I'm going to try to be optimistic - mostly because I get sad thinking about another summer of largely meaningless baseball as we had last year and 2020 - but I thought the O was at least 1 big bat short even with Story returning to his pre-2022 form. Now... I just don't know. Really need Cassas and Turner to mash, because the rest of the likely lineup could be rough.
Not really sure that Duvall brings anything to the table that Refsnyder doesn't already bring to the table better.
"They"--and I'm thinking of one poster in particular who is especially nasty to anyone who deviates from the Bloom line--should not make projections about the team based on expected performance of a few oft-injured players.
Fully agree. Not that I know anything more than the rest, but it sure seems like Bloom's job is centered around that window. Story's surgery, if anything, stabilizes him in the long run.
I agree with the first part but as for the leverage, seems to me that depends on what other clubs might be willing to offer. If the Sox can offer someone like Andrus or Iglesias more than any other team is willing to offer I'd think they would sign here, no different than yesterday, or if they offer whichever team more for a trade than other teams offer then a team motivated to trade might well accept.
I try not to be critical of the critical. It's hard, though, when so many of the takes ignore the reality of building a baseball team & just want things to be done, period, with no actual reflection as to what would happen if all the things these people want done are done.
The one thing that I'm looking forward to is Yoshida. As well as Casas and Bello.
Here's the case for Kim: He's 26, he kicked ass offensively in KBO, he made big strides from 2021 to 2022, and he has moderate RH pull power that might help him in Fenway. The glove is All-World and the contract terms are favorable — $7m per for 2023 and 2024, plus a mutual option for 2025, i.e. perfect as a bridge to Meyer.
Shoot, I keep forgetting about Yoshida. Yeah, we need him to mash too!
The other case against is the potential acquisition cost if we're robbing from '25-29 to paper over '23.
Forget whether or not Kim is worth trading for; why would San Diego give him up? He's the projected starting second baseman for that team unless Preller gets a first baseman to replace Cronenworth so he can move back to second or decides that Tatis will play there post-suspension, or the position is turned over to the untested Eguy Rosario. There's no reason for the Padres to move Kim unless they get blown out of the water by an offer.
Me three. If this is going to be another bridge season, at least make it an enjoyable one.
Bloom's balance sheet of bargains, lottery tickets, and other quixotic means of talent discovery takes another hit. After a while, you are what your roster says you are.
Genuine question and not to be snarky - especially since I agree with you on the vast majority of your opinions but...
Buster has been taking pot shots at the sox this entire offseason... and spare me the "inevitably would require major elbow surgery"
So is this about which tribe we belong to, pro-Chaim or anti? I'd rather the anti-Bloom people acknowledge that they are insisting on short-term results over anything else. People like me who aren't just yelling at Bloom probably take the view that this team has very little chance of scotch-taping the organization into a World Series winner in 2023 but actually has a pretty fair chance of building a real contender as early as '24 or '25. Singing All the Guys or Trading All the Prospects For Guys is the path to immediate success, except not all the guys want to sign here because there are 29 other teams who mostly have money to burn, and bankrupting the farm system is a great way to set up other teams for the success we wish the Sox could enjoy.
Yeah. I think watching whether Whitlock and Houck can adjust to starting might be fun. Or it could be really painful. I mean, I kinda know what's in W&H's bag of tricks, so that could be interesting to see how that translates. But if they get lit up, it'd be like a double Bob Stanley circa 1987 flashback.
I mentioned in another thread, he's really only played 3b as a secondary position, even going back to college. Guessing he could muddle through at 2b if he were committed for camp but it's a stretch.
Good question. My take: Because they now have an Oops! All Shortstops! roster, and the fourth best defender of the four (not even counting Machado) has been handed the job. They would be a better team moving on from Kim or Cronenworth to shore up their pitching or acquire a real 1B/DH masher better than Brandon Dixon.
I don't think Merloni was suggesting that it was the medical staff that "prescribed" the 2.5 months off from throwing then "see how things are feeling". I think Merloni was saying that it is S.O.P. for most ballplayers to take a month or two completely off before beginning preparations for the next season.
Sox start at 830pm here at the earliest most days. Not sure gardening is the right replacement here.
Off-season isn’t over yet. I’m sure Bloom isn’t going to just sit and leave an opening in the middle infield. Just spitballing but something like this could be passable with plus defense and a pitching staff that could possibly be quite solid.
That's sort of my point. I hope Story wasn't on any sort of 1980's style standard operating procedure offseason plan for his elbow.
I love Xander Bogaerts and watching him leave was a serious punch to the gut. But he’s a SS on the wrong side of 30 whose already meh defense is only going to regress with age and the shift ban. There were also worrying trends in his batted ball stats last year. San Diego gave him 11 years and close to 300 million dollars while we have Marcelo Mayer right around the corner.
Agreed. This teams lineup isn’t as bad as some think. We are just blessed with top of the league lineups most years that we come to expect it. A lineup like this with a healthy pitching staff is easily good enough to sneak in as a wild card imo. Lots of questions marks, but also tons of potential.
Seems like a relevant time to bring this up, no? It's not like the elbow thing is something new and mean old Buster taking potshots at the trainwreck that is the 2022-23 Boston Red Sox isn't a reason to just dismiss his reporting out of hand.
Arguing with your point is not belittling. I haven’t seen anyone just dismiss anyone else’s points without some points in their defense. The only time I see anything close to “belittling” is when some poster says the same thing over and over without developing their point. It’s the equivalent to yelling louder….
That lineup looks pretty bad, but the bigger problem is what happens if a few key guys there get hurt? If Kike and Arroyo are hurt, hardly a far fetched scenario, they are replaced by Duran and Valdez / Hamilton and you are looking at a really horrendous group, potentially. Ugh.
I agree. If the strategy to avoid giving Bogaerts $280m was to give Story $140m a year earlier, the reason that strategy was possible was because of the health risks.
The feeling I get this year is sort of how I felt heading into 2013. They could be a lot better than people think. And no, I don’t expect us to win 97 games and go the distance.
You’re absolutely right. A lot of it hinges on luck and things could look a lot worse if guys keep getting hurt. All I’m saying is we aren’t there quite yet.
Agree, hopefully they add Andrus/Iglesias and McCutchen/DuVall or something to provide some needed veteran depth.
Really the entire pitching staff, outside of Pivetta who we kind of know what to expect is interesting. The range of outcomes for all of Sale, Paxton, Kluber, Bello, Whitlock, and Houck is really wide
It's cool, you could just @ me, though I'm pretty sure that neither I or anyone else ever argued they were deep at middle infield. Also seems just a a tad premature to say that an injury that may not cause him to miss that much time in the regular season ensures that they're going to suck this year.
(Mods: I apologize and will take whatever suspension/ban you feel I deserve)
Gammo is tweeting about Nick Ahmed. More injury risk (shoulder was hurt last year) but he'd come cheap I suppose and be a one-year make-good or get lost guy.
That's some great wish casting but I think you might want to do a little more reflection if you think the Story injury all but ensures that the most dire forecasts will accurate.
Local guy, from Western Mass, so I’m sure Gammons would love to see it. A little pop, lousy average, but yeah, on a one year deal he seems like a pretty good fit. Good defensively.
An injury shouldnt make a contract bad. Injuries happen and arent a great metric of the value of the contract.
