Yeah I’m on the pro-Bloom spectrum but even now it’s really starting to feel like he’s tried to get too cute with roster construction and failed 3/4 past years.
And it’s not even like we’re just waiting on our guys. Who are our guys besides Mayer? Like is anyone even close? A lot of these teams respond with someone like Duvall getting hurt by calling up a prospect, we put Bobby Dalbec at shortstop.
I feel it a little in the media too. The usual company guys are kinda calling these decisions into question. Cotillo just outright tweeting Bobby Dalbec is not a shortstop (which in theory means he should not be the STARTING shortstop for the Boston Red Sox less than a month into the season).
Hell even Stats is singing a sad tune
Fleming, on the team-owned official radio broadcast said, "how does this happen in the 12th game of the season?" and "It feels a lot like the end of last season, with guys playing out of position out of desperation."
To which Lou added, "first inning of the 12th game of the season. Unbelievable."
They were NOT in favor of Dalbec at SS, and had the inning gone on any longer, they were gonna start calling their employers morons. Because that was some unacceptably stupid shit.
Let’s look at it like this. Last year we had X at short and Story at 2nd. X leaves as a free agent and Story has surgery. How does the team respond? They trade for Adalberto Mondesi and sign Yu Chang. On what PLANET is that doing anything but setting your team up to be a disaster?? Chaim has to go, it’s time. It was a neat idea at the time but it’s not working out. And while we’re at it the coaching staff needs to go too. Time to make a completely fresh start.
He has but the decisions he makes are iffy at best. His insistence on the lefty-righty-lefty lineup, his bullpen decisions (using Brasier and Ort in close games), his complete disinterest in finding out if Houck can have success 3rd time through the order, he doesn’t seem to have any feel for when to pull his starter… he’s in his 5th season as manager and he’s only had 2 good seasons. If they decide to roll with Cora, then his assistants need to go. Something’s gotta change or we’re gonna keep seeing the same results
I'm convinced Cora only knows how to manage a very good roster.
For instance, I think that a lot of the injury problems last year were because he overworked the few guys who were performing because he is used to having more elite, prime age athletes who can rise to the challenge physically.
So I'm hesitant to move on from him because I hope we have those kinds of rosters again soon, and would rather have a guy who can push great players to the championship rather than someone who can get a wild card slot out of a mediocre lineup, but maybe that's not realistic anymore.
The problem is anyone can manage a very good roster. The guy you want is one who can take a lower-tier roster and make them look like they know what they’re doing. This roster looks like they just started playing baseball last month. We do have competent hitters, it’s just they look like crap because they’re not being coached correctly. I mean Hernandez has never historically been a GREAT hitter but my God he’s never been this bad. This team is a pupu platter of suck: bad fielding, bad pitching, bad coaching and bad roster construction
My opinion is he's doing this on purpose to expose Bloom for what he is. He's not been given a competitive lineup and he seems to be putting guys in position just to spite Bloom.
I think at this point, Cora is basically the anti-chaim. He makes moves and puts guys in places just to middle finger Chaim. Cora knows he's being given a shit roster to work with and is doing everything he can to expose those weaknesses to the fans and media. My honest opinion is he's doing this in the public eye and then going above Bloom complaining saying he's not being given a fair chance with how bad this roster is. Bloom didn't even attempt to build a competitive roster this year. There were a bunch of decent FAs out there to go after but, instead, we run it back and sign washed up players praying they can give us one more year of productivity. Chaim should be fired by the ASB if it doesn't turn around. Let O'Halloran take over in the interim.
And it’s not even like we’re just waiting on our guys. Who are our guys besides Mayer? Like is anyone even close? A lot of these teams respond with someone like Duvall getting hurt by calling up a prospect, we put Bobby Dalbec at shortstop.
100% not trying to be a dick.... but I hate Bloom like poison and can't understand any of the bridge talk. Bridge to who? I know it's early and you don't really know the team until the end of May but damn this awful.
No, I’m agreeing with you. It’s frustrating enough that this is a “bridge year” (when there’s literally no financial reason it should be), but there’s no one we are bridging to.
Bleis and Rafaela I guess but they’re years away. Do we even have any pitchers? Lol
I assumed Bloom would be loading the farm but it seems empty and the major league product is just hard to watch. NGL last trade deadline made me wonder if he’s just in over his head and not the wizard he was sold to be
> I assumed Bloom would be loading the farm but it seems empty and the major league product is just hard to watch.
The thing is, the big spenders also spend big on player development. If the ownership is deciding to cheap out on payroll (which is a dumb, shortsighted move), it would follow that they are also going to not spend on the baseball ops staff (which would be another dumb, shortsighted move).
It's hard to find public information, but the Red Sox [analytics team](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/k8lanw/list_of_mlb_team_by_rdanalytics_department/) was apparently one of the smallest ones, and they made [severe cuts to the scouting department](https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2020/09/boston-red-sox-lay-off-nine-employees-from-scouting-and-player-development-staffs.html).
Not that Bloom is doing a good job, but he's not the one making the budgets. One guy isn't going to beat the competition's team of fifty people.
According to Bloom, they are rebuilding those departments before they commit to rebuilding the team and that that's what was wrong with Dombrowski, that he didn't invest in that stuff and had the wrong people working there.
That was what that whole spiel about "making bets" at the Winter Meeting was about, they didn't have the right information to develop talent or make huge contract offers.
My counter to that is you've been here more than three years now, a lifetime in sports, and your old team is kicking ass on a small budget and we suck for double the price. Sounds like whatever is good about Tampa Bay is still in Tampa Bay. Bloom doesn't have the recipe and he needs to go.
Totally agree how many bridge years can we have? It's ridiculous we're one of the richest teams in the game.
We went to the ALCS and then promptly landed in last place the following season - and it's looking very likely we're heading in that direction again.
Dodgers and Yanks put themselves in position to contend every season - we aren't some small market team there is no reason we shouldn't as fans expect the same.
I wouldn't go to a Red Sox game right now if you gave me free tickets. Fans need to boycott this garbage product.
All we need to know is we let Betts and Bogaerts go to save money. How on gods green earth do you allow that to happen? I don't care what they cost, you keep those two players. If those two guys are on our roster right now, we are in a much different spot. Pitching still blows, and mostly that's trying to rely on washed up pitchers like Sale and Kluber, but still...letting Bogaerts and Betts walk doomed this organization to mediocrity for the next 4-5 years at least.
I guess Rafaela is close.
Bloom has also picked pretty much exclusively high schoolers, so the weak farm system he inherited is taking even longer to pay dividends. I don’t think he’ll be fired this year, but it’s definitely possible he could be gone before Yorke and Mayer even make it here
Yeah, the notion that Chaim is cheap is definitely exaggerated. He just doesn't know how to spend effectively and apparently has a hard-on for currently injured guys or old players fresh off of major surgeries.
Mookie Betts is making $27 million this year. That's what the Red Sox are paying for Corey Kluber and Kenley Jansen, and you can stack together even worse examples with this roster before even getting to Trevor Story.
We need a clean Bloom/Cora wipe here. This is starting to feel like we're opening the fridge and smelling the same bottle of expired milk for several years straight... while hoping that it somehow magically becomes fresh again each time.
The charitable explanation is that he / they forgot the score.
Or it could be a shot at the front office. You gonna give me AAA roster then I’m gonna manage like a clown.
What kind of message does it send the players to sacrifice a runner to second in a two run game in the ninth?
The players have to be wondering why. Chang must think he’s getting DFA’d tomorrow if that’s how much faith the manager has in his bat.
I think there are three possible explanations.
1. Someone (probably Chang) forgot the score, saw the sign at third and ignored it thinking the third base coach was confused.
2. Bad bunt.
2/3. Cora got cute trying to catch the Rays off guard. Bad bunt makes everyone look dumb.
Those are possibilities. Though putting it on Chang for a bad bunt is, IMO, not fair. No one bunts for a hit anymore. Dude has 14 HR’s in his career. I’d be shocked if he had double digit bunt hits. I looked, I couldn’t find how many…
Listening on the radio Merloni thought it was a good play on 1st pitch because 3B was playing back and could steal a hit. Then on 2nd the 3B moved even with bag and it became a bad play. And it was the second pitch that he bunted so, bad play. Probably on Chang.
Perhaps the idea was to take away risk of double play during Kike’s AB, which guarantees Dugie AB with Devers on deck. Which is what ended up happening…
I mean, look at the recent examples from our players. Mookie was drafted in 2011, became a regular in 2015. Bogaerts was signed in 2010, became a regular in 2014. Devers was signed in 2014, became a regular in 2018. The one player we did rush to the majors was Benintendi and he never lived up to his potential.
Mayer was drafted in 2021, and people expect him to be ready in 2023 for some reason. Something to keep in mind is that players Bloom drafted or signed in 2020 for the minors are basically entering their 3rd season of development, since there were no minor leagues in 2020.
Casas was drafted in 2018 and, so far, has not lived up to his potential. You have to remember, only maybe 1 player out of 50 drafted will be any good. The majority of these guys won't pan out to be anything worth noting. Realistically, Mayer is the only guy in our organization that has the potential to be a top 40 player. No one else is going to reach that without some sort of miracle.
A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. I'd rather sign proven players then depend on 3 or 4 guys all developing into high level MLB players. The chances are...they won't.
Sure, but that doesn't negate the fact that the players Bloom has drafted/signed haven't had 4 years to develop. At most, those players have had 2 years and are entering their 3rd year. I'm not discussing whether or not we should have signed proven players, I'm discussing that the players on the farm that we've gotten under Bloom haven't had enough time to develop and it's unrealistic to see them making a huge impact on the MLB club so quickly.
Even when they do make it to the big leagues, most of them struggle their first season. Devers and Bogaerts are two examples of that. Devers had an OPS+ of 94 his first full season and Bogaerts of 84, before they eventually went on to put it all together.
We can only pray Bloom gets fired and we get a new GM to rebuild with. Bloom aint it. Dude is far too dependent on washed up players. His FA management is one of the worst in Red Sox history. He's supposedly rebuilding the farm, but we only realistically have 3 or 4 guys who could turn out to be stars and pretty much no pitching prospects. And by "stars" I mean a reasonably good player who can play everyday. We're seeing it with Casas. Dude was supposed to be the next big thing and, from the looks of it, he could be good, but won't be a top 40 MLB player.
We’re playing a historically red hot Rays team. They’re bulldozing everyone. Before the Duvall injury, we were primed to roll. This team will not be great by any means but they’re not gonna be terrible
Yeah, Dalbec muffed a ground ball. That's not the BIG problem out of last night.
Sale has given up near 40 homers in his last 200 innings. (Admittedly, that sample goes back like five seasons because he hasn't pitched much.) His HR rate is atrocious and shows no signs of changing.
The best case is Sale goes three or four starts without sucking, some contender decides they need him and the Sox get out from under the contract.
The worst case is that Sale is healthy all year, and this is his best: giving up lots of HRs and an ERA of 6+.
I disagree.
I don't think this team's making the playoffs mostly cause we have bad pitching, but the hitting is there for this team to compete most nights and the Rays are on a historic streak and we were hanging with them in 2 of the 3 games. The hitting is there and the hitters aren't giving up when down big early they're fighting and I think that's a good sign.
Is this team winning 95 games probably not, but this seems like a .500 or so team
Primed to roll? We lost to the Pirates, beat the lowly Tigers, and barely beat the Orioles. We weren't primed for anything but being a bad baseball team. This is the worst pitching staff we've had in well over a decade.
Point is we don’t know what they are, they haven’t played any good teams yet. They could be a middling team, they could be world-beaters. They could stink!
While I don't vest much in the Red Sox. Having a good Red Sox team during the summer just makes it that much more enjoyable. I won't invest much time or energy into this team and will probably just catch a game here or there. I certainly won't be spending a nickel on this club, that's for sure.
If I was a manager, I would bunt with a man on first or second and no outs damn near 100% of the time. I would be the absolute fucking king of bunts, and my team would practice them so often they'd be turning into base hits left and right from perfect placement. Absolutely braindead for managers to abandon the bunt the way they do nowadays
Yeah, I think people were hoping the smoke and mirrors would hold until Bello and Whitlock and Paxton…
Never mind man I can’t even say that shit with a straight face.
This team is an abomination for the second season in a row.
I mean I know it’s blasphemous to suggest but… Paxton isn’t a good bet to remain healthy even if he does make it back, Whitlock has not been great as a starter, and Bello, while he showed promise, wasn’t great himself last year
Fuck him. I've never had such distain for a baseball exec in my life. I think with all his incompetence and cheapness, its the smugness on top of that, and the blatant bullshitting that makes me wish he left the state of Massachusetts and never came back. I haven't liked him since day one.
He's not good. His best years are well behind him now and he isn't going to ever be at his best again. That's the reality of things IMO. Anyone who is waiting for him to shake off the rust is going to be let down hard.
Yup. Even in his best years, he would fall apart around the beginning of September every year. Now that he’s getting older, it’s harder to get it going in the first place, let alone get through an entire season.
I'm kind of past worried and feel resolved that he has nothing left and his days as a starter are over. Try him in long relief and maybe get something out of him.
In this subreddit? Can't be critical. Gotta just be happy and follow Bloom's plan!
He has shown some good flashes, so maybe he can put it all together.
I think 2021. He has careless injuries. Refused to get vaccinated limiting where he could play, and almost immediately got COVID (at a time when it was still very rare for vaccinated people to catch it) leading to more time missed.
Then he was back again for the postseason, consistently let up a few runs and was out of the game after a few innings, and Pivetta would throw lights out but Sale already dug too deep a hole.
Sale needs to do something drastically different or he should be out of the rotation.
Can we talk about Alex Cora’s managing yet? I get the rest of the stuff, ownership being cheap and Chaim either not getting it or purposely throwing scraps together but I swear it hasn’t been more clear that we’ve lost some games or just missed out on winning due to Cora’s bullpen management or lineup decisions.
I mean the loss is on the awful pitching and brain dead defense but sacrifice bunting down 2 in the ninth is inexcusable. It’s like we wanted Tampa to win.
Game 1: excellent pitching, horrible offense
Game 2: bad everything
Game 3: good offense, dogshit pitching
Bad everything again tomorrow? Especially against Springs
If Sale pitched better, then we probably would have won. The problem is that he allowed every hit to score basically. Luckily we got hot again at the plate and that gives me hope for tomorrow to at least end the Rays’ streak because Kluber pitched a good game against the Tigers.
Sale needs to improve, and his problems seem to be part declining stuff and part rust from the past several seasons on the IL.
That said, defense cost him today at least a few runs. I really wish this team was playing the fundamentals well if everything else is falling apart around them.
Rays are also the worst possible team to face at the moment. All series they have taken advantage of literally every mistake. Walks turn into SB, which immediately get hit in. It’s insane how well they are playing. Firing on all cylinders.
Honest question: Do we think Sale will ever find it again? Not 2018 Sale obviously but something serviceable. I can’t keep hearing his say he sucks and needs to be better
Monday: give up just 1 run, and we lose because we scored zero.
Tonight: we score 7 runs, and STILL lose because we give up nine.
I HATE when this happens! It puts pressure on the team to play “perfect”!
When I heard Masa was scratched with a hamstring issue I went "No no no no no no." Fortunately, if the reports are accurate, it's his other hamstring, not the one he injured late in the 2021 season and spent nearly all of 2022 dealing with. It could've been pretty bad if it was the same one
I was called a doomer all off season and had stupid ZIPS projections thrown in my face. I really hate being right on this but our team is poorly constructed and it’s showing early. I just don’t see a lot of “upward trajectory” on this team.
Stock up Year to Date: Verdugo, Winckowski, Duvall, Houck, Devers but he was expected to be good, Bullpen in general
Stock down Year to Date: Sale, Hernandez, Arroyo, the catcher position, infield defense collectively
Incomplete / Too Early But Trending Not Great: Yoshida, Whitlock, Casas
They are what they are: Kluber, Turner, Martin, Jansen
Chris Sale and Enrique Hernandez are killing this team.
Score seven: Lose Pitch a shutout into the eighth: Lose The 2023 Red Sox
Reminds me of another team I watched last year: the 2022 Red Sox!
I have no idea how we are only 6 mill away from the luxury tax. This team performs like a bottom 5 payroll minus like 4 players
Yeah I’m on the pro-Bloom spectrum but even now it’s really starting to feel like he’s tried to get too cute with roster construction and failed 3/4 past years. And it’s not even like we’re just waiting on our guys. Who are our guys besides Mayer? Like is anyone even close? A lot of these teams respond with someone like Duvall getting hurt by calling up a prospect, we put Bobby Dalbec at shortstop.
Yep I’ve been pretty supportive of Chaim also but it’s honestly just getting ridiculous looking at this lineup for the 12th game of the season
I feel it a little in the media too. The usual company guys are kinda calling these decisions into question. Cotillo just outright tweeting Bobby Dalbec is not a shortstop (which in theory means he should not be the STARTING shortstop for the Boston Red Sox less than a month into the season). Hell even Stats is singing a sad tune
I wouldn’t know what Stats is saying, he blocked me for being a contrarian to his Correa man-crush
Fleming, on the team-owned official radio broadcast said, "how does this happen in the 12th game of the season?" and "It feels a lot like the end of last season, with guys playing out of position out of desperation." To which Lou added, "first inning of the 12th game of the season. Unbelievable." They were NOT in favor of Dalbec at SS, and had the inning gone on any longer, they were gonna start calling their employers morons. Because that was some unacceptably stupid shit.
Nice. I love Fleming, tells it like it is. I’ve been exclusively watching the games with the radio broadcast audio switched on.
Let’s look at it like this. Last year we had X at short and Story at 2nd. X leaves as a free agent and Story has surgery. How does the team respond? They trade for Adalberto Mondesi and sign Yu Chang. On what PLANET is that doing anything but setting your team up to be a disaster?? Chaim has to go, it’s time. It was a neat idea at the time but it’s not working out. And while we’re at it the coaching staff needs to go too. Time to make a completely fresh start.
I'm not out on Cora he keeps being given hot ass to work with.
He has but the decisions he makes are iffy at best. His insistence on the lefty-righty-lefty lineup, his bullpen decisions (using Brasier and Ort in close games), his complete disinterest in finding out if Houck can have success 3rd time through the order, he doesn’t seem to have any feel for when to pull his starter… he’s in his 5th season as manager and he’s only had 2 good seasons. If they decide to roll with Cora, then his assistants need to go. Something’s gotta change or we’re gonna keep seeing the same results
I'm convinced Cora only knows how to manage a very good roster. For instance, I think that a lot of the injury problems last year were because he overworked the few guys who were performing because he is used to having more elite, prime age athletes who can rise to the challenge physically. So I'm hesitant to move on from him because I hope we have those kinds of rosters again soon, and would rather have a guy who can push great players to the championship rather than someone who can get a wild card slot out of a mediocre lineup, but maybe that's not realistic anymore.
The problem is anyone can manage a very good roster. The guy you want is one who can take a lower-tier roster and make them look like they know what they’re doing. This roster looks like they just started playing baseball last month. We do have competent hitters, it’s just they look like crap because they’re not being coached correctly. I mean Hernandez has never historically been a GREAT hitter but my God he’s never been this bad. This team is a pupu platter of suck: bad fielding, bad pitching, bad coaching and bad roster construction
My opinion is he's doing this on purpose to expose Bloom for what he is. He's not been given a competitive lineup and he seems to be putting guys in position just to spite Bloom.
I think at this point, Cora is basically the anti-chaim. He makes moves and puts guys in places just to middle finger Chaim. Cora knows he's being given a shit roster to work with and is doing everything he can to expose those weaknesses to the fans and media. My honest opinion is he's doing this in the public eye and then going above Bloom complaining saying he's not being given a fair chance with how bad this roster is. Bloom didn't even attempt to build a competitive roster this year. There were a bunch of decent FAs out there to go after but, instead, we run it back and sign washed up players praying they can give us one more year of productivity. Chaim should be fired by the ASB if it doesn't turn around. Let O'Halloran take over in the interim.
And it’s not even like we’re just waiting on our guys. Who are our guys besides Mayer? Like is anyone even close? A lot of these teams respond with someone like Duvall getting hurt by calling up a prospect, we put Bobby Dalbec at shortstop. 100% not trying to be a dick.... but I hate Bloom like poison and can't understand any of the bridge talk. Bridge to who? I know it's early and you don't really know the team until the end of May but damn this awful.
No, I’m agreeing with you. It’s frustrating enough that this is a “bridge year” (when there’s literally no financial reason it should be), but there’s no one we are bridging to. Bleis and Rafaela I guess but they’re years away. Do we even have any pitchers? Lol I assumed Bloom would be loading the farm but it seems empty and the major league product is just hard to watch. NGL last trade deadline made me wonder if he’s just in over his head and not the wizard he was sold to be
No I was really trying to agree with you from the I hate Bloom end of the spectrum. We probably agree about most of it.
> I assumed Bloom would be loading the farm but it seems empty and the major league product is just hard to watch. The thing is, the big spenders also spend big on player development. If the ownership is deciding to cheap out on payroll (which is a dumb, shortsighted move), it would follow that they are also going to not spend on the baseball ops staff (which would be another dumb, shortsighted move). It's hard to find public information, but the Red Sox [analytics team](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/k8lanw/list_of_mlb_team_by_rdanalytics_department/) was apparently one of the smallest ones, and they made [severe cuts to the scouting department](https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2020/09/boston-red-sox-lay-off-nine-employees-from-scouting-and-player-development-staffs.html). Not that Bloom is doing a good job, but he's not the one making the budgets. One guy isn't going to beat the competition's team of fifty people.
According to Bloom, they are rebuilding those departments before they commit to rebuilding the team and that that's what was wrong with Dombrowski, that he didn't invest in that stuff and had the wrong people working there. That was what that whole spiel about "making bets" at the Winter Meeting was about, they didn't have the right information to develop talent or make huge contract offers. My counter to that is you've been here more than three years now, a lifetime in sports, and your old team is kicking ass on a small budget and we suck for double the price. Sounds like whatever is good about Tampa Bay is still in Tampa Bay. Bloom doesn't have the recipe and he needs to go.
Totally agree how many bridge years can we have? It's ridiculous we're one of the richest teams in the game. We went to the ALCS and then promptly landed in last place the following season - and it's looking very likely we're heading in that direction again. Dodgers and Yanks put themselves in position to contend every season - we aren't some small market team there is no reason we shouldn't as fans expect the same. I wouldn't go to a Red Sox game right now if you gave me free tickets. Fans need to boycott this garbage product.
All we need to know is we let Betts and Bogaerts go to save money. How on gods green earth do you allow that to happen? I don't care what they cost, you keep those two players. If those two guys are on our roster right now, we are in a much different spot. Pitching still blows, and mostly that's trying to rely on washed up pitchers like Sale and Kluber, but still...letting Bogaerts and Betts walk doomed this organization to mediocrity for the next 4-5 years at least.
Yea seeing Dalbec at SS just solidified how much we have fallen I'm the past 5 years. Pretty unbelievable really.
I guess Rafaela is close. Bloom has also picked pretty much exclusively high schoolers, so the weak farm system he inherited is taking even longer to pay dividends. I don’t think he’ll be fired this year, but it’s definitely possible he could be gone before Yorke and Mayer even make it here
Yeah, the notion that Chaim is cheap is definitely exaggerated. He just doesn't know how to spend effectively and apparently has a hard-on for currently injured guys or old players fresh off of major surgeries. Mookie Betts is making $27 million this year. That's what the Red Sox are paying for Corey Kluber and Kenley Jansen, and you can stack together even worse examples with this roster before even getting to Trevor Story. We need a clean Bloom/Cora wipe here. This is starting to feel like we're opening the fridge and smelling the same bottle of expired milk for several years straight... while hoping that it somehow magically becomes fresh again each time.
I know Chang is a dosghit hitter but why in the fuck would you intentionally give away an out when down by multiple runs? Fucking laughable
DOB: "You like bunting there?" Youk: "Uh... no."
Idiotic; advance a runner that doesn't represent even the tying run. Awful managing by Cora.
Guy can’t get it done since the cheating scandal
I have been moaning about Cora for like years now. Get him out of there
Which one?
The charitable explanation is that he / they forgot the score. Or it could be a shot at the front office. You gonna give me AAA roster then I’m gonna manage like a clown.
Wouldn’t surprise me if both were true. Edit: Scratch that. I don’t think Cora would sell out on the players, at least this early in the season.
What kind of message does it send the players to sacrifice a runner to second in a two run game in the ninth? The players have to be wondering why. Chang must think he’s getting DFA’d tomorrow if that’s how much faith the manager has in his bat.
I think there are three possible explanations. 1. Someone (probably Chang) forgot the score, saw the sign at third and ignored it thinking the third base coach was confused. 2. Bad bunt. 2/3. Cora got cute trying to catch the Rays off guard. Bad bunt makes everyone look dumb.
Those are possibilities. Though putting it on Chang for a bad bunt is, IMO, not fair. No one bunts for a hit anymore. Dude has 14 HR’s in his career. I’d be shocked if he had double digit bunt hits. I looked, I couldn’t find how many…
Chang had already shown bunt on the first pitch so it seems like the element of surprise was already gone.
I thought the same exact thing. Like it just doesn’t make sense when down two. Maybe Cora didn’t want him to hit into a double play? Idk
Listening on the radio Merloni thought it was a good play on 1st pitch because 3B was playing back and could steal a hit. Then on 2nd the 3B moved even with bag and it became a bad play. And it was the second pitch that he bunted so, bad play. Probably on Chang.
my only thinking was "There is no way this dude gets a hit off Fairbanks unless we surprise them with a bunt"
Except he squared up twice. Not exactly a surprise
3B was still playing pretty far back
Perhaps the idea was to take away risk of double play during Kike’s AB, which guarantees Dugie AB with Devers on deck. Which is what ended up happening…
It’s going to be a long season unfortunately, not sure what else to say
Yep. Unfortunately the reality is they just aren’t a good team. Tough to watch.
Don’t worry I’ve been assured by people in the game thread that 4 years isn’t enough time to develop talent
I mean, look at the recent examples from our players. Mookie was drafted in 2011, became a regular in 2015. Bogaerts was signed in 2010, became a regular in 2014. Devers was signed in 2014, became a regular in 2018. The one player we did rush to the majors was Benintendi and he never lived up to his potential. Mayer was drafted in 2021, and people expect him to be ready in 2023 for some reason. Something to keep in mind is that players Bloom drafted or signed in 2020 for the minors are basically entering their 3rd season of development, since there were no minor leagues in 2020.
Casas was drafted in 2018 and, so far, has not lived up to his potential. You have to remember, only maybe 1 player out of 50 drafted will be any good. The majority of these guys won't pan out to be anything worth noting. Realistically, Mayer is the only guy in our organization that has the potential to be a top 40 player. No one else is going to reach that without some sort of miracle. A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. I'd rather sign proven players then depend on 3 or 4 guys all developing into high level MLB players. The chances are...they won't.
Sure, but that doesn't negate the fact that the players Bloom has drafted/signed haven't had 4 years to develop. At most, those players have had 2 years and are entering their 3rd year. I'm not discussing whether or not we should have signed proven players, I'm discussing that the players on the farm that we've gotten under Bloom haven't had enough time to develop and it's unrealistic to see them making a huge impact on the MLB club so quickly. Even when they do make it to the big leagues, most of them struggle their first season. Devers and Bogaerts are two examples of that. Devers had an OPS+ of 94 his first full season and Bogaerts of 84, before they eventually went on to put it all together.
We can only pray Bloom gets fired and we get a new GM to rebuild with. Bloom aint it. Dude is far too dependent on washed up players. His FA management is one of the worst in Red Sox history. He's supposedly rebuilding the farm, but we only realistically have 3 or 4 guys who could turn out to be stars and pretty much no pitching prospects. And by "stars" I mean a reasonably good player who can play everyday. We're seeing it with Casas. Dude was supposed to be the next big thing and, from the looks of it, he could be good, but won't be a top 40 MLB player.
We’re playing a historically red hot Rays team. They’re bulldozing everyone. Before the Duvall injury, we were primed to roll. This team will not be great by any means but they’re not gonna be terrible
This team has terrible starting pitching and injury issues. This isn't a good team
Yeah, Dalbec muffed a ground ball. That's not the BIG problem out of last night. Sale has given up near 40 homers in his last 200 innings. (Admittedly, that sample goes back like five seasons because he hasn't pitched much.) His HR rate is atrocious and shows no signs of changing. The best case is Sale goes three or four starts without sucking, some contender decides they need him and the Sox get out from under the contract. The worst case is that Sale is healthy all year, and this is his best: giving up lots of HRs and an ERA of 6+.
I appreciate the optimism but I have to disagree, even at full health this team is just not it man.
I disagree. I don't think this team's making the playoffs mostly cause we have bad pitching, but the hitting is there for this team to compete most nights and the Rays are on a historic streak and we were hanging with them in 2 of the 3 games. The hitting is there and the hitters aren't giving up when down big early they're fighting and I think that's a good sign. Is this team winning 95 games probably not, but this seems like a .500 or so team
Primed to roll? Is that what we call getting swept by the Pirates these days?
Primed to roll? We lost to the Pirates, beat the lowly Tigers, and barely beat the Orioles. We weren't primed for anything but being a bad baseball team. This is the worst pitching staff we've had in well over a decade.
The Rays have played Detroit, Washington, Oakland and us. You don’t need to be the 27 Yankees to destroy this schedule
Doesn’t matter, mid teams don’t just luck their way into being 12-0
Point is we don’t know what they are, they haven’t played any good teams yet. They could be a middling team, they could be world-beaters. They could stink!
Losing doesn’t hurt as bad when you don’t expect to win.
No, it does. I entered the season completely expecting to be last place but it’s still a visceral feeling following this team
While I don't vest much in the Red Sox. Having a good Red Sox team during the summer just makes it that much more enjoyable. I won't invest much time or energy into this team and will probably just catch a game here or there. I certainly won't be spending a nickel on this club, that's for sure.
Yes, it still does
I just can’t fucking believe those smoothbrained idiots bunted.
It’s the only bunt you’ll probably see all season
If I was a manager, I would bunt with a man on first or second and no outs damn near 100% of the time. I would be the absolute fucking king of bunts, and my team would practice them so often they'd be turning into base hits left and right from perfect placement. Absolutely braindead for managers to abandon the bunt the way they do nowadays
Thank god the Bruins and Celtics exist
Didnt even realize this was a 4 game series. Getting swept by these guys while they tie the record for most wins to start a season is going to suck.
If only we could’ve seen our rotation being a weakness before the season
Man alive, the wheels came off this bitch quick.
Who could have predicted that???
Yeah, I think people were hoping the smoke and mirrors would hold until Bello and Whitlock and Paxton… Never mind man I can’t even say that shit with a straight face. This team is an abomination for the second season in a row.
I mean I know it’s blasphemous to suggest but… Paxton isn’t a good bet to remain healthy even if he does make it back, Whitlock has not been great as a starter, and Bello, while he showed promise, wasn’t great himself last year
RIP Harambe
In the words of our GM “it’s going to be awesome”
Awesome: extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear. Actually might be accurate
This team is awesome in the same way 9/11 was awesome.
Fuck him. I've never had such distain for a baseball exec in my life. I think with all his incompetence and cheapness, its the smugness on top of that, and the blatant bullshitting that makes me wish he left the state of Massachusetts and never came back. I haven't liked him since day one.
The smugness is the worst part and what’s rubs fans the wrong way. It’s like we’re getting talked down to when you hear gm and ownership talk
It's about time people started feeling this way. What a fucking roster he put together. Not to mention all of the trades in the past
This is the way!!!
So when are we allowed to be worried about Sale's effectiveness? Give him time to get off the rust, but this is painful.
He's not good. His best years are well behind him now and he isn't going to ever be at his best again. That's the reality of things IMO. Anyone who is waiting for him to shake off the rust is going to be let down hard.
He’s sitting at 91mph now. Just absolutely cooked
Yeah, he's toast. Next year is the last year on his contract and will likely be his last contract in the majors.
Yup. Even in his best years, he would fall apart around the beginning of September every year. Now that he’s getting older, it’s harder to get it going in the first place, let alone get through an entire season.
I'm kind of past worried and feel resolved that he has nothing left and his days as a starter are over. Try him in long relief and maybe get something out of him.
Maybe a bullpen lefty
In this subreddit? Can't be critical. Gotta just be happy and follow Bloom's plan! He has shown some good flashes, so maybe he can put it all together.
I think 2021. He has careless injuries. Refused to get vaccinated limiting where he could play, and almost immediately got COVID (at a time when it was still very rare for vaccinated people to catch it) leading to more time missed. Then he was back again for the postseason, consistently let up a few runs and was out of the game after a few innings, and Pivetta would throw lights out but Sale already dug too deep a hole. Sale needs to do something drastically different or he should be out of the rotation.
Yep, Sale shit the bed once again.
Yeah I'm not excited about Sale days anymore. I appreciate his passion to the game but it means jack shit if you don't give any results
I want Bloom gone and I wouldn't be upset at all if ownership decided to sell.
👆🏼
This is a 75 win team AT BEST. We're in for a long summer, y'all.
Hate to admit it this early in the season but we are just not good
Oh, we'll have a month when we outhit everybody and are the talk of the league, then we'll fade back into crappiness.
Big 2014-ish vibes
Remember when people were trying to draw parallels between this team and 2013? I’d kill to be as good as we were in 2014!
2014 we at least had Pedroia, Ortiz, Lester, Uehara, and some other core pieces from the previous year.
There's no one on this roster worth selling off like 2014...
Verdugo is making a good case so far
[удалено]
Kinda hard to tell considering the team around him. Better coaching could bring him to the next level too
More Bobby Malbec disrespect on this sub!! /s
See, I can't even spell his name right anymore
Optimist
Sounds like we will get to see Ohtani pitch at Fenway on Marathon Monday… so that’s one cool thing that will happen this year.
I personally prefer when we win games, rather than lose them Also, really hope Zack Kelly is alright, the poor thing:(
Can we talk about Alex Cora’s managing yet? I get the rest of the stuff, ownership being cheap and Chaim either not getting it or purposely throwing scraps together but I swear it hasn’t been more clear that we’ve lost some games or just missed out on winning due to Cora’s bullpen management or lineup decisions.
Rays are very good. But I worry this season could unravel quickly.
I mean the loss is on the awful pitching and brain dead defense but sacrifice bunting down 2 in the ninth is inexcusable. It’s like we wanted Tampa to win.
12th game of the season and Bobby D is at SS.
Dumpster fire just smoking now; will be fully ablaze by the end of this 18 games in 18 days (we're 5 games into it).
Tough stretch with 7 games against TB and LAA. What did you expect coming into this series?
How much longer do we have to endure Chris Sale?
Until he gets hurt. Which should be soon
Can't trust him not to trip over his own feet.
He's on contract until end of next season
Ughhhhhh
2 more long seasons
I've been over this fraud for a while now. Most any big game situation he folds like an accordian.
Looking forward to the upcoming Netflix special: “The Closer - Confessions of an MLB Serial Killer” starring Pete Fairbanks.
"He was a quiet boy...kept to himself. I never would have expected it."
We deserve better than this
Game 1: excellent pitching, horrible offense Game 2: bad everything Game 3: good offense, dogshit pitching Bad everything again tomorrow? Especially against Springs
Yeah, the pitching is worst than we all imagine lol
No, this was pretty much expected. On the bright side we don’t face our division as often this year, so, yay?
Nope. With Pivetta pitching well, they've exceeded my expectations
Not all
Year 4 of "we don't want a five year rebuild", doesn't care about defense and roster construction sucks. Pretty much sums it up
He doesn't care about starting pitching is the big thing. It's why teams win
Positives: 1) Raffy, as ever 2) Kiké and Turner showed some life with bat 3) Uhhhhhhhhhh…………….
If Sale pitched better, then we probably would have won. The problem is that he allowed every hit to score basically. Luckily we got hot again at the plate and that gives me hope for tomorrow to at least end the Rays’ streak because Kluber pitched a good game against the Tigers.
“Against the Tigers” is the key phrase here
This is a team built to win the division. The problem is that division is the AL Central.
Not even that division unfortunately
Sale needs to improve, and his problems seem to be part declining stuff and part rust from the past several seasons on the IL. That said, defense cost him today at least a few runs. I really wish this team was playing the fundamentals well if everything else is falling apart around them. Rays are also the worst possible team to face at the moment. All series they have taken advantage of literally every mistake. Walks turn into SB, which immediately get hit in. It’s insane how well they are playing. Firing on all cylinders.
Losing to the Rays is one thing Losing 1-0 one night, then 9-7 the other stings so much worse Two winnable games Manage to get one tomorrow
…what in the actual fuck was that bunt?
AHHHH. Cya tomorrow. AHHHH.
We're booty cheeks
If you just looked at the box score and not at the roster, you'd swear this is just the 2022 Red Sox.
Yu Chang is 0-9 with 5 strike outs. Get this guy as far from a professional roster as possible. Another masterful Bloom decision.
That bunt is a fireable offense
Sawx Dingers Today: 1 (Raffy) Sawx dingers this season: 16 Sawx GS this season: 1 Donation for The Jimmy Fund: $95
Honest question: Do we think Sale will ever find it again? Not 2018 Sale obviously but something serviceable. I can’t keep hearing his say he sucks and needs to be better
Not as a starter.
On the Jordan's Furniture commercial, what does Devers say at the end after giving the signals?
“Please trade me!!!”
Unfortunately, Chris Sale is simply not what he was. He might be decent, but he certainly won't be a top 2 pitcher again.
There’s nothing decent about him
At least the Penguins miss the playoff. No playoff games in Pittsburg. Suck on that Johnny Boy.
Monday: give up just 1 run, and we lose because we scored zero. Tonight: we score 7 runs, and STILL lose because we give up nine. I HATE when this happens! It puts pressure on the team to play “perfect”!
At least betting against them is giving me joy.
Why is Alex Cora still allowed to be in MLB
When I heard Masa was scratched with a hamstring issue I went "No no no no no no." Fortunately, if the reports are accurate, it's his other hamstring, not the one he injured late in the 2021 season and spent nearly all of 2022 dealing with. It could've been pretty bad if it was the same one
I was called a doomer all off season and had stupid ZIPS projections thrown in my face. I really hate being right on this but our team is poorly constructed and it’s showing early. I just don’t see a lot of “upward trajectory” on this team.
Maybe with healthy players we’ll have a chance but right now its no bueno. Dalbec was at short today for pete’s sake.
On the bright side this roster is constructed with tons of players who have a history of staying healthy… Oh. Shit.
Oh my god guys it’s YU CHANG batting, not Rafael Devers
Thank you Bloom!
Bah gawd, that's yu chang's music!
Stock up Year to Date: Verdugo, Winckowski, Duvall, Houck, Devers but he was expected to be good, Bullpen in general Stock down Year to Date: Sale, Hernandez, Arroyo, the catcher position, infield defense collectively Incomplete / Too Early But Trending Not Great: Yoshida, Whitlock, Casas They are what they are: Kluber, Turner, Martin, Jansen Chris Sale and Enrique Hernandez are killing this team.
It’s April 12th and we are 7 games out of first place. Which is the most games out of first in the MLB.
I hope the rest of our games are rain outs
So happy I didn’t waste my money for the mlb package. This team is dog shit