Boston Red Sox Thread

[Norah]

ruddo i swear to god

[Simple Torture]

ruddo i swear to god

[Norah]

Shaughnessy sums it up well today:

There are times when it seems as if the Red Sox front office is trying to turn fans against the hometown team. I can’t remember anything like it. Instead of touting big-name talents and inspiring pennant fever, the Sox peddle payroll flexibility, team contract control, spin rate, and exit velocity while asking fans to be patient and wait for the future.

The Sox have admitted they are not “all in” to win this year and dumped many popular players in a quest to assemble a 25-man roster of nameless, faceless, analytic-friendly castoffs. And there’s no accountability or explanation from above.

It’s been more than one calendar year — a year that included a last-place finish in a pandemic season, the controversial rehiring of Alex Cora, the retirement of infield cornerstone Dustin Pedroia, and the latest dumping of another popular player — since John Henry (also the Globe owner) has answered questions from local reporters.

The trade of Andrew Benintendi is the latest in a series of moves that have sucked almost all the blood and color from the Boston baseball franchise. It started with the Mookie Betts/David Price salary dump, continued when they said goodbye to Brock Holt, Mitch Moreland, Brandon Workman, and (soon you can add) Jackie Bradley Jr. And now they’ve traded Benintendi, the “can’t miss kid” of 2017, for a son of Sam Horn and a pocketful of promises.

Fans liked Benintendi, and not just because he had good hair. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft and was Baseball America’s No. 1 prospect when he burst on the scene in 2017 with a .271 season that included 20 homers and 20 steals (runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year).

He was even better a year later when he hit .290 with 16 homers and made the critical catch against Houston that vaulted the Sox into the World Series. Then he got too bulky and had a down season, followed by a 14-game washout in 2020.

And so the Sox dumped him for Franchy Cordero, a player who is the same age — a player with 110 strikeouts in 284 big league at-bats. This is called “selling low.”

The White Sox coveted Benintendi when they offered Chis Sale to Boston in December 2016 (Chicago instead settled for Yoan Moncada). Four seasons later, the Sox dealt Benintendi for a player who’s been traded twice in the last seven months and has suffered injuries to his elbow, wrist, forearm, hip, and quad. The Sox also got a low-level minor league pitcher and players to be named later.

A day later, the Sox acquired 31-year-old switch-hitter Marwin González, an accomplished player who hit .211 last year and had his career year in 2017 when the Astros were at the height of their cheating.

Swell.

It’s hard to remember that not too long ago the mighty Red Sox were so popular that they broadcast spring training workouts on live television and folks actually tuned in to watch pitchers’ fielding practice from Fort Myers. Here we are in 2021 and they are coming off a last-place season, dumping many of their popular players, and asking fans to be patient while still paying top-shelf prices.

The Sox keep telling us that winning World Series while drafting and developing young players is not a sustainable model when that is exactly what the franchise did from 2002-11.

I was a huge Red Sox fan when the team lost 100 games in 1965. Those Sox had Yaz, Tony C, Frank Malzone, Earl Wilson, Bill Monbouquette, Dick Radatz, and Jim Lonborg. What I’m seeing now makes the summer of ’65 feel like the good old days.

[elliseamos]

I actually forgot Cora was back.

Odd move there too.

[numbers]

Shaughnessy sums it up well today:

There are times when it seems as if the Red Sox front office is trying to turn fans against the hometown team. I can’t remember anything like it. Instead of touting big-name talents and inspiring pennant fever, the Sox peddle payroll flexibility, team contract control, spin rate, and exit velocity while asking fans to be patient and wait for the future.

The Sox have admitted they are not “all in” to win this year and dumped many popular players in a quest to assemble a 25-man roster of nameless, faceless, analytic-friendly castoffs. And there’s no accountability or explanation from above.

It’s been more than one calendar year — a year that included a last-place finish in a pandemic season, the controversial rehiring of Alex Cora, the retirement of infield cornerstone Dustin Pedroia, and the latest dumping of another popular player — since John Henry (also the Globe owner) has answered questions from local reporters.

The trade of Andrew Benintendi is the latest in a series of moves that have sucked almost all the blood and color from the Boston baseball franchise. It started with the Mookie Betts/David Price salary dump, continued when they said goodbye to Brock Holt, Mitch Moreland, Brandon Workman, and (soon you can add) Jackie Bradley Jr. And now they’ve traded Benintendi, the “can’t miss kid” of 2017, for a son of Sam Horn and a pocketful of promises.

Fans liked Benintendi, and not just because he had good hair. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft and was Baseball America’s No. 1 prospect when he burst on the scene in 2017 with a .271 season that included 20 homers and 20 steals (runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year).

He was even better a year later when he hit .290 with 16 homers and made the critical catch against Houston that vaulted the Sox into the World Series. Then he got too bulky and had a down season, followed by a 14-game washout in 2020.

And so the Sox dumped him for Franchy Cordero, a player who is the same age — a player with 110 strikeouts in 284 big league at-bats. This is called “selling low.”

The White Sox coveted Benintendi when they offered Chis Sale to Boston in December 2016 (Chicago instead settled for Yoan Moncada). Four seasons later, the Sox dealt Benintendi for a player who’s been traded twice in the last seven months and has suffered injuries to his elbow, wrist, forearm, hip, and quad. The Sox also got a low-level minor league pitcher and players to be named later.

A day later, the Sox acquired 31-year-old switch-hitter Marwin González, an accomplished player who hit .211 last year and had his career year in 2017 when the Astros were at the height of their cheating.

Swell.

It’s hard to remember that not too long ago the mighty Red Sox were so popular that they broadcast spring training workouts on live television and folks actually tuned in to watch pitchers’ fielding practice from Fort Myers. Here we are in 2021 and they are coming off a last-place season, dumping many of their popular players, and asking fans to be patient while still paying top-shelf prices.

The Sox keep telling us that winning World Series while drafting and developing young players is not a sustainable model when that is exactly what the franchise did from 2002-11.

I was a huge Red Sox fan when the team lost 100 games in 1965. Those Sox had Yaz, Tony C, Frank Malzone, Earl Wilson, Bill Monbouquette, Dick Radatz, and Jim Lonborg. What I’m seeing now makes the summer of ’65 feel like the good old days.

He might be a jerk, but he’s the only writer in town that is willing to be critical of them. The rest of the state media has been doing gymnastics to justify this crap.

[elliseamos]

Shaughnessy sums it up well today:

There are times when it seems as if the Red Sox front office is trying to turn fans against the hometown team. I can’t remember anything like it. Instead of touting big-name talents and inspiring pennant fever, the Sox peddle payroll flexibility, team contract control, spin rate, and exit velocity while asking fans to be patient and wait for the future.

The Sox have admitted they are not “all in” to win this year and dumped many popular players in a quest to assemble a 25-man roster of nameless, faceless, analytic-friendly castoffs. And there’s no accountability or explanation from above.

It’s been more than one calendar year — a year that included a last-place finish in a pandemic season, the controversial rehiring of Alex Cora, the retirement of infield cornerstone Dustin Pedroia, and the latest dumping of another popular player — since John Henry (also the Globe owner) has answered questions from local reporters.

The trade of Andrew Benintendi is the latest in a series of moves that have sucked almost all the blood and color from the Boston baseball franchise. It started with the Mookie Betts/David Price salary dump, continued when they said goodbye to Brock Holt, Mitch Moreland, Brandon Workman, and (soon you can add) Jackie Bradley Jr. And now they’ve traded Benintendi, the “can’t miss kid” of 2017, for a son of Sam Horn and a pocketful of promises.

Fans liked Benintendi, and not just because he had good hair. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft and was Baseball America’s No. 1 prospect when he burst on the scene in 2017 with a .271 season that included 20 homers and 20 steals (runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year).

He was even better a year later when he hit .290 with 16 homers and made the critical catch against Houston that vaulted the Sox into the World Series. Then he got too bulky and had a down season, followed by a 14-game washout in 2020.

And so the Sox dumped him for Franchy Cordero, a player who is the same age — a player with 110 strikeouts in 284 big league at-bats. This is called “selling low.”

The White Sox coveted Benintendi when they offered Chis Sale to Boston in December 2016 (Chicago instead settled for Yoan Moncada). Four seasons later, the Sox dealt Benintendi for a player who’s been traded twice in the last seven months and has suffered injuries to his elbow, wrist, forearm, hip, and quad. The Sox also got a low-level minor league pitcher and players to be named later.

A day later, the Sox acquired 31-year-old switch-hitter Marwin González, an accomplished player who hit .211 last year and had his career year in 2017 when the Astros were at the height of their cheating.

Swell.

It’s hard to remember that not too long ago the mighty Red Sox were so popular that they broadcast spring training workouts on live television and folks actually tuned in to watch pitchers’ fielding practice from Fort Myers. Here we are in 2021 and they are coming off a last-place season, dumping many of their popular players, and asking fans to be patient while still paying top-shelf prices.

The Sox keep telling us that winning World Series while drafting and developing young players is not a sustainable model when that is exactly what the franchise did from 2002-11.

I was a huge Red Sox fan when the team lost 100 games in 1965. Those Sox had Yaz, Tony C, Frank Malzone, Earl Wilson, Bill Monbouquette, Dick Radatz, and Jim Lonborg. What I’m seeing now makes the summer of ’65 feel like the good old days.

He might be a jerk, but he’s the only writer in town that is willing to be critical of them. The rest of the state media has been doing gymnastics to justify this crap.

He's pretty lazy sometimes, but yes, this type of story is his strength.

[numbers]

He’s the one who got Kennedy on the record admitting they are tanking. The rest of them never had the balls to even ask.

[elliseamos]

He’s the one who got Kennedy on the record admitting they are tanking. The rest of them never had the balls to even ask.

I know. My lazy comment is that he's held some beliefs for so long that he all but copy and pastes the same articles over and over... "tomato cans, tomato cans, everywhere tomato cans" when it fits the season and then copies random historical stories when he can't use the tomato cans stories.

When he tries he can be good.

[Simple Torture]

Hop on board the hype train:

[numbers]

He’ll look good in Dodger blue in 3 years.

[Simple Torture]

He’ll look good in Dodger blue in 3 years.

Come on, man--you know Bloom is going to trade him to the Rays.

[Simple Torture]

Would love to see Dalbec get that K% down and keep doing this. It's wild that Dalbec and Durran are both older than Devers.

[Norah]

THEY'RE RUINING MY SUMMAH

[lennytheweedwhacker]

it’s raining men

[spike]

THEY'RE RUINING MY SUMMAH

you can already see the signs, huh

[elliseamos]

THEY'RE RUINING MY SUMMAH

you can already see the signs, huh

You mean the Dodgers billboard outside Fenway?

[Norah]

THEY'RE RUINING MY SUMMAH

[elliseamos]

Only up from here...

[Norah]

that's not true

[Simple Torture]

Some good pitching so far. Only 1 hitter.