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

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Trading a bunch of prospects so they could have won 1 or maybe 2 extra games in the last 2 weeks would have been much worse at the moment. No move he could have made would have fixed 80% of the team going bad at the same time.
Winning 1 or 2 games over the last few weeks may well have prevented 80% of the team from going bad at the same time, since it's obvious that they are all pressing horribly. Winning those extra games may have taken that pressure to do too much off. We've seen this since the dawn of time, it's always a mistake to try to "make something happen" out there, that never works.
 

Humphrey

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Yeah, Vazquez is mired in a terrible slump and Plawecki has been hitting well, there's no reason not to change up the playing time at the position.
One game behind the dish each series (and two if it's a 4 game series)...not one out of 5 or 6. At least if Schwarber can ever break the lineup, there's a decent chance Vaz becomes 9th in the order.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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One game behind the dish each series (and two if it's a 4 game series)...not one out of 5 or 6. At least if Schwarber can ever break the lineup, there's a decent chance Vaz becomes 9th in the order.
I'm not sure if it's fair to assume that Schwarber is going to be the season savior. I was looking at his baseball-ref page and his career similiarity score points to Adam Duvall and the player he's most similar to through age 28 is Rob Deer. Aside from an Easter Sunday homerun in 1987, I can't recall Rob Deer doing much of anything aside from striking out a ton and occasionally hitting some tape-measure dingers. The Sox aren't adding an in-his-prie Tony Gwynn here.

Bloom did the easy part of his job, tearing down. Everyone on this board could walk into Fenway and rip apart the Sox for a rebuild. You just get rid of the big contracts, say something about building the farm system and wanting to have a self-sustaining minor league system and preach patience. Fans and the media love this stuff, it's the Christmas Eve effect; for a lot of people Christmas Eve is better than Christmas because of the endless possibilities. Will Jeter Downs hit 60 home runs in a season? Who knows? Maybe! Is Jay Groome the next Roger Clemens? IDK! Sure!

The hard part is when you find yourself in a pennant race. That's reality. Maybe Bloom didn't have the prospects that he (and most other baseball scribes) thought he had. Maybe Downs is a bust. Maybe Groome sucks. (Just two names). But there didn't seem to be a lot of creativity on his part to make a deal. And if ownership really didn't want him to go past the CBT, then shame on them. That's the second year in a row that they're trotting out this excuse and I'm sorry, but that's unacceptable for the Boston Red Sox. Among the highest ticket prices in MLB. Among the highest concession prices in MLB. They sell off anything that can make them a buck. All of this is fine if they're committed to putting the best team on the field. But if they wouldn't take back salary for a team 2.5 games in first place at the end of July, what are we even doing here?

Watching this team flounder through August has been frustrating. And with Patriots training camp heating up, this couldn't have come at a worse time. This team is becoming more and more irrelevant.
 

chief1

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I'm not sure if it's fair to assume that Schwarber is going to be the season savior. I was looking at his baseball-ref page and his career similiarity score points to Adam Duvall and the player he's most similar to through age 28 is Rob Deer. Aside from an Easter Sunday homerun in 1987, I can't recall Rob Deer doing much of anything aside from striking out a ton and occasionally hitting some tape-measure dingers. The Sox aren't adding an in-his-prie Tony Gwynn here.

Bloom did the easy part of his job, tearing down. Everyone on this board could walk into Fenway and rip apart the Sox for a rebuild. You just get rid of the big contracts, say something about building the farm system and wanting to have a self-sustaining minor league system and preach patience. Fans and the media love this stuff, it's the Christmas Eve effect; for a lot of people Christmas Eve is better than Christmas because of the endless possibilities. Will Jeter Downs hit 60 home runs in a season? Who knows? Maybe! Is Jay Groome the next Roger Clemens? IDK! Sure!

The hard part is when you find yourself in a pennant race. That's reality. Maybe Bloom didn't have the prospects that he (and most other baseball scribes) thought he had. Maybe Downs is a bust. Maybe Groome sucks. (Just two names). But there didn't seem to be a lot of creativity on his part to make a deal. And if ownership really didn't want him to go past the CBT, then shame on them. That's the second year in a row that they're trotting out this excuse and I'm sorry, but that's unacceptable for the Boston Red Sox. Among the highest ticket prices in MLB. Among the highest concession prices in MLB. They sell off anything that can make them a buck. All of this is fine if they're committed to putting the best team on the field. But if they wouldn't take back salary for a team 2.5 games in first place at the end of July, what are we even doing here?

Watching this team flounder through August has been frustrating. And with Patriots training camp heating up, this couldn't have come at a worse time. This team is becoming more and more irrelevant.
Great post. Couldn't agree more
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Agreed. Sam Hinkie may well be history's greatest monster, because he made tanking or looking to the future eternally a positive attribute, not something to be mocked. "It's always OK to lose today because sometime in the future we will win!" And the fans get conditioned to it and the media laps it up because he has a plan, and so they wait. And wait. And wait. And the winning never comes, because the can is eternally kicked down the road because it's easier to sell promise than it is to sell actual results.

For a cautionary tale in another sport look to the "Suck for Luck" tank job the Colts did after Manning got hurt. Great, they tanked and got Andrew Luck. And he was good! And yet they won nothing. And then he retired. Utterly pointless exercise, really.

Someone upthread said there's no reason why the Sox can't compete every year from 2022-2032, so why worry about this year. And I couldn't disagree more with that. This year they were leading the division and had an opportunity to compete if they added some pieces. Instead they did nothing of note because they were worried about the precious prospect pool. So they ended up with nothing, neither the addition of good prospects for the future nor a division title or a playoff appearance. That's the very worst possible outcome, and it was a deliberate choice on Bloom's part not to be more aggressive to help out a team in good position to make the playoffs. The real question is will he change his ways if by some miracle the 2023 Red Sox find themselves in a similar position, or will he tell the fans that they still need to hold onto their prospects "for the future." It's a very, very fine line to walk.
 

soxhop411

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Agreed. Sam Hinkie may well be history's greatest monster, because he made tanking or looking to the future eternally a positive attribute, not something to be mocked. "It's always OK to lose today because sometime in the future we will win!" And the fans get conditioned to it and the media laps it up because he has a plan, and so they wait. And wait. And wait. And the winning never comes, because the can is eternally kicked down the road because it's easier to sell promise than it is to sell actual results.

Someone upthread said there's no reason why the Sox can't compete every year from 2022-2032, so why worry about this year. And I couldn't disagree more with that. This year they were leading the division and had an opportunity to compete if they added some pieces. Instead they did nothing of note because they were worried about the precious prospect pool. So they ended up with nothing, neither the addition of good prospects for the future nor a division title or a playoff appearance. That's the very worst possible outcome, and it was a deliberate choice on Bloom's part not to be more aggressive to help out a team in good position to make the playoffs. The real question is will he change his ways if by some miracle the 2023 Red Sox find themselves in a similar position, or will he tell the fans that they still need to hold onto their prospects "for the future." It's a very, very fine line to walk.
Again, outside of Rizzo (who is on the Covid IL for a TBD length) , which 1B who was traded did you want the sox to get? Rizzo would be no use to us right now because he is on the IL and is not vaccinated

Also as I posted last night:
Limping lineup
Remember the early days of the season, when J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, and Rafael Devers carried the Red Sox — and left open the question of what might happen if they didn’t excel? It appears we have an answer.

The trio hasn’t been bad. Devers (.266 average, .864 OPS) and Martinez (.263, .816) have been respectable since July 6. Bogaerts, fighting a wrist injury and then the poor mechanics that it wrought, has struggled to a .241 average and .719 OPS during the period.

Still, while all three have performed below their season lines, those numbers don’t quite explain the magnitude of the team’s offensive plummet. The Sox are averaging just below four runs per game since July 6. A team that was held to four or fewer runs less than half of the time (48 percent) through 86 games has been thusly contained 19 times (68 percent of the time) during its current 11-17 stumble, going 4-15 in those games.

So what gives? Put simply, they have been awful in the most promising situations.
Devers (.154 average, .688 OPS), Martinez (.233/.639), Alex Verdugo (.143/.412), and Bogaerts (.067/.361) have all struggled with runners in scoring position since July 6. From July 22-Aug. 6, the Sox have been among the worst in baseball in virtually every statistical category with runners in scoring position.

Over a stretch from July 25-Aug. 5, the Sox built their identity around squandered scoring opportunities. In 22 plate appearances with runners on third and fewer than two outs, they scored just four runs (two on sacrifice flies, two on ground outs), going 0 for 17 with two walks, one hit batter, 10 strikeouts, and two double plays.
Inside the Red Sox' slideComparing a number of key statistics from the start of the season through July 5, and from July 5 through last week.
Record 54-32 (.628) 11-17 (.393)
Rotation
ERA 4.32 (20th) 5.78 (27th)
Innings per start 5.3 (9th) 4.6 (28th)
Strikeout rate 22.7% (19th) 25.7% (4th)
Walk rate 7.8% (12th) 7.2% (12th)
Home runs per 9 1.0 (5th) 1.7 (23rd)
Bullpen
ERA 3.48 (7th) 4.65 (22nd)
Strikeout rate 26.6% (5th) 24.8 (13th)
Walk rate 10.9% (22nd) 9.7% (19th)
Home runs per 9 1.0 (10th) 0.8 (5th)
Blown saves 14 (T-20th) 2 (T-3rd)
Blown save %* 13.5% (8th) 13.3% (T-6th)
Offense
Runs per game 5.12 (3rd) 3.96 (24th)
Average .259 (3rd) .251 (13th)

* - BLOWN SAVES DIVIDED BY SAVES PLUS
More from The globe here.

Emphasis
Remember the early days of the season, when J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, and Rafael Devers carried the Red Sox — and left open the question of what might happen if they didn’t excel? It appears we have an answer.

The trio hasn’t been bad. Devers (.266 average, .864 OPS) and Martinez (.263, .816) have been respectable since July 6. Bogaerts, fighting a wrist injury and then the poor mechanics that it wrought, has struggled to a .241 average and .719 OPS during the period.
Devers (.154 average, .688 OPS), Martinez (.233/.639), Alex Verdugo (.143/.412), and Bogaerts (.067/.361) have all struggled with runners in scoring position since July 6. From July 22-Aug. 6, the Sox have been among the worst in baseball in virtually every statistical category with runners in scoring position.

Over a stretch from July 25-Aug. 5, the Sox built their identity around squandered scoring opportunities. In 22 plate appearances with runners on third and fewer than two outs, they scored just four runs (two on sacrifice flies, two on ground outs), going 0 for 17 with two walks, one hit batter, 10 strikeouts, and two double plays.
this right here is why the sox have collapsed since July 6th....
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Rizzo's already provided NYY with about .5 WAR in only 9 games. Which COVID or not is 9 games more than Schwarber has played for the Red Sox. And he's a real 1Bman to boot, which happens to be the one position on the field where the Sox have an enormous black hole. He's the guy I preferred.

If you have a bunch of guys failing to get hits with RISP, the solution isn't to throw up your hands and hope it gets better. The solution is to bring in more offense in order to get more chances at getting those runs home. Again, an injured Schwarber doesn't do that.
 
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John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Agreed. Sam Hinkie may well be history's greatest monster, because he made tanking or looking to the future eternally a positive attribute, not something to be mocked. "It's always OK to lose today because sometime in the future we will win!" And the fans get conditioned to it and the media laps it up because he has a plan, and so they wait. And wait. And wait. And the winning never comes, because the can is eternally kicked down the road because it's easier to sell promise than it is to sell actual results.
It also plays to the "intelligence" of the "smart" fan. "You want them to trade the prospects now? What are you a pink hat?" No. I just want to watch the team I like do well. That's it. That's sports in a nutshell. I want the team I watch to do well every year. I don't expect them to win every year, but I expect them to try. The only people that this thinking protects are the GM and the ownership who get to keep raking in MLB dollars, preach patience and field a semi-competitive team.

Like many people in this forum, I've followed the Red Sox for more than half my life. In that time, the amount of "sure fire" prospects that have done nothing is legion. I get it. The idea that there's a guy toiling away in Salem who is one day going to make people forget about Yaz or Jim Rice or Wade Boggs or Mookie Betts or David Ortiz is romantic and wonderful. It's what keeps us fans, but the reality is that there might be one of those players. A generation. The vast majority are chits to be flipped for players who are useful today. There were people on this board who wouldn't trade Casey Fossum straight up for Randy Johnson. I was a member of the Donnie Sadler fan club (he's too fast to be this bad), but a GM has to act. Bloom didn't. Not only that but he flubbed the signing of a top second round pick during the same week.

Someone upthread said there's no reason why the Sox can't compete every year from 2022-2032, so why worry about this year. And I couldn't disagree more with that.
I agree with SJH. You can't assume that the Red Sox are going to be good or compete. Things that are out of anyone's control happen. That's why when a team is doing well, you have to take advantage of it. You have to trade the B/B- prospect for a bullpen arm. Or a starter. Or a competent first baseman.

Or if you think that this team isn't great and you believe in your plan, you need to trade off anyone you can to further build up the minor leagues. This half-measure BS that Bloom did two weeks ago is just weak.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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The intelligence aspect of it also applies as fandom for the FO as well. Fans love it when they think their FO outsmarts another FO. Holding onto prospects you just know will be superstars is one way of showing you know your FO is smarter than others. "That silly Jerry DiPoto!"

The problem is the vast majority of prospects turn out to be guys like Anderson Espinoza (never made the majors) or Michael Chavis (career -0.3 WAR). Yes they were considered fantastic prospects (Chavis was picked 26th overall). But the very nature of being a prospect meant their chances of being useful major league players were always very low. Mookie was the big exception. Not the rule.
 

soxhop411

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Rizzo's already provided NYY with about .5 WAR in only 9 games. Which COVID or not is 9 games more than Schwarber has played for the Red Sox. And he's a real 1Bman to boot, which happens to be the one position on the field where the Sox have an enormous black hole. He's the guy I preferred.

If you have a bunch of guys failing to get hits with RISP, the solution isn't to throw up your hands and hope it gets better. The solution is to bring in more offense
in order to get more chances at getting those runs home. Again, an injured Schwarber doesn't do that.
I wanted him as well,. However, we do not know (and may never know) what the sox offered for Rizzo, its pretty clear that the Cubs preferred what NYY was offering for Rizzo over other teams offers

Re the second bolded two of the main players that have struggled with RISP are Devers and Xander, I am pretty sure you are not advocating that the sox should have traded for a 3B and SS at the trade deadline right? because they would still be in the lineup regardless on what Bloom did at the deadline. and Devers and Xander's RISP troubles began long before the trade deadline
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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No, I am advocating that if the regulars in the lineup are struggling, it's even more pressing to bring in help at another unproductive position (1B in this case) in order to ease the pressure off X and Devers and JD. Instead Bloom seems to have assumed they'll just snap out of it at some point, which is engaging in fantasyland behavior.

Your good players can't get a hit to save their lives? HELP THEM OUT.

I will never, ever understand the logic of trading for an injured player with zero timetable as to a return. It makes absolutely no sense. It's very possible Schwarber will never play a game for Boston.
 

NYCSox

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I just wish they had gotten R. Iglesias. They would have had to offer more value than the potential comp pick the Halos may get for him if he signs elsewhere but man he would have been a big help the last two weeks with a crappy starting staff and leaky pen.
 

johnnywayback

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Rizzo's already provided NYY with about .5 WAR in only 9 games. Which COVID or not is 9 games more than Schwarber has played for the Red Sox. And he's a real 1Bman to boot, which happens to be the one position on the field where the Sox have an enormous black hole. He's the guy I preferred.

If you have a bunch of guys failing to get hits with RISP, the solution isn't to throw up your hands and hope it gets better. The solution is to bring in more offense in order to get more chances at getting those runs home. Again, an injured Schwarber doesn't do that.
Would you have traded Jarren Duran and Brayan Bello for Rizzo?
 

Merkle's Boner

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The intelligence aspect of it also applies as fandom for the FO as well. Fans love it when they think their FO outsmarts another FO. Holding onto prospects you just know will be superstars is one way of showing you know your FO is smarter than others. "That silly Jerry DiPoto!"

The problem is the vast majority of prospects turn out to be guys like Anderson Espinoza (never made the majors) or Michael Chavis (career -0.3 WAR). Yes they were considered fantastic prospects (Chavis was picked 26th overall). But the very nature of being a prospect meant their chances of being useful major league players were always very low. Mookie was the big exception. Not the rule.
This is very true and the beautiful thing about this brand of thinking, the In Chaim We Trust crowd, is that they can never be proven wrong because it’s constantly a wait til next year mentality.
 

johnnywayback

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This. What a great point that's often missed.

How's that Player Development Machine going?

If they thought they couldn't sign him, why'd they waste a pick? JMOH rightfully added this to the grading curve.
They didn't waste a pick. They wagered that, gun to his head, Fabian would accept somewhat less than $3 million. They had protection on the downside in that they'll get #41 and the associated cap money next year. I'm sure they would have preferred he sign, but it wasn't a "flub," it was a calculated risk that didn't pay off.
 

Merkle's Boner

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They didn't waste a pick. They wagered that, gun to his head, Fabian would accept somewhat less than $3 million. They had protection on the downside in that they'll get #41 and the associated cap money next year. I'm sure they would have preferred he sign, but it wasn't a "flub," it was a calculated risk that didn't pay off.
We’ll get him next year.
 

cantor44

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Again, outside of Rizzo (who is on the Covid IL for a TBD length) , which 1B who was traded did you want the sox to get? Rizzo would be no use to us right now because he is on the IL and is not vaccinated

Also as I posted last night:



More from The globe here.

Emphasis



this right here is why the sox have collapsed since July 6th....
The player they could have gotten - or tried to get - was Kris Bryant.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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They didn't waste a pick. They wagered that, gun to his head, Fabian would accept somewhat less than $3 million. They had protection on the downside in that they'll get #41 and the associated cap money next year. I'm sure they would have preferred he sign, but it wasn't a "flub," it was a calculated risk that didn't pay off.
Did they get Fabian? No. It's a wasted pick no matter how much protection they had. If they liked him enough to draft him in the second round and they didn't sign him, then it's a failure. And the Sox didn't have a lot of leverage. Fabian didn't have a terrific year at Florida, so he goes back for another and tries to increase his draft status. If he does, jackpot. If he doesn't, he's still going to be a millionaire based on promise alone.

This was not a calculated risk. This was a gamble. And it failed miserably. They wasted a high number two pick on a player that they weren't sure that they could sign. If you're goal is to rebuild your farm system and stock them with as many good prospects as you possibly can, you don't gamble with a pick this high. You could make the same wager if you have a great system or if Fabian had dropped to a later round, but you don't mess around in the second round. And before you say it, the Mets royally screwed their draft too.

Who knows whom the Red Sox could have drafted with Fabian's pick. But it's more likely that that person would be in Florida with a B on his cap rather than going back to school.

Would you have traded Connor Seabold and Blaze Jordan to rent Bryant? Or Aldo Ramirez and Gilberto Jimenez?
Would you have traded Casey Fossum and Donnie Sadler for Randy Johnson? How about Blake Swihart and Lars Anderson for Cole Hamels? Are you sad that the Sox sent Cleuluis Rondon (minors), Frankie Montas and J.B. Wendelken for Jake Peavy? How about Santiago Espinal for Steve Pearce?

Not all of these prospects are going to hit. In fact most of them won't. Bloom's main job is to figure out which ones are flotsam.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Shit, even the great prospects are often better off traded. Kopech is an actual major league pitcher, Moncada a major league third baseman. Trading those guys for Chris Sale was a good trade. Kopech got hurt (and had anxiety issues IIRC, which I fully sympathize with). Moncada plays 3B where he was blocked by Devers.
 

cantor44

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Would you have traded Connor Seabold and Blaze Jordan to rent Bryant? Or Aldo Ramirez and Gilberto Jimenez?
The latter, yes ....
SF gave up Canario and Kilian for Bryant. Canario generally ranked just outside 100 and Kilian around 300 in prospect rankings. That's pretty much Ramirez and Jimenez ...Under the circumstances they found themselves in ... best record in the AL 2/3 of the way through the season but with a clear need for reinforcements? For an all-star player who can play first, but has positional flexibility (and who the team could have interest in signing in the off season, so can sell him on the Boston baseball experience)? Yeah.
The former deal maybe not, as Jordan's stock is rising fast, and Seabold could help the team this year ...
 
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johnnywayback

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The latter, yes ....
SF gave up Canario and Kilian for Bryant. Canario generally ranked just outside 100 and Kilian around 300 in prospect rankings. That's pretty much Ramirez and Jimenez ...Under the circumstances they found themselves in ... best record in the AL 2/3 of the way through the season but with a clear need for reinforcements?
the former deal maybe not, as Jordan's stock is rising fast, and Seabold could help the team this year ...
Fair enough. That’s a different judgment than I would have made — to me, the salary difference and handedness meant Bryant wasn’t “Gilberto Jimenez” more valuable — but at least that’s a reasonable argument to have.
 

grepal

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I'm not sure if it's fair to assume that Schwarber is going to be the season savior. I was looking at his baseball-ref page and his career similiarity score points to Adam Duvall and the player he's most similar to through age 28 is Rob Deer. Aside from an Easter Sunday homerun in 1987, I can't recall Rob Deer doing much of anything aside from striking out a ton and occasionally hitting some tape-measure dingers. The Sox aren't adding an in-his-prie Tony Gwynn here.

Bloom did the easy part of his job, tearing down. Everyone on this board could walk into Fenway and rip apart the Sox for a rebuild. You just get rid of the big contracts, say something about building the farm system and wanting to have a self-sustaining minor league system and preach patience. Fans and the media love this stuff, it's the Christmas Eve effect; for a lot of people Christmas Eve is better than Christmas because of the endless possibilities. Will Jeter Downs hit 60 home runs in a season? Who knows? Maybe! Is Jay Groome the next Roger Clemens? IDK! Sure!

The hard part is when you find yourself in a pennant race. That's reality. Maybe Bloom didn't have the prospects that he (and most other baseball scribes) thought he had. Maybe Downs is a bust. Maybe Groome sucks. (Just two names). But there didn't seem to be a lot of creativity on his part to make a deal. And if ownership really didn't want him to go past the CBT, then shame on them. That's the second year in a row that they're trotting out this excuse and I'm sorry, but that's unacceptable for the Boston Red Sox. Among the highest ticket prices in MLB. Among the highest concession prices in MLB. They sell off anything that can make them a buck. All of this is fine if they're committed to putting the best team on the field. But if they wouldn't take back salary for a team 2.5 games in first place at the end of July, what are we even doing here?

Watching this team flounder through August has been frustrating. And with Patriots training camp heating up, this couldn't have come at a worse time. This team is becoming more and more irrelevant.
Seems to me the Yankees were able to add two power bats and a pitcher and not increase payroll as they got the teams they trade with to pay salary. For that one gives up more in the way of prospects. The idea is to win the World Series. If Boston added Schwarber, Haney and Rizzo (assuming he would not get covid yet due to different environment) do we think they can win or even get to the World Series. I see Houston and Chicago as much better on paper than Boston. Now we may not make playoffs but we are rebuilding the farm to an average position now, and trending upwards. Last month has been disappointing but I had the Sox as out of the playoffs and .500 team at start of the season so I got 3.5 months to be excited only to be crushed like the old days.
 

cantor44

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There are a couple arguments around the trade deadline that I'm scratching my head over, namely:

- The Sox don't have the prospects to have made any significant trades at the deadline (or, if they did, they would relinquish their small cadre of good prospects, rendering the farm bare and jeopardizing the future).
- The current iteration of the Sox ML team is simply not good enough to win a WS. Their W-L record on 7/29 was a lotta luck and smoke and mirrors, and due for regression. So, even a deal for a significant player or two wouldn't make much of a difference.
- Bloom knew both these things and so didn't spend much as a consequence.

But if Bloom knew both these things (assuming they are both true), then why in the world didn't he just SELL???? If this team is not good enough (and please, we need to include Sale and Houck as part of the team, cuz Bloom knew they would be joining shortly), then, why give up ANY prospects? Cuz it's the same team in 2022 pretty much. (And then, what with a lotta guys becoming FA after 2022, there will be a big turnover ...)

Anyway, if the 2021 squad ain't good enough to spend on (despite the gaudy W-L record at the deadline), than the 2022 squad ain't either. And if they ain't either, then in god's name go ahead and sell! And really build your farm treasure chest, to speed up the rebuild ....why tread water for two years?
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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So…yes, then? You would have done Seabold/Jordan or Aldo/Gilberto for Bryant?
Probably. Or perhaps I could have taken on more salary and substituted one of the prospects with another lower-level prospects. Or maybe I could have gone for quantity over quality like the Yankees did with Gallo. This isn't A Lady or the Tiger situation. There are a ton of permutations that could have gotten a deal done. And it didn't have to be Rizzo or Bryant. There are more than a handful of league average first basemen who would be an upgrade from Dalbec. All Bloom had to do is get one.

I know that there is consternation with the starting staff and there wasn't a lot of starters available. Shift to the bullpen and get a few solid arms not named Roble or Davis who can give the players that you've been leaning on all year a break. There were a bunch of bullpen arms available, turn the strength of the 2021 team into an even greater strength. Or maybe get a good second baseman who has a good stick to lessen the sting of a below average first baseman. This is what I'm talking about with creativity.

Just throwing your hands up and saying, "Welp, I tried!" isn't really good enough for a major league Chief Baseball Operator.

The Giants are a great parallel to Boston, their Chief Baseball Operator Farhan Zaidi probably didn't expect them to contend this year, not with the monster Dodgers and the loaded Padres in his division, but they're still in first place because he bolstered his team by adding players at the deadline. And he made the Bryant deal after the Dodgers got Scherzer and Turner. IDK, I hope that this deadline for Bloom was just a bit of stage fright and he figures it out and gets over it, but this was pretty awful. I'm not sure how anyone can say otherwise.
 

BigSoxFan

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So…yes, then? You would have done Seabold/Jordan or Aldo/Gilberto for Bryant?
I would have. This was a team that was like 20 games over .500 with Sale’s return coming. Adding Bryant to this lineup would have been a major psychological boost and a sizable on-field boost too. This lineup has huge concentration risk with Bogaerts, Devers, and JD. Adding another big bat to shoulder the load would have been huge for us, especially with Schwarber coming too.

What are the odds Blaze ever becomes anything useful for us? Trading a couple prospects doesn’t shut down the “development machine”. If you can’t recover from losing Blaze Jordan or Gilberto Jimenez, then you weren’t going to succeed anyways.
 

ookami7m

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There are a couple arguments around the trade deadline that I'm scratching my head over, namely:

- The Sox don't have the prospects to have made any significant trades at the deadline (or, if they did, they would relinquish their small cadre of good prospects, rendering the farm bare and jeopardizing the future).
- The current iteration of the Sox ML team is simply not good enough to win a WS. Their W-L record on 7/29 was a lotta luck and smoke and mirrors, and due for regression. So, even a deal for a significant player or two wouldn't make much of a difference.
- Bloom knew both these things and so didn't spend much as a consequence.

But if Bloom knew both these things (assuming they are both true), then why in the world didn't he just SELL???? If this team is not good enough (and please, we need to include Sale and Houck as part of the team, cuz Bloom knew they would be joining shortly), then, why give up ANY prospects? Cuz it's the same team in 2022 pretty much. (And then, what with a lotta guys becoming FA after 2022, there will be a big turnover ...)

Anyway, if the 2021 squad ain't good enough to spend on (despite the gaudy W-L record at the deadline), than the 2022 squad ain't either. And if they ain't either, then in god's name go ahead and sell! And really build your farm treasure chest, to speed up the rebuild ....why tread water for two years?
So I keep seeing this "Why didn't we sell?" thing - Who on this team would have been a good fit based on what was actually moved at the deadline. Keep in mind that Bloom would still want to have a team next year that would be competitive:
  • Vazquez has looked cooked
  • Plawecki is a backup catcher
  • Arauz has no trade value
  • Xander - sure, but big hit if trying to be competitive next year + face of the team right now
  • Dalbec - We all hate him so others must as well
  • Raffy - As close to non tradable as it gets right now
  • Marwin - see Dalbec
  • Francy - see Dalbec
  • Duran - See Raffy
  • Kike - Possbily would have been worth something
  • Renfroe - same
  • JDM - Rizzo type deal?
That's just the hitters on the 25 right now. So other than Devers and Duran, you've got 3 or 4 possible peices at best and none of them would be world shaking.
 

scottyno

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Dec 7, 2008
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Did they get Fabian? No. It's a wasted pick no matter how much protection they had. If they liked him enough to draft him in the second round and they didn't sign him, then it's a failure. And the Sox didn't have a lot of leverage. Fabian didn't have a terrific year at Florida, so he goes back for another and tries to increase his draft status. If he does, jackpot. If he doesn't, he's still going to be a millionaire based on promise alone.

This was not a calculated risk. This was a gamble. And it failed miserably. They wasted a high number two pick on a player that they weren't sure that they could sign. If you're goal is to rebuild your farm system and stock them with as many good prospects as you possibly can, you don't gamble with a pick this high. You could make the same wager if you have a great system or if Fabian had dropped to a later round, but you don't mess around in the second round. And before you say it, the Mets royally screwed their draft too.
How exactly can you "waste" a pick when you get the exact same pick next year? It's not that much of a gamble when you don't lose much at all.
 

Merkle's Boner

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How exactly can you "waste" a pick when you get the exact same pick next year? It's not that much of a gamble when you don't lose much at all.
Because worry about next year, next year. Who did they get with their 2nd round pick in 2021? Nobody? Then it was not a good pick.

I just don't understand why people are so adamantly in love with Chaim Bloom (and yes, I know who Andrew Friedman is) and unwilling to call him out on his failures. He has not had a good month.
 

scottyno

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Because worry about next year, next year. Who did they get with their 2nd round pick in 2021? Nobody? Then it was not a good pick.

I just don't understand why people are so adamantly in love with Chaim Bloom (and yes, I know who Andrew Friedman is) and unwilling to call him out on his failures. He has not had a good month.
When any team trades a pick in the current draft for one in the future draft then they wasted the pick? That's an interesting theory that I'm pretty sure every team in major sports history disagrees with. An actual waste would have been if they took someone they didn't think was as good because they knew they'd be able to sign them. Or if they use the pick next year on someone terrible.

Also, he got the top rated player in the draft, which is more organizational good than almost anything else he could have done, so it seems like his month has been ok.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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How exactly can you "waste" a pick when you get the exact same pick next year? It's not that much of a gamble when you don't lose much at all.
Because you lose the player that you conceivably want. You also lose a player you might have liked a bit more but you decided to pass on him for the player you liked, who ultimately did not sign. Maybe the player that is in your sights next year isn't as good as the player you passed on or the player you let slip away. Also, your make up pick is a year later.

When you're trying to build up your system you need all the good players you can get. Passing is not a good idea.

Or what MB said.
 

johnnywayback

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Because you lose the player that you conceivably want. You also lose a player you might have liked a bit more but you decided to pass on him for the player you liked, who ultimately did not sign. Maybe the player that is in your sights next year isn't as good as the player you passed on or the player you let slip away. Also, your make up pick is a year later.

When you're trying to build up your system you need all the good players you can get. Passing is not a good idea.

Or what MB said.
They drafted him with a plan: offer a few hundred thousand dollars less than the bonus he was expecting from another team and gamble that he would decide to take it instead of taking his own risk and going back to school. I'm sure they hoped he would. I'm sure they were disappointed he didn't. And if, like the Mets, they had had no plan for what they would do if he didn't sign, I would agree that it was malpractice.

But that's not what happened. Unlike the Mets, they had a plan for how to allocate the resources Fabian passed up: signing Hickey and the guy from Notre Dame. And while you are correct that #40 this year is more valuable than #41 next year, that difference is mitigated by the fact that a) next year's draft is going to be better and b) they are likely to have a pick low in the first round and the extra cap space gives them a chance to be more creative with it (whereas, when you pick #4 and Marcelo Mayer is there, there's no reason to try to get fancy).

Again, none of that means not signing Fabian is better than signing Fabian. But it does explain why they picked him knowing there was a risk they wouldn't sign him. Taking a calculated risk when there's significant mitigation to the downside seems like good management even if it doesn't work out the way they (or I) had hoped.
 

YTF

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Again, outside of Rizzo (who is on the Covid IL for a TBD length) , which 1B who was traded did you want the sox to get? Rizzo would be no use to us right now because he is on the IL and is not vaccinated
While I'm in the camp of Chaim did what he was most reasonably able to do at the deadline, I was frustrated that the Sox didn't get a legit 1B. That said I've one small nit to pick here. That Rizzo is on the Covid IL in NY is no guarantee that he would be if he were in Boston.

Edited to say that I see this has also been addressed in another thread. Wasn't intending to pile on.
 
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scottyno

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Dec 7, 2008
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Because you lose the player that you conceivably want. You also lose a player you might have liked a bit more but you decided to pass on him for the player you liked, who ultimately did not sign. Maybe the player that is in your sights next year isn't as good as the player you passed on or the player you let slip away. Also, your make up pick is a year later.

When you're trying to build up your system you need all the good players you can get. Passing is not a good idea.

Or what MB said.
Great, except they didn't "pass". They decided not to take $1 this year (whoever the player they could have drafted knowing he'd sign) in exchange for a decent chance to get $1.25 or $1.50 or whatever they considered it (Fabian's value relative to expected pick value) and knowing that they'd get $.95 next year if they didn't. That seems like a good gamble to make if you trust your scouting department.

At worst they made a small mistake, nothing to go crazy over.
 

cournoyer

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While I'm in the camp of Chaim did what he was most reasonably able to do at the deadline, I was frustrated that the Sox didn't get a legit 1B. That said I've one small nit to pick here. That Rizzo is on the Covid IL in NY is no guarantee that he would be if he were in Boston.

Edited to say that I see this has also been addressed in another thread. Wasn't intending to pile on.
It would also be fair to say that Rizzo wouldn't have been guaranteed to light the world on fire here either (facing different pitchers, different ballparks, anything). I do wish we had Rizzo right now, especially with the garbage we've been throwing out there every night. I also think Chaim screwed up not getting a 1B but there's plenty of blame to go around. Right now, I'm looking at Cora. Poor pitcher usage and gameplan to me are number one, along with playing Vazquez every night. This past week could have went a lot different than it did if he utilized his players in another manner. Didn't even have to be anything drastic, but having a feel for the game is Cora's number one job and he's failed terribly lately.
 

cantor44

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Probably. Or perhaps I could have taken on more salary and substituted one of the prospects with another lower-level prospects. Or maybe I could have gone for quantity over quality like the Yankees did with Gallo. This isn't A Lady or the Tiger situation. There are a ton of permutations that could have gotten a deal done. And it didn't have to be Rizzo or Bryant. There are more than a handful of league average first basemen who would be an upgrade from Dalbec. All Bloom had to do is get one.

I know that there is consternation with the starting staff and there wasn't a lot of starters available. Shift to the bullpen and get a few solid arms not named Roble or Davis who can give the players that you've been leaning on all year a break. There were a bunch of bullpen arms available, turn the strength of the 2021 team into an even greater strength. Or maybe get a good second baseman who has a good stick to lessen the sting of a below average first baseman. This is what I'm talking about with creativity.

Just throwing your hands up and saying, "Welp, I tried!" isn't really good enough for a major league Chief Baseball Operator.

The Giants are a great parallel to Boston, their Chief Baseball Operator Farhan Zaidi probably didn't expect them to contend this year, not with the monster Dodgers and the loaded Padres in his division, but they're still in first place because he bolstered his team by adding players at the deadline. And he made the Bryant deal after the Dodgers got Scherzer and Turner. IDK, I hope that this deadline for Bloom was just a bit of stage fright and he figures it out and gets over it, but this was pretty awful. I'm not sure how anyone can say otherwise.
Agree entirely ...
 

YTF

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It would also be fair to say that Rizzo wouldn't have been guaranteed to light the world on fire here either (facing different pitchers, different ballparks, anything). I do wish we had Rizzo right now, especially with the garbage we've been throwing out there every night. I also think Chaim screwed up not getting a 1B but there's plenty of blame to go around. Right now, I'm looking at Cora. Poor pitcher usage and gameplan to me are number one, along with playing Vazquez every night. This past week could have went a lot different than it did if he utilized his players in another manner. Didn't even have to be anything drastic, but having a feel for the game is Cora's number one job and he's failed terribly lately.
I understand what you're saying, but I think that's much less of a factor. Rizzo's a vet and shouldn't be too much of an issue, though playing in the toilet should be a plus for him. IMO the biggest adjustment here might be jumping leagues, but with interleague play even that's not the challenge it might have once been.
 

Auger34

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So…yes, then? You would have done Seabold/Jordan or Aldo/Gilberto for Bryant?
I admit to not being as up to date on prospects as I was before but isn’t that second package (Aldo/Gilberto) for Bryant an absolute slam dunk for the Sox?

Gilberto is the 6th ranked prospect in a very mediocre system and Aldo just got traded for Schwarber and who knows how many games he will actually play in a Sox uniform
 

Auger34

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Agree entirely ...
Seconded. I don’t think it’s appropriate to completely shit on Bloom but it’s also not appropriate to act like he did this awesome job either.
The Schwarber trade was a complete head scratcher and the fact that he didn’t get anyone else is even more of a head scratcher.
He did a pretty bad job this deadline, it is what it is
 

cournoyer

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I understand what you're saying, but I think that's much less of a factor. Rizzo's a vet and shouldn't be too much of an issue, though playing in the toilet should be a plus for him. IMO the biggest adjustment here might be jumping leagues, but with interleague play even that's not the challenge it might have once been.
Yup, you could be right. His numbers aren't anything crazy but he's still a damn good player. Should be interesting to read this particular chapter in Chaim's future book because I can't remember a time the Sox were THIS blatantly bad at first base, with an opportunity to shore it up and improve the team by a sizable margin. Until he proves me wrong, Schwarber doesn't count in that equation.
 

cantor44

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So I keep seeing this "Why didn't we sell?" thing - Who on this team would have been a good fit based on what was actually moved at the deadline. Keep in mind that Bloom would still want to have a team next year that would be competitive:
  • Vazquez has looked cooked
  • Plawecki is a backup catcher
  • Arauz has no trade value
  • Xander - sure, but big hit if trying to be competitive next year + face of the team right now
  • Dalbec - We all hate him so others must as well
  • Raffy - As close to non tradable as it gets right now
  • Marwin - see Dalbec
  • Francy - see Dalbec
  • Duran - See Raffy
  • Kike - Possbily would have been worth something
  • Renfroe - same
  • JDM - Rizzo type deal?
That's just the hitters on the 25 right now. So other than Devers and Duran, you've got 3 or 4 possible peices at best and none of them would be world shaking.
FTR - I don't think they should have sold. I wanted Bloom to add pieces, and think with the right additions, and a bit of luck the 2021 Red Sox COULD have won a WS.

I simply think if you believe - as several have suggested in these discussions - that:

A. The Sox don't have the prospects to make significant team improving trades and
B. The 2021 roster isn't good enough to win a WS so a couple of additions wouldn't make a difference anyway
and also admit that
C. The farm won't be THAT much better in one year
then
D. Might as well tear down the ship now. Why wait?

If the ML team is not good enough and the farm a few years from being really strong (flush enough to make the kind of deadline deals allegedly not possible now), what the hell are we doing this year and next? Let's go and till the fucking soil already.

Who could be possibly be traded:

Barnes, Ottavino, Sawamura, JD (could have gotten quite a lot), Renfroe, Vazquez
Clearly you don't wanna trade high quality young guys: Raffy, Whitlock, Houck, Duran. And I think from a PR/Organizational good standing perspective, you should hang on to Xander - face of the franchise and a glorious player (though I think with his opt out coming after 2022, and he should not be off limits at next year's deadline if they aren't GFIN) ....

BUT - let me reiterate: I wanted Bloom to be more aggressive this year.
I'm just extending the logic of A and B above.
the WORST thing to do, in my mind, is to kind of sit in neutral, or go into first gear only, as Bloom did. Almost nothing is gained that way. The 2021 team doesn't benefit, and neither does the strength of the farm/future ....
 

YTF

Member
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FTR - I don't think they should have sold. I wanted Bloom to add pieces, and think with the right additions, and a bit of luck the 2021 Red Sox COULD have won a WS.

I simply think if you believe - as several have suggested in these discussions - that:

A. The Sox don't have the prospects to make significant team improving trades and
B. The 2021 roster isn't good enough to win a WS so a couple of additions wouldn't make a difference anyway
and also admit that
C. The farm won't be THAT much better in one year
then
D. Might as well tear down the ship now. Why wait?

If the ML team is not good enough and the farm a few years from being really strong (flush enough to make the kind of deadline deals allegedly not possible now), what the hell are we doing this year and next? Let's go and till the fucking soil already.

Who could be possibly be traded:

Barnes, Ottavino, Sawamura, JD (could have gotten quite a lot), Renfroe, Vazquez
Clearly you don't wanna trade high quality young guys: Raffy, Whitlock, Houck, Duran. And I think from a PR/Organizational good standing perspective, you should hang on to Xander - face of the franchise and a glorious player (though I think with his opt out coming after 2022, and he should not be off limits at next year's deadline if they aren't GFIN) ....

BUT - let me reiterate: I wanted Bloom to be more aggressive this year.
I'm just extending the logic of A and B above.
the WORST thing to do, in my mind, is to kind of sit in neutral, or go into first gear only, as Bloom did. Almost nothing is gained that way. The 2021 team doesn't benefit, and neither does the strength of the farm/future ....
This team was good enough up to the deadline that you wanted Bloom to be more aggressive, but since he wasn't there are some who take the position that if he didn't believe in this club he should have sold off parts. I don't understand that logic. By and large the majority of what was good about this club returns next year. Add to that a healthy Chris Sale (God willing) , a full season of Tanner Houck and the prospect of Garrett Whitlock in the rotation. Address the issue at 1B in the off season, pick up a quality OF and this team is vastly improved over the team that that was in first place just a couple of weeks ago. Why would anyone want Bloom to dismantle what's in place when there's that much promise for next season?
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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This team was good enough up to the deadline that you wanted Bloom to be more aggressive, but since he wasn't there are some who take the position that if he didn't believe in this club he should have sold off parts. I don't understand that logic. By and large the majority of what was good about this club returns next year. Add to that a healthy Chris Sale (God willing) , a full season of Tanner Houck and the prospect of Garrett Whitlock in the rotation. Address the issue at 1B in the off season, pick up a quality OF and this team is vastly improved over the team that that was in first place just a couple of weeks ago. Why would anyone want Bloom to dismantle what's in place when there's that much promise for next season?
Yeah, it's never an all or nothing thing. The majority of expectations for this team was to win somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-85 games. That's still a very likely possibility even with the recent stumble. Regardless of how they get there, if this team wins 80+ games, that represents a big step forward from where they were 12 months ago and leaves them plenty to build on. This is a team on the rise, even if we're disappointed in the deadline activity and their current level of play.
 

geoduck no quahog

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It's probably way too soon, but I'm curious about what the Red Sox could add next year (for $$$) without degrading the system, in a Bloom-with-Money strategy. They'll need pitching, a 1B and possibly someone to replace the catcher (who I, along with some others, believe is highly over-rated).

But - pitching.

(Example - Is Rodon going to be an option outside of Chicago...or NY...or LA?)

There's no guarantee Rodriguez will be a Bloom target next year...
 

cantor44

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This team was good enough up to the deadline that you wanted Bloom to be more aggressive, but since he wasn't there are some who take the position that if he didn't believe in this club he should have sold off parts. I don't understand that logic. By and large the majority of what was good about this club returns next year. Add to that a healthy Chris Sale (God willing) , a full season of Tanner Houck and the prospect of Garrett Whitlock in the rotation. Address the issue at 1B in the off season, pick up a quality OF and this team is vastly improved over the team that that was in first place just a couple of weeks ago. Why would anyone want Bloom to dismantle what's in place when there's that much promise for next season?
That's not exactly what I'm saying ...

I'm saying ... for those who believe/asserted the current ML team is not good enough to win a World Series (and I placed the caveat that I was including Sale and Houck as part of the current team since we knew they were on their way - so the assessment of "not good enough" includes the team with the two of them) AND believe that the state of the farm renders the organization unable to make a trade for any significant player, THEN, by that logic, I don't see why you would feel any other way than the team should have SOLD. If Bloom felt that way, then he should have gone ahead and sold, yeah.

And funny because you say "address 1B and pick up a quality OF and the team is vastly improved" - that's more or less what the "pro-trade" group was clamoring for them to do at the deadline (Kris Bryant), knowing Sale and Houck were coming, so they'd be vastly improved NOW - with the bird in hand of having had the best record in the AL on 7/29!

The team next year will be basically the same as the team as it stands now with Sale and Houck in the rotation (big turnover coming after 2022). Yes, maybe a change with Whitlock to the rotation, and then add a reliever. And Maaaaaaybe a first baseman (but I suspect they want to keep the spot open for Casas for ...late 22? 2023?) ...

So, if you don't think THIS team is good enough with Sale and Houck in the rotation, then you don't think next year's will be either ...And if you don't feel this year or next year's team is good enough, and after 2022 there is a FA/Opt-out orgy, and you feel the farm is so weak you can't GFIN even in a year you have (had) the best record in the entire AL .... then yeah, sell. The team can't win as it is, and doesn't have the prospects to improve ... so ... what're you waiting for?

Now, I don't believe that. I believe the team could win next year. And could have won this year, with the very improvements you suggest (the team makes for next year) ...And maybe if Schwarb and Arroyo can come back healthy it's still possible ... I dunno ... but it would have been nice to have all reinforcements in place for the most crucial road trip of the season, the one in which they just went 2-8 and lost the division ...

You never know what the injury bug will do, and what kind of health the Sox will have in 2022 .... so, if I was Bloom (yes yes yes, I'm not, I'm just a middle aged dude writing on a baseball forum instead) I would have been doing what I could, within reason (therein lies the subjective rub) to GFIN ...
 
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YTF

Member
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That's not exactly what I'm saying ...

I'm saying ... for those who believe/asserted the current ML team is not good enough to win a World Series (and I placed the caveat that I was including Sale and Houck as part of the current team since we knew they were on their way - so the assessment of "not good enough" includes the team with the two of them) AND believe that the state of the farm renders the organization unable to make a trade for any significant player, THEN, by that logic, I don't see why you would feel any other way than the team should have SOLD. If Bloom felt that way, then he should have gone ahead and sold, yeah.

And funny because you say "address 1B and pick up a quality OF and the team is vastly improved" - that's more or less what the "pro-trade" group was clamoring for them to do at the deadline (Kris Bryant), knowing Sale and Houck were coming, so they'd be vastly improved NOW - with the bird in hand of having had the best record in the AL on 7/29!

The team next year will be basically the same as the team as it stands now with Sale and Houck in the rotation (big turnover coming after 2022). Yes, maybe a change with Whitlock to the rotation, and then add a reliever. And Maaaaaaybe a first baseman (but I suspect they want to keep the spot open for Casas for ...late 22? 2023?) ...

So, if you don't think THIS team is good enough with Sale and Houck in the rotation, then you don't think next year's will be either ...And if you don't feel this year or next year's team is good enough, and after 2022 there is a FA/Opt-out orgy, and you feel the farm is so weak you can't GFIN even in a year you have (had) the best record in the entire AL .... then yeah, sell. The team can't win as it is, and doesn't have the prospects to improve ... so ... what're you waiting for?

Now, I don't believe that. I believe the team could win next year. And could have won this year, with the very improvements you suggest (the team makes for next year) ...And maybe if Schwarb and Arroyo can come back healthy it's still possible ... I dunno ... but it would have been nice to have all reinforcements in place for the most crucial road trip of the season, the one in which they just went 2-8 and lost the division ...

You never know what the injury bug will do, and what kind of health the Sox will have in 2022 .... so, if I was Bloom (yes yes yes, I'm not, I'm just a middle aged dude writing on a baseball forum instead) I would have been doing what I could, within reason (therein lies the subjective rub) to GFIN ...
Point #1...You do realize that there will be other options, likely greater options this off season that will occur within a larger time frame that doesn't necessarily require trading whatever assets that the team values at a time when they are trying to rebuild the farm.

Point#2... See point #3 We're coming up on two weeks post deadline and while Sale's been nothing short of spectacular to date, we really don't know what happens the rest of this season with him.

And finally If I might be so bold...As to what I've highlighted in red. There is a pattern of presenting scenarios that you will then say that you don't necessarily believe in which leads to difficulty when I try to decipher what you actually consider to be within reason. We all wish this team made an additional move or different moves at the deadline. Many of us differ at what the cost of such deals should have been and NONE of us know what offers were discussed or how negotiable any of the teams were concerning trades with The Red Sox. Every team has different needs and many teams have varying levels of talent from which to deal.
 

Sin Duda

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(B)Austin Texas
I don't see the options as being binary - GFIN vs Tear It Down (TID). There's also a large middle ground in which the Sox Stay The Course (STC) where Chaim makes incremental buys and sells as part of his Sustainability Model (TM). The fans still want to be entertained by the 2021 team even if the hope of a title is small (let's say 3-5%). I know I'm okay with a wildcard entry into the playoffs given my expectations after the 3 game sweep at home against the Orioles to start the season. I consider this a successful season as a fan if they make the playoffs and wildly successful if they win a round.

So my expectation at the deadline was the Stay The Course approach. I understand if your expectation was GFIN or TID. Next year is next year and I trust Chaim and company to improve the team over the winter just as they did last winter. I would have preferred Bryant given his immediate availability and likelihood of fielding 1B more adeptly but I just don't agree with the vitriol toward the Schwarber acquisition. Neither Rizzo (hadn't been hitting in 2021) nor Bryant (RH and not a 1B) were the perfect solution.