sk7326
-
Posts
7,647 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Boston Red Sox Videos
2026 Boston Red Sox Top Prospects Ranking
Boston Red Sox Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits
Guides & Resources
2025 Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Tracker
News
2026 Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Tracker
Forums
Blogs
Events
Store
Downloads
Gallery
Everything posted by sk7326
-
This was an underrated talent Dombrowski had. He was able to look at the Red Sox prospects, many of them in various respected Top 100s (MLB.com, Fangraphs, Keith Law, Baseball America) and make quick up or down votes on the prospects and basically be right. He got the Devers call right - the Benintendi call was right though clearly flamed out quickly. But nobody he traded is anybody the big club has missed - though Moncada is a good player.
-
I was not being clear ... if someone wants to trace Betts' unique talent back towards Yaz or Williams I am cool with it. But I do agree with you - Betts is a talent the Red Sox have very rarely, if ever, had. Honestly for a comp to Betts the Red Sox have ever had, you probably have to go to Reggie Smith if Fred Lynn does not do it for you.
-
Lynn's career was derailed by injuries so that is a bit forward looking of course. Boggs is a fair comparison - Rice less so. (Rice is not a great Hall of Famer) The Red Sox have not had many 5-tool sort of talents like Betts, full stop. Lynn was the last one in the neighborhood. But sure, go back to Yaz or Ted Williams - that's totally cool.
-
There is no substitute for throwing strikes, alas.
-
On a player basis - they didn't, full stop. But depending on what they do with the financial flexibility plus the players it could be an adequate result. Mookie was the best position player the franchise produced since Fred Lynn.
-
Betts is one of the 5 best players in baseball and the best position player the Red Sox spat out since Fred Lynn. There is no trade where he would not be the best player - and frankly the most likely to produce value over the next 5 years. We have not seen the extra money saved deployed yet really anyway. That said, once the Red Sox made the deal - they got a better return than you normally get from these things.
-
He is lucky his record is not worse. He has been very unlucky in his actual pitching. Normally, walking fewer guys, striking out more of the without a real drop in exit velocity does not lead to an 2 run jump in ERA.
-
Yeah the Red Sox have gotten better starting than anybody had any right to expect - and that features both Rodriguez and Eovaldi pitching much better than their results (Rodriguez strikingly so).
-
Peavy was not good in the postseason - but he did help them get through the slog of the regular season. Really what the team needs to do now is manage the miles on the bullpen which has been worked very hard. And of course you'd like some depth and insurance in case Whitlock turns into a pumpkin. The team has internal possibilities. But increasing the floor is not a bad idea - assuming the price is okay.
-
2021 MLB draft
sk7326 replied to jacksonianmarch's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
Keith Law on the Sox Class Boston Red Sox -
I like the Occam's Razor answer to this. Betts had a ton of leverage for a ginormous contract and the Red Sox did not want to give it to him. And when the Dodgers ALSO were willing to take David Price's deal it became more attractive. That said, the baseball ops people DID do a good job making it a tolerable baseball deal. Verdugo's slump is worrisome - but getting a legit starting OF out of a salary dump is better than teams normally do in this sort of thing. Jeter Downs is the team's best prospect - which makes it even better. Really the Dodgers are the dream for the Sox - a team that has the depth to trade a guy like Downs and barely notice it.
-
It was nice to see Rodriguez get the win - he has been arguably THE unluckiest pitcher in the league this season - where the gap between his ERA and his underlying fundamentals is the widest. The shopping list is very clear this time around. If they can get another innings eating starter ... with or without Sale's return being included, and then if they can find one more bat to balance out the bottom of the order. This definitely has the feel of a 2013 team, where some versatile unsexy pieces along with a couple of guys bouncing back from surprisingly terrible seasons has given us a contender again.
-
I know exactly what happened. The last GM was told to trade prospects for the major league club and then was fired when the owner noticed those prospects were traded. The previous GM was sacked after ownership told him to get the biggest names in the FA class and he did. Fans get upset at an owner rolling in revenue crying poor at any point with regards to spending on the club. I get it, even it is a little wrongheaded. The team wants to be the Dodgers - but that requires more patience with a given regime than ownership has necessarily shown.
-
The team went the patient path in and then decided they wanted to splurge and then largely hung the GM out to dry in each case when it didn't work. It's ownership when it's successful and the GM when it's not. It's been pretty reactive. Bloom will certainly be safe until the first actual disappointing season - ownership has shown very very think skin about those. Each GM represented an organizational philosophy and Henry has veered between the two very sharply. Now the roster this year resembles the 2013 in that there were no big splashes but some good depth signings - and enough quality in the position players that you can be confident there. If Cora and company can consistently piece together enough run prevention, it will be a fun summer.
-
Ultimately, it's ownership's path - and ownership has not always been consistent in the path chosen. Obviously the platonic ideal is the Dodgers (and I guess to a lesser extent the Yankees) - a team that can do BOTH the "team with big money" stuff and the player development stuff well. It's when ownership changes its mind rashly that I get annoyed. They definitely have had extremely thin skin.
-
There are plenty enough baseball players to support it - and giving more fans baseball is good. If I were baseball el jeffe, it'd be: four 8-team divisions ... 12 games in division, 9 out of division, 6 interleague (one opponent home and home, the natural rivals can stay that way and the rest can rotate) Two division winners get byes, the best four of the rest play a wild card round. The geographic alignment still matters as long as fans consume television across 4 time zones.
-
1. 100%. Having pitchers hit is a waste of time. Pitching is a full time job and the guys just don't PRACTICE hitting at any level. 2. I don't love the clock - hurrying pitchers is a potential path to injury. Besides the reason games are slow are TV commercials, and MLB ain't getting rid of those. Now, I think the league should look more into "scorebug adverstising" or other means to eliminate the commercial breaks between pitching changes. 3. The extra inning thing is so silly. I do get the concern for wanting the regular season games to end in a shorter manner. But the only way to do really do that is have ties. 4. 100% 5. Baseball has the minor league calendar exactly backwards. It makes much more sense to have expanded rosters in April than in September. And yes, the team should have to freeze an active 26 man roster every game. No more blackouts for sure. I'd also go to 32 teams and 4 divisions and get rid of the vast majority of interleague games.
-
Great, less DH usage? Barf!!!!!
-
It seems more likely that Downs ends up being above average to pretty good (with pretty good probability) than, say, one of the three or four best players on Earth.
-
Yeah, the Dodgers are obviously the platonic ideal of where a franchise like Boston wants to be, in particular not having the ownership plan whiplash that Henry has shown. Sample sizes are tiny so far - though 159-3 is not a bad season - but the 2013 vibes are fun to have while it lasts.
-
Law system rankings ... https://theathletic.com/1641139/2020/03/02/keith-laws-farm-system-rankings-for-all-30-mlb-teams/ 1. Tampa Bay Rays 2. Braves 3. Dodgers 4. Diamondbacks 6. Yankees 25. Boston Red Sox 27. Houston Astros 29. Washington Nationals 30. Milwaukee Brewers
-
Downs would have had more impact on it than Wong - Downs seems to have a pretty solid MLB level floor. I could see a significant variation on the Red Sox system too - a lot of the interesting prospects are further away from the bigs, and while Dombrowski and company did a good job putting a lot of interesting arms in the organization - most of the arms come with some significant reliever risk. Like Bryan Mata is the 3rd best prospect in the Sox org if you really think he can be a starter. But if you are bearish on that, it's going to knock him down a few pegs. Dalbec is a swing prospect too - he worked his butt off last year on making more contact. He's never going to be 2008 Dustin Pedroia or anything, but he has to be able to make enough contact to get to his ridiculous power. Combine that with the pretty good odds of him staying at 3B, and there is something there. Of course he is running out of time as a "young" player ...
-
Law tends to ding a lot if he doesn't see starting pitcher upside. If Mata's arm slot is creating a Justin Masterson like split problem, then he can only be a reliever, though possibly a good one. His intro/overall impression of SOX system Given the handicap of draft position, Dombrowski's team actually did a good job there.
-
The org report https://theathletic.com/1609934/2020/02/26/keith-laws-guide-to-top-red-sox-prospects/ 1. Jeter Downs, IF (#70 overall) 2. Triston Casas, 1B (#90 overall) 3. Noah Song, RHP (just missed top 100) 4. Jason Groome, LHP 5. Jarren Duran, OF 6. Thad Ward, RHP 7. Bobby Dalbec, 3B 8. Gilberto Jimenez, OF 9. Bryan Mata, RHP 10. Tanner Houck, RHP 11. Matthew Lugo, SS 12. Chris Murphy, LHP 13. CJ Chatham, SS 14. Cam Cannon, 2B 15. Andrew Politi, RHP 16. Ryan Zeferjahn, RHP 17. Nick Decker, OF 18. Chih-Jung Liu, RHP 19. Conor Wong, C/IF 20. Brayan Bello, RHP Other notables Sleeper
-
Keith Law's Top 100 ... https://theathletic.com/1627163/2020/02/24/keith-laws-top-100-prospects-for-2020/ From the just missed group: