2025 Prospects

[mvp 78]

51 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yup. Agreed.

If some were before he was called up, then they are not really ST'ing games, but I'm not sure about that 2023 season.

His first start in '23 was in WOO. It's a ST game.

 

[Hugh2]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I agree.

My point was that the best spot for him to help the 2026 Sox win starting on opening day would be the MLB pen.

Agreed, yet I want him in the AAA rotation, the upside is too good and the payoff would be what's best for him and the team (beyond 2026)

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

Agreed, yet I want him in the AAA rotation, the upside is too good and the payoff would be what's best for him and the team (beyond 2026)

I totally get that and agree.

As the season moves on, we may have to adjust and fill needs anyway we can, and that might mean using Tolle and or others in pen roles.

He should start the season in the AAA rotation, unless he wins a rotation slot of the Sox. He also has options, so others may make the 26 due to control issues- someone like the undeserving (for now) Hicks.

Others out of options: Wink, Criswell, Moran and the easy to DFA/Trade DeLeon &  I Campbell.

I don't see a 40 man roster crunch, this winter, unless we add 5-6 players, but there will be a 26 man roster crunch, that may lead to needing to put guys in AAA that are better players.

[mvp 78]

 

[moonslav59]

If Perales comes back strong, we could end up with a nice confluence of events.

[mvp 78]

18 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

If Perales comes back strong, we could end up with a nice confluence of events.

I still expect him in the pen due to his overall lack of experience and 40 man timeline. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

I still expect him in the pen due to his overall lack of experience and 40 man timeline. 

That would be fine, too, especially as a "long man."

[Larry Cook]

This year we had a few promising pitching prospects miss time due to injury. 
Does anybody have any update on any of them? 

[moonslav59]

12 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

This year we had a few promising pitching prospects miss time due to injury. 
Does anybody have any update on any of them? 

All I know is that Perales is pitching.

[mvp 78]

15 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

This year we had a few promising pitching prospects miss time due to injury. 
Does anybody have any update on any of them? 

Perales and Neely are both in the AFL right now. 

No major updates on the other injuries (Paez, Monegro, Valera, Cason, etc.). Paez and Valera were both throwing in Ft Myers. Monegro and Cason had TJS and will be out for a while. 

[Larry Cook]

6 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Perales and Neely are both in the AFL right now. 

No major updates on the other injuries (Paez, Monegro, Valera, Cason, etc.). Paez and Valera were both throwing in Ft Myers. Monegro and Cason had TJS and will be out for a while. 

Do we know if Clarke solved his blister problems??  The kid has amazing stuff! Just no idea where it is going when he releases it 

[moonslav59]

34 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Do we know if Clarke solved his blister problems??  The kid has amazing stuff! Just no idea where it is going when he releases it 

Probably won't know until he throws a bunch of innings.

I'm really pumped up about the future outlook of our pitching pipeline. We seem to have a lot of quality pitchers that are spread out from ML ready, near ML ready, 1-2 years away and 3+ years away.

[moonslav59]

SP Outlook

MLB: 26 Crochet (6 yrs) & 26 Bello (5 yrs), 29 Sandoval (1 more year) Crawford (3 arbs) & Houck (IL '26 & return '27) 23 Harrison (pre-arb), 25 (all pre-arbs) Dobbins & Fitts, 28 Criswell (pre arb)

MLB Ready Prospects: 23 Early, 22 Tolle, 22 Perales, 26 Uberstine, 26 Drohan

Maybe 2027: 22 Clarke, 23 Holobetz

Maybe 2028: 21 Witherspoon, 19 Valera & Fajardo, 21 Paez, Phillips & Eyanson plus Aita, Monegro & others

2029> 18 Travieso, 17 Delzine, Cason & others

[Larry Cook]

21 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

SP Outlook

Houck (IL '26 & return '27) 

Does bres-slow non tender houck? Only 4 million savings (estimated). But a decision he has to make 

[moonslav59]

15 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Does bres-slow non tender houck? Only 4 million savings (estimated). But a decision he has to make 

I think it would be dumb to non tender him. We've sign more expensive pitchers on the IL, like Paxton, Sandoval, and even Hendriks cost more than $4M/yr. Houck was our best pitcher in 2024, and he has nasty stuff.

We don't really have a 40 man roster crunch, either, so that is not a reason to let him go.

Even if he comes back as a RP'er or closer in 2027, he should be worth the $4M for 2026 and $4M for 2027- essentially $8M for 2027.

[Larry Cook]

On 10/25/2025 at 4:12 PM, moonslav59 said:

 

Even if he comes back as a RP'er or closer in 2027, he should be worth the $4M for 2026 and $4M for 2027- essentially $8M for 2027.

I have always thought houck could be a decent closer for us! 
 

but maybe Chapman continues to defy Father Time !!!   

[Larry Cook]

On 10/24/2025 at 6:34 PM, moonslav59 said:

SP Outlook

MLB: 26 Crochet (6 yrs) & 26 Bello (5 yrs), 29 Sandoval (1 more year) Crawford (3 arbs) & Houck (IL '26 & return '27) 23 Harrison (pre-arb), 25 (all pre-arbs) Dobbins & Fitts, 28 Criswell (pre arb)

MLB Ready Prospects: 23 Early, 22 Tolle, 22 Perales, 26 Uberstine, 26 Drohan

Maybe 2027: 22 Clarke, 23 Holobetz

Maybe 2028: 21 Witherspoon, 19 Valera & Fajardo, 21 Paez, Phillips & Eyanson plus Aita, Monegro & others

2029> 18 Travieso, 17 Delzine, Cason & others

Assuming no trades:

Crochet #1 and bello #3 are locks for Boston’s opening day roster. 
if 100 percent healthy. We have to assume Sandoval #4 is a lock for Boston’s opening day roster. 
 

now comes the hard part. We have Crawford. Harrison. Fitts, dobbins, Criswell, Tolle, early, perales, uberstine and drohan to sort out! 
1.) I assume dobbins starts the year on the 60 DL. 

2.) is early our 5th starter? 

3.) Harrison and Fitts seem like excellent bullpen arms similar to Whitlock. 
4.) Worcester gets Tolle, perales, uberstine and drohan. Plus dobbins when dobbins knee heals. 
 

that leaves Crawford and criswell?  
- does a team in desperate need of pitching claim Criswell??  (Good luck to that team) 
- is Crawford the 5th starter and early gets sent to Worcester? 

who does bres-slow acquire for the all important #2 slot?  Chris sale is my vote, if I had a vote! Atlanta needs cost controlled pitching and an outfielder and a shortstop!! Hmmmm!!!!  sweet Georgia pie!!! 

will giolito get and accept a qualifying offer??? 
Does the medical condition of giolito’s elbow eliminate bres-slow from offering the qualifying offer??  

Lots to unpack with the 2026 rotation, but I believe bres-slow has a plan A and a plan B which could be altered based on who opts in and out versus if giolito gets a qualifying offer! 

 

[moonslav59]

10 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

I have always thought houck could be a decent closer for us! 
 

but maybe Chapman continues to defy Father Time !!!   

Houck could likely be a great set-up man in '27, if we choose not to start him.

(Hint: Whitlock become a FA after 2026.)

[moonslav59]

9 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Assuming no trades:

Crochet #1 and bello #3 are locks for Boston’s opening day roster. 
if 100 percent healthy. We have to assume Sandoval #4 is a lock for Boston’s opening day roster. 
 

now comes the hard part. We have Crawford. Harrison. Fitts, dobbins, Criswell, Tolle, early, perales, uberstine and drohan to sort out! 
1.) I assume dobbins starts the year on the 60 DL. 

2.) is early our 5th starter? 

3.) Harrison and Fitts seem like excellent bullpen arms similar to Whitlock. 
4.) Worcester gets Tolle, perales, uberstine and drohan. Plus dobbins when dobbins knee heals. 
 

that leaves Crawford and criswell?  
- does a team in desperate need of pitching claim Criswell??  (Good luck to that team) 
- is Crawford the 5th starter and early gets sent to Worcester? 

who does bres-slow acquire for the all important #2 slot?  Chris sale is my vote, if I had a vote! Atlanta needs cost controlled pitching and an outfielder and a shortstop!! Hmmmm!!!!  sweet Georgia pie!!! 

will giolito get and accept a qualifying offer??? 
Does the medical condition of giolito’s elbow eliminate bres-slow from offering the qualifying offer??  

Lots to unpack with the 2026 rotation, but I believe bres-slow has a plan A and a plan B which could be altered based on who opts in and out versus if giolito gets a qualifying offer! 

 

If I had to choose I'd go with Harrison as the #5. (Crawford is second in line.) Fitts should be in the pen.

ESPN says Dobbins should be 100% ready for ST'ing, so I doubt he starts the year on the 60, like Houck will after opening day.

AAA rotation: Dobbins, Harrison or Crawford, Early, Tolle & Perales (Maybe one of these 5 go to the MLB pen with Fitts (Crawford?) and Uberstine is the 5th man. Criswell is out of options, along with Wink & Moran. I doubt any would pass through waivers, but are also not high trade targets for other teams looking at their own 40 man roster squeezes. We may try to keep them around by fitting them into the opening day ML roster, but we also have Hicks crowding the 8 man pen.

Chapman

Whitlock

Slaten

Weissert

Bernardino

Fitts

Hicks

_______ One slot for Criswell, Wink or Moran (Fitts and Bernardino have options remaining, so may be they start the season off the 26, just so we keep viable pen choices alive.

I'd love to see us find a way to trade Hicks and his $12M x 2 remaining contract. I'd rather have any of these guys I mentioned on the 26 over him, and even Murphy and maybe even Kelly/Guerrero or a converted SP'er.

[mvp 78]

On 10/24/2025 at 5:27 PM, Larry Cook said:

Do we know if Clarke solved his blister problems??  The kid has amazing stuff! Just no idea where it is going when he releases it 

There are a ton of pitchers with great stuff that never figure out how to harness it. 

He ended the season on the IL due to the blister issues. After May, he never pitched into the 4th inning. 

[Larry Cook]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

There are a ton of pitchers with great stuff that never figure out how to harness it. 

 

Ins’t what you said the definition of the word prospect? 

[moonslav59]

9 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

There are a ton of pitchers with great stuff that never figure out how to harness it. 

He ended the season on the IL due to the blister issues. After May, he never pitched into the 4th inning. 

It might be too early to be thinking pen bound for Brandon, and blister issues isn't usually a reason to convert a SP'er into a RP'er, so I doubt they make that choice, this winter. He's still just 22.

[mvp 78]

13 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

It might be too early to be thinking pen bound for Brandon, and blister issues isn't usually a reason to convert a SP'er into a RP'er, so I doubt they make that choice, this winter. He's still just 22.

They haven't been quick to convert guys to the pen. Doubt they'd do that to him this early. 

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They haven't been quick to convert guys to the pen. Doubt they'd do that to him this early. 

It's understandable and not uncommon with other teams, too.

We do have a mess of starters lined up for next year. Of course, guys like Drohan can be easily replaced, but we had 81 pitchers start 2 or more games in the minors and a few draftees never started.

It looks like Mullins and Sandlin have already been converted to the pen and will stay there, but my guess is a few more will be, too. Or, we just trade or release some of the fluff.

soxprospects.com lists 6-7 SP'ers at every level. Some will end up on the IL, and some will start the season on the IL.

8 AAA: Tolle, Early, Dobbins (IL?) Perales, Uberstine, Drohan, Anderson, I Coffey (Mullins & Sandlin in pen) Criswell is out of options.

6 AA: Holobetz, Wehunt, Paez, Clarke, Aita, E Rivera (Dean, Rogers in pen)

7 A+: Valera, Fajardo, Witherspoon, Phillips, Eyanson, Tygart, Neely (Futrell in pen)

6 A-: Travieso, J Bello, Ruiz, Patton, Morgan, Brown

IL: Monegro, Duffy,  Cason and others.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

It looks like Mullins and Sandlin have already been converted to the pen and will stay there, but my guess is a few more will be, too. Or, we just trade or release some of the fluff.

Mullins only pitched one game in relief last season and that was a piggyback start with Noah Dean at the beginning of the season in GVL. 

I'm not sure they've ultimately decided Sandlin is a reliever either. I think they tried to fast track him to the BOS pen, but it didn't work out in '25. 

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Mullins only pitched one game in relief last season and that was a piggyback start with Noah Dean at the beginning of the season in GVL. 

I'm not sure they've ultimately decided Sandlin is a reliever either. I think they tried to fast track him to the BOS pen, but it didn't work out in '25. 

Good points, but I think Sandlin will stick in the pen. 

I think Mullins will be in AAA and we already have 7-8 starters there. AA looks packed, too.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Good points, but I think Sandlin will stick in the pen. 

I think Mullins will be in AAA and we already have 7-8 starters there. AA looks packed, too.

Sandlin may end up in the pen, but I don't think it's been decided yet. 

If Mullins is in the pen, it'd be used as a piggyback guy. I wouldn't put too much stock in what SP has listed as the '26 rosters right now. There will be trades and the Rule 5 draft. 

[mvp 78]

Also, SP's listed 6th AAA starter is Shane Drohan who has only thrown 70 IP over the past 24 months. Crawford, Sandoval and Perales all have their own health concerns too. Mullins could be 14th on the depth chart today, but 9th when it gets to the end of March TBH. He also has a higher ceiling than a guy like Uberstine IMO. I think the scouting reports on both of those guys are outdated. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Also, SP's listed 6th AAA starter is Shane Drohan who has only thrown 70 IP over the past 24 months. Crawford, Sandoval and Perales all have their own health concerns too. Mullins could be 14th on the depth chart today, but 9th when it gets to the end of March TBH. He also has a higher ceiling than a guy like Uberstine IMO. I think the scouting reports on both of those guys are outdated. 

I was thinking of Uberstine when I mentioned Sandlin & Mullins.

I agree, it's not decided, but they seem like very possible candidates to be converted at the beginning of '26. Maybe Uberstine is, or is traded.

I could see Crawford moved to the MLB pen to start '26, and that might allow Early to be the 5th starter- assuming Dobbins begins on the IL, but we also have Sandoval, Harrison and Fitts, who could be the first moved to the pen.

There are a lot of possibilities and soxprospects.com is just making projections, and they could easily be off the mark.

[moonslav59]

Add Eduardo Rivera back into the SP'er mix at AA or AAA.