Red Sox/MLB 2021 Hot Stove III - Jackie Bradley Jr. Signs w/ Brewers

[DKH]

Or they could have kept Benny and still resigned JBJ. What's better? Or trade Benny but for MLB players instead and then resign JBJ. Still better for the big squad versus players who may or may not ever make it to the show, no?

They want a spot for Duran

my feeling is they soured on Benintendi for whatever

guess Bloom thoughts

sign Bradley CF 1-3 years

OF
Verdugo RF
Bradley CF
Renfroe LF
Duran on way

gets 3 or 4 prospects

 

[EvilDead]

Do you know what the American League's combined batting average was in 2020?

It was .243.

Twenty years ago, it was .276.

EVERYONE is trying to build a beer league softball team full of one-dimensional power hitters.

And I hate it. I want the sport of baseball back.

 

[LSCII]

They want a spot for Duran

my feeling is they soured on Benintendi for whatever

guess Bloom thoughts

sign Bradley CF 1-3 years

OF
Verdugo RF
Bradley CF
Renfroe LF
Duran on way

gets 3 or 4 prospects

Sure but those prospects are likely to be low level guys that will turn into what, exactly? And really, they're worried about Duran when he's how far away from making it? And even if he does make it to the big leagues, how long before he's an impact player, if ever? Everyone in the world is in love with prospects and futures, but the sheer volume of them that never pan out is far greater than those that do. While nobody here would ever confuse me for a Benintendi fan (since I've been advocating that they trade him for 2-3 years now) they gave up the best part of this deal and paid nearly half his salary on top of it and for what kind of return? A 26 year old prospect with power that can't actually hit MLB pitching, a middling pitching prospect, and 3 players to be named. That's a lot of nickels for a dollar, no?

 

[KrejciMVP]

I love Red Sox made this move right after brady won. Fans and media are mad and they can take it out on this FO trying to sell us a losing non competing team.

 

[LSCII]

And I hate it. I want the sport of baseball back.

It’s what analytics has done to the sport. It’s all launch angles and home runs or strikeouts now. And for pitching it’s arm slots and time between pitches. It’s a garbage product.

 

[EvilDead]

It’s what analytics has done to the sport. It’s all launch angles and home runs or strikeouts now. And for pitching it’s arm slots and time between pitches. It’s a garbage product.

And the sad truth is that analytics are coming for other sports to ruin them too with the most prominent being basketball. The difference is that NBA players, current and former alike, speak up about it being terrible and get them to try and change it so that it isn't a dunk and 3 point contest. It also helps that football and hockey are wildly unpredictable so analytics go out the f***ing window.

 

[DKH]

Sure but those prospects are likely to be low level guys that will turn into what, exactly? And really, they're worried about Duran when he's how far away from making it? And even if he does make it to the big leagues, how long before he's an impact player, if ever? Everyone in the world is in love with prospects and futures, but the sheer volume of them that never pan out is far greater than those that do. While nobody here would ever confuse me for a Benintendi fan (since I've been advocating that they trade him for 2-3 years now) they gave up the best part of this deal and paid nearly half his salary on top of it and for what kind of return? A 26 year old prospect with power that can't actually hit MLB pitching, a middling pitching prospect, and 3 players to be named. That's a lot of nickels for a dollar, no?

It will be interesting to see how it turns out

One thing I’m confident about is Bloom won’t be giving Rusney Castillo $72 M, Sandoval $85 M, Hanley $100 M, Mike Cameron $20 M

that alone has me very happy with Bloom

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

Why can’t fans have an ounce of patience on anything? Who knows if Bloom’s plan will work but the Red Sox have been extremely successful as a franchise. They have done well enough to buy them some time to see how Bloom handles it. He’s been in charge for one season.

 

[Johnnyduke]

World Series back on

 

[DKH]

It’s what analytics has done to the sport. It’s all launch angles and home runs or strikeouts now. And for pitching it’s arm slots and time between pitches. It’s a garbage product.

Ball being tweaked - core adjusted and MLB physicists probably had no problem taking 25 feet of travel distance off ball

bye bye launch angle

 

[LSCII]

Why can’t fans have an ounce of patience on anything? Who knows if Bloom’s plan will work but the Red Sox have been extremely successful as a franchise. They have done well enough to buy them some time to see how Bloom handles it. He’s been in charge for one season.

That’s not how big markets in baseball work. You’re expected to compete every year because of the massive money advantage you have over 90% of the league. There is no such thing as a throw away year or years. And that’s just reality. If they can’t or won’t do what it takes, sell the team to someone that will.

 

[McGarnagle]

is that the popular consensus up there? Top 3 player in baseball for Verdugo and a prospect?

Is what it is at this point, but it sounds more like you guys trying to convince yourselves you're ok with trading players entering their prime instead of paying them, hoping one day you'll develop players just like them.

60 games of a top 3 player in baseball in his UFA walk year when our starting rotation was mangled by injuries and our manager was suspended for a season plus David Price's contract when we needed to clear luxury tax salary for a 24 year old OF who hits over .300 with plus defense at all three OF positions, a blue chip SS/2B prospect, and a lottery ticket catching prospect. Yes.

It's not like they traded a long-term signed Joe Thornton for Wayne Primeau here. It's a player who was adamant he was going to test the free agent market at the end of the year and was probably going to leave anyway in a season that the team wasn't going to compete. This sets the Sox up for 2022-2025 much better than just playing through the useless 2020 season and getting a #49 overall draft pick in compensation from the Dodgers in the 2021 draft.

 

[Chevalier du Clavier]

It will be interesting to see how it turns out

One thing I’m confident about is Bloom won’t be giving Rusney Castillo $72 M, Sandoval $85 M, Hanley $100 M, Mike Cameron $20 M

that alone has me very happy with Bloom

Bloom isn’t the concern.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

That’s not how big markets in baseball work. You’re expected to compete every year because of the massive money advantage you have over 90% of the league. There is no such thing as a throw away year or years. And that’s just reality. If they can’t or won’t do what it takes, sell the team to someone that will.

Would you take this option:

5 years of shit
Contender for 15-20

Shitty start
Stable contender for long haul

 

[DKH]

Bloom isn’t the concern.

If it’s ownership the only concern is how they spend money

The Current State of 2021 Team Payrolls

their sponsors and season ticket holders will have a voice

In 17 years they have spent badly but they spent - they are in top 5 in salaries last 17 years and have been number one several times

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

If it’s ownership the only concern is how they spend money

their sponsors and season ticket holders will have a voice

In 17 years they have spent badly but they spent - they are in top 5 in salaries last 17 years and have been number one several times

Concern with ownership is whether they can allow Bloom to complete his plan and not make him half ass it after a few poor seasons.

You hired Dombrowski. You benefited from his risky “all in” management and won a WS with it. You now have to deal with the consequences of having no farm system and struggling to compete without spending money. It’s not a stable scheme for long term success. Imagine if they didn’t win? Ouch.

 

[McGarnagle]

That’s not how big markets in baseball work. You’re expected to compete every year because of the massive money advantage you have over 90% of the league. There is no such thing as a throw away year or years. And that’s just reality. If they can’t or won’t do what it takes, sell the team to someone that will.

I understand your frustration, and a lot of the current difficulties are them paying for the mistakes and mismanagement of 2014-2016 like Rusney, Hanley, Sandoval, and Price, not to mention the Sale contract extension in 2018. That is all on ownership.

But, you also have to understand that it's not 2003 anymore and the CBA has been built to try to mitigate the gap between the big markets and others. The luxury tax goes to 50% after 2 seasons of surpassing the soft cap, the Yankees had to pay $22 million in tax last year, that's the same amount that Masahiro Tanaka made, it's like having another #2 in your rotation. Additionally, the compensation for signing free agents has also been increased a lot, costing higher draft slots than ever and dipping into your international signing bonus pool as well. It's just very difficult to maintain a WS contending team every year over the long run and have financial stability.

 

[Chevalier du Clavier]

If it’s ownership the only concern is how they spend money

The Current State of 2021 Team Payrolls

their sponsors and season ticket holders will have a voice

In 17 years they have spent badly but they spent - they are in top 5 in salaries last 17 years and have been number one several times

What @BruinsFanSince94 said.

 

[N o o d l e s]

I’d be curious to see this list. KC has a big group of interesting young pitchers

 

[KrejciMVP]

Would you take this option:

5 years of shit
Contender for 15-20

Shitty start
Stable contender for long haul

Where did you get this model? 5 years of being bad guarantees 20 years of contending? How about just make smart decisions, sign proven players that produce and avoid giving out lemon contracts.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

Where did you get this model? 5 years of being bad guarantees 20 years of contending? How about just make smart decisions, sign proven players that produce and avoid giving out lemon contracts.

I’m saying if you could look into the future, would you take that scenario or the broader scenario of sucking for a bit but guaranteeing consistent success. Don’t take the number so literal for it.

how about letting Bloom get there after building the farm system. It’s a rebuild. Let it happen.

 

[KrejciMVP]

I’m saying if you could look into the future, would you take that scenario or the broader scenario of sucking for a bit but guaranteeing consistent success. Don’t take the number so literal for it.

how about letting Bloom get there after building the farm system. It’s a rebuild. Let it happen.

You're selling blind faith, but I get it but being bad for 5 years you're just as likely to be bad for another 5 years than being a contender. If Bloom made a splash and brought in a generational player like Manny I'd definitely be excited

 

[N o o d l e s]

Given Friedman’s success in LA, I’m willing to give Bloom a year or two to what he pulls off. Any more than that is where it starts to get too long. I understand plans can take a while to unfold but with the money he should have available it should be expedited. Bottom line is we need Downs and Casas to hit.

 

[wintersej]

It’s what analytics has done to the sport. It’s all launch angles and home runs or strikeouts now. And for pitching it’s arm slots and time between pitches. It’s a garbage product.

Lower the mound and deaden the balls.

 

[N o o d l e s]

For the record on Franchy, the most AB he’s ever gotten in a single season is 139. That’s a tiny sample size. Now we can argue what the reasons are for that, but for a player with the tools he has I’d like to see him get 350+ AB, especially playing his home games at Fenway, to get a real sense of his production