Grade the Red Sox trade deadline

How would you grade the additions of Schwarber, Austin Davis and and Hansen Robles?

  • A (Pumped! They killed it)

    Votes: 6 1.3%
  • B (Pretty happy. Did what they had to do)

    Votes: 132 29.2%
  • C (Eh. No First baseman? No SP?!)

    Votes: 200 44.2%
  • D (Really unimpressed)

    Votes: 104 23.0%
  • F (Should almost get fired)

    Votes: 10 2.2%

  • Total voters
    452

PhabPhour20

Well-Known Member
Silver Supporter
Jan 5, 2007
230
Spankee Country, CT
Actually, Vegas Insider has the Sox @ +375 to win the World Series; third best, behind San Francisco (+300) and Houston (+275). ESPN reported similar odds this AM. Based on these data, I don't think we can classify the Red Sox as "long shots" for the 2021 WS title.
Because the Sox are already through the ALDS. San Fran and Houston still have to win a division series.
 

nvalvo

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
21,478
Rogers Park
I voted C at the time, and my reasoning was two-fold. First, it seemed like the things they got only vaguely fit their needs. Schwarber was a good bat, but not really a 1B. Davis and Robles were useful arms, but at the time — a week before the Matt Barnes meltdown, in particular — it seemed like the rotation needed more shoring up than the bullpen.

But the positive side of my assessment was that all these acquisitions seemed like good values, once the rest of trade market came into focus. We sent out Aldo Ramirez (a decent SP prospect with a chance to be a useful 4/5/6-type starter in a few years, Alex Scherff (a future middle reliever with a set-up ceiling), and Michael Chavis. I liked Aldo quite a bit, but he was a fair price to rent a bat like Schwarber, and I think the other deals were, frankly, steals.

When you look at the deals other teams were making — the Dodgers got Scherzer and Turner, but gave up a haul, including a franchise catcher, two good SP prospects, and a decent AA outfielder it's not hard to see that we just weren't in position to do that.

(If you want to see what an A at the deadline looks like, I love Washington's deadline: they added 10 of their present top-30 prospects in six deals, several of whom are really high-end prospects who are close to or already MLB-ready, almost entirely from players who were leaving at the end of the year.)
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2008
11,304
(If you want to see what an A at the deadline looks like, I love Washington's deadline: they added 10 of their present top-30 prospects in six deals, several of whom are really high-end prospects who are close to or already MLB-ready, almost entirely from players who were leaving at the end of the year.)
They traded 8 guys including 2 of the best players in baseball, so I'd hope they got a shit ton of high end prospects back
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
14,280
I trusted Bloom from the beginning, but I'm at the point of trust now where I'm just going to cosign everything he does.

It's so different from days past when I was confident I was smarter than whatever was going on with the pre-Theo Sox, & this is much more advanced than that.

So my current thought process will just be a matter of figuring out why whatever he did was the best thing to do & not if.

It's only a matter of time before everyone is going to want their Tampa/Friedman tree guy.

Friedman - Dodgers
Bloom - Red Sox
Click - Astros
Anthopolous - Braves
Arnold - Brewers (Asst GM)
Neander - Rays
Zaidi - Giants
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,375
For an individual trade, agree. But for the collective "trade deadline", the "blew it" crowd won't be satisfied unless the Sox win it all. Which (of course!) they are still unlikely to do.
And even if they do, it won't be because of what Chaim did at the trade deadline....
 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

has big, douchey shoulders
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
I trusted Bloom from the beginning, but I'm at the point of trust now where I'm just going to cosign everything he does.

It's so different from days past when I was confident I was smarter than whatever was going on with the pre-Theo Sox, & this is much more advanced than that.

So my current thought process will just be a matter of figuring out why whatever he did was the best thing to do & not if.

It's only a matter of time before everyone is going to want their Tampa/Friedman tree guy.

Friedman - Dodgers
Bloom - Red Sox
Click - Astros
Anthopolous - Braves
Arnold - Brewers (Asst GM)
Neander - Rays
Zaidi - Giants
I never thought I was smarter than any of the guys, but this one is really good. The bolded is where I am as well, and it's actually sort of a fun way to analyze things.
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2008
11,304
You just have to look at the Arenado trade to know that it doesn't work out that way every time.
Arenado came with a massive financial obligation to whoever took him, Turner and Scherzer didn't, particularly Turner. We also won't know if the Rockies got a good return or not for years.
 

joe dokes

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
30,236
I trusted Bloom from the beginning, but I'm at the point of trust now where I'm just going to cosign everything he does.

It's so different from days past when I was confident I was smarter than whatever was going on with the pre-Theo Sox, & this is much more advanced than that.

So my current thought process will just be a matter of figuring out why whatever he did was the best thing to do & not if.
I've always found that "reverse engineering" why they did something--either a trade or a game decision - is a much more interesting and thought provoking exercise than "why didn't they do what I thought they should do." Of course, that requires starting from the positions of "they probably know what they're doing," and "I really don't know much," which is not how everyone approaches it.