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Craig Breslow hired as Chief Baseball Officer
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Post by soxfansince67 on Dec 30, 2023 16:38:15 GMT -5
I am now liking what I am seeing - some big, decisive moves that indicate that he realizes the need for some fundamental change.
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steveofbradenton
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Post by steveofbradenton on Dec 31, 2023 11:57:26 GMT -5
I'm finally on board. Breslow is not scared. Hopefully we keep seeing bold moves going forward. Sign Monty!!
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Post by ephus on Jan 18, 2024 10:52:30 GMT -5
In the much balyhooed Boston.com interview that has created quite a stir, Breslow used the term "aggressive" to describe the type of development that was needed. I wonder what this means in practice. Will we see Mayer in Worcester by June if he gets off to a strong start in Portland? Is there a chance Wikerman is in Boston by the end of the year. Or is "aggressive" signaling a change in draft strategy - i.e. a return to highly reagrded HS arms? This is something to keep an eye on.
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nomar
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Post by nomar on Jan 18, 2024 11:13:04 GMT -5
I’m actually really glad Breslow is harping on development because I think that is an area the org has struggled in. That struggle has definitely been more prevalent on the pitching side, but still there is room for improvement everywhere.
There are so many pre-arb level experienced players on the MLB roster. Forget the minors for a second. This is the time that will make or break these guys; guys that have all excelled to some extent in the MiLB. Crushing it developing Bello, Crawford, Houck, Whitlock, Grissom, Casas, Rafaela, Duran, and Abreu (knowing that not all of these guys will pan out) is the clearest path to sustainable success.
At the same time, Mayer, Anthony, Teel, Yorke, Fitts, Gonzalez, and Perales will be ramping up for their debuts over the next couple of years too. There is so much talent and with that so much detailed attention needed for development in the upper minors and major league level. Then you have the subsequent wave with Bleis, Cespedes, etc that before you know it will be determining the strength of the farm. It’s a long line that has to keep on moving and I think the Sox lost sight of that once Devers came up, and on the pitching front have failed at for years now.
This is a long winded way to say that Breslow’s appreciation for this stuff is a breath of fresh air, and gives us all something to watch for regardless of their record this year and regardless of ownership’s willingness to pay to add a ~3 WAR arm to the rotation.
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Post by incandenza on Jan 18, 2024 11:19:34 GMT -5
I’m actually really glad Breslow is harping on development because I think that is an area the org has struggled in. That struggle has definitely been more prevalent on the pitching side, but still there is room for improvement everywhere.There are so many pre-arb level experienced players on the MLB roster. Forget the minors for a second. This is the time that will make or break these guys; guys that have all excelled to some extent in the MiLB. Crushing it developing Bello, Crawford, Houck, Whitlock, Grissom, Casas, Rafaela, Duran, and Abreu (knowing that not all of these guys will pan out) is the clearest path to sustainable success. At the same time, Mayer, Anthony, Teel, Yorke, Fitts, Gonzalez, and Perales will be ramping up for their debuts over the next couple of years too. There is so much talent and with that so much detailed attention needed for development in the upper minors and major league level. Then you have the subsequent wave with Bleis, Cespedes, etc that before you know it will be determining the strength of the farm. It’s a long line that has to keep on moving and I think the Sox lost sight of that once Devers came up, and on the pitching front have failed at for years now. This is a long winded way to say that Breslow’s appreciation for this stuff is a breath of fresh air, and gives us all something to watch for regardless of their record this year and regardless of ownership’s willingness to pay to add a ~3 WAR arm to the rotation. Among young (pre-arb + Whitlock) pitchers, they got 7.2 WAR last season. Among young position players they got 5.6 WAR. I'm not so sure this issue wasn't already substantially addressed before Breslow's arrival.
It's not binary, of course; there's always room for improvement. But I feel like their reputation for pitching development is lagging their recent history. Crawford, in particular, came out of nowhere to look like a potential rotation mainstay.
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ematz1423
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Post by ematz1423 on Jan 18, 2024 11:23:06 GMT -5
In regards to pitching, I am still cautiously optimistic that Houck has another gear he can get to that will make him a viable 3/4 starter. If that were to happen they very easily could have a home grown trio of Bello/Crawford/Houck taking the bulk of their starts for the next 3-4 seasons.
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nomar
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Post by nomar on Jan 18, 2024 11:28:04 GMT -5
I’m actually really glad Breslow is harping on development because I think that is an area the org has struggled in. That struggle has definitely been more prevalent on the pitching side, but still there is room for improvement everywhere.There are so many pre-arb level experienced players on the MLB roster. Forget the minors for a second. This is the time that will make or break these guys; guys that have all excelled to some extent in the MiLB. Crushing it developing Bello, Crawford, Houck, Whitlock, Grissom, Casas, Rafaela, Duran, and Abreu (knowing that not all of these guys will pan out) is the clearest path to sustainable success. At the same time, Mayer, Anthony, Teel, Yorke, Fitts, Gonzalez, and Perales will be ramping up for their debuts over the next couple of years too. There is so much talent and with that so much detailed attention needed for development in the upper minors and major league level. Then you have the subsequent wave with Bleis, Cespedes, etc that before you know it will be determining the strength of the farm. It’s a long line that has to keep on moving and I think the Sox lost sight of that once Devers came up, and on the pitching front have failed at for years now. This is a long winded way to say that Breslow’s appreciation for this stuff is a breath of fresh air, and gives us all something to watch for regardless of their record this year and regardless of ownership’s willingness to pay to add a ~3 WAR arm to the rotation. Among young (pre-arb + Whitlock) pitchers, they got 7.2 WAR last season. Among young position players they got 5.6 WAR. I'm not so sure this issue wasn't already substantially addressed before Breslow's arrival.
It's not binary, of course; there's always room for improvement. But I feel like their reputation for pitching development is lagging their recent history. Crawford, in particular, came out of nowhere to look like a potential rotation mainstay.
Yeah I definitely agree that Bloom was a big step forward in that respect. The pitching is what I have my eye on. Can he get the young guys to improve 3rd time through and get them deeper into games, or to have fewer extremely short appearances? I see a ton of potential in Bello and Crawford and hope that Breslow’s new lab can work its magic with them. Houck has an extra gear in him too, but I think it’s hard to pencil all 3 of those guys into the rotation on opening day. I also think that with a higher volume of younger players the WAR totals you posted were bound to increase in aggregate (plus I would hope they couldn’t go much lower than they were previously). Still, kudos to Bloom because he had us moving in the right direction (knowing the speed wasn’t thrilling people). The addition of Grissom will be a big X factor in how we view Breslow a year from now. At the end of the day, Bloom added to the farm, but never with a prospect regarded as highly as Grissom. Hopefully Fitts surpasses expectations too.
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Post by ephus on Jan 18, 2024 11:31:21 GMT -5
In regards to pitching, I am still cautiously optimistic that Houck has another gear he can get to that will make him a viable 3/4 starter. If that were to happen they very easily could have a home grown trio of Bello/Crawford/Houck taking the bulk of their starts for the next 3-4 seasons. And this is why they brought in Bailey.
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Post by redsoxfan2 on Jan 18, 2024 11:37:25 GMT -5
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Post by brendan98 on Jan 18, 2024 11:40:43 GMT -5
In regards to pitching, I am still cautiously optimistic that Houck has another gear he can get to that will make him a viable 3/4 starter. If that were to happen they very easily could have a home grown trio of Bello/Crawford/Houck taking the bulk of their starts for the next 3-4 seasons. And this is why they brought in Bailey. Same goes for Whitlock, I don't know if he is a starter, but I do know he can be much better than he has been the last 2 seasons (because we saw it his rookie year). Injuries played a role surely, but he didn't pitch all that great when healthy, and I'll be watching to see if Bailey/Breslow can help him find his way back to the dominance he had in 2021.
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Post by bellhorndingers21 on Jan 18, 2024 12:25:49 GMT -5
And this is why they brought in Bailey. Same goes for Whitlock, I don't know if he is a starter, but I do know he can be much better than he has been the last 2 seasons (because we saw it his rookie year). Injuries played a role surely, but he didn't pitch all that great when healthy, and I'll be watching to see if Bailey/Breslow can help him find his way back to the dominance he had in 2021. I'm sure a large portion of the Breslow and Bailey interviews were explaining how they'll jazz up the McDonald's they have at home. www.google.com/amp/s/www.beyondtheboxscore.com/platform/amp/2021/12/10/22827948/logan-webb-san-francisco-giants-analysis
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nomar
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Post by nomar on Jan 18, 2024 12:37:16 GMT -5
Same goes for Whitlock, I don't know if he is a starter, but I do know he can be much better than he has been the last 2 seasons (because we saw it his rookie year). Injuries played a role surely, but he didn't pitch all that great when healthy, and I'll be watching to see if Bailey/Breslow can help him find his way back to the dominance he had in 2021. I'm sure a large portion of the Breslow and Bailey interviews were explaining how they'll jazz up the McDonald's they have at home. www.google.com/amp/s/www.beyondtheboxscore.com/platform/amp/2021/12/10/22827948/logan-webb-san-francisco-giants-analysisIt does feel like there is the potential for a pitching renaissance with an aligned Breslow, Willard, and Bailey (not to mention all the driveline guys). They’re full on nerding out pitching and finding every advantage possible to give their guys. I’m all for it. I think with regards to hitting, stuff like this has become more commonplace because it’s easier to track, but hopefully we’re beating other teams to the punch on the other side now.
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mobaz
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Post by mobaz on Jan 18, 2024 15:58:38 GMT -5
It does feel like there is the potential for a pitching renaissance with an aligned Breslow, Willard, and Bailey (not to mention all the driveline guys). They’re full on nerding out pitching and finding every advantage possible to give their guys. I’m all for it. I think with regards to hitting, stuff like this has become more commonplace because it’s easier to track, but hopefully we’re beating other teams to the punch on the other side now. The second half of that is that pitchers need to be receptive and accepting of changes and advice, whether it's mechanical, analytical, training or game-day habits, etc. They are not going to be working with "their" guys yet, who are in philosophical alignment, so it's hard to feel like the pitching apparatus as a whole will take a step forward as-is. Just some apocryphal examples from recent history: IIRC They let Houck go in the minors, then tweaked his delivery, then he was failing so he went back; is he gonna take to adjustment recommendations or be traumatized by prior failure. Tyler Thornburg thought the offseason shoulder exercise program was a suggestion, played "catchup" in spring training, hurt his shoulder and never pitched well again. Trevor Bauer wanted to sequence his pitches his own way, driving Miguel Montero mad and eventually driving him off the Diamondbacks. In addition, how many of their changes might take more than one off-season to see fruit? All this to say, the assumption that the new apparatus will get the best out of the majority of guys (and thus we don't need any additions) is flawed. Get better pitchers in TODAY and ALSO grow the guys we have, separate the wheat from chaff of who is buying in and not, and build the future apparatus down in the minors and heading into drafts and multiple seasons of FA/trade acquisitions. Yes, go get Montgomery to raise the team's floor while you're building out the rest.
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Post by 0ap0 on Jan 19, 2024 9:36:39 GMT -5
I would be surprised to learn that there's such a market-inefficiency in pitching coaches that "oh, let's hire the good ones" is all it takes to kick off a renaissance (but I'd be happy to be wrong).
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Post by James Dunne on Jan 19, 2024 9:56:50 GMT -5
It does feel like there is the potential for a pitching renaissance with an aligned Breslow, Willard, and Bailey (not to mention all the driveline guys). They’re full on nerding out pitching and finding every advantage possible to give their guys. I’m all for it. I think with regards to hitting, stuff like this has become more commonplace because it’s easier to track, but hopefully we’re beating other teams to the punch on the other side now. The second half of that is that pitchers need to be receptive and accepting of changes and advice, whether it's mechanical, analytical, training or game-day habits, etc. They are not going to be working with "their" guys yet, who are in philosophical alignment, so it's hard to feel like the pitching apparatus as a whole will take a step forward as-is. Just some apocryphal examples from recent history: IIRC They let Houck go in the minors, then tweaked his delivery, then he was failing so he went back; is he gonna take to adjustment recommendations or be traumatized by prior failure. Tyler Thornburg thought the offseason shoulder exercise program was a suggestion, played "catchup" in spring training, hurt his shoulder and never pitched well again. Trevor Bauer wanted to sequence his pitches his own way, driving Miguel Montero mad and eventually driving him off the Diamondbacks. In addition, how many of their changes might take more than one off-season to see fruit? All this to say, the assumption that the new apparatus will get the best out of the majority of guys (and thus we don't need any additions) is flawed. Get better pitchers in TODAY and ALSO grow the guys we have, separate the wheat from chaff of who is buying in and not, and build the future apparatus down in the minors and heading into drafts and multiple seasons of FA/trade acquisitions. Yes, go get Montgomery to raise the team's floor while you're building out the rest. I mean, Houck's delivery change just didn't quite work, so they went back. I've never heard any complaints from coaches about his work ethic or openness to try stuff. Doesn't feel fair to lump him in with Thornburg coming in out of shape or Bauer being Bauer.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Jan 19, 2024 13:11:02 GMT -5
The second half of that is that pitchers need to be receptive and accepting of changes and advice, whether it's mechanical, analytical, training or game-day habits, etc. They are not going to be working with "their" guys yet, who are in philosophical alignment, so it's hard to feel like the pitching apparatus as a whole will take a step forward as-is. Just some apocryphal examples from recent history: IIRC They let Houck go in the minors, then tweaked his delivery, then he was failing so he went back; is he gonna take to adjustment recommendations or be traumatized by prior failure. Tyler Thornburg thought the offseason shoulder exercise program was a suggestion, played "catchup" in spring training, hurt his shoulder and never pitched well again. Trevor Bauer wanted to sequence his pitches his own way, driving Miguel Montero mad and eventually driving him off the Diamondbacks. In addition, how many of their changes might take more than one off-season to see fruit? All this to say, the assumption that the new apparatus will get the best out of the majority of guys (and thus we don't need any additions) is flawed. Get better pitchers in TODAY and ALSO grow the guys we have, separate the wheat from chaff of who is buying in and not, and build the future apparatus down in the minors and heading into drafts and multiple seasons of FA/trade acquisitions. Yes, go get Montgomery to raise the team's floor while you're building out the rest. I mean, Houck's delivery change just didn't quite work, so they went back. I've never heard any complaints from coaches about his work ethic or openness to try stuff. Doesn't feel fair to lump him in with Thornburg coming in out of shape or Bauer being Bauer. A history lesson/refresher for everyone: What happened is they brought him in and tried to make him a completely different pitcher, from a 2-seam/slider guy into one throwing a 4-seam, changeup, and knuckle-curve. Get also wanted him to get more direct to the plate in his mechanics, which included a LOT of horizontal movement. In the end, only some of it took. His mechanics did get cleaned up. However, the 4-seam fastball and curve just didn't really take. If you look at his season in High-A I think, his splits make VERY clear when he reverted back to his preferred pitch mix. To be clear, two things. One, this isn't a situation where they were necessarily wrong for trying. The thing they were trying to do is make him a legitimate starter better equipped to face lefties. They haven't been proven wrong in predicting that this version of Houck would have such trouble. Second, Houck was extremely receptive to trying all of this. There's zero issue with his coachability, and in fact, to the contrary, he's been a model citizen in being willing to try all of this, from what I understand. That said, the lesson may just be that pitch design isn't always the easy answer to making any old pitcher Justin Steele.
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Post by soxin8 on Jan 20, 2024 23:42:59 GMT -5
Even though the Sox are currently projected for another 5th place AL east finish, I haven't given up on the 24 season and remain optimistic even about the off-season.
I understand disappointment missing out on some of the top free agents (especially YY), but as wise people on this board have said, Boston is not every free agents first choice. I still expect at least one starting pitcher and an outfielder to be signed. I don't mind when.
A couple things about the spending. We know from experience how bad contracts can affect a team's future. Also, there was disappointment when the compensation for Xander and Nate were only 4th rounders. That situation could come up again with Giolito and Pivetta. That could be a factor in the Sox wanting to stay under the tax line.
Before the season begins, we can imagine getting the first half Giolito and Yoshida, middle Duran and Casas,the last half Pivetta, and the Colorado version of Story, all in 24 (or some of those). It's even remotely possible Mayer, Anthony, or Teel could contribute in September (Lynn hit over .400 the last two weeks of 74).
It's a great blessing to enjoy Red Sox games and their minor league teams, as long as it's not life or death.
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asm18
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Post by asm18 on Mar 25, 2024 7:10:44 GMT -5
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Post by incandenza on Mar 25, 2024 7:32:29 GMT -5
This anonymous quote seems about right:
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Mar 26, 2024 6:01:28 GMT -5
This anonymous quote seems about right:
not for me
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Post by awalkinthepark on Mar 26, 2024 7:50:40 GMT -5
This quote stuck out to me:
This is what I've been saying for a while now. Even if Mayer/Teel/Anthony hit their ceiling and are very productive major leaguer players, there is still likely a few years of development at the major league level, and that's assuming things go smoothly.
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asm18
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Post by asm18 on Mar 26, 2024 13:21:08 GMT -5
I was trying to look at things from Breslow's perspective after reading this, and was ruminating on two things:
1. Short of murdering someone, Craig Breslow ain't getting fired after this year no matter what happens on the field. Cora might, but Breslow just came off an exhaustive GM search where a plethora of candidates were skittish at the idea of jumping on the "Boston Red Sox Chief Baseball Executive Carousel." So getting stop-gap veterans like you might normally look to get (example: Michael A Taylor instead of Rafaela, Whit Merrifield instead of Grissom, Michael Lorenzen instead of Tanner Houck, etc) is not something he has to worry about in terms of job security.
2. In addition to hoping that the upside of certain young guys takes what projects to be a 79-81 win team to being unexpectedly better than that, I kinda wonder if there's a benefit for Breslow to this crashing and burning as opposed to signing some random veterans to ensure you're at least .500. Breslow can go to John Henry and say, "Look, we tried seeing what we had with the internal guys - and it's no where close to good enough. Unless you want to wait a few years, you're going to have to spend." They won't be able to use "we didn't give X enough opportunities at the Major League level" as an excuse after 2024 if a lot of the question-mark-guys-with-upside that litter the roster just flat out suck.
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Post by scottysmalls on Mar 26, 2024 13:28:29 GMT -5
I was trying to look at things from Breslow's perspective after reading this, and was ruminating on two things: 1. Short of murdering someone, Craig Breslow ain't getting fired after this year no matter what happens on the field. Cora might, but Breslow just came off an exhaustive GM search where a plethora of candidates were skittish at the idea of jumping on the "Boston Red Sox Chief Baseball Executive Carousel." So getting stop-gap veterans like you might normally look to get (example: Michael A Taylor instead of Rafaela, Whit Merrifield instead of Grissom, Michael Lorenzen instead of Tanner Houck, etc) is not something he has to worry about in terms of job security. 2. In addition to hoping that the upside of certain young guys takes what projects to be a 79-81 win team to being unexpectedly better than that, I kinda wonder if there's a benefit for Breslow to this crashing and burning as opposed to signing some random veterans to ensure you're at least .500. Breslow can go to John Henry and say, "Look, we tried seeing what we had with the internal guys - and it's no where close to good enough. Unless you want to wait a few years, you're going to have to spend." They won't be able to use "we didn't give X enough opportunities at the Major League level" as an excuse after 2024 if a lot of the question-mark-guys-with-upside that litter the roster just flat out suck. If you are to buy Costillo's reporting it's not that the front office/Breslow didn't want to add any more players it's that John Henry hard capped them.
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Post by puzzler on Mar 26, 2024 13:45:44 GMT -5
I was trying to look at things from Breslow's perspective after reading this, and was ruminating on two things: 1. Short of murdering someone, Craig Breslow ain't getting fired after this year no matter what happens on the field. Cora might, but Breslow just came off an exhaustive GM search where a plethora of candidates were skittish at the idea of jumping on the "Boston Red Sox Chief Baseball Executive Carousel." So getting stop-gap veterans like you might normally look to get (example: Michael A Taylor instead of Rafaela, Whit Merrifield instead of Grissom, Michael Lorenzen instead of Tanner Houck, etc) is not something he has to worry about in terms of job security. 2. In addition to hoping that the upside of certain young guys takes what projects to be a 79-81 win team to being unexpectedly better than that, I kinda wonder if there's a benefit for Breslow to this crashing and burning as opposed to signing some random veterans to ensure you're at least .500. Breslow can go to John Henry and say, "Look, we tried seeing what we had with the internal guys - and it's no where close to good enough. Unless you want to wait a few years, you're going to have to spend." They won't be able to use "we didn't give X enough opportunities at the Major League level" as an excuse after 2024 if a lot of the question-mark-guys-with-upside that litter the roster just flat out suck. If you are to buy Costillo's reporting it's not that the front office/Breslow didn't want to add any more players it's that John Henry hard capped them. It's not really believable to me that they were willing to go all the way for YY and then pivoted to, you can't go over $215 million. My guess is they told Breslow he can't go over the LT and after YY was off the board and they found the asking price for Montgomery way too high, Breslow turned to asm's thinking that not only is there no imperative to spend, there's also leverage to be gained by not spending.
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Post by julyanmorley on Mar 26, 2024 13:55:37 GMT -5
I don't buy the hard-cap story given they were excited about making a big offer to Yamamoto. It is just kayfabe.
I think the front office is acting like they want to get value out of their money. When the roster is packed full of 1.5 WAR players there's no value in adding these old mediocre vets. At Breslow's opening presser he hinted at this issue by talking about needing to "consolidate value on the roster" or something like that. Didn't find a way to do that. There were like six guys that would've made a difference on the team and they all didn't sign here for different reasons.
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