Red Sox Daily Links: Everyone’s Confused!

Hey, let’s do some links! Remember those? We used to have them every day, thus the use of the word “daily” in that headline up there. I realize that we might be taking a little longer to get the site back up to speed than many of you would like, but it’s been a hectic couple of weeks, made more so by the fact that I was actually on vacation last week, and had promised my wife that I wouldn’t work unless the Sox traded for a masturbating catcher. But there’s a lot of good stuff out there that you should read, so let’s get back to it.

We’ll start with the big one, Alex Speier’s deep dive into the supposed confusion that permeates the organization in the wake of a trade deadline defined by half-measures. If you haven’ t already read this one, then you’ve probably at least formed a complete opinion about it based entirely on a few Tweets you briefly glanced at (which, we can all agree, is definitely the best way to participate in any discourse). (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

And if even more confusion is what you’re after, Peter Abraham’s latest notebook discusses the possibility of Bobby Dalbec playing, uh, second base. Sure, guys, sounds like a plan. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

Over at ESPN.com, Kiley McDaniel ranked all the farm systems in the wake of the trade deadline. The Sox remain in the middle of the pack, with McDaniel noting that Bloom’s moves really only added depth as opposed to impact talent. (Kiley McDaniel, ESPN.com)

Speaking of prospects, Chad Jennings of The Athletic put together an all-minor league team for the month of July. (Chad Jennings, The Athletic)

And if you’re feeling down about the Sox and want to focus on an entirely different train wreck of a legacy team, check out this wild piece about the contract shenanigans Barcelona is trying to pull with star Frenkie de Jong. Long story short: de Jong helped out the club a few years back by agreeing to restructure his contract and defer some of the money owed to him to the back-end of the deal. With the back-end of that deal now approaching, Barca still doesn’t really have the cash to pay him, and is now alleging that “criminal activity” occurred during the negotiations, rendering the deal void. European soccer is nuts, man. (David Ornstein, The Athletic)