Your Red Sox top prospect lists

[Yaz Sideburn]

Nah' date=' well the MUCH better part is, but the part soley part is not.[/quote']

 

how many gm's in baseball do you think would rather have the yankees young group of major leaguers?

[ORS]

Forget which is just better, because that is crystal clear, but lets get back to the "much". Here's the list of players that have come up and stuck with their team since 2005, ie the "young" group, for each team.

 

Yankees: Cano, Gardner, Hughes, Joba, Robertson, Albaladejo, Aceves

Sox: Lester, Pedroia, Papelbon, Buchholz, Ellsbury, Lowrie, Kalish (and Youkilis came up in 2004)

 

Yaz's point is spot on. There's value in the Yankee group, but I take the Sox group hands down every time.

[yankees228]

Forget which is just better, because that is crystal clear, but lets get back to the "much". Here's the list of players that have come up and stuck with their team since 2005, ie the "young" group, for each team.

 

Yankees: Cano, Gardner, Hughes, Joba, Robertson, Albaladejo, Aceves

Sox: Lester, Pedroia, Papelbon, Buchholz, Ellsbury, Lowrie, Kalish (and Youkilis came up in 2004)

 

Yaz's point is spot on. There's value in the Yankee group, but I take the Sox group hands down every time.

 

And Bard. I said in a previous Red Sox's GT that if I had to take one reliever for the next five years, it would be Bard.

[Yaz Sideburn]

And Bard. I said in a previous Red Sox's GT that if I had to take one reliever for the next five years' date=' it would be Bard.[/quote']

 

i'd take mariano rivera. i'm convinced that he's an alien (not the kind from panama) and he's going to pitch for another 50 years

[ORS]

Good point, and when I was thinking about that, I meant to include him, but the volume of cervezas is getting to me.

[jacksonianmarch]

We're gonna see a pretty big influx over the next 2 yrs assuming the Yankees are actually patient enough to guide some kids through the system. We might be able to close the gap some, but it is gonna be awfully hard to overtake the sox in young homegrown talent for the forseeable future

[ORS]

We're gonna see a pretty big influx over the next 2 yrs assuming the Yankees are actually patient enough to guide some kids through the system. We might be able to close the gap some' date=' but it is gonna be awfully hard to overtake the sox in young homegrown talent for the forseeable future[/quote']

Not saying your team won't get better (Cliff Lee), but some of your best and brightest are blocked by rather big current, and future (Cliff Lee), contracts. Whereas the Sox should be able to continue to plug and chug. Having more home grown talent won't win you anything meaningful, but I don't see this irrelevant comparison changing much at all, especially not if Montero proves to be a big league DH rather than C (he's not replacing Teixeira at 1B ).

[jacksonianmarch]

Montero has improved at C this yr to a point where he looks like he could be a viable catcher option. Granted, he would definitely be below average defensively, but probably not much worse than Posada

[ORS]

Montero has improved at C this yr to a point where he looks like he could be a viable catcher option. Granted' date=' he would definitely be below average defensively, but probably not much worse than Posada[/quote']

So has, reportedly, Lavarnway, but the doubt, for both, still remains.

[jacksonianmarch]

From what I have heard, Lavarnway is probably going to be transitioned off the C position next yr. Now, the Yankees dont have much choice since Montero cannot play the OF and 1b is tied up for 6 more yrs after this one. SO they have a little more interest in keeping him at C and not transitioning him since his only other viable big league position would be DH

[Divinity]

Montero has improved at C this yr to a point where he looks like he could be a viable catcher option. Granted' date=' he would definitely be below average defensively, but probably not much worse than Posada[/quote']

 

From what I've heard scouts have compared his defensive abilities similiar to Victor Martinez

[jacksonianmarch]

Which is pretty similar to Posada

[jacksonianmarch]

I think Sanchez or Romine are the long term future at C. I think Montero will be a split C/DH until Tex leaves and then moves to 1b full time at the ripe age of 26

[Meh]

I think Sanchez or Romine are the long term future at C. I think Montero will be a split C/DH until Tex leaves and then moves to 1b full time at the ripe age of 26

 

Yankees seem to be shifting more towards JR Murphy even with his so-so year. Scouts are starting to like him better than Romine.

[jacksonianmarch]

Gonna take this out of the Sox prospect forum and respond in the Yankee forum

[Yaz Sideburn]

10. Britton' date=' he's going to be in the big leagues. Middle roto, backend or middle reliever is up in the air but I still like him.[/quote']

 

britton's an interesting guy. he's been throwing 94-95 and topping out at 97 as a lefty. he's still only 21 and he has a very good curve but he's going to need to work on his changeup some more if he's going to be anything special

[jacksonianmarch]

He's got a long way to go to be a starter. He needs to improve his durability and essentially create his change. My guess is that he ends up as a high end reliever with his arm and his breaking ball.

[Yaz Sideburn]

He's got a long way to go to be a starter. He needs to improve his durability and essentially create his change. My guess is that he ends up as a high end reliever with his arm and his breaking ball.

 

he doesn't need to create a change, he has one which he's been working on for a few years. it isn't good enough for the upper minors yet, but he's only 21 so that's par for the course

[jacksonianmarch]

A lefty with a 95mph fastball and solid slider has a big league ceiling. His change has a long way to go before he can be considered a solid starting pitching prospect. But as a reliever, I think his ceiling is either as setup or close, ie high end/very valuable. You are right to have him in the top 10, he's a very strong prospect

[Yaz Sideburn]

A lefty with a 95mph fastball and solid slider has a big league ceiling. His change has a long way to go before he can be considered a solid starting pitching prospect. But as a reliever' date=' I think his ceiling is either as setup or close, ie high end/very valuable. You are right to have him in the top 10, he's a very strong prospect[/quote']

 

for the record, i didn't have him in my top 10. and if he was a yankees prospect you'd be very excited about him

[jacksonianmarch]

Absolutely, sox fans should be excited about him.

[Meh]

britton's an interesting guy. he's been throwing 94-95 and topping out at 97 as a lefty. he's still only 21 and he has a very good curve but he's going to need to work on his changeup some more if he's going to be anything special

 

Didn't know about the 97 wow, that's a big plus there.

[Yaz Sideburn]

Didn't know about the 97 wow' date=' that's a big plus there.[/quote']

 

a 21 year old lefty that hits 97 with their fastball is going to get a lot of chances to figure things out. i imagine if he still hasn't put the whole package together by age 24 or 25, there will be many other teams willing to take a chance on him

[soxfan74]

Good thread . My top ten would right now would be.

 

1. Ryan Kalish

2. Anthony Rizzo

3. Ryan Lavernway

4. Jose Iglesias

5. Casey Kelly

6. Anthony Ranaudo

7. Josh Reddick

8. Kolbrin Vitek

9. Will Middlebrooks

10. Jeremy Hazelbaker (Ryan Westmoreland)

 

Several guys real close would be Doubrant, Anderson, Exposito, Workman, Britton, Pimental, Brentz, Fuentes.

[Meh]

a 21 year old lefty that hits 97 with their fastball is going to get a lot of chances to figure things out. i imagine if he still hasn't put the whole package together by age 24 or 25' date=' there will be many other teams willing to take a chance on him[/quote']

 

Really think the Sox make a trade this off season, like a bigger deal a la V-Mart.

[Yaz Sideburn]

Really think the Sox make a trade this off season' date=' like a bigger deal a la V-Mart.[/quote']

 

i don't know if you meant for that to be related to my comments about britton, but i agree. the red sox have a lot of money to use to extend a player they trade for and they've got a whole bunch of prospects who will probably be blocked by more talented young players already on their team or in their system

[Station 13]

Nice interview with Rizzo here:

 

http://www.nesn.com/2010/09/anthony-rizzo-earns-red-sox-minor-league-honors-two-years-after-cancer-diagnosis.html

[Meh]

Any updates after the big trade?

 

I'm more of a purist when it comes to this too so if a guy has legit time in the majors I don't list them.

 

1. Ranaudo

2. Iglesias

3. Britton

4. Cecchini

5. Lavarnway

6. Vitek

7. Stonly

8. Workman

9. Navarro

10. Middlebrooks

 

Solid system might be below 20 now, but still has a little kick left in it to make a solid addition via a trade.

[jacksonianmarch]

Ranaudo is not in the top spot, IMO. He's top 5, but until he proves he can do it as a pro, I'd be reticent to put him in the top spot. I wouldnt have Cecchini so high either. Iglesias is in the top spot for me, although I see him getting passed over rather quickly this year, and another guy who has to be in the top 10 is Madison Younginer. Regardless, this top 10 will change massively over this yr as a lot of HSers make their long season league debuts. Regardless, the sox system wont generate any big time talent for at least 2 years after the AdGon trade

[Meh]

This isn't a guess to someone's list it's just mine. I like Ranaudo a lot. Yeah I might put Younginer in there over Middlebrooks, who I'm not high on. I couldn't really pin down a 10th guy so I just put Middlebrooks there.