After firing chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom last month, the Red Sox are in the midst of a search for their next baseball operations leader. Team president Sam Kennedy recently spoke to MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam regarding the club’s preferences in their search, and made clear that the club is open to a hire who doesn’t have experience as the top decision maker in a front office.
Kennedy referred to past experience in a front office leadership role as “definitely not a requirement” before referencing GMs from around the league who had success in their first job as a top front office executive, including Yankees GM Brian Cashman and former Red Sox and Cubs executive Theo Epstein.
McAdam goes on to reference Phillies GM Sam Fuld, Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes, and Red Sox assistant GM Eddie Romero as candidates the Red Sox have interest in who have never led a baseball operations department before, though he also notes more experienced candidates the club has been linked to such as Marlins GM Kim Ng (whose contract is up in Miami) and former Astros GM James Click, who currently serves as vice president of baseball strategy for the Blue Jays. The Red Sox had also been previously reported to have interest in Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen, though the possibility of Hazen departing Arizona was squashed by his recent extension with the club. Referencing the potential of a job with the Red Sox following his extension, Hazen acknowledged his ties to Boston before emphasizing that he wasn’t ready to leave Arizona.
Aside from the club’s ongoing GM search, McAdam pushes back against a recent report from the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, which characterizes Boston as “a real threat” to sign two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani this offseason. Despite that, McAdam reports that Ohtani was “not at all a focus” of Boston’s early meetings regarding their offseason plans, and that principal owner John Henry is against the sort of long-term megadeal it would surely require to lure Ohtani to the Red Sox.
To McAdam’s point, prior to the club’s $331MM extension with third baseman Rafael Devers, the club had signed a contract that surpasses $200MM just once by signing left-hander David Price to a seven-year, $217MM pact. With the Devers deal freshly on the books on top of existing deals for shortstop Trevor Story and left-hander Chris Sale, it’s difficult to imagine the Red Sox offering the massive contract it would likely require to land Ohtani.
I don’t see Ohtani coming to Boston because i don’t see Henry giving out more than what they signed Devers for. Add that to the fact that his future as a Pitcher is in doubt and the Sox may be better served not digging that hole
Heyman’s source was one unidentified person at one of the other 29 teams. I don’t doubt he found someone to say that, but it’s not that difficult of a story to create. Heyman: “Hey Bob at team xxxx. I think Ohtani-to-Boston makes sense, how about you? Bob: Uhh, hadn’t thought about it, but sure, I can see that making sense.” Heyman has what he needs for his tidbit. Where there’s smoke there’s fire, but this one isn’t even smoldering.
John Henry seems like he may be desperate to please fans and the media. People call him cheap even though player payroll is over $200M. He can’t seem to ignore this baseless criticism and realize he will likely be criticized no matter what he does. So, I think Ohtani to Boston may happen.
Problem is if Ohtani doesn’t win Cy Young Awards or MVP’s he still gets the criticism, only then it will be for the albatross contract.
In Ohtani’s case for just about every team (minus the A’s) you’re basically damned if you do and damned if you don’t
Agreed and I am only speculating that John Henry is sensitive to criticism. I hope he is not.
Suit – He is not sensitive, at all. I’ve already pointed out his arrogance and disdain toward fans at events like Winter Weekend. He has scoffed at the notion of making decisions based on fan sentiment. If anything he is more inclined to make decisions BECAUSE they are opposite of fan sentiment.
I can’t speak for others but my criticism of ownership is because in large part, they:
1. build up a winner but then expect to continue to win when they don’t continue to add and build (until they fire managers and/or leadership after not succeeding).
2. They’ve becomeva conglomerate looking at their global Brand’s bottom line instead of focusing on their core property.
Define core property, I mean Liverpool and Roucsh-Fenway Racing are also huge assets. I do think it’s possible that John Henry might have overextended himself. I think he also put in a bid to have bought the Commanders when they were on sale.
King – You are right about Liverpool, valued at $3.9B Euro which is very similar to the Red Sox $4.5B valuation.
Roush not so much, as it’s co-owned by Jack Roush and publicly traded.
The Pens are worth just a smidge under $1B.
Agree with you that John Henry has overextended himself, which is why he’s rarely seen compared to the earlier years. It’s impossible to devote the same amount of attention to your first franchise when you add two more franchises and NESN and the Boston Globe, plus everything else going on such as the Fenway Corners Development..
A good analogy would be when you have your first kid, they get spoiled with all your attention and gifts etc. It’s never the same after the 2nd kid, 3rd kid, 4th kid.
Ohtani’s contract will never be an albatross, because his existence on the team will generate way more money that its value. It may not be a smart baseball move (it’s only smart if it works,) but it would be a great business move.
suit – I haven’t heard anyone call Henry cheap. I for one am glad the Sox don’t lead MLB in spending like they used to, because to me when you outspend every other team that cheapens success.
If fans think Henry is being cheap because Bloom didn’t want to pay several players what they were worth, then they have the wrong perception. Henry sets the total team payroll budget each year, nothing more.
Fever: I agree with all of that except apparently John Henry at least perceived people calling him cheap. From February 2023:
“There’s been a false narrative that we somehow stopped spending – completely unsupported by the facts – that we no longer sign free agents, that we are uninterested in or incapable of winning despite our track record.” Henry told Sean McAdam of Boston Sports Journal in an email interview.
bostonsportsjournal.com/2023/02/19/john-henry-weig…
Suit – They did stop spending in 2020-2021, but Henry is correct about 2022-2023.
Fever: So, my original point/question was: Will John Henry spend a lot, perhaps recklessly, to try to counter the perceived narrative that he is cheap? It sounds like the answer is likely no based on what you said, so that is good. I should add that based on what I read here and see elsewhere including MLB Network, that I perceive the narrative the same way as John Henry.
suit – You lost me my friend, which thing that I said? Do you mean in regards to Henry not being sensitive or caving to demands from the fanbase and media? If so I stand by that, however once he sees/saw how much fan interest, ticket revenue and ratings dropped I do believe he will increase spending. Probably not to the point where they lead MLB in spending again, but perhaps at least 5th-8th highest payroll in MLB. He already spent recklessly with the Devers contract, right? And that wasn’t the culmination of intense negotiations, as Devers even admitted he was blown away by the size of the contract offer.
Fever: Yes, that you said Henry is not sensitive to opinions of the fans and media. I’m hoping Devers produces for his entire contract. In a few years his salary may not be on the high end. What do you think of Mike Elias for POBO? I think he could be good. They might get him if Baltimore is too cheap to pay him what Boston may offer.
Rsox – There’s one other reason people don’t seem to understand, if Ohtani is DH’ng then Devers can’t… and we all know Devers likely won’t be playing 3B for much longer.
Between Devers and Casas, in time, one will need to play 1B and the other DH, so locking up Ohtani as the permanent DH for the next decade doesn’t seem doable.
Sox need PITCHING, PITCHING, and more PITCHING and Ohtani just had TJ and won’t be pitching in 2024
I love giving fresh blood a new chance? Hope the red Sox hire someone with no experience and they blossom
Ohtani is looking to join a club with clear admiration to compete? I see him taking less money for a clear shot at playing in the playoffs? But I also have mental health issues so take that with a grain of salt? Rejoins the angels for a less money becuase he likes cleaning out his locker mid September? Like Wander Franco? Only not cause he wanna get with a girl… and alot less semi-permanant/permanent…. Just ask Jeff Porter, Bauer on line three…
Like how did he ever think joining the organization that killed Tyler Skaggs was a good idea?
Ohtani joined the angels in 2018, Tyler Skaggs died mid-2019
Hippy – What are your thoughts on Spaceman Bill Lee?
Do you think he’s been posting here?
I think Ohtani’s contract with new balance and the new balance facility in Boston makes the connection easier to imagine.
jay – When Ohtani first signed with the Angels, he said the reason was because he felt very comfortable with the environment … relaxed, laid back, polite, family friendly, Disney environment. That means he probably wouldn’t appreciate what it’s like to play for major east coast teams in Boston, NY, Philly etc.
If I had to guess, he will stay in Cali or possibly go to Seattle.
It’s nothing more than coincidence. And since half of what made Ohtani such a hot property is now off the table for at least the 2024 season, he’s not going to get that mega-deal – certainly not from teams that already have too many broken-down position players who are being strung along as DHs.
Agree with Rsox.
I actually think that if Ohtani is smart, he’ll take a 1 or 2 year deal somewhere until he can pitch again
DBH – While that would open up the bidding for all 30 teams, it would be a very high risk decision for him.
Turn down $400M now for the chance to make $500M in a couple years? I wouldn’t.
So then where did Heyman get this from? He’d better check his sources.
probably the same people that told him Judge was signing in San Fran
@the coop
Heyman’s mother has a goldfish bowl that doubles as a crystal ball…
Yeah Henry, I bet you’re against any more ridiculous long-term commitments. You gave $331M to DEVERS the Boston Butcher! LMAO. I’d be gun-shy after that as well. He’s shown he’s not that savvy with decision-making, he just happens to have a lot of money. Actually, a lot of the owners in MLB are in the same intellectual vein.
yeah better to keep hunting in the bargain bins because it has worked so well these past 4 seasons
Seems like a planted article to take the focus off the Patriots and their disastrous season.
Yeahhhh no
If you give those types of contracts to players that come to play everyday and who play for the name on the front of the jersey instead of the name on the back, you don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff. Maybe Devers is a great guy, but he sure doesn’t act like he comes to play everyday.
Ohtani isn’t going to Boston anymore than I am. Actually I probably have a better chance.
Can you pitch???
He’ll need to be able to find Boston on a map first 🙂
I could probably gibe them a good inning or two.
That’s more than Ohtani can do right now.
Highest number of championships in this millennium and they might get Ohtani???
That’s a few more rings coming to Boston.
Good times ahead,
I’d like some of whatever you’ve had today
A 2.5 mile walk, a shake, Farmers Market, drive to Pennsylvania, visit mother in law, another 1.5
mile walk, and now getting some tasty chicken biryani.
A pretty good Sunday.
hayzee – Did you do your shake while listening to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off”?
Probably more like that milkshake song… but he doesn’t want to bring all the boys to the yaaad, just ohtani.
They better decide if they want a company sock puppet or an experienced GM in the next week or two, because they are going to get beaten to the punch on a thin market pretty soon for bats, a super competitive market for pitching, and they need every edge they can get just to be a 4th place team next year.
Pushing mayer to double A was a really poor choice by Boston management. There’s nothing he’s done to make him a must keep prospect yet his trade value was as high as anyone in minors prior to that promotion. there was nothing to gain, yet cost themselves millions in prospect value by rushing him.
Royce Lewis had same trajectory as mayer. His value was sky high and he could have headlined for any player on the trade market then they rushed him to AA, then injuries, and then twins had no option but to ride him out due to his prospect value plummeting.
Marcelo Mayer was injured in A+ not AA. He hurt his shoulder on May 7th and sat out for 6 days. The injury kept getting worse and he didn’t say anything until he was put on the IL on August 3rd. His stats before and after the injury:
April 6 – May 7: 111 plate appearances, .337/.414/.582, 15 extra-base hits, 21.6 strikeout percentage
May 14 – August 2: 243 plate appearances, .190/.256/.366, 19 extra-base hits, 25.5 strikeout percentage
So, it does not look like Mayer was promoted to AA too soon. However, next year is a big year for him. Mayer discusses the injury in this article:
nbcsportsboston.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/marcelo-may…
.339/.414/.582 OPS .996 ISO .245
That’s what Marcelo Mayer was hitting on May 7th when he was in the midst of a 4 hit day. On his final at bat of that game he needed a triple for the cycle. He hit the ball in the gap and he went hard around second realized he wasn’t going to get his triple put the breaks on and fell awkwardly on his shoulder. He was destroying High A pitching at that time even after a real slow start he was going to get the call to AAA but instead he didn’t play for a week he rushed back early and was never the same after.
.190/.256/.366/ .622 OPS .176 ISO
That’s his line after the shoulder injury. He did an interview and talked about how he rushed back and learned a valuable lesson he doesn’t help himself or his team trying to play through a significant injury. Why do I bring this up because he hasn’t lost any of his value. He belongs in AA he just has to be healthy. I fully expect him to start and hit well in AA Portland probably be in AAA Worcester by mid season then he’s on the doorstep of a an MLB debut after that. Those that are worried about Mayer shouldn’t he will be just fine he’s still one of the very best prospects in the game.
Bruin1012 – Everyone loves reassurances but you don’t know that Mayer will be one of the best prospects in baseball, you only hope it.
Mayer is highly touted because he was the fourth pick in the draft NOT because he’s been tearing up the low minors. I think it’s safe to say we have NO IDEA how good he will be, we can only hope. We also need to hope he’s not injury prone and most importantly we need to hope that if he becomes the second best player in baseball the fool owners will ship him out of town.
He played 26 games as an 18 year old at ROK. .275/.377/.440/.817 was solid but not great for the fourth pick in the draft.
He played A ball for 66 games to start his 19 year old season and hit .286/.406/.504/.910 then got promoted to Hi-A for 25 games with .265/.379/.449/.828
His 19 year old season was more in line with what fans are hoping for.
This year was his 20 year old season. The age Bogaerts and Devers started in the majors. He began in Hi-A with 35 games and hit .290/.355/.524/890 then he moved up to AA where he hit .189/254/.355/.609 in 43 games.
So at 18 he played in 26 games which was probably less than his HS team played. At 19 he played in 91 games which is probably close to what he was used playing with his select team. At 20 he played in 78 games which is 13 less than his previous season thanks to injuries. His minor league career which only extends to 43 games at AA is .261/.359/.460/.819. Are those the numbers of the very best prospects in the game as you mentioned?
To put things into perspective, I have been very high on Roman Anthony and he’s a year younger than Mayer. In 2023 while Mayer was playing in Hi-A and AA Roman Anthony was playing at A, Hi-A and AA. He played only 10 games at AA but he is a year younger.
His minor league numbers are .277/.399/.450/.849. He’s the same height and he is 12 pounds heavier so their appearance is quite similar and they are both guys that hit lefty and throw righty. Anthony crushed ROK ball at age 18 when Mayer was just good but to be fair he played less games before being moved up. That may be an indication of who started with greater upside potential..
You’ve assured everyone that Mayer is going to be one of the very best prospects in baseball despite being a fourth pick in the draft and him not performing like a fourth pick in the draft so far in his minor league career.
What do you see for Anthony?
He was the 2nd round pick in 2022 a year after Mayer was the first pick in 2021.
The reason I ask is you have often definitively stated the future of players in the minors because you watched them. Have you seen Anthony and can you proclaim he is every bit as good as Mayer or better at hitting? The numbers suggest it but I want the insight from the guy who watches them and knows so much more than the guys that just go on facts like stats.
Give us your evaluation of Anthony and please, please give us the same assurance that he will be one of the best prospects in baseball!! Thanks
Last year I said that Roman Anthony was going to be the breakout prospect of the year based on what I saw at the end of 2022 in Salem even though it appeared he struggled at Salem.
Roman Anthony has a great plate approach and except for one stretch in High A Greenville walked about as much as he struck out. I fully expect Anthony to hit well in AA Portland next year and be promoted to AAA Worcester probably around the same time as Mayer. I also expect Teel to be promoted as well around the same time. I have watched quite a few of Anthony’s at bats and it’s no surprise he’s a patient hitter with a good approach and when he hits it he smashes the ball. I have just finished watching all of Mayers at bats that you can see. I will watch everyone of Anthony’s at bats next I’m expecting to keep the same opinion moving forward on him that I already have and that he has a chance to be a big time player at the big league level. His defense has been better then I thought it would be as well he looks like he can stick in center. I would say he is the Red Sox best prospect at this point probably a top 10 in all of baseball.
I don’t think Mayers prospect status will change much I expect he will remain a top 20 prospect but he wasn’t the same guy after his shoulder injury so hopefully he is fully healthy to start next year.
The Red Sox have 3 really high end prospects Anthony, Mayer, and Teel they all should impact the big club either later in 2024 or by 2025.
Bruin – What about Yorke?
FLOP
Well said T-free.
Just to be clear – the Red Sox lost millions of dollars in prospect value promoting mayer. And due to the fact he was already hurt makes the decision that much more terrible. Someone should loose their job over that decision.
Lots of prospects can fake it til they hit AA. It’s where your natural ability can’t carry you any longer and u have to be a legit ball ball player. If not, you get exposed and your value plummets.
1/2 of the current top 20 prospects will phase out over first part of next season – that should have made mayer a top 5 prospect which is elite enough to headline any trade. Now sox don’t have that flexibility costing them millions in prospect value
That’s simply not true Big Whiffa at least not yet. I don’t think Mayer has lost any of his top 20 prospect value. He certainly hasn’t lost much if any of his value at this point. I do agree that normally AA is the big difference maker for a lot of prospects I just don’t think it will slow a healthy Mayer. There’s very little argument after watching Mayers at bats in AA he was injured. He just didn’t impact the baseball like he did when he was healthy. I would be more concerned if his k rate skyrocketed when he went to AA but that didn’t happen. His exit velocities dropped dramatically after the injury I fully expect him to impact the baseball and his exit velocities to increase next year when healthy. I’m pretty sure Boston and all other teams know this his value is still very high and if he is moved would garner huge value. I’m not saying he is untouchable since the guy who drafted him is gone and the new guy has no emotional attachment. What I am saying if he is moved it will be for a massive haul his value hasn’t diminished at this point.
FPG Yorke is in between at this point he most certainly isn’t a bust but he’s also not the line drive all fields approach guy that the Red Sox thought they drafted. He has seemed to really become much more of a pull hitter who tries to lift the ball. He has gotten bigger and I suppose he could become a 20 homer guy in the bigs but it will come at the expense of his hitting. One interesting thing the guy seems to be a hard worker his defense at 2nd has gotten much better this last year. He was voted the best defensive 2nd baseman defensively in the eastern league. It’s also important to note that the Eastern League was a very tough offensive environment and Nick Yorke held up well offensively in that tough offensive environment. I would like to see him get back to that all fields line drive approach but it’s possible that’s not who he is anymore still he’s a solid prospect and a probable big leaguer at some point imo.
Troll I also wouldn’t compare two international league prospects Bogey and Devers to Hugh School prospect in this case Mayer.
If someone wants to compare don’t compare age but a better look is plate appearances. International League players are, for the most part, signed as 16 year olds and get two years on the typical high school drafted. I like to look at plate appearances in the minors. Bogey had over 1600 plate appearances in the minors while Devers had roughly 1700. In comparison Mayer has had only roughly 900 plate appearances. I don’t get to worked about a prospect being a potential bust until they hit 1500 plate appearances if they are a high school draftee. When I look at college players I equate their college experience on par with the low minors. In this case the reason a guy like Kyle Teel an advanced college bat is already up to AA and could get to the big leagues as soon as next year he’s already had over 1,000 plate appearances when you look at college and the minor leagues. The point is it may be useful to look at a player and say they made their big league debut as a 20 year old but I think it’s more useful to look at professional experience in evaluating a prospect. Let’s also look at Jackson Holliday he will most likely be 20 when he makes his mlb debut but he probably makes it with 1000 plate appearances or maybe slightly more. Right now he is in AAA with 671 plate appearances. It is exceedingly rare for a player to get to the bigs with less then 750 plate appearances that’s Soto, Ken Griffey Jr. Territory.
Troll one thing to watch about Anthony he hits a lot of ground balls. They are hard hit ground balls but ground balls nonetheless. As he goes up the ladder more and more hard hit ground balls become outs it’s just something to watch as he continues his climb.
Bruin1012 – I think your at bats in the minors theory needs some tweaking because you should reference the most relevant levels. For example, Mookie had 1120 at bats in the minors but he had 185 at AAA and 218 at AA. Devers had 1580 at bats in the minors but he only had 56 at AAA and 287 at AA. Clearly he wasn’t as ready as Mookie was to be at the MLB level. Bogey had 1427 at bats in the minors but had 228 at AAA and 311 at AA so he was far better prepared than Devers despite both being International signees who graduated to the majors at 20.
Mookie was a 5th round pick out of High School and was in Hi-A at age 20 but by 21 he had played 52 games for the Red Sox and had an OPS= of 126. Should that be the standard to compare Mayer to since you don’t like using international signees? Trout was a late first round pick as a HS player and he played in the majors at 19. So, the bar for star players says Mayer is not at that level despite being the fourth pick of the draft in 2021.. .
Anthony was in HS in 2022 and played at ROK and A that same year. He struggled at A but by 19 years old he was hitting .343 at AA. He’s at 44 at bats above AA. To me, that makes the most sense when comparing across drafted HS and College players and International signees. Anything below AA seems irrelevant to me.
Anthony(19) – 44 at AA and nothing above AA = .849 OPS in minors
Mayer(20) – 169 at AA and nothing above AA – .819 OPS in minors
Yorke(21) – 444 at AA and nothing above AA – .798 OPS in minors
Rafaela(22) – 728 at AA or above with 199 of it at AAA – .806 OPS in minors
Abreu(24( – 942 at AA or above with 299 of it at AAA – .811 OPS in minors
Valdez(24) – 771 at AA or above with 521 of it at AAA – .809 OPS in minors
Duran(26) – 884 at AA or above with 564 of it at AAA – .834 OPS in minors
Mookie – 403 at AA or above with 185 of it at AAA – .880 OPS in minors
Bogey – 539 at AA or above with 228 of it at AAA – .866 OPS in minors
Devers – 343 at AA or above with 56 of it at AAA – .838 OPS in minors
I think all 7 young players listed above have had good minor league careers but the expectations vary greatly sine Mayer is the fourth pick.
Anthony looks to be the closest young player to have a shot at being a perennial all-star like Betts, Bogey and Devers.
I’m just glad there are so many and most of them were added by a guy who was accused of stripping the farm system when in fact he was adding significantly to it and pruning the over rated prospects.
Lets hope the new GM gives the fan base reason to be excited about the future. The prospects are there but they were there for Bloom too and the team failed 4 years in row. A run for the division title in 2024 would be a welcome surprise.
Troll it’s also important to recognize that Anthony was the highest bonus of anyone in the 2022 draft that the Red Sox paid his bonus was higher then the first round pick Romero. He had real signability concerns coming out of high school thankfully the Red Sox were able to sign him.
I think my plate appearances is a good way to compare where guys are at similar times. If we look at Mookie who made his debut as a 21 year old he had at the end of his age 20 season 847 plate appearances in the minors none above High A. Mayer has had just over 900 plate appearances and has hit AA. I will say it’s highly unlikely that but not impossible that Mayer comes out and rakes like Mookie did and rush through the upper minors like Mookie did in 464 plate appearances.
My point is it takes time for these guys to be ready and isn’t fair to compare international players to high school draftees since most international draftees are playing professionally for two years before high school draftees are signed. If you want to compare Mayer maybe a better comparison is Lawlar who was drafted after Mayer and has already made his mlb debut after less then 1000 plate appearances. Maybe Bloom should of drafted Lawlar instead of Mayer thank Detroit for that because if Detroit drafts Mayer instead of Jobe I am confident Bloom would of drafted Lawlar.
Troll stats are important but when you watch the games you can see certain things that stats don’t tell you. I will use Casas as an example. In the minor leagues Casas was called out a lot on strikes called off the plate. He didn’t chase those pitches he simply let them go. Minor League umpires are not real good at calling balls and strikes. Watching Mayer he’s very similar to Casas he doesn’t chase off the plate much but unlike Casas he shows emotion when a strike is called off the plate there is no doubt he didn’t like the call. There are just some things you pick up when you watch the players that stats alone can’t tell you.
Bruin1012 – Lawler is a local boy and played at a HS that has a better stadium than most DIV III and some DIV II schools. Yes, he might have been a better pick than Mayer but it’s still very early. Davis went first because he was a catcher who was going to cost less. It turns out PIT was pretty smart because he’s far better than expected. Leiter chosen by one of the best GMs in baseball has been a disapointment so far but still has a very high ceiling and Texas needed pitching. Detroit was in the process of re-building a pitching staff so they passed on two top flight HS infielders. Time will tell if that one pays off. Bloom needed an infielder since Bogey was getting older and Devers needed to be moved so logically transitioning Bogey to 3B when Mayer was ready made some sense at the time. Looking at the two high school programs, I would have taken Lawler but it’s way too early to say if Mayer or Lawler was the better choice.
Since Bloom likes HS infielders from California it’s not a stretch to think he would have taken one from Texas if his Cali guy wasn’t available.
My suggestion is to limit the plate appearances count to ONLY AA and AAA. If a player gets lots of lower level at bats that doesn’t mean as much as AA and AAA at bats. I think we have always agreed that each level needs to be conquered before the player is promoted otherwise the players tend to fail in their first attempt or are flash in the pans with September call-ups who don’t do well the next year like Devers. Devers was so prematurely brought up (more than just a Sept call-up) that as many games as he played in 2017 he wasn’t ready to succeed long-term until he learned how to make adjustments during his off season between 2018 and 2019. If he stays in the minors in 2017 I think we would have seen a better player in 2018.
One other thing about comparing HS players and international signees. The DOSL is often a place for the international signees to play and you have to be careful comparing their success to HS success. In markets like Dallas, Houston, Southern California and Florida the players from elite HS are playing far better competition than the DOSL. El Toro HS in Southern California has produced both Arenado and Chapman and their HS experience was far more challenging than where my sons went to school in the Chicago and NJ areas. Dalbarton in NJ where guys like Volpe attended is a HUGE step down from the top flight HS schedules in the places I mentioned. I know this first hand. I’m guessing Bloom knew that the Chula Vista HS that Mayer went to was extremely competitive but I don’t know if he knew that the HS Lawler went to was equally competitive because many executives focus more on Sourthern California, Florida and the Houston area for top HS. recruits.
Bruin1012 – With respect to Yorke…. didn’t you make similar comments about Jeter Downs when you and I argued about his long-term value? He was clearly rated far higher than he should have been thanks to Friedman and his connections at the rating services. Bloom did not do his due diligence on him and Boston fans paid for it.
Yorke has proven to be very inconsistent. At 19 he looked awesome in the lower levels of the farm system. At 20 he failed miserably at Hi-A. His AFL performance that year showed a possible rebound and his 2023 season at AA was solid. He has not shown first round skills. He looks to be a guy like Verdugo who will always be slightly above league average without any dominant skills. Average power, average hand/eye skills, average speed and slightly above average fielding.
He is not the long-term solution at 2B, he’s just a 6 year cheap guy to compliment the true talent on the ball club.
Troll I think we are saying roughly the same thing. I agree that high minors at bats are more important then lower minors that’s not disputable it’s why advanced college bats drafted in the first round really should be at AA when their first full professional season starts. Most high school draftees and international signees have quite a few lower minor league level plate appearances. I have found,in retrospect,the number of minor league plate appearances is a great way to compare prospects from high school, international, and college.
I don’t agree that High School even the high end ones in Southern California and the like are on par with the Rookie League. I can buy the idea it’s close to the DSL but the Florida Rookie league is overall superior to even the highest High School divisions.
Bruin1012 – I’m not sure we are on the same page with our understanding of the different levels of competition for baseball.
High School
1 – normal HS team
2 – Select teams that compete nationally
3 – Cape Cod League – Invitation only league (several exist)
Rookie Leagues
1 – Florida Complex League
2 – Arizona Complex League
3 – Dominican Summer League
This is a bit confusing since the DOSL is more for international signees and they usually play there before being signed whereas the other two leagues are what we used to call Rookie Ball. The new structure helps keep the young stars playing when things like COVID hit. I think it’s a positive but I don’t think it’s been communicated well to the public.
You do understand Mayer was hurt and continued to play through it and that’s why his numbers went down in AA
soxintwo – Does that mean he’s injury prone? People draw conclusions about kids that play very few games at ROK, A and Hi-A as if they were a certainty to be successful.
Does you comment speak to his inability to play hurt, does it suggest he’s injury prone or are you rationalizing why his numbers didn’t look like numbers that should be provided by the fourth pick in the draft?
Maybe, he simply had a bad stretch and it had nothing to do with the injury. Could the failure be positively linked to the injury?
In the end, he’s a 4th pick who hasn’t put up 4th pick numbers so far but we are all hoping he will because we’ve just lived through the Bloom years.
I hope his drop-off was from the injury but even if it wasn’t, he’s still in a position to improve his numbers to fulfill his destiny as a 4th pick in the draft. He has played 195 games in the low minors so I think there is no need to rationalize his performance. Just give him time to prove or not prove his skills.
Yes, after four disastrous years of an inexperienced PoBO, the brilliant move would be to take a much worse chance and hire another one. If that happens I’m putting my money on 2030 being the earliest the Sox are competitive again.
Please hire David Forst.
Sincerely,
Every single A’s fan
This whole article is an oxymoron. Much ado about nothing
Grn – What irritates me about Kennedy’s comments is he brought up past rookies like Theo, totally disingenuous considering Lucky and a bunch of highly experienced former head of baseball ops surrounded Theo and guided him. There is no experienced ops people in the current front office to guide a rookie POBO.
Fever – 100% agree. bloom was their top pick four years ago and what they’re going to go after their second pick from that last search?
grn – Hope I’m wrong, but my Top Two choices – Click and Ng – are probably being used by Henry for nothing more than show. As Pedro said, there needs to be an entire change in culture … that can’t happen if Henry sticks with all internal choices.
And BTW what happened last week, when Cora said the braintrust would be meeting to discuss the future of each coach? Does the silence mean they are all coming back? Good grief, that would be a huge mistake.
Fever – the Red Sox organization is famous for putting on a show so I don’t doubt that that’s what Henry is doing. How many times over the last four years did we hear from bloom, “we were in on (insert big FA name here)?” All window dressing.
Does there really need to be a meeting to decide on coaching? Did they not see the atrocious defensive, all the strikeouts and lack of getting the most out of pitchers ie. Brasier, Perez, etc. who left and immediately turned around their performances? They need to clean house top to bottom starting with the Cheater-in-Chief himself.
grnmt – I was gonna write the exact same thing, all the reports about Bloom acquiring big names …. yeah, if the price dropped down to bargain basement, which it never did.
And let’s not forget all the horrendous baserunning blunders, the games that were lost on ridiculous mistakes by Febles.
Hire a baseball mind with baseball experience – citing rare exceptions to a hard-learned rule is meaningless.
Sox need bang for the buck, which never seems to be what happens very often with free agents of high dollar.
badco44 — You mean like Seager or Semien in Texas? If you have an excellent GM, big contracts should NOT be a fear. It’s the owners profits that shrink if you are wrong but if you are right, the fan base is in heaven.
With the right guy, it’s low risk and high reward. With the wrong guy it’s what we just spent 4 years enduring.
Eovaldi was brilliant! I really hope it’s a Rangers/Twins ALCS.
“With the Devers deal freshly on the books on top of existing deals for shortstop Trevor Story and left-hander Chris Sale, it’s difficult to imagine the Red Sox offering the massive contract it would likely require to land Ohtani.”
Story only makes $23.3m/yr & Sale is going into his last year of his deal (though there’s a $20m club option). I think the Boston Red Sox have plenty of cash on hand to give Ohtani a deal.
With that said, Ohtani might not be the best use of resources for them as they really need pitching more than anything & he won’t even pitch until 2025.
littlerivers 2 – The Sale contract is up at the end of 2024. His contract is meaningless to the future. The Story deal was very Bloom-like because we didn’t need a SS. The Yoshida deal was very Bloom-like because we didn’t need a DH. The Devers deal was very Bloom-like because again we didn’t need a DH making 20% above market
Bottomline, Boston has $90MM under the cap to get 2 SPs and a 3B. They have excess baggage in that they have Yoshida and Devers as DHs so pick one and trade the other and increase the money available above $90MM. If you can trade either of the two DHs for a 3B, then you can sign both Ohtani and the second most expensive SP available and still have money to fill in the minor holes at 2B and left handed set-up man.
Ohtani is an incredible fit to all teams. He’s got the greatest skills we’ve ever seen in a baseball player. If the owners didn’t provide such a toxic environment it would be great to get Ohtani but I can’t see that happening. He chose Trout as the best player in baseball when he picked LAA. Now, he may want to play in LAD to play with Mookie and Freeman. DD surely can find room for him in Philly so he could play with Harper and Trea Turner. I doubt Judge and Cole are a big enough attraction for him but NYY have the money to get him even with the albatross contract to Stanton. Who else boasts a top player in baseball? ATL has Acuna but I don’t think they would spend the money so that leaves TEX where they have the money and the GM to pull it off if Ohtani wants to play with Seager, Semien, deGrom and Scherzer. Texas and Philly have the most complimentary talent but LAD and NYY have the curb appeal of big bucks and over-inflated fame tied to them. NY gives you an automatic route to the HOF and LAD gives you celebrity beyond belief.
It should be fun to see where he goes but don’t count out Boston for money, count them out for their culture. It’s still toxic and that’s why the new GM needs to come in, fire Cora and turn the internal culture to one fans can be proud of again.
Well said, Troll. Good stuff.
Let all the other big payroll teams fight for Ohtani, I’d rather the Sox get the consolation prize … Yamamoto.
BTW – There’s a 2025 option on Sale’s contract that could vest next year.
Fever – The 2025 option is a club option at $20MM. If he pitched well in 2024 I expect them to exercise it but if he’s hurt or ineffective he won’t be extended by the Red Sox. 2024 is very likely to be Sale’s last year with Boston but trading Sale with the $20MM option for 2025 becomes a possibility if the “good” Sale returns at the start of the 2024 season.
Two top pitchers are needed even if we keep Sale. Yamamoto is as qualified as any. There are only a handful of pitchers that are elite so we need to aim high on both spots.
Fun Fact – I was looking at Devers’ stats and I found out he’s been up 6 full seasons and part of a 7th. His 6 times leading all third basemen in errors ranks tied for first with Herb Souell a Kansas City Monarch back in the 40s!!
So for all those saying Devers IS NOT THAT BAD. The facts refute your statement. He is officially the worse of all time by leading all of baseball at errors for 6 years running.
Now I know there will be some out there that think a bit more practice and he could get better but that’s not going to happen. He will continue to hurt the pitching staff at the highest rate in the history of the game until he gets moved to DH or is given the chance to hurt a different pitching staff.
If Ohtani comes to Boston both Devers and Yoshida would need to be gone. Their payroll number is a tad over $47MM. I’d take Ohtani straight up for those two from a payroll and skill standpoint.
The new GM really needs to clear out the trash contracts made by Bloom!!!
Dear Red Sox Fans & Media:
No, Mike Hazen was never a candidate for the Red Sox job.
Ditto for Theo, Dave Dombrowski, Ben Cherrington and more.
An experienced, successful Pres of Baseball Ops or GM who has built his own success with another team(s) will not put up with the micro managing and constant interference of RS Owner John Henry and his “eyes and ears” around the Fenway Park Front Office Sam Kennedy.
Both those guys are not “baseball guys”.
Henry the Owner who has put his money on the line, but should not be micromanaging baseball decisions (like Arte Moreno).
Ditto with Sam Kennedy who is more of a guy on the Operations Management, business side of things and not really a baseball guy who assembles and builds winning teams.
And there lies the Red Sox problem(s).
Guys making final baseball team and roster decisions who don’t understand how to build a winning team and roster and over ruling the experienced baseball guys.
Sports – Before I read your post, I was gonna say Hazen agreed to the extension probably because he wanted no part of becoming the Sox POBO.
I mean it would have been a promotion AND he already has family in Boston. For him to still turn down an interview with the Sox says something, not a good reflection on John Henry.
Let Ed Romero run the show in the interim. Heck put him in the job and see where it goes.
Bobby – This guy is part of the problem not part of the solution. Lets put a real baseball guy in the GM role not some wanna be like Cora who has no background for the job. This guy doesn’t have the brains or the background to be a good GM. If Boston wasn’t trying so hard to build a pipeline to Latin America he wouldn’t have a front office job. He’s a perfect example of a person who gets to a job because of who he knows rather than what he knows.
Romero is a HUGE … NO!!!!!!!!!
Why would Ohtani want to go to a non competitive team like the RedSox?
Sam Fuld?!
Are you kidding me?!
Who is making ALL THE MAJOR BASEBALL DECISIONS IN PHILADELPHIA?!
1000% sure is is not Sam Fuld!
Phillies decisions are made by Dave Dombrowski.
Remember him?!
Sam Fuld was hired by Dave Dombrowski to train under Dave Dombrowski.
If Red Sox called, then I would love to be a fly on the wall when Fuld
asked Dombrowski about working for John Henry, Sam Kennedy and the Red Sox
Front Office LMFAO!
Fuld is a big boy, and I am sure he can make his own decisions. Why would anyone turn down that kind of pay increase for a job that only has 30 openings when it is why you are in that business! LMFAO at your comment!
JC – We can tell you are young by your naive comments. As you grow up you’ll find that money is not everything when it comes to a job/career. Working in a toxic environment just one time makes you realize what your priorities are in life. Fuld would be a fool to step into the Red Sox job without laying down the law like DD did. He told ownership the past mistakes were on them and he was going to spend under the CAP to put an outstanding team on the field. He delivered and Boston won a ring and might have had another in 2017 had Houston not cheated. We’ll never know.
Also, had DD been kept who knows how many more division titles we might have had or how many other rings we might have had. When the CAP went up $30MM those dollars would have been spent far more effectively by DD than Bloom. 2022, even with a not so Sale Sale could still have been a division championship with the right adds to the core group from 2018.
The entire site is LTFAO at your naive comment. SportsFanooooo was right.
I’m not laughing at it … because I have JC muted. Hahahahaha!
TROLL i 1000% disagree with you. Challenging owners/bosses are everywhere in life you work with them or you dont work for them..seems to me DD was no longer working with the red sox ownership one way or another.mlb gm/head of ops are a select group of 30 jobs if you get offered one and turn it down do you really think you will get another offer? Im sure the list of those being offered one of those jobs turning it down then being offered another is very small…that would be pretty arrogant on the part of sam fuld..also. dont forget he interviewed for the manager role already well after DD was let go..so really what changed?
Pool – I’m guessing you must have experienced something similar at some point in your career to go to 1000%.
30 jobs in the industry makes it sound like a small industry but you’ve seen the hundreds of senior positions in the Red Sox organization so multiple that by 30 and you have what the entire industry offers.
Timing is such a big part of life that saying no when the time is wrong and saying yes when it’s right IS AN ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR. If the snubbed party wants to bad mouth you there isn’t much you can do about it but in a small industry like baseball, the quality front office people stand=out just like the quality players.
A FAVOR rejected could impact you as suggested but if you are really good at what you do, your value will be maintained even if you say no to an organization or two. Family issues, health issues for you or your family and so many other reasons an excellent exec might turn down a job isn’t going to make you a persona non grata to the entire industry.
If it did happen to you or someone you know I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve turned down jobs in my career for many reasons. Maybe it limited me but I don’t regret any of the choices because they wouldn’t have been good for me or my family.
Timing is such a big part of life. Sometimes the luck of the timing creates a fortunate situation and sometimes it creates a regretful situation but you can’t control it you can only contain it.