The Red Sox have designated right-hander Chris Mazza for assignment, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. They did so in order to make room for the re-signing of lefty Martin Perez.
Mazza joined the Red Sox in late 2019 as a waiver claim from the Mets, and he became a regular in Boston’s staff last season. The 31-year-old finished fifth among Red Sox pitchers in innings (30), though he was unable to establish himself during that time. Mazza posted a 4.80 ERA/4.97 SIERA with subpar strikeout (21.3) and walk (11.0) percentages. He does, however, have another option left and a good track record in the minors, where he has pitched to a 3.21 ERA in 507 2/3 frames.
Another bad former Mets reliever, they all stink
He isn’t very good but he isnt the worst the sox had last year. A few other guys I would prefer to DFA before Mazza
I was thinking the same thing. I mean I by no means care about whether or not they keep Mazza but in terms of ranking the pitchers on their 40 man roster who were awful last year and I’d get rid of first… there are several ahead of him IMO anyway.
@Jeff – tough call.
Mazza will be 32 this season. Metrics make it look like he will only get worse as he’s now entering the tail end where most pitchers decline.
My guess, given Bloom’s penchant for high risk gambles focused on upside, is that a younger but wilder player always gets the nod.
I’m not surprised he got the axe given how this FO operates.
This could be in agreement with the player or a sign of respect. Gives him a chance to latch on somewhere else now instead of late in spring training…
does this FO even know how THEY operate??
What caught me and demonstrates why last season has to be taken with a grain of salt is his 30 innings were the fifth most on the club.
They did already DFA Hart and Weber, who were worse than Mazza, issue is they are both in the MiLB system at around #’s 9 and 10 as far as emergency starters go. Hopefully the improved rotation and depth won’t go that far down to the crumbs where rubbish had to fill spots 3-5 like last year.
Looks like starting for AAA will have 2 of the better prospects in Houck and Mata, then Sale we all hope around the AS break.
Of the guys that are still with the organization from last year Springs, covey, hall and maybe brewer
I am sure we’ll still be in the hunt when Sale comes back-cough! cough!
123Red Sox –
Covey was declared a minor league free agent 11/2/2020 and is no longer in the Red Sox organization . Hall is not on the 40-man, so he cannot be DFAed off the 40-man. Springs should start the year in AAA regrettably as the #1 left handed bullpen option behind Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor. Brewer is thought to have higher upside than Mazza although neither should be pitching in the MLB.
A few more designations to come. As oppose to a lot of Sox fans I see on here I’m quite happy with what we’re doing. We’re moving away from the DD way of doing business (selling off the farm, investing heavily in FA) and moving more into the Dodgers and Rays success examples of building the farm with lots of payroll flexibility. It creates an opportunity for sustained success instead of a couple great years and a few hungover years to follow. The Yankees made this adjustment to an extent and did some retooling a few years ago, now they look better than ever. I’m happy with a .500 season this year if it means we’ll compete year in and year out starting in 2022. Hope more fans could see the light of this also.
I mostly agree but to play devils advocate, those 3 franchises combined have 2 championships in the last 20 years vs our 4.
Yeah that’s true I just wish it was more consistent than it’s been. Those 4 championships were far from a dynasty but what we’re seeing in LA is dominance, despite the championship difference. Also TB and NYY were bad comparisons because one has a sub 60 million payroll and one still likes to make mega deals like Cole. The Dodgers are the standard in my opinion.
I mean I get your point. But trading away a 26 year old former top prospect that when healthy and an athletic body has looked good in order to get a guy that has never looked good and a mid 20s pitcher that hasn’t pitched in the high minors and some PTBNLs isn’t one that makes sense to me.
Nor does signing 2 super utility players, one of which has had 1 good season (a year he admittedly cheated) i would 4ather have Yairo Munoz an opportunity than have Gonzalez
They should have traded him last year! He was just about a automatic out, He looked like he was bored! 2022 Boston will be back and start competing for a Championship. We have younger,better outfielders coming up. I’m glad he’s gone.
Who are these “younger, better outfielders coming up”? Duran? He’s centerfield exclusive due to lack of pop. Wilson is a 4th outfielder. Gilberto Jimenez is 19 or 20 years old.
The “selling off the farm” bit is something of a fallacy, as least regarding DDs tenure in Boston.
Most of his best prospects GRADUATED to the majors.
Of what trades DD made, NONE of them contained players that have gone on to do anything of value at the mlb level except the Chris sale trade. In that case, you had to give value to get value.
In all the other trades DD dumped chaff and kept the wheat. Had those guys been kept around they would’ve been DFA’d or released to make room for other draft picks.
When you win, consistently, like DD did your average draft pick slot (and slot value) drops having an effect on who you can draft. Signing meaningful FAs sometimes requires compensation due to the QO.
But thats how you win championships. Remind me, again, how many titles Tampa Bay has won in franchise history?
Let’s lower the bar, before last year it had been 12 years prior when the Rays last won the division.
And yet, it’s the model.for success?
@GASoxFan I believe a lot of this has to do with business, when you see a team like the Rays making runs with a payroll under 60 million it’s enticing as an owner to bring that model to a team that’s been just as competitive while exceeding the luxury tax almost every year. As for the whole DD argument I believe he was great at what he came here to do – build a championship team and in hindsight yes the prospects didn’t amount to much but if you look at our farm now it’s very lacking in high level talent because of him yet a team like the Dodgers has one of the better farms and has been picking late just like us. Point is emphasizing drafting, developing and maintaining financial flexibility is more sustainable for success rather than doubling down every year and exceeding the luxury tax while neglecting the farm.
@NewYorkSoxFan – not going to deny the appeal of being cheap and pocketing more cash… BUT, you have to remember that prior to their success run the Dodgers literally BLEW team spending limits out of the water… they were the whole reason the CBT and penalties were enacted.
You enter Friedman, he was able to spend limitless like DD-on-steroids while getting a jump start ahead of most of mlb on analytics. And all that extra cash was leveraged into the FO to find better draft choices, better international signings,, etc. The rest of mlb is playing catchup, and the competitive advantage that started with nearly 300m payrolls continued with the early advances in the whole analytic and drafting issues. It will get harder when everyone is doing the same things, as you’re seeing LA finally start making BIG FA expenditures on outside players.
But again, by agreeing that DD didn’t trade away talented players outside the sale trade (and moncada would be in MLB anyways) you still wouldn’t have high level aaa talent even if nobody got traded. You’d be exactly where things are.
I think the one difference in the recent era is the players jumping AAA early. Had Chavis remained, had Devers remained, had Houck remained, would people say aaa was short of talent? Id think all 3 would be highly ranked prospects in the top 100 right now.
John Henry feed us this garbage line about “competing every year for a WS back in 2004 yet the Red Sox have finished last in the AL East 4 of the last 10 years. I am really getting tired of all the DD bashing even though he did exactly what he was brought into do–WIN A WS !!
I am all for re-building the farm as I love homegrown but since Bloom has been here he has dealt 2 of the best homegrown players we have had in the last 10 years and by popular opinion by knowledgeable baseball people has come out 2nd best on BOTH those deals. Name me one “blue chip” prospect Bloom has acquired since he arrived.
Rays haven’t won it and the Dodgers while they’ve repeatedly got close only won in a short, strange year where constructing a club the normal was not feasible. Also, as many times as they’ve been close, it took a DD type trade to get them over the top.
NYSoxFan = Very strange opinions. You are entitled to them but there is nothing in what you said that holds truth.
Moving away from winning that DD achieved is good? Seriously? You are against winning rings? You’d rather brag about a farm system? Those values don’t really align with the purpose of playing baseball. You play to win and the side benefits are great enjoyment, a sense of accomplishment and fan satisfaction.
A great farm system measured by guys who thought Swihart was better than Mookie in 2014 makes you proud? How? Don’t hate people who aspire to win. That’s the end goal of playing sports. You play to compete, enjoy the competition and WIN. You don’t support playing to look good with a top notch farm system that produces no rings. You play for rings. As a fan, its fine to want a top notch farm system but you need to evaluate the system based on it’s purpose not to sell commentary about players to the public. The Red Sox had the best farm system in baseball judged by its purpose of helping the MLB team win. DD understood that and makes winning happen. The tired dialogue about his actions ruining farm systems has no basis because farm system evaluations are point in time pictures of how many top 100 players exist not how many players ACTUALLY graduated and helped their team win a ring. The true analysis never gets recognized because it takes away from all the hype related to rating prospects. In the end, though, it’s all that matters because farm systems have two purposes: 1 – to develop players that make the MLB team and contribute to winning and 2- to provide resources to procure other resources from other teams to improve the MLB roster to win games. TOP 100 status or FARM SYSTEM rankings are a bunch of crap. They are commercial by=product of an industry trying to expand revenues.
DD is a successful GM who will make the HOF. Bloom is a bad Friedman spin-off. Friedman has no ring today without his DD-like move that pantsed Bloom and got him the key ingredient to winning – MOOKIE. Otherwise, Friedman is a Cashman clone. A guy who build a great farm system but doesn’t know how to win a ring.
Sustained success? What’s your definition of success? Mine is winning rings. My definition of sustained success is 4 rings in 15 years when 20 of 30 organizations don’t even have one ring during the same time period. That’s success.
Dodgers – 1 ring thanks to Friedman embarrassing Bloom and stealing Mookie
Yankees – 1 ring over a decade ago
Braves – 1 ring during the 90s
These are the organizations you think the Red Sox should look up to. My view is that those organizations need to figure out how Boston has been successful and follow that plan. The Cubs did and won. The Astros did and they won.
Last point, .500 this year won’t happen. Just like it didn’t happen last year when people like you suggested it would. Be realistic. Look at the Yankees, Blue Jays and Rays and tell me how many of the 57 games against those three teams the Red Sox will win? 20%? 11 games? 15? or are you delusional and think 25ish?
Baltimore rounds out the east. Baltimore could be 11 wins in 19 games if things go well. Heck, 13 might even be possible but not likely. Remember, we don’t really have pitching until June and our hitting is down significantly since Mookie left. 22 to 30 wins in the east out of 76 games is likely.. Getting to 81 wins which you state you will be happy with means winning 51 to 59 games out of 86 against the likes of the Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Oakland As, LA Angels, Houston Astros, and the NL East teams ATL, WAS, PHI, NYM and MIA.
Do you realize if the AL east beats up the Red Sox and they win 22 to 30 games against them that means they have to win 60% to 69% of the remaining games on their schedule to finish .500? I can understand how you would be happy with that. You should be thrilled with that!!! It’s not realistic or even close to realistic but that is why they play the games!!
The light you mention in your last statement? That’s the light on the front of the train that is about to run over the Red Sox in 2021. Think 2025 at the earliest. Things will improve when three things happen: 1 – Ownership goes back to thinking like when they supported DD and competed with Yankee spending, 2 – Cora is gone and a real manager is hired that knows how to manage in game decisions, set a line-up and handle the pitching staff and 3 – Bloom is GM in KC, MIL or some other small market team showing them the 20 year approach to winning.
Last point, .500 this year won’t happen.
===================================================
That looks like about 700 words.
And always, I am offering you a wager to back up your 700 words.
If the RS are .500 or over, you take a 3-month hiatus after the regular season. If they are under .500, I take a 3-month hiatus.
Of course, your sole redeeming quality is that you are smart enough to know your wrong, and you won’t accept.
And this wager is open to any of the other RS trolls.
JoeBrady – Point of clarification. People that disagree with you are called Red Sox fans, the guy in your mirror is the troll.
The Baseball Expertise bet still is on the table. I’m not here to gamble I am here to talk baseball. Give me your predictions for the 19 series and prove how much you know about baseball. Like I said before, betting that a team will win half their games is nothing more than a bet, it’s just someone trying to bate someone else into wagering. Asking a self proclaimed baseball expert such as yourself to put their expertise to the test is a far more baseball worthy challenge.
Don’t worry I understand why you refuse, we all do!!
If you think that 70 is aggressive, then you should take the bet. You’re alternative, to guess their W/L record against every opponent, is something that happens only in your head.
Even the idea of needing to guess our record against the Phillies. in 6 games, is laughable. All that matters is how many games we win. And like we say in The Bronx, put up or shut up.
JB – Go back to Fan Duel and make your bets. This website is to talk baseball. You aren’t qualified.
More kd17 bs…..
Yaz1971 – It hurts me to read such stupid comments with a tag that has Yaz in it. I know. Why not change it to JoeBrady2? Great minds think alike so you should couple up with the Einstein of this website. (JB…fyi…Einstein was smart) hahaha
Bob Hamelin rookie card
The “hammer”. If Greg Maddux looked like an accountant Hamelin looked like a truck driver
Best Hamelin story is how he was in the minors making his way back to the show and mid game he told manager mcgee he was done. “The game?” …. Hamelin got his stuff and walked away forever.
If Mazza sneaks through waivers fine, if not no big loss. They did bring Weber back on a minor league contract but hopefully just to fill a spot on Worcester’s staff
He and Billy Hamilton are in a race for skinniest ball player ever.
Missing from this item is that Mazza has a guaranteed contract for $576K even though he’s essentially a very good up-and-down guy. At the same time (12/2) they signed their best up-and-down position player, Yairo Munoz, to a $582 deal, and then they cleared him through waivers 5 days layer. The guaranteed $ is, I think, designed to inoculate them from waiver claims, so they were essentially buying two extra 40-man spaces, in terms of players they can control. But if someone sees Mazza as their fifth starter, he may get claimed.
Eric – SoxProspects readers get what you said. The IQ here is too low for 90 percent of the readers to understand the importance of what you just explained…
….they are too busy trying to justify why the Sox should spend $300 million in salary because Henry is “cheap”…lol
Yaz197110 hours ago
Eric – SoxProspects readers get what you said. The IQ here is too low for 90 percent of the readers to understand .….they are too busy trying to justify why the Sox should spend $300 million in salary because Henry is “cheap”…lol
==========================================================
I agree 100%, but the point Eric made, about buying two extra 40-man spots, is really good. I’d like to think I follow the game pretty good, but I never thought of that. Kind of Theo-esque.
Can we stop with the Sox having to do things the “Rays Way” or the “Dodgers Way” or the “Nippon Fighters Way”? 4 trophies in 18 years. ALL those teams need to do things “The Red Sox Way”. Flags Fly Forever. Hard Stop.
Now I’ll grant this team doesn’t look too good. As I’ve said before, it’s less that they’re lousy, more that they’re boring. As O”Shaughnesy told Mad Dog the other day, “the team is totally faceless”. A mish-mash of spare parts.
But not too worry. Unless this crew can get into the (expanded) playoffs, Bloom will be gone; I doubt he lasts until the ASG if they start playing like they did last year.
I’ve said before, when the My Pillow guy gets more eyeballs with an infomercial than NESN gets with a Sox game, heads gotta roll. There isn’t any great “philosophy” going on here; Henry knows it’s all about cash flow and the brand. If either suffers, you know what happens.
THAT’S the Red Sox Way. Stop whining; fix it.
This is only partially true but I love the No Pillow guy comparision. John Henry has suddenly become so cheap that he is looking over the top of his glasses to keep them from wearing out !!
The Red Sox have the second highest 40 man payroll and the second highest luxury tax payroll in MLB and that makes John Henry cheap? Obviously you flunked basic English comprehension and lack common sense. The problem with the Sox is not the amount of the payroll but the distribution of that payroll. And that’s on Dombrowski.
Red Sox are a big market team in case you have forgotten. They charge the highest ticket prices in all of MLB. So they had to re-set the cap in 2020- I get that. This is 2021 and it is looking the same as 2020 albeit slightly better should E=Rod return healthy and Sale returns as his old self in mid-season.
Bloom has not added any high end pitching talent since he arrived which is the hallmark of the Tampa model. He had chances to do so in the Mookie deal and the 2020 1st rd pick. Our farm system although improving slightly is still in the lower half of MLB probably the bottom 1/3.
The jury is out on the Benny trade till we see what other 3 PTBNL we get but given we already have 2 others we know I’d be shocked if any turn out to be anything special.
PKCasimir – Once again you are misinformed. The Red Sox payroll is 6th highest and roughly $2M ahead of the Mets and clearly behind the Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Astros and Angels.
The distribution of the Payroll is NOT on DD it’s on Bloom. Bloom chose to throw away Price and pay $16M a year to watch him play elsewhere. That $16M would have made them 10 highest not 6th.
The distribution of the payroll is not an issue. Great teams pay more for pitching than hitting. Great teams have 3 top end starters. Boston had Sale, Price and Porcello. Now they have Sale, Price (playing in LA) and Eovaldi. The Price distribution again is on Bloom not DD. Richards is needed to fill Price’s spot so the $16M he thought he was saving actually turned out to be $6M and LA gets a half priced pitcher in their starting rotation while the Red Sox flounder at pitching thanks to Bloom.
Try using facts next time.
PKCasimir4 hours ago
The Red Sox have the second highest 40 man payroll
========================================================
People like Randy have no chance of understanding that the RS have the #2 payroll. His response will be “I know we outspend virtually everyone. But so what, we’re still cheap”.
legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/
Cots has the RS listed at 2nd highest payroll in terms of the 40-man CB tax.
show me a post where I said we were cheap.
Randy Red Sox17 hours ago
John Henry has suddenly become so cheap that he is looking over the top of his glasses to keep them from wearing out !!
=============================================================
You had just posted this. Is there more than one Randy Red Sox?
Not sure who to believe when it comes to payroll –
spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/
KEY word here is SUDDENLY. The reason the payroll is where it is is because of guys like JDM, Sale, Eovaldi. These were signed BEFORE Henry got cheap. If he Bloom could get him out of those 3 deals tomorrow he would do it in a NEW YORK SECOND and replace them with Gonzalez, Hernandez type signings.
People can rag on DD all they want but JDM was brought in to replace Ortiz at a fair price that DD was praised on holding out for at the time. Sale was signed because fans were still upset that HENRY let Lester get away with a lowball offer. Henry HAD to sign off on the Sale extension as there is no way DD could do that without his approval. Pretty much the same thing albeit to a lesser degree with Eovaldi coming off the 2018 WS title.
Sox are now 6th on the payroll for the active 26 man roster not 1st or 2nd like they were 2 years ago. Take those 3 away or even 1 or 2 of them and they drop even lower. FOUR LAST PLACE finishes in the last 10 years and they will be predicted to finish 4th in 2021 by almost all.
KD1733 mins ago
Not sure who to believe when it comes to payroll –
===========================================================
You can belive both, even though there might always be a few dollars difference.
But in this case, the difference is the 26-man squad v the 40-man squad. Henry will spend to at least the cap, but the cap include everyone on the 40-man roster. That would include guys like Pedroia.
Randy Red Sox29 mins ago
These were signed BEFORE Henry got cheap.
===================================================================
Again, you are trying to argue that a guy with the 2nd highest 40-man payroll is being cheap. The argument is a non-starter.
You believe what you want. If you are happy with the direction Bloom { and Henry} are taking then fill your boots. It is very unlikely the Sox make the post season again in 2021 IMO and we just waste another year of XB and Devers who likely will be traded once he reaches the point where he has to be paid real money. Let’s just agree to disagree on this. I might be able to be convinced if I had seen some top pitching prospects added but there hasn’t been a single one as far as I can see. Several “potential” bottom of rotation types but no high end guys like Tampa cycled through their system. Also Bloom didn’t just arrive–he’s been here 16 months now.
PS– I actually gave you FACTS in my post. Do you deny that Henry and Bloom would love to get out of the Sale, JDM, Eovaldi deals if they could??
Randy Red Sox1 min ago
PS– I actually gave you FACTS in my post. Do you deny that Henry and Bloom would love to get out of the Sale, JDM, Eovaldi deals if they could??
=====================================================================
Every GM in baseball history would want to get rid of those deals. I’m not sure what the point is. It’s like saying Cashman would like to get out of the Stanton deal.
Randy Red Sox7 mins ago
I might be able to be convinced if I had seen some top pitching prospects added
==========================================================
TB landed someone like Patino because they dealt someone like Snell. Very few top-tier pitching prospects are traded, and we don’t have anyone that could get us that type of return. Part of our problem is that we haven’t developed anyone since Theo left. Benni has had some good moments, and ERod’s been good, but he was a trade.
FWIW, I’m willing to offer you the same .500 or better wager, but on more friendly terms.
Other than 2020 JDM has been solid for his $$$. If the Sox didn’t extend Sale and he didn’t get TJ then the ownership would have been ripped like they were when they let Lester walk. It was a no-win either way but maybe they extended him a few months early but that is all hindsight. Given Eovaldi’s 2-TJ surgeries I am not sure I would have given him that deal.
Problem is that in anything you buy you usually get what you pay for. If I want good running shoes I usually buy Nike. If I cheap out I’m buying new shoes more often.
I am fine with rebuilding the farm system. I hated trading Espinoza and Kopech and yet they both ended up with TJ too. You just never know. Look at Jay Groome.
I would have INSISTED on a top pitching prospect in the Mookie deal but after ending up with Jeter Downs I would have selected the best SP prospect available with the #6 pick not another 2B.
Not sure what .500 or better bet you are talking about. I think the Sox will be about .500 in 2021 maybe even slightly over but I think it is unlikely the make the post season. I see them as 4th in the AL East but they have too much positions talent to be a terrible team overall.
Randy
=========================
I don’t disagree with the running shoes analogy, except I prefer Saucony Kinvara. That said, the issue is that you buy running shoes as needed, so you have no year-to-year variance. I don’t mind trading guys to win a WSC, and I don’t mind taking a pause and rebuilding.
But we had two issues. The first is that we haven’t drafted well since Theo’s 2011 draft. The second issue is, imho, Henry’s ego got the best of him, and he wanted to win B2B championships. To do so, we overpaid for some players.
IRT the individual players mentioned, I didn’t like the Kimbrel trade because we used prospect to acquire someone that was already being paid like a free agent.
The issue with Lester was Lucchesi thinking he was going to outsmart everyone. Lester’s agent offered a favorable contract, and Lester said they’d have to tear the jersey off his back. So Lucchesi wanted to take advantage of Lester’s already-generous offer and lowballed him. Lester hung up and was right to do so.
JDM has been worth the money, 2020 not withstanding.
The problem with getting a top pitching prospect for Betts is that the LAD were only going to deal from their surplus. Acquiring Betts made Verdugo available, and Lux made Downs available, and Smith and Ruiz made Wong available, though his value was low anyway.
IMO, this was a remarkably good deal, but it could only be done by acquiring the LAD redundant players.
Randy Red Sox36 mins ago
Not sure what .500 or better bet you are talking about. I think the Sox will be about .500 in 2021 maybe even slightly over
==============================================================
KD17 posted that “70 wins is aggressive.”.
I agree with you on the slightly above .500. But KD posting that 70 was aggressive, imo,. was completely far afield. I thought that, if he thought 70 was aggressive, then he would surely accept on honor wager with me taking .500 or better.
As I expected, KD declined. Most of the time, I don’t care. But KD talks and talks and talks, and I kindly offered him an opportunity to stand up for his opinion.
But what did Spade say about ” …the gaudier that patter”?
We can go around and around on this but IMO we should have insisted the LAD give us a top pitching prospect or we walk away from the deal and shop Mookie elsewhere like San Deigo who had serious interest.
But if we were to accept the LAD deal like we did then we should have drafted the best pitching prospect available with the #6 pick instead of another 2B close to the same age of Jeter Downs. I don’t buy the idea of saving draft money for our 3rd rd pick. The scary thought of course is that Bloom and Henry will be looking to unload the XB contract in a couple years to open up spots to Yorke AND Downs at 2B and SS and reduce payroll. I fear this is the new Red Sox model.
Randy RS – If you ain’t first you’re last!!! Ricky Bobby was speaking for all sports. Nobody cares if you finish a close second or dead last in the division if you win the next year. The pretense that LAD and NYY have of having a great farm system and being the bride’s maid has somehow taken over Henry’s vision of the future. Why? I HAVE NO IDEA!! The philosophy sucks. It’s for losers.
Long before Bloom got asked to join the Red Sox it was clear they had put their eggs in the pitching basket. Why? Because it worked for them before as well as the Cubs and the Astros. The LAD/NYY philosophy hadn’t seen a ring in over a decade for one and a quarter century for the other. DD, a GM who understands how to win, believes big market teams that make hundreds of millions of dollars of profit have the pockets to spend to the cap and more to win. He uses the philosophy and he wins. Did he go crazy in Boston? NO!! $40M of retained salaries created the problem in Boston. Those contracts preceded him. Was he willing to field a team significantly below the luxury tax to accommodate those past mistakes? HELL NO. He spent an under the luxury tax amount of money and told ownership to suck it up and eat their past mistakes and they did for a couple of years.
Then, something changed. I think it was a psychotic break for Henry but I’m just guessing. He turned his very successful franchise on its head by suddenly forgetting that he stockpiled hundreds of millions of dollars of profit in the last two decades by winning and chose a losing approach adopted and promoted by NYY, LAD and the exceptionally well respected despite no rings TB ball clubs.
Why? That’s the hundred million dollar question, possible the Billion Dollar question. Was it the realization that his image was to be tarnished by his super star minority player stating he wanted out of Boston thanks to his lack of diversity? Was it the realization that he could spin the loss of Mookie and Price by blaming a silly, insignificant luxury tax? Was it truly a mental meltdown caused by age, health or something else? We’ll never know for sure but the light was on and it suddenly went off.
Maybe it was the domino effect. Lets start with Domino 1. Mookie in private meetings says he wants a fair market contract because of the way he and others have been treated. Henry goes to DD and asks what he thinks and DD tells him he MUST get Mookie to sign so apologize or do something to sway him into staying. Henry realizes that option doesn’t work for him and he fires DD. He spends a month looking for a fall guy and finds a naive TB exec who he promises that he will allow as long a building process as he needs. Bloom agrees and comes on board knowing his first task is to tear down the World Champs so the new team can fit HIS image of a World Championship team and farm system. So, with Henry’s permission Bloom does his mentor a solid and wipes out 2 of the 5 large salaries on Boston’s payroll and poof, the Dodgers finally have what it takes to win. A BIG MARKET, BIG TICKET SUPER STAR just like DD would have done. FYI… he only really wiped out 1 of the 5 since like an idiot he chose to pay Price $16M which was the new 5th highest salary, just slightly above Pedroia’s.
Henry is now rubbing his hands together because he’s dodged a bullet with the fans yet dumped his two detractors who were going to spill the beans about his diversity issues. To ensure the public can’t claim it, he chooses to hire the same unqualified minority manager who got caught twice with his hand in the cookie jar and for good measure he adds a black FEMALE coach. That should prove to the public how diverse he really is. So now what’s left for Henry?
Well, his team will suck for 5 to 10 years and that type of pressure will build with each passing year so the plan is to hold on to the scapegoat Bloom three years then fire him and go get a real big market GM along with a real manager with experience and knowledge of how to lead a team. At that point, he’ll re-open his checkbook and pretend the last 5 years never happened and nobody will know what a racist he is.
Many of the dominoes have fallen but fans can’t wait for the departures of both Bloom and Cora and the most important re-opening of the checkbook. With a new luxury tax level in 2022 thanks to the new CBA it seems likely that the next dominoes to will fall immediately following the signing of the new CBA. If the CBA creation causes a strike, Henry is fine since the checkbook is still closed while even more money is lost as the two sides argue about who should be the wealthier component of the baseball industry. So, set your expectations for the next several years.
2021 – Another disaster with a great draft pick
2022 – CBA gets signed or not signed. If signed Bloom and Cora are gone. If a strike happens, then maybe soccer fandom grows in the US.
2023 – Fresh start with a skeleton roster, a new GM with an open pocket book and a new manager who knows what he’s doing to ensure a competitive team that can win another ring.
Alternate Reality? Henry doesn’t recover from his psychotic break and Bloom spends until 2030 trying to build a completely new system from the bottom up and Henry says after 10 years of losing that enough is enough and he fires him.
JoeBrady – why would you go there? You gutless wonder.
I gave you a chance to prove your lack of baseball knowledge and you chickened out because you want to show your gambling prowess as if that is important on this website.
Also, I can’t stop laughing at how you continuously butcher quotes and hope people don’t recognize it. Hahahaha Your buffoonery is that of a small child. Can’t get a rise out of one guy so go after another. Grow up.
Predict the 19 series or simply shut up. Your lack of baseball knowledge is well known so you really can’t hurt your reputation. Predict the 19 series and show what an expert you are!!!! hahahaha
Check the reported AP numbers against both Spotrac and Cots and Cots is more accurate. Here is the link.
legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/
KD1711 hours ago
JoeBrady – why would you go there? You gutless wonder.
============================================================
If you think 70 wins is aggressive, then me betting on .500 or better should be a sucker bet.
At least you’re smart enough to not wager on your own stupidity.
JB – Put up or shut up. No expertise in baseball. Maybe you should find a webiste suited more to your knowledge. Alex – fake quotes for 100? Maybe a website that misquotes famous people? hahaha
You think 70 is aggressive, and yet i am willing to bet on 81 or higher. Let me know when you willing to back up your idiocy with some action.
Bob – I now come on the sight to read your stuff. Thanks for making me laugh. I keep picturing a cut=away during the Red Sox first game where Cora is sitting sipping on a beer like Walter Matheau yelling to his individual players about how good they are.
Bloom needs to go or he needs to tell Friedman he had his fingers crossed during the Mookie deal. What a disaster!!
Bloom is in no way on a short leash. He’s been in Boston 16 months. This is a long term build. Embrace it, he ain’t going anywhere.
I agree. Bloom is doing EXACTLY what John Henry hired him to. Disassemble a WS champion just like he has done with 2 other franchises he owned before.
Spike13 – So just to be clear, you embrace how bad the Red Sox are? You support tearing down a World Champ after making hundreds of millions of dollars on their success? How do you justify that perspective? Simply, it’s inevitable so like it? How can that be ok with any fan? Ticket prices didn’t go down. Merchandise costs didn’t go down. Just the quality of product went down. So how is that ok?
Long=term build?
You do realize people probably said the same thing after they sold Babe Ruth? How’d that work out?
Easy one
Everyone keeps blaming Bloom for trading Mookie and the true is, he was to leave no matter who the GM was….they made an offer to him and didn’t accept it….anything higher than what they offered, would have come/approved by Henry then why to blame the middle man? My issue with Bloom however is that he could have brought Lester instead of Perez or Holt instead of Gonzalez to keep the fan base at least happy as these guys killed for this jersey already. Bloom keep shooting at anything with not yet real aiming.
Holt instead of Gonzalez??? Are you kidding ?? You realize Holt just signed a MINOR LEAGUE deal don’t you?? I get that he was a popular player in Boston and did great community work but that was 3 years ago. Time to move on. It is one of the FEW things Bloom has done that I agree with.
As for Lester his best days are far behind him and Perez is a better pitcher TODAY than Lester is and Bloom just saved Henry a few more million by declining his option and then re-signing him at a much lower rate. He is a decent #5 SP. Problem is he is much higher than that on the Red Sox today.
BTW, everyone keep thinking the Rays are much better team than the RS, I truly believe they are closer than that…..not having Snell and Morton will have them suffering a lot, despite their excelled bullpen….Rays offensive is almost useless.
Last but no least, Boston destiny in 2021 will depend on primarily two guys, JD Martinez and Houck, if these guys are having good seasons we can get adjustments before the trade deadline and start dreaming for wild card spots……these guys will make both the offense and the rotation much better and other will follow their lead…
We have a ton of variance. We also have Dalbec, who they are going to give a lot of starts, even if he starts off poorly. He could be a .850 guy or a .650 guy. We also have a guy like Pivetta, who looked great in 2 starts, but had previously alternates from AS level months to AAA months. And Barnes, who looked good with his promotion to closer, but only for one month.
It’s tough to criticize Bloom on SOME bases; he walked into a bad situation (MANY in the FO were still loyal to DD), the Cora mess, and, oh, then Covid. A horror show to say the least.
But you CAN hold him accountable for his almost blase reaction to the current state of affairs. Kike Hernandez? Yeah! Re-sign Perez? Yawn. As the current occupant says, “C’mon, man!”.
Trying to “Rays-like” the Red Sox is like trying to turn your small breakfast and lunch joint into a McDonald’s. Like 10-pin bowling and candlepin bowling, the situations are similar, but hardly congruent. And in fact they have little to do with each other; the rules for one have almost nothing to do with the rules for the other.
We’ll see if this gathering of “meh” gets you to the dance (playoffs). I doubt it will, and the Nation will be screaming for Bloom’s scalp. And soon; months at most, weeks possibly. And it works for Henry either way; either Bloom (possibly on Henry’s orders) is doing what he’s doing, or Henry gets a sacrificial lamb.
That’s why John Henry is a billionaire, and you ain’t.
.
Never dreamed that candlepin bowling would be used as an analogy. Ya learn sumppin every day.
Bob – Great stuff. Think of Bloom as the hostage the bank robber puts in between him and SWAT. Need someone to take some bullets for you, let’s hire Bloom. Sounds a bit like the old Mikey commercials. Mikey will try it!! Bloom will be the human shield for Henry. Yeah, lets do that!!
If it all works out Bloom moves on to a small market team and does his long, long-term emotionless build, Henry dodges fan bullets and makes an additional billion dollars while Red Sox fans shake their head and Cora doesn’t get deported. Win-Win-Win, only the fans lose!! That’s why he’s a billionaire and we are not.