sk7326

Tremendous deal for the White Sox if that is the trade. Nats needed a CF, but the White Sox got a ton back. Their rebuild looks awfully promising.

It will make him happy undoubtedly. The people he is replacing were ridiculously good at their jobs. You can see that with how quickly our guys get scooped up by other teams looking at best-in-industry folks.

I agree that it was a terrific move for the Royals

For a team with the Red Sox resources - the purpose of the system (as far as producing kids for us) is stars. There are a myriad of ways to find worker bees. And the Red Sox have consciously focused on upside, upside, upside. That the system has produced a Betts and Bogaerts is way more significant than the number of Kyle Weilands who did not go anywhere. The vast majority of teams do not spit that out.

Did Wilbur do this with the other 29 teams? This sort of analysis (and obviously the Red Sox are not perfect) is terribly myopic in its focus.

I think it is a deal that makes sense for the Cubs - and they had surplus. I would not love the move - but this is better than doing what the Giants did. I agree with you in that I love the deal for the Royals.

Different time horizon, and young talent coming out the ears - they have to pay all these guys eventually ...

Did they whiff? The assumption is that their hit rate was low - when all you know are the absolute numbers. That is a dubious assumption at best - certainly the way the front office got raided year after year shows how low the hit rate is.

This is simply not true relative to other teams - and moreover, when those people are producing All-Star SS's and Top 10 overall player, who cares. The point is to produce stars - it's the venture capitalist idea. You're better than this.

Really strong move by the Royals. Teams like them cannot afford to overpay relief pitching - they have a terrific in house solution anyway. Soler was frozen out of the Cubs outfield (especially if they intend to keep Fowler), but is a ridiculously talented guy who has been productive when he's had run. Cubs used surplus to address a need - it is solid for them.

Of course there was a win now - but the question was on the "how" ... it's moot either way. I like all the moves - how can you not? But I don't want the infrastructure to atrophy either - and that is a legitimate thing to watch.

Did he have the mandate? We'll never know. Clearly Dombrowski does. Of course given the Cherington-esque approach won the World Series this past season - Henry's sea change the last year plus will always be interesting to me.

I guess if you wanted to carry a 13th position player like Hernandez fine. I could also see a scenario where the Red Sox tinker with Swihart trying out a corner as well as catching (in whatever capacity). It is a gap right now - but "part time corner infielder" is the one shopping list item, wonderful.

It's baseball. Hell, the Cubs were the best team in the league wire to wire and were taken to the brink in the World Series by a severe underdog. This should be the best team in the AL - assuming health.

C: Somebody 1B: Ramirez 2B: Pedroia SS: Bogaerts 3B: Sandoval LF: Benintendi CF: Bradley RF: Betts DH: Moreland Reserve C: Somebody Reserve IF: Holt Reserve OF: Young I'm not going to begin to guess on the catcher - Leon deserves the benefit of incumbency, but there is no real reason to have a ton of faith that he is "the starter"

Pablo is the bet. Now, obviously Holt can play it too. If you really get itchy, you can make a mistake for mistake deal with the ChiSox for Todd Frazier.

The question is not the approach to trade prospects - it is whether the team still has the folks in the scouting and development sides to keep delivering prospects. This particularly noteworthy with the new CBA essentially crushing the international FA market.

You take improvement from the other 8 slots in the roster and decent DH production - this offense should be fine. There could be a dropoff - but no guarantee it's a large one.

Yes and no - there are no more dynasties - but baseball is hard and the playoffs are weird. While there are no more dynasties - the Yankees made the playoffs every year between 1995 and 2007 and 2009 to 2012 and 2015. So 18 years in a 22 year stretch. Sustained contention is still very much possible. The Dombrowski approach in Detroit created a window as well, but a shorter one.

He's cheaper - neither are very good.

The moves are helpful - and if you are going all in, do it for a stud on a great contract in his prime. His delivery screams TJS, but his results don't - and so you have to give Sale the benefit here. Now the risk is obvious - you are prospect poorer and less equipped to handle some level of deus ex machina. Fortunately the core of the team is young and athletic - and so there should not be the same risks of growing old overnight that there have been in Detroit. It is also interesting that the Red Sox may have moved to a post-development machine era the same season where that approach saved the Cubs. Homegrown, cost controlled stuff is still the right way to build a core - and normally the preference is to keep the guys you think will be stars. (and to be fair to Dombrowski, identifying Devers as a superior option to Moncada is a completely reasonable assessment) Moreover - this will also be a test of how bad the brain drain at Yawkey has been. Are enough of the guys who have built this roster of young talent still around to Dombrowski still has currency to trade, and still has stars to promote. Hard to dislike the Sale trade even with the significant price. Like the Thornburg trade quite a bit also. The Moreland signing probably won't do much one way or the other.

having that many top 100 guys is a compliment in itself

It's baseball ... postseason is such a roll of the dice ... but barring health, would be very surprising for the Sox not to make it back to October

Right profile - starter with wipeout stuff who for whatever reason had trouble finding consistency in the rotation. (Miller's slider command is not good enough to start, but terrific if you don't have more than one look at it) Buchholz is better than your Miller or Wade Davis as a starter, but the idea is sound.

Rodriguez IS replenishing the system - the guy at the end of the season showed star potential