SAN DIEGO. A baseball team leader is only as good as his ability to judge players and properly evaluate their talents. Everything else is superfluous.
Theo Epstein understands that an expensive player like John Lester can give the Cubs a championship. But he also saw value for the Red Sox in less respected players like Kevin Miller and Bill Mueller.
Make a good enough choice and you’ll have a plaque in Cooperstown, just like Epstein would one day. Make too many mistakes and you’ll get the job.
The events of recent days will say a lot about where Chaim Bloom is heading. Exit polls are not optimistic.
Bloom’s assessment of Xander Bogaerts does not match that of the Padres, Cubs, Twins, and at least one or two other teams. Back in March, Bloom was adamant about this.
The gap between the Padres and the Red Sox was so wide that Scott Boras ended negotiations with Bloom on Wednesday and made a deal with Padres general manager A.J. Preller. No hard feelings, they just don’t agree with Bogarts’ value.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox secured a five-year, $90 million deal with Boras for Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida.
This is the opposite of Bogart’s negotiation. Yoshida has 45 days to sign with a major league team, and agents typically wait until the process is over to see if market forces add value to their clients.
Boras closed the window in less than a day because the Red Sox valued Yoshida so highly compared to other teams. There is no reason to wait, the gap is very large.
Late Wednesday night, a group of Japanese journalists attending the winter meeting met with Borras. He joked that Yoshida’s negotiations were going at the speed of a Japanese bullet train.
“Usually in the market, you have an estimate that you think is right, and we have an estimate of his skills,” he said. “When a team reaches this level in terms of age and [financial] valuation, it’s really a very positive thing.
“We knew his skill set would work at a very high level at [Fenway Park] and the team pulled it off.”
At 5ft 8in and 176lbs, Yoshida might be the Japanese version of Dustin Pedroia, throwing balls around the court. Or he could just be an average player like Seiya Suzuki last season with the Cubs.
Bloom could have taken that $90 million and entered the Bogartz competition. He chose Yoshida. Let’s see what happens.
Bloom looked bad early Wednesday as the No. 1 Rule 5 draft pick was Red Sox Double-A right-hander Sud Ward, now a member of the Nationals. Bloom chose to leave Ward exposed, leaving the likes of Caleb Alter on the 40-man roster.
The way it is. Christian Vazquez, Bloom’s player who was sent to Houston for two lower cap rookies, is actively in the market as a free agent and could sign a three-year deal.
The Mookie Betts deal was more about money and getting rid of David Price. But Alex Verdugo, whose promise of success may be fleeting, can they go the extra mile for a player who is now the face of his sport?
Bloom will be judged on how wobbly his movements will be, and that will take time. Maybe he’ll be right.
But as the Red Sox create increasingly anonymous lineups, the number of visitors who can visit Fenway Park is limited.
The Yankees certainly won’t be happy with what Aaron Judge has given them eight or nine years from now, but Brian Cashman understands where he works. There is something to say.
Post time: Dec-09-2022