Is Farrell losing the clubhouse

[60'sfan]

I am seeing signs that John Farrell is beginning to lose the clubhouse. He has always been an uninspiring manager but lately the players don't seem to care. Price should have been ripped into by the manager for his big mouth and poor attitude. Hanley continues to jog to first on ground balls and last night Mookie stood at home plate and watched his infield popup get caught well into fair territory. Pedey claims he is the team leader but I don't see him calling anyone out.

Perhaps he is discouraged too from the poor job the front office is doing. Outside of the trade for Chris Sale, almost every move that Dombrowski has made is bad. Signing David Price for way too much money, trading Travis Shaw and Felix Dubron for a pitcher who may never throw a pitch for the Sox and his failure to find a slugger for the lineup are a few examples.

 

[Stainmaster]

*Mauricio Dubon

Yeah, I'm sure Dombrowski made that trade knowing Thornburg would adhere to the wrong throwing program and develop a dead arm after the trade had been agreed to.

 

[The Viking]

Dombrowski traded for Sale and Kimbrel and used his "repetitive prospects" to do it. I think they were great moves. I mean those are two of the best players at their position in the AL.
He also traded Pomeranz for a top pitching prospect who while he was highly regarded was still 4-5 years from making the majors (and now is also shutdown with arm surgeries). So he won that deal.

I was all aboard the Shaw for Thornburg trade. Shaw was one of the worst hitters in the AL in the second half of 2016, there is no one who could have seen this outburst coming. He hit .194 with 52 strikeouts in 193 plate appearances. Meanwhile Thornburg was an outstanding setup man/fill-in closer, striking out over 12 per 9.

If you think about it he's burned by two of his best moves. Both Carson Smith (for Wade Miley - yuck) and Thornburg were top setup-men when the Sox traded for them and both ended up having arm surgeries that ended their seasons prematurely once they got here. So I guess if you want to blame the Sox doctors for not reading medicals well or just awful luck....

But I think overall at the times these trades were made the ONLY one that was criticized was the Pomeranz for Espinosa one and that was ultimately ended up as a big win.

I will say in terms of signings, yes the Price signing looks awful now. At the time, the Sox didn't have an ace and this was the quickest way to add one while only costing money and no farm talent. Price had put together some great seasons at the time and even 2016 was better then some people give him credit for. The opt out after 3 years would have been a great option for both sides but if this elbow is really screwy, we may be stuck with him. Dammit.

The real issue with this team isn't Dombrowski at all, or even Farrell - even though I would have loved Lovullo to get the job (or DiSarcina now) - but its the young players all taking a step back this year at the plate. In fact with the entire lineup, I don't think there is a single player overperforming expectations. On the flip side, you look at the bronx and Judge who looked like Dave Kingman turn into Babe Ruth, while even Hicks goes from having a 610 OPS to having a 900 OPS this year.

Frustrating year, but it's not DD's fault.

And I also want an investigation into what the hell has happened to Bogaerts swing. He came up and in his first game hit a 430 foot bomb over the Yankees bullpen as a 21 year old.
Now he looks like he's flicking the bat out as if every pitch is 0-2. Always in complete defense mode.

 

[FartMan69]

It's not that they gave up Shaw for Thornburg because at the time on paper it worked for both sides but it's more that they had no other plan other than relying on Sandavol to do a complete 180 on being a useless sack of ish. I mean its unforgivable to not have a legit back up plan in case Pablo did Pablo things, which of course he did and now they're scrambling and had to plug the hole with patchwork. I'm not going to put that 100% on Manager John and DD because I think there was pressure from the dinks who own the team to put "Panda" in the lineup to justify the fortune they gave his lumpy Ashlynn Shade

 

[intlzncster]

*Mauricio Dubon

Yeah, I'm sure Dombrowski made that trade knowing Thornburg would adhere to the wrong throwing program and develop a dead arm after the trade had been agreed to.

It's not that they gave up Shaw for Thornburg because at the time on paper it worked for both sides

Problem was not picking up Thornburg, but selling low on Travis Shaw. He showed enough promise early that they should have given him some time. I feel like young guys need more time to get acclimated in Boston than elsewhere. I mean, even stars need time here. Imagine learning the big league ropes at the same time.

I shudder to think of Dombrowski selling low on Pedroia when he started out terrible.

 

[JSM1970]

This team is a disaster right now.

Brutally awful offensive team with no power.

Bogaerts absolutely sucks. Hanley sucks. Moreland sucks.

JBJ, Bette, AB very average years at best.

Pede supposed good year, but average to bad at best. No power at all. Terrible #3 hitter, worst in all of AL East and bottom 3 in AL

Catchers are a total wasteland, maybe worst combo stats in MLB.

3B is a wasteland too. Maybe Devers can do something, but doubtful.

Sale great, Drew better than anticipated, Price sucks and is a total %#£€, Procello better than record, E Rod ok as #5

BP decent, Kimbrel great