Mookie Mania!

Well, that's a very Red Sox-centric point of view. Did the Red Sox make the trade with themselves? No. It certainly does matter to the Dodgers what their needs are.

Once the original trade happened, there was pressure on both teams to complete the deal.

The Red Sox were certainly not backing out of the deal. They had the pleasure of dealing with Nomar when that deal fell apart. They weren't going to go down that road again. They wanted to get under the luxury tax and they knew they weren't going to re-sign Betts and they knew that keeping him and having him walk away was the worst case scenario they wanted no part of, and they also knew they were NOT getting a better package elsewhere. Nobody was going to give the Red Sox a better centerpiece than Alex Verduo.

Yeah, the Dodgers didn't want to back out of the deal, but if the deal died, it wasn't going to stop the Dodgers from being the class of the league. Obviously they wanted him. They're not stupid. Substituting one high quality but for them expendable prospect and their third best catching prospect from a deep farm system for a reliever with premium stuff who can contribute right away filling another need of theirs, made all the sense in the world for them.

The Dodgers weren't going to walk away when they knew they could have Betts and not lose anything that was going to harm them. They lost Verdugo but Betts is better. They lost Downs but they like Lux better. They lost Wong, but they like Smith, Cartagena, and Ruiz better.

And they weren't pressured that bad that they surrendered any pitching in the deal, and that team had pitching to deal, pitching the Sox could have used.

So no, while there was pressure on the Dodgers to complete the deal, they weren't that pressured.

And hell I haven't even mentioned David Price - you really think the Sox didn't want to get out from under that?

Don't you think the Red Sox were dying to get rid of Price? Who else was going to take half of his salary?

There was more pressure on the Sox to complete the trade.

Given both club's individual needs, it was win-win for both teams when the Sox found out Graterol wasn't going to be the starter they wanted. They needed a regular second baseman and catching depth, so they got it. The Dodgers needed immediate bullpen help and got a guy with a high ceiling who might eventually close. Win-win.

Talk about a hot take. Graderol isn't close to Verdugo, who was 6th in the AL in bwar for positional players this year. He has a big arm, but he's a reliever. Even the best ones only match a good positional player in value. It's funny because after the season he's had for the Dodgers I feel much better about the trade and Downs. 13 strikeouts in 23.1 innings for a guy with his stuff doesn't excite me.

AGREE! In many ways, this season and all of its ups and downs will be looked as a plus one day. Bloom had no choice. The organization could not afford another 30+ million dollar contract. I do believe the Sale contract was the last straw in being able to sign Betts. Dombrowski paid the wrong guy.

I’m not complaining they overspent. I am complaining they stopped! I don’t care if a billionaire has to pay some tax. 😥 I do care that they field the junk they did this year.

By around here i meant boston not ppl on this site in particular. And yes ppl ripped ownership saying they were cheap after they traded mookie. Even a couple of the clown sportswriters in the city went after them after the trade.

They have. I think it's fair to complain about ownership when they do something you feel is incorrect as long as you balance it with praise when they do something you feel is correct.

It's like anything in life - there's always room for improvement. Nobody is perfect in all categories. Nobody is above reproach.

I think it's fair to be critical of the ownership in Mookie's case (unless Felger's source is right).

Again, on balance, I appreciate their stewardship. Best I've seen.

I've been watching for 40 years, so that's a large sample size and I'm enough of a historian to know about Yawkey and the owners that preceded him and this ownership grades out the best.

There's a bit of luck involved in the Championships just like the Yawkey ownership had some bad luck involved in the drought.

So you have to also look at the overall record, which includes the ups and downs, and which still grades out very well for the Henry/Werner ownership group.

Again, it's fair to criticize them for things like lowballing Lester, bringing on Bobby V, the atmosphere of Lucchino vs Theo, etc, but also to give them credit for the championships, bringing in the archetype of the modern day young Ivy League educated GMs like Theo (who does have a Cooperstown resume), saving Fenway and making it a jewel, doing what they can to counter the racial stigma of Red Sox ownerships prior, and many other things.

I really think the exit was driven by Mookie.

The fact that graterol will be a bullpen only arm was all I needed to hear to them changing for downs.

Back at you. There has definitely been a lot of negativity on ownership, and some of it is warranted. But they have not ever been cheap. Yes everyone makes mistakes. I just like focusing on the good much more than you!

If the subject is Mookie -and if Felger's source isn't correct, then it's fair game to criticize.

If you read the entirety of my post you'd see that I complimented them a heckuva lot more than I criticized them. They are the best owners the Red Sox organization have ever had.

As far as focusing on the good over the bad, I can assure you that the shrine room I have focuses on Red Sox championships and pennants. You wouldn't see too many reminders of 2012, 2014, 2015, or 2020 there.

I prefer to focus on the good over the bad myself when the subject warrants it.

And yeah, I'll take this time to thank the ownership for allowing me to have a shrine room like I do, because the idea to have one never would have occurred to me prior to 2004.

Then when I bought my house in 2010, there was also a 2007 championship (and of course the five ancient championships from early last century) as well plus three Patriots championships to celebrate, so then the idea was there to celebrate championships, a foreign concept when I was a kid/young adult. And since then, there are 3 more Patriots championships to commemorate along with 2 more Red Sox championships and even an additional Celtics championship. So I'm very thankful to the current Red Sox ownership for allowing me to be able to create a room where I re-live the glory every time I go down there.

I don't agree they change their organizational philosophy whenever the wind blows.  They have been constant for 20 years in that we go for it in spurts. Then retool, reset, bridge years whatever you want to call it. Then go for it again. Like if Bloom thinks he has five years to build this team through the farm he's dead wrong. He'll get a few years and then be forced to go for it. Yet how he goes for it will be one the GM. Don't blame ownership for Sandoval, that's on Cherington. They never said sign him, he did because his marching orders are to win and he thought that was the best way.

It's why if I'm Bloom you should take this free agency period seriously. If they aren't good again next year, our owners will demand he make big moves. We know this already because our owners marching orders have never changed. They don't mind some down years, yet you only get a few and you have limited time to get us back to being title contenders.

Our owners have been great, they went against their plan in 2019 because the GM talked them into it. It turned into crap, made things even worse. Yet as a fan, after that 2018 team I respect the hell out of our owners for going for it. When it failed, it was right back to the grand plan. I get it, it sucks having down years. Yet it seems what most fans bitch about is exactly what makes our owners so good. It's not that they just change the plan, it's that they always stick to it. I've complained about so many moves over the years, like letting Pedro walk, trading Nomar, the Lester mess, the Lackey mess, letting Papelbon leave, firing DD, etc. Yet you can't complain about them not having a long-term plan. We know exactly what that is. Bloom knows exactly what his marching orders are. He also knows what will happen after this next cycle ends, we'll restart it.