. Bloom is building this team to be able to do just that. That’s when you can lock up your stars (Devers, Xander, etc..) and still have money left to build a contender because 1/3 + of your team is young and either pre-Arb or arbitration eligible. The Sox have had too many high priced veterans and not enough young talent to supplement during Blooms first 2-3 seasons but that is changing right before our eyes. We just need to be patient and let it play out.
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
I agree, Betts had to be traded. I was hoping he’d be traded for more a year and a half earlier. Dombrowski should have pulled the trigger and while we might not have had the best haul back for him, Bloom saved us money and got us Verdugo, who’s pretty good.
Bloom obviously likes these prospects from the Brewers, otherwise the trade is meaningless except for getting better defense. I think this trade looks horrible on paper for the Red Sox but when you look deeper, it’s actually very smart on Bloom’s end. Although he traded a decent bat in Renfroe for a pricier and questionable hitter who has great defense, he basically got the prospects for free aside from the mano for mano trade. If Bradley even hits .250 next year and the prospects pan out (or just one of them), we win the trade. And these prospects are young, real young. Surprised Milwaukee gave them up.
Renfroe is not a huge loss for what we potentially gain. If we lose the trade, no harm, no foul and we still upgrade on defense in center field for a year and fix our second base issue.
Fever Pitch Guy
pedey – You wanted Mookie traded in the middle of 2018??? Oh my ….
Fever Pitch Guy
dotty – Good post except for one thing, Eovaldi was most definitely not an overpay. He was superb not only in the postseason, but also against division rivals like the Yankees.
Name a ML pitcher who signed as a free agent for less than Nate’s $17M per and pitched as well as he did.
Rumors2godsears
Lmao if JBJ hits .250 the hitting coach is god tier because that’s a 100 points plus to his batting. It’s a reach to even think he will hit .200 is an outlandish fantasy of a thought.
KD17
Astros – Your opinion is noted but your reason for the opinion is missing. I get it you are one of those guys that states things and expects people to believe it without support. Sorry I don’t believe what you said.
Mookie Betts – Is he a good deal to 40? The answer is yes.
Why? – Because the average value produced by him will exceed the net present value of his contract.
What does that mean? – In year 10 of the deal the money paid to Mookie will be worth half the face value in 2021 dollars. Thus, his 30.4M contract in 2031 is $15.2M in 2021 dollars. That is why knowledgeable financial people use net present value in their investment calculations. That is also why smart baseball people recognize that a 7% drop off in subsequent years matches the subsequent drop off in the value of his contract. Thus, if a player plays at the original year value for 5 years and then tails off thats acceptable and built into the contract. The amount he tails off will never be as great as the value added in years 1 to 5. Its finance and math not my opinion.
Could Mookie get hurt? Absolutely. That could happen on a one year deal or a 12 year deal. It’s part of the game. Will something catastrophic happen to him like Pedroia where he misses multiple years? It’s possible but not likely and always unforeseeable so irrelevant to the discussion except in the area of risk. Do players accept 12 consecutive 1 year contracts? No.
Thus, to the ignorant fans that think all long term contracts are bad you have to ask yourself if you are willing to not win by eliminating the top players in baseball from being on your roster. It’s a choice. I prefer Duck Boat rides to being conservative and expecting bad things to happen. Are you fine with doing well but never winning? If your answer is YES to avoid the big contracts then you became a Red Sox fan about 100 years too late..
JoeBrady
Dorothy_Mantooth
@KD17 – How can Pivetta and Renfroe be the only two players Bloom acquired that you like?
=================================
It is tells like this which let you know when someone is refusing to think, or refusing to give credit.
Whitlock, for one season, is about as good a Rule 5 pickup as you can get.
Hernandez was the steal of the 2020/21 free agent class. A 4.9 bWAR for $7M. I wish it was a 4-year contract.
Sawamura was a fine pickup.
Schwarber, Iglesias, and Robles for almost nothing was probably the best trading deadline in baseball. The NYY gave up 6 decent prospects for Rizzo, Gallo and Heaney, and wound up with a lot less production.
When even a biased person cannot admit the obvious, there is something wrong with their thinking process.
GASoxFan
Here’s the problems with what I read you saying @Dorothy –
1) price didn’t need to be traded. BOS was below the cbt just by moving mookie betts. This brings up subpart a) – d)
A) the return, or at least scope of bidding teams, likely was larger without price attached
B) bloom screwed up the return
C) nobody bloom used the price flexibility to acquire amounted to a hill of beans in 2020
D) if bloom wasn’t going to be expected to compete due to the mandate that’s not a mandate the apologists cite to, why not hang on to Price and let him rebuild some value before trying to move him. Remember, the net savings was only about $16m, that’s richards/andriese money. Price would’ve been better than both.
2) why do we hear every year from people, such as your yourself, that we need to give bloom ‘x’ time until ‘y’ year, and the goalposts keeps moving. I remember hearing in 2020 that ‘he has a plan’ and the team will be molded in his image by ‘2022 or sooner, just wait’. As we wait, and things remain a mess, all that happens is young stars near FA, and older stars lose prime years.
3) I’m sick as heck of this ‘rebuild the farm’ B.S. …. a big chunk of the improved farm rankings comes from guys bloom didn’t draft developing. Most of the other improvement is solely a function of bloom having run a pisspoor product out on the field and finishing non competitive to get high draft picks. Anyone could do that.
4) it almost looks like he’s learning on the job. He let’s JBJ leave… but then he trades back saying ‘oops, we really did need a true CF with a capable glove’… thats a what the **** moment right there. So until you made the defense abysmally poor you didn’t know you needed guys with speed and gloves to play in fenway? Noob.
He let’s holt leave for a small offer. Then realizes, wait, I guess we really DO need a utility player player not just retread failed prospects in quantity on the roster. My bad. OK, I’ll sign Kiki. Now, yes, I was advocating to sign Kiki to make up for the lack of impact utility guy, and it turned out better than I ever thought it would. But bloom going without a guy wasn’t done with Kiki in mind ahead of time, since there was no guarantee Kiki would even hit free agency. And making holes in your roster years in advance hoping a guy hits FA and then that you win bidding is beyond stupid so don’t say bloom planned it that way when letting holt go.
5) Can we revisit the benintendi disaster for a second? Again, messed up the outfield. Traded a guy who hit above league average, and won a GG, to make a hole in the roster and worsen defense. Paid the other team to take him. Then, got back the useless cordero, who lived up to billing as awful, and a bucket of low level lottery tickets.
I hope I find an ad for bloom selling a car, I can offer him 10% of what it’s worth in lottery scratch tickets and a few IPO stocks because he *could* someday get what the car was worth out of them (or more if lucky), but he also needs to pay the tax and reg for me on the deal because it’s only fair he kicks in some money… the car may need work after all.
That is, apparently, a perfectly acceptable way of doing business.
JoeBrady
I was going to comment on the rest of your points, but got derailed on the Kiki comment. There is no way in the world to compare Kiki with Holt.
Holt is strictly a fill-in UIF. Kiki is a top-tier player They aren’t substitutes. The guy you are thinking of is Marwin.
JoeBrady
Past that, you missed on about everything.
A-I don’t know if Price needed to be moved or not, and I was hoping we’d hold onto him. But I am very comfortable admitting I was wrong, and Bloom was right. If you would be so kind to admit that Bloom was right to move him, it will be a catharsis for you.
B-The return was excellent. I said, way before the trade was finalized, that Verdugo was an exactly equal return. Downs is pure gravy.
D-The idea of hanging onto a 33 year old pitcher, in decline, hoping that he recovers his value, is like holding onto KK when an Axx flops, and you’re facing a raise. You’re beaten, Get out.
2-I have no clue why you think we are a mess. We have not only moved from #30 to #9 in the minors, we missed the WS by two games. This is pure shoddiness on your part. you’re mimicking KD, hoping that if you mention 100 things, a couple will stick.
3-IRT the farm, of course he didn’t do it all. He is only here two years. But Yorke and Mayer are really good.
4-He let JBJ go, then got him back, plus two good prospects. As opposed to just keeping him. Isn’t getting JBJ + 2 prospects better than getting JBJ with no prospects? Maybe go thru the math for me, because this feels like the domination theory.
At the end of the day, only two things have happened:
1-We missed the WS by two games while guys like you didn’t think we had a chance.
2-We moved for bottom of the heap to the #9 farm.
JohhnyBets67
@Joe
These rabid unintelligent Boston fans are maddening. Bloom is doing a hell of a job. When he gets the green light to open up the purse strings—you’re gonna have a hell of an organization.
bergyman
JoeB,please stop with these intelligent,well thought out responses to the posters that don`t understand what a good job Chaim is doing……not!!!!You are so on point,this site has so much negativity to ANY moves Bloom makes.
JoeBrady
At some point, I usually get them to concede that we finished 2 games out of the WS, and moved from #30 farm to #9. But I’ve seen a few that refuse to acknowledge that we took Houston to 6 games.
And a few are getting ready to hate Mayer, York, and Jordan, since they were drafted by Bloom.
So it’s a mixed bag, but always has been. You should’ve seen the animosity expressed towards Tito and Theo when they were racking up 95-win seasons. And the more successful we got, the deeper the hatred.
GASoxFan
Joe –
So your attitude on price, even though we throw good money after bad chasing a replacement for him is just give bloom the benefit of the doubt although there’s no evidence he earned it?
You claim hoping a 33yr old pitcher, who had some decline, bounces back is, essentially, stupid.
HOWEVER, cite to Blooms latest headscratcher – Paxton. He paid $10m just for the right to see if a guy who was in decline, then had TJ after that, can bounce back, with addition option to see that guy through age 34 and 35 seasons?
So, you are saying bloom is stupid? Because the Paxton deal is EXACTLY like keeping price, except without the TJ spectrum and paying only for him to ride the pine until late in the 2022 season (if we get one.)
As per JBJ, let’s ask this. If you’re not just into prospect collecting, many of whom fail, would the OF be better assuming everything else had happened with an alignment of Verdugo, Benintendi, renfroe, all of which would cost less money, than one of Verdugo, JBJ, and currently Refsnyder/JD/utility/FA replacement.
These aren’t can’t miss guys he picked up, and he’s spending dearly to get them. JbJ costs a guaranteed 17.5m unless you pick up his 2023 option.
Missing the WS was lightning in a bottle, but, still missed. Proved we weren’t good enough, (pitching related, was BP, now all rotation too)
JoeBrady
1-The Price train has left the station. There is absolutely no one ibn the country, except you and KD, that miss Price. He is a l/r BP pitcher, with a 0.5 bWAR.
But let’s make it easy. If Price was put on waivers, would you pick him up for $16M? Obviously no, so getting rid of him had to be the right move.
2-IRT Paxton, he was injured, but never in decline.. He had a 3.82 ERA with the NYY. And his salary is only $6M in 2022. I’m quite comfortable with that gamble.
3-Like I’ve said before, on it’s own, the JBJ trade makes little sense. If they sign Suzuki, then I like it. The downside is likely to be a JBJ/Kiki platoon and a Arroyo/Kiki platoon. The issue is that you are looking at every trade trying to find stuff to dislike about it. You aren’t looking at the nuances.
JoeBrady
Verdugo, Benintendi, renfroe, all of which would cost less money, than one of Verdugo, JBJ, and currently Refsnyder/JD/utility/FA replacement.
==========================================
‘Currently’ being the key word. My guess is that another outfielder will be acquired. And the only way to acquire another corner outfielder is to trade Renfroe. You, imo, continue not to look too deeply into these trades,
Do you remember your opinion of the Renfroe trade? “Bottom-feedin Bloom”
Do you remember my response? “His upside is probably 2019, where he had 27 HRs in the first half.”
You need to be able to look at the full range of possibilities, rather than think in terms of worst-possible scenarios. When I see someone like Renfroe, I see a guy that had an OPS+ of 108 for his entire career, prior to 2020. So I am not surprised when he has a 112. You see a guy that, because Bloom acquired him, is finished.
And his stats for 2020 were mostly bad luck. He had an unsustainable .141 BABIP, against a career .263. In fact, all he did in 2021 was to revert to his career BABIP. In many ways, his 2021 was almost exactly what should’ve been expected.
And now that he has reverted to form, you can’t understand why we are trading him.
JoeBrady
GASoxFan23 hours ago
Missing the WS was lightning in a bottle, but, still missed. Proved we weren’t good enough
=====================================
And the final two flaws in your thought process.
1-You shouldn’t simultaneously hold the view that, when we do well, it was lightening in a bottle. But when guys like Renfroe & JBJ have a bad season, it is exactly who they are.
2-Judging a team on the basis of whether or not they won the WS, makes no sense. TB, SF, and LAD were the three best teams in baseball. Even without considering the other 27 teams, there was a pretty good chance that not all three weren’t good enough. All three teams were good enough to win: but at least two of those teams will lose.
JoeBrady
GASoxFan23 hours ago
Missing the WS was lightning in a bottle, but, still missed. Proved we weren’t good enough
=====================================
And the final two flaws in your thought process.
1-You shouldn’t simultaneously hold the view that, when we do well, it was lightening in a bottle. But when guys like Renfroe & JBJ have a bad season, it is exactly who they are.
2-Judging a team on the basis of whether or not they won the WS, makes no sense. TB, SF, and LAD were the three best teams in baseball. Even without considering the other 27 teams, there was a pretty good chance that not all three weren’t good enough. All three teams were good enough to win: but at least two of those teams will lose.
Fever Pitch Guy
Joe – Other than the fact Iglesias was not a trade deadline acquisition, I agree with everything you wrote.
I’m glad KD has flipped on Pivetta, but I find it hysterical that he hated Renfroe replacing JBJ … until this week, when he now hates that Renfroe was traded for JBJ.
It’s all good though, I enjoy reading both of you.
Fever Pitch Guy
Joe – In all fairness to the Dodgers, Hernandez didn’t warrant being a starter all season.
For 7 years he put up a .240/.313/.425 line which ain’t good no matter how you slice it. That’s why he never had more than 462 PA’s in a season.
I don’t expect Bloom to extend him until midseason at the earliest. I expect Bloom to wait and see if this year was an anomaly, it’s the right thing to do.
JoeBrady
I agree on the hysterical part. FWIW, the only happens in the RSN. I’ve seen people that hated Ellsbury and Bay, and others, until the day they left. Then they cried for years about cheap Henry was.
JoeBrady
The waiting cuts both ways. If you wait until he has truly proven himself, then you start paying closer to what Taylor gets. When people look at him as a good bench player, he comes a lot cheaper. It’s the same thing with everything. If you want to wait for certainty, you lose most of the value. If you make the move earlier, you take more risk.
baseballguru
Price was trash horrid slide step delivery…never liked him or that deal…I also knew Sale would have TJ with his all arm delivery…I often wonder if he had an actual mechanically sound delivery how hard he might throw…Nate is good & I think we’ll be fine with Houch &/or Whitlock in the rotation & the othe in the pen. The pickups I actually like all 3…We Need Correa on a 6 or 7 yr deal…he’ll I’d try 5 yrs at 200 million with the guys that are leaving in 2023 and our complete infield prospects rising (minus Catcher) Things are looking great in my opinion but we definitely need this SS Now above anything else!
Fever Pitch Guy
Bay performed very well in the short time he was with the Red Sox.
But Manny’s post-trade performance in 2008 was other-worldly, and would have gotten the Sox another championship if he had done that with them.
Fever Pitch Guy
Joe – Personally I prefer waiting and paying a little more for more of a sure thing.
If DD had done that with Sale, we wouldn’t have been stuck paying him $30M a season.
JoeBrady
The deferrals make it a $25.6M contract. The injury, but more importantly, the surgery, was ill-timed. Had the medical prognosis been a little more accurate, and had he gotten the surgery in August, 2019, then he’d have pitched a full season and would’ve been worth the $25.6M * 5.
He’s not just a special pitcher, he’s the type of guy I want on my team.
Fever Pitch Guy
Joe – I know, but no matter how you cut up the amounts or the timing of the payments it still comes out to $29M/ per that he’s getting paid. and the entire $29M/per will be going against the luxury tax at some point.
The injury and surgery were not surprises, that was a massive risk DD took and while we don’t have access to the medicals I highly doubt they said there was minimal risk of surgery being required.
Regardless of health, I still haven’t seen him pitch well for an entire season carrying over into the postseason. I believe his slight stature and exhausting delivery might be the reason why he tends to tire in September and October. Cora alluded to this in comments he made back in 2019. Maybe having him pitch no more than 5-6 innings a game will help, but that obviously would mean we’d be getting less value from his contract.
JoeBrady
The $25.6M is a good number. Things like options will eventually get run through the cap, but long-term deferrals do not. And that’s because they are a legitimate P&L item. Me offering you $100,000 for your 1915 Ruth cards, and me offering you $1,000/year for a 100 years, have significantly different present values.
IRT Sale’s performance, I believe we put Pedro on the DL a couple of times at the ASB. I wouldn’t mind seeing the same thing with Sale. Pitch on a Friday before the ASG, Sit him for 10 games and he effectively misses one start.
ryrockak
I could be wrong, but I’m my opinion Renfrow had a fluke season last year.
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
He did only hit .156 in 2020 and .216 in 2019. Bloom signed him as a 3rd or 4th outfielder if I recall correctly. His highest value is right now to be traded.
redsox for_life
F…k Bloom!! He will trade Bogart,Eovaldi,Sale and Martinez in 2022
okbud
Lol ok
deweybelongsinthehall
if there’s a buyer, trading Sale should be considered. He’s never been strong in August or September so should he fully recover from TJ surgery, what makes you think he’ll end 2022 well? Also, I’m on record for suggesting they extend JDM. If however the NL gets the DH next season, there might be a market to capitalize on and then move Devers to DH and get two bats that also play defense (or good pitching). Bloom excels in evaluating trades so let him.
KD17
Dewey – It’s funny how a guy can dominate through the all-star break to the point that he gets the start two years in a row and people only remember that he struggles late in the year. Without the first half of the year, the team is nowhere near first place. The guy is a toothpick and has a Scherzer-like mindset to pitching. If his totals are the best on the team, it makes no sense to move him because you don’t like the timing of his excellence. Even when he has an average second half he’s usually one of the top 3 pitchers on the staff.
Also remember, he played under a discount for several years so his current big contract looks bad because of the mismanagement of his injury by the Red Sox. If DD hadn’t been let go there wouldn’t have been the 3 interim clowns who did nothing and then a small market guy that did nothing for 5 more months. Sale should have had TJ surgery in August or September of 2019 not March of 2020 so his contract would have had one more year of Sale like performance. That would have kept the detractors to a minimum. Instead, all people can comment on is one of top 5 pitchers in baseball isn’t as off the planet great in September as April to July and he’s an injury risk.
Blame the coaching mechanics changes from Cora on his TJ surgery and blame the owners for firing DD and replacing him with 3 incompetent temps and a completely inexperienced small market GM that cost Boston a year of Sale’s availability.
If there is baseball in 2022, I think the Universal DH will be adopted so JD’s value will skyrocket with all the teams that will need an outstanding DH. The scary part about the future is Devers will soon expect more money than JD and we need to see if his every other year performance pattern stays in place when games are played again. Devers was good in 2017, 2019 and 2021. Not so good in 2018 and 2020. Always bad at fielding but that’s a given. It may be cost effective to move Devers before free agency and keep JD. I am still on my campaign to trade him for Ramirez in Cleveland. He has so many more skills than Devers and his price won’t much more than Devers expects..
I have to ask. What documentation is there that supports the last statement that Bloom excels in evaluating trades? Are you talking about while he has been in Boston or referencing the deals in TB where we aren’t all that sure he did any evaluation in those trades since they continue to outperform Boston in trading now that he’s in Boston?
acell10
It’s borderline impressive your ability to shoehorn a terrible Devers take into almost every conversation about the Red Sox. Now your suggesting the more “cost effective” option is to keep the aging DH who peaked 3 years ago.
If God forbid so ill fate befall Rafael Devers everyone on this site will know exactly where to start looking
KD17
acell10 – I have no mystical or heavenly powers so what happens to Devers is really up to the big guy upstairs. After writing that I’m wondering how many are thinking Bloom! You folks need to stop drinking the Cool=Aid.
So, if I’m such a bad guy for pointing out the fact that Devers is the worst fielder at 3B in baseball and in the history of the Red Sox, why do you think I do it? Don’t most fans root for the team not the individual? As an ex-player, an ex-coach, an ex-manager, an ex-recruiter and a member of a family with three generations of baseball players you think I am doing it for some other reason than wanting the Red Sox to be better by having adequate defense for it’s pitchers? Please tell me, what’s in it for me other than the obvious wish for better defense and a more logical line-up?
Now tell me why you think Devers is more important than the best interest of the team!!
KD17
acell10 – I can’t just leave it like I did. There is more!!
As an ex-player if I ever thought my team was suffering from me playing a specific position I would go to the manager and tell him to move me to the location that best helps the team. Most players would be embarrassed to let down the team defensively year after year. Not Devers. That speaks volumes about his character and is the best reason to see him in another uniform. Selfishness is not a good trait for a team mate.
acell10
just keep projecting your nonsensical views onto Devers. And suddenly you’re an ex coach, player etc? If you’re talking little league then that might actually be believable but now you’re questioning his character because he allegedly hasn’t asked to move to a different position? So you’re making up scenarios to justify your nonsense. You really are great at setting the bar lower and lower for the ridiculousness of your takes. It’s gone from comical to embarrassing to downright pathetic.
To answer your question I have no idea what’s in it for you other than you hate the player for some bizarre reason because these takes make absolutely no sense and no one who has even a mild amount of knowledge about the game would be saying it.
KD17
acell10 – Again no substance to your opinions. Not one fact to back them. I’m sure I have a far superior resume in baseball to you. Are you out of high school yet?
If you doubt what I said about Devers not going to ANYONE about not playing third because he’s an embarrassment please enlighten all of us to your source. Otherwise, if you actually played you’d know that had he done what I said he should have done he wouldn’t be playing 3B right now.
You like Devers I get it. Insulting me because he is a horrendous 3B seems like an immature response to something that is so obvious. Look it up!! His fielding percentage is .936. Yes, it’s about 20 points below league average. Or maybe, look up who has led baseball in errors at 3B each season since he came to the majors. It’s Devers according to Baseball Reference. I think that’s a reliable source..
Grow up and stop insulting people when you don’t agree. Give documentation for your thoughts and act like a mature adult.
acell10
You didn’t provided sources for your Devers take either regarding him and then say that he’s a selfish player because a scenario didn’t take place. You’re asking me do something that you haven’t done yourself. As you typically do, you use flowery language and over long prose to try and muddle the argument with as much subterfuge as possible. You site statistic to try and support your argument and when provided with a counter argument and stats that support the opposite you immediately dismiss it a bad statistic then try to site your alleged credentials and resume that can’t be proven in the game with zero proof. I’m not trying to argue that Devers is a gold glove third baseman or even league average. I’m just pointing out that your takes on him (and Bloom for that matter) are extreme to the point it seems personal and that they have gone from personal to laughable, to embarrassing to pathetic overt time. It’s an observation more that it is an insult. You made up a scenario to justify him being selfish. in this make believe scenario he didn’t do what you claim to do therefore he’s a bad teammate and detrimental to the team. So now you’re holding things against him that didn’t happen in said made up scenario. That doesn’t require much explanation beyond that.
Fever Pitch Guy
dewey – Our only hope with Sale is that he has a strong 2022 and opts out after the season, thinking he’ll get more than the $55M due on the last two years of his current contract. But I know that’s not likely.
I strongly believe Sale tires out each year because of his slight stature. I cannot recall any pitcher in my lifetime as slender as him. 6’6″ 183 is crazy thin!! And we thought Unit was slim, but he had 42 pounds on Sale.
Fever Pitch Guy
KD – Ever heard of Adrian Beltre?
Lots of similarities to Devers.
Dominican 3B who got to the big leagues at a very young age.
Made 120 errors in his first 764 games (I know errors is the stat you value).
Ended up winning 5 Gold Gloves.
I’m not saying Devers will follow in his footsteps, but I don’t blame the Sox for waiting until his Age 25 season to make the change..
JoeBrady
Fever Pitch Guy2 hours ago
KD – Ever heard of Adrian Beltre?
==================================
One more guy that too many fans judged on the basis of one season. Beltre was a terrific player, got hurt, and had one bad season. When Theo signed him, some of these nimrods thought he was finished.
Rking
I bet he does trade X. That’s the Tampa way for better or worse
Fever Pitch Guy
Rking – I agree it’s a strong possibility. I think if the Red Sox wanted to extend Xander, they would have attempted to do so by now.
After the enormous contract Seager just got, no doubt Xander’s price just went up a lot. I will hate to see Xander go.
JoeBrady
He won’t trade him. He can opt out after 2022, and it will be doubtful we will trade him prior to the deadline. Bloom will have a tough decision to extend him or wait on Mayer, but that decision won’t come in 2022.
KD17
Redsox for life – Well said. Totally agree!! Wish more people thought like you and a movement can be started to oust Bloom. The players really hurt the movement in 2021 by playing so far over their abilities and fans misread that as improvement.
I’m going to keep an eye out for your comments going forward. I like the way you think!!
acell10
So the players that Bloom brought in that were properly evaluated played well. So being good at his job is what saved his job?
KD17
acell10 – Reading comprehension. Take a class on it. The players who carried the hitting were Bogey, JD and Devers. Bloom gets no credit for them. The best pitcher was Eovaldi. Bloom gets no credit for him.
Face it, Bloom picked up over a dozen players, maybe two dozen I simply refuse to torture myself by counting the mistakes and of those players Renfroe was one of the big surprises so he traded him for a garbage middle infielder prospect, a 3B prospect that can’t field and a guy making more money than Renfroe who can’t hit. Brilliant moves.
The other good move by Bloom was Pivetta. When Bloom came to Boston I expected trades like the Pivetta trade because Pivetta was rushed to the majors by Philly, failed and was tossed aside prematurely. Unfortunately, Bloom also liked Downs who got prematurely promoted by LAD to dupe the new GM into thinking he had talent. He should be in AA ball and at his age that’s not much of a prospect. He hasn’t been successful at any level except for 12 games in 2019 allowing Friedman to dupe his protege.
Scorecard – Bloom 2/20? 2/15? not sure which denominator is right but either one is below the Mendoza line. FYI the Mendoza line is .200 in case you didn’t know and it represents gross failure on the part of a player or in this case a GM!!
acell10
again more overlong prose and flowery language to try and justify a poorly worded take because you don’t like the CBO. At least you admitted you haven’t bothered to look into the player the CBO acquired. That’s probably the most accurate thing you said on the site.. The way you hold the torch of Dombrowski makes me think that you are related to him, worked for him or are him and this in Bryan Colangelo situation.
baseballguru
Except for maybe Sale (unless he’s nails in 22) they are all leaving on their own anyway. We are rebuilding & I definitely don’t want them to deviate unless it makes total sense like Correa does! Cherrington did a great job building a farm but never pulled the trigger on good F/A, then DD basically gutted that work way too much! Theo is still the closest we’ve had to balanced & the jury is still out on Chaim but he needs time to develop the plan…Cherrington may have but was axed a yr maybe 2 too soon…we’ll never know? But DD was a clown…anybody could have done what he did! If Bloome finally gets it right we’ll be solid…I give him a max of 3 seasons including 2022…that let’s us see how many of our position & pitchers have value on the big club weaving in sensible free agents based on where we are not performing. I will say I have followed the Sox since I was 9 & outside of the excitement for the 04, 07, & 18 teams for different reasons I have never been more excited than waiting to see this group & plan come together…& if we could churn a pitcher every say 5 years even that would be huge! (13 I think we just got lucky AF! If you look at how we hit…& pitched that playoff…every hit we had of our abysmal team BA was in perfect clutch timing & we pitched over our heads…one of the luckiest championships of all time in MLB in my opinion) But I see a few back to backs coming soon! Definitely 4 in 10…
JoeBrady
FWIW, this was one of my favorite RS teams ever. They managed to get within two games of the WS, while keep all our prospects, and not entering into any l/t contracts that would damage us later.
And I think we will take another step forward this year. But even if we go sideways, and keep adding guys that will help us in 2023 and beyond, I’m cool with that.
baseballguru
Agreed…it’s time The Sox finish replacing the Yankees as The World’s Team that began in 2004…they’re currently in a 13 YEAR drought & setting a Dynasty up in Boston will ensure We keep them under foot! 🙂
slogar1
Glad the Giants locked up 3 starting pitchers ahead of time, clarifies their overall needs after the lockout is over.
seamaholic 2
Still need one and depth.
Mario93
Red Sox are lucky to have bloom. He’ll fix the payroll, add young controllable talent, especially on the pitching side.. That’s unbelievably valuable, while also have prospects on the positional player side. And with a payroll like the Red Sox have, in due time, they will be the type of winners that never have a bad year with the sustainability that Bloom is trying to build with the Red Sox. Have some patience Red Sox fans, a guy who builds a true organization doesn’t happen over night, and some sacrifices will have to be made. Enjoy the ride instead of criticizing..
AL34
I was not impressed with Blooms pickups of Martin Perez, Garrett Richards, Robles last year. I am not impressed with Wacha getting 7million, not impressed with picking up a 42 year old Hill to replace e EROD, or signing Paxton who is going to miss half the year, not impressed with trading Renfroe who had over 30 homeruns for a guy hitting 161. I truly hope that the Jackie Bradley Jr. move does not have to do with picking up an African American ball player because the traded away Betts and Price last year and let JBJ become a free agent. I am not impressed with the prospects he received from Milwaukee either. The Red Sox overachieved last year and this team is not better at this point. He is a small market GM and Boston is a major market team or was.
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
I find it highly ignorant that you bring race into this… what is it? Politics?
Astros2017&22Champs
AL34. You sound so spoiled it’s pathetic. Blooms been on the job what 2 years? Hes been excellent. He inherited a broken farm from the overrated dave dombrowski while simultaneously making the red sox world series contenders. Some people don’t realize how long it takes to build a sustainable mlb organization
AL34
He has picked up a lot of garbage and wasted money on some mediocre players.
Astros2017&22Champs
Garrett whitlock off the rule 5 from your biggest rivals is garbage? Thats one of the biggest steals in recent memory
bucsfan0004
Red Sox are picking up some good, key pieces. With this roster, i fully expect them to compete for a title in 2017
Mo baseball
Whitlock should close next year… He was dominant last year, why screw it up now?
Rumors2godsears
Dombrowski won a World Series and every year competed. What prospects did he trade that came back to haunt Boston?
thecrocusesareinbloom
AL34, are you OK?
JoeBrady
I was not impressed with Blooms pickups
=========================================
But that’s not because they aren’t any good. You have already made up your mind to dislike all Bloom’s pickups.
baseballguru
Bringing in a black ballplayer? Look…I understand the ridiculousness of this BLM burning down cities crap & The ownership falling for this media generated & paid horseshit they bought hook line & sinker putting it in Redsox font on a billboard at Fenway BUT! To see skin color anywhere as a motivation to sign or not sign a ballplayer or person to do a job is crap & ignorance for sure. Human beings that play good baseball is what JBJ is about…our D just got 1000x better over Renfroe & we got 2 young potential future contributors…it’s nice having an outfield that shuts the door on would be hits much like I hope we sign Correa over Bogey at SS & get Devers off the hot corner so our infield D goes up…our D sucked last year…we have plenty of offense
bamck
Finally, a logical take. Mario, you’re spot on.
SoxRewl
There’s a reason almost every Sox fan I’ve spoken to is incredibly frustrated with Bloom. The players who led them to the playoffs last season were mostly the players he inherited when he took over the team. It’s a bigger testimony to the coaching staff that they had success than it is the front office.
The issue is he’s not even doing the “Tampa way” as I keep hearing his few supporters claim. He spends a ton of money each year on has-beens and injury prone players and is surprised when they have little to no impact.
They clog up the payroll with these deals. Hill, Paxton and Wacha will cost them the same this year as Gausman will cost the Jays. One team gets a frontline starter, the other gets a bucket of spare parts. Bloom is at best a mediocre judge of talent and at worst another Cherington.
Salvi
“almost every Sox fan Ive spoken to is incredibly frustrated with Bloom”
Only a few loudmouths at mlbtr. Any other website you go to are fine with Bloom.
Dorothy_Mantooth
@SoxRewl – I seem to remember Pivetta, Whitlock, Kiké, Verdugo and Robles having excellent post season performances. I believe Chaim brought all 5 of these players to Fenway himself. Plus Renfroe’s regular season got them into the playoffs. For a GM who has only been here for 2 full seasons, that is pretty impressive. Any short term GM whose team makes it to the playoffs would rely on existing (holdover) players for success. The fact that 5 of his guys were critical success factors in the 2021 playoffs is pretty darn impressive, especially that none of them were high paid or high profile free agent acquisitions. Bloom has led this team through 2 full seasons so far. If you ask me, the results exceeded my expectations especially when the owners forced him to get below the CBT in his first season with the team and stay below it in 2021. Bloom has a 4-5 year plan and after 2 seasons, you can see it starting to round into shape. He has rebuilt the farm system, he has 3-4 guys in AA & AAA ready to make an impact on the MLB club in 2022 and he has potential super star talent getting ready to join the team in 2023 & 2024. This coming season (2022) will be the last of the popsicle stick and duct tape additions to the team. A ton of money comes off the books after the 2022 season and a ton of young talent will be ready to join the team. So Bloom’s vision of the future Red Sox starts in 2023 and only improves from there. Expect a few more, one year deals with veteran bullpen pitchers this season and maybe a decent trade for an established, RH batting outfielder, but nothing huge will happen this year. It’s all about 2023 & future years that has me really excited about the future of this club. The best is yet to come for sure.
all in the suit that you wear
Well said, Dorothy.
SoxRewl
@dennyd try asking in a Boston sports bar about Bloom, the consensus generally doesn’t approve.
@Dorothy_Mantooth I really want to agree about Bloom having a plan, but if he does he’s done a poor job showing it. If they just wanted to cut payroll for a bit, then fine. I hated to see it, but Mookie had to be traded to get rid of Price. But they have wasted money on bad deals for average or worse players every year he’s been in charge.
Even the five players you mentioned who performed well in the tiny sample size of two playoff series, and who certainly could fill out a highlight reel called ‘Best of Bloom’, include a back-of-the-rotation starter, a utility player, a guy who would be a part time outfielder on most teams, a middle reliever, and Whitlock, the only actually good player Bloom has ever added.
He backs into a solid starting right fielder and trades him for someone who can’t even dream of the Mendoza line anymore. He spends (I’ll say it again) the annual rate for Kevin Gausman
(and more than Syndergaard) for a trio of washed up starters. He signed Garrett Richards as his third starter. None of the prospects he has traded for have seemed to have improved since they’ve arrived – most have dropped in consensus prospect rankings.
I really hope he proves me wrong because I like watching my team play competitive baseball but I have seen nothing so far that makes me optimistic about any plan Bloom has going on.
acell10
I hardly think a sports bars represents the consensus of what fans think nor would I use that as a benchmark for how the majority of any fanbase feels about a player executive etc.
KD17
dennyd – Only the website that mandate ownership viewpoints. The rest want to hang him in effigy for destroying a team in it’s prime and setting baseball back a decade in Boston..
KD17
acell10 – You aren’t even old enough to know what goes on in a sports bar. The whole baseball world knows Bloom sucks. The marketing department does everything in their power to spin the talk about Bloom positive but with his constant mistakes they have been working overtime for 2 years.
Do you realize how many paid influencers are on the website during the Winter Meeting and through the non-tender date to try and swing Bloom’s mistakes into gold? Too many to count. Just read the names the last few days and you’ll see how many pro ownership and Bloom opinions have suddenly cropped up out of nowhere. That’s not a coincidence it’s a paid marketing program trying to influence social media.
They are trying to save the public image of the ball club by misleading the public about things that are so obvious like how bad Bloom is. It’s not working because the dedicated fans who want Boston to win rings not pretend somewhere down the road there is a pot of gold as Bloom professes are adamant and committed to factually point out the mistakes rather than sweeping them under the carpet like the influencers are trying to do.
So influencers, go ahead and bring it. You are fighting a losing battle!!!!
The real fans will win out in the end and this low point in Red Sox history will end!! Just remember, Bloom, TB and all of us writing on this blog have the same number of World Series rings!!! That speaks volumes to what’s wrong in Boston these days.
acell10
And the way you make comments make people think you are spending too much time in a sports bar or otherwise. But keep pumping out conspiracy theories KD. The only person on this comment thread that comes like a paid influencer is you.
SoxRewl
@KD17 – spot on. I get notifications for new Sox articles from Google, I have seen at least 3 with a title that generally reads “here’s the logic behind the JBJ trade”.
I get that the trade was made to add prospects, but there shouldn’t be this many articles trying to convince fans that Bloom is a genius. Like Cherington, he will continue to treat a contending roster like a rebuilding club, and the world series will always be out of reach until he gets ran out of town and a real GM who knows how to handle a big market team gets brought in.
Boston2AZ
As a guy who grew up in Boston, I can tell you from first-hand experience that you don’t want to take advice on ANY subject from ANYONE in a Boston bar, especially about baseball.
acell10
Nailed it!
baseballguru
I think you called me a “paid” influencer once lol it’s kind of funny to see ya lose it like that…been a Sox fan 44 years & this plan Bloom has is a good one…If he does it right…We’ll be The Yankees of old in the MLB! Ya need to chill…he’s not hiring fake people posters lol. Marketing yeah sure…but come on, your “paid influencers” are those fans who believe he is on the right track is all…the rest is in your mind dude!
all in the suit that you wear
Well said, Mario.
GASoxFan
Mario, your logic fails on multiple levels.
If Bloom can sustain his farm system and ‘never have a bad year’ in the future, then why the need to cannibalize the team for picks and to tank to get them now?
Can’t he do now what you say he will be able to do while winning in the future?
If he won’t need to tank and get high draft picks to rebuild the farm in the future, why do it now?
If he won’t need to sign large volumes of questionable retreads and failed prospects to MLB deals in the future hoping to hit on one, and watch most fail miserably dragging team results down, and which take up 40man/26man slots, why do it now?
baseballguru
100%!
manfraud
Idk if I’d really call Collin McHugh an “old friend”
bucketbrew35
Hats off to Bloom for building up some pretty decent rotation depth.
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
And bullpen help. Hill and Wacha could easy be bullpen guys too
GASoxFan
I hope this is sarcasm. Bloom’s rotation is as deep as a grave, which is where he’s throwing another season of prime talent control for a bunch of the sox starters.
mattwild1
oh, a right handed bat like the one you just traded?
UnbiasedFan13
Exactly. I think they’ll regret it… unless they sign Carlos Correa and move Xander to 2b.
bamck
No, they want someone better than Renfroe. They sold high on him, brought in a 4th outfielder, and now have a chance to sign an impact bat in either the OF or 2b. Renfroe was going to cost twice as much as he did last year. His value was being on a cheap deal. They maximized his talent and flipped him for fringe prospects. That’s the smart play when a guy has a career year for you. He is still an extremely streaky player that made quite a few defensive errors.
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
Flipped him for prospects and a defensive upgrade.
GASoxFan
Almost anything would be a defensive upgrade from renfroe. Led in errors, and fielding % stunk like last weeks garbage.
So you mean they
1)sold renfroe who was supposed to make $7m or so..
2) to bring in a guy who can’t hit out of a bag and lives below mendoza, and makes 9.5m, increasing salary in 2022, and has an 8m buyout/12m salary for 23?
3) Just so they could get better defense back, after
4) having traded away the GG benintendi who hit above league avg, who they paid another team 3+m to take, and took back the useless cordero who was DFA’d to equalize salary all just to net a couple bottom level farm hands of unknown quality?
Wouldn’t it just make more sense to keep benintendi, not sell low on him, have the defense to start, not create OF holes, and not need to bail out of the mess? Benny hits better than JBJ. Is younger, costs less.. and they could’ve left renfroe there with his bat.
BoSox
Off-season Plan
(Chaim is clearly open to exceeding CBT)
We should trade Dalbec, Verdugo, and Bryan Bello for Ketel. This would allow Ketel to play second while allowing Kike and Bradley to own one of the best defensive outfields.
Then we need to sign Suzuki for the last outfield spot. Have Duran at the ready if Suzuki or JBJ struggle.
Finally Schwarber must be brought back to continue at first base until Casas is ready.
I would also consider Jansen
Lineup
CF Kike
2B Ketel
SS X
3B Devers
DH JD
1B Schwarber
C Vazquez
RF Bradley
LF Suzuki/Duran
Thoughts?
MafiaBass
That is way too much for two seasons of control over Marte.
cookmeister 2
can i offer you a nice and shiny former #1 overall pick, Justin Upton? He’s right handed
Rsox
Thank you for the offer, but no…
DarkSide830
so ungrateful of such a kind offer. smh, people these days…
Dorothy_Mantooth
@Cookmeister – Sure! The Angels will just need to take JBJ back in the trade and pay the remaining $16M due to David Price for 2022 and we’ll take Upton off your hands! We’ll even throw in Phillips Valdez as a sweetener. Deal?
Rsox
If they are looking to spend big maybe Castellanos? If not, Soler? McCutchen?
I would be ok with Tepera or bringing Robles back but please stay away from Kelly and especially Jansen
tstats
Oooooh Cutch would be interesting
Astros2017&22Champs
Castellanos is a dh. You cant have another jd martinez on the team
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
McCutchen sounds like a Bloom move.
Dorothy_Mantooth
@RSox – Cutch on a 1 year deal actually makes quite a bit of sense for Boston. They could sign him for reasonable money and not block any rookies from joining the team later in the season. They should also look to re-sign Hansel Robles. I know he’s been inconsistent at best career to date, but he really seemed to thrive in Boston and love it here. When he was on, he was virtually unhittable.
Bloom missed out on Melancon this offseason if you ask me. Arizona signed him for short money and all the guy does is exceed his projections year after year. He would have been great Matt Barnes insurance as a closer too. I’m guessing they didn’t sign him because his success relies on a strong infield defense and the Red Sox were the worst defensive IF in all of baseball last season. Bloom has a plan to improve the IF defense but that won’t kick in until 2023 (hint: the left side of the IF will be completely different then). One more year of treading water and signing mid level FA’s and then Boston is prepared to kick it into Championship Chasing Mode. If they somehow make it back to the playoffs in 2022, it’s all gravy.
bobtillman
I have no idea why Chaim thinks he needs another RH bat. After all, they did just sign ROB REFSNYDER!
Spare Tire Dixon
Trade for Marcell Ozuna. 🙂
Rking
Braves take back JBJ and Barnes plus throw in a prospect like Pache. Who says no?
sfes
@Rking Whoever would get Ozuna I’d hope.
Rking
Doesn’t hurt to ask though. No Braves fan wants to see that guy on our team next year. All AA has to do is convince Bloom how out of the box thinking it would be.
sfes
Yeah I just saw there’s video now of him strangling his wife. SMH
Do you think they’d actually let him suit up next year?
Rking
Unfortunately there are 50 million plus reasons why that is likely to happen
GASoxFan
Unfortunately Boston is even more PC-bull oriented and safe-space insistent than Atlanta.
Your chances are poor.
Call Houston, they don’t care as evidenced by past signings and actions.
Spare Tire Dixon
Tommy Pham?
User 4245925809
Negative on Pham. St Louie gave him to Tampa for 10c on the dollar. he wasn’t exactly the best of clubhouse guys for the Rays, then the Rays managed to ship him off to the Pad’s, he right away gets into a bar brawl, getting cut up in the process.. Something about that guy want no part of in Boston..
2 teams shipped him off, even tho he was more than just a useful player. He’s not a “happy” guy and things seem to go wrong around him.. Let him stay in SD, at least not in Boston.
tstats
Chaim looks like Rami Malek
joecool1
Best comment on this thread so far lol
acell10
there’s worse people to look like
ray win
I’m amazed at the grief Bloom is getting. The Red Sox based in part on what Bloom brought in over the past couple of years made it to the AL championship. If not for a horrible missed call on what should have been strike three and the final out of the ninth inning of game four, who knows how that series would have gone? I scratch my head on Renfroe for Bradley and two unknowns, but am willing to see what happens.
Orel Saxhiser
Fan bases tend to overreact to everything. It’s the nature of the beast. Have a quick, negative take instead of looking at the bigger picture. To them, “critical thinking” means being critical of everything.
Coach JG
The key to the Renfro deal is the minor leaguer who was at A ball Carolina Mudcats. Alex Binelas is one of my former players and the best young hitter I have coached. He was not once but 2x preseason college player of the year at Louisville. Due to a slow start after Covid/injury as sophomore at Louisville. Scouts downgraded him from top 10 overall pick and ended up going to hometown Brewers in third round. After starting 1 for 30 his Jr year, he still managed 19 HR and 67 rbis and in shortened A ball found his stroke hitting 314 with 9 HR. This kid as a LH batter with big time power perfectly fits Fenway. Brewers were sleeping on him as definitely can be consistent 300 hitter with 40 HR 100+RBI annually at major league level. Total heist for the Red Sox!
TROYP815
Agreed. I live in Louisville and the kid rakes. He was projected as a 1st rd pick but fell to round three after a slow start. He put up solid numbers in A ball, as well. Chaim got a superior defensive CF’er and bought two prospects. one of those prospects being very, very good.
TROYP815
Coach JG Are you by any chance the former coach that Alex mentioned on the Section 10 podcast?
Coach JG
Never saw it. Do you have a link
Coach JG
I also have video of an bat from Alex hitting it to the second level as a 13 yr old! Will also tell you he played on same team as Jared Kelenic and Tyler Herro ! Alex was and is the best of the 3!
Coach JG
I know Henry Davis went first overall and is a hell of a catcher but Alex has a Hall of Fame Bat period. He will be the one that pans out.
Astros2017&22Champs
Coach JG. Thats really neat. I dont think the brewers are sleeping on him though. They drafted him for a reason. The problem is they’re window is now. Their rotation and bullpen are at their peak
Coach JG
Yes brewers need immediate help but AJ as I call Alex being included in this trade will turn into one of the worst in brewers history similar to cubs trading Lou Brock to Cardinals. No long term future player like him who is homegrown Milwaukee and would take hometown discounts likely to stay and wanted to bring title to Milwaukee should have been in this trade. Huge mistake but humongous gain for Alex and Boston who develop every day players. Rich got richer imo .
Dorothy_Mantooth
@Coach JG – Pretty cool you coached this kid (at what level I don’t know) but there is a huge difference between success in college vs. success in MLB. I do hope Binelas pans out and fulfills the expectations you set for him in your posts but right now, he is currently blocked by 4+ players (Devers, Dalbec, Casas, Blaze Jordan & Bogaerts if he moves off of SS). Is he athletic enough to transition to the outfield, or is he a corner IF / DH only? That will determine if he has a future with Boston or if he’ll be moved again in a future trade. But thanks for pumping us up over his potential. It was obvious they liked him but I didn’t realize he was projected as a first rounder as late as 2020. That’s pretty cool and makes me feel much better about this deal.
JoeBrady
Is he athletic enough to transition to the outfield, or is he a corner IF / DH only?
===================================
One of my readings suggested a move to the outfield. They weren’t high on him as a 3B, but might be athletic enough to be a corner outfielder. As an infielder, his value to us is obviously limited, but we are short in OF prospects.
Coach JG
Alex was a shortstop for me as I coached him in travel ball. I knew he would outgrow the position. I would say as a defender I would move him to a corner position feeling LF would be prime. His bat will find him a position as I said he is a ++ hitter. Imo the best hitter in the last draft and can definitely hit for average, power, and hit premium pitching. He can hit lefties and righties. He really has no weakness at the plate with a great eye. Comes from great family as dad played professional basketball overseas. He is a top of the order hitter period. Arm is above avg not great but is a winner! He is does nothing but work on his game. Doesn’t drink or drugs and is all about winning. You got a great one and a steal!
Coach JG
Can play OF and did for me. LF is where he needs to go.
AL34
Long way from Single A to the Major Leagues my friend. The path is littered with players who were not talented enough. Let me know when he makes it to Triple AAA and then we will see. Give me an established player anytime as opposed to a “Prospect”.
Don’t you remember when we traded Renteria to Atlanta in 2006 for Can’t miss prospect power hitting 3rd baseman Andy Marte who never made it in the major leagues. Another can’t miss “Prospect”.
Coach JG
Agreed but telling you this kid is special. Trust me
AL34
I hope you are right.
Dorothy_Mantooth
@AL 34 – Andy Marte…there’s a blast from the past. Great reference!
mlb1225
Why not just leave Whitlock in the bullpen and use Houck as a starter? I’m not going to claim I’m an expert at pitching development, but it seems that everytime a Rule 5 pick (pitcher) does really well, the team moves them to the rotation because they were a starter in the minor leagues and it doesn’t work out well. Houck has pitched well primarly as a starter. Whitlock had a great year as a reliever.
bamck
The reason is because starting pitching is far more valuable. But I think there is a chance that Whitlock ends up in the bullpen one more year before they move him. Based on the moves so far, unless the Sox sign or trade for an impact reliever, they made need him in the 8th or 9th.
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
Daniel Bard
slideskip
they’ll only be seeking minor league help
PitcherMeRolling
They should trade JBJ and 2 recently acquired prospects for Hunter Renfroe. Seems like a good fit for them.
Salvi
Bloom wants “short relievers” I always find tall pitchers better.
Orel Saxhiser
Chaim Bloom or Sawx fans who thought he was an idiot for signing Keekay Hernandez to a 2-yr/$14 contract? Hmmm. I think I’ll side with Bloom on this one.
KD17
Cey Hey – $7M for a .250 hitter. That’s your idea of a good deal? It’s easy to remember his hot streak but you must look at the total of his contribution and that was very mediocre just like his career. $7M for Kiki is better than for Wacha but they gave up a guy with more potential making $6M in Benny. Bloom’s batting average is still way below the Mendoza line and I’m willing to give the fair deal for Kiki to his win column!!!.
2001morecowbell2001
“It’s easy to remember his hot streak”…….Actually no it isn’t. You mean the one where he carried the team in July or carried the team through the playoffs? That’s such a weird take since having epic hot streaks when it matters is an MVP characteristic not a bug.
thecrocusesareinbloom
The Renfroe deal is exactly the type of sensible move that Bloom makes. You take a guy who probably just had his career year and trade him while he’s a commodity for two prospects, one of whom (Binelas) seems like a diamond in the rough. Bloom’s scouts seem to know what they’re doing. Nobody thought twice about Garrett Whitlock before they snagged him from the Yanks, and look how that turned out.
The Bradley part of the deal is just the Brewers (a small market team) offsetting salary / probably also a way for the Sox to up the prospect capital they’ll get in return. It also plugs the bench outfield role they’ve opened up in the short term by trading Renfroe. I loved watching Renfroe—he’s a fun player—but he’s also notoriously streaky and more of a flashy defender than he is a solid one. It’s not the most satisfying trade in the world, but then, trades for prospects never are.
I don’t know, my knee-jerk reaction was “what the hell is this?”, too, but Bloom is ever the pragmatist. He’s not going to break the bank to make his team competitive a) before he’s stabilized the farm system again and b) while the division title is more elusive than it will be in coming years because at least three other teams (Yanks, Rays, Jays) are really good. Makes perfect sense to me. You strike when the window’s there; the Sox’s window is far from closed, but it isn’t exactly wide open, either. And there’s still a lot of offseason left. I think it’s all going to be just fine.
99socalfrc
You’re that terrified of the Yanks and Jays? The Jays just lost a Cy young winner plus Marcus Semien. They are basically the “Yankees lite” in terms of over hyped.
The Rays cannot keep pulling pitching out of thin air, they just can’t.
soxshortstop
Then you look at Franchy – Strike one, Garrett Richards the $10M starter – Strike two, Marwin Gonzalez (aka DFA) – Strike three, Matt Andriese – Strike four – you see the pattern. Hope it works out for us and Bloomie
KD17
thecroc – perfect name for what you are spewing!!!
Bloom’s an idiot and no influencer is going to come in here and try to spin the crap he just pulled as if it was a good move.
Renfroe, Verdugo, Benny are all slightly above league average fielders. As long as they are cheap they can off set the expensive players on the team. Unfortunately, Bloom comes from a place where there are no expensive player elsewhere on the team just players that arrive in TB and flourish until they deserve to be paid.
This is Boston and the TB formula has earned no rings. Being a 90 win team that never wins is not better than a team that wins rings, has a drop off year due to injuries then comes back and wins another ring. The TB formula gives absolutely no satisfaction to the fan base with respect to Duck Boat Parades. What it gives the fan base is a way to rationalize not winning because the team is competitive every year. Yes, it’s like a participation trophy and we all know how much more popular those are in this day and age. I prefer rings for my ball club. This isn’t horseshoes so close does not count, it’s a wasted season. Teams play to win. If they don’t then fans lose interest or change teams and the game suffers.
Some of the MYTHS in your writings:
1 – The farm system is ranked higher but Bloom’s contribution to that came from failure. His deals haven’t strengthened the farm system If it had those players would be playing in the bigs like Houck, Duran, Dalbec, Chavis and the half dozen other graduates that all came from the farm system you inaccurately summarized as bad.
2 – The Yankees, Toronto and Tampa Bay being good is not a new phenomena. When Baltimore becomes good that will be. DD walked in the door made a couple of deals and won 3 straight division titles. He started with less than Bloom and didn’t get rid of the best player on the team and made the franchise an even bigger success. Bloom has run down a once magnificent franchise. Even a lucky season wasn’t enough to win his first Division Title after two years of far below average results. He couldn’t even win during a year when the Yankees were down!!! Why? Because he’s from an organization that has not won ANYTHING in it’s history.
3 – The off season should have lots of time left with the current lockout. There might not be games in 2020 so he’ll have plenty of time to make deals. Oops did you forget to mention that because of his change in the make-up of the payroll Boston doesn’t have any money to do anything this off season?.
Yes, DD had a top heavy and bottom heavy roster with 6 big contracts and lots and lots of sub $5M players. That’s how a good GM builds a roster. Studs to be the foundation then inexpensive filler players to compliment the studs. Bloom changed that by eliminating studs and adding lots of middle money players who aren’t very good but aren’t completely expensive. They do, however, cost more than $5M so now the roster is slightly less top heavy and much more middle heavy thus leaving him in the same boat as before, no money and dwindling star players.. Down from 6 big contracts to 4 Bloom has replaced those two studs with lots of middle of the road guys who don’t carry a team. That’s why the talent level is down. It’s the difference of having star studded team versus an anonymous team using the same amount of money. Think of Russia under communism and the US under capitalism. One team is a bunch of equals making similar amounts of money and the other has a segment of the team outplaying and out earning the others and carrying the team to victory. Historically, which technique would you guess has been more successful? Yep star studded American way of doing things!! Bloom should coach a Russian team! Wait even Russia figured out their system didn’t work so they made it more like the US!! Sorry Bloom history shows your philosophy doesn’t work.
So as an influencer you must be really busy this time of year. I look forward to all your spinning of facts on this website.
JohhnyBets67
Chavis is gone.
Also was terrible.
Dalbec is a fringe platoon 1B.
He fixed Pivetta and nabbed Whitlock.
Bloom’s guy won’t be up for awhile because he’s been the GM for 2 years. The RS did not have 6 studs. It’s hilarious that you’ve counted David Price as one of your 6. He can’t even crack the Dodgers rotation any longer.
This is a useless exercise bc you’ve decided that Bloom stinks and nothing will ever change your thought process.
The Atlanta Braves just won a WS w/o Ronald Acuna and Mike Soroka. There’s no secret sauce for winning a WS championship. They didn’t have the best team in baseball but they did have the best team in baseball at the right time. You build a sustainably competitive one and then October comes around and you hope you get hot at the right time.
baseballguru
@JOHNNYBets… Agree with all that except Bobby D if he gets reps he’ll park more bombs than Devers eventually in the next 2 years…maybe at 3b too in my opinion, if he’s not traded the only guy with more power will be Casas when he fills out…he’ll be a superstar 1b!
bravesfan
Can y’all take Ozuna from us please???
99socalfrc
LOL at people saying 2021 was a career year for Renfroe. He’s been hitting bombs at a pretty decent rate since he hit the big leagues. His slugging, OPS and OPS+ from 2018 is basically identical to 2021.
If he ever quits swinging at junk then you’ll see a career year.
ratedrdude
Nick Castellanos would be a perfect fit…
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
Has anyone commented on Michael Feliz? Guy looks underrated with an FIP at 4.14, still young and a SO/9 consistently over 10. Going off stats alone, but that’s my two cents.
Ham Lambert
Its been about 24 hours. Im still in shock. But I trust in Bloom. I think we are only one third of the way through the dominos. Suzuki interests me very much.
JoeBrady
This still puts us on the Suzuki path. And Duran and/or Downs for an RP.
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
I was gonna say Anthony Rizzo but he’s a lefty. Right field would benefit him at Febway. And what better way to finish off his career(possibly) with the team that drafted him.
Dorothy_Mantooth
The Sox don’t need a first baseman. Dalbec can hold down the position until Casas is ready (hopefully by May or June). If Casas doesn’t work out, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Boston move Devers off 3rd and over to 1B. They could do the same with Bogaerts too. If the Sox spend any more money on offensive players this offseason, it has to be either for 2nd base or the outfield. I’d love to see them sign Suzuki as their farm system’s major weakness is lack of major league ready OFs, excluding Duran.
Bruin1012
Bilbo you do realize that Right Field in Fenway is one of the toughest places to hit a home run so know Right field won’t benefit Rizzo. Having the short porch in left may benefit him if he can go the other way.
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
I’m assuming you were talking to me. I’m not sure who Bilbo is though. Rizzo is mostly a pull hitter. He doesn’t necessarily hit it to pesky’s pole. Somewhere like he hit in the WC game.
Bruin1012
My point is Billy unless as a lefty pull hitter right field in Fenway is one of the toughest parks to hit a home run in so it’s doubtful that a pull hitter like Rizzo would benefit from playing in Fenway. On the other end of the spectrum right field in Yankee stadium is one of the easiest parks to hit a home run in and that would be a good place for him to continue to play and enjoy a short porch.
BlueJ’sAllDay
Lots of smart people here talking on both sides of the discussion. I feel like everyone is missing the real factor to everything Bloom is doing. I believe they feel they have a potential superstar in Mayer and everything they do going forward will be to add more talent within his timeline. The team they have now is not complete enough to spend their way to being legit. They are not deep enough with the cheap controllable talent. They’re essentially wasting Devers window because the farm wasn’t ready to augment talent without ridiculous spending.
ffrhb14Sox
Devers is 24, a lot of window left if they want to sign him. This is the Bogaerts/Devers window and they already have a ring in it. The next big window is Casas and Mayer joining one or both of them. If Bogaerts stays on his very reasonable deal and they extend Devers early to save a little, then add Casas and Mayer, they have what could be a great homegrown core 4. With money about to come off for Price, JD, JBJ, Eovaldi, Wacha, Hill, Paxton, they should be in a fine spot to add around it.
BlueJ’sAllDay
Yes Devers is young and they could definitely extend him within Mayer’s window. I’m just pointing out that the ideal situation that I feel most general managers are striving for are having your elite players being young and at low cost and then supplementing that with a combination of elite young and cheap talent and also expensive free agent signings. It all starts with that one elite young player. Blue jays are an example of that with Vladdy, Bichette and Manoah. They’ve got a serious window opened up where spending big makes a lot of sense. Until Boston has that you will continue to see signings like the Paxton, Hill etc
soxshortstop
Time to take the kid gloves off Durran as he is a Top 10 OF prospect for the entire league, but also the oldest by far at 25 yo. He needs to start whether its CF or LF. Verdugo CF/LF/RF. Enrique needs to play CF and Arroyo needs to be at 2B. But I am guessing they give JBJ the CF job. Great here comes 0.163 – .225. and oh and some great D from the one-time GG.
Hope Bloom is looking to flip some of the accumulated prospects for pitching.
jdgoat
May I suggest Hunter Renfroe?
jdgoat
May I suggest Hunter Renfroe?
baseballguru
Rafael Devers will not be our 3b by 2024. (Possibly sooner) but not in 2024 or beyond. Great player but the defense can’t stay like that at the hot corner. Much like Bogey can’t stay at SS with his defense. Can’t have it that bad. 1 of 2 maybe but not 2 & preferably neither field that poorly. At the end of the day right now you have Casas coming for 1b. I predict he sticks there and produces (Ortiz like numbers if he stays healthy) that leaves Bobby D. & Blaze Jordan gunning for 3rd base by 2024. I believe the smart move in 2022 is to try to design a 6 or 7 yr high AAV Correa would accept starting in 2022 & move Bogey to 2b & use Arroyo as a Utility & Possibly even trade Xander by the end of 2022. Having Correa gets the right handed bat Bloome wants, completely sure up the left side…& the hole gets plugged at 3b by 2024. The odd man out be it one of Bobby D., Jordan or Devers could DH which will be a more viable career path now that the NL is adopting it in the next CBA. I am ok with Raffy being a DH but he’s got no 1b with Casas coming to dominate that spot, so DH or trade him for studs like Betts was. With Mayer coming in a SS, Yorke at 2b…this will be a core dynasty soon! Bloome has everything he needs to make this team perennial contenders.
KD17
baseballguru – I think you should dig into some of the modern metrics that don’t bode well for Bogey. I think they are skewed by Devers’ bad baseball acumen. If you look at fielding percentage as the binary outcome of any play it shows a players ability to be successful in his defensive job of fielding and throwing out a hitter on a batted ball. Yes, people have chosen to add other things like range but those numbers are normalized to the point of being insignificant as an after the fact evaluator of defensive play.
Example = Bogaerts has a fielding percentage that is .978 for his career at SS. The league average for that time period at SS is .973. Bogaerts is above league average. Devers on the other hand has a fielding percentage of .935 with league average being .959. He’s a butcher but he’s actually more than a butcher.
Think of all the times Devers tries for a routine ball hit to Bogaerts and cuts in front of him then boots the ball and there is no error because of the difficulty of the play even though it would have been routine for Bogaerts OR he catches the ball trying to be a hero and throws badly off balance and the scorekeeper gives the batter a hit despite it being a routine play for Bogaerts. Devers dodges literally dozens of errors on balls he misplays and because Bogaerts doesn’t get a shot at fielding those balls his range is significantly reduced while Devers range is significantly increased despite not getting an out.
That’s why the modern metrics don’t accurately portray what really happens. On those balls allowed to get to Bogaerts, he’s an above league average fielder. How does he compare to the best shortstops in the business?
Carlos Correa – .981
Francisco Lindor – .980
Trevor Story – .979
Xander Bogaerts – .978 YES OF THE TOP SSs he is 4th!!
Trea Turner – .973
Corey Seager – .969
Javy Baez = .968
Tim Anderson = .962
Bo Bichette – .959
Fernando Tatis – .951
So I say trade Devers to Cleveland for Jose Ramirez and watch how Bogaerts modern metrics climb without Devers. Bogey should stay at SS until he opts out or Mayer displaces him.
acell10
Guru: Here’s the breakdown for you for his argument if you don’t feel like reading it. . “Modern metrics are bad because they don’t support my argument. The player I don’t like is the reason why the player I do like isn’t as good as I think other people should believe when player I dislike isn’t part of the conversation. Shoehorn in an overly personal take disparaging the player I dislike and the executive I think is terrible. Add made up scenario and exclamation points to drive my point home.”
badco44
I say hold steady with Bloom, he has done well getting salary issues lowered and that alone forced drastic moves. He was left this mess by DD, who sold the kitchen sink for “18”… if he would have had more flexibility at the trading deadline, last seasons team would have made the series. So I’m no fan of the Renfro trade, but I’m giving Bloom my patience and vote of confidence
AL34
Bloom, who are you going to sign Robles and the other clown you got from Minnesota at the trade deadline. Believe me he will sign cheap lower end of the spectrum guys. I hope I am wrong but I have my doubts.
AL34
Bloom, who are you going to sign Robles and the other clown you got from Minnesota at the trade deadline ? Believe me he will sign cheap lower end of the spectrum guys. I hope I am wrong but I have my doubts.
JoeBrady
AL3413 hours ago
Bloom, who are you going to sign Robles
=================================
He stole Robles last year. He won’t be as cheap this year, after his great performance with the RS.
brooklynnes_papi
Renfroe had a great season, exceeded expectations and made Bloom look like a genius at only $3M for the 2021 season. But he swung and missed a lot. 130K’s in 140 games. AND he was arbitration eligible. JBJ may or may not be a prize in return, and you have to be encouraged by Bloom’s eye for young talent and the two prospects he selected, but what it really does is open the door for the AAA outfielders that will have an opportunity to contribute in 2022. Duran and possibly Jimenez will have an opportunity to play, and JBJ can still play D. I’m willing to bet he hits over .200 this year, but will be part of a rotation that clearly puts a premium on defensive runs saved. The Sox will be just fine in 2022!
dsett75
“Man, we sure could use a RH bat!” (Trades cheaper .270, 31 HR for a lefty bat that was literally the worst in baseball out of anyone with 200+ AB’s) Soooo glad I’m not a Red Sox fan!! Some may remember that the Orioles used to be a “big spender” back in the 90’s, but Angelos decided to go a different route. Henry seems to be reaching the same conclusion. In fact, it could even be the reason he hired Bloom?!
JoeBrady
Soooo glad I’m not a Red Sox fan!!
=================================
Yeah, being the team of the century is a heavy burden to bear.
acell10
Renfroe hit .259 last season is a career .237 hitter with a sub 30o OBP who happened to be one of worst hitter in baseball in the two seasons prior to last year so you’ll pardon me for not losing too much sleep that they traded the guy who at age 29 wildly overachieved.