The Red Sox have reached an agreement with first-round draft pick Marcelo Mayer. The Athletic’s Chad Jennings (Twitter links) reports that the fourth overall pick will sign for a bonus of the assigned slot price of $6,664,000. While the team hasn’t yet officially announced the signing, Jennings and multiple other Boston reporters noted that Mayer and several team officials took part in what appears to be the official signing ceremony on the field at Fenway Park.
There was quite a bit of speculation prior to the draft that the Pirates would take Mayer with the first overall pick, though when Pittsburgh instead opted for Louisville catcher Henry Davis, it triggered something of a surprise drop for Mayer to Boston at the fourth pick. The Rangers drafted Vanderbilt righty Jack Leiter with the second selection, and the Tigers (rumored to be very high on Mayer) went with high school right-hander Jackson Jobe third overall.
Since Davis signed with the Pirates for a $6.5MM bonus that fell well below the $8.4153MM assigned slot price for the 1-1 pick, Mayer will end up actually making more money than Davis in his first pro contract. Since it’s fair to assume that Mayer might have insisted on full slot value wherever he was selected, that probably factored into the Pirates’ decision to take Davis and thus spread their bonus pool money around to multiple members of their draft class.
It could be that the Red Sox ended up with a steal, as Fangraphs’ scouting report on Mayer described him as nothing short of “the most well-rounded player in the draft, a teenage shortstop with a chance to hit for contact, power, and stay at a premium defensive position.” Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, and The Athletic’s Keith Law all ranked Mayer as the best overall prospect of this year’s draft class, while Baseball America and ESPN.com’s Kiley McDaniel had Mayer second on their boards.
A product of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, California, Mayer is a left-handed hitter who is already 6’3″ and 188 pounds at 18 years old — according to Pipeline’s scouting report, he might yet develop more raw power as he grows. Mayer is considered a plus hitter overall, and a moderate speed tool might be the only semi-flaw in his toolkit. There isn’t much doubt amongst observers that Mayer will be able to remain at shortstop, with BA describing Mayer as “arguably the top defensive shortstop in a class that is deep at the position.”
He’s gonna love it in Pittsburgh. Kinda hilly, but very nice city otherwise.
He was drafted by the Red Sox
That’s the joke, Jim
Wait, what? The Pirates passed on him?? Are you sure?
Zachary paul. Rand pauls left coconut. Why would yje pirates take Mayer. When they have quality SS in their system. So your stupid sarcastic remarks are assinine. TROLL
First of all, it’s not that serious little guy. Second of all, there is no second. Just calm down. I wasn’t trolling, just making a joke. Now go to sleep, it’s after 8…….and let’s be honest. You don’t have a SS in your system on his level. If I wanted to troll you, I would talk about how the Pirates are always a laughing stock, who never have any decent pitchers, hitters, or coaches. Enjoy last place for the 29th year in a row. There, trolled.
Since my Braves are probably going nowhere in 2021, I will tolerate one more Red Sox title this year (over the Padres) in exchange for no Boston titles in any sport for the next 15 years. This also keeps the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Nationals, Dodgers and Astros from winning the title this year.
Lot of hate over there
boy, you have a lot of teams you hate. Try moving away from Atlanta, the worst sports city in the usa.
Worst sports city? Atlanta has more championships than Buffalo, Charlotte, Nashville and San Diego combined…and that’s only counting cities that have had multiple teams in the four major sports at least some time recently. That’s why I didn’t include Memphis, Jacksonville, Orlando, Oklahoma City, Sacramento or Salt Lake.
I’ll tell them your demands, can’t make any promises
The Red Sox are only good for the first two decades of a century.
Their next title won’t be until 2104.
The Dodgers, given the Mookie Betts trade, will be the Yankees of the 21st century.
Sorry ’bout that…
Idiot Alert!! Redsox have a chance to win it this year what are you talking about? And now have multiple players in their system that they haven’t had in years, including the #1 Draft pick this year. So you need to lay off the meth pipe pal..
A little salty.
Mind boggling the Tigers who need a solid SS in their system passed when the best one fell on their lap.
Tigers have been prioritizing accumulating pitching prospects. It seems to be their player development strategy especially in the first round. Greene seems to be the outlier. Get a bunch of good arms and pray. Hope it pans out. Pitching prospects are volatile.
Makes sense though. Position players are less risky through free agency. So try and develop a pitching staff, with a few Position players and then spend in free agency on positions of need.
Can’t wait. Love his upside. The hunt for pitching continues, however
It’s gotta be great to be 18, just wrapped up HS and you got $6M+ dropped into your bank account. He could technically retire before his parents once he completes his commitment.
He actually has to wait a year before he gets his first mil :((((
I expect Mayer’s performance to be good enough to win an Oscar.
Frankly, he likely will be a 20 game weiner
Wait, why did Mark publish this report and then back to Steve? Steve…Steve….Steve…Mark…Steve…Steve…
Unfortunate Red Sox got Mayer and Mets got Kumer. I blame teams in front of them. Mayer will be a stud and possibly replace Xander when the time comes.
Fast forward a few, and see what happens if Detroit offered to the Red Sox every pitcher drafted by them in 2020 and 2021 just for Marcelo Mayer.
Looking forward to Prospect Rankings after season. Red Sox plummeted to the bottom of list, thanks to Dumbrowski’s fire sale the past few years. With the shrewd pickups of Bloom, they have a several new middle ranked prospects. Giving them a quantity over quality cast. But, now with Mayer they should be adding a high-ceiling prospect.
Hopefully there won’t be any give aways at trading deadline. Happy with the team as it is, even with their faults, and don’t think any major moves this year, will change their odds, too much.
Well played Red Sox. Keep up the good work!
dennyd = yet another factually inaccurate statement about Dombrowski. Did he sleep with your mother or something for you to hate him so much. At least present facts!! There was never a fire sale, you need to learn how to read!! He traded for Sale it wasn’t a fire sale. It was a great trade and only an uneducated fan would try to suggest a below expectations Moncada, a way below expectations Kopech are worth more than a guy who started two straight all-star games and has thrown 519.2 IP, given up 390 hits and 114 walks for a WHIP of 0.97 and an ERA of 3.08.
If that is the fire sale you are mentioning, you are uneducated in the game of baseball!!
The team has had no major improvements with Bloom who sucks AND the best pick-up so far was a move that benefited Boston like the trading away of Benny hurt Boston. Teams give up on talent too soon because they promote players too early or they simply give up on guys who don’t perform as well with their poor hitting instruction as they did before they got the terrible advice from the Red Sox coaching staff. Benny will haunt the Red Sox and Pivetta will haunt the Phillies. Bloom already haunts Red Sox fans because they know if we had DD players would be coming at the deadline like Pearce and Eovaldi in 2018. Now, best case, the Red Sox will pick up another utility player or a minor league player who won’t have the potential to contribute until 2025 or later!!
So you chose one guy for going too far with his comment, and then go too far with yours? What did Bloom do to you?
So far, he’s done work that looks very net positive. Also, speaking of facts, Benintendi sadly is only at 0.3 fWAR and is showing the same so-so performance as he did back in 2019, when the franchise first started to worry about a mysterious decline with him. It wasn’t just about giving up early on someone, but diminished foot speed that hurt him on the bases and rendered him a much more limited fielder than he was to start his MLB career. Throw in that he is not making driving contact the way he did early on that made him look like a future batting champion, and it doesn’t look like a mistake and it is outright false to say that the trade has hurt Boston.
I love Beni and I hope he turns things around and makes multiple All Star teams, but it doesn’t look good for him right now.
redsox1571 – My issue with Bloom is a lack of meaningful contributions over his first two years. The Red Sox fans deserve better after the massive mistake with Mookie.
As far as Benny goes he’s adjusting to being in KC and he’s roughly league average like 2019 his worst full season. He’s 26 and coming into his prime and his defense includes 15 errors over 6 seasons, roughly the same amount Devers makes in 4 months. His diving catch in the playoffs allowed the Red Sox to win a ring. Like you, I only hope for the best for Benny.
It seems like you blame Benny for following what the Red Sox coaching staff told him to do as far as changing his swing, puttng on more muscle and increasing his launch angle. Now he has to revert back to his original approach to hitting (barreling up the baseball to all fields) and they trade him away before they give him a chance to revert back? How is that fair?
The one guy I chose as you put it writes insults about Dombrowski all the time. I always reply after his bull crap and state the facts about Dombrowski because I want people to judge him for what he really did. He didn’t destroy the farm system, he used it more effectively than any GM in the history of the Red Sox. He didn’t overspend he just told ownership that their past mistakes aren’t going to limit him from putting together a winning team. In 2018 his payroll was roughly $30M under the cap and the retained salaries from the previous GM accounted for why there was a cap issue. It wasn’t on DD. He simply put together a champion using less than the cap money and had enough experience to tell ownership that he wants that opportunity every year and past mistakes are on them not him. Those beliefs forced the owners to fire him so they could get rid of Mookie, cut the payroll and increase their profits. Along with that they attempted to sway public opinion on the idea that Mookie was greedy, which was far from the truth. Like everyone, he wanted fair pay for his skills. Selling the public on the evils of wanting a fair market value contract is what owners do to paint a superstar as a bad guy.
So I picked on dennyd as I always do when he writes trash about DD. I hate the owners for screwing over the Red Sox fan base, especially the black fan base that could have had a black idol as the face of the franchise. I was pumped when Bloom got hired but that changed quickly when I realized he was a puppet not a GM. The Mookie travesty will always be his legacy but on top of that he has not made ONE impact player acquisition despite the Red Sox having to get under the cap so they could go over the cap in 2021. There was no immediate need to cut payroll if they didn’t plan to exceed the cap in 2021 so moving Mookie was never a real issue related to money. Moving Mookie was about racism.
I have been a fan of Red Sox players since I watched Ted Williams play in his final season. I’m not a fan of ownership and so far Bloom has done nothing that impresses me and when people trash DD with lies, I tend to present the facts to refute the lies. I didn’t pick on one guy out of the clear blue, there is a long history with the individual trashing DD.
You made excellent arguments and I look forward to future baseball discussions.
Trading Mookie was the right thing to do.
Luckyh = Why? They had just raked in a ton of profits over the years because of Mookie and a few others so money should NOT have been an issue. A normal framework for a payroll structure for a big market team is to spend roughly $100M on four elite players and balance the big spending with controlled players. They had that with Sale, Mookie, JD and Bogey (all $20M a year or more). Devers, Benny, Dalbec and Chavis, were all controllable. Pillar and guys like Pillar could fill CF and 2B spots inexpensively. Vazquez too is relatively inexpensive for his production. Price turned into an albatross but they way they threw him out like garbage is reprehensible considering his contribution to winning a ring.
DD laid out a great plan but the overage before DD screwed things up since ownership wasn’t willing to eat that money. Mookie was part of DD’s 2018 roster that was well under the cap. Adding $10M a year to the payroll (less than JBJ’s salary) with a big-time extension would have been affordable if you ignore the excess costs prior to DD. Yes, there were race issues apparently based on stories told but I believe DD could have smoothed things over with Mookie and got him to sign for a fair market price.
Last point, Mookie was given away not traded. The crap they got for his one season could and should have been far greater. That’s on Bloom and ownership. If they didn’t want a black face of the franchise then maybe the team should be sold to a more open=minded individual or group of individuals. The current ownership is despicable for their actions. New owners are needed that are truly diverse not just trying to placate the public with some token actions. Boston needs big market owners with money and a willingness to put a competitive team on the field. This isn’t Tampa Bay. After crushing the dreams of so many children by giving away Mookie I would have expected some acknowledgement by ownership of their mistake or at least a peace offering in the form of a ticket price reduction since they avoided such an overwhelming contract according to the Mookie haters. I keep looking at all their profits and wondering why they didn’t squirrel away some of them so they could pay a luxury tax and not have to do something so incredibly disruptive as giving away a generational talent..
What a stupid comment about the ‘not wanting a black face of the franchise”. The team made a tough decision that Mookie was not worth $350M over 10 years and as much as I loved him, I actually agree with this. The return they got for Mookie has worked out okay so far, as LA got Mookie for only 60 games as part of that deal. Verdugo has been above average and Downs looks like their 2B of the future, plus they got LA to take 50% of the Price deal (who you forgot in your 4 players of $20M+ btw). The Red Sox were up against a huge payroll issue and Bloom was instructed to fix it. Again, I hated losing Mookie but it had nothing to do with his race whatsoever. Every team has to make hard decisions (LA has one coming up with Corey Seager this year) and the Red Sox had multiple tough decisions to make. They bet on Bogie & Devers and received pretty good, affordable talent back for Mookie. Plus Chaim has really improved the overall minor league depth as well and the team is back in contention again this year. Pretty darn good start to his tenure if you ask me when his first directive was to get the team below the CBT threshold.
Dorothy – Stupid comment because you disagree? Look at the facts. The Red Sox organization at this point in time is pro Latin. They had three black stars and they shipped them to LAD and released JBJ. They had 3 white stars and they shipped Benny to KC and only JD and Sale remain. Devers, a latin player along with Bogaerts, have been deemed the future of the club despite both being sub par defensively. (Bogaerts is far better than Devers but frankly nobody is as bad as Devers). E-Rod can’t hold a candle to Eovaldi but he’s the guy they tout as their #1 SP while Sale is out yet everyone can see how much better Eovaldi is.
Prejudice exists in the world and the Red Sox have shown through their actions that they are not seeking Black stars. They had possibly the best one in baseball and gave him away. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the racism in the front office.
The return for Mookie is crap. That’s a mark against the rookie GM. He chose to sell low and it’s a shame because they might have gotten an outstanding SP rather than an outfielder with a bad back. The other two clowns are so over-rated it’s ridiculous. Neither will ever start for Boston so you can throw in a dozen of those guys with 6 years of control and it’s still has a value of ZERO. All that counts in a trade is what the received player does for the MLB team and Downs and Wong have done nothing and I expect them to be in the same position in the future despite Bloom bringing them both up to try and prove he made a good deal. Several months with sub-par performances by the two players is actually a negative off-setting anything Verdugo accomplishes. Horrific deal, especially in light of what the could have gotten.
The minor league depth is NOT better than before. Why? Because the only guys who have actually been promoted and helped the team are Houck and Duran not any of Bloom’s guys. Having more players is a gross misconception to your building up the farm system comment. For each player added the farm system only improves if the player released is of less future value than the new player. Since none have graduated, Bloom has added nothing to the farm system so far. Pivetta is his best add and he was in the majors. K Hernandez is a solid 2B and he too was a MLB player not a farm add.
The scorecard so far for Bloom is:
LOST
Mookie, Price, Benny, JBJ
ADDED
Verdugo, Kiki, Renfroe, Ottavino,
RETURNING PLAYERS FROM DD
JD, Bogaerts, Devers, Vazquez, Dalbec, Chavis, Duran, Houck, Barnes and many more
So his net add is negative. How you see that as a good start is beyond me. The farm system is NOT improved just new faces replacing old faces but NOBODY graduating to actually help the team. The time value of success says minor league players who might contribute in 3 to 5 years or not at all are worth far less than one year of an annual all-star or if you want to compare his farm system adds to the guys remaining in the minors he still comes up short since Houck and Duran actually got promoted and none of Bloom’s adds have.
Why mention being below cap? That’s yet another problem created by ownership and implemented by Bloom. Yes, it saved ownership money so they benefited. So you obviously are pro ownership.
It cost the fans their franchise players!!
Will the Red Sox exceed the cap in 2021 which is the ONLY reason to get under it other than saving money for the owners? NOPE. So it was a complete waste to go under since there was no value added for the fans just the owners.
Since you are so pro ownership we will never agree on anything related to their actions. They suck.
KD I was wondering if you were going to go there. The game is going so I will be brief DD gets JD and Sale but Xander no, Devers no, Barnes no, Vasquez no those are all guys he inherited from Chavis. You also forget Whitlock and Pivetta as big wins from Bloom. I will also give a win to DD for Kimbrel. I will not, however call those other guys DD guys. He inherited them just like Bloom. If you honestly think that Bloom wanted to trade the face of the franchise Mookie then your baseball acumen is lower then I thought or you just have blinders on. Your serve.
Inherited from Cherington
Bingo. Bloom got back an excellent player in Verdugo, plus other prospects, and dumped the salary of David Price, who was also a disruptive presence on the Team. Mookie was going to go to the highest bidder, and it was amazing Bloom got so much for him.
KD let me start by saying I like DD he was brought in to do a job and he did it. He made the trades necessary to make the Red Sox a champion caliber team. I am never going to be against what DD did.
I have to agree with Redsoxu571 your take on Bloom appears to be very biased as well. I think if you look at it objectively you will see you completely wrong your take on Bloom is. All I have to say is Bloom has added Pivetta, Whitlock, Ottavino, Whitlock, Sawamura, Kike, and Renfroe those additions alone have been from excellent to solid. The only guys that the Red Sox lost in those transactions were Workman, Hembree and in a another deal Moreland in which they added two minor leaguers. When I look at what Bloom has done so far with he should be in the running for GM of the year.
Has Bloom missed on a few guys sure all GM’s do but for the most part he has a very solid record on transactions so far. It was clear coming into this year that Bloom was told not to go above the lux tax so he didn’t have a lot of wiggle room the free agent additions he made kept them below the lux tax and strengthened the team. What more do you want? Clearly anyone that had a lick of sense new this was not the offseason to go all in it was a weak market overall but more importantly I think that Bloom had his eye on 2022 as the year they would compete. Bloom did a very quiet but genius think by getting options on nearly all of the offseason signings. These were club options not player options so if like in the case of Kike he is someone they clearly will exercise that option and he will be here in 2022. Bloom has been short of spectacular and the proof is in the pudding the Red Sox have a solid chance to win this division and make the playoffs. How can you argue against that? You yourself said that the Red Sox were going to be a sub .500 team actually you had them much lower then .500 but they are not and that is in no small part to what Bloom has done in an offseason that he clearly wasn’t given cart blanche to better the team through pay roll.
Here is the point you are clearly biased against Bloom anyone that would argue that Bloom sucks is biased because the facts are he has made some very shrewd decisions that have the Red Sox on the verge of the playoffs in a year that no one including you thought they would be there. I cant wait to see your argument against this it should be entertaining at the least but it will be wrong because Bloom has been very good so far.
Bruin1012 – Excellent response.
I like many of the Bloom adds but talent still wins rings. The talent drop-off versus the talent add is still a huge deficit. In 2 years he hasn’t added anything other than complimentary pieces. I understand that is the TB way but this is Boston not TB. He gave away arguably the #2 player in the game at the time and based on your list of adds his best add are either Pivetta or Ottavino neither of which is close to Mookie’s talent level. Throw in the other departures of Price, JBJ and Benny and the deficit in talent is HUGE. To me, he’s not doing his job but he is doing the only thing he knows. That’s why he wasn’t qualified to be the GM any more than Cora was qualified to be a manager. They both lack the necessary talent to provide the value needed at their positions. For Bloom, picking up bit pieces is a skill in itself but picking up TALENT is the key skill for a GM not bit pieces. NOT ONE ADD has been significant compared to the subtractions he’s made. If you think I’m being too hard on him that’s fine because I think Red Sox fans aren’t demanding that he do his job. Not the job of a TB GM the job of a Boston GM. Winning in Boston is important not looking good and being competitive without winning. Those are the philosophies of the Yankees and Tampa Bay and the Dodgers except the Dodgers veered away from that approach when they stole Mookie and of course that led to a ring. DD had it right and never spent more than the cap but he did put past mistakes on the owners and that got him fired.
My last point is dedicated to what makes for a winning year. You believe the minimal crap Bloom has done has given the Red Sox an outside chance to make the playoffs in July. I say the talent that existed prior to his arrival has been downgraded but is still good enough to make them competitive for a playoff spot in July. DD added Pearce and Eovaldi when they needed a boost to make the playoffs. Those are GOOD GM moves. Adding the minor players Bloom has added fills out the roster but it isn’t why they are contending for a playoff spot. They are contending thanks mainly to 3 guys having excellent years – JD, Bogey and Devers. Take one away and they are nowhere near where they are today. Remove any of Bloom’s adds and they may be a game or two less. That’s not being hard on Bloom that’s fairly evaluating his lack of action with respect to impact players not complimentary players.
If he was in TB he would be doing a good job getting his team to the playoffs but not winning but he’s in Boston so he must do more so they not only make the playoffs but win a ring. He’s not qualified to make that next step and should never have been hired.
Next year when the players regress like they always do and the team struggles to make the playoffs will Bloom still be brilliant in your mind? Or Cora? See Cora already did it. He took credit for 2018 and washed his hands of his inabilities in 2019 when the team failed miserably. Will 2021 and 2022 repeat history other than the ring part? Good 2021 and terrible 2022? If things happen as I’m suggesting will you still be a Bloom supporter or will it finally be time to get a real GM like DD?
KD I think you are a knowledgeable Red Sox fan and I think you are spot on DD did exactly what he was hired to do. He was hired to take a good team and put them over the top. When I say take them over the top I mean putting a team on the field that wins the East and gives them a chance to win the World Series. I say give them a chance because winning the World Series takes some luck but 2018 the Red Sox were the best team in 2018 from stat to finish and they closed the deal. I love DD for delivering that championship.
CB was brought in to do something that Ownership wanted and that is put together a sustainable team that makes the playoffs year after year in the toughest overall division, at least in the most recent history.
My argument is Bloom has done the best he can do with what he has been given. DD was given cart blanche to create a winner Bloom is under a different mandate and he is doing a great job. I really think your beef is with ownership not Bloom you also forget he has added Pivetta, Whitlock, and Sawamura. Those have been excellent additions. We have an excellent GM and he has been making excellent additions under the circumstances.
Your beef is with ownership not Bloom. He has done an excellent job of putting this team together with with the limitations he has been given. I am starting to understand why a lot of Dodger fans didn’t want to lose this guy. He is, at the very least, an outstanding utility player. His defense at numerous positions is outstanding and if he can actually hit he is a very good player. The Dodgers chose Chris Taylor but that just shows how deep the Dodgers were Kike is a ball player period end of story.
Cmon KD let’s give the GM kid some credit. He is doing an excellent job.
Bruin1012 – If in fact Bloom only got a seat at the table but no ability to speak like you are suggesting then he’s done a good job. I find it hard to believe that this penny=ante approach is nothing more than Bloom doing what he ONLY knows how to do because of his TB background.
Show me some conclusive proof that he has no say in the process of acquiring real talent and I’ll cut him slack. The job description for GM suggests everything you are saying is your opinion not fact.
I stipulate that I hate ownership for the way they treated Mookie, Price, Benny and many others so you are right that a big beef is with ownership. My beef with Bloom is EVERY player you mention is an insignificant piece of the overall pie. Do they contribute? YES. Do they dictate results to the degree that JD, Bogaerts, Devers, Barnes and Eovaldi do? NO!! They are complimentary pieces and that is the TB way. That is why they have no championship rings!!!
But again, this is BOSTON not TB so spending over the cap is acceptable because it still leaves hundreds of millions of dollars of profit. People loved this ownership group prior to the Mookie mishap because they INVESTED in the town and it’s fans. Now, they are lining their pockets and Bloom was brought here to help sell the scam. The team isn’t improving, the stars are simply having career years. Next year, when they fall back to normal the results will dramatically drop off because most of Bloom’s acquisitions are inconsequential for the long-term.
I give Bloom credit for recognizing Pivetta’s talent when Philly didn’t. But, to Bloom’s detriment, he did the same thing to Benny that Philly did to Pivetta. Let me also point out that Downs has fallen in the rankings because LAD inflated his reputation far above his actual ability. Shame on Bloom for not seeing that. Wong is a journeyman catcher and completely insignificant because he’ll never be a starter and a back-up catcher for Mookie doesn’t hold any value, even if it was only 1 year of Mookie. The MLB contribution by Wong will be insignificant.
LAD got one year of a guy who finished 2nd in the MVP voting and they parlayed that into a long term contract like the Red Sox should have. Verdugo has been here two years and hasn’t even been an all-star so he has 3 years left to show significant prowess to offset Mookie’s one year numbers. If the cumulative WAR is close to comparable then the first year WAR value of Mookie is worth more due to the time value of performance (ie money).
Bloom needs to be the GM in KC, Texas, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or one of the other small market teams. He’s got a small market skill set. He has small market thinking. And he has no business being a GM in a large market. I don’t hate the guy, he’s simply the wrong man for the job. Just like Cora.
Everyone should be looking at the Red Sox success this year and be asking themselves “I wonder how Cora is cheating this time”? I know I am. A team over-performs in Houston and they win a ring and he’s caught cheating. A team over-performs in Boston and they win a ring and he’s accused of cheating but it can’t be conclusively proven because the players conspire to not disclose the facts. Now, the Red Sox are once again over-performing!!
Why wouldn’t the logical question be “How is Cora cheating this time?” The organization hired a serial cheater and suddenly the team is performing way over their abilities. If it looks like a duck ….. it’s probably a duck!
Bruin1012 – Sorry I forgot to address the Kiki issue. I agree Kiki has done well and due to his recent accomplishments it’s a good time to point him out.
BUT here is the hammer for me. Why not Semien? More money but since they got under the cap who cares their profits will still be enormous!!
Small market pick-up versus a DD-like pick-up. If they weren’t still paying off the Price deal Semien wouldn’t have put them close to the cap. Yet another mistake by ownership implemented by Bloom.
If you buy a good conservative car and it performs well you can definitely compliment the person buying it but if they pass on a sports car that costs more but would have provided much more value and they had the money available can the first choice really be considered superior?
KD the simple response is triple the contract amount simple as that. If we can agree that ownership wanted to stay under the lux tax then there is no way Bloom or any GM was going to sign him under those conditions. There is no way they were going to throw all those eggs into one basket and I would argue Kike has been almost as good he is definitely more versitile then Marcus. We can always look back in hindsight and say any GM should of signed so and so but based on the available info at the time Bloom has done an excellent job at the time. He was given a very solid base of players, the best from Cherington, and he has complemented them with very solid players and this team is solid and a lot of it is because of Bloom adding the complementary pieces needed to win. He has been very good he looks a year ahead of plan. He also looks very smart by getting team options on almost all of the players signed in the offseason. He is looking better and better all the time.
Bruin1012 = Why get under in a hurry if you aren’t planning on going over the cap the next year? Is ownership that incredibly stupid? No. They got cheap and they offended multiple black players who refused to stay in Boston due to the behavior of ownership. Mookie took a good offer but not great offer when LAD presented it’s first offer to him. That action by Mookie’s representatives completely dismisses the idea that Boston couldn’t have offered a comparable deal (fair market value) to Mookie and got him to sign. They didn’t and the rumor is that he wouldn’t have taken it due to issues with diversity. Whether that’s true or not true, I believe DD could have signed him and wanted to so he had to go. DD saw how much money ownership was making even when they were over the cap so adding $10M (less than JBJ’s pay) would have given Mookie $37 for 10 years or maybe even 12 years. The money was available and the $10M cost was a drop in the bucket for this ownership group making hundreds of millions in profits but they chose not to OR Mookie refused any offer due to their racism. I don’t think we will ever get a confirmation on which scenario actually happened.
If Bloom came to the Red Sox knowing he could never exceed the cap again then he’s an idiot AND there was no need to rush getting under the cap in one year other than the $10M in luxury tax savings and he chose to pay $16M to LAD instead!! What an Idiot)
If you think the scrubs that got hired by Bloom are making this team win then we don’t have much to talk about. That’s ludicrous. If player B had been chosen by Bloom rather than player A the team would be in the same spot because of the core players. If Manager B was there rather than the cheater the team would be in the same spot. If GM B would have been there instead of Bloom, I’m not sure they wouldn’t be doing even better or the GM would have been fired for being too much like DD because they would have paid money for real talent not K=Mart blue light special players.
If the best thing you can say about a BIG MARKET GM is that he got team options on utility players so he’s brilliant then we should stop the debate because our values don’t align. I want BIG MARKET owners to spend BIG MARKET money rather than squirreling it away because their fans don’t shouldn’t have to simply give from their wallets, they should receive with rings.
When the charade that is happening this season ends because an injury happens to one of the three key hitters the ship will sink quickly. Next year the stars return to more normal levels, the utility players will still be utility players and the winning will be significantly reduced like 2019. It will have been 3 years and no championships but by not exceeding the cap ownership will have $50M to $100M in additional profits!!!
Boy doesn’t that motivate you to buy another t-shirt, hot dog or season ticket!!!
An FYI on Hernandez vs Semien
Semien costs $18M and Hernandez costs $7M against the luxury tax
Semien stats (arguably the top 2B in baseball in 2021 along with Altuve)
376 ABs 102 hits 22 doubles 1 triple 23 HRs 70 Runs 58 RBIs 10 SBs
Average is .271 OBP is .340 SLG .512
This was a brilliant pick-up for the cost. Something DD might have done.
Kiki stats
306 ABs 75 hits 23 doubles 1 triple 14 HRs 75 runs 37 RBIs 1 SB
Average is .245 OBP is .325 SLG .464
A very solid pick-up for a team under austerity controls but not the best choice available.
The pay difference is $11M!!
For that price Toronto gets a guy with a better average, better on base percentage a better slugging percentage with 9 more stolen bases. Semien has been on base 35 more times and that is the key stat since team mates vary. An OBP that is 36 percent higher!! How many more wins would Boston have with Semien rather than Kiki? Is $11M significant? It is to an normal individual. However, additional profits will be 20 times that if a ring is won but even without the ring there are hundreds of millions more than the $11M to pay for the better player. That’s my issue. The fans still pay top dollar for EVERYTHING and ownership pockets tons of money while the fans watch the world series on TV and not from their seat in Fenway..
Is that worth $11M? Not to a small market team but to a team that is practically printing money they are so profitable in non COVID years, it’s a drop in the bucket.
Your argument works for small market teams but fails miserably for a big market team, especially one that has been willing to re-invest their profits over the last 20 years and has 4 rings for doing so.
KD – the biggest Dodger fan thinks ownership has unlimited amount to spend on players. Lol. Lol. Lol.
You better become a Dodger fan, so you can kneel at the alter of Mookie. You probably believe all you watch on CNN too.
KD – someone piss in you corn flakes?
RS8 – Seriously you embarrass the legacy of the number 8 jack-ass. You really need to stop getting drunk on the weekends and writing crap directed at me.
KD – “Did he sleep with your mother or something for you to hate him so much.”
I actually thought you had improved! YOU ARE BACK TO YOUR ARROGANT A$$HOLE SELF kd !!!!!
RS8 – My mother has been dead nearly 20 years. That would make him roughly 5 years old!! hahaha And she died at age 80 so I”m going with no I don’t believe he even knew my mother.
When you write comments like you just did, do you realize how embarrassing it is for you? You may not like my opinions on Bloom but to respond in the manner you did, doesn’t that embarrass you when you sober up? What about your family? Do they realize the issues you have?
Seriously, gets some help before it’s too late.
Terribly uninformed comment by serge. Dombrowski was brought in to leverage a strong system into a winner at the major league level, and in the end the team won the AL East for three straight seasons and a championship, which was arguably the best team in franchise history. Mission. Accomplished. Yes, he traded some minor league talent, but a lot of what was “lost” was through graduations. He didn’t really sell off that much, and a good chunk of what he did trade away look like good sell high moves.
He’s not so good at restocking a bare cupboard, so the team shifted to a TB disciple for that job so far, it looks so good, though we’ll see how it goes in the long run.
Mayer will look great in Dodger blue after being developed in the Sox system and winning an AL MVP and a World Series. No, that could never happen.
Dodgers need other teams players to win WS. So sad.
But sure, play 6 great seasons in Boston, help win a couple of WS’s. (yes Betts was on 2 Championship teams, with Red Sox). Then Dodgers can throw stupid money at him. All yours. Let’s do this in perpetude.
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I think Mayer so wanted not to be drafted by Pittsburgh, he purposely demanded full slot to scare them off. It worked but probably didn’t think he would fall past the Tigers. Jobe probably gets under slot 6 million to 6.5 million.
Rumor has it that the Tigers had made a verbal commitment to Jobe that he was going third, never expecting Mayer to fall to them. Honorably, they kept their commitment.