Agreed. So, if management brings up OilcanDroid from SoSH AAA, will he Franchy or will he stick? I think he can help the Main Board lineup, but small sample size, etc.
Red Sox in season discussion
- Thread starter Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat
- Start date
2-5 on the road trip.
3-9 against the AL East.
8-12 overall.
At some point the question will have to be asked if Bloom completely misfired on the construction of the team. Maybe not yet. But soon.
3-9 against the AL East.
8-12 overall.
At some point the question will have to be asked if Bloom completely misfired on the construction of the team. Maybe not yet. But soon.
They are a strange mix of over-performing and under-performing.
Xander is looking like he might challenge Ted's .406. Michael Wacha (!?!?) is in the top-50 in the MLB SP leaderboard. Garrett Whitlock looks like a real building block.
But Devers and Verdugo have been inconsistent; JDM has been good, but hurt; Story and Kiké haven't really gotten going yet, but they've both shown flashes; and the question marks in the lineup (Arroyo, Bradley and Dalbec) have so far looked quite grim. Pivetta has mostly looked like the Philadelphia version, although his fourth start looked promising; better work from him going forward would help a lot. Eovaldi is yielding way more hard contact, and generally looks like a HR-rate-driven regression candidate.
They had a COVID flareup that cost them both catchers and their manager. The vaccine status of two of their young relievers threw their pitching staff into disarray. And yet, after all that, the games have by and large been close, probably because the pitching staff has been better (3.68 team ERA in a hitters park isn't terrible) than the offense. They have a 3-4 record in the seven (!?!) one-run games they've played out of 20 total. And of course, the close games magnify every bullpen misstep.
Danish, Refsnyder, Schreiber back to Worcester, Shaw DFA,
Houck, Crawford, Cordero, and Davis activated
View: https://twitter.com/WebsterOnTV/status/1520143750357475337
Can't believe Bloom didn't know that after 20 games Story, Hernandez, Dalbec, and Pivetta would be on a pace to be worth a combined -8 WAR, what a misfire.
I'd rather see them leave Crawford in Worcester and keep Schreiber. His righty slinging sliders and sinkers was something different out of the pen.
I think it was Schreiber and Refsnyder because they were COVID adds and could be removed from the 40-man without a DFA. With the Shaw DFA and Cordero add, they're at 40 now.
The question is starting to be raised in some circles.
https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/chaim-bloom-needs-step-and-fix-mess-hes-made-red-sox-roster
From who? John Tomase? It's a complete opinion piece with no direct link to anyone's thought process other than writer spit balling.
Chaim inherited a financial mess and the worst farm system in baseball. He's finally out from under it, made the playoffs and now has an enviable collection of potential cost controlled big leaguers who just aren't ready yet.
My quibble with Bloom - a relatively minor one - is that the bottom of his roster guys for a few seasons now have been below replacement level and the players had too many critical at bats in very close games. Holding onto guys like Marwin Gonzalez too long nearly cost them a playoff run. I'm glad he's finally cutting Shaw and at least trying to catch lightning in a bottle this early in the season.
But evaluating his long term vision this season is foolish. He's yet to give up significant assets that have burnt him and has only committed to one expensive contract in Story. If Story doesn't do well this season, then I think you can start questioning roster construction but its too early.
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Yes, Schreiber showed a lot of promise, with good command and plenty of velocity for a side-armer and a floating slider something like Byung-Hyun Kim's or Brad Ziegler's. With a bullpen quite heavy on LHPs, Schreiber gave the manager another button to push. I expect we'll see Schreiber back up quite often this season.
Chad Finn wrote something very similar.
"it’s ridiculous that Chaim Bloom couldn’t find one righthanded-hitting, competent-fielding right fielder at a price he liked, because it’s always about the price."
And Finn is not a "clickz" guy or a hot take expert. This isn't a very well-constructed roster.
This is untrue. As far as the minor league system goes, in 2021 Keith Law had them ranked as 20th in the Majors. In 2022, he has them ranked as ... 20th. Bleacher Report had them 25th in 2020, 17th in 2021 and 22nd this year. So this myth that Chaim Bloom has completely rebuilt their farm system is bunk. And BTW, Bloom did not inherit the worst farm system in baseball as the Nats, A's, Philies, Angels and more were worse. Again, the myth that Dombrowski left nothing in the pantry is also incorrect.
Why? As of April 29, this roster absolutely sucks. That's what he's being judged on right now. If it's like that on May 29, June 29, July, etc.; that's what being the Head of Baseball Ops in Boston is all about. If the team turns around, he'll get praised. That's the job.
I'm not criticizing Dombrowski with how he handled the farm necessarily - I have been complimentary on the moves he made in the past and how few of them have hurt. He did what was expected of him. But the system is way deeper than it was and it takes a long time to acquire elite talent when they had little in the way of assets and no wiggle room when Dombrowski left. That is on the former GM.
The additions have been a mixed bag. Wacha has been good, Hill not so much. Perhaps Cora should be using Strahm instead of the notoriously wild Strahm in more high leverage spots? Or figure out what the hell they are doing with Whitlock and stick with it. If they haven't been able to stick with it because of unvaccinated players, then I guess blame Bloom?
This largely in tact roster from last season just isn't playing well and neither are Eduardo Rodriguez and Kyle Schwarber.
I will concede they didn't have the worst farm system in baseball, but Fangraphs and Baseball America (who rank them 11th) widely disagree with Keith Law who loudly criticized their draft last season and has admitted he whiffed already
The additions have been a mixed bag. Wacha has been good, Hill not so much. Perhaps Cora should be using Strahm instead of the notoriously wild Strahm in more high leverage spots? Or figure out what the hell they are doing with Whitlock and stick with it. If they haven't been able to stick with it because of unvaccinated players, then I guess blame Bloom?
This largely in tact roster from last season just isn't playing well and neither are Eduardo Rodriguez and Kyle Schwarber.
I will concede they didn't have the worst farm system in baseball, but Fangraphs and Baseball America (who rank them 11th) widely disagree with Keith Law who loudly criticized their draft last season and has admitted he whiffed already
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Because judging a GM based on 20 games that came after an abnormal offseason is really stupid. Unless you actually think Story is going to suck for the next 5 years and that it's likely Hernandez Pivetta and Dalbec are replacement level or worse players who should have been traded.
You didn't say anything about any single player, but did decide that a roster that was picked to likely make the playoffs a month ago sucks based on 20 games.
While everyone is talking about Casas and when he should come up, Duran, who has already dipped his toes in the majors, is now the one with an OPS over 1.000 after tonight's game. He has 7 steals in 11 games, an OBP close to .500, and 7BB/11K when K rate and strike outs were one of the concerns last season. I hope that when it is time for JBJ to go, they give Jarren a shot to hold down the job every day, before looking elsewhere. His path has been a little odd, but he was a consensus to-100 prospect not that long ago, and started this year off hot, so I would like another chance to see what he can do.
I think I’m with you. I’m not bullish on Duran but he’d be at the worst a lateral move if all he did was take JBJ’s spot- assuming better offense, worse defense. But he needs time to see ML pitching without pressure… maybe Chaim is actually punting this season in a head-fake sort of way?
Maybe not punting but an unexpected ALCS run bought him a free season worth of rope.
There are 140 games to play. 80%of the season is in front of them. Check out last year’s WS champion’s season.
Then, maybe, back away from the ledge.
Then, maybe, back away from the ledge.
I’ve seen this comparison invoked a few times in this young sputtering season and it would be well to remember Atlanta’s competition for the NL East crown (Phillies) last year finished at 82-80, and the competition went steadily downhill from there. Atlanta was average against soft competition and had their record been just straight translated to the A.L., they never enter into the playoff conversation.
Digging yourself a hole in the ‘22 AL East is a completely different animal than the ‘21 NL East. There’s really no comparison to be made here - WC slots notwithstanding, the climb out of a such a hole is much, much steeper in every way.
I'm sorry if it sounded as if I was attacking you for Dombrowski, I wasn't. There seems to be a "conventional wisdom" that DD completely gutted the farm system going for the 2018 trophy and it's not really true. That was my only point. And I agree that the minor league system is probably deeper, I just don't think it's quite as deep as the collective mindset of SoSH feels that it is. There are some really good prospects, but there's not a lot of them. And the ones that are really good are years away from helping the big league club.
I was trying to see where BA had them ranked, but I don't subscribe to that service; so I wasn't able to. I believe that Law criticized the Sox 2020 draft, right? I mean, it's hard to have negative things to say about Boston's first round pick in 2021. Though I do I agree that they messed up not signing Jud Fabian (and yes, I get that the pick transfers over to this year but I still think a whiff on a high second rounder is a big missed opportunity if you're trying to rebuild your system) and Law has said that he was wrong about the Sox' 2020 draft.
I also think that losing Rodriguez and Schwarber are bigger deals than you might think, but I'm not going to argue about that. I guess I'd rather have Schwarber batting for JBJ or Dalbec and Rodriguez in the rotation instead of Pivetta. Again, I don't know how much of a difference maker either (or both) would be right now.
I didn't feel attacked at all, I was just clarifying that I was not part of that conventional wisdom because virtually all his moves hadn't weakened the team and I started a thread about it. Interesting also that Eovaldi being signed and then getting hurt immediately may have really helped seal his fate because the same thing had happened to Sale.
And actually looking more closely at the farm back in 2019 strengthens your case and worsens mine. I'm happy to admit being wrong here.
Per Soxprospects here are guys that were ranked in their top 20 in October 2019 two months after Dombrowski was fired and are still very promising
-Ceddanne Rafaela (#19) who has taken a huge step forward so far
-Brayan Bello (#17)
-Thaddeus Ward (#10)
Then Duran, Dalbec, Jimenez, Groome, Mata and Casas. Others, not as highly thought of are still in the mix too.
Reasonable minds can disagree about how to rank the system now, but per Fangraphs, in December of 2019 after adding (Downs) they had 6 guys with an FV of 40+. In 2020 it was up to 16, and is now up to 19. Some of those guys were Dombrowski fellas moving on up, but I prefer the shape it's in now.
I find Keith Law deeply entertaining. He's always interesting, and brings up players to watch that are off the radar. I just don't subscribe to his takes as any kind of ranker since he's all over the place sometimes.
Eduardo Lopez and Schwarber were only cited because you were talking about roster construction and how it sucked after a 20 game sample. Those guys have track records of playing much better than they have and the current team deserves the same amount of patience.
Maybe that's the problem. And I'm not advocating for "spend, spend, spend!" But maybe be a bit more aggressive. Bloom signed Story because he was the last top free agent standing, and he could get at a relatively decent price. Story has a fine track record, but was indeed coming off of a down year. He's not a sure thing offensively. And he's the only substantive guy Bloom got all off season. Wouldn't it be nice to have Suzuki right now? Or some blue chip pitching.
I'm not totally down on Bloom, nor do I think he's the best. I wanna avoid the for-or-against binary that sometimes emerges on this site. I think its too early to evaluate his tenure, and so far it's a bit of Rorschach test. The next couple years will be more determinative. I'm trying to remain hopeful, but admit some skepticism. I'd like to split the difference between Bloom and DD (see: Epstein).
I'm very curious how many people will be in Fenway on Tuesday. Maybe Trout and Ohtani will draw people.
If it were the A's, would there be 20,000 people there? There's really no reason to pay to see this team right now. They're really bad and really boring.
If it were the A's, would there be 20,000 people there? There's really no reason to pay to see this team right now. They're really bad and really boring.
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Ohtani left today’s game with a groin injury so there’s even less reason to go.
If there’s a good crowd I’ll be disappointed. This team is a disgrace and fans should expect better than this garbage. They shouldn’t draw flies if they play like this.
If there’s a good crowd I’ll be disappointed. This team is a disgrace and fans should expect better than this garbage. They shouldn’t draw flies if they play like this.
I think the disconnect in regard to the farm system is that while it’s certainly improved, there seems to be a consensus that there’s nobody really ready to help at the big league level right now. So it’s frustrating to see the Sox struggle mightily, with some epically awful performances from players, yet not be able to get any useful help from the minors. I think there’s always a hesitancy to get too amped up about players who are a few levels away. And, like, baseball now seems to be littered with young, cheap, effective hard throwing relievers….why don’t the Sox have any?
I learned a long time ago to take any "prospect" hype with a grain of salt. There are many examples of guys who were being billed as the second coming only to flame out along the way. I'll get excited about a minor leaguer once he's having extended success at AAA.
Yeah, there has always been a list of "untouchable" prospects... let's see.... Donnie Sadler and Casey Fossum come to mind near the top of that list.
A trip through Old Hickory's archives would find many more to add, such as Rey Quiñones (ultimately traded to Seattle).
This start makes me more upset about blowing the ALCS than this season. You only get so many bites at the apple. Collapsed after going up 2-1.
Unbelievably Lowrie is still playing this year. I never pegged him for a guy destined to have a long career given how injury-prone he was, but he's still out there on a MLB club.
Fossum was never rated that highly. I don't know about Sadler.
The last 20 or so years, the sox have had really good luck on the can't miss (hitting) prospects outside of Blake Swihart.
We assembled such a team last year: https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/all-potential-and-all-disappointment-teams.33628/
From that thread:
January 1991: “It may well be that 40 years from now, the players remembered most from the early ’90s will be Roger Clemens, Ellis Burks, Jody Reed, Mo Vaughn, Jeff McNeely and Eric Wedge.”
(And no, it's not from the Gammons random quote generator.)
Rey Quinones was my favorite Gammons hype: "Fields like Aparicio and hits like Frank Robinson"
From Speier:
"the Sox haven’t reached the playoffs after posting a losing record through 23 games since 1967, and they’ve never reached the postseason after a start that was this bad."
"the Sox haven’t reached the playoffs after posting a losing record through 23 games since 1967, and they’ve never reached the postseason after a start that was this bad."
They have also never played a full season where 6 teams in each league qualify for the playoffs.