Despite the busy Angels offseason, Shohei Ohtani’s future remains the team’s biggest question in 2023, and Arte Moreno’s decision not to sell the Angels adds another layer of intrigue to Ohtani’s situation. Speaking with reporters (including the Associated Press), Halos GM Perry Minasian reiterated that the organization would love to keep Ohtani, and suggested that Moreno was willing to pay Ohtani the record-setting contract it might take to keep the two-way star in Anaheim. “[Moreno has] already invested in this club throughout his whole ownership. We’ve been top-10 in payroll for a long time,” Minasian said. “I don’t see that changing. Knowing [Moreno] and knowing how much he wants to win, I wouldn’t put anything out of the realm of possibility.”
Desire to win notwithstanding, Moreno’s ability to construct a winning team is the another factor, as the Angels are mired in a string of seven consecutive losing seasons. Unsurprisingly, Ohtani was openly disappointed by the Halos’ lackluster 2022 campaign, and any doubts he has about the Angels’ ability to compete might possibly result in Ohtani signing with a more proven contender next winter. Even if Moreno is willing to splurge on Ohtani and take the Angels into luxury tax territory, it might not be enough to sway Ohtani from a comparable offer from a winning team.
More from around the American League….
- Orioles left-hander Nick Vespi underwent hernia surgery in early January, and the reliever told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko that he is “cleared to throw, so I am starting to throw already and I’ll be ready for Opening Day.” There was some doubt as to whether or not Vespi’s recovery process might last into the early part of the season, and while it appears that might not be an issue, Vespi will miss pitching for Italy in the World Baseball Classic. Vespi made his MLB debut in 2022, posting a 4.10 ERA over 26 1/3 innings out of the Orioles’ bullpen. Cionel Perez and Keegan Akin are Baltimore’s top southpaw options in the relief corps, though Vespi may face further competition from any left-handed starting candidates who don’t make the rotation.
- The Red Sox signed Masataka Yoshida to a five-year, $90MM deal in December, an investment that surpassed all projections for Yoshida as he made the move from Nippon Professional Baseball to the majors. That said, the Sox also feel “other teams were prepared to bid more aggressively for Yoshida than has been widely reported,” the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier writes. The Blue Jays and Dodgers were reportedly the other finalists for Yoshida’s services, though it isn’t known what those two clubs were willing to pay. The $90MM guarantee is also a sign of just how much faith the Red Sox have in Yoshida’s ability to continue his production against Major League pitching, which is a belief born from heavy scouting and evaluation of Yoshida in Japan over the last three years.
I’ll save you the read; Ohtani to the Orioles
Get real. ohtani isn’t going anywhere. He’s on our angels and will sign his extension
Big article this weekend how Ohtani signed a new deal with New Balance, a Boston based company. While it’s way too early to predict, the writer had fun trying to connect the dots.
http://www.audacy.com&utm_term=NATL-RC‘
@dewey I’m more surprised that Nike lost out since they do sponsor MLB unis.
So players who sign with Nike play in Portland?
Yankee, as of now it means nothing to both of us.
with your logic most athletes with nike contracts should play for a team in oregon.
“So players who sign with Nike play in Portland?”
Im sure some players on the Trailblazers are signed with Nike. Also, in a lot of cases brand companies have close ties to the hometown team(s). They could encourage a signed players in a decision like this.
deadline.com/2022/06/nike-phil-knight-portland-tra…
Not my logic. I indicated the writer was having fun. I l
They will still film the New Balance promotional spots in LA. I don’t see Ohtani anywhere except LA. The only question is Dodgers or Angels.
I’ll take the field for that bet.
Depends on the odds but it’s best not to get at all.
I can dream
I think if that was the case he’d have signed an extension by now.
Lolololol. You need to be on comedy central. You’re funny. Why would he stay on a perennial loser that can’t figure out how to build a pitching staff for two decades when he can get the same money from the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Padres, or others.
They certainly have the CBT room for him!
2012orioles — If the Texas Rangers came outta nowhere and spent $500 million on 2 players…the Orioles can spend $500 million on 2 players…in 1!!
Logic proves sound. Obviously, your from the future…2102orioles is your real handle! 🙂
To those Red Sox fans who are disappointed in this offseason, I have a question: Would you rather have had Yoshida or Eovaldi? I really loved this offseason, as indicated by my username, but I wish the Rangers focused more on their biggest remaining weakness after they already had Odorizzi, deGrom, and Heaney in addition to Perez, Gray, and Dunning/minor league depth and no left fielder or center fielder who could hit. I’d take Yoshida over Eovaldi and keep the draft pick. What about Red Sox fans?
Aaron Hicks can hit! The ball just goes 10 feet and he gets thrown out…..but that last part is just semantics.
Sure. Hypothetically, Texas can take him on with salary relief just his year and then get a reliver like Michael King or one of those top shortstop prospects. Now, it seems good enough for Texas, but NY likely wouldn’t. Thus, nothing will come of it.
The old saying is: “The best things in life are free”
Hicks is free! Pretty much.
“The worst things in life come free to us
‘Cause we’re just under the upper hand”
– Ed Sheeran
“I found a girl…fooooor meeee”.
In an English accent that sounds exactly like it too.
Ohtani to Moreno, “We’ll never fade like graffiti on the overpass.”
Hate to be that guy buuuuut the lyrics are “I found a love for me” *cringes at self*
I’m actually happy I don’t know that song…lol.
Not my style, but heard it on the radio/TV.
Taveras isn’t terrible and if left in the 9th spot to continue to develop offensively may have a breakout year.
I am surprised the Rangers haven’t addressed LF at all. Andrew Benintendi made a ton of sense there, and really any of the (mostly then) available Outfielders represented upgrades over what is still currently in-house.
Eovaldi is a bit of a head scratcher when looking at the teams other (at the time) needs, but considering the amount of time deGrom, Gray, Heaney, and Eovaldi himself have missed due to injuries plus likely regression from Perez you really can’t have too much starting pitching depth
I’d rather have the pitcher who has been a borderline ace for us 2 of the last three years. The guy who has been better than anyone else in our rotation in 2 of the last three years. To hell with the draft pick, it’s a 4th rounder anyway
Borderline ace? That’s vastly overstating Eovaldi’s effectiveness the past few years in Boston.
Would you rather have had Yoshida or Eovaldi?
===============================
It’s a little complicated, since I’d be curious to see what the alternatives would be. But given the RS need for an outfielder and a lead-off hitter, I’d prefer Yoshida. Eovaldi is better than Kluber, for example, but I don’t expect the discrepancy to be huge. I’m not sure who we’d get in place of Yoshida.
I would take Yoshida over Eovaldi. I think it was a good time to move on from Eovaldi. I think his injury issues may get worse especially with the added burden he is giving himself of pitching in the World Baseball Classic in March.
Suit – Agreed! Eovaldi threw about 110 innings last year, and he is never close to a sure thing when it comes to innings. He gave up 21 HRs last year, which was like 1.7 per start…. No thanks.
The Red Sox said they have scouted Yoshida for three years, and are very solid on the type of production he brings. He is the OBP / lead off hitter they have lacked the last three years. Yoshida was the Red Sox top priority this offseason! They signed him less than 24 hours after he posted. The contract is reasonably if he performs as they expect!
Adding the WBC to Eovaldi’s workload is a mistake. I’d be concerned about his ability to make more than 50 starts over the life of his contract but adding extra IP and pitches isn’t really a recipe for keeping someone healthy.
Also what two years has Eovaldi been a borderline ace? 2021 sure but he really wasn’t all that impressive last season especially with the starts he missed. he missed games in 2o20 but that’s a covid year and when he wasn’t hurt in 2019 he was downright awful.
I would prefer and Yoshida and Bogaerts.
Eovaldi and Martinez not such critical losses as X-man.
We again lost a home-bred player and it very sadly.
1.Yoshida DH
2.Bogaerts SS
3.Devers 3B
4.Duvall RF
5.Casas 1B
6.Verdugo LF
7.Kike CF
8.Arroyo 2B
9.McGuire C
Such composition would please me anymore.
And there would not be a necessity for Turner.
@bogie2x – Agreed. Love your post!
There is no way the Red Sox or any other team was going to come any where close to 11 years $280,000,000 for Bogaerts (until age 41). They will be offering him back to Boston in five years, and they will be willing to pay half…
That said the Red Sox did the best they could to make the team competitive, and considering the new playoff system, they will be in the AL race until at least August. The schedule is now more balanced as they play 22 less games against the AL East teams.
It is the same 8 players you listed except Turner is in and Bogaerts is out (other than a shuffling on the positions the nine guys play). Turner has a high OBP and more pop, so offensive they may be be same or better. Definitely, IMO, Hernandez may be better at SS, although the CF will be adequate (but still a down grade).
Red Sox fan here, I would rather have both but if I had to choose one it would be Yoshida all day and everyday. I love what Eovaldi did for my Red Sox but he plays every 5 days and we need offense. Especially with the loss of Bogey and Story.
People eating up the Yoshida was overpayed narrative. Those were spread by the teams mad about missing out on him.
Every team does that. The same happened for Devers, who I though was a bit cheaper than expected. Now, Kanely Jansen, on the other hand…
Iseeghosts – Grossly over paid are the correct words for both Yoshida and Devers. Yoshida is an unknown with numbers that probably won’t match Benny’s in 2024. He may bat for a higher average and OBP but he can’t field, he can’t steal bases and he can’t take an extra base like Benny. Benny got $15MM. Yoshida should have capped at $12MM since he can’t field.
Devers is a DH making the most errors in history at 3B. He should have capped at $25MM per year and that’s generous. He’s a future albatross for every GM after Bloom over the next 11 years. If he stays at 3B he costs Boston even more than his salary.
Sorry but your opinion doesn’t align with the facts. BOTH OVER PAID!!!! Grossly.
Not even gonna bother to argue with you because it’s a waste of time you just hate on everything Bloom does for no reason which is a extremely miserable. If the Red Sox make the playoffs this season and Miguel Bleis shows out in Low A everyone will be on his side again. I believe in what the FO is building 1 injury ridden season isn’t gonna make me turn on them.
iseeghosts – What a wimp. I’m not going to bother…. (insert baby crying) hahaha.
Stop projecting on others based on your own life. I am a happy go lucky guy who knows baseball and a terrible GM when I see one. He’s been a disaster. Face facts. If you like him because you are related or know someone that knows him that’s fine. If you don’t dislike him of his moves and claim to be a knowledgeable baseball person, you are lying.
The FO has BUILT NOTHING they have DESTROYED PLENTY. It’s like you have no idea what has happened since Bloom arrived. He took a wrecking ball to a championship team that was in it’s prime. Wake up!!
Whats your point????? Whos isn’t OVER PAID!!!! Grossly in sports……..
AK sox fans – Lots of people aren’t under paid in Baseball. Until deGrom got his new contract he was grossly under paid. Any young player who has yet to reach free agency will make significantly less. That only makes him under paid if he has big talent. Fewer and fewer are now not in the under paid categories because teams got smart but there are still lots of guys under paid.
Yoshida was by far underpaid, he very likely is the greatest Japanese hitter since Ichiro with the best discipline I’ve ever seen (I watch way too much Japanese baseball, I have a problem) since Tony Gwynn in the 90’s. He will have zero problem with major league pitching – I can all but guarantee it confidently on paper over any other MLB prediction this year.
I hate Chaim bloom. But Yoshida was the best free agent signing of the offseason, and coincidentally, I think Bogaerts was the worst overpay. And I really love Bogaerts as a person, but the signs of concerning decline were there 3 straight years, and he can’t defend unless shifted to right of 2B which will be banned this year.
And honestly I can’t wait to stand proud on this hill come September.
dontforget – Clearly a big Yoshida fan. I hope you are right that he is the second coming of Ichiro but it’s highly unlikely. He doesn’t have his fielding skills, he doesn’t have his arm, he doesn’t have his base running skills, he will not hit for as high an average and with as much power. But other than all those things he does resemble Ichiro in that he comes from Japan.
I hate Bloom’s choices not the man. Yoshida is one of his most questionable moves considering he discarded Benintendi due to an injury filled season that he only got a handful at bats in. Now, he could have had the superior LF in Benny over Yoshida and for $3MM per year less. Benny is a better defender, with a better arm, a better base runner and more power. His average may even beat Yoshida if Yoshida struggles to adjust to MLB pitching. Yep, all that for $3MM less per year.
FYI…. Signs of decline in Bogey? Do you ever look at stats? He had one of his best fielding years in 2022, his average and OBP went up and he turned in a WAR over 5. and had an OPS+ 131 the highest since 2019. Fading? He was getting better!!!
All the Bloom apologists float mis-information to try to confuse fans about the facts. Vazquez rebounded in 2022 and should have been kept. Bogey continues to rise and should have been kept. JD had a bad second half unlike anything in his career. That’s usually a sign of an undisclosed injury. He only needed to go to move Devers to DH but since that’s not happening then JD should have stayed. Bringing back Benny over Yoshida would have saved money and improved the defense and base running.
In the end, Bloom makes bad choices continuously and I really, really hope you are right about Yoshida for the future of the Red Sox.
PulledaBloom
Yoshida didn’t yet have time to play in MLB and you already talk that he is got a bad bargain there – maybe you have a crystal ball and know more than people that long him watched before to sign.
Devers one of most dangerous lefty in the AL from times Big Papi, to him 26 and we didn’t even see his peak.
In defence he did 22 errors in 2021, in 2022 – 14 errors, in the second half 2022 he had only 3 errors.
I think that he can be a middle defender on the third base, he has a hand, only sometimes does mental errors.
@bogie2X – $18MM for a player who hasn’t faced MLB pitching is a massive risk. It’s not a crystal ball it’s common sense. I have a car I will sell you for $25,000 dollars sight unseen. Will you take that deal? Bloom did.
Devers is worth $25MM as a DH. He provides no value at 3B despite all the work done by the score keepers to mislead the public. Check Baseball Reference game by game and count up the number of base hits to 3B that show up in the score keeping. It’s the way an error is masked when the score keeper makes a conscious choice to give Devers a break. A ball hit to the 3B that pops off his glove and the runner is safe is normally an error but not for Devers, it’s recorded as a base hit to 3B. Go through last season and count them like I did. There are over 50 misplayed balls by Devers so his fielding percentage is actually far below previous years. His fielding percentage is closer to 90% which is horrendous.
He has played since he was 16 in the Dominican Republic Academy and his career minor league fielding percentage is .937 and his MLB percentage is .941. League average is .961.
Do you know how much damage he’s done to the Boston pitchers with his horrendous fielding? Is that fair? Is that being a good team player? No. He only cares about himself not his team. Sure is great to keep the most selfish guy with the least talent and let go Betts and Bogey and JD.
FYI… A middle defender as you phrased it has a league average fielding percentage. That has not happened during Devers’ 6 MLB seasons, his 5 minor league seasons and his 2 foreign league seasons. That is 13 consecutive bad season!!!! Help me understand why what you are suggesting isn’t insane?
Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results. Devers has 13 bad seasons of defense that never reached league average but you predict he’ll be league average? That’s insane.
PulledaBloom
Improper comparison.
Not that Yoshida didn’t see in general.
In 2018 Devers didn’t prevent on the third base and Red Sox won World Series.
I didn’t assert that Raffy middle defender he can be middle if will do less mental errors.
Devers became a ninth player in 2019 in history of Red Sox that fixed 50+ double one season:
1.T.Speaker 1912 – 24 Age ( 53 )
2.E.Webb 1931 – 23 Age ( 67 record MLB )
3.J.Cronin 1938 – 31 Age ( 51 )
4.W.Boggs 1989 – 31 Age ( 53 )
5.N.Garciaparra 2000 – 27 Age ( 51 ); 2002 – 29 Age ( 56 )
6.D.Ortiz 2007 – 31 Age ( 52 )
7.D.Pedroia 2008 – 24 Age ( 54 )
8.X.Bogaerts 2019 – 26 Age ( 52 )
9.R.Devers 2019 – 22 Age ( 54 )
23 July 2021 Devers joined to T.Williams and T.Cogniliaro as only players in history of Red Sox that wrote down it 100 HR to the 25year.
on July, 23, 2021 Raffy conducted a 6th game with 5 RBI to 25 yr.
Other players of Red Sox that conducted 5 games with 5 RBI are:
J.Tabor ( 7 )
M.Betts ( 6 )
T.Williams ( 5 )
Do you think that at Raffy less talent what JD Martinez?
Bogie – So you are a Devers fan, I get it. He’s a double machine. I get that too. His 2018 season hurt Boston yet they still won thanks to the other guys like Betts, Bogey, JD, Pearce, Sale, Price and others.
To suggest that Raffy can stop making mental errors is insane. Again, I go back to the definition and expecting a different result.
You seem confused about my comments. Raffy sucks at fielding and has developed into an excellent hitter. His value is based on both offense and defense and his numbers are compared to others through OPS+ and WAR using modern metrics. I’m not a big fan of them but since many young fans think they have value his OPS+ has been 112, 93 (2018), 132, 107, 134 and 141. Based on those numbers he put himself near the top of the AL with his back to back 134 and 141 numbers at ages 24 and 25.
So lets put this in perspective. Trout makes $36MM a year and put up OPS+ numbers of 168, 179, 169, 176, 173 and 186 by 25 years old. Those are superstar numbers. A guy named Mookie Betts put up 126, 117, 133, 108 and 186 by the time he was 25. He is in Trout’s price range because he put up those elite numbers.
Now here is why Devers doesn’t deserve $30MM per year when Trout and Betts do. Mookie Betts at age 23 started earning a string of gold gloves for his defense. During that same time frame Devers led 3Bs in errors each season. Trout whose numbers dwarf Devers on offense, has a fielding percentage of .994 compared to league average of .986. In stark contrast, Devers fielding percentage is .941 with league average being .961.
Since contracts reflect total value to the team, Devers deserves far less than Betts and Trout since his defense is substandard and hurts the team, specifically the pitching staff. Is there an exact amount below the $35MM per year of these other two superstars that Devers should make? No. That’s subjective. WAR is broken into offense and defense but when combined the two components don’t equal WAR. That in itself is an indictment against WAR but to play nice with the metric people here are Devers dWars:
2017 to 2022 – (.0.4), (0.7) 0 (0.3) (o.9) and (0.3). All negative except 2019 which was 0. That significantly reduces Devers value in light of what Mookie did.
Mookie’s dWAR leading through his 25 yr old season
o.6, 1.7, 2.7, 2.6, and 1.6. his 5 year total is 9.2 Devers 6 year total NEGATIVE 2.6!!! So no matter how you cut it, Devers hurts Boston every time he steps on the field and tries to play defense. The degree he hurts varies but he has yet to have a positive dWAR or a fielding percentage that equals league average.
I stand by my assertion that he’s worth no more than $25MM per season while in his prime. (next 3 to 5 years). After than, $20MM seems far more likely since his body type suggests a massive drop off like other stars with his body type.
Are you asking if JD Martinez at 35 is less talented than Raffy at 26? Or are you asking if JD at 26 was worth more than Raffy at 26?
Two really different questions. At 26 JD put up a 154 OPS+ for Detroit followed by a 139 and 142 before being dealt to ARI at age 29 and putting up a 168 split between DET and ARI in 2017. At age 29 he put up a 173 for Boston which was 3 points higher than his time in ARI the second half of 2017
Do I think Raffy will come close to those numbers over the next 5 years? Absolutely not. At the same age, JD was far more valuable than Devers especially since he didn’t hurt their pitching staff. He understood his strength of being a DH and accepted it despite being a far better fielder than Devers.
Is JD better than Devers now with a 9 year differential in age and JD finishing his career while Devers is in his prime? No.
Do you know what it’s called when someone selects only data that supports their argument and ignores the actual comparable data? Cherry picking. Good job cherry picking but Devers is at best a $25MM value we paid over $30MM for because Bloom is so bad at his job.
PulledaBloom
Are not you able to read?
I didn’t compare Devers to Betts and Trout.
You wrote, in a previous post, that Devers is less talented what Martinez.
I don’t agree.
We saw the peak of Martinez however we saw the peak of Raffi yet.
We will take the last five years:
JD Martinez 13.6 WAR ( $110 million ) ( – 5.4 dWAR ); -11.4 dWAR – career!!!
R.Devers 14.2 WAR ( $17 million ) ( – 2.1 dWAR )
Can you straight answer do you consider Devers by a less talented player what JD without water?
PulledaBloom – What are you even talking about? Devers is being paid for his past performances and would have gotten that or more from any other team. As for Yoshida, while he is unknown he won’t be worse than Benny. In 500+ at bats Benny hit a whopping 5 hrs, 51 RBI, 54 Runs and was blazing fast with his 8 steals. I definitely see Yoshida doing better than that., maybe not in the stolen base department, but in other offensive categories. And somehow Benny turned that production into $15MM and Yohisda’s $18MM is too far off. Lastly, how do you know Yoshida can’t field, did you follow him in Japan?
lamars – I think it’s great that you have strong feeling about things and opinions that you seem to think stand up without any data support. Unfortunately, that’s not how you argue a point.
Devers is being paid for his past? No his past indicates far less money should have been paid. See my detailed explanation above.
Benny versus Yoshida and you point out number of HRs as if Yoshida is a HR hitter? Have you read anything about Yoshida? He had ONE strength in Japan against Japanese pitchers, he hit for a high average and OBP. That’s it. That’s not worth $18MM.
What does Benny provide. He finished behind Judge for Rookie of the year, he has a gold glove from 2021 and he was an all-star in 2022. That’s an excellent resume. He played on a bad KC team that managed to be worse than the bad Boston team in 2022 but was valuable enough for the Yankees to trade for him. In 93 games at KC he hit .320 with an OPS+ of 124. His 33 games with the Yankees lowered his season totals but the mighty Yankees batted him at the top of their order like KC did. That speaks volumes to his value. As far as HRs go, he’s not the guy you get for HRs like a Renfroe or Schwarber, he’s the guy you get to put base runners on before power hitters like Judge and Stanton.
Guess what? That’s exactly what Yoshida does too BUT he can’t field, he can’t steal bases and he’s got no arm for throwing out runners. So your assertion that he’s better than Benny is completely unfounded based on the facts about Benny.
Could Yoshida hit better in the MLB than the Japanese League? Not likely so his numbers in Japan are likely to be over-estimates of what he can do against MLB pitchers.
I want you to be my employer if $3MM between $18MM and $15MM is no big deal. You could just give that $3MM to me since it’s not significant!!
I did not live in Japan, nor fly to watch Yoshida in Japan. I researched many scouting reports from both Japanese scouts and MLB scouts to gain information on Yoshida. Comments like he’s fine on defense as long as the ball is hit straight at him stuck out as issues to me. Low fielding percentage with a significant number of scouting reports confirming his bad defense makes me very comfortable stating that he sucks on defense. You too will be able to come to that conclusion as the first line drive blows by him using the wrong trajectory to the ball. It’s just a matter of time.
Maybe the Boston front office will try to hide their mistake like they try to hide Devers errors by asking the score keepers to call missed plays base hits but whether the error is booked or not isn’t what impacts the game!!.
Devers can pretend to have 14 errors in the season while the data shows over 50 mishandled plays thanks to the score keepers not assigning errors fairly. The pitchers all know when a ball should have been caught and wasn’t because it impacts their ERA and WHIP. They will end up feeling about Yoshida the way they feel about Devers, he’s a butcher that should be a DH if he had been positioned correctly by the Red Sox organization..
So, yes I know Yoshida can’t field. Yes, there is documentation that Devers deserved far less than what he is going to be paid. And yes, Benny is a far better all around player than Yoshida based on their past performances.
It’s the same exact thing, when players sign team friendly deals. People go out of their way in the media to vilify the team, like they made the player sign the deal, or like they somehow took advantage of him and his agent..
No matter what, people will always have something to say. Never forget, alot of those same people maintain their jobs by selling storylines…
Yoshida isn’t overpaid. He is just playing out of position. His defense in LF makes Schwarber look like a Gold Glover.
Baseballislife, how do you know that Yoshida’s defense makes Schwarber’s defense look like gold glove defense. I highly, highly doubt that but just like me you haven’t seen him play defense yet. You are just regurgitating what others are saying in fact everything I have read says his glove is fine he makes the plays he gets to just doesn’t have good range. It’s not like he makes a ton of errors and Fenway’s left field is short will mitigate his perceived lack of range. I guess we will see but I call complete BS that he makes Schwarber look like a gold glove outfielder in comparison.
I doubt Yoshida covers less ground than Manny.
jml1950 – Why? Manny was bad but he had speed for his size. Yoshida’s scouting reports from both the US and Japan said he struggles badly on anything not hit right at him. Does that sound better or comparable to Manny? Those reports also talk about his lack of speed so if you put both sets of facts together, Yoshida being comparable to Manny might be his upside.
Exactly. Last winter at the start of the free agent season before the lockout Seiya Suzuki was said to be expected to sign for the same $45-55M that was originally projected for Yoshida this winter. Then when the lockout ended he signs with Chicago for 5/$85M. The Sox saw that and decided they weren’t going to wait around and have someone jump in like that again. They only paid $1M per year more for the same 5 year term, pretty reasonable for a year later and the increase in overall salaries this winter had. If there had been a bidding war among multiple teams and it eventually landed at 5/$90M no one would have said anything. That Boston was bold enough to jump right there and get the deal done was a plus for them.
King – Not sure of your point. Are you validating that he was over paid but might have gotten more if he had been on the market longer?
If so, wouldn’t that suggest Boston is better off without him and it would have hurt another team to over pay by even more than we did? We could have had Benny for $15MM per year without all the additional costs associated with a foreign player. A better defender, better base runner, better arm and all for $3MM less per year.
You keep harping on Benny as if he was the same player he was in his first 3 years. Benny hasn’t stolen more than 10 bases in a season since 2019 and his 5 homeruns from last year aren’t anything to right home about.
lamars – He was an all-star in 2022. He wasn’t as a member of the Red Sox. Why focus on HRs for a guy who is a set-up guy not a basher? That makes no sense. He did his job so well that he got named an all-star.
I bring up Benny because he’s a LF Bloom cut who has done well since wrongfully being dismissed by Bloom. He would have cost less than Yoshida and provided more value. That’s the model Bloom sold when he came to Boston but has NOT used since he arrived. VALUE versus COST.
Benny has greater value at lower cost than Yoshida. Bloom didn’t use his model he grabbed a guy with more hype than talent in hopes that fans would forget about him dismissing most of the remaining stars from the 2018 championship team. It’s an unforgivable sin and no smoke and mirrors are going to distract true Red Sox fans from recognizing the devastation Bloom has caused.
PulledaBloom4 days ago
lamars – He was an all-star in 2022.
=======================
He made the AS team because every team needs at least one representative. He was still a decent+ player, but Blackburn from the A’s and Matiply from the DBacks made it for the same reason.
Yoshida is special. caught a few of his games while I was studying abroad. Hell be huge for them!
Jose – Did he face MLB pitchers or did the Japanese pitchers more resemble AA pitchers. He should not translate well to MLB baseball. Other than Ichiro, every other Japanese hitter has been a disappointment compared to his hype.
Shohei Ohtani, one of the subjects of this very article, says hello.
Godzilla also says hi.
Yeesh – you weren’t even remotely trying for accuracy in this one.
As one would expect, there is a mix of how players going from Japan to MLB do. Certainly it doesn’t translate in an especially consistent way. Some notables:
Hideki Matsui – absolutely loved up to the hype, after a short adjustment hiccup in his first year. Not sure how you forgot him.
Shohei Ohtani – hard to argue he has failed to live up to the hype
Nori Aoki – though he had some better years in Japan, his production was dipping before he came over and his MLB production actually involved a bit of a rebound from his last Japanese season. Five solid, league average hitting seasons before he got old
Kenji Johjima – lost power coming over, but was immediately a good hitting MLB catcher. Didn’t last long, probably because of too much mileage at catcher already by the time he moved
Kosuke Fukudome – very solid hitter for a few years before dropping off, but being already 30 he might have been naturally beginning his decline anyways
Some hitters, such as So Taguchi and Tsuyoshi Shinjo, weren’t especially good hitters in Japan, mostly being athletic contact guys who also fielded well. They both hit just as well in MLB as they did in Japan.
Seiya Suzuki didn’t have the best first year (actually started very well and then dragged down badly as the year went along), but too early to say what the deal is with him, adjustment or poor translation. Still put up a very solid OPS+.
There aren’t a lot of guys who have significantly fallen below expectations, some negative adjustment to prior production being expected. Kaz Matsui is the big name, though like many he was already older and seemed to be making positive adjustment but by that time was simply old.
The guys who have struggled the most are the ones who are closer to pure power types. Power seems to involve the biggest drop; most guys with very strong plate disciple seem to retain that in MLB. There frankly haven’t been enough examples of guys with notably high expectations for us to draw any sort of firm conclusion, in the way you attempted.
I don’t think anyone expects Yoshida to put up Ohtani power numbers but if he can be close to Hideki Matsui then its worth it
Matsuri “Godzilla”!
Rsox – there is nothing in his numbers that suggest he will be similar to Matsui. He’s a Ichiro wanna be who has no speed, no glove and no arm. Is that as good as Matsui? Would you pay Matsui $18MM in this market?
All we can hope for is that Yoshida splits time at DH with Devers to share errors between the IF and OF and he has an OBP well over .350. It won’t be $18MM of productivity but he could be a 115 OPS+ guy if he adjusts quickly.
Sounds like praising Yoshida doesn’t fit your agenda
They will sell a lot of jerseys to make up for that contract.
Teams don’t keep the money for Jersey’s sales. It’s spread among the teams.
soxfan1 – No agenda just evaluation and commentary.
I am bitter than the 2018 Championship team got dissolved by Bloom. It was built from homegrown stars and won 3 division titles at a time when that was unheard of. As a fan, I’m outraged at what Bloom has done and as a fan I do my best to rally against him to get a resolution Red Sox Nation can go forward with that provides both a plan and a time table.
With $230MM or more as the cap and the organization making over $300MM a year, all it takes is one smart GM with a successful past and a willingness to spend just below the CAP and a Manager that knows pitching and doesn’t have his single greatest life achievement being a massive cheating scandal to turn this very bad situation around.
If I have an agenda it’s to REVERSE THE BLOOM AND CORA CURSE. T=shirts should be made and sold to all the disgruntled fans who watched a championship team in their prime be reduced to a 5th place finisher with AAA talent.
Halo11Fan – I have heard teams share Jersey revenue. Does this mean on line sales? You would think they would be able to keep more on jerseys in the team store and where they stich who ever’s name you want .
I am bitter than the 2018 Championship team got dissolved by Bloom.
=======================
Technically, it was the 2019 84-win non-playoff team with the highest payroll in baseball that Bloom dismantled.
He wasn’t hired until after the 2019 season, but don’t let that keep you from more rants.
JoeBrady – An obnoxious response like this deserves one similar.
Jackass, if you want to split hairs it was the 2020 Red Sox team he dismantled because he never had the 2019 team. He only had the 2020 team as GM.
The 84 win team WHICH WOULD KICK THE CRAP OUT OF ANY BLOOM TEAM, was injured severely by Cora and was mismanaged by Cora yet still put up 84 wins since the 2018 CORE group was still there.
2018 key players were Vazquez, Moreland, Nunez, Bogaerts, Devers, Benny, JBJ, Betts and JD on offense and Sale, Price, Porcello, E-Rod and Nate with Kimbrel as the closer. The 2019 key players were Vazquez, Moreland, Holt, Bogaerts, Devers, Benny, JBJ, Betts and JD on offense and Sale, Price, Nate, E-Rod and Porcello. with Workman as the closer.
So lets count the key guys that Bloom got rid of from the 2018 team:
Vazquez, Moreland, Holt, Bogaerts, Benny, JBJ, Betts and JD. All hitters except Devers. Bloom also disposed of Porcello, Price, Nate, E-Rod and Workman.
So of the starting hitters and pitchers which total 9 hitters and 6 pitchers or 15 players that were the most key players in winning a ring in 2018 Bloom has eliminated 8 of 9 hitters and 4 of 6 pitchers since Kimbrel was gone before he arrived but he got rid of Workman who was the 2019 closer.
Sale and Devers. That’s it so parse the sentence to whatever degree you need to so you can justify an asinine comment like you just did. I don’t care. It’s why nobody respects your comments.
Your correction of an accurate statement simply showed ignorance on your part but it was typical of your comments and fully expected!! Great job making an ass of yourself yet again.
Seiya was mashing in the beginning of the season and then again at the end once he re adjusted to the adjustments on him. I bet he has a helluva season this year.
I’d take Suzuki right now and never look back. He put up a 2.0 bWAR despite missing 5 weeks.
And having a crappy month or so. You can tell he is a special player.
@bulledabloom – Please, take this ratio.
A team with both Trout and Ohtani shouldn’t be consistently lackluster, but the Angels have been for 5 years. They’ve made some improvements but ultimately look like a stretch to contend, and I doubt Ohtani sticks around for more mediocracy
6th best SP ERA last season and now got Anderson, offense is greatly improved and bullpen is better. How are they “a stretch to contend?” This is a really good team.
They went 73-89 last year. Anderson and co are nice adds but aren’t going to reverse that
1/2 their starters were hurt most of last year and they didn’t have replacement level players as depth. Pending health, they have a much better team than their record showed last year
@Manfraud- what does their record last season have to do with 2023? It’s a totally different team than in 2022.
Al Conin suffers from denial and is a hopeful fanboy.
I like – You are right it’s much worse than the 2023 team so take the base wins from 2022 and subtract games based on the step down in talent. That’s the logical approach. It doesn’t account for luck, injuries and so many other factors that can’t be quantified at this time but it’s a decent ball park number.
Does anyone believe Anderson will be anything close to what he was with the Dodgers? That was likely one year lightning in a bottle.
Rsox – I think Anderson should have a high floor. I think it was easy to see WHY the Dodgers picked him up and most of that works in Anaheim. He had been a consistent, reliable starter for mostly Colorado. Those middling ERAs look better when take into account what coors can do to a starting pitcher. Then notice he is a soft contact pitcher that is mostly hit in the air. Put him in ball parks like in LA or Anaheim you should reasonably assume much better outcomes.
It’s certainly a hitters park but that marine layer at night can keep balls in play.
A left handed starter without a swing and miss pitch and without a shortstop? If his ERA is below 4, that will be a success.
This team kills me with errors that no one with any baseball knowledge should make.
Rsox – Absolutely agree on Anderson. Dropping him from my keeper league due to the change in venue and organization.
bullpen isn’t much better.
Carlos Estevez at the back end alone makes it better. Then Loup and Tepera likely reverting to the mean, the others having another year of MLB experience. The bullpen isn’t far off.
his k/bb, whip, era+ don’t seem to be of a reliable closer. i really wish they signed a ‘closer’.
Bullpen is better? They are ranked last in WAR in projections. Hope and prayer is a bad bullpen approach. I’m sure it will eventually work, but they are on a ten year hope and prayer losing streak.
No shift, no shortstop, no stoppers = no Shohei. It’s not a bright organization and you can’t blame Arte on that.
To play for who?
Dodgers? Padres? Mets? Yankees?
How many more games did these 4 teams play than the Angels last year and what did they achieve?
All of them just as disappointing as the Angels last year. Dodgers, Padres and Mets probably more factoring in thier big investments.
The Dodgers won that 2020 “tournament”, but the Yankees are the ONLY team on this list that has won a full 162 game season championship since the Angels have in 2002.
That may be the case but those other teams you mentioned have at least made the playoffs and given themselves a chance to win multiple years. Since Trout has been in the league they’ve only made the playoffs once, in 2014 and were promptly swept out of the division series by KC. Since Ohtani has teamed up with Trout on their roster in 2018 they’ve finished no higher than 3rd in their division, and have finished an average of over 27 games back from the lead in the division the 4 full seasons in that 5 year span. The only current west coast team that Ohtani would have a worse chance of making it to the playoffs with if he left the Angels is Oakland. ANY other west coast team would give him a better chance.
Why would he really care? He went their when they had a losing record and his “unicorn” talent hasnt helped them win anything since. I think he wants of course to be in a West Coast team yet he didnt want to go to a big market team. The only team I could see him going is the Dodgers yet I think Anaheim is better for him as less pressure.
Zaidi will probably be on the hot seat after missing the playoffs again and SD will have Manny Machado, Yu Darvish, and Blake Snell coming off the books. It will be a bidding war for quite a few west cost teams to get Ohtani.
The Dodgers are too high profile. Seattle? Maybe except he’d be in Ichiro’s shadow.
Couldn’t he simply like the idea of playing with Trout? Is that so far fetched? Trout when healthy is still the best in the game. Maybe he likes that Trout takes a major portion of the spotlight. If he goes to LAD who is left to share the spotlight with? Mookie? Maybe. Kershaw is a shadow of his old self. No more Trea Turner. Freeman is getting up there in age too.
To me if he wants someone to share a spotlight with it makes sense for him to be a Yankee because of Judge. He won’t come to Boston to pitch if Devers is at 3B. San Diego can’t afford him. I think staying in Anaheim makes sense. They need Rendon to have a comeback so they can move his big salary. That, or simply eat the profits in hopes of a post season bid.
The reason LAA doesn’t win with the talent they have is that they have a GM nearly as incompetent as Bloom.
@Pulled He’s a goner from LAA imo. SD certainly has the money if Machado leaves. He’s going to sign with a winning team that has a track record or Seattle.
I don’t think Ohtani has any problem with pressure that might come from playing on big name teams like the Dodgers. If they’re really serious about making a run at Ohtani, I think the Mariners should get Ichiro – who works in their FO – to start talking to Ohtani about playing for the M’s.
Avenger- Rule 3(k)- page 43. TAMPERING. To preserve discipline and competition, and to prevent the enticement of players, coaches, managers and umpires, there shall be no negotiations or dealings respecting employment, either present or prospective, between any player, coach or manager and any Major or Minor League Club other than the Club with which the player is under contract, or acceptance of terms, or by which the player is reserved or which has the player on its Negotiation List, or between any umpire and any baseball employer other than the baseball employer with which the umpire is under contract, or acceptance of terms, unless the Club or baseball employer with which the person is connected shall have, in writing, expressly authorized such negotiations or dealings prior to their commencement.
And as if to reiterate that point, Section 3 of the MLBPA Regulations of Player Agents states that only agents can do recruiting.
With all that said, San Diego has the best sushi.
best sushi/sashimi are found in j-town, los angeles.
Also Tokyo
YankeesBleacherCreature – IF Ohtani chooses to leave Trout, he has yet to establish his criteria for his next team. I think back to his original decision and I think the Cubs are a long shot based on how long they stayed in the competition initially. They’ll need to negotiate with WGN to help bring him to town and still provide talent around him. As a big city, they have many perks they could offer but so does NY, LA and HOU.
Trout seemed to be his driving factor in choice 1. I’m not sure anyone knows what it will be in choice 2. One thing is for certain, if he goes to the Yankees he’ll win more MVPs and be a guaranteed lock for the HOF even if his career gets cut short so that may be a criterion for him. Who knows?
Lol, you actually sincerely wrote that you think a pitcher would pass on playing for a team simply because of the presence of one defender? Forcing narratives, you are.
you think a pitcher would pass on playing for a team simply because of the presence of one defender?
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The only reason why KD posted about Ohtani was to insult the RS. The idea that someone would avoid any team, because of one fielder, is laughable.
redsox1571 – Pitchers don’t go to Colorado as quickly as other places and nobody that pitches wants their ERA and WHIP along with their stress increased by some clown who doesn’t belong at 3B.
I pitched and I wouldn’t want it. Do you have ANY factual logic to support you flippant opinion?
JoeBrady – Stop commenting on things you know nothing about!! I guess that means stop all together!! hahaha
You JoeBrady are laughable with your opinions. Go ask someone who pitched whether it bothered them if they had a butcher in a key infield position. If they say no, they are lying. If they were any good, they would have pitched around the butcher with their pitch selections because they wanted to win.
Once again, you are out of your league discussing this topic.
Go ask someone who pitched whether it bothered them if they had a butcher in a key infield position.
===========================
More nonsense.
It’s like asking a catcher if they preferred to catch someone that had pinpoint control or no control. They will always opt for pinpoint control, but every catcher knows that that is not practical.
I doubt any pitcher in the history of BB ever turned down a good contract because on of the fielders was below average.
You don’t think defense matters to pitchers? Talk to Nolan Ryan sometime. He was quite vocal that his infield defense cost him the 1973 Cy Young award. Not to mention two no hitters.
In 1974, he gave every Angel started a bonus because they didn’t screw up a no hitter.
Everything matters. Like hitting. Do you think that the Angels pitchers would prefer Velasquez at SS with his 11 DRS and 53 OPS+, or Seager at SS with his -4 DRS and his 119 OPS+,
It’s kind of a rhetorical question. Everyone would prefer Seager. But no one would turn down a contract with the Angels if Seager (or Velazquez) was their SS.
I’m having a difficult time following because I don’t know the point.
Of course everything matters.
But I’m pretty sure any pitcher with a brain would prefer Velazquez at short over Rengifo. The question is Drury vs Eckstein?
As an Angel fan, I don’t ever want to see Rengifo play.
Let me re-phrase, in one of two ways.
1-As an Angels’ fan, would you prefer Seager (hitter) to be your SS or Velazquez (fielder)?
2-If you were a pitcher on your local softball team, would you rather have a top hitter/weak glove as your 3B, or a good glove/no hit 3B?
3-Or just to change positions, would you prefer Marsh in LF or Renfroe?
Seager. No brainer.
Everyone hits in softball. Give me the glove. Is there such a thing as a no hit softball player? I’ve played a lot of softball and I’ve never known a no hit good glove softball player.
Renfro is a pretty good RF, with a great arm. So can I toss out that question. But I’d rather have Marsh in CF, than Renfro.
JoeBrady – You need to comprehend what you read. I never said he would turn down money I said he would steer clear of Boston if he could because Devers is a butcher. Especially a guy like Sale who throws his primary pitch low and in to right handed batters.
You changed the comment so you could argue against it.
JoeBrady – You are spin doctoring again.
The point is Devers at DH brings pitchers to Boston that might otherwise stay away if the new 3B can field. Now we have a LF who can’t field either so why would SPs with comparable offers take Boston over a place where they have defense.
If I was on a softball team I’d want my butcher of a fielder at DH.
It’s just that simple and your contrived comparisons complete moved away from the original point.
Halo11Fan
Seager. No brainer.
======================
And that’s my point. Besides the fact that no one would cross off a team based on one fielder, I presume most pitchers would prefer to play with better players, and not worse players. I could probably name 100s of players that are bat first/glove second players that pitchers would love on their team.
Does anyone on the Padres care if Soto is a poor defensive player? Or Manny when he was with the RS?
JoeBrady – Again facts are important.
Seager is a league average fielder. That’s not like Devers. Devers is BAD.
Nobody suggested Seager and Devers are similar except you and you are always wrong..
Soto? He’s 3 points above league average!! For god sakes man, make statements that are factual not your misguided perceptions.
You are always wrong!!!
Manny had 3400 Total Chances in his career with a fielding percentage of .978 while Devers has had 1865 Total Chances in his 6 seasons and has made 110 errors for a .941 fielding percentage.
IN 18 SEASONS MANNY MADE 75 ERRORS!!!!! That’s not a bad fielder.
IN 6 SEASONS DEVERS MADE 110 ERRORS!!!! That’s A VERY BAD FIELDER!
Ohtani would be wearing Dodger blue right now if the NL had the DH rule in 2018. The whole “wanting play with Trout” story is all fine and good and he’s done that for what will be the 6th season and have accomplished absolutely nothing. The Angels would be hamstringing themselves have Trout and Ohtani make $80+ million per year combined and Ohtani may want to see what playing in the postseason is like
Adriann – Fair take, but I think that the part about him not choosing a big market team or not I think has little to do with a fear of pressure. He has always thrived under pressure, especially big market kind of pressure. He has been in the spotlight starting in high school. Before he left Japan he was already a super celebrity there where a number of media had reporters dedicated to only Ohtani news and not just sports media. He even had a cable channel just for Ohtani. All those reporters digging for something new puts pressure on themselves to find out anything and everything. Though he only lives there part time he does have a house in Tokyo, a city way bigger than NY. The pressure will follow him everywhere so he doesn’t care about how big the stage it will follow him. The money amount is also not a driving force. He has a high baseball IQ and thinks about all aspects from injury prevention to training ideas. I am sure a lot of thought went into why he came to Anaheim and those may factor in as well. I think he said around his 2nd or 3rd year that he thought he made good decision coming to the Angels.
One factor in choosing Anaheim was that the Angels were willing to let him try hitting and pitching. He also wanted to pitch in a 6 man rotation which was not all that common when he signed. He was asking teams to revamp their rotation strategy if he produced well enough. He also has his own unique training program so he wouldn’t be in lockstep with the other pitchers on that issue. These are some pretty big requests and the Angels obviously agreed to them. It also didn’t hurt that one of the nicest marinas in California is 30 minutes away from the ballpark. And as pointed out by Manny, National League clubs were out of the running because they didn’t have a DH at the time or didn’t like the idea of a 6 man rotation.
You do understand that winning involves pressure?
Writers like this are garbage: “Unsurprisingly, Ohtani was openly disappointed by the Halos’ lackluster 2022 campaign”.
Clowns manipulate wording to try and spin a story of a guy literally saying: “we are all disappointed when we don’t make the postseason”. Into some grand disappointment with his team, etc…… their writing and sources are so weak they have to fabricate stories.
“I have to say that August and September in particular felt longer to me than last year,” Ohtani said, speaking in Japanese. “We were not able to play as many good games as we would like — including 14 consecutive losses. So I have a rather negative impression of this season.”
apnews.com/article/mlb-sports-japan-tokyo-los-ange…
So parsing Otani’s words, he seems to imply that if the Angels had been in the hunt for a playoff berth during August and September, he would have had a positive impression of the Angels season. To me this means that the Angels can extend Shohei if the team does well this season. Doing well means making the playoffs and advancing at least one round.
The alternate scenarios are the Angels completely folding up by Independence Day and trading him to the highest bidder. The other possibility is that he is given a qualified offer and walks.
The most interesting scenario is the trade one because theoretically most teams have a combination of MLB players prospects and money to acquire him for a few months. In reality the acquiring team would have to be confident that it could sign him long term and not that many teams are willing to hand out a 450+ million dollar contract.
The better scenario is for the Angels to have to offer a QO after just missing a Wild Card berth. Then the acquiring team just loses one or two draft picks and some pool money if it is lucky enough to be attractive to Otani.
What would that trade look like? Top 3 prospects plus 2 mlb players?
Let’s just say it will be more than the Pirates want for Reynolds.
Ohtani is going to get paid a lot, so no advantage to the Angels offering him a lot of money when several other teams will also.
Huh? Do you practice being this obtuse?
Hey clepto, do you practice being a troll, or does it come naturally?
It’s going to be very difficult for the Angels to compete without a bullpen and without a shortstop another unforced error by Perry.
Vespi. Low round draft pick by the Os in 15. Quietly and slowly worked his way through the system. Nothing spectacular, just consistent effort which included a respectable ERA throughout. After seven years of minor league toil, he got his shot and showed up. Go gettum in 23 Nick!
I would prefer and Yoshida and Bogaerts.
Eovaldi and Martinez not such critical losses as X-man.
We again lost a home-bred player and it very sadly.
1.Yoshida DH
2..Bogaerts SS
3.Devers 3B
4.Duvall RF
5.Casas 1B
6.Verdugo LF
7.Kike CF
8.Arroyo 2B
9.McGuire C
Such composition would please me anymore.
And there would not be a necessity for Turner.
I don’t think the current Sox lineup is that bad.
1. Yoshida LF (L)
2. Mondesi SS (S)
3. Devers 3B (L)
4. Turner DH (R)
5. Casas 1B (L)
6, Duvall CF (R)
7. Verdugo RF (L)
8. Kike 2B (R)
9. McQuire C (L)
Vs LHP , as defensive replacements, or for days of rest Arroyo, Refsynder, Wong & Dalbec fill in well.
The issue will be health and performance of the pitching.
jmi1950 – The hitting is horrendous compared to the past
Yoshida versus Verdugo in LF ( I’ll take Verdugo a league average player)
Modesi if healthy is far closer to Bogey than Kiki ever was or would be
Devers at 3B kills the pitching staff
Turner is a solid DH with an expected OPS+ of around 115
Casas has to do something he’s never done
Duvall A league average hitter with some power if he stays healthy
Verdugo Not a good RF defensively, won’t hit like Renfroe, Schwarber or Mookie
Kiki – .241 hitter who should be a utility player not a starter
McQuire – Big step down offensively from Vazquez
The line-up is not that bad? Define that bad!! 70 to 75 wins not bad or 81 wins not bad? I can agree with the 70ish number but 81 is a JoeBrady type guess based on no facts whatsoever. It’s just a hope and there is nothing wrong with hoping as long as it’s not confused with reality.
Look at the 78 win 2022 team and ask at each spot did we get better?
Catcher – No
1B – Same
2B – Same
SS – No dramatic drop off
3B – Same
LF – Same
CF – Same
RF – Same
DH – JT is comparable to JD
So 78 wins with 2 dramatic drop offs at C and SS should produce how many wins?
That’s why I’m guessing 70 to 75. If Sale and Paxton end up being close to their best seasons, then more wins can be assumed but remember there is no Eovaldi or Wacha in 2023. Closers and set-up men are great for teams that get ahead. That may not happen enough for the bullpen to have much impact except to stop some of the bleeding the Starters might experience.
Same GM, same manager. There isn’t one fact that suggests a better than 78 win season and lots that suggest significantly worse.
PulledaBloom
C – same
1B – better
2B – same
SS – ?
3B – same
LF – ?
CF – maybe better
RF – same
DH – maybe better
We had 43 starts with pitchers triple AAA (Crawford, Winckowski, Seabold and Bello ) and 3 starts A.Davis.
Sale 2G, Paxton not played, Eovaldi – IL more 2 months, Wacha – IL more 1.5 months; Hill – IL 1.5 months; closer – it was absent; our bullpen was bad in situations with a high credit shoulder greater part of season.
Saves 39/ 66 ( 59 % )
2023
CL – Jansen
SP ; Sale; Cluber, Bello, Whitlock, Pivetta, Paxton ( Crawford – 7 with experience MLB ; Winckowski – 8 with experience MLB; Mata – 9; Walter – 10; Murphy – 11 )
Bullpen
8-inn. Schreiber, Houck, Martin
7- inn Bleier, Brasier
6- inn J.Rodriguez, Mills, Kelly, Ort
The starting tossing and bullpen were factors for a hit in a play-off.
Whether I Blame Bloom for that the starting tossing was trauma – no.
Whether I Blame Bloom for that was not closer from the beginning of season – yes.
It was possible better to manage in an offseason 2022 – yes.
An exchange of Renfroe was absurd – yes, absence of closer was absurd – yes, an unextension of Bogaerts was absurd – yes, cheap offering to Xander on $ 90 mil. it was absurd – yes, signing of Story on SS was absurd, if he does n’t play in SS $ 23.33 mil. – yes.
If tossing will be healthy season 2023 it can be better what you think.
I save the restrained optimism.
Bogie – Good response. Optimism is a good trait that often over rules realism and sometimes is rewarded!! 2021 is a good example.
We had 43 starts with pitchers triple AAA
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I assume that will be the key. It was a total of 58 starts that we gave to guys not part of our expected rotation. And some of the 58, like with Whitlock and Houck, were competitive, but even then, the 13 starts they made were innings that they couldn’t supply out of the BP.
I’m not sure people realize how much of a difference that makes. In 2004, we had 5 non-rotation GS. In 2022, we had 58.
JoeBrady
The loss of Bogaerts in any way doesn’t influence on our starting pitchers if a situation will be analogical to the past season.
Yes, for me loss X-man very unpleasant, I thought that he will be the head stone of this deductible as well as Mookie but time passed and we must move farther.
I in anticipation that can do Casas, Bello, Whitlock in a SP complete season, later than Rafaela, Mata, Walter, E.Valdez plus Crawford and Winckowski already have quite good experience of game in MLB.
Gone players:
X.Bogaerts SS (5.8 WAR) —— M.Yoshida FA,R.Mondesi FA
M.Wacha SP (3.3 WAR) —— C.Sale, J.Paxton
C.Vazquez C (2.2 WAR) —— R.McGuire (0.9 WAR)
N.Eovaldi SP (1.5 WAR) —— C.Kluber FA (0.7 WAR)
JD Martinez DH (1.1 WAR)—— J.Turner FA (2.0 WAR)
R.Hill SP (0.9 WAR)—— B.Bello (0.4 WAR)
T.Pham LF (-0.3 WAR)—— A.Duvall FA (-0.1 WAR)
M.Barnes RP (0.2 WAR)—— C.Martin FA (1.0 WAR)
T.Danish RP (-0.1 WAR)—– R.Bleier FA (0.6 WAR)
F.Cordero 1B/OF (-0.2 WAR)– T.Casas (0.1 WAR)
A.Davis RP (-0.5 WAR)—– J.Rodriguez FA (-0.2 WAR)
K.Plawecki C (-1.2 WAR)——- C.Wong (-0.1 WAR)
Most difficult problem to replace the production of Bogaerts
Bogie – Nicely done. Excellent chart.
This shows me just how far the talent level fell this off season. Hard to predict more wins when the talent level drops off dramatically.
I’ll be most interested in the JD versus JT comparison at year end. I think JD has the much better year.
I still can’t understand why they didn’t resign Vazquez or Wacha or even a bit more expensive Eovaldi. Boston’s mistake will lead to much improvement in Texas with regards to Nate. With deGrom on the same staff Nate can settle in to a lower spot in the rotation more like 2018. That should improve his numbers dramatically.
Again, loved the comparison. Nicely done.
A duet Vazquez / McGuire would look perfectly.
Wacha looks on minimum 2 / 30 Red Sox doesn’t arrange it rather , if to take,into account that he proposed 5+ ERA in the last 7 games.
Eovaldi was trauma in 2 from 4th seasons 4 yrs extensions and past season he skipped 21 HR and speed of KK went down.
I would prefer Bassitt,instead of Eovaldi and Wacha.
Bogie – Bassitt would have been a far better choice than Paxton.
Historically, I’ve only had one issue with Bassitt. He spent nearly a decade walking too many batters per 9 innings. When you look at starters you need to look at H/9 and BB/9. These combine into a pitcher’s WHIP. If a pitcher has a high WHIP you have to exam why. Bassitt did an excellent job in limiting hits but not so excellent of a job limiting walks. It’s odd but after nearly a decade of pitching (2011 to 2019) Bassitt finally got his walks under control in 2020 by lowering them from 2.9 to 2.4. Coupling that with a good H/9 rate he lowered what was a normal .1.25 or higher WHIP to 1.15 or less over the last three years. He’ll be 34 in 2023 so if he can keep his control steady and not give up more hits per 9 going forward he could be an extremely improved pitcher over his old OAK days and TOR will have a better pitching staff than last year. I think Bassitt is slightly better than Eovaldi and Wacha but based on history I’d rather have two SPs over one with Sale and Paxton on the team.
Not resigning Vazquez was absurd . That surely wasn’t going to brake the bank . Wasn’t there a posting fee on Yoshida too ?