3:55pm: The Sox have now officially announced all of these moves.
3:30pm: The Red Sox are recalling prospect Ceddanne Rafaela, per Ian Browne of MLB.com, along with infielder/outfielder David Hamilton. In corresponding moves, infielder Pablo Reyes is going on the injured list while outfielder Wilyer Abreu heads to the paternity list.
Rafaela, now 22, was signed by the Sox as an amateur out of Curaçao for a modest bonus of $10K. He has since performed well in his rise through the minor leagues and is now considered one of the club’s top prospects, though a somewhat divisive one. He has always hit well on the farm but has done so while swinging at just about everything, leading some evaluators to question whether that hyper-aggressive approach could be exploited by major league pitchers. He also began as an infielder but wasn’t considered an excellent defender there, though his move to center field a few years ago seems to have been an astute one, as he’s now considered elite at that position.
His overall prospect stock shot up in 2022, as he split his time between High-A and Double-A with a combined batting line of .299/.342/.538 and a wRC+ of 134 while spending more time in the outfield. That got him onto some top 100 prospect lists and selected to Boston’s 40-man roster in November, to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He’s had another strong performance here in 2023, hitting .302/.349/.520 between Double-A and Triple-A for a wRC+ of 121.
As mentioned, there is divided opinion on Rafaela as a prospect. Baseball America doesn’t currently have him on their top 100, recently ranking him #6 in the club’s system. Kiley McDaniel recently provided a top 50 update to his prospect rankings without Rafaela making the cut. However, MLB Pipeline has him at #77 in the league, Keith Law of The Athletic recent put him at #48 and FanGraphs has him all the way up at #31.
The major question mark seems to be whether his approach at the plate will work in the big leagues. He’s drawn walks in just 105 of his 1,852 plate appearances in the minors thus far, a rate of 5.7% that’s well below the 8.5% major league average. But his overall offense is strong enough that he’ll get a chance against big league pitching.
This part of the calendar is a popular time for prospect promotions, since there’s not enough time left in the season for players to exhaust rookie eligibility. That’s significant under the new collective bargaining agreement, as players with rookie status that feature on top prospect lists can potentially earn their clubs an extra draft pick in future seasons based on awards voting.
That will be a concern for the future. For now, the club will hope Rafaela can hit the ground running and perhaps provide a jolt to finish the year, as they are currently just 4.5 games out of a playoff spot. But it will also give them a chance to evaluate Rafaela prior to the offseason, with center field a bit of a question mark. Adam Duvall has spent plenty of time there but is a free agent at season’s end. Jarren Duran has had a breakout season but is getting some help from a .381 batting average on balls in play and is currently on the injured list. Abreu has been playing some center but is considered by many to be a better fit for a corner. The final weeks of the season could perhaps provide the club some more information on how their center field depth chart looks for 2024.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
That’s a bit of a surprise move. It will be interesting to see if ceddane gets everyday reps, or, if not, how he handles not playing everyday.
GA, I think he is the most games that he has played already, so a bench spot may not be a bad idea. Good experience either way!
When your replacement has the kind of year Casas has ended up having especially after the all-star break you are stuck behind dude. Maybe Dalbec wouldn’t average .200 and strikeout 200 times in the future. I hope he’s learned it’s not always about a homerun just make good contact.
Now. Who do they bring up as the pitcher?
Kyle Bear Claw
Milt- Back to the High Point Rockers he goes. Really it should be the Low Point Rockers.
Looking back at some of the comments when the Red Sox acquired him makes me chuckle.
“Nothing to worry about, just minor league depth, he won’t be pitching in any important situations or important games”.
Bwahahahaha!
GASox – With both Pablo and Duran injured, it’s not really surprising. Woulda been up Sept 1st anyway.
Who else did you have in mind?
It’s not surprising at all. Suk Sox need something going because they aren’t winning.
Suk Sox, Tha’ts very clever.
Sorry, I’m just upset how they just give up on wins we could/should have. They just lay flat for other teams to win.
Kind of a ‘Days of our lives’ type transaction/
Dalbec.
I feel for Dalbec. I really hope he gets moved this off-season to team that will let him play. He has to be asking himself what more he has to do.
Dalbec will never be given a regular chance by the Sox, they wrecked his development and have just stashed him in AAA. I too hope he gets traded to a team that will let him play every, just so long as it’s not in the AL East
“I too hope he gets traded to a team that will let him play every, just so long as it’s not in the AL East”
Pretty sure you don’t have to worry about another AL East team playing Dalbec every day.
Dalbec got 806 PAs in 250 games in 2021-2022. He certainly had a chance to prove himself.
suit – Agreed, Dalbec had his chance. And Bloom had his chance to trade him when he still had value, instead of watching Dalbec devolve into Franchy.
How did they wreck him? By letting him play constantly and seeing him strike out in big opportunities? They relied on this guy a lot last year and he didn’t deliver. Sox didn’t wreck him, they gave him a chance with open arms. He’s been nothing but an AAAA player.
It is a missed opportunity that we didn’t trade him after 2021- we could have gotten something back.
How did they wreck his development? He got a pretty long look over the course of the last few years no? What would you have likes to see differently? He may have a turnaround ( albeit on another team as Casas has 1b locked down) but he’s looking like a classic AAAA player..
Fever – Great point. Also, Dalbec had an excellent 2020 then his sophomore slump lasted half the year and he had a good 2nd half in 2021. At that point the team trashed him. That’s not a real opportunity, that’s a “moving on” signal that was prematurely given to a kid with great potential. It just goes to show if the guys aren’t liked by the front office they seldom succeed.
Mookie pushed through the front office stigma and became a star and guys like Chavis and Delbec never had a chance because they didn’t have Mookie’s talent but I’d take either of them over Swihart who the darling of the front office and was given more chances succeed than almost anyone else other than Devers.
Devers sucked in 2018 and they let him play through it rather than sending him down to work on being a DH. Fortunately, his off season work his hitting paid off and he turned things around so the front office could gloat about their support for the Butcher of Boston. He still should have been moved to DH and JD to LF to reduce team errors by 15 to 20. Real errors often referred to as misplays not counted by the biased scorekeepers.
Tko – Well said. Big strong first basemen who can’t make contact are a dime a dozen, doesn’t matter how far they can hit a ball if they don’t make contact.
Rsox16 hours ago
Dalbec will never be given a regular chance by the Sox, they wrecked his development and have just stashed him in AAA. I too hope he gets traded to a team that will let him play every, just so long as it’s not in the AL East
__________________________________________________________
Do you look the matches of Red Sox?
In 2022, Bobby had enough chances to improve the game, him nobody blocked.
I remember some “clever” man on this web-site compared of Dalbec and Casas, he said that they are alike players, it was funny.
You need less to read the posts of Trollfree – they have pernicious influence.
Trollfree
Mookie pushed through the front office stigma and became a star and guys like Chavis and Delbec never had a chance because they didn’t have Mookie’s talent but I’d take either of them over Swihart who the darling of the front office and was given more chances succeed than almost anyone else other than Devers.
___________________________________________________
Don’t mislead the unexperienced fans of Red Sox about that at Chavis and Dalbec wasn’t chances in Major League.
I will ask as Billy Bean :
” Where are his results in Major League, If Chavis such class player”?
Trollfree8 hours ago
Fever – Great point. Also, Dalbec had an excellent 2020 then his sophomore slump lasted half the year and he had a good 2nd half in 2021. At that point the team trashed him. That’s not a real opportunity, that’s a “moving on” signal that was prematurely given to a kid with great potential. It just goes to show if the guys aren’t liked by the front office they seldom succeed.
____________________________________________________
In 2022, Dalbec was in starting lineup of Red Sox on the first base. He was bad during 2/3 season and he was sent in AAA.
What do you talk about?
I couldn’t believe Dalbec got as many at bats as he did. I never saw any indication at the Major
League level that Dalbec was a player.
Mlb – Red Sox have a habit of giving long leashes at the major league level because they don’t give a crap about winning. Just another “bridge year” until Bloom’s prospects are ready. Until then, payroll stays down and the expanded postseason is not attainable.
Bogie – Never said Chavis was a class player.
Reading comprehension is important.
Bogie – You seem a bit misguided on what happened in 2022. Dalbec started in 80 of the 162 games. That’s significantly down from 2021 or 2020 as percentage of games started.
He hit badly for a long time but his average was better than Kiki’s who still got to start when he didn’t. That’s the Cora bias. That’s the front office bias.
Wake up and smell the coffee. Stop making stuff up and look in baseball reference to see the facts.
Please comment incorrectly on other people’s comments not mine. Thank you.
mlb – He had two indications he could play:
2020 – 23 games hit .263/,359/.600/,959 with an OPS+ of 149
2021 – 2nd half of season
61 games hit .269/.344/.611/.955 with an OPS+ of 107
He had moments that showed he belonged but he wasn’t shown the same patience they showed to Devers when he struggled with the bat in 2018 not to mention Dalbec has always been a way better 1B than Devers was and still is at 3B defensively.
I like Casas more now that he’s shown what he can do but the whole point was about the CHANCES given some players and not others.
Bogie – You sure are articulate. Pernicious? hahaha Glad you looked up your word of the day for your spelling class!! hahaha
What does “Do you look the matches of Red Sox?” mean? Is that some type of code we should be able to decipher?
My decoder ring helped me with your comment and I want to thank you for warning Rsox against reading my comments because they might kill him. Odd take on my comments but fitting of a person who hasn’t figured out exactly how to troll someone who makes their blood boil. Good try!! I look forward to your next response. Can you include the word discordant in one of your sentences? Thank you.
“Chavis and Delbec never had a chance”
“Swihart who the darling of the front office and was given more chances succeed than almost anyone”
——————————-
Plate Appearances with Red Sox:
Dalbec: 912 – so far
Chavez: 622
Swihart: 597
So 597 for Swihart is too many chances, and Dalbec with 300+ more PAs is a case of “never had a chance”. Huh?
Honestly, this guy cant make a point without fabricating something.
Trollfree
Trollfree5 hours ago
Bogie – You sure are articulate. Pernicious? hahaha Glad you looked up your word of the day for your spelling class!! hahaha
What does “Do you look the matches of Red Sox?” mean? Is that some type of code we should be able to decipher?
______________________________________________________________
If you were warier that would be turned attention that this question was addressed to other user – Rsox.
If you and Rsox it is a the same user then me does not surprise that you intercede for him.
However he talks nonsense not owning information or to him to check laziness before to publish the post.
Trollfree
Dalbec 2020 debut
80AB, 42.4%K!!!, 10.9%BB, .394 Babip!!!, +148Wrc – it talks about that Dalbec very success in a little selection.
Casas 2022 debut
76AB, 24.2%K, 20%BB, .208 Babip!!!, +113Wrc – it talks about that Casas didn’t success in a little selection.
Devers 2017 debut
222AB, 23.8%K, 7.5%BB, .342 Babip!!!, +112Wrc
Trollfree
Trollfree6 hours ago
Bogie – You seem a bit misguided on what happened in 2022. Dalbec started in 80 of the 162 games. That’s significantly down from 2021 or 2020 as percentage of games started.
______________________________________________________
B.Dalbec 2022 MLB
117Games – 89G(1B – 635In.), 24G(3B – 140In.), 2G(2B – 5.1In.), 1G(SS – 10In.), 1G(DH), 317AB, 33.4%K, 8.2%BB, 80Wrc+!!!
Why is not my statement faithful?
Career of MLB
283Games, 826AB, 35.2%K!!!, 7.6%BB, 100Wrc+, .314Babip, -2.7dWAR (1B-3B), -16Rdrs(1B-3B), 237G(1B – 1790In, 16E, .990% Fld, -2.5dWAR, -13Rdrs) .
2023 Triple AAA
99Games, 360AB, 34.1%K!!!, 12.8%BB .966Ops,
26G(1B – 205.1In, 3E, .985% Fld), 41G(3B – 305In, 8E, .925% Fld), 25G(RF – 210In, 3E, .939% Fld), 6G(SS – 51In, 1E, .944% Fld).
Bobby had enough chances at the level of Major League.
Every third going near a dish – this SO, his securing for the first base causes suspicion, he can’t beat of righties, triple ААА kills, but deletes more than 34%K, not so good on a 3rd base in AAA.
Dalbec is a F.Cordero 2.0 – triple ААА kills, but sucks in Major League.
His only value is a bat, but sense of this force if you delete in one third of the approaches at the level of ААА.
Trollfree
Trollfree6 hours ago
mlb – He had two indications he could play:
___________________________________________
I don’t argue he improved the skills:
1) Revved up deletion from 33.4%k in Major League (2022) to 34.1%K ААА (2023) Bobby improves.
2) Sucks in Major League.
Trollfree
You published this mantra about Chavis last year.
He had a good chance with the Pirates last season.
M.Chavis 2022 Pittsburgh
129Games, 401AB, +82Wrc
Career of MLB
348Games, 1097AB, 31.8%K, 5.4%BB, +84Wrc
Where are his results in the Major League?
Not strike out 40% of the time?
Kyle Schwarber just crossed you off his Xmas card list
Schwarber was good for Dalbec. That is when Dalbec was at his best, when Schwarber was on the team. However, Dalbec getting advice from Joey Gallo 2.0 seems counterproductive but results say he was good for him.
The answer of “hot Major League pitching”
DBH1969
To learn less to strike:
2021 – 34.4K% MLB, .318 Babip
2022 – 33.4K% MLB, .299 Babip
2023 – 34%K AAA, .370 Babip
Dalbec has obviously been told to settle into AAA and fix his game. He has had plenty of chances the last couple of years, now it’s just stay there fix your game and come to spring training next year and see what you got.
Sox will call up other guys in 2023 and Dalbec stays down and gains confidence and gets ready for ’24. No problem there, it’s a solid plan.
@GW, where do play him?
Great question. But you don’t have to worry about that until he fixes his game. If that happens these things tend to work themselves out. Maybe then you trade him but you’ll get something if he’s a real player next April.
I could see value in that.
Sox have some decisions to make. Devers needs to move to DH. I expect Turner back. If Ceddanne, Albreu, and Duran is the OF, where do you play Yoshi?
Will be very interesting this off season!
Yoshi can play DH or LF (Left field isnt that tough). I doubt Raphaela and Abreu are both starters next year, one’s bound to stumble.
Outfield of Yoshi (LF) Duran/Duval (CF) Raphaela/Abreu (RF) would be perfect. One of Raphaela or Abreu would start at AAA. Verdugo would be traded for pitching depth.
I was wondering the other day how much it would cost to get Duval back. He is playing for 7m this year. I wonder if he would do 12M for 2 years?
@Icon. Honestly, why pay Duval millions to be streaky with power when you call pay Dalbec league min to do the same?
@RSmith, would you keep Devers at 3rd? Try him at 1st? DH him?
Icon: Duval should be re-signed. He fit well here, lots of signings like his (1yr, coming off a down year) dont work out as good as he did. He’d be worth a little overpay.
But I’d say at least 15M per season as a re-sign. (1.7 WAR so far, and average is something like 17-18M per expected War in FA).
DBH:
Devers needs to DH. He looked promising defensively last year at 3B, but, his regression this year was horrendous. But, I do think they give him one more season (2024) at 3B, after which several minor league infielders will be knocking at the door and one should bounce him from 3B. Blaze Jordan is my hope.
As for Duval, I dont agree with the ‘streaky’ name too much. He has over .900 ops and 137 OPS+ is impressive, and his only slump was after a long layoff from an injury. The guy led the NL in RBIs just 2 years ago.
Good input, bro. Gives the brain a bone to chew on. Thanks
Because Dalbec doesn’t play centerfield?
He;s making 7M this year. I don’t see him doubling that next year at 35 years old coming off another season where he missed a ton of time to injuries.
Devers was a -6 DRS last season and -6 this season so far. He has always played 3B like a DH.
The Red Sox signed him to a huge deal that only pays off if he continues to play 3B. At DH his $31.5 million AAV over the next decade is outrageously high.
Yoshida sure makes LF look hard.
Gee, you guys suck as fans. You cry if we don’t sign players, then you complain when they do sign players. Talk about unrealistic…
If ya think Dalbec has something in the tank and has learned to make contact instead of swinging for the fences with two strikes you trade Casas in the winter in a package for starting pitching. You can’t be guessing here though, you better be right, it’s the kind of trade that can get Bloom fired if he’s wrong.
Dalbes is striking out at a 40% clip in AAA. That is the reason he is still there.
@Doom, it isn’t really about sign/resign here. It’s about being too overstocked in some positions and understocked in others. Who stays up, who stays down, who gets traded, and who gets let go.
Disagreement or discussion over who fits where and when doesn’t make anyone a more or less a fan than anyone else, bro.
@kingbum. No way would I trade Casas. Too much upside and controllable for many years.
DBH1969
Goodness!!!
You compare of Dalbec 34%K with Duvall28%K…
What? Where did I do that? I didn’t compare their strike out rates anywhere o.0
RSmith
Unfortunately, Jordan will have to pass to the first base on the estimations of scouts. With age he becomes slower and work of feet is slowed. Alike he is a candidate on trade in future.
BaseballisLife
Hanley in LF looked yet severer.
Doom & Bloom
To present, if Raffy didn’t sign an extension in this offseason, would become FA and would sign a contract with Dodgers or Yankees…
It is a blow to the eggs.
DBH1969
You said that sense to pay money of Duvall if for us is there a Dalbec.
I, as in an example, brought statistics over of deletions of these players.
Dalbec didn’t obtain such successes with Major League as it was done by Duvall.
Dalbec in minor leagues 34 %K (Career), Duvall in Major League 28 %K (Career).
Duvall, won the Gold Glove 2021(OF) and World Series 2021, was one of leaders of Braves, if it were not for a injury at the beginning of season 2023, that rather all he would get in All Star and could win voices of MVP in this season. His swings perfectly befit for Fenway.
Ok, I see where I wasn’t more clear. My bad. I wasn’t proposing dalbec move to cf. Let me clarify. Duran, Yoshi, Verdugo, and now Ceddanne and wilyer knocking on the door. Why pay Duval when you can promote?
If Dalbec is brought up it will be back up 1b/3b. Again for league min.
NOT that I advocate that, just a why pay Duvall 15 mils.
I didn’t say it made them more or less as fans, I said it made them sucky fans
I already saw Dalbac two years ago as well as last year. He should not be allowed anywhere near a baseball diamond at the major league level. They are keeping him at the Triple AAA Level so he does not flop again at the Major League level. Bloom is hoping that some team bites on Dalbac and gives up something good for him. I don’t think major League teams are fooled by Dalbac at all.
AL34
I watched the Wooster game yesterday.
Bobby played in right field.
I don’t know what this experiment is for (maybe to add value to his persona) but he looks like a lamppost there.
His only value is the bat, but if you’re striking out over 34% in the minor leagues, your value is close to zero.
RSmith
18 comments are hidden because you muted the comment authors
What the hell?
I have never muted anyone on this resource.
I log in from the phone everything is fine.
I logged in from my computer and writes that, I muted 18 comments – mysticism.
Have you encountered such a problem here?
bogie2x:
No. I havent had that problem. Ive got:
“1 comment is hidden because you muted the comment author”
At the top of my page.
I usually just use my Mac for comments, rarely phone. But, the muting feature is terrible here. It mutes blocks of comments simply because you have a single person muted.
Click on “update your profile” and see if any names appear in “muted” list. If you change anything, make sure you hit “save”.
RSmith
It was a glitch.
Now everything seems to be in order.
Thanks!
The only confidence he will develop is if and when Sox ship him out
Doom – The Red Sox have many fielding liabilities and Devers has been the biggest since 2017. Baseball Life was spot on in his evaluation of how bad he is.
LF – Yoshida is Schwarber bad if you focus only on his defense. Love his bat for getting on base but he hurts the pitching staff.
CF – Duran is still improving but what he accomplished in 2023 makes him the man in CF until another prospects beats him out.
RF – Verdugo is lost playing RF. He was an adequate LF in Fenway but his poor paths to the ball and his bad hand eye coordination reaching for balls over his head makes him a liability in RF and adequate in LF. His hitting makes him expendable overall.
1B – Casas is far from being a gold glove but his bat is sorely needed so he needs to start going forward.
2B – Cheap fillers need to provide great defense or need to be replaced. The bat doesn’t matter at this position as much as the defense and turning double plays.
SS – Story is it until Mayer arrives (if he does) and he’s solid. In fact, the team defense is so bad he may be the best defender at his position and he’s slightly above average.
3B – Devers is and always has been the Butcher of Boston. Fans misread short spans when he doesn’t error as much as normal as an improvement and then he brings his total back to his norm and people simply dismiss his errors with statements of “he’s not that bad”. WRONG. He was atrocious at age 16 in the DR Academy. He was atrocious all through the minors but some of managers in the minors lied and said he was improving despite the numbers showing the opposite and he got promoted to the majors where he led the league every year in errors at 3B. His albatross contract is $6MM more than a good DH would make and his body is targeted to break down by age 33 like Miggy Cabrera’s did. He needs to DH in 2024 to give the pitchers a break and improve his chances of not breaking down by 33..
Fixing the defense will be no simple task.
Abreu was impressive. If Ceddane can be just as impressive it will be really exciting spring training!
Yep, I grabbed him early in my dynasty league.
Tough to replace Pablo’s contributions
I was sooooo wrong about this guy haha.
Weren’t we all? Lol
RedSoxx_62 – Small sample sizes can be misleading. He did better than expected for a limited time but whether he could do it for a season is a completely different issue. He was a nice surprise.
Go Rafaela!!
Might as well. We’re kind of languishing in terms of Wild Card progress so he can get on the roster a couple days before the Sept 1 callups, give him some reps through the rest of the year, see how his bat plays against MLB pitching and let us see this much hyped defensive excellence. I’m all for it.
So he’ll get 3-4 games while Abreu is on paternity leave or does he stick once rosters expand?
Life – I would think and hope Hamilton is the one to get demoted when Abreu returns.
I agree. Even though Rafeala is a free swinger, I would like to see what he could do over a month of fairly consistent at bats.
Life – Now that the Sox are basically out of the postseason race, it would be interesting to see how Rafaela gets into the lineup. He’s got limited time at 2B, but he should be starting there instead of Hamilton.
Story could easily move to 2B to have Rafaela play SS, but Story would probably not be happy with that scenario.
Finally!
For those worried about him swinging at everything, I would much rather a hitter that swings at everything over a hitter who takes 1st pitch fastballs and swings at breaking balls out of the strike zone. Swinging at everything has worked pretty well for Devers and Vlad senior and junior.
Is he supposed to be the next Mookie? As a Yankees fan still very surprised Boston traded away Betts.
Devers walks at an above MLB average rate. Rafaela at 50% less than MLB average and that is in AAA.
This guy is named after Chipper Jones. I love it!
Last time we had a guy named after Derek Jeter and he wasn’t here for very long.
Cora has got to go…. what the **** is he doing.
I honestly don’t believe it’s his fault and I’m with him bringing up talent because we aren’t going anywhere and need a spark. This team is terrible right now.
The Astros have our number, that’s no surprise. Can’t believe people thought we had a lasting chance. Our season was over just before the first Astros series started.
It’s okay, Blue Jays are staying home too.
Doom – Strength of schedule is so overlooked when projecting future wins. This 10 game stretch was a doozy.
Also, Cora may be asking Bloom for guys from AAA but it’s Bloom’s call to do it. Just like it’s his job to stock the minors with quality players. Based on what he’s acquired, the AAA roster seems weak considering how many people talk about how Bloom is rebuilding the farm system. It seems to me that the only farm hands looking good at the MLB level were here before Bloom.
You have suggested the Blue Jays won’t make the playoffs but I think the Mariners big surge has been completely misread. They are just finishing a stretch of 16 games since AUG 14th where they played KC 7 times, the CWS 3 times, the As 3 times and the Astros 3 times. 13 of 16 vs bad opponents can make any team look good.
In September, they start the month with 3 vs NYM and 3 vs CIN but then the schedule bites them in the back side.
4 against TB, 3 against LAD, 6 against TEX, 3 against HOU and 3 against LAA.
16 of their final 19 games are against quality opponents that are far tougher than KC, CWS and OAK. We’ll see how hot they are when they meet real opponents with quality pitchers and hitters. Don’t count out TOR just yet. Toronto plays COL OAK and KC the first 9 games of SEP.!! Their final 19 games are a mix of easy and hard opponents. 9 are against NYY and BOS and 10 are against TB and TEX.
Clearly SEA has the tougher schedule so lets step back and let it play out. I still think HOU and BAL win the divisions with TB and TX as the first two WC and SEA and TOR coming down to the last day to see who gets the last spot.
We will see, you have a point but I think Tampa passes the O’s. They are the better team when it comes down to pitching.
Doom = TB’s starting pitching is better and with Bautista out TB has a chance but they have counted on smoke and mirrors for years to carry them to places their skill set didn’t belong. Without Rasmussen and Springs their staff is good and better than most but without them I completely disagree with your belief they are better if Bautista hadn’t gone down..
Here are the rotations of the contenders: Who really stands out?
TB – Glasnow, Rasmussen (gone), Spirngs (gone), Eflin, Civale, Littell andTBD
BAL – Means (gone), Bradish, Kremer, Flaherty, Gibson and G Rodriguez
HOU – Verlander, Valdez, Brown, Javier and France
TEX – deGrom (gone), Scherzer, Eovaldi (coming back), Montgomery, J Gray, HEaney, Dunning
TOR – Gausman, Bassitt, Berrios, Ryu and Kikuchi
SEA – Castillo, Gilbert, Kirby, Ray (gone, B Miller and Woo?
BOS – Sale, Paxton, Bello, Crawford and Houck
LAA – Ohtani (out), Giolito, Detmers, Sandoval, Silseth and T Anderson
With Rasmussen and Springs I really liked TB’s rotation but without them I believe HOU and TEX have better rotations especially when Eovaldi returns to TEX in SEP. SEA has an excellent staff too that may exceed TB’s with their two studs out. Even TOR is competitive with the weakened TB staff.
You may be right that TB will flourish in SEP and win the division over BAL but they are like BOS in that they are very hard to predict. Two years ago I would have bet my house they would beat BOS in the playoffs and they didn’t. I guess that’s what makes SEP so much fun along with the anticipation of the playoff match-ups!
Have you looked at pythagorean win/loss records? Tampa Bay is better by the amount of runs scored versus given up. Baltimore is still very, very good, but Tampa just has more pitching.
@Doom. I will raise my hand as guilty for finding a temporary insanity type false hope for the Sox. Like I posted before the road trip, the Sox would really have had to over perform from that point on. Statistically there was a chance, but the reality laid the smack down in Houston.
At this point, Spring Training mode should be activated. Anyone with any sort of nagging pain should be on the IL, and the parking lot should be full of buses from Worchester.
Cooper – Not many regulars here watch the games, but I do and I completely agree with you. Running out of relievers when there’s 8 on the active roster is inexcusable. And this wasn’t even a mop-up situation, Bear Claw came into the game with a lead.
Downright pathetic Cora didn’t make any reliever changes to protect the lead or at least stay close in the 6th inning.
“That’s significant under the new collective bargaining agreement, as players with rookie status that feature on top prospect lists can potentially earn their clubs an extra draft pick in future seasons based on awards voting.”
I would have appreciated an explainer here. This is news to me.
I have been critical of Bloom since the Betts trade and he will always be a negative for that trade to me. His inactivity at the trade deadline this year was unforgivable. His starting pitchers cannot make it into the 6th inning burning out the bullpen this year. This team has been 3-5 games out of the wildcard spot for over a month and a half. This team is not going to make it to the playoffs this year period. This is a wasted year in Boston for ownership to not make the playoffs and get playoff money. Why wasn’t he interested in
Pitcher Michael Lorenzen who the Phillies traded for from Detroit ? He is a staring pitcher and they did not give up much for him. With a descent trade for a pitcher and a relief pitcher this team could have gotten help. I think this is going to get Henry mad! Now Bloom is going to promote guys to take the heat off of his inactivity at the trade deadline.
As a pragmatic fan who lives Red Sox baseball year around I get frustrated by the massive emotional swings of many of the contributors on this site but I understand why it happens we both are passionate about the organization.
Some suggestions for how to smooth the emotional curve:
1 – Monitor the strength of schedule to determine if good and bad streaks related more to the schedule or the performance of the players
2 – Fairly evaluate the skill set to set expectations.
3 – Take into account who the GM is and his ability to provide resources in a timely manner.
4 – Take into account who the Manager is and his managerial skill set and what’s missing.
5 – The real value of the farm system not the marketing of it
6 – The real value of the drafted players not the marketing of it
7 – The real value of acquisitions and DFAs and the true value to the MLB club.
These 7 things create huge mood swings on this site thanks to the passion of the fans. It’s completely understandable but it’s also exhausting.
Talent to me is the key. When you remove Mookie from the roster you lose a HUGE amount of talent. Most people would seek to replace that talent level but our GM thinks differently than most and chose to spread the money across much lower levels of talent. This philosophy has torn down a potential dynasty and replaced it with hope for the future.
Here is the catch in Bloom’s approach, he can market the future of the club as being something he attained but in fact he’s done next to nothing to attain it. Why you ask?
1 – Draft picks are given to every GM they are not earned by smart moves. Choosing wisely is often a popularity contest created by prospect rating services not reality. Bloom needs to do nothing each year and he will get his draft picks to hang his hat on as his improvement of the farm system but that’s not an improvement it’s a given that all GMs get.
2 – A second source of improvement is adding quality players to the farm system outside the draft. Many claimed Jeter Downs was a great add until he wasn’t. Many claimed Verdugo was a great add but his league average play at his price point is easily achieved elsewhere so his contribution above using his money on an alternative resources is minimal at best. Wong is now playing and has been a nice surprise. His minor league numbers suggest he’s not as good as he’s playing in the MLB but time will tell. If he is a league average catcher then he too provides no additional value over finding another league average catcher. In the end, people claim Bloom did great in the Mookie deal but factually he completely blew it. There is no added value and they lost a year of a superstar who had a great 2020 that might have provided far more trade value in July when ATL, LA and SD where jockeying for position in the NL race like they do every year.
3 – The last marketing of the club that is a lie is the MLB roster itself. Nobody in their right mind would line up the 2019 team he inherited versus the current team and say it is less talented than today’s team. This third aspect of the improved Red Sox is as big or bigger of a lie than the first two. Bad defense, ONLY ONE all-star on offense and pitching depth that sends us to AAA constantly. The MLB roster is a shadow of what he inherited yet he still tries to sell the future by suggesting things are getting better when they aren’t. He’s simply taking actions that hopefully will offset some of the damage he’s done. That’s not improvement, that’s malfeasance!!!
So lets all cross our fingers and hope for a miracle in SEP that allows the team to make the playoffs and then lets turn our eyes to a future without Bloom and Cora so things can get back to normal, BOS being a big market team in the hunt for winning the division and a ring!!
This is a terrible defensive team. It is like watching a bar softball team on defense. Bloom inherited a good team and Henry must have given him permission to trade Mookie Betts. They should have given him the contract he deserved. He is an MVP player. The Dodgers fleeced him in that trade just like the Renfroe / JBJ trade with the Brewers. Verdugo could have been had in a trade. Jeter Downs, I saw two years ago when he was struggling in Triple AAA. He is gone now. Connor Wong is a backup catcher. He picked up Wacha and gets success out of him then does not sign him again. I did not get that at all. Eovaldi should have been signed. Story is mediocre and Bogaerts should have been signed last year. The players he picks up are like transition players and there is little continuity. Kory Kluber was done last year and he stole money this year. Sale is not what he once was in the twilight of his career. I don’t like him as the Operations President and I have no confidence in going into the offseason with him. Who is the best free agent this year Ohtani ? He may need Tommy John surgery a second time. He is a low market GM who should not be in Boston a high market baseball team. Does anyone really trust this guy to pull the trigger on a good trade. He hangs onto to these prospects like they are gold. Many of them will not make it. I find that he cannot make a trade. What a mess he made of this team. What is he going to pick up more transition players this Winter ?
“Betts” … “They should have given him the contract he deserved.”
Betts shouldve been given that contract years before. Not after being over the cap two consecutive years, and heading over it for a third year.
Come on is anything ever Dombrowski’s fault?
RSmith
Dombrowski received carte blanche in 2016 from Henry, so Dave rushed to buy expensive pitchers.
He didn’t care about the future of homegrown talent, he got a cheap young controlled core of outfield players so it makes sense that he had a bargaining chip in favor of starting pitching.
He did well in the short term.
But Dave bequeathed expensive homegrown players to Bloom, and signed starting pitchers in 2016-2017 didn’t look like aces in 2019.
(Fault of Cora)
I’m not defending Bloom and I’m not being aggressive towards Dombrowski.
But when Henry hires the man who’s caught in the sign-stealing scandal as manager – ask yourself one question – is Bloom’s responsibility or Henry’s?
If Henry aims to be below the luxury tax threshold for a third time and doesn’t approve the deal with Betts, is it Bloom’s or Henry’s responsibility?
I agree that Bloom could have done better on time and the 2023 off-season was not as good as it could have been.
Another fact that confuses me is that Bloom, when he makes statements for the future, he doesn’t follow them – this is a very disturbing sign.
If Bloom doesn’t add a healthy kickoff pitch and worked out injury-prone old pitchers (Kluber) I’ll have all my doubts about him as a capable general manager completely dispelled.
Bloom will need to get creative this offseason.
Many players are subject to the rule5 and it is necessary to make deals so that these prospects do not go to waste.
RSmith
We need to learn from the Atlanta Braves to compete in the long run.
The Red Sox need a new manager, a new pitching coach, a new hitting coach.
I don’t see how you can win anything with this coaching staff.
Cora lacks eggs with players, he is soft enough that he is not suitable for Boston.
Maybe Tek could lead the Red Sox next season, Pedro could be the pitching coach, Pedroia the hitting coach.
But it all depends on the desire of the legendary ex-players themselves and on Henry.
“He didn’t care about the future of homegrown talent”
But DD did lock up Chris Sale and Xander Bogaerts with extentions. I think priority shouldve been in extending Betts. Certainly over Sale.
Any way you look at it, DD certainly had more flexibility to get a Betts deal done rather than Bloom. When Bloom came Betts’s fate was already sealed.
“The Red Sox need a new manager, a new pitching coach, a new hitting coach.”
Agreed, Cora is meh. The players generally like him, but hes had plenty of thickheaded moments. A change of scenario would be good for both sides. And a new head coach should always have priority in picking the rest of his staff.
you missed the most obvious point in that Dumbo was dumb enough to take Mookie Betts to arbitration
Rsmith – Stop trying to rewrite history. There were no long term contacts. for players in their middle control years when DD was GM. It’s like suggesting Alexander Graham Bell should have used a cellphone!! It’s like complaining Magellan should have flown.
Also, DD got what he needed to win and had a plan to extend folks prior to 2022 the year of his planned roster. 2023 was to be the retooling year. Keep guys like Mookie, Devers, Bogey, Benny and JD and evaluate what was needed in CF if Duran wasn’t ready yet. He would have evaluated what was needed at Catcher and he would have evaluated the progress at 1B among all the young stars in the OUTSTANDING farm system he had at his disposal.
DD did minor things wrong or was forced to them incorrectly like hiring Cora. But his mistakes were minimal to Bloom’s daily mistakes. I never liked Pearce and I felt Cora disrespected JD when he moved him into his 3 hole in the line-up so I wouldn’t have renewed him because it was the location in the order that inflated his numbers not his ability. JD hit 60 points higher and slugged higher and had a higher OPS but Cora won a couple of games against the Yankees with Pearce hitting 3rd so on July 31 he screwed over JD and it cost him a chance at beating out Mookie for MVP that year.
SO hiring Cora was by far the biggest mistake DD made and we don’t know if it was a mandate from ownership who 1 week prior to the hire announced in a television broadcast that they were going to address the diversity issue and then a week later announced Cora as the new manager and listed his primary skill as being bilingual. What a joke!! As if that made all the fans say “Boy are the Red Sox progressive now”. So many better choices with experience and they took a cheating bench coach!!! .
There you go. Cora was DD’s kryptonite because in the end DD got fired for a bad season created by Cora.
RSmith – Timing is missing from your rant.
2016 DD gets job signs Price a Cy Young winner to a team that needed pitching very badly. At the time Mookie was a pre-arb2 making 566K and he played full time in 2015 his pre-arb 1 season and hit .292 with .820 OPS. In 2016 when they did their first SP improvement for big bucks, Mookie was in his second full year and hit .319 with an OPS of .897. The kid who got absolutely no respect from the Cherington front office and the ownership was proving to be a star.
In 2017 his last pre-arb season,DD chose to trade some over valued prospects for Sale and further invest in pitching. There was absolutely no precedent or reason to offer a long term contract to Mookie at that point. The 2017 season ended with Boston being cheated by Houston but it was obvious that without Papi Boston needed a big bat. So in 2018 DD got JD. It was a perfect pick-up. To suggest he should have NOT gotten JD so he could extend a first year ARB guy is insane. DD spent the money where it needed to be spent and they won the World Series. He also traded Beeks to get Eovaldi which turned out to be a brilliant move. DD was on a roll and planned to sign both Sale and Bogey who were free agents in 2020 prior to the 2019 season. That only left Mookie to negotiate with since his free agency was a year later in 2021. It all made perfect sense and DD planned on paying Mookie the money he deserved $35MM a year when he renewed him early in 2020.
The plan was working perfectly until ownership fired DD because DD wanted Mookie at fair market value and they wanted a discount and resented Mookie for challenging them on their diversity. DD left and Bloom had no idea how to pick things up and continue with the brilliant plan. Being a novice in comparison to DD, Bloom couldn’t even figure out that JBJ needed to be non-tendered in DEC of 2019 to save $11MM of payroll. That $11MM was $1MM more than the raise Mookie would have gotten in 2020 so the first year of the new Mookie contract could have been covered easily.
Bloom either hired on knowing he had to dump Betts or he’s simply the worse GM in history. We try to give him the benefit of the doubt but there is no documentation that he ever tried to sign Betts for his fair value. Betts made it clear that he wanted fair market value and LAD gave him that and now Boston’s REAL SUPERSTAR (not Devers the Butcher) is trying to win MVPs in LA.
The Betts loss has NEVER been on DD it’s always been on ownership and Bloom. You keep trying to rewrite history but it’s not happening on my watch!!
Trollfree
Also, DD got what he needed to win and had a plan to extend folks prior to 2022 the year of his planned roster. 2023 was to be the retooling year. Keep guys like Mookie, Devers, Bogey, Benny and JD and evaluate what was needed in CF if Duran wasn’t ready yet. He would have evaluated what was needed at Catcher and he would have evaluated the progress at 1B among all the young stars in the OUTSTANDING farm system he had at his disposal.
___________________________________________________________
Let’s imagine hypothetically as in your post…
Red Sox 2023
1.Betts RF $30m AAV
2.Benny LF $15m AAV
3.Bogey SS $20m AAV
4.Devers 3B $17.5m AAV
5.JD DH $10m AAV
6.Casas 1B min
7.Duran CF min
8. ? 2B
9. ? C
Bench: Dalbec 1B/3B, Reserve C -?, 4th OF – ?, Reserve INF – ?
SP;
1. ?
2.Bello min
3.Sale $25.6
4. ?
5.Houck min
Bullpen;
CL – ?
8inn. – ?
Brasier
Barnes
Crawford
Murphy
Walter
D.Hernandez
Ward
Bazardo
You can add players, where the question mark is that you would like to see.
AL34
Let’s think logically.
If Bloom were a low market manager would he have signed Storey, Yoshi, Devers to long term deals?
My answer is no.
Another thing is that such deals need to be signed with the right players who will help the team both in the short and long term and will not be dead weight.
Are you sure the team needs another DH in Otani?
As I’ve posted before, the Red Sox need an ace (Yamamoto), number 3, second baseman with elite defense.
We have young players with growth potential Casas, Bello, Duran, veterans Storey, Yoshi, Devers who will form the core of the team for the coming years.
We need a buff to stabilize the defense next season.
Let such players as Rafaela, Abreu develop in the Premier League – the guys have the potential to strengthen the outfield at the beginning of next season.
Premier League = Major League.
Not going to happen my friend. Put a fork in this team because they are done. Bloom blew it at the trade deadline and he should be fired for it. Even last year, his acquisitions and trades then were totally baffling. Free agent representatives must love dealing with Bloom.
AL34 – This team was done in May of 2022 because it became clear that Bogey, JD and Nate weren’t getting new contracts. That decision set the fate for the 2023 team. This team is weak compared to the competitors in their division.
Wins have been 93, 93 108 and 84 when everything went wrong in 2019
Since then 24 wins was an embarrassment, 92 wins was a fluke and they still couldn’t win anything, 78 wins was a reflection of a bad manager and a weak GM and now this season is a continuation except with even less skill.
The day they fired DD they changed the course of the organization and put it in a tail spin. Nothing Bloom has done has improved the situation. It keeps getting worse yet he keeps promising a bright future. Wouldn’t it have been nice for him to tell everyone WHEN the bright future was going to happen. Many thought it would happen by now so they begged for 3 years to give him a chance to prove himself. It’s now 4 years and it just keeps getting worse. When will ownership stop the downward spiral?
FIRE BLOOM AND CORA and stop the downward spiral and lets stop pretending that Bloom has accomplished anything other than destruction of a great franchise.
Great post! Bloom’s biggest blunder was forcing Xander out by giving an injured and declining shortstop a $140M contract. With a .520 OPS he is the infielder version of JBJ, what a disastrous contract it’s been so far. Bloom can’t leave fast enough.
Fever Pitch Guy
It is enough for Storey to be an average player in attack with an elite defense , which he did in 2022.
It’s too early to call this contract an albatross, Trevor is back from a major operation and hasn’t completed spring training.
Let’s judge by 2024.
I don’t draw any conclusions about Bogaerts as this is his first season with the new team.
I like Bogey and I wish him success.
Story