The cliffs were not because they didn't try - or because of weird financial constraints. They were because the players did not perform as planned. That is a huge difference than pretending the Red Sox are a mid-tier college football team.Originally Posted by moonslav59
Who is pretending that?
DD built this team for a cycle not for an extended balance run. It's obvious we will be much better in the next two years than year 4 to 5 or maybe even 3-4.
We didn't buy our way to contention in 2014 and 2015, but that doesn't mean we're "mid tier". We were a top spending team as will be in 2020 and 2021. That isn't always enough to win as 2012, 2014 and 2015 showed us.
It is not a freak occurrence that almost all our major players reach free agency in a 2-3 year window. It was planned. Unless we spend $250M, we are not keeping everybody or replacing some IN KIND through free agency. Unless you think we spend $250M and/or Travis, Ockimey and Chavis will come to the rescue, we're going to hit a cliff, or at least a very steep hill. It's not an automatic slam dunk, and I guess you guys can cling to that sliver of hope that lower ranked prospects than the ones we traded away are going to come through for us, and/or we'll never swing and miss on bi FA signings again.
This is not meant to sound like "gloom and doom". I doubt we finish in last place in 2020 or 2021, but it will be close to impossible to be a top contender without spending $250M (plus taxes) and having some prospects come through in big ways.
Ben's drafts:
2012 - shit
2013 - shit
2014 - decent
2015 - shit aside from Benintendi
Combine that with the international free agent nonsense the Sox were involved in, that's the reason the farm hit a bit of a wall. Not everything is DD's fault.
That's what happens when you spend money on players that are dog shit like Panda and Hanley.
Yes and no. It was not planned that Betts would catch up and overtake the class above him.
What will happen is there will be a few of the young stars who will stay (although ALL OF THEM STAYING is an option the Red Sox have that other teams don't) - and other guys who leave or get dealt. There will be other good players staffed via trade, maybe a big FA. And then maybe it's somebody in the organization like a Travis - or maybe it's fishing for more fungible big league assets who usually don't cost much money (middle of the road corner bats, defensive infielders).
Really the title team lineups were the stars we all know backed up by meh veterans on short hitches like Mike Carp, Eric Hinske, Daniel Nava. The trickier thing is finding those guys consistently. There are enough of those journeymen around in any given year for a team like the Red Sox to fill in gaps. (a team like Tampa on the other hand is better off giving it to a kiddo - assuming they have a lot of gaps)
That's "the" reason?
Really?
He did draft Kopech which was a big part of getting us Sale. Maddox and Chavis could help, too.
I wouldn't crap on the international signings.
Lin
Guerra (used to get Kimbrel)
Both Basabe's (used to get players)
Rijo
Moncada (used to get Sale)
Devers (one of the few bright spots beyond the window)
J Diaz
Espinoza (used to get Pom)
The farm DD inherited, in which some were Theo gets, was light years better thsan we have now. Trying to spin this into being Ben's fault is fake news.
They weren't great drafts, for sure.
...or maybe Price and our next big splash signing?
What will happen is there will be a few of the young stars who will stay (although ALL OF THEM STAYING is an option the Red Sox have that other teams don't) - and other guys who leave or get dealt. There will be other good players staffed via trade, maybe a big FA.
You can't make big trades unless you have players and prospects to trade.
You can't keep all the young stars and make big FA signings, unless we spend $250M+ on our payroll.
Yes, that could happen, but why didn't we sign Scherzer, if the sky is the limit?
I'll beliueve it when I see it. Until then, I'm assuming we stay near the luxury tax budget limit with occasional spikes here and there along with reset years here and there.
They might not have wanted to sign Scherzer and though Price would be a better investment for that deal. So far that looks problematic - although not for the reason I would have expected.
Poor drafts plus international signing restrictions are a bigger problem than trading away lottery tickets.
The one year penalty did not take away from the excellent international players Ben left DD- most of whom were traded away for Sale and Pom.
Ben did NOT leave DD with a bad farm. Any spin that implies otherwise is just that: spin.
So, theoretical international signings missed are worth more than actual ones that were rated so highly we got Sale and Pom for them.
No, Ben just didn't add a lick to Theo's farm which left the Sox in a bad position.
Not adding a "lick"?
Players Ben added to Theo's farm:
Beni
Devers
Moncada
Kopech
Espinoza
Chavis
Travis
Basabe
Basabe
Maddox
Victor Diaz
Lin
Guerra
Rijo
WOW!
I just hope DD can add half this amount in 4 years.
So, 2 legit major leaguers and a whole lot of blah? Ok.
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