mvp 78

Other notes: Scouts see Groome as a teenage Jon Lester. "Inadequate offseason conditioning" was an issue with Groome's injury riddled year. Chavis is undersized at 1b, but looked good in AFL. Comparables to Chavis are Moustakas and Ron Cey. Houck has a floor of Joe Smith or Carson Smith, but is still intriguing as a starter if he can develop a third pitch. Mata is a young three pitch pitcher, but where does he project physically? Great command though. Brannen has a Brett Gardner starter kit of tools, but maybe too passive at the plate. Travis couldn't get on an offensive roll in 2017 due to rehab from injuries and being on the PAW/BOS shuttle. When will the power show? If Shawaryn develops a changeup, he could become a 4th starter. Scherff is just risky due to age, but has a high ceiling and has advanced FB command for his age. No professional pitches thrown yet. Marco is at worst a bench player, but could be an everyday 2b depending on how he bounces back from injury. Not much new there, but it's a good jumping off point for anyone who hasn't been paying much attention after the team gutted the system.

Speier goes into more detail here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2017/12/18/what-left-red-sox-farm-system-here-are-top-prospects/zPy507YNIMZcgt19C15v4H/story.html Darwinzon: WHY HE’S RANKED HERE: Few in the Red Sox system can match the present stuff of Hernandez, who unleashes mid-90s fastballs (topping out at 97) from a low three-quarters arm slot. He’s leaned heavily on a curveball throughout his career, but in his final start of the year for Greenville, he finally committed to a slider that looked like an absolute wipeout offering PROJECTION: If everything clicks and he realizes how to employ a full three- to four-pitch mix (fastball, slider, curveball, changeup), Hernandez could be a starter in the mold of Francisco Liriano, albeit one who is likely capped as a mid-rotation starter by his limited command. At the least, he has the power stuff and aggressive attack plan – he hunts swings-and-misses with his fastball – to be a formidable back-end reliever. QUESTIONS: Will Hernandez continue the sort of control gains he made in 2017, when he dropped his walk rate from 6.7 per nine innings to 4.3 per nine? If not, can he ever assume the innings total necessary to be a starter? Will he make the necessary progress to realize how to sequence his pitches to thrive, or is he more of a let-it-fly guy who is suited for the late innings?

SYSTEM OVERVIEW Strengths: In a system thinned by trades and graduations, the Red Sox still have an interesting mix of pitching prospects, led by No. 1 Jay Groome and 2017 first-rounder Tanner Houck, though most are either far away or could wind up in the bullpen. Corner infield bats such as Michael Chavis, Josh Ockimey, Sam Travis and Danny Diaz provide some power potential. Weaknesses: The Red Sox lack for up-the-middle positions players. Boston might not have a future regular at catcher, second base, shortstop or center field in the system. Graduating Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers and trading premium prospects like Manuel Margot, Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and Anderson Espinoza—as well as trades of lesser prospects—has thinned what was one of the deepest system in baseball a few years ago. BEST TOOLS Best Hitter for Average: Sam Travis. Best Power Hitter: Michael Chavis. Best Strike-Zone Discipline: Josh Ockimey. Fastest Baserunner: Cole Brannen. Best Athlete: Kervin Suarez. Best Fastball: Darwinzon Hernandez. Best Curveball: Jay Groome. Best Slider: Tanner Houck. Best Changeup: Ty Buttrey. Best Control: Bryan Mata. Best Defensive Catcher: Austin Rei. Best Defensive INF: Antoni Flores. Best INF Arm: Bobby Dalbec. Best Defensive OF: Tate Matheny. Best OF Arm: Yoan Aybar. TOP PROSPECTS OF THE DECADE (Listed with 2017 organization) 2008: RHP Clay Buchholz (Phillies) | WAR: 15.5 2009: 1B Lars Anderson (Japan) | WAR: N/A 2010: OF Ryan Westmoreland (Did Not Play) | WAR: N/A 2011: SS Jose Iglesias (Tigers) | WAR: 7.0 2012: 3B Will Middlebrooks (Rangers) | WAR: 1.4 2013: SS Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox) | WAR: 11.1 2014: SS Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox) | WAR: ** 2015: C Blake Swihart (Red Sox) | WAR: 0.6 2016: 3B Yoan Moncada (White Sox) | WAR: 1.5 2017: OF Andrew Benintendi (Red Sox) | WAR: 3.1 TOP DRAFT PICKS OF THE DECADE (Listed with 2017 organization) 2008: RHP Casey Kelly (Giants) | WAR: 1.5 2009: OF Reymond Fuentes (Diamondbacks) | WAR: 0.3 2010: 2B Kolbrin Vitek (Did Not Play) | WAR: N/A 2011: RHP Matt Barnes (Red Sox) | WAR: 0.8 2012: SS Deven Marrero (Red Sox) | WAR: 0.1 2013: LHP Trey Ball (Red Sox) | WAR: N/A 2014: SS Michael Chavis (Red Sox) | Top 10 2015: OF Andrew Benintendi (Red Sox) | WAR: 3.1 2016: LHP Jay Groome (Red Sox) | Top 10 2017: RHP Tanner Houck (Red Sox) | Top 10

Compared with SoxProspects list 1. Groome (1) 2. Chavis (2) 3. Houck (4) 4. Mata (3) 5. Brannen (7) 6. D Hernandez (14) 7. Travis (5) 8. Shawaryn (8) 9. Scherff (9) 10. M. Hernandez (NR graduated) No love for Ockimey or Beeks. They must really like Darwinzon's FB?

Baseball America's prospect rankings are out. Red Sox Top 10 Prospects 1. Jay Groome, LHP 2. Michael Chavis, 3B 3. Tanner Houck, RHP 4. Bryan Mata, RHP 5. Cole Brannen, OF 6. Darwinzon Hernandez, LHP 7. Sam Travis, 1B 8. Mike Shawaryn, RHP 9. Alex Scherff, RHP 10. Marco Hernandez, SS/2B

He did play less than half of the games from 2014 - 2016. That probably hurt his development, you think?

Plus it was before he revamped his swing.

Moving Benny to CF isn't really rearranging the OF since he played there off and on in 2017.

Here's 5,000 words of nothing. Enjoy!

Well duh.

@PeteAbe Boras defended JD Martinez as a RF, saying metrics are skewed by Betts and Heyward. But also said Martinez would adapt to a team that wanted him to DH.

Who says JD will be overpaid? You're already ripping him for a deal he hasn't made yet?

It's JD.

They aren't signing both.

All I've read is that he's willing to DH for BOS.

It'd be a really stupid thing to do. Maybe once he turns 35?

Guys still available: Adams (meh) Alonso (short deal for cheap?) Bautista (no) Bruce (rather not) Duda (pass) Ethier (platoon DH for cheap?) Frazier (transition to 1b?) CarGo (not sure he has much less, but how cheap could he be for DH/bench bat?) Hosmer (NO, too much $$$) Lucroy (transition to 1b? outside the box, but prob too much $$$) JD (Gimmie a Hell Yeah!) Mitch (Ugh) LoMo (On a 1 year deal only) Moose (Pass) Napoli (nothing left in the tank) Nunez (is he really worth the $$$?) Rasmus (another platoon DH option) Reynolds (even when he mashes, his offense is just replacement level) Werth (the guy we should have signed in 2011) Chris Young (please no)

Maybe higher AAV, but at only 3 years it's a good get. Better than the Hanley and Pablo contracts!

Angels are trying to win the offseason like the Blue Jays did a few seasons ago. Seems like an 86 win team should be coming down the pike in LAA.

What an unlikable team!!! I was annoyed by the Pedroia stuff. The Price stuff was weird. Overall, I liked last year's team though. Lots of underrated fan friendly guys like Xander and Vazquez that don't get their due.

!!!

30 is like 9 years away from now?!?!?!?? Are you already prepared to have him play through age 40? HOF HOF HOF HOF HOF

The arresting officer wrote in the report that the girlfriend suffered injuries to her face. Effffffffffffffffffffff NESN

The author of your link is the guy's tweet that I posted.

He's fine, but ultimately probably not worth a long term contract. He doesn't have the one skill set the Sox really need: power.