2026 Prospects

[drewski6]

Make no mistake, I would trade Valera right now for 2 months of prime Lincecum.

[Hugh2]

20 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

He could be a high caliber arm next season and going forward. I'm just saying that it's not working out now and would have been terrible last postseason. Sox definitely got the better end of the deal for 2026. 

I don't regret that trade one bit, I was a little sad at the time because I love high ceiling arms, despite their whif rates (no pun intended), but it was a good trade. 

EDIT: this is why I like Valera a lot too, I'm well aware of the risks but I still think his ceiling is sky high. 

[Hugh2]

17 hours ago, drewski6 said:

The little guys like Tim Lincecum usually dont have long careers because they have to go max effort.

 

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Mark Prior at 6'5" had less service time.

Kerry Wood at 6'5" had to be moved to the pen in his 20's because of injuries. 

Frame doesn't make the pitcher. 

Pedro didn't get beyond his mid 30's, but not many pitchers do. 

Sonny Gray is having a renaissance after age 35. 

Things that are generally true aren't always true.  Big guys are generally thought to have the body to withstand the rigors of a full season for the long haul, but on the other hand big guys get hurt too and little guys like Pedro Martinez have HOF careers. 

Rules have exceptions, doesn't make following them bad practice. 

[moonslav59]

On 9/15/2026 at 7:24 AM, mvp 78 said:

Delzine may be the only real upside guy left without knowing much about LaFavor. Valera is a big question mark at this point. Wehunt is fine as a depth piece. Not much to talk about with the rest of the pitching. Seems like back to square one. 

Agreed, but Brez did use some of the young pitching depth to improve the quality of the MLB staff and line-up.

Staff:

Perales for Bennett (5 yrs of control)

Clarke, Fajardo & Aita for Gray (might just be one year)

Travieso (+Jh Garcia) for Oviedo & Samaniego

Line-up:

Dobbins, Fajardo & Aite for Contreras (3 yrs of control)

Early for Mead

Harrison, Drohan (+DHam) for Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler (One could argue the money saved on no Bregman allowed us to sign Suarez)

Added farm pitching:

Sandlin & Hicks for Ziehl (maybe a push)

Delzine (IFA) Phillips, Brown & LaFavor('25 and '26 Drafts)

Barrett Morgan, Jacob Mayers, Leighton Finley and some others have some hopes.

 

[moonslav59]

The farm seasons are over, except for WOO.

soxprospects.com has next year's roster projections set up:

https://www.soxprospects.com/2027.htm

Some notables:

Crawford joins Paez, Wehunt, Holobetz and Ziehl in the Woo rotation. While that rotation looks decent for a AAA team, Crawford looks like the only meaningful ML-impact starter. They have Mullins as the #6, but maybe he gets moved to the pen. The pen has Bastardo, Gamboa, Smaniego, Rivera and Olds.

The everyday players at Woo look pretty decent, but with Duran, Jones, Yoshida, Eaton and Cheng listed in la-la land as bubble players, I'm going to push Monasterio, Gasper, Eaton & Cheng to AAA, making there roster look like this:

C: Jo Garcia, Nate Baez (H White/ GRod AA)

1B: Casas, Gasper (Hickey?)

2B: Seigler, Rodgers, McDonough (M White AA)

3B: Eaton, Romero (Winnay AA)

SS: Arias (MLB?) Liendo (Godbout AA)

LF: Castro (Gutierrez AA)

CF: Ward, Bleis (I Jackson AA)

RF: Campbell (Gonzales AA)

DH: Brannon (AA>AAA) or Jo Garcia/Casas/Gasper/Seigler (Ro Hernandez AA)

[mvp 78]

5 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

 

Things that are generally true aren't always true.  Big guys are generally thought to have the body to withstand the rigors of a full season for the long haul, but on the other hand big guys get hurt too and little guys like Pedro Martinez have HOF careers. 

Rules have exceptions, doesn't make following them bad practice. 

I agree. My comments were in large part due to: 

"He is too little.  If I can beat you up in a fight, get off the 40 man roster."