How to get back in this thing

[TheYellowDart5]

Not facing Shohei Ohtani would be a big start.

This roster wasn't finished during the offseason and just doesn't look coherent overall. There are too many dead spots in the lineup — Dalbec, JBJ, whoever is at catcher, Story currently, the DH when Martinez is out — and not nearly enough reliable bullpen arms. Making those additions and changes in-season is going to be brutally hard given the team's lack of viable trade chits. The sense I get is that whatever offseason plan the front office had was either fatally flawed or poorly executed or both, and the degree of difficulty in fixing things going forward is going to get that much higher thanks to the idiotic amount of hardball being played with Bogaerts and Devers.

Short-term, they need to start cycling through bullpen arms, preferably righties, and move on from expired rubbish like Brasier and Sawamura. Make a decision on Whitlock's and Houck's roles and stick with them, and at this point, they should probably both be starters because you need to see what they're capable of there. Start making plans on when Casas and Duran and the rest will be brought up — not because they're potential saviors, but because there's no point in wasting 600 at-bats on Dalbec or JBJ, you need to start learning as soon as possible whether or not they're viable major leaguers. The division is already out of reach, and the wild card is going to be a tough ride even with the extra spot; Chicago/Minnesota, Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto and Tampa are all going to be fighting for those places, and Boston is worse than all of them. This season was lost in the winter.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Bigger picture, this is a season where Bloom is really going to need to earn his paycheck. We have a bunch of 40-man guys in the minors who important decisions have to be made about. I'll mention Duran and Downs, but the situation is similar for like ten or twelve guys.

Bloom (and every other head of baseball ops) has two jobs: keep the farm system chugging along and make sure that the big league team is stocked. Bloom is definitely not earning his paycheck for the latter this year and I'd say he didn't do the same for the 2020 season.

It's cool that he's rebuilding the farm system, but that's not the full extent of his job. His main job is to have the Boston Red Sox in contention for the post season every year. Not two years from now. Not three years from now. Not five years from now. Today. This team that he put together is failing miserably at this part of the job. The entire right side of the field, including the catcher can't hit. The bullpen has blown the most saves in the entire league. The starters look okay because they pitch four or five innings and GTFO there leaving a poorly designed bullpen to bring it home.

I hate to say it but Bloom is not the genius that everyone thought he was.

 

[Bergs]

Not facing Shohei Ohtani professional pitchers would be a big start.

Fixed!

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

He also appears to have completely whiffed on the Story signing, as Story took the Golden Sombrero today, his BA is down to .210 and he got lustily booed. Story's numbers away from Coors have been decidedly mediocre over the course of his career so in retrospect giving him a six year deal was probably pretty rash.

He's also failed to extend two far better players in X and Devers, so his team-building for 2022 has been a failure.

 

[Ale Xander]

Fire bloom
Hire some Yalie whiz kid who was ideally a crappy pitcher at Brookline High
Profit

 

[chawson]

He also appears to have completely whiffed on the Story signing, as Story took the Golden Sombrero today, his BA is down to .210 and he got lustily booed. Story's numbers away from Coors have been decidedly mediocre over the course of his career so in retrospect giving him a six year deal was probably pretty rash.

He's also failed to extend two far better players in X and Devers, so his team-building for 2022 has been a failure.

No no, Story’s not the problem. He’s put up a .367 xwOBA since April 17 (3rd on the team behind JDM and XB) after an understandably slow start (.178 xwOBA first 29 PAs). He’s hitting the ball hard again and the hits will start falling in.

He obviously looked bad against Ohtani today.

 

[TheYellowDart5]

He also appears to have completely whiffed on the Story signing, as Story took the Golden Sombrero today, his BA is down to .210 and he got lustily booed. Story's numbers away from Coors have been decidedly mediocre over the course of his career so in retrospect giving him a six year deal was probably pretty rash.

He's also failed to extend two far better players in X and Devers, so his team-building for 2022 has been a failure.

Story didn't get a spring training and has had to adjust to a new league with new pitchers in a new park that isn't a mile above sea level and with a baseball that doesn't carry. He's a problem right now, and he needs to play better, but it seems too early to me to say that he was a mistake or that Bloom whiffed the signing. I mean, dude ripped two doubles on Wednesday, and it's not as if anyone else did any better against Ohtani today. (And for what it's worth on Coors, there's been a fair amount of research done suggesting that away splits for Rockies players don't represent their true talent level outside of Colorado and instead represent how difficult it is playing a season split between normal parks and a wackadoodle thin air launching pad with some of the biggest power alleys in baseball. Here's a good piece on it from MLB's Mike Petriello after the Cardinals traded for Nolan Arenado, who had similarly grisly home/away numbers.)

Bloom (and every other head of baseball ops) has two jobs: keep the farm system chugging along and make sure that the big league team is stocked. Bloom is definitely not earning his paycheck for the latter this year and I'd say he didn't do the same for the 2020 season.

It's cool that he's rebuilding the farm system, but that's not the full extent of his job. His main job is to have the Boston Red Sox in contention for the post season every year. Not two years from now. Not three years from now. Not five years from now. Today. This team that he put together is failing miserably at this part of the job. The entire right side of the field, including the catcher can't hit. The bullpen has blown the most saves in the entire league. The starters look okay because they pitch four or five innings and GTFO there leaving a poorly designed bullpen to bring it home.

I hate to say it but Bloom is not the genius that everyone thought he was.

Bloom's hiring and results make more sense if you view him for what he is: a GM who has worked magic with insanely low payrolls and who has had a hand in assembling deep, diverse farm systems that churn out 2+ WAR players for pennies. That's why John Henry wanted him, and that's how you end up with a roster that looks and plays like it belongs in Pittsburgh. Cost savings and payroll efficiency are the name of the game, not wins and losses, and if that means a year where you win 80 games instead of 91 because your bargain basement moves don't pan out, well, that's the risk of this particular approach.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

It feels like there are just too many things to fix.

The biggest problem is the bullpen but I feel as though fixing that does not make this team a contender. Just too many games left in the division against very high quality opponents with too many other things to worry about. I'm not really the type to quit in May and I'm sure that I've been pretty critical of other posters who suggested blowing things up in prior years before getting to June. But I just don't see a path here. Unless the goal is to try to play moderately more entertaining baseball as the season progresses, I just don't see the upside to doing anything other than starting to transition to making all baseball decisions based on the future, not on 2022.

 

[Mueller's Twin Grannies]

I'd say start moving guys now, but it would be more prudent to wait until closer to the deadline for the true "value" pieces that are going to draw suitors no matter what, but that approach does also come with the risk of fringe trade bait players completely catering.

Can we hire and re-fire Bobby V again? In honor of the 10 year anniversary?

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Story didn't get a spring training and has had to adjust to a new league with new pitchers in a new park that isn't a mile above sea level and with a baseball that doesn't carry. He's a problem right now, and he needs to play better, but it seems too early to me to say that he was a mistake or that Bloom whiffed the signing. I mean, dude ripped two doubles on Wednesday, and it's not as if anyone else did any better against Ohtani today. (And for what it's worth on Coors, there's been a fair amount of research done suggesting that away splits for Rockies players don't represent their true talent level outside of Colorado and instead represent how difficult it is playing a season split between normal parks and a wackadoodle thin air launching pad with some of the biggest power alleys in baseball. Here's a good piece on it from MLB's Mike Petriello after the Cardinals traded for Nolan Arenado, who had similarly grisly home/away numbers.)

Story currently has a negative WAR for the year, wanted to sign in Texas to play shortstop instead of Boston to play 2B, and got so upset that his agents blew the negotiations with the Rangers by being overaggressive that he's just fired the lot of them. He may not even want to be here.

And while the Coors effect may take some time to normalize, it is real, and his numbers away from Coors are pretty sobering. If those are what the Sox are going to get from this guy (and he certainly looks as lost as anyone in baseball right now), that's a huge whiff.

I dunno, it's looking pretty clear that this will be a signing we all regret very soon. They booed the hell out of him at Fenway today. This could get very, very ugly.

The larger issue is that Bloom built a team that has one of the worst offenses in baseball and has a pitching staff comprised of misfit toys. No one has a defined role (maybe that's on Cora), but whatever the reason, every night one of the relievers completely implodes.

 

[NYCSox]

Story currently has a negative WAR for the year, wanted to sign in Texas to play shortstop instead of Boston to play 2B, and got so upset that his agents blew the negotiations with the Rangers by being overaggressive that he's just fired the lot of them. He may not even want to be here.

And while the Coors effect may take some time to normalize, it is real, and his numbers away from Coors are pretty sobering. If those are what the Sox are going to get from this guy (and he certainly looks as lost as anyone in baseball right now), that's a huge whiff.

I dunno, it's looking pretty clear that this will be a signing we all regret very soon. They booed the hell out of him at Fenway today. This could get very, very ugly.

Wait I thought there was a reverse Coors effect? Or is that only the case for those who join the Yankees like DJL?

 

[mikeford]

Bloom's hiring and results make more sense if you view him for what he is: a GM who has worked magic with insanely low payrolls and who has had a hand in assembling deep, diverse farm systems that churn out 2+ WAR players for pennies. That's why John Henry wanted him, and that's how you end up with a roster that looks and plays like it belongs in Pittsburgh. Cost savings and payroll efficiency are the name of the game, not wins and losses, and if that means a year where you win 80 games instead of 91 because your bargain basement moves don't pan out, well, that's the risk of this particular approach.

This is the Boston Red Sox, a franchise with a license to essentially print money: why are we trying to operate with this model exactly?

 

[TheYellowDart5]

This is the Boston Red Sox, a franchise with a license to essentially print money: why are we trying to operate with this model exactly?

Because John Henry doesn't like being separated from more money than he deems appropriate.

 

[BaseballJones]

No...Trevor Story is definitely part of the problem. He's a good hitter who, while having worse splits away from Coors, still has a career road ops of .748. Now that's not good. But it's WAY better than the .619 ops (before today's 0-fer) he's putting up this year. So again, regression to the mean will - or at least SHOULD - happen and if/when it does for him, we're in for some really good months of Trevor Story. But no doubt that so far, he's been a major part of the problem.

 

[scottyno]

That sounds absolutely awful; assuming that is Bloom's plan--which I pray it isn't. I was listening to Felger and Maz yesterday and they said that Tuesday's Sox ratings on NESN were abysmal. They got a 1.something over all and for men between 25 and 54, it was 0.8. Obviously there was a Celtics playoff game going on at the exact same time, but if people are this down on the Sox a month into the season after going deep in the playoffs last year; I can't imagine what this team's buzz will be after four bridge years.

What are the ratings when there isn't a huge playoff game going on at the exact same time? No fucking shit ratings were always going to be terrible up against a playoff game for a team that's one of the favorites to win the title, that means absolutely nothing, which is of course why Felger and Mazz would cherry pick it.

 

[BaseballJones]

Because John Henry doesn't like being separated from more money than he deems appropriate.

Uh....that's true of EVERYONE.

And the Sox are on the hook for more than $213 million in payroll this year, according to b-ref. They're not "cheap". Spotrac has them at a different figure but still #6 in all of MLB.

It's like when people accuse Kraft and BB of being cheap. They spend to the cap every year. They just spend it differently than most teams do. People equate paying the stars huge money as "spending", but they don't equate spending good money across the roster as "spending", for some odd reason, even if the total payrolls end up being the same.

We can question the spending choices, but not WHETHER they spend. They do.

 

[tims4wins]

Trevor Story is the least of my concerns. I think he'll be worth the contract. He will hit. It's May 5. Simply not worried about that one. It was a similar signing to JD Drew IMO. The value will come.

 

[BaseballJones]

Trevor Story is the least of my concerns. I think he'll be worth the contract. He will hit. It's May 5. Simply not worried about that one. It was a similar signing to JD Drew IMO. The value will come.

I agree he will hit. But he hasn't so far, and it's been a big reason why they've sucked offensively. Clearly not the only reason, but definitely part of it.

 

[canderson]

I think it’s time to sell every piece of the active roster you can. Problem is ony a few players can get any value back. The holes are too big and too many to fill this season and probably for next. Bloom has constructed a terrible roster with so many weaknesses it hurts every aspect of the game.

 

[tims4wins]

I think it’s time to sell every piece of the active roster you can. Problem is ony a few players can get any value back. The holes are too big and too many to fill this season and probably for next. Bloom has constructed a terrible roster with so many weaknesses it hurts every aspect of the game.

I would think X, Devers, and JDM would get something decent in return.

 

[Rovin Romine]

It feels like there are just too many things to fix.

The collective suck has already done what damage it has. They should probably just stay the course and see what they have in terms of players under contract for next year. At some point they should fire their pitching/hitting coaching staff and bring in new voices.

Along the way perhaps they'll get hot. Sale and Paxton could come back and dominate in the second half. A post-season berth is a low probability at this point, but it's far from completely foregone. Other teams may have setbacks, or the Sox could put on an epic run.

 

[cornwalls@6]

Uh....that's true of EVERYONE.

And the Sox are on the hook for more than $213 million in payroll this year, according to b-ref. They're not "cheap". Spotrac has them at a different figure but still #6 in all of MLB.

It's like when people accuse Kraft and BB of being cheap. They spend to the cap every year. They just spend it differently than most teams do. People equate paying the stars huge money as "spending", but they don't equate spending good money across the roster as "spending", for some odd reason, even if the total payrolls end up being the same.

We can question the spending choices, but not WHETHER they spend. They do.

Can I copy and paste this for use in a text thread away from here, where one dude will not stop tripling down on the "they care more about Liverpool/Penguins than winning" Felger and Mazz level idiocy? Bloom deserves intense scrutiny and criticism for this roster, but Jesus, can we finally, fully, bury the "cheap" canard.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

What are the ratings when there isn't a huge playoff game going on at the exact same time? No fucking shit ratings were always going to be terrible up against a playoff game for a team that's one of the favorites to win the title, that means absolutely nothing, which is of course why Felger and Mazz would cherry pick it.

Do I look like Tony Massarotti or Michael Felger,? Ask them. I’m just telling you what they said. And BTW since Mazz is a broadcaster for the team now, I don’t think he’s too pleased with this turn of events.

But they did say that ratings have been low all year, so I don’t think most people are quite as enamored with this team as you are. Watching a dead ass team with a bunch of stiffs isn’t compelling TV.

 

[soxhop411]

Do I look like Tony Massarotti or Michael Felger,? Ask them. I’m just telling you what they said. And BTW since Mazz is a broadcaster for the team now, I don’t think he’s too pleased with this turn of events.

But they did say that ratings have been low all year, so I don’t think most people are quite as enamored with this team as you are. Watching a dead ass team with a bunch of stiffs isn’t compelling TV.

Baseball ratings (TV) and attendance has been declining LEAGUE wide for years. This is not just a Sox issue
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/28/the-state-of-baseball-game-needs-fresh-ideas/

Declining interest in baseball can be directly traced to a lack of action.

Since 2015 — the last year the major leagues saw a minor increase in fans at ballparks — through 2019, attendance dropped 7.14%. That’s a loss of 5.2 million fans. In 2019, before the pandemic struck, 14 out of 30 clubs saw an attendance decline from the previous season.

Average viewership for the World Series has declined dramatically since the 1970s, from 44.2 million in 1978 to a record low 9.8 million viewers in 2020.

* According to Sports Business Journal, the average viewer of nationally televised MLB games was 57 in 2016, up from 52 in 2000. More ominous, just 7% of MLB’s viewers were under the age of 18.

* Not counting the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, MLB set a single-season strikeout rate record in 12 consecutive seasons, starting at 17.5% of plate appearances in 2008 and gradually climbing to 23.0% of plate appearances in 2019.

* Baseball’s star power is dimming. The Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout, the greatest player of his generation, is probably the most anonymous superstar in American sports. According to The Q Scores Company, a marketing research firm, Trout has a familiarity score of 22 — meaning just 22% of Americans know who Trout is. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady has an awareness rating of 79, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James has a score of 74.

 

[scottyno]

Baseball ratings (TV) and attendance has been declining LEAGUE wide for years. This is not just a Sox issue
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/28/the-state-of-baseball-game-needs-fresh-ideas/

Also the season started late, after a lockout that angered a bunch of fans, and started at essentially the same time as the NBA playoffs, not really a surprise ratings would be down. If they're still down over the summer then it's a problem.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

I would think X, Devers, and JDM would get something decent in return.

Sure, but you’d kind of need major league ready talent back in deals, no? Replacing those guys with Arroyo, Arauz, and Jaylen Davis isn’t going to help with fan interest the rest of the way.

 

[jtn46]

Because John Henry doesn't like being separated from more money than he deems appropriate.

Who are the season-altering signings that made sense besides Story? Should they have given a 30-year old Robbie Ray and/or a 31-year old Kevin Gausman off career years 5-years? 30-year old Kris Bryant 7 years? 37-year old Max Scherzer 3/$130? 34-year old Kenley Jansen $16 million? Should they have beaten Texas’s 10/$325 offer to Seager instead of choosing Story?

 

[riboflav]

Sure, but you’d kind of need major league ready talent back in deals, no? Replacing those guys with Arroyo, Arauz, and Jaylen Davis isn’t going to help with fan interest the rest of the way.

I think he's saying: the season is over either way as those fans aren't coming back. Punt it and sell the farm, Martha. Godspeed.

 

[catomatic]

Baseball ratings (TV) and attendance has been declining LEAGUE wide for years. This is not just a Sox issue
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/28/the-state-of-baseball-game-needs-fresh-ideas/

They might also consider the long, slow demise of the day game as a causal factor in the sport’s failure to set the hook in the mouths of young, would-be baseball fans. Prime time TV revenues are kinda directly at odds with kids’ eyeballs and formative hookey instincts.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Who are the season-altering signings that made sense besides Story? Should they have given a 30-year old Robbie Ray and/or a 31-year old Kevin Gausman off career years 5-years? 30-year old Kris Bryant 7 years? 37-year old Max Scherzer 3/$130? 34-year old Kenley Jansen $16 million? Should they have beaten Texas’s 10/$325 offer to Seager instead of choosing Story?

Sure, in a vacuum those look like bad deals… but what’s the alternative? What does next years team look like if Bloom again avoids the free agent marketplace?

 

[LoweTek]

Rebuild the bullpen. There are hitters here. They will come around.

 

[scottyno]

Sure, in a vacuum those look like bad deals… but what’s the alternative? What does next years team look like if Bloom again avoids the free agent marketplace?

Why do you assume he's going to avoid the free agent marketplace when they have so much money coming off the books? There's no logical basis for that.

 

[Auger34]

Who are the season-altering signings that made sense besides Story? Should they have given a 30-year old Robbie Ray and/or a 31-year old Kevin Gausman off career years 5-years? 30-year old Kris Bryant 7 years? 37-year old Max Scherzer 3/$130? 34-year old Kenley Jansen $16 million? Should they have beaten Texas’s 10/$325 offer to Seager instead of choosing Story?

Maybe I’m misreading this but it’s weird to have Kevin Gausman’s name in there when he’s been fantastic this season thus far. I think he definitely would have helped them this season

 

[cornwalls@6]

They might also consider the long, slow demise of the day game as a causal factor in the sport’s failure to set the hook in the mouths of young, would-be baseball fans. Prime time TV revenues are kinda directly at odds with kids’ eyeballs and formative hookey instincts.

Purely an anecdotal snapshot, but watching the end of last nights debacle, the park seemed loaded with pretty enthusiastic young people. And I got that vibe at the 10 or so games I went to last year. I agree, more day games, particularly playoff/World Series games, would be a good idea. But I'm not sure the Sox are as dead with the under 30 crowd as many speculate. Of course, they consume media and entertainment in a completely different way than their parents and grandparents do, so there are probably challenges quantifying their level of interest.

 

[canderson]

I think he's saying: the season is over either way as those fans aren't coming back. Punt it and sell the farm, Martha. Godspeed.

Exactly. I am not sure if JD brings much value. But 3 out of 25+ bringing any value is horrible. Trading X might as elk mean gutting the roster entirely, a lot of these guys seem to have little chance of being above replacement level MLB players.

 

[moondog80]

Sure, but you’d kind of need major league ready talent back in deals, no? Replacing those guys with Arroyo, Arauz, and Jaylen Davis isn’t going to help with fan interest the rest of the way.

If they trade X/Devers/JD, fan interest the rest of this season will have ceased to be a primary concern.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Why do you assume he's going to avoid the free agent marketplace when they have so much money coming off the books? There's no logical basis for that.

Not assuming that all- merely suggesting that in order to rebuild the team, he’s likely going to have to sign Gausman / Ray / etc type deals that some are saying they are glad the team avoided this off-season.

 

[scottyno]

Exactly. I am not sure if JD brings much value. But 3 out of 25+ bringing any value is horrible. Trading X might as elk mean gutting the roster entirely, a lot of these guys seem to have little chance of being above replacement level MLB players.

They have a lot more than 3 guys with value, it just doesn't make any sense to trade a bunch of them

 

[curly2]

If they trade X/Devers/JD, fan interest the rest of this season will have ceased to be a primary concern.

That could be a spirited conversation between Bloom and Henry. The park was pretty empty in the ninth today. That would be a familiar site if there is a fire sale.

 

[sean1562]

One of our big problems is our $30 million a year ace pitcher has thrown 42 innings since the beginning of the 2020 season. With Sale in the rotation, one of Whitlock/Houck is in the pen and you can slowly build up their innings to have them both in the rotation next season. Another problem is the guy we signed to be our closer/at least ok relief pitcher at $8 million has been absolutely awful. I am not sure that this roster is nearly as good as the Yankees or Jays, especially if Nestor Cortes is legit. Cole/Severino/Cortes/Taillon/Montgomery has the potential to be an amazing rotation.

 

[moondog80]

I think it’s time to sell every piece of the active roster you can. Problem is ony a few players can get any value back. The holes are too big and too many to fill this season and probably for next. Bloom has constructed a terrible roster with so many weaknesses it hurts every aspect of the game.

*IF* they commit to selling, Xander, JD, Eovaldi, Wacha, Kiki will be a pretty good group to unload. And if you add Devers to that, there's a chance to really make a splash, especially given that they will be willing tp pay the full 2022 salaries of whoever they deal. It sucks having to do it, but once you go with it, you go all the way. The Yankees did it in 2016, loaded up with prospects (who admittedly were a mixed bag, as prospects are) and then bumped the payroll right back up that offseason.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

If you trade Devers, X, Eovaldi, Kiki, etc….what’s the core that you are building around? Story, and a bunch of minor leaguers, right? I don’t see an alternative really but it really requires nailing the trades and then spending a lot of money wisely in next years FA market. Pretty tall task.

 

[moondog80]

If you trade Devers, X, Eovaldi, Kiki, etc….what’s the core that you are building around? Story, and a bunch of minor leaguers, right? I don’t see an alternative really but it really requires nailing the trades and then spending a lot of money wisely in next years FA market. Pretty tall task.

Maybe you sign some of them back, like the Yankees did with Chapman. But if the postseason isn't in the cards, keeping them is pointless when they are going to hit FA either way. They're not going to sign extensions in August, 6 weeks out from the open market (unless they are massively player friendly).

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Maybe you sign some of them back, like the Yankees did with Chapman. But if the postseason isn't in the cards, keeping them is pointless when they are going to hit FA either way. They're not going to sign extensions in August, 6 weeks out from the open market (unless they are massively player friendly).

Totally agree; with the possible exception of Devers since they control him another year. But it’s going to be really difficult to rebuild the team quickly, given that there don’t appear to be a ton of contributors on the immediate horizon.

 

[jon abbey]

There are almost never quick fixes in baseball, signing big FAs can sometimes help short-term but often hurts long-term (and sometimes even hurts short-term). For those looking longingly at Gausman or Ray, take a look at how Patrick Corbin has done after the first (impressive) year of his 6/140 deal with WAS, that is one uuuuugly contract.

When I first came to SOSH (not sure when exactly but it predated Theo's hire in Nov 2002), one thing I remember strongly is a main board thread, I think in response to a Theo statement. BOS had not yet had their 2004 breakthrough and Theo said something about their goal being to win 95 games each year, get into the playoffs, and then see what happened since the MLB postseason is kind of a crap shoot (his paraphrased words, not mine). What I remember about this is a long discussion about how many years a WS title buys a front office, if a team wins in 2018 (for example), when is it fair for the fan base to get on them for not being a championship contender? I feel like there was a consensus reached around 5 years, and I'd like to add that when a team has their best season in franchise history, a century plus, maybe that window should be extended. That doesn't make things any easier right now for Sox fans, just saying. If the Knicks ever won a title (ha!!!!), I would personally not be too critical of them for a long time after that, but maybe that's just me.

The other thing is that it really can't be said enough how barren Dombrowski left the farm (not really via trades, it just did not seem to be much of a priority for him, I remarked on this a lot at the time here) and how hard that is to build back up, especially in a division where TB and NY are well ahead of them in building up the farm. It is somewhere in these threads but when DD was fired, BOS only had something like 22 or 23 prospects rated by Fangraphs, now they are back over 50. Do they have the system depth of TB or NY? No, those teams are not standing still either, but the gap has been closed quite a bit.

Also Bloom should get some credit for 2021, that BOS team was the 4th best in the ALE IMO and still they knocked out all of the other three (TOR in game 162, NY in the wild card game, TB in the ALDS). They fizzled in the ALCS but credit for overachieving anyway, at least from me.

 

[YTF]

Who are the season-altering signings that made sense besides Story? Should they have given a 30-year old Robbie Ray and/or a 31-year old Kevin Gausman off career years 5-years? 30-year old Kris Bryant 7 years? 37-year old Max Scherzer 3/$130? 34-year old Kenley Jansen $16 million? Should they have beaten Texas’s 10/$325 offer to Seager instead of choosing Story?

I'm not in the camp that thinks that the Sox are cheap or that they spend all of their money on other ventures, but there is one player that I would have loved to see the Sox land. I was a big advocate for the Sox picking up Starling Marte at last season's trade deadline and then again this off season. I thought he would have been a big boost defensively in the OF and would have done equally well hitting near the top of the order or helping to stabilize the bottom third. That said, the Met offer of $78M for 4 years was a tough one to top.

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

I think the honeymoon from 18 ended rather quickly because the GM was canned and that team was dismantled pretty quickly. It kind of felt like that team was the beginning of something incredible when maybe it was actually the end.

There was certainly no patience for DD. Only 9 players from that team remain, and a good chance that’s down to 2 by next year. Certainly true that the farm system has been built back up, but also true that the major league talent appears to be quite a bit worse.

The jury certainly remains out on how Bloom did with his first two big trades (Betts, Benintendi); his fate seems possibly to be determined by how he cashes in on all the FA’s to be, and potentially, Devers; and whether he can turn some of that depth prospect depth into help for the big club.

 

[BravesField]

If you trade Devers, X, Eovaldi, Kiki, etc….what’s the core that you are building around? Story, and a bunch of minor leaguers, right? I don’t see an alternative really but it really requires nailing the trades and then spending a lot of money wisely in next years FA market. Pretty tall task.

Isn't this what every team tries to achieve? Build around the veterans you have. Insert your minor leaguers whom you have developed and plug your holes on the FA market.

 

[JCizzle]

Isn't this what every team tries to achieve? Build around the veterans you have. Insert your minor leaguers whom you have developed and plug your holes on the FA market.

In that situation, I’d much rather have the veterans be World Series Champions Xander Bogaerts and/or Raphael Devers rather than Trevor fucking Story.

 

[moondog80]

Totally agree; with the possible exception of Devers since they control him another year. But it’s going to be really difficult to rebuild the team quickly, given that there don’t appear to be a ton of contributors on the immediate horizon.

Agree. But let's see, if they do clear the roster of anyone who is tradable, significant pieces left for 2023:

1B-Casas, Dalbec
2B-
SS-Story
3B-
OF-Verdurgo
OF-Duran
OF-
DH-
SP-Whitlock
SP-Houck
SP-Sale
SP-Paxton
SP-Pivetta
RP-

Some question marks there on the health of Sale and Paxton, and if Casas and Duran can cut it in MLB. And plenty of holes. But, they'd have over 125 million to spend in FA, a bevy of young players the would have gotten in return, and August/September to give other guys chances to emerge.