A little under three weeks ago, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom wasn’t yet sure how the Red Sox might approach the trade deadline, or whether not the team might lean more towards buying or selling. Since then, the Sox have been doing their best to force the front office’s hand, winning nine of their last 10 games and moving to a 49-43 record. The Red Sox are two games out of a wild card berth and, despite a competitive AL East and AL playoff picture in general, it looks like Boston will be some kind of factor in the coming weeks and months leading up to October.
That said, Bloom’s overall perspective about the deadline hasn’t entirely changed, though naturally he is happy with how the Sox have been playing.
“I think the this bigger picture of how we’ve gotten here and how it’s come through a lot of progress from a lot of good performances from our long-term core — whether that’s young players or veteran players — is really encouraging in terms of where the arrow is pointing,” Bloom told Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. “We’re gonna keep that in mind, too. We feel like we’re making a lot of progress and we just want keep layering on more and more positive things toward that ultimate goal of a championship club.”
Bloom was clear that long-term competitiveness is still the front office’s overarching goal, yet competing this season certainly seems possible. The CBO noted that the core’s development “has not only given us a chance to stay in this race in 2023, but I think has made us — and hopefully a lot of people who care about this team — really optimistic about where this is headed longer-term….Obviously what happens in the short-term, on some level we’re gonna need to factor that in and be responsive to it. As long as we keep seeing the things we wanna see from our core guys, that’s obviously something that we’re gonna keep front and center.”
Trade talks have already been ongoing in advance of the August 1 deadline, and Bloom again implied that the Red Sox (like many teams) won’t be clear buyers or sellers. The Sox could try to make deals that fall into either category, or they “might just be baseball trades that help everybody accomplish what they’re trying to accomplish.” While the standings could certainly provide more clarity over the next two weeks, there are enough teams at least on the fringes of contention that Bloom feels “the [trade] conversations are just gonna require more creativity.”
While Bloom didn’t cite any areas of need heading into the deadline apart, Bloom did make a point of saying that the Red Sox weren’t looking for first base help, since the team is happy with its tandem of Triston Casas and (when he isn’t at DH or third base) Justin Turner. It amounts to a vote of confidence in Casas, who has finally started hitting after a lengthy cold streak to begin the season. Casas hit .184/.300/.342 over his first 180 plate appearances, but has since delivered a much improved .297/.383/.515 slash line in his last 115 PA.
Obviously the Red Sox weren’t going to just give up on a former top prospect who is only in his second MLB season, yet Casas’ recent results have helped solidify his place in Boston’s core, and as a contributor to their 2023 plans. “Triston is learning and growing. He’s clearly not a finished product yet, but when you look at the trajectory, he is moving in the right direction here offensively,” Bloom said.
Pitching would also seem to be a target need at the deadline, as while the Red Sox have a lot of injured arms projected to return relatively soon, there isn’t any guarantee that those hurlers will return on schedule, or be effective when they do return. “Just because you have some of those guys that you expect to be back in action in August doesn’t mean you’re not looking to find other ways to help yourself,” Bloom said.
Chris Sale is one of those injured pitchers on the road to recovery, and manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) that Sale is slated for a bullpen session on Tuesday. Sale suffered a stress reaction in his shoulder blade and will be out until at least the start of August, as per the minimum absence time required by his 60-day IL placement. Since Sale is only starting to throw off a mound now, it seems likely that his ramp-up and rehab work will keep him out for longer than the first week of August. Sale also noted two weeks ago that his injury “isn’t a very common issue” for a pitcher, so it may be a while before a solid rehab plan is finalized.
Maybe a defensive SS (DeJong? Anderson? Any Padre?) that can outhit Chang?
Wonder if they could get anything at all for Kiké. FA at the end of this year. His primary virtue at this point is versatility, but with Duvall’s and Chang’s recent returns and Story’s imminent, that seems less valuable than it was earlier in the year. He’s still an elite CF, and obviously having a bad year at the plate so you could say you’re selling low but I’m not convinced of his ability to rebound nor the Sox’ desire to re-sign him. Seems like the type of retooling Bloom alluded to. Just a thought!
Oqubu – Kike’s not just having a bad year at the plate, he’s been awful at the plate since the start of last year.
I’m fine with him occasionally playing CF, pushing Yoshida to DH and Turner to 2B. I think they need to keep either Duvall or Kike for the remainder of the season, they can’t get rid of both.
As for Story, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Just read that Kike has been DFA’d.
….not a major outlet, so may not be true.
Suit – I saw the same tweet from “fax sports”. Totally false. Cora just praised Kike’s shortstop fielding skills, even though Kike made another costly error that wasn’t scored as such.
I keep picturing after each loss, Kike dancing on a table in his lime green shoes to loud music in the clubhouse, and Bloom walking in on him, smashing the stereo with a bat, then asking Kike if playing like crap is fun.
You confuse what a player needs, with what the spineless management gives them.
Even Papi said what I had said previously – the team needs a real clubhouse leader to step up (the way he used to) like Shohei did in the WBC final – grit, coarse language, and make guys pull their heads out of you know where and focus on baseball.
They pulled Valdez after 1 at bat yesterday at Worcester.
Makes sense Enmanuel Valdez was pulled mid-game for Worcester last night. Probable corresponding move.
Job One should be either trade Kike or do NOT make him an offer during the off-season. I know Cora loves him, but the guy stinks. And, soon enough, they’ll have Mayer.
milt – I think there’s zero chance Bloom offers Kike an extension, at any price.
“Still an elite CF”..There’s really never been anything “elite” about Kike. He’s an average defensive OF and well below average hitter. If the guy could play, he’d still be in L.A.
That’s literally not true. He was objectively an elite defensive CF in 2021.
“Objectively an elite CF”..It’s entirely possible that you may be more impressed with a couple 10 gm hitting hot streaks, lack of true position and then spending 75% of the season floundering, flailing and trying to find your stroke, than am I.
Anderson is not a defensive SS
Trevor Story???????
Well it looks like the Red Sox have won 6 in a row and 9 of 10. Don’t let that ruin your day guys.
Gary – Way to jinx them. The same happened last June/July and look how the season ended.
Let’s stay humble and not take anything for granted.
Also look at the opposition in that time. They held their own against TEX, but otherwise… they played against teams that would be challenged to win against minor league competition.
You both make great points. I’m just hoping for the best these next two weeks. And then that Bloom follows suit and is a buyer.
This week should be a good week for wins to pad the column if you look at the schedule.
3 more with the As, 3 with the Mets which, you don’t take for granted, but, also not that seriously either.
Then it’s a short series with ATL, and, a west coast trip which historically can give the sox trouble with the time zone changes against bothbSF and SEA who have WC aspirations of their own and should be playing hard.
> Red Sox Notes: Bloom, Deadline Plans,
> Fire Sale
Fixed?
That’s not the plan yet. I think he wants to see if the Sox win 7 of the next 10 or lose 7 of the next 10. Give It 2 weeks and we’ll see if it’s a fire sale or not. Could be a fire buy LOL.
There’s no clear answer this year. The schedule was the WORST you could hope for as a bubble team headed into the deadline.
Because the competition is SO BAD for most of the 3 weeks leading into the deadline, it’s hard to gauge how good the group really is at this point. If you were 9-1 in a 10 day stretch against the Rays, Os, and Astros? You buy.
When you’re playing the Cubs, a heavy dose of the As? The stumbling bumbling ChiSox? Thats….tough. it’s hard to evaluate a team.seriously.by how well they beat up on the AAAa (not even 4 A) Oakland As.
At some point, the record counts. Whether one thinks a team is as good as their record, if they are on the bubble (AZ, SF, NYY, TO, etc.) then you might as well invest.
Past that, the RS are about as I expected. They project to 85.35 wins, which is one less than I predicted. If your medical team, and the players, say that Story, Sale & Houck are all returning in early-August, and the team is projecting to 85.35 wins, you have to invest.
GA – I get what you’re saying, but in all fairness going 5-1 against the Jays and Rangers was impressive.
Trade Duval and Kikè for some pitching (3 way trade might be needed). Trevor Story will be ready soon and call up Cedanne Rafaela.
Hernandez has little value as a utility player as awful as his bat has been the last 1 1/2 years, then couple that with he’s still owed remaining portion of the 2023 contrqact and what end up with is pay the salary, plus get nothing of any value in return.
Duval hasn’t hit at all since returning from the DL, monster homerun last night and all.. he brings back little and then probably have to pay most of his deal this yr to get that.
Opposing teams don’t want discards, they would want someone who is capable. Doogie for instance with 1 1/2yrs left before FA would draw a fair return, ditto the 5 solid relievers, but they control all just named after this season.
The only pitcher they could get for that package is Patrick Corbin.
Yeah- Story will return soon & play 15 to 20 games & be done for the season.
A clear example of why playing your young players isn’t throwing in the towel. I wish I could explain it to a number of Cubs fans who insist on resigning the old and telling everyone it’s a good idea. Kudos to the Red Sox. Last year the Cubs brought up a bunch of prospects and were one of the best teams in MLB. Wake up everyone.
Rafaela has struck out 13 times and walked only once in 12 AAA games so far and he is 23 in September. In AA he struck out 55 times and walked 14 times in 60 games. Those ratios are horrendous (and are on par or worse than his numbers the rest of his career). As a major leaguer today he might actually lead the majors in strikeouts. I’m not sold on him being a major leaguer this season or ever being more than a Dodgers kike hernandez type utility player
His calling card is his glove. It plays anywhere
Ketch – Can he put up a .900 OPS in the postseason?
Rafaela needs more time. It’d be a mistake to rush him. I expect him to be ready sometime next year. Hopefully he’ll continue to improve his K and BB walk rate
James Paxton is an obvious sell for them. He will bring back a very nice return and chances are he finishes the year on the IL anyway. Bloom can get creative selling him and bringing in an AL East experienced pitcher with another move. Shipping out Paxton and bringing in someone like Jordan Montgomery (different deals) should be a net prospect gain for them with a bit less pitching with better health odds. Just my 2 cents on creativity.
I don’t think James Paxton is the guy contenders want to rely on for a deep playoff run.
King – How many available starting pitchers in MLB can you point to and say “That guy will not miss a start”?
Paxton has been healthy and making his starts, while his two young rotation mates have been on the IL. It’s a roll of the dice with every starting pitcher.
If i got a choice between a guy who has been healthy the last few years or Paxton and both guys have similar stats I am choosing the guy not named Paxton 10 times out of 10.
Not saying he’s worthless. But pitching in October is hard on guys with good health and who pitch a lot of innings.
If i got a choice between a guy who has been healthy the last few years or Paxton
===========================
The way I see it, You go about as far back on a guy as you go forward. If you are looking at a guy for another 10 starts, you look at his last ten starts. Health over the past three years doesn’t mean much if you are healthy now. If a guy is healthy right now, you take your chances he can remain healthy for two months.
Joe – YES!!!
You think they can get more for Paxton than the Cards get for Montgomery? This has to be the dumbest take of the day.
Of course they won’t get more for Paxton than Montgomery.
I think the Red Sox will just keep Paxton. They might as well.
Cards – It’s a near certainty the Sox won’t be throwing in the towel, so Paxton will definitely stay because SP is already their biggest weakness until guys start returning from the IL.
Also, Paxton didn’t do himself any favors in today’s outing. His next start will be big, both for him to rebound, but, to help stabilize any value if for some reason BOS decides to sell.
Trade Duval and Kikè for some pitching (3 way deal most likely). Call up Cedanne Rafaela, Trevor Story will be back early August. With a little luck Sale will be back mid August. That’s a playoff caliber team.
Your entirely dependent on 2 guys who have barley played 2 games in over 2 years….
Red Sox are kind of stuck. They aren’t really good enough to be a legit contender. But they don’t have the farm system to be able to afford to make trades. They have money but do they want to spend it?
I don’t think “stuck” is the right word. They aren’t favorites or even much in the way of contenders, so making the playoffs or better would be gravy. Don’t deconstruct the present roster to pull the rug out from under playoff chances (because once a team makes it, who knows what might happen?), but don’t go out of the way to make short term investments at notable prices. Best moves would be minor help at trouble spots that don’t cost a lot in terms of talent given up (because of them being minor).
Taking action at championship-favorite levels would just be pretend, so there is no pressure to actually take such action.
they absolutely have the farm system to make trades. They just shouldn’t make any major ones.
I don’t think they have the farm to make trades.
I look at Arizona. They have too many outfielders.
I look at Baltimore. They have too many middle infielders
I look at Miami. They have too many starters.
The Red Sox have the players I suppose. But they don’t have extras. As you said I wouldn’t make a move and trade away a lot of young talent if I were them.
Again they do have the farm system to make trades. your assessment is way off. Whether or not there is redundancy isn’t really the point in a system when it comes to trades. It comes to talent regardless of position. you don’t need “Extras” to make trades. The sox have plenty of talent to make trades. They just shouldn’t.
Having the players and it making any sense whatsoever are two different things.
Yes they have some prospects but by all accounts it’s not a very good farm system.
The other teams I mentioned have much better systems and therefore can afford to make a deal without sacrificing their future.
What are you talking about? the sox farm is top 10 or just outside by anyone reputable doing rankings. BA had them at 11 to start the season.
Fangraphs has the system ranked 5th currently. Again I said they shouldn’t make any trades but your crapping on the Sox farm system is way off base.
5th and 11th?
That seems crazy to me.
either you don’t follow the sox farm system even passively or just don’t know what you’re talking about if you think that sounds crazy. Either way I trust the reputable experts on this one.
Mlb had them at 16 before the season. Blescher report just did a ranking post draft they also have them at 16.
I don’t see the point in cherry picking information to be right on the internet. You go to mute now bye bye.
Bleacher report? you’re joking right It’s hardly cherry picking when two of the most reputable, key word there, ranked them that highly Go ahead and mute me if you’re so thin skinned that you can’t handle even the slightest push back.
Acell your right most people don’t realize how deep that farm system is becoming in Boston.
In fact, they are going to have to trade some guys they are going to have a 40 man issue again and potentially lose quite a few guys let’s hope that Chaim trades the right guys. I really like how this farm is coming along lots of potential and guys breaking out.
It’s significantly better. certain thin skinned cardinals fans just don’t like pushback on their crappy takes
Exactly acell. Such a weak move to put someone on mute because they disagree. All they want is a soapbox and no rebuttal.
Acell – Are you using the same preseason ranking Suit used that included Casas, Duran, Bello and Yoshida?
They aren’t part of the farm system anymore. Actually, Yoshida never was.
Cards – Forgive them, they are Bloom suckups.
Friendly tip to all: Post links to your damn sources, it’s not that hard.
And 2 of the only 4 Top 100 prospects are Dombrowski’s guys.
mlb.com/news/farm-system-rankings-2023-preseason
Acell – Rafaela, Casas, Duran, Crawford, Houck
Can you AT LEAST admit Bloom didn’t inherit a “barren” farm system that so many of you claimed he did. It would go a long way toward restoring credibility. And unlike Bloom, DD didn’t have the luxury of high draft picks from last place finishes.
Holy crap I forgot Bello … shame on me.
Ah FPG the mlbtraderumors answer to a question no one asked. I’ll start with your first post.
None of the ranking sites included Durran or Bello. they met the minimum for IP and ABs over the past 1-2 seasons. BA’s came out before the season started as far as I know fan graphs is up to date.
As to your last point will you at least admit that the farm system is top 10 maybe even top 5 and give credit the current front office? I give plenty of blame to the FO when screw up but you seem unwilling to give credit where it’s due. others can play the subterfuge game too.
Honestly I was happy to respond to your first post but you decided to make further posts and be condescending again. You immediately go to someone being a bloom suck up when they simply point out the obvious about the farm system. Truly a shame.
fangraphs.com/prospects/farm-system-rankings
Agreed. it’s very weak. FPG and I disagree all the time. We’ve had quite a few back and forths but I’ve never muted him and he hasn’t muted me. He deserves credit for that.
it would also go an even longer way with your credibility if you didn’t immediately call someone a bloom suck who disagreed with you or try to pivot away from the discussion at hand when you know you’re wrong.
Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, Miguel Bleis, Nick Yorke, Rafaela all either top 100 or in Yorke’s case top 150. Big movers in the system Drohan, Monegro, Cespedes, ERC, Johnfran Garcia, Blaze Jordan, Chase Meidroth, Gonzalez, Perales, Guerrero, there are numerous others who are playing well and moving up as potential big leaguers like Blalock, Dobbins, Brainer Bonaci.
For sure top 100’s Mayer, Anthony, Rafaela maybe also Yorke and Bleis.
The real thing is the quality depth that is being formed in the low minors lots of quality arms maybe not starters but quality bullpen arms and a few potential starters. The outfield prospects are pretty elite with Anthony, Bleis, and Rafaela. The infield prospects are pretty solid led by Mayer lots of guys who are playing well at young ages.
I’m not going to argue that the Red Sox have top 5 farm I’m guessing more in the 10-14 range but few farms have more potential depth. So no I’m not including any of the graduated guys.
FPG I’m not a Bloom apologist I think his big club development has been lacking and I have said numerous times. I do, however, give credit where it’s due and think Bloom’s team has done pretty well in the draft and getting lots of potential impact players that are playing well in the minors.
Fever: Not sure what you are referencing. I think the Red Sox farm system is roughly middle-of-the-pack, but it is improving.
fangraphs.com/prospects/farm-system-rankings
And click on 2019 and see what the ranking is. I remember when the Betts rumors first started, and I realized that SD had 13 FV50 prospects, and we had -0-.
acell – Thanks for the explanation and I appreciate the link. Quite honestly I don’t understand FG’s ranking system, what the dollars represent etc.
I need to see results before giving credit to Bloom for prospects, it’s too soon to assume Mayer and Yorke will be stars.
I have given credit to Bloom many times, so much so that GASox has gotten mad at me for it. LOL!
Sorry you interpreted my earlier post as condescending, that wasn’t my intention. You know RSN is basically divided between the “suckups” and the “haters”, neither term is derogatory. KD and GA have been called haters many times, they never took offense.
You mentioned BA, I was correct … that’s the same one Suit brought up before, that ridiculously includes Yoshida and also Casas. Here’s the link:
nesn.com/2023/03/baseball-america-2023-farm-system…
You’ll note in that same article the following:
“The Athletic’s Keith Law recently placed the Red Sox at No. 23 in his farm system rankings, citing concern over Boston’s group of pitching prospects. And ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had Boston at No. 14, explaining last season was a “mixed bag” beyond the continued ascents of Triston Casas and Marcelo Mayer.”
acell – As far as I’m concerned, we’re good.
acell – I’ve now provided three separate reputable sources that had the Sox farm system ranked 14th, 15th and 23rd and I believe that all included Casas too. Who knows, they may have included Bello and Duran as well. Sorry but until I understand how FG arrived at their high ranking, I don’t “know I’m wrong” as you say.
One thing you need to realize, the ultimate goal of having a farm system is to develop bona fide ML players. When that happens and they stick with the ML team, the farm system ranking is bound to get downgraded. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just a reflection of how farm systems go through cycles.
BA had them at 11 preseason but they’re behind a paywall.. If memory serves I believe ESPN had them in the 12-14 range (again paywall) Neither BA, Fangraphs or ESPN include Bello as they are strict in following the rookie requirement rules (IP/AB). ‘Keith Law isn’t reputable. He buries prospects in effort to make himself look smart and is about as accurate as a meteorologist in 1966. Case in point: the majority of scouting databases ranked Teel as a good pitch framer. He said the opposite. There’s a reason MLB doesn’t use his list to help determine the prospect promotion pick nor has he had a job in baseball in over 30 years he’s as thin skinned as they come.
Again that wasn’t the point though. Currently the farm system is in the top 10 range with Fangrahs having them as high as 5. 5 seems too high to me without considering the 2023 draft picks but I could see the sox falling in the 8-10 range after the season. Either way Cards crybaby was wrong. It’s shame he’s not as thick skinned as you.
Bruin – I get what you’re saying but can any front office be credited with drafting well, prior to the players actually making the big leagues for good?
And when you miss the postseason 3 out of 4 years, finishing last twice, is it really appropriate to give “credit” for picks like Mayer who they never would have gotten if they hadn’t been among the worst teams in MLB for 2020?
Here’s a great article from Alex Speier, it’s a year old but still has value:
bostonglobe.com/2022/07/28/sports/how-well-has-cha…
“Since chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom joined the Sox in October 2019, they have acquired 21 minor league players over 12 trades.
What’s been the cumulative impact of those deals? The Sox crushed one deal, landing Nick Pivetta (as well as Connor Seabold) for relievers Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree.
But beyond that, the trades made under Bloom appear to have added to the organizational depth without adding a player who projects to be an above-average big league regular.”
suit – A while ago you mentioned the Sox farm system was highly ranked, and when pressed you revealed players such as Casas and even Yoshida were included in the ranking. That’s all it is, I’m not saying you agreed with it at the time.
acell – Since you mention Keith Law, do you remember when he trashed the signing of Yoshida in large part because he thought Yoshida wouldn’t be able to handle ML fastballs?
As of right now, Yoshida has the highest BA vs 4-seamers in MLB:
Yoshida .388
Freeman .376
Arraez .375
Ohtani .372
I expect a really big sophomore season from him.
Fever I’ve said many times before it takes 5 years to really judge draft classes. I watch a lot of minor league baseball and know it’s a crapshoot but when I watch a guy like Roman Anthony, who by the way homered again in High A Greenville, I see a future big leaguer. So yes guys graduate from prospect status like Casas but Anthony wasn’t even on the radar and now he’s top 50 everywhere and on Baseball Prospectus he’s now 9. The point is top farms change all the time. When I watch these minor league games I see a lot of potential big leaguers coming I really like the look of a lot of these guys imo Bloom and team are doing a solid job building a deep minor league system. If you want to complain about the makeup with the big club that’s another story but the minors to me looks like it’s going in a positive direction especially depth wise.
Bruin – I totally agree about farm system rankings changing all the time. It’s not an exact science, can’t go by just stats, and a couple of trades can make for a huge swing as it did with the 2016 Yankees.
With your last sentence you are basically agreeing with Alex Speier’s assessment, depth has improved as we would expect with the recent high draft picks and all the ML players that have been traded for prospects. But I also agree with Alex when he said the farm system doesn’t look like it will produce many quality ML players.
Time will tell, I trust your judgement because you follow the minors closely while i don’t.
FPG:Yes 100% do and I called him on it at the time when he crapped on the Yoshida signing. I pointed out the hypocrisy in praising the cardinals for signing Contrares while ignoring that his flaws (particularly defensively for a much more important position) were much pronounced than Masa’s.. Like the typical thin skinned tool that he is he tried to be snarky about it. I’ll be sure to remind him to eat a plate of cat poop on that one when he brings up end of the season awards.
I expect a really big sophomore season from him.
===========================
I personally don’t feel he is better than Gunnar Henderson, but Yoshida has a real shot at ROY. That would be a heck of thing.
I’ve said many times before it takes 5 years to really judge draft classes.
================================
My preference is to look at it on a macro basis. The way I see it:
C-Wong
1B-Casas
2B-Story
SS-Mayer
3B-Devers
LF-Yoshida
CF-Duran
RF-
DH-
SP-Bello
SP-Whitlock
SP-Houck
SP-Crawford
SP-
BP-Winc, Bernardino, Schreiber,
No one is ever a lock, but we have a team where we can name long-term 14 guys, and none of that includes some of the good prospects we have.
And it is not expensive. We can easily afford that Japanese pitcher they all talk about, as well as a closer & SP (if none of our guys work out). I think we are in very good shape for the next five years.
Sale, Houck, Whitlock & Schrieber could be better fixes for the pitching.
Story is a better fix at SS.
Give Bloom some credit,. Kluber & Mondesi were busts, but Yoshida, Kenley, Turner, Duvall, Paxton, Martin, Winc, Crawford & Bernadino have been good.
One solid SP without giving away the farm could lead to the playoffs and a solid core for ’24.
Let’s do another David Ortiz on the Twins !!
Sign Miguel Sano.
Rumor is he has been working out and is only weighing in at 350 pounds.
I sincerely hope that’s a typo and you meant 250…. or your being sarcastic
No typo, deliberate.
Sarcasm is just one of the many services I offer !!
ha! I just wish they had a sarcasm font to avoid confusion.
LMFAO!
I think Bloom does very little at the deadline. He’ll ride the hot streak and many off days to August 1st.
Then, he’ll consider Story, Schriber, Houck, Whitlock, Sale, Kluber, McGuire, and Perez his “acquisitions” leaving the minor league system untouched.
I could see minor tweaks.
Who is Perez?
Rsox – Tony, he was interviewed during the Sox Yanks Sunday Night game.
Pablo Reyes…not Perez.
IMO bloom is committed to a multi-year rebuild and won’t be a buyer no matter what happens in the next 2 weeks
He’s played something like six positions at Worcester. Probably trying to showcase versatility to make him worth “more”. I think they should keep him. Duvall is gone at the end of the year, which will free up a roster spot. Cedanne isn’t ready yet (close), so give Dalbec another shot. Bobby needs at bats to be productive. He can’t sit five days a week and deliver.
A rule 5 pick and a flash-in-the-pan journeyman who had one good month and was the default All-Star representative of the worst team in Baseball?
Great trade for the A’s, lousy trade for the Sox
I just want to point out a couple things. Making the playoffs with pickups might be slightly more likely, but still a long shot. There are at least 3 other teams with much better talent, and infinitely more pitching to leapfrog to get a possibility at a wild card game.
Without pickups this team has zero chance of making the playoffs. So, the decision is a long shot at the playoffs with zero confidence in advancing to a pennant, or world series, or admit to what this team is and know that this year is not our year.
You trade away players from a position of strength, and you acquire talent from a position of weakness. What is out there that we can 1) actually acquire? (2) make enough of a difference to not only make the playoffs, but advance and possibly win? It will take a quality playoff starter, at least one more quality reliever, and at least one really good shortstop with the glove and bat (assuming Story comes back and contribute anything AT SECOND. Why use him as a deficit shortstop instead of a plus second basement that solves the problem we have had there since the loss of Pedroia?
What are you willing to lose to get ALL THREE to have a prayer, or 1 or 2 of the three to have about the same chance we have now? You want quality? Which prospects do you let go for that slim chance? You don’t want to let go of prospects? You aren’t getting the minimum of three quality, problem solving pieces we need to have a chance.
Personally, the free agent crop id filled with guys that can’t solve our problems, or guys so good we could never dream of getting them to solve our problems a terrible rotation, thin bullpen, DH at third, no real shortstop, backup quality catching, sub-par power, and atrocious defense. Other than that, all good.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see they need starting pitching help…
THEY’RE IN LAST PLACE WHAT THE HELL KIND OF DRUGS IS THIS CHEAPSKATE ON?!?! FIRE HIM ALREADY AND QUIT WITH THE GASLIGHTING.
The Red Sox are 2 games out of the Wild Card entering today.
Suit, the Red Sox have hit the last major soft spot in their schedule this year. They’ve got one more set of a couple series coming up in the future, but, otherwise it’s going to be quality competition (not accounting for a team that may get injury weakened) for most of the remaining season.
Point is, they’re getting their last real free bump I’m the win column, and, it happens at a bad time to evaluate how guys are really doing.
One of these days I’m going to look up each of the other clubs holding a WC or within 5 games of it, see if any of them have some big soft spots in their remaining schedule like the sox have had both sides of the AS break. That would go a long ways towards figuring out how many other clubs could surge while BOS is slogging it out
GASox – I don’t see what you’re seeing with regard to strength of schedule.
Breaking it down really simple:
There are 10 bad teams in MLB … Rockies, Padres, Cardinals, Pirates, Nats, Mets, Athletics, Royals, ChiSox, Tigers. That means 33% of all ML teams are bad.
The Red Sox have 69 games remaining, 22 of which are against the aforementioned bad teams. That comes out to 32% which means the Sox are playing just as many games against bad teams as you’d expect any of the other contenders to play against bad teams..
Fever, I guess I don’t define the ‘bad’ teams as bad the same way as you. If you’re just going off season W-L records, then 2 weeks ago Boston was a ‘bad team’ as it was hovering around some of those names.
The only truly ‘bad’ teams in my opinion are KC, OAK, WAS, COL.
SD has a ton of talent that has underperformed, but isn’t ‘bad’. StL has a poor record but has played better baseball of late, so, you wonder what they’re going to do. NYM? they’ve got players in down years, but, they can easily take 2 of 3 from you. They’re in a 4 game skid, but had a long winning streak before it. Almost red-sox-like, except, they overspent in a much more drastic fashion.
I find it funny you omitted the Cubs from your list. Is it because they throttled the Sox today, or, ???. Because they, record-wise, compare worse than SD and play a weaker division.
PIT is having growing pains now, but they’re still the same team that put up a hot early few months. And don’t forget the role health played in DET. They’ve got guys coming back, and, at only 5 games back in their weak division, they may not sell. I don’t see them as large buyers, but, they may not sell off and tank.
If some of those teams sell, of course they become worse. But, I only count the games against the As and Royals as being easy to win based on records and being buyers/sellers. DET becomes easier if they sell though as well.
GASox – I agree, we have differing definitions of “bad”. The four teams you listed all have winning percentages under .410 which I would categorize as “super bad” or “epically bad”. LOL
I adhere to Bill Parcell’s philosophy of “You are what your record says you are”.
I don’t continue to call a team “good” when they perform badly due to injuries. The Yankees without Judge, Stanton and Cole would not be a good team.
For the most part, I grouped the bad teams as being at least 8 games under .500 and to the Red Sox credit they have never fallen more than 2 games under .500 so they definitely were never “bad” at any point this year.
Yes, the Padres could easily fall into the “mediocre” group. The reason I have them as “bad” is because of their composition, they threw together a bunch of very talented players without taking the team concept into consideration. Add to that the fact they have the 3rd-highest payroll in MLB, to me that screams “bad”. Red Sox don’t play them again this year, so moving the Padres to “mediocre” wouldn’t change Boston’s strength of schedule.
As for the Cards, I think it’s absolutely absurd a .424 team that is 11 back of the division lead and 12 back of the final WC is still not waving the white flag.
Pirates are 21-43 in their last 64 games which is really, really bad in my book. They are realistically out of the division title and WC races. Wish the Sox could get another crack at them this year.
Sure the Mets can be dangerous with Senga, Scherzer and Verlander but they are 12-23 in their last 35 games and realistically have no shot at the division title or WC.
Sure the Tigers are only 5 back in that pathetic AL Central, but they are just 16-23 in their last 39 games and have one of the worst offenses in MLB despite no major position player injuries. Even if they don’t sell, I seriously doubt they will buy.
So to summarize, I really don’t think the Red Sox schedule is a factor from here on out. It’s not too difficult, but also not easy.
I wish I had read your response before doing my own research, but that’s about right. The winning % of our remaining teams is .506. But that’s the nature of playing in the ALE. I assume that the NYY and TO will face similar difficulties.
I don’t expect strength of schedule to make a meaningful difference. And to be honest, we have 23 games against the teams that are in our WC bracket. We need to beat them, or else we don’t deserve it.
Love your name on here, but your take is as clueless as your namesake.
The Red Sox are 3 games AHEAD of the first place team in the AL Central !!!! The wild card is the entire AL not by division.
Sox could address their all left-handed hitting outfield b4 the start of the ’24 season. Maybe Verdugo for a Dylan Cease like return. Or, maybe Duran for one of the Marlins young gun starters.
All three are foolish propositions.
First, the Red Sox as constructed *right now* looking into next year have RH balance in the lineup at SS, 2B, C, DH, 4th OF.
While Teel is expected to short-track to the majors as a lefty, his early tandem with wong makes a RH compliment. You’ve also got Rafaela and a possible Kiki replacement in Dalbec if he doesn’t get traded and builds that versatility.
In short, there’s already a L/R lineup setup in place, no need to trade just to break up the OF, and, Verdugo would be in his last year anyways.
Which comes to your second point, 1 year of Verdugo is WOEFULLY short of what it’d take to pull Cease and all his years of control. Not happening.
Likewise, Duran is too important to the longterm OF to send out of town, and, would be harder to replace his mix of production and affordability than a SP you could buy on the FA market with the savings
GaSox- I may be in the minority for Sox fans but I actually want them to trade Duran. I Wonder if he could be a central piece in a trade for a guy like Logan Gilbert or Bryan woo. I’m hesitant to trust Duran going forward because his k% is still near 30% and we have so many lefty hitters as it is and I guess I’m worried he’s another dalbec situation where he had value after 2021 and we kept him
Rsfan – always a risk of course. I view him as a RF option for after Verdugo is gone, someone to mix it up with whomever of hopefully rafaela in CF and bleis/anthony make the grade. The latter two are at least a good 3 more years away as of right now, so, I’m not worried about some prospect log jam, especially given that rafaela still needs seasoning himself. Not all prospects make it, but, if you ‘sold high’ on everyone after a good season, then you miss out on the good ones as well as the regression prone.
Just like if you traded every prospect when they looked good, because you were afraid of the bust-rate, you’d never have anyone young come up to the mlb squad.