Top prospect Ceddanne Rafaela has found limited playing time with the Red Sox since being called up at the end of August despite an overall strong performance at the plate in the majors so far, going 7-for-16 with two doubles. When asked about Rafaela’s playing time, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MassLive’s Chris Cotillo) that Rafaela will continue to play in a reserve role as long as the club remains in the playoff race.
While the playoff odds at Fangraphs give the Red Sox just a 1.3% chance to make the postseason after tonight’s loss to Baltimore, Boston still has three games to go against each of the two clubs directly ahead of them in the standings, Texas and Toronto. That gives them a slim opening for a miracle run despite being a whopping seven games back of the final AL Wild Card spot with just three weeks to go in the regular season. With Rafaela’s first taste of everyday action in the big leagues on hold for the time being, the versatile youngster figures to share time at second base with Enmanuel Valdez while also offering backup options to Trevor Story at shortstop and Adam Duvall in center field.
More from the AL East…
- Rays infielder Isaac Paredes exited today’s game after being hit in the hand by a pitch from right-hander Luke Weaver during the fifth inning of today’s game against the Mariners. Fortunately for Tampa, x-rays on Paredes’s hand came back negative and the 24-year-old third baseman was diagnosed with a hand contusion. Manager Kevin Cash indicated to reporters (including those at MLB.com) that Paredes won’t be in tomorrow’s starting lineup and is day-to-day, but could be available off the bench if necessary. It’s been a breakout campaign for Paredes in 2023, as the youngster has slashed a fantastic .253/.352/.502 in 497 trips to the plate this season. 22-year-old rookie Osleivis Basabe figures to take over at the hot corner while Parades is out of action.
- The Blue Jays could welcome back right-hander Erik Swanson in the near future. The righty has been out due to thoracic spine inflammation since late August, and he’ll reach the minimum 15 days spent on the IL tomorrow. Swanson made a rehab appearance with Triple-A Buffalo this evening, and notched one strikeout without allowing a baserunner during his inning of work. Assuming he bounces back from tonight’s outing well, MLB.com notes that Swanson could return to the big league club without requiring another rehab appearance. That’s great news for the Blue Jays, as Swanson was perhaps their most reliable set-up man for closer Jordan Romano before he went on the shelf. In 58 innings of work this season, Swanson sports a 3.10 ERA, 3.28 FIP, and a 29.4% strikeout rate. He figures to form a lethal three-headed-monster at the back of the Toronto bullpen alongside Romano and deadline addition Jordan Hicks should the Blue Jays make it to the postseason.
Playoffs??? You’re talking about playoffs??? I just want to win another game! Playoffs???
Seriously—What is Cora thinking??? He’s so lost that he couldn’t find his way out of a one stalk corn maze.
Fat – Last night was supposedly a “must win” game according to Cora. And yet he leaves in Sale to give up 7 runs.
Sox pull within 7-6, but Cora then brings in a 31 year old career minor leaguer with a 6.10 ERA in the majors. Baltimore scores 2 more runs off him.
Then Cora brings in another career minor leaguer with a 5.68 ERA in the majors. Of course he gives up 3 more runs in his one inning of work.
THEN after bringing in the two crappy relievers that Bloom just pulled from the dumpster, who both gave up a combined 5 runs, Cora decides to bring in one of his best relievers.
But wait, there’s more.
Cora THEN decides to bring in a third career minor leaguer, a guy with a 5.06 ERA in the majors, who promptly gives up the 13th and game winning run.
The Red Sox became the first team in MLB this year to lose a game in which they had at least 20 hits.
When it comes to who should get fired first, Cora deserves that privilege.
And he brings in another of his darlings, Llovera, to pad the Orioles run count. The guy can’t handle a pitching staff, can’t make a lineup and favors his untalented Latino players. Hope he enjoys the final three weeks of his employment.
Miltpappas: Totally agree. I never liked Cora when he was a player . I thought he was an overrated utility guy then. I can’t stand him as a manager . I can see them firing him and they should. I hope they send Bloom right with him. Unfortunately I bet we get another year of Bloom
BDog, news outlets including the Globe, Herald, Sports Illustrated, and others all saying Henry is looking for a Bloom replacement. He is toast.
Only question is if Cora survives. Cora’s decisions lately could be seen as interviewing for his next gig. “We still have a shot, we are still playing hard, nobody is quitting, Yada Yada yada”
I think both know they are done
Milt – Last night was also the 90th time this year that a Red Sox pitcher did not throw a pitch in the 6th inning.
Clearly what Cora and his staff are doing with the pitchers are not working, it’s like the starting pitchers are being conditioned to throw as few pitches as possible. Which is creating a much heavier burden on the pitching staff.
BTW – Febles needs to go, holding Story at 3B last night was yet another horrible decision he’s made.
DBH – I have September, what’s my prize?
What you *hope* Henry is think is, you’ve tanked and drafted high, anyone can draft high after losing. No net win.
After cycling through inking new picks, mlb reset the sox as 16th farm. And that’s without elevating ceddane. In 4 full years you expect more movement than that, because….
Bloom has continued to spend and andnover the cbt. He didn’t bring in impact vets, claiming to be searching for under-the-radar guys. That hasn’t exactly worked out. Lots of churn and burn, and dead payroll. Last season he blew the cbt and had multiple picks drop 60-odd slots each in this year’s VERY talented draft. That was also a big, inexcusable hit. All this while…
In the midst of knowing you WERENT making it, you could’ve tried trading expiring deals for prospects. Instead they ride out the deals and get,.in some cases, nothing at all. Could last year’s sox have at least put enough salary on waivers to get under the cbt when they knew they wouldn’t make it to preserve those draft picks? Who knows.
I think bloom could be an agm or under a strong PBO a gm, but, not the role he is. He may even be a good fit for a smaller market squad. But it’s like he doesn’t know how to properly leverage big market power. That Devers deal…. OUCH!
Your biggest problem is, if not bloom, who?
@FPG. He isn’t gone yet, Brown! Don’t forget, I have day 1 of the off season!
I’d like to know what Fever’s ideal team is… manager Dusty Baker, GM Dave Dombrowski… so much complaining, but never a solution for how to fix it.
DBH – We shall see! The last two were let go in August. Lol
anyone can draft high after losing.
====================
They’ve drafted 17th, 4th, 24th, and 14th, for an average of 14.75. That is decidedly middle of the pack, not drafting high.
FEVER: Finally someone else gets it. He did the same thing the night before….. bring in the back end of the bullpen in a game that was 1-0 starting the 6th inning.
Cooper, who, Jaques? Then Schreiber? Maybe that’s the second half of the bullpen but I think it’s fair to ask an inning out of either of those two guys in a tight ball game when you’re behind a run.
And it was the starting pitcher who imploded not the guy Alex Cora brought in. Of course you’ll blame Cora for leaving Tanner in, though he only gave up one run through five.
Cooper – It’s the equivalent of shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted. Cora had so many options because of Friday’s blowout and Thursday’s offday, yet he insisted on using the back end of the pen in a very winnable game.
Fever wants to bring in his best pitchers when they’re down five runs. Isn’t that when you bring in the guys with a 6.00 era?
I don’t mind the constant complaining but when you’re wrong, you’re wrong. And your analysis of last night’s use of pitchers is wrong.
Gary – What I wrote was obviously a summary, not an analysis.
Cora brought in 2 of his crappiest pitchers with the Sox trailing 7-6 in the 5th.
Then he brought in one of his best relievers in the 8th when the Sox were trailing 12-9.
Then he brought in one of his worst relievers trailing by the same 12-9 score in the 9th.
It was an extremely winnable game when you look at how well the Sox were hitting plus the awful Baltimore defense.
If you’re saying Cora should have basically forfeited the game after Sale gave up 7 runs, then why pitch Schreiber despite trailing by 3 runs in the 8th? Totally illogical.
Fact is, when the Sox pulled within 7-6 Winck should have been brought in. Bernardino could have also pitched, along with Martin later in the game. The announcers pointed out how indefensible Cora’s moves were.
Fever, oh a summary and not analysis. My bad.
I still maintain you bring your top five relievers in when you’re winning and your bottom five relievers when you’re losing. But that’s just me. I still think it’s fair to ask a bottom half reliever to pick up an inning when you’re down five runs.
In your post above you were criticizing Alex Cora for doing just that. But it wasn’t analysis it was a summary. Again, my bad.
Gary – No worries, I know these bitter losses are tough for all of us to take.
Yes of course for the most part you are right, use your worst relievers when trailing in a game that doesn’t seem winnable.
Even if you don’t acknowledge last night’s unusual game was quite winnable, it still doesn’t explain Cora using Schreiber for a second consecutive day by pitching him in the 8th down 3 runs.
Fever—As you can tell by my post, I am NOT a Cora fan, not in the least. But in his defense, Bloom has not given him any pitchers to work with. It seems like the only one who is consistently decent is Bello. I keep hearing that ownership refuses to spend the money, but is that really true, or is it all on Bloom? I don’t know. But I still think that Cora and Bloom should go bye-bye.
Fat – I think it’s a combination. Yes Bloom has failed in putting together a pitching staff, but Cora has grossly mismanaged what was given to him.
Then Cora brings in another career minor leaguer with a 5.68 ERA in the majors. Of course he gives up 3 more runs in his one inning of work.
==================================
There is no “of course” there. Llovera had a 1.17 ERA in his previous 11 games before his last appearance.
If Rafaela has a good run then it lets Bloom either trade Verdugo in the off-season or pass on signing a second baseman. Cora does not want to be caught in the situation of Rafaela being overmatched early in the year and having to be sent down. Then he has to put in some scrap heap guy in the lineup.
We’ll be lucky to be over .500 by season’s end. I think it’s certainly possible (and I think we will be a couple games over), but the pitching looks worse and worse each game.
It’s about time we move on from Chris Sale when his contract is over. It’s evident he has nothing much left.
As for the others, there’s no consistency. Bloom built a team with too much versatility; so much that it messes with everyone’s consistency.
I think if he’s bad next spring we need to say goodbye and thank you for your service. But they won’t because we can’t disrespect a veteran and a guy who used to be good. Even if it hurts the team.
I don’t know what Bloom built tbh. A trainwreck? A polished turd? Something in between?
Guy is building for the future on a heavily flawed foundation because he’d get killed by the fans if he did a full tank, yet can’t afford to repair the foundation because the owner doesn’t want to spend the money.
That’s not to say it’s entirely John Henry’s fault, Chaim Doom has certainly made his fair share of boneheaded moves (Trading away Renfroe, bringing in Bleier, Kluber and expecting that Kike Hernandez would be a good everyday shortstop, and not developing a single arm from start to finish that can help this team).
I’d say responsibility for this disaster is about 40% Henry, 40% Bloom and 20% Cora. Changes are needed, whether it’s personnel or philosophy, they’re needed soon.
The owner is spending money. He’s been trying to reset by getting under the threshold, because of how many years they have been OVER it. They need to spend it better.
Stymeedone – A few points of clarification:
1 – The team makes close to $300MM a year in profits so quibbling about the cap is highly exaggerated when it comes to big market teams. The Yankees go over without batting an eyelash because their profits are nearly double that of the Red Sox so why worry about a $20MM luxury tax when you are making over $500MM.
2 – In 2020 the Red Sox went under the cap because COVID hit and Price opted out dropping payroll by $16MM along with the $27MM they no longer had to pay Mookie. Since then Bloom has been provided with all the money he has asked for and the team has done miserably because his choices were bad. He’s simply a bad GM who doesn’t know how to acquire quality talent. He’s from TB where they don’t spend money so spending big bucks on a Free Agent wasn’t in his wheelhouse and the Red Sox fan base has paid for his lack of skills.
3 – Cost benefit analysis was Bloom’s platform when he came to Boston yet he has not effectively used the theory to acquire players. He’s simply gone cheap. He took Mookie’s $27MM and spent it on three guys rather than one. That only works if the VALUE of the three combined is greater than Mookie’s value. They were not even close to Mookie’s value so the talent level took a huge step down for the same price.
What’s wrong with Bloom’s approach?
Just look at the key players he has signed:
1 – Devers for $31MM a year when he’s a DH and didn’t deserve more than $25MM a year for the next 6 years not 10. By his 7th season Devers will be a $10MM a year player if he falls off like Miggy and Pujols did. (two superior players!)
2 – Yoshida for $18MM a year when he’s also a DH and you already have Devers and Justin Turner. This creates a major hit on defense to get Yoshida in the line-up. It was well known that he couldn’t play defense AND it was well known that Japanese numbers and MLB numbers vary greatly so paying $18MM for a guy who is producing a 114 OPS+ AND can’t play defense is a huge overpay and it creates a defensive weakness that hurts the pitching staff and reduces the team’s chances of winning.
.
3 – Story for $23.3MM a year when he was hurt and it was known that he would miss some time AND you already had a better SS who should have received a bump in pay making the need for Story go away. Story’s OPS+ in BOS for his first two seasons is 88. Should a $23.3MM player put up an 88 in the first 2 years of a five year contract? Nope. For the entire contract to become a break even situation Story needs to average an OPS+ of at least 125 for the five years. To do that he will need to produce a 140ish OPS+ during the remaining 3 years. It could happen but it’s not likely since his highest OPS+ in his 8 year career is 127. Was $23.3MM an over pay even if he was healthy? Yes, especially if you consider Bogey who is a much better player was making $20MM and was asking for $10MM more per year until Mayer arrives..
Finally,
Boston was
Under in 2017
Over in 2018 thanks Cherrington’s foolish spending
Over in 2019,for the same reasons as 2018
Under in 2020 thanks to Price’s opt out and dumping Mookie
Under in 2021
Over in 2022 (the first year of the $30MM higher CAP)
Under in 2023 resetting the over the CAP counter.,
Trollfree
You forgot to mention that the renewal for Sale in 2019 was bad.
I’d move Sale to pen next year. If he gets paid by the Sox to play elsewhere, he’ll 15-20 games and win the Cy Young just because it’s the way things work out for the Sox lol.
I was for keeping Houck in the rotation, but he’s got a mental block about going past 5. Long arm him the pen if he can’t get over the that hurdle by the end of this year.
Sox will need to acquire at least 3 starting pitchers next year. I just hope Ohtani is NOT one of them!
The reason Houck and Whitlock are such mental blocks is because they get yanked between relief and starting. I know Cora pulls the strings, but Bloom has the biggest say here because he did not give us strong pitching to succeed.
Absolutely agree with you, D&B! Telling pitchers they can’t pitch a 3rd time through and them pull them after 5 is NOT how you create starters. If Houck and Whit can just tell everyone to Eff off and let them struggle through the learning process, both could be plus starters, i think.
It can work for some pitchers but not young guys who are just starting out. I mean, look at Daniel Bard. The guy was all over the place in Boston and he still has anxiety over where he is as a pitcher.
They’re gonna end up ruining their arms. The Yankees had a guy you may remember they did this with too, Joba Chamberlain anyone? Great stuff but never settled into a role and ended up being a nobody.
I fear the same will come of Whitlock and Houck.
okbud – A lot of success can be achieved if you have an excellent pitching coach. There are specific coaches who have made multiple teams better by heading up their staffs for the manager. When Farrell managed he had an understanding of pitching and guys like Sale and Price did well. Porcello won a Cy Young. Once Farrell was displaced by a bench jockey who was a utility infielder all that knowledge was lost. Based on the lack of success of Price and Sale under the new pitching coaches and Cora, there is clearly a huge problem preventing this team from excelling at pitching. I believe NY has a very similar problem with Boone. The problem needs to be fixed so what you are suggesting for Whitlock and Houck never happens.
I like your comparison to Chamberlain because he’s a great example of what not to do with a young pitcher. It took them too long to realize that he was a better reliever than starter. His 19 relief appearances in 2007 are legendary. He was a world beater. He struck out 34 of 91 batters faced. He threw just 24 innings and gave up 12 hits and 6 walks at age 21. Then, as you mentioned they had him start 12 games in 2008 and relieve in 30 games. Very bad idea. By 2009 they were convinced he was a starter since he would have a bigger impact to the team.as a starter. WRONG!!
Joba went from giving up well under 1 hit per inning to well over 1 hit per inning in just one year!! His ERA+ dropped from 170 to 97!! Yep, they made an elite reliever into a starter and it failed miserably. In 2010 they put him back in relief but suddenly he was hitable and his walks were too high for a late inning guy. His ERA+ for the second straight year was below 100 after peaking in 2008 at 170. He would last through 2013 and then he was gone from the Yankees and was hardly heard from again.
What makes your comparison even more interesting to me is the way the Yankee front office jumped for joy in 2007, tried to showcase him in 2008, then went on to other shiny things when he failed in 2009.
In Boston, Bloom found Whitlock so he’s got a completely different internal STATUS than Houck (the DD guy). Cora treats them completely differently, the front office treats them completely differently but the fans see them as similar like you when you coupled them in your comment.
I could picture Houck being dismissed or discarded by Bloom and I could see Whitlock getting opportunities never offered Houck. To me, Whitlock’s unique skill of leaving inherited base runners on base makes him a perfect bull pen guy who puts out fires for the starters. Houck, on the other hand, hits me as a solid rotation guy but he needs better pitch selection the third time through the batting order. He does very well the first two times through and then I find the pitch selection and location selection wrong for the types of pitches he throws on his third time through the order. That’s why his success rate drops dramatically. I believe he would become a workhorse if he’s given the proper help from the coaching staff and analytics group. He’s a real competitor as witnessed by his comeback from the line-drive off his face.
Again, great comparison.
Troll, The issue I have with Houck as a starter is that he’s really a two pitch guy. I’ve seen him mix in a splitter once in a while. Now granted, when he has his good stuff he’s disgusting but there is only so long you can go mixing up two pitches.
Now if they can get him to throw something else reliably and successfully, then I’d say try to continue developing him as a starter. If not, I think a multi inning relief role may suit him better.
The other guy I should throw out is Crawford. I wasn’t really into the game when Wakefield was around, though I understand his role was often whatever was needed. The way they use Crawford is similar, and I’m not sure it’s great for his future either. But he’s shown flashes of potential in every role they’ve put him in, except maybe short relief in early ‘22. It’s tough with him, I don’t have any idea what they should do with him.
@okbud. “The issue I have with Houck as a starter is that he’s really a two pitch guy. I’ve seen him mix in a splitter once in a while.”
That statement has been true for a while now, bro. He is using 5 pitches now.
His mix is slider, cutter, 4 seamer, change, and splitter which he has moved away from the past couple of months. He has been working witho choose pitch selection that has pretty much the same release point.
I think his issue at this point is a mental block about 3rd time through. He needs a sit down with Pedro
*not been true. Sorry
I think you may both be right.
IMO Houck needs to further refine his additional offerings and gain confidence in them.
His bread and butter SEEMS to feel like his original 2 pitches when he’s behind in the count, or, is trying to put someone away with nearly a full count, or some other higher stress situation. Seems to abandon the newer pitches.
Almost like he doesn’t fully trust the other offerings. I haven’t dug deep into data on what he’s been throwing in tough situations and how its turned out, it just FEELS that way from what I’ve seen of him.
Agreed, GA. He does seem to be feeling them out. Just did some digging. He has dropped a change up in favor of a sinker.
Now that he has adjusted to starting, and doing really well through the order twice, maybe he will learn to take something off some pitches and add a little heat to others the third time through. It is what Clemens and Pedro would do.
Wouldn’t mind seeing him drop the sinker and splitter and learn a fork ball. He has the frame for it.
We’ve all got to remember he’s a work in progress. NORMALLY the feeling out and refining of at least a solid 3rd offering, and a work-in-progress-but-servicable 4th option happens starting late in AA for the 3rd or in AAA development for the 4th at the latest…
Short answer – they screwed up not making him go through the step before calling him up, IF SP was to be his future.
He can work through it, if both he and the staff have the patience to see it through.
He seems like a fierce competitor who is bitterly disappointed in himself. He 100% owns his awfulness. He’s one guy I could see walk away because he doesn’t have it anymore. Loved that they traded for him, hated that they extended him. He was hurt then. Just a shame how far he’s fallen.
@lucky. Agreed
luckyh – Agreed but you need to consider a few things in addition to what you wrote.
1 – Sale was on an extremely team friendly contract. He cost Boston $12MM in 2017, $12.5 MM in 2018 when they won their ring, $15MM in 2019 when Cora changed his mechanics and caused the TJ surgery. In March of 2019 before Cora ruined Sale’s arm DD signed Sale to a 5 year contract worth $145MM. Had DD known Cora was going to not just screw up spring training in 2019 but he would also cost him his #1 SP for two years I’m sure DD would have fired Cora but he didn’t know so he signed Sale to a fair market contract. Even with the increased salary Sale was still only going to make $23MM a year for the 8 years he spent with Boston. That’s less than what Story got paid.
2 – Sale was NOT hurt when he signed but DD had to sign him in 2019 because Sale was going to be a free agent after the 2020 season and he had been their #1 SP since he arrived in 2017. He started two all-star games as a Boston Red Sox and was regarded as one of the best pitchers in baseball who frequently struggled late in the year from pitching with his hair on fire during every outing of the season. Dead arm happening frequently in Chicago when he was a White Sox and he missed a start or two and was fine. His numbers support this statement. If Cora hadn’t tried to get cute and “fix” his problem he probably would have won the Cy Young in 2018.
The no nothing Cora thought since Boston had a 10 game lead in the AL East he could rest Sale to prevent him from getting the dead arm he was known for in August. He put Sale on the IL in July to rest Sale but had to pretend there was an issue to the MLB official tracking the IL stint. This maneuver by the ever cheating Cora backfired because when he brought Sale back he was awesome and struck out 12 in 5 innings but he needed to keep the charade going so he pulled him with a low pitch total when he might have broken Clemens K record of 20 in a game.
In Sale’s next bullpen session he mentioned his shoulder was tight so Cora once again put him on the IL since he obviously was fine based on his performance after coming back from the pretend IL stint so he bought Sale more rest. This completely backfired because when Sale came back the second time he had lost all momentum and his pinpoint control. It was like spring training all over again thanks to the excessive rest that was Cora’s cure for avoiding dead arm. Cora’s mistake impacted Sale in many ways. He was eliminated from Cy Young contention, he was forced to get game ready again when there was nothing wrong with him in the first place and his drop off supported the idea that something was actually wrong when there wasn’t anything wrong he simply got put on the shelf too long by Cora.
This is why people talk about Sale being hurt in 2018. It’s a Cora lie. He simply cheated to get him some rest and it backfired. By March when Sale was offered his contract there had never been anything wrong with Sale except the perception that something was wrong created by Cora’s antics. What DD didn’t realize was that while signing Sale to the bigger contract Cora was busy pushing back the schedules for Spring Training with regard to all pitchers. That single mistake by Cora created injuries to some very key pitchers – Sale, Eovaldi and Price. Yes, the Cora mistake cost each of the three top pitchers IL time in 2019 which eventually led to Boston’s only rough season under DD. Cora single handedly created the fall of the Boston empire in 2019 that led to the dramatic change in the course of the Red Sox history that led to the disaster known as Bloom.
It is a shame that Sale has fallen but the bigger shame is that CORA hasn’t been blamed for it. Everyone knows changing mechanics during the season is a bad idea. Making minor changes is risky but can be accomplished but making major changes is a bad idea because of the length of time involved in retraining the muscle memory and building up the strength of the muscles and tendons that will be used differently with the mechanical change.
Sale’s career has been derailed by Cora. Couple that with all his cheating and you have a person who doesn’t deserve to be in the MLB.
Trollfree
I agree with you that Cora is no manager of MLB.
Where is it documented that Cora messed up Sale’s mechanics?
Why the hell wouldn’t you play Raffaela in the outfield every day he’s not playing the infield and DH whoever he replaces? Cora makes some weird decisions man…
Mango – The problem is Abreu needs PA’s as well. He went 5-for-5 last night and now has a .980 OPS. Duvall is in one of his notorious slumps, but benching Yoshida or Dugie is not an option.
I like Duval, but the dude is 1-17 in his last 4 games with ELEVEN strike outs.
I like Story, but before last night, the dude was 1-9, hitting .190 on the season.
How many games could the sox have won if Abreu and Ceddanne where starting instead?
Cora’s excuse just doesn’t hold any water. If you want to win, you play the hot players, who ever they are.
I kept saying we should have traded Duvall at the deadline. He wasn’t the difference on this team, we had too many outfielders and he could have gotten us something back. Wasted opportunity, just like last year.
I posted repeatedly that we should have done a full fire sale, bring up anyone from AAA that is even close to MLB ready, and engage the Spring Break ’24 mode.
There would have been some chirping here about not going for it, but there’s dreamers in every group
DBH. I was onboard with a fire sale. I wouldn’t put faith into what Chaim would have brought back . But I guess something would have been better than nothing.
@BDog, honestly the one decent thing Bloom is almost good at is getting decent trades in return. But I was far more interested in giving our prospects and rookies some big league game time just for the experience.
Who knows? Maybe the could have even made a run at the playoffs. 3 three we brought up are doing pretty well. Bobby D in the line up with Casas would be fun to watch, too.
Bloom is also good on not tying up too many bad contracts. Sure, he hadn’t gotten us many good ones but look at the Yankees, Mets, and Padres. Their farms are gutted and they have big contracts for years. As mediocre as Bloom has been, that’s just it. He’s mediocre but has not hurt us long term.
D&B, I disagree that it won’t hurt us long term. It may not financially, that is certainly true, but not having developed any pitching of his own will certainly kill in the long term.
DBH – Cora is notorious for giving unnecessary days off to players who are on hot streaks, so I don’t think he cares at all about playing the hot hands.
DBH – If the Sox were better managed and Bloom had acquired some pitching help, they’d be right there in the thick of the WC race.
The problem is they didn’t wave the white flag OR go for it. Bloom should have picked one approach or the other. Acquire help or sell off, one or the other.
Remember the Devers interview I posted here? They were playing great ball with the expectation of Bloom keeping his promise to acquire pitching help if the team proved worthy. They did prove it, but Bloom lied.
Bloom always lies.
DBH – Agreed! The Pivetta and Vazquez trades were great. Jury is still out on the 10D and Mookie trades.
As long as we have prospects, we can always get better pitching. When you spend too much financially, that’s worse.
Yes. That’s why I like building more from the farm system than free agency.
D&B, But Bloom refuses to trade for anybody because he’s too afraid the kids he gives up will turn out to be great.
Fault Dombrowski all you want for trading the farm for guys, at least he both made his current team better and in the long run didn’t give up that much.
Espinoza is a bozo, Kopech is a real life Ricky Vaughn who the White Sox are further ruining. MonKada – bust, Logan Allen – Bust, Margot – he’s ok at best, same with Dubon.
One of the issues with Bloom is that he is afraid to swing big and take that same kind of risk. And if you are afraid to risk trading prospects, then you better be able to develop em. And so far he can’t. And when you can’t develop people, that’s when the bad contracts are handed out.
What about Jeter Downs? Or the relief pitcher we gave up earlier that was supposed to be our closer of the future? We DFA’d him over Brasier. I’m sure there’s more.
I didn’t say Bloom was great but he has traded some prospects (despite your assertion) and he basically has no rhyme or reason by what he does. That’s the issue.
I don’t think Bloom is afraid of the big deal, I just don’t understand his motives. But he has kept us off big deals. And I have nothing against DD- though he did tie us to some big deals.
“Bloom refuses to trade for anybody because he’s too afraid the kids he gives up will turn out to be great”
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I think Bloom has simply not built up excess value in the farm system yet, so he is not trading prospects yet. Dombrowski inherited a well-stocked farm system and traded a lot of value from it. I am happy he did that and they won a World Series. I think Bloom is in the process of restocking the value, after which I expect prospects to help the Red Sox and be traded for players to help the Red Sox.
Bloom has drafted mostly high school players in the early rounds of the draft. So, I think it’s a bit early to reach conclusions about his player development.
D&B, the player development people messed Jeter Downs up terribly. Not sure who that should be pinned on. Putting a guy in AAA after the covid year and having only played a dozen AA games in his life has got to be one of the dumbest, most boneheaded baseball decisions of the last decade.
For the second guy, Franklin German I believe, I was never less to believe he was supposed to be a future closer. Always heard that maybe a middle reliever depending on how command and secondary stuff develops. If you mean Jacob Wallace, the command wasn’t developing. That said, Wallace has still given KC’s system more than anything that Wyatt Mills has given the Sox or even the Woosox.
So I guess you are right in saying that he does trade prospects, but neither good ones nor ones that they have done well developing. Nor have the trades been of any benefit to the big club.
Totally agree. Could have possibly gotten someone for the pen. He and KK were the two that had to be moved.
Suit, you may be right in that we are coming to conclusions too soon. That being said, they’ve stocked the system so heavily with position players (shortstops in particular) and neglected pitcher development to the point that they need to go out and sign washed up crap like Kluber.
Maybe once he has enough shortstops we can trade pieces away, but I’m not sure he’ll have a job by that time.
No it was Darwinin Hernandez as the second guy. Just remembered his name.
But yes, the results haven’t yielded much, so I can concur with that.
I dislike playing devils advocate about bloom issues.
The problem with criticizing him over not getting reinforcements ‘if the team is worthy’ is nobody said what the benchmark for worthy was, ahead of time.
Maybe worthy meany being in solid possession of a WC. Maybe it meant just being close, in striking distance. The run up to the deadline was a stretch of games against bad teams, and, teams.with core ck tributary out with injury. And still they were inconsistent.
Time has shown reinforcements could’ve, maybe, made a difference. But, the attacks on cora’s management have you asking, well, how many guys would you need where their usage wouldn’t possibly render them ineffective.
Likewise, could a change in player usage have rendered similar effects as fresh acquisitions?
I don’t know. But those are questions…
Story, Yoshida, and especially the disastrous Devers deal certainly count as big deals in my book.
Why do you say the Devers deal was disastrous?
$331m over 11years for a dh-only type who only has 30-ish HR power.
Even the benefit of scorers looking for excuses not to assign him errors the guy is at the top of the list.
And he’s only stuck clogging up the payroll 10 more years till 2033.
It’s a terrible deal, probably a solid $10m/yr overpay, for a guy who makes the whole pitching staff worse and costs the team games. And paying $20m for a guy to dh only is in itself excessive and being generous.
For less money they could’ve had mookie, who contributes more and has better production, mookie? Or devers?
Bad deal.
Okay, I see your point, but people complain when we don’t spend money, too, right? People can’t “bend” the argument both ways just to be subjective, either.
I do not mind the Devers deal. It had to be an overpay to lock him up. We missed out on Betts and Bogaerts, Devers has an amazing bat. Point is, however, people blamed Bloom for not spending and when he finally did, they find ways to still hate his deals.
I’m defending him here for that, though not overall. He’s made some bad deals but I do agree with paying Devers, so long as we don’t go and overpay 10 other guys.
I think the complaints about bloom spending are how he spent. Overall team salary outlay really hasn’t been bad. But you look back, and, there was a ton of money spent on trying to buy a bargain ober and over and over and winding up with a refuse heap.
That’s sort of the problem there.
But most guys with amazing bats are adequate to better in the field. Devers isn’t, and, shows no sign of getting there. Of all the guys to lock up and take some decline, Devers was the most expendable because he has massive negative value on the diamond. There’s really no shot it improves.
Mlb is full of bat-only guys every season, and they cost a whole lot less, when all you need is a DH. I mean, JT or JDM provide nearly the offensive power Devers does, at 1/3 the cost.
Pick one of these two things – a 3B who can field (improving team defense and pitcher performance) that allows you to buy a JT/JDM type plus $20m to buy a solid #2/#3 arm for the rotation, or – #2 Devers, with worse defense, worse pitcher performance, and no money to buy that #2/#3 arm?
I always said of all the guys to keep or let walk, Devers was the one you didn’t overpay for.
Doom – I think you underestimate Bloom’s impact.
The deals with Devers, Yoshida and Story tie up over $72MM for the next 3 years which is a bit more than 30% of the CAP money.
What do we get for that $72MM?
1 – A DH playing 3B and killing the pitching staff with his errors (124 OPS+)
2 – A DH playing LF and killing the pitching staff with his errors (114 OPS+)
3 – A SS who has been frequently injured and has produced a 88 OPS+ after two years of a five year contract.
Bloom put the biggest albatross contract on the neck of the next several GMs. $31MM for a guy with a 124 career OPS+, the most errors in the MLB at 3B since he arrived in BOS and a body type that won’t age well is just the opposite of what you suggested. He hurt the future big time!!
The Devers deal was ownership’s way of not getting killed for letting Xander walk. That’s the only reason for it.
People make bad decisions every day, knowing they’re bad decisions, and try to rationalize them away with any number of excuses.
The reasons why they handed out that egregious Devers deal does nothing to make it less of an overpay for excess years to a one dimensional player who has no business being anything but a DH.
Bogaerts will decline fast playing shortstop. I think he was even more overpaid than Devers. Realistically, his time as a shortstop is limited with age.
Fever- that’s fine, put Raffaela in center, Abreu in left and DH Yoshida or Duvall, the other sits
Mango – Where would Turner play?
At this point, if his heel is still an issue make him a part-time player. His value is established by now, we’re not gaining anything by playing him. Use him at first to spell Casas, continue to DH him (at the expense of Duvall) against lefties. Our future is Casas, Yoshida and Raffaela, not Duvall and Turner
If Rafaela can improve his plate discipline, he’s going to be a really good player.
Big if, I personally don’t think he will so trade him for a starter.
@okbud. Ceddanne is hitting 417. Ya, small sample size, and pitchers haven’t adjusted to him yet, but you’re ready to toss him away already? He proven himself at every level. Give the kid a chance to do so here.
He hasn’t ever made adjustments in the minors. Besides we have to pitching coming up, and we’ve got enough shortstop prospects for everyone and their mother’s baseball team so yeah why not trade him while the stock is high?
I don’t think you have to worry though, Chaim is too afraid to give up any prospect in case they become something.
We have no pitching prospects coming up*, stupid autocorrect.
Confusion reigns in Boston. No plan.
If Cora wants any hope of pulling off a miracle, he needs to start the rookies because at this point they are better hitters and fielders than the veteran players.
But honestly, if you win scoring 12 runs?
*can’t
The only elixir for a suffering Yankee base is a suffering Red Sox base.
What has the world come to when Yankee fans and Sox fans share a beer over the miseries of their team……OY!
@ Yankeesforever,
May lightning not strike me, but…AMEN!
I liked your post. Most definitely going to hell now 🙁
So, Cashman for bloom trade, straight up?
cora and bloom are delusional idiots
I’m not against moving on from Bloom. However, please note that when a new chief exec takes over (as was the case with Alex A in Atlanta, Andrew Friedman in LA), they sit on their hands for the first year, watching the players, the staff, in short, learning what they have to work with. All I’m saying is that anyone who wants quick change isn’t going to get it by replacing Bloom. In fact, with O’Halloran always lurking there as the titular “general manager,” there might already be too much continuity built in.
I feel like DD didn’t exactly rest on his laurels. But then again, not many left like him.
Horace – Dombrowski inherited a team that lost 175 games the prior two years, last place both years, and immediately took the Sox to three consecutive division titles and a world championship.
Big market teams can be turned around very quickly.
Well, the closest thing to a snappy answer I have for your comment is that I would prefer both Alex Anthopoulos and Andrew Friedman to DD for my team’s CEO. Other than that, you made your point, but DD’s not my choice. Maybe he’d like to trade to enjoy that last year of Sale’s extension.
I still see a place in MLB where scouts has gut reactions to prospects and played their hunches some. Where your PBO could tell things about certain guys just by watching them play a dozen games, and, the almighty analytic calculator didn’t decide everything for you.
At some point you’ve got to wonder, if you’re using a GM who just relies on analytic printouts for everything, why not just go straight AI as your gm. Should give roughly the same result at cheaper cost.
GASox – I have said the same so many times! I’d guess at least 80% of the pitcher moves are decided prior to the game.
Does the name Carmine ring a bell? And no I am not referring to Laverne and Shirley. Lol!
The Big Ragu! Born In Worcester
Grn – I didn’t know that!
Paredes and Meadows in the news in the same week. Hindsight being 20-20 what a terrible trade that turned out to be for the Tigers. I don’t think anyone guessed Paredes would e d up having that much power. He looked like a 10-15 HR a year doubles hitter when he was with Detroit. Tampa staff turn a lot of careers around. The Tigers can do that with pitching but need to mirror that on the offensive side moving forward. .
Maybe it is time to stop wearing those stupid Yellow Uniforms……
Totally agree. They look like a minor league team from Georgia who probably play in 30 Parks a month, yet do so cursed with Yellow Fever. I think it takes away from the pride and history of the Boston Red Sox when they don’t wear their tried and true iconic jerseys.
Cooperdooper7
This is in support of Ukraine.
As an Ukrainian, I’m very pleased.
How will Boston make the playoffs? They had 23 hits on Saturday — and lost!
Getting under the CBT this off season is the priority. Bloom failed to do so last year. Resetting should allow them to move back to competing for free agents to balance the additions from the farm. Would like to see this become LA east versus TB north.
Bobby – You have glorified the CAP money to an unrealistic viewpoint.
There is NEVER a financial crisis in BOS. They make money hand over fist and the luxury tax is like you worrying about the sales tax on your pizza.
There is a sound strategy for big market teams.that guys like DD employ:
1 – Spend just below the CAP to provide your team with the best possible chance to win the division and a Ring BUT it must be on quality players. FYI Bloom spends money on bad players that don’t fit the needs so not only is the cost benefit bad the overall infrastructure of the defense and offense are weakened. 3 DHs in NOT a good move but Bloom can’t seem to figure that out.
2 – Prune your farm system of the over-rated players by trading them to unsuspecting lunkheads like Bloom who believe guys like Downs, Wong and Verdugo are good because the selling GM says they are.
3 – Find the best pitching coaches available to improve your farm system pitching and do the same for hitting.
4 – Hire a manager with successful experience at winning. Preferably not a known cheater too!!
Those 4 actions will make you a great team. Not a LA East team which to me means an over-hyped not that talented organization that is well connected with the media to slant the truth about their many shortcomings nor the TB North organization that is cheap but incredibly good at finding young talent and dealing for it. Those brilliant guys who have worked the magic for a decade still reside in TB and were not part of the Bloom package that went to BOS. That’s obvious because guys like Glasnow, Meadows and Arozarena are in TB and we got Jeter Downs, Verdugo and Wong. Three league average players that are completely replaceable at the same cost or less.
It’s all about $.
Superb post!
You might want to try out this site: this is a Sox site and it shows the Red Sox Affiliates the Box Scores. At the bottom of the batting order for each day it shows the pitchers and their ERA’s.
The Red Sox are in deep trouble; they have so little. Bloom/ Cora–there’s no one to call up. Good luck!
mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=111
Love the link !!! Thank you for passing it on.
Thanks. That is a a good site, except it does not list OPS for each player, just BA. I usually check out the Red Sox minor league results at:
milb.com/scores/all/all/redsox
Holy smokes from reading most of threads on bullpen and such I’m beginning to believe I might not be the only one missing Brasier???( okay I am but still) these guy’s are brutal.. Brasier was just bad( hiccup) last night.. believe his era w dodgers under 1??? Also you got to send story on that one.. I get it if it’s George miterwald running but story??
Earth to Cora…. The team is cooked, playoffs just a dream!
It’s time to play the kids
Dalbec is 4 homers away from the Red Sox AAA record.
Set by that other dumpy (thick, slow footed) first base Prospect they had a few years ago.. I’m trying to remember his name.., I think I looked him up the other day..,
oh, Bryce Brentz !! Didn’t he have 30 minor league home runs one year? Funny, good call.