The Red Sox made a change to their bullpen earlier this week, shipping out Matt Barnes to the Marlins for Richard Bleier. Boston reportedly paid down around $5.5MM to facilitate that deal, a testament to Barnes’ struggles since he signed a two-year, $18.75MM extension in July 2021.
That trade came a few days after the Sox had designated Barnes for assignment, a move that registered as a surprise even given the righty’s uneven past year and a half. The UCONN product had spent his entire career with the Red Sox since being drafted in the first round in 2011, and he indicated he was taken aback by the DFA.
“It was a complete blindside,” Barnes told reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive) about being taken off the 40-man roster. While he indicated he doesn’t have any animosity about his time in Boston, Barnes also intimated he wasn’t enamored with his usage last season. By the second week of May, he was deployed mostly in low-leverage situations. Between May 6 and 30, he was called upon ten times. Seven of those contests saw the Sox either trailing late or leading a blowout contest, with Barnes relegated to mop-up work.
“We got to a point in the season where we were either blowing people out or losing a game and unfortunately for me, those are the games I was throwing at that point,” he said. “My workload in the games increased along with the amount of work I was doing to get back to what was normal for me. That’s when my shoulder flared up.” Barnes hit the injured list retroactive to May 31 with shoulder inflammation, an injury that kept him out of action until early August.
Of course, the lack of high-leverage work was in response to Barnes’ struggles. He’d been tagged for an 8.65 ERA in 10 appearances through May 5. That was on the heels of a 6.48 showing in the second half of 2021 that led the Sox to leave him off the playoff roster. He actually fared quite well to close out the 2022 campaign, posting a 1.66 ERA in 23 games to finish out the year. That wasn’t enough to grab a lasting 40-man spot over the winter, perhaps due to a still diminished 21.7% strikeout rate in that stretch.
Red Sox’s chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom discussed the Barnes DFA and subsequent trade on the Fenway Rundown podcast with Cotillo yesterday. Bloom noted that trading Barnes to Miami was “not something that we knew was going to happen at the time of the DFA,” suggesting the opportunity to make the trade arose after the reliever lost his roster spot. He pointed to Bleier’s propensity for weak contact and previous success in the AL East as a member of the Yankees and Orioles as reasons he was an appealing target for the front office.
Bleier adds a second left-hander to the Boston relief corps, joining offseason signee Joely Rodríguez. The Sox had a decent amount of turnover in that regard, waiving Darwinzon Hernández, trading Josh Taylor for Adalberto Mondesi, and seeing Matt Strahm depart via free agency. Boston has starting pitching prospects like Chris Murphy and Brandon Walter who could theoretically factor into that mix after securing 40-man roster spots.
James Paxton is another southpaw on the roster. He’s pitched just six MLB games over the past three seasons due to arm injuries. That’s raised some speculation about the possibility of the veteran seeing action in relief as a means of building his innings gradually. Bloom didn’t rule that out entirely, though he cautioned that might not be prudent for a pitcher who has started all 137 of his career big league outings.
“At the stage of his career that he’s at and having been through as much medically as he’s been through, adding the variable of asking him to do something he hasn’t really done is something we would have to think long and hard before doing,” Bloom told Cotillo. “That doesn’t rule it out, but you do have to factor that in.”
The Boston baseball operations leader also pushed back against the possibility of using young righty Brayan Bello out of the bullpen, pointing to his “ceiling of being a really good starting pitcher.” Bloom did note that Boston could “creatively” manage workloads early in the season but made clear the team still views Bello’s future as a starter. Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic writes there’s similarly no consideration of moving Nick Pivetta to the bullpen. Between that trio, Chris Sale, offseason signee Corey Kluber and the rotation conversion for Garrett Whitlock, it seems things are trending towards Tanner Houck sticking in relief for the upcoming season.
Why not put Whitlock and Houck in bullpen and make it the strongest in the league!
I’ve been saying that since before they got Jansen and others. I’d agree now for both except they may have to limit Sale and Paxton.
Because a good young starter is still far more valuable than a good young reliever. If Whitlock and Houck can cut it in the rotation having them along with Bello and Mata could set the team up for most of their rotation for the next 4-6 years.
Wishful thinking. it never works out so beautifully and having an inexpensive elite closer and fire stopper also has value. Pitch them where they seem to do better. In Whitlock’s case, he’s signed and so far has been much better as that fire stopper and Houck clearly seems more aligned as a closer.
dewey – In terms of cost, what is more expensive to replace – starting pitcher, or relief pitcher? Right there is your answer. Quality starting pitchers are hard to come by, most relievers are pitchers who couldn’t cut it as a starter.
Fever, I want quality. I just don’t think Whitlock will be more than a #4 and I don’t believe Houck has enough pitches to continuously dominate as he could do late in the game.
But again, that’s simply what you think of each pitcher, not what they’ve been given a chance to prove one way or the other. Give them the realistic chance to make it as a starter and then judge.
Pitch them where they seem to do better. In Whitlock’s case, he’s signed and so far has been much better as that fire stopper
==========================
I said in 2021, and haven’t changed my mind, that Whitlock was our MVP in 2021. I’m still not sure what Houck’s best role is, but I consider a 2-inning lock-down outing in a 3-2 game, to be just as important as important (maybe more) than a 6-inning 3 ER game.
IMHO, there are 100 guys that can give you QS’s, but only a small handful that can successfully take you from a QS to your closer.
Both guys are coming off surgery. Seems more prudent to keep them in the pen.
Why? How is possibly getting up to warm up multiple times a game for multiple days in a row better for a pitcher coming off surgery better than being on a set routine?
Whitlock can probably be a mid-rotation starter if developed correctly. The Red Sox’s chances for next year might not be as bad as most people say, but they’re still not good – the team is right to prioritize Whitlock’s long-term growth over improving the pen when the pen is already the one part of the team that will probably be good
Because Whitlock has stated he wants to be a starter.
Since when is baseball part of the NBA where players decide?
Houck should learn from Jansen and maybe take over the high leverage Whitlock role if Whitlock remains in the rotation. I still see Houck the Sox closer of the future.
Based on what pitches?
The two pitches he already has. That’s all he needs. He just has to recover from surgery and then stay healthy.
After Sale gets hurt they’ll move Houck to the rotation, between Sale and Kluber they’ll be spots open when p e or both are injured .
You forget they also have Paxton? They may not have enough to fill in
Need another starter!
Ray Culp?
Michael Wacha is still out there looking for a team. Really surprised the Sox haven’t signed him back. He pitched fairly well in Boston.
In other years, I’d have quickly agreed. Now, the modern stats underneath the traditional stats tell the story of why Wacha is still unsigned. His BABIP was the 2nd lowest of his career (.260) and LOB% (80.3%) was a career high. Those are not sustainable. His asking price may be too high given some regression should be expected based on those stats.
That said, I like the idea of a Sox reunion if the figure is not much more than his 2022 salary. I would offer 1 yr, $8M with team option for 2024 at $8M with $1M buyout. I’m sure his agents are looking for more than that.
Knucksie:
Heard that argument from July 1st on, last year about Wacha. “He’s the Titanic and there’s an iceburg coming his way”. And yet, Wacha never really let up all season. He was very consistent.
Don’t get me wrong, Wacha’s not an ace or anything, but, he’s a better pitcher than you describe. He doesn’t give up HRs often, walks very few.
An 8M contract with an 1/8M Option, would be an insult. Are you saying he’s not even worth 8M straight up, because that option has negative value to the player. (pitch good for a 2nd year in a row and he cant capitalize on it, pitch bad, and he gets 1M) — No thank you.
That said, I like the idea of a Sox reunion if the figure is not much more than his 2022 salary.
=================================
I agree 100%. He is not as good as he looked in 2022, but he is still a good pitcher on a team that needs another reliable SP. I see no way he gets his $30M/2, but that might just an opening gambit. But I’d be glad to offer $20M/2.
Getting someone to take on ANY of Matt Barnes’ bad contract was a “drop the Mike” genius move by Bloom;
If I am the Fish I don’t understand why they don’t let Barnes clear waivers and THEN sign him to a league minimum type contract, thus keeping the Red Sox on the hook for the entirety of the very bad contract?
Maybe they value the option year, and they still get cash neutral by moving Bleier. Option year is gone if you wait for DFA process to finish, and other teams are going to be in on Barnes to boot.
With the money the Sox are sending and shedding the contract Bleier was making the move is basically revenue neutral for Miami. And they are limited by the 40-man roster just like every other team, and the 26-man roster when the season starts. They obviously decided they needed a right handed reliever more than a lefty, or maybe wanted someone who could possibly give them a few Ks in relief vs the pitch to contact they get from Bleier.
They obviously decided they needed a right handed reliever more than a lefty,
==========================
Folks try to read way too much into trades, always looking for winners and losers. Assuming they are relatively equal RPs, Miami probably wanted some that could fit the role of a late-inning arm, and the RS needed a lefty a lot more than a righty.
They didn’t want anyone else to get. IMO, there was no chance Barnes wasn’t getting traded once he was DFAd.
Hope we get something for German
A jock strap for Sale? Here’s hoping it gets worn in actual RS 23 games!
Trading Bleier also frees up the roster spot. Also what if Barnes got other offers?
Barnes has, since day one, struck me as one of those lots-of-potential-but-never-quite-turned-the-corner guys.
He really did face plant, though, after the new rules checking player gloves, hats, etc.
My question is this? Does Boston have enough offense to support the starting staff as outlined above?
If you start limiting the starters, you are going to overuse the bullpen unless you can jump out to an early lead. Kind of Shakey if you ask me but then again, you ain’t asking me g.
The Red Sox offense is going to be a lot like the starting staff. Running on hopes and prayers.
More injuries will dictate. Barring them, the team sees Duvall and Turner to hit far more homers than Bogie and JDM did in 22. They also expect to get far more production from the lead off spot. If all that happens, they also anticipate FAR more production from first and CF (they would be happy in total with the same production in total from third, second, catcher and RF although individually they’d like more). At least that’s MY assessment. If everything hits, they look as 2013 as a model for team success and a big surprise.
Don’t forget bubblegum & Duct Tape lol
The Red Sox will be on the lower end of HRs hit this season but I think their offense has a chance to be better than most believe it will be. In my opinion, the success / failure of the total team offensive output lies with the performance of 3 players: Yoshida, Duvall & Casas. If Yoshida can hit close to .300 and Duvall and Casas can provide 20+ HRs, I think the Red Sox offense will be in the MLB Top 10 in runs scored. Kiki will need to remain healthy of course and they will strike out a lot but I am cautiously optimistic about the Sox offense this season.
I’d like to see Boston sign Miguel Sano to a minor league deal and see if he can rebound into a decent DH for them. While I’d like to see a combination of Dalbec & Casas share some DH duties, I’m not sure about Dalbec anymore. He’s been given a long look already and he’s a very slow starter each year. Adding Sano would give them some potential thump in the order should he be able to figure things out in AAA.
Dorothy – My question for you is how can a Red Sox team with a 15.8 WAR in 2022 compete with teams that had roughly 8 points better WAR and better pitching in 2023? Even if Yoshida isn’t bad and I think he can hit .300 with an OBP of .350 or more, how do you take the 15.8 WAR that lost 5.8 WAR from Bogey, 1.1 WAR from JD, 2.2 WAR from Vazquez and 50% of Story’s 2.5 WAR which totals roughly 10.3 of the 15.8 and replace it with Yoshida (unknown), Duvall (less than 2 historically), Mondesi (1.3 if healthy or negative if hurt) and compete in the AL East? Sano could help in that if he plays 100 games he might put up a 1.0 WAR. It still seems like the team will be far short of repeating the weak 15.8 performance from last year. The pitching staff could be better if Sale and Paxton are reliable to pitch every 5th game but you must consider how well Wacha did (3.3 WAR) and subtract that from the new net number. I think the team could easily exceed the 11.8 pitching WAR from 2022 but can they jump it by 10 points to off-set the drop in hitting?
Seems unlikely. Guys like Sano are not bad risks as long as they are one year tryouts. To me, if Dalbec rebounds, he’s got more upside than Sano.
The DH barring injuries that forced him to play more than 50 games in the field is locked with Turner. It pays to have minor league options but I think Sano will have other choices.
@PulledaBloom – I think WAR is a terrible way to measure a team’s overall success. Ever since Joey Gallo was getting 6+ WAR ratings when he was batting .220 and striking out 200+ times, WAR was a ridiculous stat to me. A more recent example is Andrew Chafin vs. Matt Moore. Both had great seasons last year. Moore had a better ERA and threw about 15 more innings than Chafin, but Chafin was only given a WAR of 0.3 while Moore had a 2.4 WAR. Again,
Moore had a better overall season than Chafin but was it 8X better than Chafin? I think not.
With that said, the Sox were still in the Top 10 in total runs scored last year with a down season from their offense. No question Boston will miss Xander badly and to a much lesser extent Story, but with the additions of Yoshida, Duvall, Turner and a full year of Casas and the subtraction of JBJ and even JDM, they have added enough offense to outperform last season by far (including a healthy Kiké). Their starting pitching and most definitely their bullpen will be much better this season too. A lot rides on the health of Sale of course, but Bello is going to have a breakout season this year and I see someone from the farm (like Mata) giving them some surprises on the mound as well. Boston is still mid-rebuild but what they did well this year is round out the roster with players who can all contribute. I’m not saying they’ll win the division by any means but if they get good health and plus seasons from these players, they are a potential wild card team if all breaks right for them. 2024 & beyond looks very promising for this team as well.
At Dorothy_Mantooth – there are two kinds of WAR – Baseball Reference (bWAR) and Fangraphs (fWAR). fWAR uses fielding independent pitching stats, so it removes a lot of what it feels is contextual noise and says that Moore was only worth 1.3 compared to Chafin’s 0.9. The bWAR gap is larger because Moore posted an ERA under 2. fWAR says that ERA is too noisy and we have to adjust for park, defense, league and reliever leverage. bWAR is looking at what actually happened with less adjustment. Moore allowed X runs fewer than Chafin, and we‘re interested in a record of what happened, not what “should have” happened.
In both cases, I think condensing player value all the way down to WAR is missing information and doing a bit of a disservice to players. Opportunity alone has a huge impact on accruing WAR, as opposed to rate stats, which aren’t effectively penalizing someone for being good enough to start, but only starting for six weeks. WAR will place an otherwise comparable player on a last place team ahead of an otherwise comparable player buried on the depth chart of a contending team.
On the other hand, it doesn’t adjust for the availability (injury risk) of the player at all. A player who’s great for 40 games and gets hurt will come in way ahead of a player who’s OK for 160 games. Who was the backup the first team had to start in the 120 games player A missed to injury? Player B doesn’t get compared to 160 games of that combination of players; he gets compared to a theoretical 160 games of injury prone player that doesn’t actually exist. WAR enables us to simply write off downside risk and inherently penalize player durability, as if there isn’t an advantage to avoiding 120 games of replacement or sub replacement level play. WAR is a very valuable shorthand tool, it’s just a mistake to ignore basically everything else in service of it.
I think condensing player value all the way down to WAR
==========================
Yup. I wish fans would get away from WAR being good or evil. It is just another number, along with dozens of other numbers, depending on how deep you want to go.
I often use WAR because it is easy and quick. But if I am deciding which pitcher to draft in the 2nd round of my fantasy draft, then I sort by WAR, but then look to the typical peripherals.
For the record I only used WAR to satisfy some of the metrics guys on the website. I don’t believe it’s accurate or effective in measuring anything.
When a contrived number like WAR lines up so nicely with how teams performed I ask myself is it an accident or was it accurate this one time. Seeing the 2022 WARs for the AL East I was surprised that it lined up.
Boston 15.8, TB 21.2, BAL 22.2, TOR 31.5 and NYY 36.7 I felt it accurately summarized the season in hind-sight.
Then I thought about 2023 and the additions and subtractions made this off season offensively by all AL East teams and I can’t really see the order changing much in 2023. Judge should regress so TOR might pass the NYY. BAL should improve and separate from TB a bit and BOS has lost talent so I don’t see them catching TB or BAL.
You can use WAR or the billions of variations off the BASIC WAR estimate, you can use normalized OPS (OPS+), you can use run differential, you can use just about any offensive stat you can think of to explain the finish in 2022 and when you apply it to 2023, Boston comes up short compared to 2022.
The spin doctors that are trying to suggest this team is better than last year’s team are seeing things through rose colored glasses. This team lost Bogey, lost JD (who had a bad 2nd half but should rebound in 2023), Vazquez (an under appreciated offensive catcher) and replace Verdugo in LF with Yoshida who is a complete unknown, replaced Hernandez with Duvall in CF which is a modest step up, replaced Refsnyder in RF with Verdugo (that’s a wash), replaced JD with JT (that’s a wash), Casas still at 1B needs to improve over 2022, Mondesi at 2B is a huge step up from Arroyo if healthy, Kiki at SS rather than Bogey is a larger step down than the Mondesi step up and then the Butcher of Boston at 3B. This team got worse not better so thinking positively is great but it’s not realistic.
The Red Sox are broken and need fixing since Bloom destroyed the roster. Until a change is made at GM, we’re going to be talking about dumpster diving, upside potential of players and drafts because we have lost all the all-stars from the Dombrowski era except Devers (one-dimensional) and Sale (perpetually injured). The mighty have fallen. The Bloom curse is as real as the Babe Ruth curse.
You can’t just look at the good players that have departed. The upgrade of the non-Verdugo corner outfield from JBJ / Pham to Yoshida is immense, and Dalbec + Franchy at 1B to Casas. is huge. .
Rick – Boston does NOT have enough offense to overcome any pitcher having a bad outing. The team WAR of 15.8 in 2022 was 7 points lower than the closest competition in the division and now Bogey is gone, JD, Vazquez and Story is out for at least half the year. TB had decent success last year with an offensive WAR of just over 20 but they had a much better pitching staff than we did last year. That might not be true when comparing the 2023 Red Sox staff to the 2022 TB staff so Boston simply needs to raise their WAR by at least 6 points over 2022 but without so many key hitters, especially Bogey that will be near impossible. Without his numbers last years 15.8 is roughly 10 so the new players need to contribute at least a 10 WAR for this team to be competitive.
Limiting starters is a really bad idea. This team needs to stay as close to competitive in the early months of the season to keep from a fan revolt. Bloom hasn’t produced and he needs a good April and May to hope to survive the whole season. With the current level of hitting, you would need a NYM like starting staff to keep the Red Sox competitive in games. I don’t think that’s likely even if Sale and Paxton pitch well.
Pulled, see my other post. Your comparing an overall down year where yes the team lost a lot for 23 but outside of actually considering CF twice, I stand by it. Duvall if healthy can have a Renfroe 21 like season to offset the Bogie loss (more power, less average and hopefully similar RBIs). That’s asking a lot but he definitely will hit a lot of Monster hrs. Getting more from first, left and DH is certainly doable absent injuries. Devers may do even more (or could be a negative surprise). While he won’t have to worry about his contract season, he now has to live up to this new one. That leaves catcher, second and right field and in total similar production as a minimum in total is expected. I see a better year from AV to offset any catching letdowns. Second base? I’d love to say more production is coming but Arroyo can’t stay on the field. I think it’s a given he’ll breakdown. I’m just hoping there are few if any injury surprises.
Dewey – Duvall could be a Renfroe. Renfroe had a 114 OPS+ with a .259 average and 31 HRs. Duvall is a year younger than JD Martinez who many consider past his prime, he’s only hit 31 HRs 3 times in 9 years when he was 27, 28 and 32 years old. He hit .213 in 2022, .228 in 2021, .237 in 2020 and he peaked in 2019 with a .267 but only played in 41 games that year. His career average is .230, his OBP is .289 and his OPS+ is 97, slightly below league average. Your expectations are higher than his performance last year and most of his career.
To suggest Duvall replaces Bogey’s numbers is an emotional comment with no basis in fact. The guy won’t even replace JDs numbers in a bad year like 2022.
In the end we took big hits at Catcher and a monster hit at SS. We upgraded 2B if Mondesi is healthy otherwise it’s the same, we don’t know what to expect in LF from Yoshida but we can hope he hits for average against much better pitching in the MLB, Duvall for Kiki in CF is a wash, Verdugo in RF for Refsnyder is a wash, Casas is an unknown that provides upside potential and Turner at DH is a wash with JD because JD had two great months then fell off but his year totals were above league average. He’s never done that before and it’s not likely to happen again. Turner will be 38 this season. How many games will he play? In 2016 and 2021 Turner played 150 games or more, the rest of the years he’s been hurt and missed significant time.. Figure 120 games would be a good year for him. So average in 40 games by some other bench DH. That brings the projection below what JD did last year.
I don’t think you realize just how devastating the Bloom moves have been.
When Boston finished last in 2022 it’s hitters performed as follows:
Verdugo played 152 games hit .280 with an OPS+ 102 (league avg) he’s back
Bogaerts played 150 games hit .307 OPS+ 132 – HE”S GONE
Devers played 141 games hit .295 OPS+ 141 – HE’S BACK
JD played 139 games hit .274 OPS+ 117 – HE”S GONE
Dalbec played 117 games hit .215 OPS+ 80 – HE’S BENCHED
Story played 94 games hit .238 OPS+ 102 – HE’S OUT FOR OVER 3 MONTHS
Kiki played 93 games hit .222 OPS+ 75 (Fairly normal stats but fewer games)
JBJ played 91 games hit .210 OPS+ 60 (step down from Renfroe!!)
Arroyo played 87 games hit .286 OPS+ 103 (far better than Kiki)
Vazquez played 84 games hit .282 OPS+ 109 (huge hole to fill by McGuire)
These 10 guys played the most in 2022.
Devers and Bogaerts had all-star level years and ONE is gone
JD was the third best hitter – he’s replaced by JT (not a step up)
Vazquez and Arroyo were next best – Vazquez is gone Arroyo on the bench
Verdugo had a league average year and should in 2023 too
Story had an off year and now will miss at least half of 2023
Kiki, JBJ, Dalbec, Casas all hit near .200 yet played a lot
That’s your core hitters from 2022. Yoshida, Duvall, Mondesi and McGuire will play replacement roles in 2023.
Yoshida is an unknown but hits for avg with a high OBP maybe
Duvall hit .213 in 2022 so he could be this year’s JBJ or he could revert to his form from years ago and hit 31 HRs bat .230 and be 2021 Hunter Renfroe
Mondesi has been hurt for two years. His talent level far exceeds the rest of the players on the team except Devers and Story on offense. IF healthy he will probably make a 10 game swing in wins in 2023. He’s that good if healthy but the odds of him staying healthy are very bad.
McGuire – Like Wong he is a career back-up who will get to split time with another career back-up and together they won’t equal Vazquez.
The loss of Bogey has not been off set so the team offense is less than last year. The pitching could be better if Sale and Paxton are healthy but if not, this team will be similar if not worse than the 2022 version.
Sorry but when talent falls off dramatically it’s crazy to suggest things are getting better.
Depends how you view their defense.
I’m as happy to see Barnes go as the next guy, but if Bloom really didn’t give him any kind of heads-up, that’s a classless move. We’re talking about a guy who’s been in your organization for a decade and who made some steps toward righting the ship in the back half of the previous season. To cut bait without warning must have been such a slap in the face, struggles or no.
It’s fair game since Barnes tanked right after signing a juicy contract. Just right off the cliff – wonder why?
baseballteam – His performance was a sine wave. He signed at a time when it was at a peak and it quickly moved to a trough. His inconsistency over the years was always a mystery. His career 3 months in early 2021 was just as inexplicable as the tanking that happened later. In the end, if you draw a line through his sine wave you will see his mediocre numbers that represent his career. Not good but not terrible. Great moments and horrendous moments. A model of inconsistency. He’s a right handed version of E-ROD. Looks great, has great stuff but can’t put it together for any length of time.
We are at a point in time in the game where a guaranteed salary doesn’t guarantee a roster spot. Most players should probably feel a little “on the bubble”, especially those that struggle terribly after signing new deals. The signing of Kenley Jansen should probably have been the first indication that Barnes’ roster spot was in jeopardy
Maybe, but
1-If he had other moves lined up, he doesn’t want to give away inside information.
2-I’m not overly sympathetic to millionaires. Part of the cost of having a high-paying job is that you can be treated more harshly than your regular worker bees. And regular worker bees aren’t informed of layoffs either.
Red Sox look like a last place team in the East to me.
Get your eyes checked
If Barnes was unhappy about the way he was used he should have been better about getting outs in high-leverage situations.
You can pinpoint when Barnes’ 2021 season fell apart. It was on Aug 7. He pitched both ends of a doubleheader, *and* the next day. After Aug 7, he gave up nine earned runs in his next six appearances, recording ten total outs. You gotta keep in mind that pitchers are people and they are not uniform. Guys are not equally capable of back-to-back’s, 3 of 4s, etc. Some guys who are more capable of it early in their career are less capable of it later in their career. With Garrett Whitlock and nothing else that Cora trusted after a deadline that saw the team add two depth middle relief types, Barnes was going to get overused, or they probably weren’t getting in the playoffs. He did not respond well to that, and they barely got in.
For all the things the front office is criticized for, I think the failure to adequately address the bullpen before 2021, AND during 2021, AND before 2022, is one of the most reasonable criticisms. It also appears they have learned the lesson at the same time that AAA has more help available than it has during the entirety of the Bloom admin to this point.
A starting rotation of Sale, Kluber, Paxton, Houck and Pivetta makes the most sense to me. Try Whitlock at the stress inning like two years ago and use the new relievers to set up Kenley if Boston can get a lead in the game. Their pitching is their strength if Sale and Paxton can pitch. If not, it’s going to be a long year unless a junior level pitcher steps up way beyond their past performances. Houck needs to be a starter. He may prove to be the best right handed starter on the team.
They’re going to start with a six-man rotation. The team doesn’t have its third day off until May 11. The likelihood of *this* particular group of pitchers all staying healthy for, essentially, three months is so low that the jam packed early schedule makes it a pretty easy call imho.
(*technically fourth day off is May 11, but I don’t think the one in between the first and second game of the season is helpful like a mid month off day is. It’s essentially meaningless for pitcher rest)
There will be rain outs. I haven’t heard a Sox man staff is being considered but look at the games they lost last year. Having starters is more important on paper. in today’s game, you need as many relievers as possible to not only pull games out late but to replace those that by July are exhausted/placed on the injured list or burnt out/DFAed
Oh, I haven’t heard speculation about a 6-man, to clarify. I was making an overconfident guess that they will do that before jamming a starter into the pen, or demoting Bello. I think turning two of these guys into a tandem starter is also more likely than any of them individually going to the pen.
But the easy money is on someone straining their neck while trying to blow a butterfly off their sleeve, requiring a 60-day DL stint and a PRP injection.
rhswanzey – A six man rotation is a dangerous thing. Schedules create routine approaches between starts. Going to 6 and then taking away one day later in the year is going to negatively impact the pitchers, especially the veteran pitchers.
It’s far better to use spot starters than to use a 6 man rotation. Use six SPs and set your schedule to drop in the 6th pitcher for a different pitcher every 5 starts so the routine is kept but the innings don’t accumulate any differently than a 6 man rotation.
Bello should be in the rotation
He will and should be barring injury.
Roiste – Boston paid too much to Sale, Kluber, Paxton to sit them so either Houck or Pivetta would have to sit for Bello. I would slot Bello as the spot starter and try to use him in games against weaker teams to build his confidence. Paxton and Sale are so fragile that either could go down in start one and open the door for Bello. Money should dictate the 5 starters at the beginning of the year, especially with 2 of them being so fragile. Bello and others will be needed to back-up any SP injuries.
I disagree Pulled this looks like lost season to me I think it’s important to pitch Bello. Bello imo has easily the highest upside of any young starter the Red Sox have he needs to take the ball every fifth day and grow into the frontline pitcher his stuff suggests he has.
“Blindside” isn’t really the right term. It suggests that the Red Sox somehow did him wrong. It’s a business and baseball transaction. And, of course, his usage he didn’t like was based on his poor performance.
Paxy still charming gms and making free money. Atta boy Maple!
Well, Barnes, it’s on you. Pitch better, then you won’t be in low pressure situations. It’s that simple. Don’t complain, do your job.
Too many Chaim haters still for me, but you guys are starting to see the real team we have. Please, you doubters of Jansen need to look at his record, he is been one of the best closers in baseball for a decade. His last two years were two of his best. Chances are, two of Sale/Paxton/Kluber will likely be be good, Bello should be very good again (see September) and Pivetta will be solid.
On offense, Casas is the best power hitting prospect we’ve had in years and he’s a superior first baseman. Worried about Devers? Pessimistic Sox fans, you really think Yoshida, one of the best hitters in Japan since Ichiro (which is why we overpaid), is not going to be good here? You think Kike will suck at the plate somehow? You think Casas will suck? Devers? Would you bet against Duvall returning to last year’s injured form or what his career stats say? And why are you so down on Turner? His age? Averaged 80+ RBI in the last two years and hit .278 both years. Better than JD.
Somehow you guys all love people when they are lost to ridiculous contracts. Xander was clearly declining and was one of the worst SS’s in the league the past two years, particularly two years ago in the field. Hitting can be replaced. Clutch hitting, Xander’s specialty, is harder to replace but one of the new guys or a combination of them should make up for that.
It seems to me that betting on them to finish last even in this division, is a fool’s bet. They will be competitive, I would bet money on that. The main problem we had last year was the bullpen, and he brought in the best closer and the best setup man (Martin, look at his stats as the 8th inning guy) available. The starters usually give you enough if the bullpen comes through. They will this year too. They may not win the division but they will be good, probably 90 wins good.
A simpler, less Pollyanna-ish optimist’s view: if the 2022 team played a balanced schedule, like they will in 2023, they would have won 85 games (prorating record in division, out of division). The third wild card team won 86 games last year.
We don’t know what the new top end of the roster will be like: a little worse, a little better, a wash. We do know that it looks like there is going to be less sub replacement level playing time accrued in 2023. Last year, the team somehow stayed afloat for a little bit when it started four rookies for basically an entire month plus. For example, if Crawford and Wincowski were combined, that was their no. 2 starter, throwing nearly 150ip of nearly 6 ERA ball. Just getting slightly less bad pitching out of their 8th-10th starters and slightly less bad baseball out of their first basemen and their AAA infielders, gets them a lot closer than eight games out. Some less bad variance and injury luck gets them the rest of the way there. I don’t think they are favorites for a playoff spot but I’d be happy to put money on them finishing ahead of Baltimore, which has been treated like an impossibility in a lot of offseason discourse. Why? It’s baseball. It’s never as bad as it seems when it’s bad, and it’s never as good as it seems when it’s good. It always changes and it will always burn you if you insist on looking back and carrying it forward, as if it doesn’t always change.
SoxRule – Please tell me you don’t actually bet because to call the Red Sox finishing 5th in the division a “fool’s bet” is just silly. They have far less talent. They only have Devers and Sale from the championship team. In 2021, it was the inherited guys that took them much farther than their talent suggested.
That’s not happening in 2023. The hitting is weaker and the SP is counting on often hurt pitchers to stay healthy. Only the bullpen improved and will that matter if the team isn’t ahead after the 5th inning?
Just got up off the floor from your 90 win comment. Naive isn’t the right word for your comments. They are simply wrong. Turner played on a Dodger team and hit behind a better top of the line-up than what Boston had. His RBIs reflect his team not his skills. JD put up a 117 OPS+ with a bad Red Sox team and Turner put up a 116 OPS+ with an excellent hitting Dodger team.
Bogaerts wasn’t declining he was improving. Your facts are all wrong.
I’ll bet you on 90 wins if you like. It’s probably going to be closer to 70.
“…and he brought in rhe best closer and best setup man…”
Jansen and Martin are not the best closer and reliver in the league.
Excuse me… Jansen was the best available closer. Many writers say Martin is the best setup man in baseball. Do some reading.
And please look at Jansen’s stats. There aren’t many closers that are good every year as he is.
SoxRule – Why get the best closer available for 2 years when the team won’t be competitive for over 2 years (after the arrival of key minor league players)? Winning with guys like Arroyo, McGuire, Hernandez and Duvall isn’t in the cards. Getting Story back, seeing Yorke and Mayer improve to an all-star level and Yoshida or Devers going to DH is needed to make the team competitive in the AL East.
That’s at least 2 years away so getting the best available closer and an above average set-up man is like putting a bandage on a severed arm. It’s not going to stop the bleeding and if the surgeon can reattach the arm eventually the bandage will be used up.
It’s not that the players aren’t excellent choices they are simply 3 years too late. The team is now dismantled but we have a closer and set-up man that are better than any since Kimbrel. Great but who cares? Why invest money in strategies that won’t lead to winning?
If I knew you guys I would bet money with you that they will contend this year. Not for the east maybe, but the wild card.
You guys can’t be right, you defy logical reasoning. Thus you sound like Yankee fans. Or Ordway’s Red Sox callers.
Then say that and stop trying to mislead with nonsensical hype.
I would bet money with you that they will contend this year. Not for the east maybe, but the wild card.
============================
I’d make that bet as well. With all the injuries, and with the unbalanced schedule, we still won 78 games and had the 3rd best record in the AL thru 6/30.
OTOH, even falling a few games short of the playoffs could be a 5th place finish since the rest of the division is so good.
Wow!!!! 90 wins Comparing Turner to JD .
Comparing one slot in the lineup is equal to a certain number of wins? Where did you pull that out of?
So You’re going get more production at SS too . How about behind the plate . Great business modo explain letting Renfroe go at about 3 million and bringing back JBJ at 10 million. Maybe Chaim can pull off another amazing trade .
Great business modo explain letting Renfroe go at about 3 million
=====================
Renfroe’s salary was almost $8M. Facts still count.
My mistake . I guess Chaim won that deal. I’ll go buy a Chaim Bloom jersey at the souvenir stand .
I really want Pax in the pen. He could be a dynamite set up man. I can’t see him pitching more than 70 innings this year even as a starter.
Essentially, Barnes was in a role similar to Bass before he was traded to Toronto, where he was mostly given the the 5th-7th innings at times/or in games where they’re already losing/didnt matter…
Marlins need help in high leverage situations
“At the moment”. That was the qualifier for considering Pivetta in other than a starting role. And since they’re obviously committed to Sale, Paxton, Bello, and Whitlock as starters (and they are the top 4 guys in all projections so far), if they had no flexibility with Pivetta, there’s actually no competition for the 5 starter if everyone is healthy.
Houck is the wild card here; coming out of ST he could easily look like a much better option that either Pivetta or Kluber. All four of his pitches have a plus career value.
While the injuries and inexperience are real concerns, it’s a fact that they have five starters who have demonstrated they have #2 starter-quality stuff, in terms of velocity and pitch repertoire and movement. None of them have struggled badly with command, with Houck being the one inconsistent guy. If you hit it with three of the five guys, that’s a contender’s rotation..
ericmvan – I like your assessment of the pitchers. I think Houck needs to be a starter and may be the best right handed SP in the organization.
Hitting it with 3 of 5 would be great. It can only be a contender’s rotation if they significantly upgrade their offense. The Bogey/JD/Vazquez hit makes them barely a AAA level hitting team. The staff will need to win lots of 1=0 games.
Tanner Houck is two pitch pitcher he is a fastball slider guy and throws an occasional split fingered pitch. It’s very unusual for a guy with his repertoire to make it as a starter. He lacks the pitch to really keep lefties off balance.
I will say it’s not unheard of for essentially a two pitch pitcher to show that he can be an elite starter because that’s essentially what Cristian Javier is but his fastball is elite elite rates much better then Houck’s. Hopefully Houck has been developing that splitter as an off speed pitch it would give him a much better chance holding a starting spot. The good news is that Houck has proven his stuff plays up in the bullpen and he’s an excellent option there. Here’s to hoping that splitter looks really good in spring training.
In the last two seasons he’s thrown his splitter 124 times (6%) to LHB. Results: 3 for 23, 8 SO, 2 BB, 1 HR. For those slashing at home, that’s .130 / .200 / .261. Your hopes? Been three, done that, and that should make you happy.
Furthermore, no pitcher in MLB has a bigger difference in movement between his 4-seamer and his sinker. They really behave like two different pitches.
We can measure the overall effectiveness of any pitch, including the pitches that don’t end the PA. (For instance, if you get ahead 0-2 and throw three straight sliders outside the zone that the hitter lays off, and then you throw a FB that gets hammered, the three sliders that ruined the 0-2 count get just the right share of blame for the negative result. The stats is at FanGraphs, PitchInfo Value/100.)
So, using his career so far, how would Houck’s *four* pitchers rank in effectiveness among the 146 f guys who threw 80+ innings last year as a starter, had he qualified? The slider is 90th percentile, the 4-seamer is 76th, the sinker is 78th, and the off-speed pitch (splitter or change) is 76th. That is unquestionably #2 starter results, so now the only question is why he got hit so hard the 3rd time around the order in 2021, and how to fix it.
That’s a heck of an analysis there.
The simple answer is because of his four two pitches only two are above average to elite. He’s been a two pitch pitcher his entire career even dating back to college.. I appreciate the breakdown but it really isn’t as much of a mystery. He doesn’t consistently command his off speed pitches and batters are able to adjust.
On which planet do you live?
You can also look at his pitch movement and velocity, which I did a year ago. The slider graded at 80 on the 20-80 scale and the sinker at 70. I should take a look at the splitter at some point …
Technically the four-seamer grades poorly since it’s pretty straight, but that’s the point. If a hitter mistakes either fastball for the other, they’re dead.
the planet where every scout and the analytics say the exact same thing which is that Houck lacks a third effective pitch and gets crushed the third time through the lineup (both in the MiLB and MLB) for that reason which is backed by at this point by years worth of data. It’s pretty straight forward. You try and act like it’s a big mystery but the simplest answer is generally correct one and in this case I’ll trust the scouts and analytics that support the fact that his abysmal numbers the third time through the lineup are for that reason.
Whitlock is Bard2.0
I see quite a bit of apprehension on houck being a closer because he has only two pitches.. guys did I miss something.. Pap did not have an arsenal of pitches and he did quite well for us( two also I believe) … we can always rely on my man Brais… he did have a save last year granted against a AAA team(Yankees) LOL
Now WEEI is talking about Ohtani possibly coming to the Red Sox because he was visiting a New Balance Facility in Boston. Come on !!! The only way you are going to get him is if you get rid of Dumpster Diving Bargain Basement Chaim Bloom. First of all if he is in California, it is a lot easier to get to his homeland Japan to visit then on the east coast in Boston. This is the story to give Boston fans hope because of how bad the team Bloom assembled this year is going to be. This team is thrown together with hope and duct tape hoping to compete. Bloom has lost a star in Bogaerts and picked up inferior players, minor league players, and plans on moving outfielders in to play shortstop, depend on injured players like Arroyo and Modesi to carry this team forward. Even Big Papi Ortiz does not think they have enough to compete. Devers will be pitched around. There is nothing charismatic about this team that oozes confidence. Sale has been injured since 2018, Paxton has not pitched in almost 3 years, Kluber has an injury history, Pivetta is a 4th starter at best maybe a low 3 type. Houlk and Whitlock are both coming off of injuries. Yeah, the bullpen is improved but with this crew they will be making the call to the bullpen in the 4th inning, LOL.
This is going to be a long season with this team and Bloom at the helm. Hopefully if we get one thing it is the end of Chaim Bloom’s reign of management in Boston.
Al … no lie this thought has crept into many a heads in Boston I’m sure…. How do we stack up vs other big markets next year financial is my question??? Judge/ Stanton/,cole… .. out padres…. Out…. Dodger’s??? Presumably out …who comes off our books???( after Braiser inks a team friendly 3 year 70mil deal). What’s left???
My god where do you Chaim haters come from? If we have the year you see, they will be similar to last year, and that’s virtually impossible with upgrades he’s made. Pulled a Bloom? You know how much of what you said is complete BS? JD is going to be 36 this season and had a very subpar year last year, has had declining numbers. And you are complaining about Turner who is 38 and has had two .287 and 80+ home runs in the past two years, exactly what you need at DH. You also refuse to see some other facts, like the fact that he got the best closer and the best setup man available, if you relied on stats you’d know that, but instead…
And somehow I suppose you wanted us to give an aging (31 this year), declining shortstop whose hitting numbers have declined as well an 11-year $300+ contract. Mookie was not worth what the Dodgers gave him either, and like Xander he wanted out of Boston so he could get one of the ridiculous contracts from teams in that NL West division who are trying to top each other with ridiculous contracts to win.
Guys and ladies and anyone else, I think there are a couple of Yankees fans posing as Red Sox fans in our threads lately. When you constantly post these ridiculous ideas about how bad they are going to be, you can’t really be a Sox fans, and this guy is are clearly outnumbered now. Bloom fixed the bullpen with the best closer and setup man on the market and the two most reliable guys, when are you going to give him credit for that? And you conveniently mention Duvall’s power numbers or that it’s getting rare to find power hitters who also hit for batting average. You choose his worst stats and leave out his best stats, as you do with the whole team. We robbed the mighty Dodgers of several very good players. They have JD, and somehow you see JD at 36 better than Turner at 38. At least Turner can play the field and he will lead the clubhouse. You also seriously don’t know what Kluber has done in the past few years. You underrate the whole team, consistently. If you are not a Yankee fan trying to rile Red Sox fans, you are the worst kind of fan (or you are both of those things).
Bloom was chosen because Tampa Bay has had a very successful business model. I’ll bet you love the most ridiculous writer in Boston sports, Tomase (2nd only to Shaughnessy). Three new columns by national writers come out with ratings of this year’s MLB farm systems, and two have us much improved – in the best on we are 11th in the league – and he reports the third one which has our system among the last but doesn’t mention the other two. At all.
If you aren’t a Red Sox fan, you are some kind of hybrid of Glenn Ordway’s daily clinical depression, Michael Felger’s out-of-town mentality, and Tony Mazzarrotti’s Evil Tony character that started when he was at EEI, and which he continues at the Sports Hub. Gone are the days when Tony was made fun of for his high voice but he told Herald readers the best info about the team; now he’s a guy who follows Ordway’s model and thinks that Boston sports fans are all like his former callers, who he’d imitate and ridicule in the same sentence (“They’re ruining my summah” ). Kike is did not have the year he had a couple of years ago because he was hurt, Verdugo was off last year on that last place team that couldn’t do much because of the bullpen. So with those guys and the rest of the team, you see mediocrity when there was actually wise spending. If you are a Red Sox fan, you are like a friend I have who was sure Bloom would never pay Devers, while he is 26 and still hasn’t reached his ceiling yet. You don’t give a declining 31-year old shortstop 11 years and that much money, or a 5-8 180 pound right fielder who is one the best right fielders and is capable of being a power hitter like last year or an average hitter as he was two years ago – and who most importantly wanted out of Boston – and a guy who did not hit in the playoffs for the Red Sox doesn’t deserve that much either. Devers may not be the best at 3rd, but he’s better and pretty much passable there now. At the plate, he has become one of the top 5 – maybe top 3 – hitters in baseball, someone who still hits for average, RBI and homers. Xander and JD used to be almost as good, but they are trending down, Devers is clearly going to be one of the best hitters in baseball for a long time. Mookie can be that and was that last year, but he gave very little to the 2018 team’s postseason run and has similarly failed in all his other post-season Red Sox appearances.
But you sound like a typical Yankees fan who can’t see that Brian Cashman is a Dombrowski type on a lesser scale, as aside from Judge last year, pays a bunch of .220 home run hitters to lead his offense every year and pays for the best available starting pitcher – who was really the the 4th best available – for huge money. Bloom may not be the right GM in years to come, we’ll see, but between Bogaerts, Betts, Devers and JD, he gave the only guy young enough who couldn’t be replaced ridiculous money. Look what the Yankees have had in choosing Cole and Montas, and we’ll see now with Rodon. If the Yankees really knew what they were doing they was best for the team they would have stolen Verlander from the Mets and Bogaerts from the Red Sox. They had the money to do both, but instead what are they doing? The third or fourth best starter? What about shortstop, you guys said you wanted to steal Xander. What happened?
Maybe Chaim can play 2nd base and John Henry can save more $ .
SoxRule – You are such a whiner and wiener. First, complaining about JD after all he did to win a RING and criticizing him after he had a bad year that was still better than Justin Turner’s is so lacking factual support. It’s a chronic whining move.
Next, your a wiener for quoting Bogey’s contract as if you had a clue what it was about. His 11 years is an AAV flattening technique used by SD and doesn’t apply to what Boston should have done.
Look Bloom is a failure and will continue to be because he didn’t meet the needs of his job. Getting a closer after you dump all your good hitters except Devers is insane. Nobody thinks like that except you and Bloom. Are you related or work for him? Otherwise, nobody in their right mind goes for a closer after dumping the offense like he did.
Next inaccurate statement…. Bloom and his business model in TB. Bull. He was never the brains, he was the boss. He left his brains in TB when he came to Boston. He also created one thing and it wasn’t a business model. It was a handbook for how to do the farm system. Since that hasn’t improved other than acquiring Mayer by failing miserably in 2020, he’s brought NOTHING to Boston of value. He did destroy the championship team that was intact when he arrived by making ill-advised inexpensive choices rather than buying quality players. If you are cheap then I can understand why you relate to him but he’s actually spent more more than Dombrowski while spending it in the thrift shop. Quantity over quality is a weak GM philosophy but something you obviously support.
Camoflage? Suggesting people who are realistic about the damage Bloom has done makes us Yankee fans? How Ironic most Red Sox fans think the Yankees are paying Bloom a stipend to do the things he’s done the last 3 years.
Loyal fans are NOT ignorant fans. Destroying a championship team is not a move in the right direction yet you support it. So who are the REAL RED SOX fans? I think they are the people that want to see improvement rather than destruction. So that leaves you out and includes nearly everyone on this site except the paid Bloom supporters (you sound like one).
Being an apologist for last year team isn’t being a good fan. Making excuses for 2020 and 2022 and pretending 2021 was the real Red Sox is what a Bloom supporter would do to distract from the issue. 2021 was a fluke caused by the leftover all-stars from the Dombrowski era. It’s that simple. The two guys that Bloom got to help the team that year were let go after the season. Simply another nonsensical choice by the over his head Bloom.
I’m not like your friend. I wanted Bloom to trade Devers so we could get a real 3B. Why? Because I care about the impact he has on the pitching staff every time he turns a routine play for most 3Bs into a base runner. At least 50 last year!!! The score keepers can be paid to play games with the error totals but the misplay is still recorded by Baseball Reference. I want the pitching staff to feel confident they can throw a pitch that might get hit down 3B without thinking “Oh crap Devers plays there”. If you put the team first, you want the manager and GM to make good decisions. Bloom is terrible and Cora is worse. I want competent people in those positions for the good of the team and organization and fan base. Devers supporters care more about the player than the team, just like Devers.
Devers according to Baseball Reference is the worst 3B in Red Sox history and is moving up the charts to be the worst 3B in MLB history. Those are facts not my opinion. If he stays at 3B he’ll keep climbing the charts. Just think if a guy like Arenado or Chapman played there instead. Pitchers wouldn’t have to worry about low inside pitches to right handed batters. But instead the player’s desires come first not the team’s needs. That’s why they aren’t going to win. That’s a common theme with Cora and Bloom.
Suggesting Mookie was a disappointment is pure stupidity. Whose the Yankee fan now? hahaha such a stupid comment wow. You embarrassed yourself with that one.
I have pointed out in many of these articles that the Yankees dynasty ended in 1962 and that they have floundered ever since. I’ve pointed out that they’ve spend $20MM a year more than Boston for the last 30 years. Yankee fans don’t think I’m a Yankee fan but because I completely disagree with a putz like you I’m suddenly a Yankee fan. Nobody’s buying that one. Try again to distract from the topic. That’s what people who are wrong try to do to not lose an argument as badly as you are losing this one.
You seem to be wondering aimlessly through your dialogue throwing things against the wall in hopes they will stick. You must be related to Bloom!!! Or at least paid as one of his marketing “social influencers.”
Like all the influencers you have no leg to stand on. Bloom sucks and has since he arrived. He took credit for TB’s success yet they have thrived since he left and Boston has floundered.
So Bloom supporter or Yankee fan whichever the case may be, don’t bother arguing with most of the true Red Sox fans on this site because you are out of your league and making stuff up like you did is always going to be refuted by me with facts taken from sources that are actually reliable as opposed to your goofball opinions.
Barnes was another “great” signing by Bloom. Nice to see we re still on the hook for almost all his contract. He has managed to keep the payroll high with a bunch of short term overpay contracts to lesser players than he let go.
Barnes got a two year extension for less than $10 million a year after showing half a season as an elite closer. We’re on the hook for about $5-$6 million of that.
Barnes was never a big part of the Red Sox payroll. Sorry.
SoxRule – Bull again!!! He got $9.375MM for two seasons or $18.75. They paid the $9.375 in 2022 for a guy who got 8 saves, a 4.31 ERA and a ridiculously bad 1.437 WHIP. This year we get to pay $4.875MM to not use him AND $3MM of Bleier’s tab for the same roster spot. So in two years that spot cost Boston $17.25MM and for what? Two years of bad relief. That much money could have snagged so much more but Bloom is clueless.
A quick heads-up on your missing facts about Barnes. He had an exception first half after 8 full seasons of mediocrity. His high 3 ERA and 1.33 WHIP are not nearly representative of a $9MM dollar a year relievers. Ottavino received his highest payday in 2019 from Boston when Kimbrel was gone and that was $8MM!!! Barnes stinks compared to Ottavino so his fair price should have been under $5MM a year or even $3MM per year or less.
How big a part of the payroll is irrelevant. He was grossly over-paid by Bloom just like so many others. You don’t spend over $230MM without buying an all-star by under paying below league average talent. He’s over paid for anyone not part of the 2018 championship team except Devers.
Bridge year
Sorry guys, read the majority of comments above. Only a couple people agree with you. Most of us are rational longtime baseball fans who will be right. By your basic premise that they can’t compete with the moves he made, you show so much ignorance about even just baseball or any team sport. No one player will make this team good, it’s a team sport, and even Vegas would tell you that predicting a repeat of 2022 is just not possible. We have a better shortstop, a better DH, a very good defensive and power hitting center fielder, and a few of the best prospects in baseball. We upgraded with one of the top defensive catchers in that league. And he’s still got about $20 million under the cap so if/when the team gets good this year, which is clearly more likely than not, we will be able to pay someone at the deadline. Looks like a great plan to me.
Chaim is charge of a rebuild and that’s still ongoing. When you empty the farm system to go for it all like Dombrowski did, it takes awhile to fix again. Chaim Bloom has done that part, he fixed the farm system, and he’s fielding what should be a competitive team in 2023. You guys think he flat-out sucked.
No sense in debating this opinion with you anymore l, you see things in a depressed state, obviously. I won’t respond again to you, it’s pointless, your counterpoints are worse than your original statements.
SoxRule – The paid guys agree with you and the ACTUAL FANS completely disagree with you. Deception is the name of the game with Bloom and guys like you. You claim something is right, you pretend there are people agreeing with you and then you try to discredit the people with the facts!!. hahaha you suck at being a social influencer because you don’t say one thing that is factual. People see through you immediately.
Bloom destroyed a Championship team FACT! He let go nearly everyone from the 2018 team which happened to be in their prime when he took over.
Dombrowski didn’t get rid of one prospect that ever developed into anything they were supposed to be. Even the #1 prospect Yoan Moncada has played 6 years with the CWS and has yet to make an all-star team. He’s a massive disappointment and Dombrowski was smart enough to deal him for Sale. Has Kopech turned out to be great or even good? It took him six years to finally have more than 4 MLB starts in a season. Dombrowski pruned the tree like an expert landscaper. Far more talent came to Boston than left Boston. Again, PROPOGANDA no facts by you and documented evidence of Dombrowski’s greatness by me..
There was no need for a rebuild and to call it that is simply inaccurate. It was strictly demolition by Bloom. Three years of demolition, that’s how good the foundation was. Now there is Devers and an injured Sale whose career was derailed by Cora and his coaching of an elite SP. That’s it. The great stars of the 2018 team have been ushered out the door by a guy who may actually end his career as an usher!!!
You shouldn’t respond to me again because I have slapped you silly by debunking every fabricated viewpoint you have put forward. You are out of your league here. Go back to the Yankee site. FYI…. Bloom needs some coffee!!! Better head in there and provide more service to your boss..
No one player will make this team good, it’s a team sport,
==========================
Absolutely right. The teams that perform consistently well are the ones that have 26 good players, with a bit of minor league depth. The Angels have one of the best 1-2 punches I’ve ever seen, and Trout has never won a playoff game, and Ohtani has never been on a .500 Angels team.
Totally agree with you pulledabloom. Enough said