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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 13, 2024 8:59:36 GMT -5
mrp... Boston is just as advertised.. they had a good opening road trip due to the low quality of competition, nothing they did well... the Baltimore series made it very clear this is going to be a long season.
It seems they don't want to move rafela to short because they want to make sure he stays a great CF.. though with David Hamilton making an error literally every game perhaps that will change. It's bad when a post game show from early April focuses on what the Double A prospects are doing (as it did last night)
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Apr 13, 2024 11:15:25 GMT -5
mrp... Boston is just as advertised.. they had a good opening road trip due to the low quality of competition, nothing they did well... the Baltimore series made it very clear this is going to be a long season. It seems they don't want to move rafela to short because they want to make sure he stays a great CF.. though with David Hamilton making an error literally every game perhaps that will change. It's bad when a post game show from early April focuses on what the Double A prospects are doing (as it did last night) I think the desire to keep Rafe in center is more about allowing his offense to continue to develop rather than his defensive ability in CF. He is a very good defender, and projects as an elite defender in CF, which has become his natural position despite having played middle infield a fair bit. But his bat is a work in progress and developing that was the emphasis in spring training. He has the work ethic, and he showed some progress having a good (not great) spring at the plate. But that's what they want his focus to be on, getting more consistent at the plate and improving his pitch recognition. IF you take him out of his natural position, put him at short, where he has to focus on reacclimatizing to that position and the added pressure of replacing Story, that is going to distract him from his focus on developing his plate presence and possibly hurt his long term development as a hitter. They've committed to him long terms and they did so knowing he was making progress as a hitter, but to try to make him make the adjustments back to middle infield on a long term basis for this season while also asking him to continue to focus all his efforts to improve as a hitter and all the pressure that comes with that is not going to do him, or the organization, any good in the long term. And this season is (and never was going to be) one that results in a long playoff run, so do you put him at SS with all the incumbent risks in that move, to try to salvage an already lost season to placate some vocal fans, or do you provide him with an opportunity to grow as a player who can be a key contributor in the long term. Make no mistake, signing Montgomery or Snell (or both) was not going to move the needle on this team this season. Both are supplemental players not players who can be the foundation to raise up a franchise. Yamamota could be that kind of player and Ohtani is that player, but neither of them were ever realistically coming to Boston, even if Boston had outbid everyone else by a country mile in pursuing them. Sox fans have to get over the idea that Fenway is a destination landing for free agents-and that has nothing to do with anything ownership has done since '03 and a lot to do with the environment in Boston created, aided, and abetted by previous owners and the Boston fanbase, the restrictions of the market (it's a small market stadium in a big market city despite Fenway's charms) and the greater opportunities to earn revenue via endorsements and such that increase the value of coming to certain teams (and Boston is not one of those who benefit from that). You can try to spend big, but you can't spend big if players aren't willing to take your money, largely because it's not a comfortable place to play and the owners can't cover the gap of earning potential between Boston and other markets like NY, LA and Chicago that can sometimes as much as double the earnings of a player beyond what the team is paying them, more so for international players because those cities play better in the international market than Boston does as well. Because of those limitations, Boston has had to try to build internally and through trades, and living with the second tier of free agents as a ceiling for the franchise. Changing ownership or spending more is going to do absolutely nothing to change that equation. Despite all that, this ownership and their front office has found a way to build more championship teams than any of those other franchises with the inherent advantages of their market. But it's a what have you done lately world, and they have not managed to do so in 6 years. And for modern Sox fans, six years of no championships in an eternity so they are calling for ownerships head. New owners can come in, they're not going to do any better even if the money flows form them like water. In fact, chances are they will do a fair bit worse. The Sox are not a good team this year. Full stop. There were no free agents available on the market this past offseason that they had a realistic chance of signing who was going to be able to change that. There was more they could have done for sure, but they were not going to build a championship team through free agency or trades this offseason. Wasn't happening no matter what they did and no matter what Sox fans believed. They do however, have some pieces from which a championship caliber team (championships are never guaranteed no matter how good your team is, ask the Dodgers) could be built. They are not going to get over that hump through free agency though, no matter how much they spend. They need to further develop the pieces they have, develop more pieces form their system, and leverage some of those developing pieces in trades to get the pieces they cannot develop themselves. Free agency will only be able to fill 1 or maybe 2 short term needs at most. In this era of tanking, focusing on drafting and developing talent internally, and small market (and some bigger market) teams identifying and signing their talent to extensions early in their career (like the Sox did with Bello and Rafe), good players will not be reaching free agency until they are past their prime, where you will pay for what they have already done rather than what they can do for your team, and the odds of big money deal going sour because of injury (see Sale and Story) are much greater. This means free agent pools will be older and shallower as the years go by. You might get a bullpen arm, a mid-rotation starter, a very good hitter, etc, but true difference makers are going to be fewer, those that are free agents will be older with more wear and tear already on their bodies and on the decline side of their career arc, and they will be looking for the big payoff not just in the salary form their contract, but the earning potential provided by the market as a whole so the realistic pool of teams to land them is much smaller. That is the reality of MLB right now and the reality the Sox have to operate in, and one Sox fans largely refuse to recognize. This team is not good right now. Ownership spending more might chip away at the edges of that, provide them 5 or so more wins, but it's not going to solve the core of that through free agency. And their ability to trade was hampered for a few seasons because they laid the cupboards bare of true prospects under Dombrowski to reach the championship plateau. All teams deal with the cycle. Some team use their advantages and keep spending (hello Mets and Dodgers) but aside from the COVID shortened season, not one of those big spenders has gotten that World Series trophy. In fact, most of them have been a hot mess with injuries, underperformance, and even PED suspensions undermining their efforts to buy a championship. But the teams that know how to navigate the landscape, to identify and develop talent internally, to make successful targeted trades parlaying some of their assets into better future pieces, and selectively playing the free agent market to fill in a gpa here and there (but not expecting to create a championship team solely through free agency) have been the teams that reach the championship plateau and become/remain perennially contenders in the mix nearly every season. Some teams had to tank for a number of years to create a window for themselves (see Houston, Baltimore and more) and now stand in a position to play the trade and free agent game to their benefit. The Sox haven't really done that despite the bad seasons. Their fanbase won't accept that strategy, but in reality, almost every field has to be rotated with a fallow period to remain fertile and productive. The blueprint for success for MLB is changing. Teams aren't approaching things, especially free agency, the way they used. A lot of folks are out of step with the new reality (See Scott Boras or many Red Sox fans) expecting things to operate the way they used to not the way they actually do. None of that changes the Sox are not a good team this year. But even if they did everything Sox fans think they should have in this off-season, they weren't going to be. In the current make up of the AL East, you need to be a 95+ win team to contend for the division title. And there are going to be as many as 4 90 win teams total in the division and likely 2-3 more from the other AL divisions. 90 wins could leave you on the outside looking n come the post-season unless you're the team that wins the AL Central (an 85-90 win team could do that). What moves that the Sox could have made this offseason would have resulted in a 20+ win improvement needed for them to be near the top of that list of 90 win teams? Even Ohtani + Yamamoto is not a 20+ win improvement. The only way you get that kind of improvement is if every player you have takes a step up at the same time. It ain't happening with this group, but if some of the players step up, it could create a foundation to build from for future seasons. But it wasn't even happening for this season. And unfortunately for the Sox, I still don't think they have enough to build from, and I think one of the pieces they are depending on has already peaked and is on his way to his decline (Devers) but they are tied to a long term deal on him that will likely become an albatross for them in a season or two when the rest of the pieces they have might be ready. But even if Story were healthy and Gilotto had been available, their ceiling was going to be in the 80-85 win category. If they signed Snell and/or Montgomery, 87 wins, and both they might have gotten to 90, maybe, assuming everyone else had a good season and they were 100% injury free all season. And that still might not have been enough to get them to play in October let alone be a realistic contender. And as I have said, Ohtani & Yamamoto were never realistically in the cards, but had they managed both, maybe 92-93 wins is the ceiling, which means they're still likely in the Wild Card race but not winning the AL East and that win total still doesn't guarantee a wild card spot, only puts them in the running for one. And in the long run, the only difference between a 78 win season and an 86 win season is a worse draft slot the next year (and a whole bunch of fans whining and calling for ownership's heads). Is that realistically worth spending hundreds of millions of dollars on? That money would be better spent on scouting and player development than on aging veterans who will be far past their prime when the team can realistically contend to be a 95+ win team again. -M -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 13, 2024 17:15:56 GMT -5
Before Gialito got hurt I think one more starter MAY have been the difference.... but definitely not now. The new extra playoffs you just have to get in and have a hot streak (Like Arizona did). I do think the lack of moves in the off season will show itself in attendance and ratings this year, as well as the general 'buzz' the team gets. It suspect it'll be pretty ugly if we get to July and the team is 10 games under .500 (the Celtics and Bruins won't be taking attention then)
The more I see of Rafela the more he reminds me of Jackie Bradley (who I love) but definitely not a huge difference maker.
It seems to me the plan is to compete in 2026 when their prospects hopefully all come in.
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Apr 13, 2024 21:39:30 GMT -5
Congrats to the Denver Pioneers for beating my alma mater Boston College to win the NCAA Hockey Championship for a record setting 10th time (surpassing Michigan's 8).
-M
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Apr 15, 2024 9:38:41 GMT -5
Happy Jackie Robinson Day!
-M
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 15, 2024 9:57:50 GMT -5
Happy Jackie Robinson Day! -M And to all with ties to Maine and Massachusetts, Happy Patriots' Day! And RIP to Martin Richard, who would have turned 20 this June. "No more hurting people. Peace."
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Apr 22, 2024 21:41:04 GMT -5
Cue up the Brass Bonanza tonight. The former Whalers come back from a 3-0 deficit with 2 goals 10 seconds apart in the 3rd period to tie and take the lead and then add an empty netter to go up 2-0 on the Isles in their playoff series. The Islanders had more game misconducts than shots on goal in the 3rd period.
-M
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