The Red Sox go back to back on placing 5th out of 5 teams in the AL East
MCMLVTopps
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Another dismal season for the Red Sox, who, IMO, were out of contention sometime in June. Last place two years in a row is really pathetic. Right now on track to be 21 games out of first place in the AL East, matching last year.
Alex Cora was/is the manager for both seasons. Many will disagree with me, but with Cora being a major player in the cheating scandal while a coach with the Astros, it does amaze me that Red Sox management kept him (thanks to one Chaim Bloom, now fired from the team), and rehired him. Sadly, Cora has yet another opportunity to be the captain of the ship for yet another year. I expect 2024 to be equally as bad as the previous two seasons. He always looks like his dog died, no spark, little enthusiasm. He's just dreaming of returing to Puerto Rico and chilling.
Perhaps there was too much of the Bill James mentality driving decisions to trade or not to trade players. Having lost Betts, JD Martinez, Schwarber and Bogearts to name a few, the team was pretty much broken up. The pitching was dismal, and Sale didn't do much to help in the win column, with a current 6/4 record.
The Red Sox faithful will once again get excited when the big truck leaves the Fens next year for the sunny climate of Florida. I will predict disappointment will not be far behind.
I hope the Orioles do well in the playoffs, long overdue.
Comments
I am actually in hopes they make a splash in free agency. I am so luke warm towards this team that they need to do something to keep me intetrested. I actually hope we take a real shot at Ohtani. He would keep things interesting!!
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
The fix will have to come from the Red Sox minor league teams. The Mets had the highest payroll in baseball. The Yankees weren’t far below them. Look at where they finished.
Free agency can give you the last important push, but you can’t buy the whole team. Among the Teams I have followed though the years, Pete Rose for the 1980 Phillies and Tom Brady for the 2020 Tampa Bay Bucks. Both teams had a good core of players that needed one more push.
i could be wrong, but i think i heard on the radio that the Sox have the 5th best farm system in baseball right now.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Unfortunately farm systems don't always produce major league quality players for a few years.
Depending where you look theyre somewhere between 11 and 17. Myer is considered their top prospect and hes not a top 10. Their top prospects are all high risk young guys that are a couple years away unless they just send them up and see what they can do
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
There is no better way to destroy a young player than to bring him up too early!
They do if you have good management. Branch Ricky did for years with the Cardinals and Dodgers. The Yankees too. Those two had so many excess players that they supplied some time all stars to the rest of the league. The Rays have done with a relatively small payroll.
The Red Sox had it going too in the 1980’s and ‘90s. Pautucket used to be a treasure trove. It finally broke “the curse.” The trouble is they got fat and happy and spent too much on free agency, kept some bad guys who couldn’t play and left some others go. The GM let the Red Sox down.
Which GM was the culprit?
I feel it was management as they control the purse strings!
A GM only has a certain amount of power and does not get the final say on things.
I know if I owned a team the GM would not have complete control what was going on with my team.
David Clyde was 18 years and 36 days old when the Texas Rangers first burdened, then exploited him as the savior of their struggling franchise. Cash-strapped and flirting with bankruptcy, the Rangers trotted Clyde out to their Major League Baseball pitching mound on June 27, 1973, with the weight of the organization on his electric left arm.
He was a novelty act, too green to pitch but also too lucrative to not spotlight as a pitch man. A fast start lathered with hype and buzz predictably crashed into physical and mental problems, and just like that – at age 24 – Clyde was out of the big leagues.
I remember when that happened.
That is exactly what I was talking about.
There were many other examples like that but my memory has lost track of names over the past few years.
Managers and general managers come and go but owners usually stay for life and they have all the power.
I would love to see them get a great starter. It is my favorite position to watch and it seems Fenway is electric when a true Ace is toeing the rubber. I remember what it was like when Clemens or Pedro was on the mound. The atmosphere is fantastic.
They had it for a year or so here and there, but no one consistent since Pedro left.
Schilling had it for a year. Beckett was great for a season. When Sale first came over, I thought they had another one, but it was not to be.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
That has to be what the Sox go for this off season or the fans are going to disappear from the ballpark.
The defense can be fixed by hard work but bad pitching just can't be fixed by more bad pitching.
The Rays come up with good pitching every year so intelligent moves by management are needed at this point.