In conjunction with the Red Sox offseason outlook post published last week, click here to read the reader chat devoted to questions about Boston’s winter plans.
In conjunction with the Red Sox offseason outlook post published last week, click here to read the reader chat devoted to questions about Boston’s winter plans.
Mark has to have iron you-know-what’s to do this.
“Will” right?
There’s nothing here. Seriously?
Nothing where?
In the article above. Big headline, small text.
It’s a link to the chat transcript
And links to the offseason outlook and chat.
Are these scheduled in advance? If so, can MLBTR post a schedule of the teams they plan to cover next?
Might be a subscriber thing?
Someone asked if the Sox would sign Nelson Cruz. Mark correctly stated that the probably wouldn’t. If this were the 90’s and Dan Duquette were GM that is probably what they would do as Duquette brought in the likes of Andre Dawson, Jose Canseco, Kevin Mitchell, and Dante Bichette when all were basically DH only at that point in their careers. I don’t see Bloom spending on a pure DH, especially with Casas/Hosmer/Dalbec all on the roster.
Another asked if Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck will be moved back to the rotation. As thin as the starting pitching is with Whitlock/Houck/Schreiber/Barnes the Sox could have a lockdown bullpen which would definitely take the pressure off of the starting rotation
Except a good starter is still far more valuable than a good reliever. One of those 2 will likely be in the rotation.
Rsox – The Cruz question is typical of these chats, lots of idiotic questions being asked. Signing a 42-year-old DH coming off a .651 OPS season would be moronic for a big market team hoping to contend. He couldn’t even be flipped for a longshot prospect this year.
I’d bet my house that at least one of Hosmer/Dalbec won’t be on the Opening Day Roster.
Lockdown bullpens don’t mean squat if your starters never leave the game with a lead. Didn’t you follow the Sox in the second half of the season? They didn’t stop blowing leads because of a good bullpen, they stopped blowing leads because they hardly had any to blow.
Unfortunately, the Red Sox are a mess period. Chris Sale has not pitched consistently since 2018 and he still missed months of the second half of the season. Pivetta is inconsistent and is a 4th starter at best. Hill who is 43 years old and Wacha are free agents. They need two solid starting pitchers, two relief pitchers, one a closer, a first baseman not named Dalbac who cannot hit and should not be allowed anywhere near a baseball diamond. They should never have let Schwarber go, boy those 46 homeruns would have helped this year. Do you like anointing Casas as a starting player? That is a lot of pressure on a rookie.
The Story signing was a panic signing by Bloom because he did nothing in the offseason. They need a left fielder, they should have hung into Renfroe and not traded for JBJ who cannot hit either. They have to sign Boggarts and Devers.
Do you have faith in Bloom to fix the mess that he made? I don’t and think he is a Dumpster Diving GM who looks for diamonds in the rough and cheap contracts. I think he is in way over his head and in Tampa he rode on the shirttails of Andrew Friedman who went to the Dodgers. I did not like everything Dave Dombroski did but I sound welcome him back with open arms because he produced results in his tenure.
Al – Great post as always. I would just like to add, Bloom also rode on the shirttails of Erik Neander in Tampa.
And Dombrowski is on the verge of yet another World Series, after everyone mocked him for focusing too much on offense instead of defense.
One thing is certain, if Dombrowski was still in Boston he would have been smart enough to sign Schwarber instead of Story.
Oh please. Giving Dombrowski the credit for Philly this year is asinine. Other than Schwarber and Castallanos he hasn’t added anyone to their lineup and only picked up a couple of guys for their pen. Most of the heavy lift players who have gotten them to this point were there when DD rode into town.
Instead of giving up on the season he replaced Girardi when they were 22-29 don’t be a hater
king – I didn’t say Dombrowski deserve all the credit for Philly, but he definitely shares in it. And as already been pointed out, if he didn’t make the managerial change there’s no way they reach the WS.
It’s not being a hater. It’s simply being realistic. Look at today’s clinching game. Who were the stars? Harper, Hoskins and Wheeler. Did DD bring in any of those players or were they there when he got there?
king – I felt the same way when casual Red Sox fans gave all the credit for 2004 to Theo, even though he had virtually nothing to do with the core that won the championship.
Heck we’ve even got some people here who gave all credit for last year’s ALCS to Bloom!!! Unreal considering all 5 All-Stars were pre-Bloom.
But like I said, Dombrowski certainly shares in the Philly credit. Without him Schwarber doesn’t contribute 46 homers, the bullpen isn’t strengthened, and Girardi is still the manager.
I’m more than willing to acknowledge Dombrowski inherited some talent, but you should also acknowledge he has made all the right moves over the past year.
Giving Dombrowski the credit for Philly this year is asinine.
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I think he did a fine job at the trade deadline, but most of the team was already there. That’s not uncommon with new GMs.
That said, if you wanted to isolate the 2022 FA signings, he added Familia, Hand, Schwarber, Castellanos, and Knebel. They cost $61M, and combined for 3.0 bWAR.
Joe – Really simple question here, do you think teams with the highest combined WAR totals always win the WS or even make the WS?
WAR is often pumped up in meaningless games and blowout wins/losses.
True champions perform when it counts most.
Take a look at the combined WAR for the 2013 Red Sox, then explain how they won the WS that year.
Just like Boston in 2018. Dude is treated as a genius when he’s just taking over teams that just need a couple pieces to compete for a WS.
You are right, Erik Neander. Yes I could not think of his name. It was him and Andrew Friedman who Chaim Bloom ride their shirttails.
I think it comes down to who John Henry thinks will invest his money the best. Looks like he didn’t like the bad deals done by Cherrington and Dombrowski. I think he is looking for a better way to run the Red Sox than huge, long deals that often turn into lots of wasted money.
suit – I certainly agree that both of those GM’s have had bad deals. Sale extension and Panda contract were especially horrible.
But if what you say about Henry is true, why did they give out a guaranteed $140M contract to a middle infielder whose arm isn’t strong enough to play SS anymore and whose offensive numbers have drastically declined every year after the 2019 season.
I will give both Bloom and Henry the benefit of the doubt, until I see what happens this offseason. They have a huge amount of money coming off the books, hopefully it will be spent better than the Story contract.
Fever: If you take away the Story contract, all Bloom has done for the most part is sign players to short-term, reasonable contracts. So, something odd happened with the Story signing. It doesn’t seem like something Bloom would think is a good idea in my opinion. I remember thinking the Red Sox would never sign Story and I thought it was a bad idea. So, what happened? I can only guess that John Henry or someone else above Bloom asked him to make a “big signing” because people were calling the Red Sox cheap. If that is what happened, I hope those people have learned their lesson.
Fever: Also, they really should have checked out Story’s arm before they signed him. Why are you thinking his arm is not strong enough for SS? That would be really bad. BTW, does any of what I wrote above seem plausible to you?
suit – Most definitely Bloom hasn’t given out a contract in excess of $14M except for Story, I agree with you there.
But do you think the Paxton deal was money well spent? How about Diekman? How about Robles? Marwin? Richards? JBJ? All those contracts add up.
I am certain John Henry doesn’t care about what fans think, he’s said as much on multiple occasions. It was simply a case of Bloom waiting out the market to see who he can sign to replace Xander. In Bloom’s eyes he got a “bargain” compared to the other SS contracts that were signed last offseason.
suit – Regarding the injury, it was well known before he signed as he suffered the injury in Colorado. Did the Sox medical staff give Bloom bad info regarding Story’s ability to physically play SS with the injury? Maybe.
Did Story go unsigned for so long because teams were wary of the injury? Yes I think that is part of the reason why.
Story’s arm strength is ranked among the weakest in MLB for infielders, Cora didn’t allow him to play SS at all this season, and there’s reports that if Xander walks (likely) Story would still remain at 2B next season.
Think about that … a GG-caliber SS not playing even one inning of SS this year … even with Xander not playing in a dozen games.
Fever: Good points. All those contracts you mentioned were not good, but I thought Bloom was trying to field a mediocre team in order to have a chance to compete, but most likely fail and get a high draft pick. If we can all see the flaws, I have to believe he can see it too. I am a big believer in what appears to be going on is not what is really going on. I am in the minority in that I don’t mind waiting to see if Bloom can build a contender with a lot of prospects from the farm system. I don’t like signing older free agents to long expensive contracts in general. If Story does not play SS if Xander leaves, then that was a completely unnecessary and wasteful signing.
People who think Schwarber was the savior the team needed are hilarious. He had a good year, but he wasn’t the difference between making and missing the playoffs. As far as Casas, you don’t bring up a high profile prospect to ride the pine, if he’s on the 26 man, he should definitely be considered the starter. You also have little knowledge of how the Ray’s front office worked when Chaim and Friedman were both there. It’s been talked about before and they worked as an actual team, no one person was making unilateral decisions without inoit from the others.
Hey Bloom great job trading Christian Vasquez!! What a great night he had last night as a Houston Astro in the post season!! There are millions of baseball fans across the country loving what he brought to the table last night considering the dirty on field trade move they all witnessed back in August!!!
If Blooms brain was at leasf half as big as his chin we wouldn’t be in this mess.
What Bloom did at the trade deadline was so embarrassing. I felt terrible for Velasquez and potential free agents see this and I am sure they store this in the back of their minds when they are looking for teams to play for.
Help
Good grief – I cannot believe I wasted so much time reading this chat transcript – I’m actually more ignorant after..
….A few interesting,entertaining & insightful posts in the comments so I feel the total exercise was worth it?
I enjoy marks articles but he sure does love taking the easy questions in chats
Paying Devers 3B money or Bogaerts SS money is a great way to destroy a franchise. Next they will need to add an actual SS and 3B. Let some other team make that mistake.
I agree.
stymee – Among shortstops Xander is ranked 3rd defensively in the league behind Mateo and Pena, and he led the league in WAR.
Let me run a few facts by you!
Dombrowski was hired to build a Championship team in Philly.
“Mission accomplished”
Congratulations Philadelphia Phillies 2022 National League Champions!!!
When Dombrowski was hired, the Phillies had not had a winning season in what 9 years?! (.500 seasons are not winning seasons).
Dombrowski’s actions:
#1 Dombrowski met with key players like Bryce Harper and got them
to “buy into” his plans for the team
#2 Signed JT Realmuto to contract extension (Realmuto was considering becoming a free agent.) Realmuto is from Oklahoma. Dombrowski’s wife is from Oklahoma and was a News Anchor in OK. Dombrowski and his wife wined and dined Realmuto and his wife and convinced them to stay in Philadelphia and sign an extension., instead of going on the free agent market.
#3 Dombrowski revamped the Front Office, Scouting and Farm System.
Signed rising Front Office Rising Star Preston Mattingly as Director of Player Development (He is Don’s Mattingly’s son).
#4 Dombrowski signed Sam Fuld is the new GM.
#5 Signed Terry Ryan as Special Asst to Pres (yes that Terry Ryan who built World Series Championships for the Twins)
6) Jorge Velandia, who’s been with the Phillies for a decade in a variety of player development and advisory roles, is now an assistant GM.
7) Fired Manager Joe Girardi
8) Hired New Manager Rob Thomson(longtime coach/never managed in Big leagues).
9) Changed the culture of the team and clubhouse
10) Convinced Phillies Owner John Middleton to exceed the luxury tax for the first time if needed to build a Championship team.
11 ) Traded for young, cost controlled future All Star CF Brandon Marsh
12) Signed LF/DH NL Home run Champion 2022 Kyle Schwarber
13) Signed RF/DH Nick Castellanos(Harper plays RF when fully healthy next year).
14) Improved Defense dramatically @ CF and SS
15) Opened up SS for Rookie Bryson Stott
16) Released SS Didi Gregorius (convinced Middleton to eat the contract).
17) Got rid of CF Obdubel Herrara (and character issue player) (sp?)
18) Fortified the rotation with trades for Gibson & Noah Syndergaard .
19) Rebuilt the Phillies bullpen from near last and most blown saves and blown holds in MLB the year before he was hired s
to one of the top bullpens in the NL.
20) LH Relief pitcher Brad Hand signed
21) RH Relief pitcher Dave Robertson (trade)
22) Held on to the Phillies top prospects including 3 stud starters who will be in the rotation soon.
23) Jose Alvarado Relief pitcher acquired in trade
24) Seranthony Dominguez Relief pitcher acquired in trade
25) Also, adding shortstop Edmundo Sosa helped Phillies defense.
Dave Dombrowski is the only MLB Executive to Lead the Front Office
of 4 MLB Teams to 5 World Series!!!
Dombrowski just WINS everywhere he goes.
He has only been in Philadelphia less than 2 years!
I am sure Phillies fans would sign a Thank you Card to John Henry and Tom Werner LOL!
Something is up with the Ownership micro managing of talented Front Office Executives
when great Executives like Theo Epstein, Dave Dombrowski and Ben Cherrington
cannot work for the Red Sox Ownership Group.
IMHO, Henry likes to scapegoat. I know things come to an end, but we averaged 93 wins a year under Theo, and our minor league system was packed when he left. Tito should never have left, but allowing Theo to leave was egregious.
What they did to Francona was terrible with two of his sons in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ball players could not act like mature men. Lester, I was surprised at, Lacky and Beckett both looked like they had arrogant personalities and could be tough to deal with. Firing Epstein was wrong as well.
I thought Epstein left on his own because he couldn’t get along with Larry Lucchino.
The problem with Bloom is that he lowballs players, looks for bargains, and sits back at the buffet table after everyone has gotten their food and takes the scraps. This is okay to do when you have your roster set and are looking for a few players to fill it out. You cannot fill every key position with bargain basement sales like Bloom looks to do. The problem with Bloom is that he is addicted to conducting business this way. If he does not produce this year my feeling is that he is gone. I predicted the Red Sox were going to fire Dombroski in 2019 and called WEEI and they said I was wrong. Bloom has way too many holes to fill this year, two solid starting pitchers, two solid relief pitchers, a closer, a DH, a first baseman not named Dalbac and cheap contract Hosmer (San Diego Pays) a Centerfielder, a left fielder, a catcher, sign Boggarts. He just cannot help himself looking for “Bargain Basement” Contracts and won’t be able to fix this mess of his own making. There are way to many holes for consistency and him to fill successfully.
Both the Tigers and the Red Sox regret firing Dombrowski.
Either team could be in the World Series if they had kept Dombrowski.
Everywhere he goes, he builds a winner.
And in Montreal (low budget team), Dombrowski built one of the best farm systems in MLB. Same thing in low budget Miami with the Marlins.
There is a micro management and a “chemistry problem” with Red Sox ownership and the Front Office….
Not sure of the dynamics but, Sam Kennedy, John Henry, Tom Werner all share in the blame for driving away these 3 top rated front office executives:
Dave Dombrowski, Theo Epstein and Ben Cherrington.
Al. Bloom is definitely on the clock my guess is ownership won’t tolerate another season like the last so I agree with you there.
We differ in what Boston needs to contend. Bloom needs to sign Bogey and extend Devers. When he does that he will solidify one of the best infields in baseball. I differ from you in that I believe Casas is their first baseman and he’s going to be a good one.
You might take flyer on another outfielder maybe on Conferto or maybe Haniger either way the outfield isn’t going to be Bostons strength. I also believe their catchers will be fine the area of need is pitching you can never have to much. Bloom needs to plan on getting nothing from Sale and Paxon. He needs to choose a pitching free agent area and go for it. If the plan is to keep Whitlock and Houck in the pen then the pen should be pretty good. If that’s the case go get a couple of starters. The bottom line Bloom has to choose a direction and go there with the pitching and it’s based on the plans for Whitlock and Houck.
I think this team can be made into a competitive team next year but it starts with getting the fans back by signing Bogey and extending Devers then addressing the pitching one way or another.