The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Logan Gillaspie off waivers from the Orioles, per Ian Browne of MLB.com, and optioned him to Triple-A. The O’s had designated the righty for assignment over the weekend. To open a spot on their 40-man, the Sox transferred outfielder Jarren Duran to the 60-day injured list.
Gillaspie, 26, tossed 26 1/3 innings for the Orioles between last year and this year. He had a 4.10 earned run average in that time, striking out just 15% of batters faced but limiting walks to a 6.7% rate. In Triple-A this year, he’s thrown 36 1/3 innings with a 4.71 ERA, 21.4% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. His numbers at that level were stronger last year, despite a 5.09 ERA. He struck out 24.8% of Triple-A hitters he faced while walking just 5.9%.
The Sox essentially had a roster spot to burn, since it was announced last week that Duran would require season-ending surgery to deal with a turf toe injury. That made his transfer to the 60-day injured list inevitable and the club has now used his roster spot to add another depth arm to the system. Gillaspie will still have one more option year beyond this season and he has less than a year of service time.
Uh oh. Haters commence.
How the tables have turned….
They were some slow turning tables though.
Yeah, it was fun invading Camden yards for a few years when the Orioles were awful.
Yeah, it was fun invading Camden Yards when the Orioles were awful. A fun few years indeed.
Oops double posted, my bad.
“. . .when the Orioles were awful. A fun few years . . . ”
Define a few? By my estimates it was 20+.
I wish it were that long, but 2018-2021
No idea what you mean.
2018 Red Sox first place, Orioles last
2017 Red sox first place, Orioles last
Are you just going by head to head or something?
I think the difference in records from season to season speaks to itself. The 2017 Orioles were bad, yes, but were (somehow) miles ahead of the 2018 team. The same could be said if the Red Sox, though the difference isn’t as astronomical as the the Orioles.
And don’t forget all the rings the O’s have won…I can’t believe this is a debate.
That is a fabulous ballpark. I am happy for the long suffering not obnoxious O’s fans. They’ve waited a long time for this.
Uh… did you sleep through 2012-16?
Lucky – As bad as the Sox front office is, at least they allow the announcers to criticize the crap out of the team. It’s great listening to the radio broadcast and hearing the exact same complaints that intelligent posters like KD, GASox, Al and others have made here. I think the announcers are reading my comments too. Lol
My dad and I have a running joke that they have our house bugged. When I watch NESN, whatever I complain about or even say sometimes is immediately then said by them. About NESN as a whole, I’d say they’re pretty good considering they’re owned by John Henry. Could definitely be more harsh but they’re not limited like Kevin Brown was.
Not really, depth arms are constantly on the move.
Not a good pitcher, but not horrible either. Sox need some arms. He will do lol
Can’t be any worse than Jacques or the most recent incarnation of Winck.
DBH – Agreed, he will help Cora once again achieve the goal of having the most well rested pitching staff heading into October.
Because watching the postseason on TV can be quite taxing. Lol
Fever: Too funny
I love the summaries. He’s struck out more and walked less this year, which should cause teams to ignore that he was infinitely more hittable.
Hopefully he will be Logan Airport and not Logan Launching Pad.
I hate when you hold the door open for strangers, especially if it’s a prolonged hold, and you get no thank you or acknowledgement. Also just as bad is when someone in front of you doesn’t have the awareness to hold the door open for others directly behind them and shut it in your face.
OK, I’ll play along. I hate it when you’re in the grocery store and have to fart really bad and you go down an aisle where NO ONE is there. You let it rip and around the corner comes a really hot chick and she knows it was YOU.
I hate it when you get on a line, and the person in front you doesn’t have their card or cash or phone out. Like they didn’t know they had to pay for their purchase.
You need to go down an aisle containing products with strong scents. Laundry detergent/fabric softener or seafood.
I hate it when you are in a rush and have to Kay for your gas inside and the person in front of you is buying lottery. That is grounds for a beatdown
Brooklyn – Now I know why the box of cereal I bought smells like onion and ketchup.
Worth a look.. especially if he can play sweet Caroline on his trumpet!!! Sorry wrong Gillespie…
Imagine going from the best team in the AL to a fourth place division team.
What’s the point now?
Open roster spot. What if they see something in him for next year? Maybe a tweak that makes him very effective? Never know unless you give it a shot.
Gary: Remember the Natural? If the knights never gave Robert Redford a chance . I don’t think they would have won the pennant and Wilfred Brimely would have lost his job. So I see your point.
Pick me out a winner Bloomy…
@BDog. Ya, but on the flip side of the coin, if the ambulance has been faster, Mickey wound not have died of a heart attack. That means Apollo Creed would still be alive, too!
If that existed, the O’s would have found it.
@OMar
Let’s not be stuck up D-Bag fans now that we’re good. Evan Phillips and Tanner Scott are thriving like they never did in Baltimore.
We’re great but there are guys who fall through.
Tanner Scott still scares the pants off Marlins fans just like he did to us.
The O’s groomed Gillaspie. They pursued him for years. If they couldn’t get the best out of him, Boston sure won’t. It’s not being a “d-bag.” It’s being realistic and honest.
Tanner Scott walks less guys than the Mountain now. They fixed him completely. At least for a season….
Gillaspie is a middle reliever. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him stick somewhere else. We’ll do better with what we have. Glad Lopez is back.
@Brian
Good point. It’s not a zero sum game. Former O’s players can be good for other teams that unlock something or maybe roster them at the right time in their lives without it being a slight to the O’s.
Good for them (Christian Walker, Yaz, Tanner or Evan Phillips, or whoever). I’m grateful to be at this point where the O’s have unlocked Bautista, Cano, Brandish, Kramer, Webb, Santander, etc).
Folks that want to celebrate our wins in treasure hunting and poopoo former players or the past FO misses… just wasted time and effort.
Sure, it hurts when Justin Turner, Gausman or Joey Bags (actually, that doesn’t hurt, bc he was a “Bag” alright) light it up after their time in Baltimore… but you can’t live like that.
Spot on correct. This happens to every team, on both sides, though some are probably better and some are probably worse at it.
And some of this, maybe a lot of this, might be on the player. Some pitchers learn to trust their #4, 40 grade offering, so that they can throw it 5x a game. Sometimes hitters learn that they can allow a 2-0 offering to go by without swinging at it.
From interviews that I’ve heard with or about JBJ and Dalbec, they know the answers, but fall into old bad habits.
True, but what is his free agency status? Bloom’s track record for relief pitching has been downright terrible.
I’m all for it, just can’t see it as a move that salvages anything for this year.
Agreed, Doom. Only benefit I see is that it helps prevent any of the BP pitchers’ arms from falling off. That group is spent!
Bloom’s track record for relief pitching has been downright terrible.
==============================
Jansen & Martin as free agents and Winckowski, Schreiber & Bernardino as outside acquisitions.
@JoeBrady You’re leaving out the revolving door of 20 pitchers that have come and gone in this season alone.
I’m not a Bloom hater, but it’s clear the guy doesn’t exactly build a consistent bullpen.
If Bloom knew how to market good pitching and not shift guys around constantly we wouldn’t need a mop-up “reliever” for our relievers. Ridiculous. Bloom pulls these guys out of nowhere and expects them to be superstars when they have little to no MLB experience.
Joe – Lets be fair.
Jansen has been a stud his whole career but how necessary is he for a team that may not win 81 games and best case wins 85 games? An A for effort but very bad timing since he got him after Bloom dismissed the offense and defense from the team.
Martin is another real nice old guy pick up for a team challenging to win their division. He’s a waste in Boston just like Jansen. Sure they both should be excellent in 2023 and 2024 but the team will be lucky to win 162 games in the 2 year period, the money could have been spent of building the future not minimizing the embarrassment of an already embarrassing team.
Winckowski – Good ERA in 2023 bad in 2022. Terrible WHIP both years which is NOT a good sign for this guy being a good reliever in the future. He needs to significantly lower his walk rate.
Schreiber – Good in 2022 and not so good in 2023. Raised his WHIP from sub 1.0 to 1.4 in 2023. Again, walking guys as a reliever is not a good sign.
Bernardino – A journeyman reliever with 8 years in the minors before SEA called him up for 2.1 innings in 2022. Now at age 31 he’s got 43.1 innings with the Red Sox and an ERA of 2.49 and a WHIP of 1.154. These numbers are great for a very small sample size so we need to see what he’s done over the last decade since he’s over 30.
In 8 seasons in the minors his ERA was 3.76 (1.25 higher than his MLB era) and his WHIP was 1.382 which is a lot higher than his small sample size at the MLB level. To give him the benefit of the doubt lets check his most recent times in the minors at AAA. He had a 3.60 ERA and 1.13 WHIP.
So to be fair, while this guy is over 30 but not ready to retire if he can continue to pitch well at the MLB level he is the best long term solution of the players you listed.
Doom & Bloom
You’re leaving out the revolving door
========================
Part of obtaining RPs with promise has to involve obtaining guys that are doomed to fail. I am a DD-agnostic, but part of the problem is that the 2023 team has basically -0- RPs from the minors.
Maybe I’m missing someone, but our self-developed RP are:
Murphy 4.64 ERA/1.50 Whip
Walter 5.79/1.661
That’s it. So where are the 8 RPs going to come from? You can’t sign 8 RPs making real money, so some of them have to come via the revolving door.
Editorial-I’d move both Whitlock & Houck into the BP so we can put the BP on a more solid footing. With the five guys I mentioned, plus Pivetta as the LR/#6 guy, plus hopefully Llovera’s continued (SSS) improvement, we should have a good BP.
We’ve been freeing up some resources, so we should be able to buy 2-3 real SPs.
And hopefully either Houck or Whitlock emerge as a closer candidate for 2025.
Joe – It’s September 2023. DD has absolutely nothing to do with the staff that Bloom has acquired for relief pitching. The life span of a short reliever is not that long to suggest a GM not present for four years can be to blamed for the current situation.
Bloom has assembled 5 relievers Jansen, Winckowski, Martin, Bernardino and Schreiber.. Pivetta and Whitlock make 7 to go with the starters of Sale, Paxton, Bello, Crawford and Houck.
Here is the list of others contributing to the not so good relief work this year.
Murhpy, Bleier, Jacques, Ort, Brasier, Walter, Garza, Llovera, J Rodriguez, Barraclough, Z Kelly, Sherriff, Dermody, Robertson, Scott, Littell, Faria, Lamet and Reyes.
Maybe you should go back to 2020 and see where the top prospects Bloom inherited are today when it comes to pitching. I’ve been preaching about the lack of accountability for Bloom’s decisions. Here are the top 30 prospect pitchers beginning with the group Bloom inherited in 2020. Why is the cupboard so bare for relief pitchers? Here is part of the answer.:
Bryan Mata – TJ Surgery is now in AAA
Noah Song – Military commitment is at Hi-A
Jay Groome – AAA in San Diego
Thaddeus Ward – AA in Washington
Tanner Houck – Very under rated in 2020 now starts for BOS
Chih-Jung Liu – He’s 24 now and at AA
Brayan Bello – Another grossly under-rated SP now a starter
Chris Murphy – Now 25 in AAA
Ryan Zeferjahn – Now 25 in AA
Durbin Feltman – AA for OAK
Aido Ramirez – 22 year old now playing for WAS at A level
Yoan Aybar – out of baseball
Look how many of the top 30 prospects inherited are no longer with the Red Sox. Is that DD’s fault or Bloom’s since he got rid of them?
Top 30 Prospects 2021 – pitchers allows you to see Bloom additions and subtractions
Connor Seabold – Now 27 playing for Colorado AAA (add/subtract)
Andrew Politi – Now 27 playing for Boston AAA (5 years in minors)
Eduard Bazard0 – Now 28 playing for Seattle AAA (add/subtract)
Jacob Wallace – Now 25 playing for KC AA (add/subtract)
Garrett Whitlock – Now 27 playing for BOS MLB club
ONE quality player added by Bloom in 2021 to the relief group. The rest are pitching elsewhere.
Farm System Top 30 Prospects for 2022 – pitchers
Brandon Walter – Now 26 on Red Sox roster after 4 years in minors
Wikelman Gonzalez – Now 21 in AA for BOS (4 years in minors)
Josh Winckowski – Now 25 on BOS MLB roster (Bloom acquired)
Kutter Crawford – Now 27 on BOS MLB roster (6 years in minors)
2022 saw 3 of DD’s guys hit the top 30 along with Winckowski. Crawford is the best of the group and he’s graduated from relief to starting.
Farm System Top 30 Prospects for 2023 – pitchers
Luis Perales – Now 20 years old in Hi-A (Bloom international signee)
Angel Bastard0 – Now 21 years old (4 years in minors)
Shane Drohan – Now 24 at AAA for BOS (2020 draft pick by Bloom)
Yordanny Monegro – Now 20 at Hi-A for BOS (Bloom international)
Dalton Rogers – Now 22 at Hi-A for BOS (Bloom 2022 draft pick)
FYI…. 4 years in the minors or more means the player was in the Red Sox system when Bloom arrived
2023 has 5 adds to the Top Prospect list and 4 are from Bloom in his 4th year as GM.
Bloom acquired 2 via draft picks and 2 via international signings. Are any doing well and helping the MLB team? NOPE so they aren’t the AAA depth you are talking about in 2023. They may be by 2026.
In the end, if you want to justify the revolving door antics of a GM who has no idea how to build a team or an organization by suggesting this is a planned attempt at building AAA pitching depth, go ahead!! Nobody is buying the concept as a planned tactic by Bloom. He’s a dumpster diver who resembles the old forty-niners panning for gold. He’s been doing it for 4 years rather than adding true talent to the roster.
Why is the cupboard so bare for relief pitchers? Here is part of the answer.:
Bryan Mata – TJ Surgery is now in AAA
Noah Song – Military commitment is at Hi-A
Jay Groome – AAA in San Diego
Thaddeus Ward – AA in Washington
Tanner Houck – Very under rated in 2020 now starts for BOS
Chih-Jung Liu – He’s 24 now and at AA
Brayan Bello – Another grossly under-rated SP now a starter
Chris Murphy – Now 25 in AAA
Ryan Zeferjahn – Now 25 in AA
Durbin Feltman – AA for OAK
Aido Ramirez – 22 year old now playing for WAS at A level
Yoan Aybar – out of baseball
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Exactly. We had no RP help from the minors. I’m not sure it was necessary to list every pitcher, but at least it shows the depth of the problems in creating a BP from scratch.
My point is, however, that Bloom has signed many more bad than he has done good. And Winckowski has been great, but if you remember that trade as well… the point is, Bloom’s day to day track record is bad.
I think he’s helped us long term develop talent, but when it comes to getting pitchers in the season to keep us in the win column, he’s done bad.
Fortunately, a bad pitcher we can always cut and it won’t effect us long term, but it doesn’t help us in the season. He’s passed up on some big names for a lot of no names.
JoeBrady – Your need for AAA depth shouldn’t be an issue if Bloom had done his job and for you to suggest the pipeline was NOT full when Bloom took over is just wrong and you know that is true because you’ve seen many pitchers graduate from the minors that were here before Bloom.
The pitching staff of the organization has been sourced terribly by Bloom. The 5 SPs on a staff need to start between 30 and 36 games and throw a minimum of 150 innings and the work horses need to be above 175 or 200.
In 2021 Bloom’s only close to successful year the top 7 SPs did as follows:
Eovaldi 32 starts, 182.1 IP
EROD 31 starts 157.2 IP
Pivetta 30 starts 155.0 IP
G Richards 22 starts 136.2 IP
M Perez 22 starts 114.0 IP
Houck 13 starts 69.0 IP
Sale 9 starts 32.2 IP
Despite injuries 3 SPs threw 150 or more innings and the primary starters accounted for 847.1 IP. This allowed the bullpen to pitch less innings so the need for AAA depth wasn’t critical and only HOUCK was a farm product that got used significantly as a SP. The young guns were relievers for the most part which is how most teams fill out the back of their bullpen not by dumpster diving.
In 2022, Bloom’s second bad year, the Starting staff wasn’t properly supplied with quality starters despite the HUGE payroll Bloom had in finishing last in the division. Here are the comparable 2022 numbers
Pivetta 33 starts 179.2 IP
R Hill 26 starts 124.1 IP
Wacha 23 starts 127.1 IP
Eovaldi 20 starts 109.1 IP
Winckowski 14 starts 70.1 IP
Crawford 12 starts 77.1 IP
Bello 11 starts 57.1 IP
Whitlock 9 starts 78.1
A couple of things to note. The 7 SPs rose to 8 SPs and the IP for the 8 only totaled 824 so more were used and less innings were covered. Now you can see why the AAA depth that you have mentioned is needed. Bloom is not adequately staffing the starting group with reliable pitchers to cover the innings. Sale’s lack of innings isn’t on Bloom but he needs to accurately estimate how much he will provide so he can fill the other innings. Acquisitions like Hill and Wacha made no sense from a work horse perspective. If you know you will be missing Sale then go out and get durable SPs and let the young guns fill in not be the primary starters. The dumpster diving grows from a lack of planning prior to the season.
2023 is another year that was poorly planned and Bloom got a break in the fact that Paxton pitched as much as he did.. Here are the numbers:
Bello 24 starts 137.0 IP
Crawford 19 starts 107.1 IP
Paxton 19 starts 96.0 IP
Sale 16 starts 82.2 IP
Houck 16 starts 81.2 IP
Pivetta 11 starts 112.1 IP
Whitlock 10 starts 62.1 IP
Kluber 9 starts 55.0 IP
2023 has 8 SPs carrying the load just like 2022. The starting staff compiled
734.1 IP in 139 games so far.
In 2021 847.1/162 games averages 5.23 IP per start – 7 SPs used
In 2022 824.0/162 games averages 5.09 iP per start – 8 SPs used
In 2023 734.1/139 games averages 5.28 IP per start – 8 SPs used
In 2018 BOS used 7 starters much like 2021 when they were most successful under Bloom but those 7 accounted for 882.2 IP/162 games for an average of 5.44 IP per start.
It’s great to have a good hitting team but the key to winning is to have a starting staff with reliable SPs who can start 30 or more times and can put up 150 IP or more for the season. Boston now has some very nice young guns that have been baptized under fire and that core needs to be the starting point for the 2024 staff.
Bello, Houck, Crawford, Sale means 3 more 150 IP guys are needed and Paxton is too iffy to be one of them or the team will be back in the same spot in a year with a need for AAA depth as you call it.
Keep Whitlock as the stress inning guy so the team stays in games when the SP has a bad inning. Keep the back end of the bullpen with Jansen, Martin, Schreiber, etc. and keep Pivetta in long relief.
Bloom needs to stop the AAA depth concept by loading up the pitching staff with quality pitchers even if he has to outbid big market teams. Nola should be his #1 target with guys like Montgomery and Ryu from the left side. If he gets 3 SPs for $60MM that will take payroll up to $200MM if you drop off all the trailer trash eating up lots of roster spots at deserving low prices.
Dumpster diving because the SP staff isn’t well thought through can not be the future of the Boston Red Sox in 2024. We are all tired of it.
I still say that yanking Houck and Whitlock between starting and relieving messed with their production.
Doom – Completely agree. Houck should be a full time SP and Whitlock has the rare ability to get guys out in the middle of an inning to kill a rally built by the previous pitcher. That skill is very rare so he NEEDS to be the stress inning guy who saves the ERAs of the Starting staff. Heck, Sale alone would give up a couple of dozen less runs each year if when he got pulled the guy coming in could leave the runners on base. Most of the time they allow all of them so score and then some that go against their own ERA.
These two guys have unique skills and Cora mismanaged them. Let them do what they do best and stop moving them around to accommodate guys like Kluber who was a complete waste of money.
Couldn’t agree with you more!!
but when it comes to getting pitchers in the season to keep us in the win column,
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But to my main point, if you don’t have any minor league BP depth, outside of signing 8 FAs, the best you can do is to pick up another team’s #9 RP.
The three choices are the minors, FAs, or waiver pickups.
KD-That was a 1000-word post, and none of it addressed the question at hand-the lack of minor league RP depth.
I still say that yanking Houck and Whitlock between starting and relieving messed with their production.
————————-
I agree 100%, but that’s part of the #5 SP conundrum. I personally prefer both guys in the BP, but also understand the desire to try them out as SPs.
Joe – Then you missed the point. The pitching staff should be assembled before the season to a level that is adequate to address the entire season. It’s called PLANNING. Bloom doesn’t provide adequate resources. Thus I provided all the details about SPs and IPs.and how inadequate they are under Bloom.
If Bloom did his job guys like Houck, Whitlock, Bello, would be relief depth not unplanned starters. With the proper depth there is no need for AAA depth or dumpster diving. The system would be adequate to provide pitching at the MLB level and every level of the minors. The organizer should be assuming a degree of injuries and be prepared to address them quickly and effectively. Dumpster diving IS NOT THE ANSWER.
OFF SEASON PREPARATION IS THE ANSWER and Bloom doesn’t know how to do it.
Honestly, though, I think Bloom had a lot to do with it. Before the players got back, he was the one who spoke where they would help us. I don’t put all the blame on Cora- the philosophy of how to use the players trickles down from Bloom. He wants s roster that is interchangeable between positions. That is the team he built anyway.
that article about the Dbacks selecting Saalfrank is the proper spot for Urias discussion
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life
Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in a wrestling match
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh look another POS pitcher that no one else wanted. Way to go Chaim. Your lack of intelligence continues to astound and amaze.
One more poster that loses his schitt over AAA depth moves, but in duplicate this time, and the use of caps..
LASTSON86 is another clueless P.$
Lastson86 – Nice job pulling the trolls to your comment!! Thanks.
It’s their way of saying they disagree except they don’t say that they simply insult you.
The concept of a AAA depth move in September when you are out of contention for a wild card spot is best described as a hyperbole squared!! Seriously, how to you find the time to make up such silly concepts Joe?
How about a little strategy Bloom to support Joe’s theory. If you get him now you have shown your cards to all teams before 2024 when you’ll need the depth since you don’t need it at the moment. If you wait until after the season, you can sign him without having all the other teams see how good he is!! He could be a secret ringer for that AAA team!!
AAA depth – hahaha There are all types of rationalizations by the Bloom apologists but this one is about as funny as I have read. Why focus on the future when you can build AAA depth? After all, that depth will come in handy in 2024 when the team is struggling again around .500.
Now is this AAA depth considered the foundation of the organization or is it more a basement that belongs under the foundation so you want to put it in now before you actually pour the foundation? hahaha
LASTSON86 – Thank you for your comment. Any time you can trigger the inane comments of the Trolls you know you’ve hit a nerve. Great job.
Oh Look! Another POS pitcher that NO ONE WANTED! Way to go Chaim, your severe lack of baseball intelligence continues to astound and amaze!
Bloom being Bloom.
When you become addicted to dumpster dives it’s really hard to break the habit. Some say wearing a trash bag over your head is a potential cure so if you see a guy near the stadium in a large trash bag, it could be a dumpster diving addict getting ready to find a new job.
This last acquisition does take up a roster spot so someone will need to go. Will the person who goes be a pitcher with a worse history? Not likely but it could happen if he chooses someone else he acquired during his tenure in Boston. What it won’t be is a player that preceded him to Boston. They are the under-rated farm hands that are rising to the majors as planned by DD.
May this be Bloom’s last move EVER so the franchise can recover from the harm he has inflicted!!!
KD: No one needs to go. See the third sentence of the article.
All in the suit that you wear – The rosters at each level whether the MLB level or any farm level have a set number of spots. Those spots can temporarily accommodate additional players when the IL and 60 day IL are used. Those players are declared healthy at some point in the future and when that happens a corresponding reduction in the roster must be made.
So temporarily nobody is being cut but in the end someone will need to be cut to off set this add. Nobody ever tracks the guy who gets cut down the road and associates him with the add of a guy like Gillaspie. Thus, Bloom has nobody doing forensic accounting on his monstrous number of adds and subtractions.to show what the actual debit and credits were.
Without that information you can’t count the number of BAD moves or GOOD if there were any that Bloom has made. Will anyone think back later this season or in the off season when Duran gets moved off the 60 day IL who will be cut and how that cut will be associated with the Gillaspie add? NOPE.
That’s how a guy can add hundreds of players and cut hundreds of players and have absolutely NO ACCOUNTABILITY for his actions.
For all those clueless sorts who have responded to this in the past as being a simple process of looking at the team transactions on the many websites that list them, you don’t grasp the concept of accounting where transactions are complete by showing both sides of the ledger. The transaction listing is not organized to show the net impact of a move it simply lists the move and leaves the enormous chore of linking the move to it’s corresponding move where a player is dropped if the move was an add.
No accountability for dumpster diving allows Bloom to continuously downgrade the farm system and the MLB team without really seeing it clearly with a well defined transaction that includes both sides of the ledger.
I challenge any forensic accountant out there that is a Red Sox fan to go back to Bloom’s first add or drop and start a true double entry system for all his transactions so we can see who he added and who he dropped on each move. I know this is a huge request but the 200 plus moves deserve to be transparent to the fans.
My guess is if that information became available fans would be appalled at who got let go for some of the trash Bloom has collected since he joined the team in late 2019 nearly four years ago.
Troll: Come on man! it’s a slow rebuild. A couple more DFA/ pieces. Maybe get a bat in the offseason. One that is better suited for a DH but put him in the field. Another utility infielder . We are a force to be reckoned with for years to come . 4th place in the East should be a lock year after year . Eat your heart yanks fans . Sweet Caroline will be jamming .
B dog – Excellent sarcasm and don’t over sell the future with Bloom. It’s a 5th place lock!! hahaha
Bloom got his revenge Monday, beating the Rays in Tampa for the first time in 14 tries. Another addition to the 2023 highlight reel. They may have 15 minutes worth after all.
So true! The Yankees have gained 5 games on the Red Sox over the last 11 days, and now have just one more loss. Next week’s 4 game series will be an epic battle for last place.
Meanwhile Mayer has been shut down for the season, his second consecutive injury plagued season. Just another reminder there’s no such thing as a sure thing.
The guy is a small market GM and he needs to go. By the end of the month the Yankees will overtake them so it will be another last place finish for the Red Sox. Bello was a Dave Dombroski pickup not a Bloom guy. Has this team really improved? The defense is terrible. Story is an injured mess. The pitching staff is very iffy and unsettled. Paxton is a free agent I believe at the end of the season. Pivetta is a long reliever or 5th starter at best. Houlk is recovering from a terrible injury and slowly coming back. Sale is very fragile. Whitlock is injury prone. The team is very unsettled with Duval a free agent. Bloom always has that Rube Goldberg military mentality to go the cheap route. I am not even looking forward to this offseason with Bloom because of how he disappoints. Does anyone really trust him to fix this mess?
Just a little reminder about the strength of schedule and how it impacts the WC race.
The current series
NYY vs DET, BOS vs TB, HOU vs TEX, BAL vs LAA, SEA vs CIN, and TOR vs OAK
Advantage goes to NYY, BAL, SEA and TOR. They should move up for this set of series.
The NEXT series
SEA vs TB, MIL vs NYY, KC vs TOR, BAL vs BOS, OAK vs TEX, SD vs HOU
Advantage goes to TOR, TEX and HOU and some would say BAL
The series after the NEXT series
STL vs BAL, TEX vs TOR, NYY vs BOS, TB vs MIN, OAK vs HOU, LAA vs SEA
Advantage goes to BAL, HOU and SEA
So you can see, the schedule will create some significant shifting in the first half of SEP.
Division Leaders
BAL – @LAA, @BOS and home vs STL (3.5 game lead over TB)
HOU – @TEX and home vs SD and OAK (1 game lead over SEA)
Wildcard Teams
TB – Home vs BOS then SEA then @MIN (6.5 game lead in WC over SEA)
SEA – @CIN then @TB then home vs LAA (o.5 game lead in WC over TOR)
TOR – @OAK then home vs KC and TEX (0.5 game lead in WC over TEX)
TEX – Home vs HOU and OAK then @TOR (4.5 game lead in WC over BOS)
Dash for 5th in the AL East
BOS – @TB then home vs BAL and NYY (2.5 game lead on NYY)
NYY – @DET then home vs MIL then @BOS
The conclusions of the current series and the next two series could lock in some results early. BAL and HOU by the end of the third series should be near clinching their divisions while TB and TOR should be leading SEA and TEX who will compete for the last wildcard spot. NYY will likely take over the 4th spot in the division.
Fantastic post! Thank you for the time and effort putting that together, it’s much appreciated by all of us.
I have a question for everyone not pertaining to this article. Obviously DD was let go. How do you think that went down? Was ownership upset that the team he assembled was not performing to their expectations? Could it have been we have guys coming up for contracts and you need to find a less expensive alternative? We are looking to cut some costs . He wasn’t onboard and got the axe? Just curious.
B dog 351 DD’s firing was triggered by several events.
1 – In 2018 while winning the championship Cora being the deviant that he is chose to build a direct relationship with Henry (possibly the entire ownership group) and circumnavigate DD giving him a sense of power. Cora confided in the owners about the Video Room activities and knowing Cora he probably took full credit for it despite it being the video guys solution that Cora simply approved. When it all came out later the commissioner wanted names of people who knew so ownership sent the word out to those who talked to the Athletic to recant their stories, the players were warned by Cora to say nothing and Cora told ownership he would keep his mouth closed if they promised him a job after he served his incredibly inadequate suspension. Thus, the Cora rehiring a year later.
2 – DD only cared about winning and he had a very detailed plan that included resigning Mookie prior to the 2020 season for fair market value.. Both ownership and DD knew BOS Luxury Tax cash flow issues were NOT significant because BOS made windfall profits with the 2018 championship so the issue came down to ownership pulling the same crap they have always pulled insisting on a home town discount. That put DD in a tough position because he knew Mookie was critical to the team winning going forward. It didn’t help when Mookie sat down with ownership and complained about their treatment of minority players, specifically his buddy Price. This further entrenched the ownership group against Mookie so they fired DD to get a PATSY in as GM. A guy who would be so insecure in the industry that he would be a puppet for their demands regardless of how badly they hurt the organization with their rash decisions. Enter doe-eyed Bloom wanting a chance to prove his ridiculous theories on how to build a franchise without superstars and you have the current disaster four years later.
So you can rule out money as the issue with Mookie, you can rule out DD’s spending as why he was fired and you can explain why a twice accused and once convicted CHEATER got rehired when he should have been a piranha to all of baseball.
DD got axed for being given too much credit for the Championship compared to the owners, he got fired for wanting to pay Mookie full market value, he got fired because ownership needed a patsy to divert attention from their issues with diversity, DD got fired because unlike Cora he was NOT part of the inner circle on the 2018 cheating scandal and he couldn’t be trusted by ownership to stay quiet so they paid him to go away and offered Cora his job back after his sentence was concluded.
This really was a tragedy for Red Sox fans. At the time Mookie was given away I declared it would take 5 years to recover from the single move. Four years down the road I feel like I underestimated the impact. It’s not just the loss of talent in RF it’s also the loss of talent at the GM spot that has cost us four years that will grow until Bloom is replaced with a qualified GM to fix what Bloom has torn down.
Good analysis but the Red Sox are done. They needed help at the deadline and Bloom once again disappointed and said they were underdogs. That must have gone over so well in the locker room after he said that. All Bloom does is pickup waiver wire released players. He never saw a guy with a high ERA that he did not like. I cannot believe Henry is happy with the progress of this team especially defensively and not making the playoffs again.
Sinister Joe – This discussion was outstanding with many contributors that didn’t necessarily agree but presented their perspectives. Then there was another contributor = NAMELY YOU who wrote the following two comments:
Sinister_joe
You wrote it again so you could write in all caps for a bit?
Sinister_joe
Blocking that ridiculous troll makes this place way better
All this great discussion and all you can do is provide troll comments that address your thoughts on other contributors not the topic being discussed at length. Aren’t you embarrassed by your behavior? You should be.
If you are unhappy with your life don’t take it out on others and if you don’t agree with what someone else writes then write an intelligent reponse not a simple minded insult. It makes you look very petty!
And if you don’t want to read long discussions put the people on mute because you can’t block them, you can only ignore them and I for one would love for you to mute me so I don’t have to read your embarrassing insults and feel sorry for you.
This is all Bloom dies is pick up waiver wire throw always. He has to go. This team had pitching issues all year and he did nothing at the waiver wire to pick up help. Story is another disaster of a pickup. This team was close at the trade deadline and Bloom went into the cheap mode again. He runs this team like we are a pauper baseball market. The team looks terrible defensively. We need a real GM who is not afraid to trade prospects and not hang onto them like they are gold.
With a 72-70 record and 30 games remaining the Red Sox are once again providing a sub standard performance for the MLB franchise with the most rings this century.
It’s no mystery why.
Bad decisions beginning in 2018 when they hired Cora, further bad decisions when they fired Dombrowski and one last terrible decision to hire Bloom have left us feeling more like the Royals or the Pirates than one of the greatest franchises in baseball.
We’ve watched Devers butcher defense since 2017 and loyal fans always suggest he’s either getting better or he’s not that bad but he is THAT BAD and hoping for change isn’t going to actually create change. The same is true about the reign of Cora and Bloom. These two guys have made far more errors than Devers and yet they remain as fixtures in Boston.
Fans need to storm the castle and wake ownership after a four year nap and get some new resources in place to fix what has been broken during the last four years. A set of loyal fans that endured hard times for decades should not have to go from 104 games over .500 in four years to a couple of games over .500 the next four years. Not when you are a big market team!!. That’s dereliction of duty by the owners.
The nap has to end and change needs to occur. The “give em 3 years” ended a year ago without any success and now after 4 years we simply keep hearing the same old speeches of how things will get better and the only reason for optimism is the ascension of farm players that were under rated now proving themselves. Farm players inherited by Bloom not procured by Bloom.
Lets take the win of having excellent farm players ascending to the majors and fire Bloom and Cora and get experienced successful people to replace them and fix all the holes created by Bloom. It’s time to act so pull out the pink slips and lets create a brighter future!!