Red Sox Place Garrett Whitlock On Injured List

Kevin23 – Do you have ANY proof that he made the choices you are suggesting? And if so who specifically are you talking about? The revolving door was spinning so fast this summer I didn’t even get the names of many of his undervalued players that were dismissed shortly after arriving.

I get it. He used the shotgun approach not the rifle approach to finding talent. No precision, just a numbers game. I think you are right about that.

Sabermetric – Just curious. You used a roll of the dice analogy and then commented that Bloom sees the probabilities better. Aren’t the probabilities of each side of the dice the same? Or are you saying the dice are loaded? That’s how he’s better at rolling the dice!!

Can you precisely explain what Bloom’s advantage is and how you know this? I’ve spent two years trying to determine that and my conclusion is that the skill still lies in TB because their decisions without him have been as good or better than when he was there and BOS has watched him flood the roster and minors with players as if he thought he was a trainer of race horses who was looking for his next champion by following a heard of wild horses to see which one was the fastest. Is that what you meant by he sees the probabilities better?

Sabermetric – Do the players get credit for any of the games? I have always believed the performance of the players allowed a team to win or lose. There are no in-game assists by anyone, just the performance by the individual that contributes to a team effort. I guess that must be old school thinking.

Also do you believe the talent level is higher or lower today without Mookie, Benny, JBJ, Moreland, Price and others? If you were on an opposing team would you rather face the 2018 Red Sox or the 2021 Red Sox? The 2018 Red Sox won 108 games and had a batting order that was more imposing than this year’s team. Their pitching staff in 2018 had 3 top flight pitchers in Sale, Price and Eovaldi plus E-Rod wasn’t as bad as he was this year. So if the talent level has fallen off dramatically do we give the credit for that to the GM too?

It’s a simple question that always needs to be asked when evaluating performance. Is the team better off today or prior to the new hire joining the organization? Everyone has an opinion about the answer. For me, 108 wins to whatever Boston finishes with suggests things have NOT gone in the right direction. But many Bloom supporters prefer not to look at accomplishments measured by wins but rather they prefer to focus on an unmeasurable potential for the organization. Oh well, to each his own. I struggle with the idea that something unmeasurable could be better than solid proof from results but again I’m old school..

So for me, if a group of players play exceptionally well and you give the GM, the Ownership or the Manager credit for their success then when they don’t play well the same folks should be blamed for the failure not the players. That’s logical. Right? So if you can give Bloom credit for the success of the 2021 team you can also blame him for the lack of success during the 2020 season. Right? That seems only fair..

Unfortunately many would argue he didn’t have enough time. After all, there is a mystical number of years before a GM can be evaluated and everyone says that’s three years. This GM job sounds like a dream job doesn’t it? No evaluation for 3 years, you get to take credit for the hard work performed by the players and if the team has the worse record in decades or you make the biggest mistake in a century you aren’t accountable because it happened before the three year guarantee was over. Now that’s job security without accountability. Bet most people would love to have that job.

As you pointed out it would be hard not to give Bloom credit especially on a website filled with his vocal followers, I think I will stick with the belief that the players do the hard work and earn the wins not the GM, the manager or the owners. I’m proud of how the team performed this season and I truly believe they did it because they are professional baseball players. Like Belichick always talks about “they did their jobs” that’s why they won. If you think Bloom deserves the credit for their hard work, success and good luck by the players, great. But if you do please agree that if they fail next year he has earned a firing like he gave Mookie, Benny, Chavis, Price and others. That seems only fair too. Right?

Sabermetric – Excellent answer. I appreciate your argument. You basically believe in potential despite the lack of tangible evidence. That’s part of being a fan.

You mentioned payroll so I have to ask: Do you think an ownership team that makes hundreds of millions in profit can afford the luxury tax that was to be no more than $10M in 2020? And if so, why divest yourself of a home grown hero like Mookie? There is no financial instability in the Red Sox organization, they have made hundreds of millions per year for 20 years and their company’s value has risen into the billions so why take a frugal approach when you are in a division with the one team who has spent billions more than you over the years? Also, I’m interested in your perspective on the message sent to young developing homegrown players like Dalbec and others when they see an icon like Mookie shipped off for money or possibly diversity issues? You have focused on the development of the farm system but if the homegrown player is to be treated like Mookie, what’s the point of trying to build more home grown talent when you eventually flush it down the toilet?

One clarification about my unmeasurable phrase because I think we are not on the same page with respect to what I intended. I want to clarify the concept. When I reference unmeasurable I’m talking about farm system personnel. Performing in the minors might give you a leading indicator to the future success of a player but there are absolutely no guarantees that success will happen. Their future is unmeasurable as is their future value to the team. As an asset of the team their value isn’t realized until they actually provide value by playing in the majors and doing well enough to literally ‘help the team win/be successful if your definition of success isn’t winning”.

So I was NOT addressing intangibles I was addressing the uncertainty of the farm systems future value. Some people like farm system rating systems. As an example, Boston’s farm system jumped it’s rating by having it’s worse season in decades and getting the fourth pick in the draft. He added 250 points moving the Red Sox farm system into the top 10 based on their recent lack of success. In the mean time they graduated Betts, Bogaerts, Devers and a long list of other farm system players who have greatly enhanced the value of the organization while playing in the majors. That is the unmeasurable future success of a farm system that only happens when the farm system member graduates and contributes significantly to the team. The rating system does not take that into account which is a pet peeve of mine since Boston has been criticized for a poor farm system yet has graduated more excellent players to the majors than almost every team in baseball during the last decade.

So the Bloom strategy has been to rebuild one of the most elite farm systems in baseball from a productivity and team contribution stand point by failing miserably in 2020 and pumping up the rating in 2021 and adding dozens of players who may or may not actually follow in the footsteps of players like Betts and Bogey. That’s why for me his strategy is not just unmeasurable it’s one of trying to fix something that was never broken. Dalbec and Duran are the latest examples of how not broken the farm system has been for a decade.

Final question since you have been a Red Sox fan for quite a while (I watched Ted Williams play in his final season as a young boy so I probably have a comparable appreciation for the history of the team), do you prefer the pattern of the last 20 years where the team wins a ring then has a regression to the mean season the following year then starts building back to another ring or would you prefer a pattern of success more like the Yankees and the Dodgers where you are in the playoffs every year but you don’t win rings? Philosophically, if you prefer the latter then we have different perspectives on the Red Sox because we have different goals for the Red Sox.

I waited nearly 50 years for a duck boat ceremony so I appreciate winning rings more than most. My father lived 80 years (born in 1923) and never saw one. For me, it’s far more important to win than to be competitive every year but not win. An 86 year drought creates thinking like that. The realization that changing philosophies like Bloom has done increases the risk of another 86 year drought creates thinking like that.

So please share with me your preference? Consistently being a brides maid or being the bride every 5 years and not worrying about what happens in between?

…. – I warned you. People who got kicked off are not welcome back.