moonslav59

Gambrell is 26, so what we see is likely close to the best he can be. For some reason, I have liked him more than others. I expected a higher placement on soxprospects' list, but they know more than I do. Penrod is also 26, but yes, his sample size is small. I doubt either gets selected, unless someone thinks a tweek can make thyem better than who they are.

Me.

One pretty reputable talk show host said the odds that Bregman and Tucker are around in 2 years is less than 50-50. He suggests they trade Framber Valdez, so they can keep one. He thinks they will extend Altuve. Talk is, the team will not go over the tax line.

Maybe Penrod.

Tuesday is the MLB Draft Lottery. (The Sox have a 1.2% chance at pick #1) Wednesday is the Rule 5 Draft (The Sox may lose a couple players from: Drohan, Scott, Bastardo or Fernández?)

I hoped, at the time, we'd use Espinoza and maybe some of the Kimbrel trade guys for Quintana, who had one more year of control than Sale.

Agreed. Hell, I thought our current downturn was worth just the 3 year run we had.

No.

It has to. They have gotten a few comp picks, but nobody I can remember who seems like an impact player/prospect. They will have to spend to keep Yordan around. I'm not sure they will extend Bregman.

Yes, that must be it.

Even DD would not be allowed to spend that much.

He was always a streaky hitter, even when he had good years. Man that 2021-2022 streak was a horrible and long one! 798 PAs at .530 has to be one of the all time worst for that long of a stretch and that amount of PAs. I think the hope was he'd snap out of the streak. It never happened.

I'm not sure Vaz was as good on D as many felt he was. He wasn't bad, and he did well in some areas, but I never felt he did very well on maximizing staff production.

'22 wasn't all that great, but with his D, it would be fine.

At the time, that was rather highly regarded, yes. In hindsight, that era of the farm did not produce as much as this "tweener era." My combining 2020-2023 to just singular years was not very fair or scientific, either. My 2023 list included... Whitlock (Graduated in June '21 and never pitched an inning on our farm) Houck (Sept '21) Crawford (Aug '22) Wink (Sept '22) Bello (Oct '22) 2023 grads: Kelly, Murphy, Robertson and Bernardino, who was not a Sox "farm guy." Plus, Wikelman, Perales and others still on the farm. Of course, we have to compare apples to apples, so if we are going by one season, not a stretch of seasons, 2016 might beat out 2021, 2022 and 2023 one at a time, but I'm not sure about as a 3-4 year stretch. ERod (started 20 gms and was not listed as a prospect in spring 2016, but had just graduated, like Whitlock & Houck from today's list) Buch (was from significantly earlier) Barnes 3. Espinoza: highly regarded but never did much (injury) 5. Kopech: was supposed to be better than he has been (injuries) 6. Johnson: blah 10. Lakins 15. Light 16. TBall (Raudes went top 20 in July)

The Astros is that they don't seem to mind losing players to free agency without any return. They did not trade Springer, Cole, Correo, as well as Keuchel and Morton. Of course, when you are always winning, it's hard to sell.

Yes, but SS is way ahead of CF and 2B. Catcher is hard to define, but for everything a catcher does, behind the plate, including getting the most fro each pitcher is probably much closer to SS than CF/2B

He hit well in 2020 and extremely bad in 2021. I had lost hope in him, but it was not "certain" he'd never hit .650 again, which is about what he needed to do to be a clear plus WAR guy.

There is a lot of talk, here in Houston, about not extending Breg and maybe dealing him. He has not come close to his 2017-2018 numbers, back when HOU was cheating. 147 OPS+ 17.9 bWAR in 3 seasons (6.9 per 156 games and 7.8 from '18-'19) 123 OPS+ from 2020-2023 12.6 bWAR(4.5 per 156 games He's still damn good, but he dropped after age 26.

Agreed, but it was not a certainty, he'd retire at 33, back when we traded for him.

Indeed.

Bounce backs do happen, all the time, but to me, JBJ was never a strong candidate for one. One could look at his career up to that trade and easily think 891 PAs of 2015 to 2016 plus the short 2020 season of 217 PAs were more of the outlier than his not-so-good seasons on O. OPS+ 53 from '13-'14 (530 PAs) 118 rom '15-'16 (891 PAs) 90 from '17-'19 (1643 PAs) Actually a 90 OPS+ with his defense amounted to a +8.0 bWAR 116 in 2020 (217 PAs) 35 in 2021 (428 PAs) By and large, the low OPS+ were larger sample sizes (about 2600 PAs to 1100.) I hated the trade, at the time. I still do, although I do not think keeping Renfroe would have made a big difference, in hindsight. (They should have just had Dugo in RF and Renfroe in LF, to start out- like I said way back when.)

1B/DH Devers DH/1B Casas LF/DH Yoshida

Or longer. April 2015 3. Owens 6. ERod (trade for A Miler) 7. B Johnson 8. Matt Barnes (RP) 10. Kopech (later traded for Sale) 13. TBall April 2014 3. Owens 6 Webster (LAD trade) 7. Ranaudo 8. Barnes 9. Workman (RP) 11. D Britton 12. T Ball 2013 4. Webster 4. Rubby de la Rosa (LAD trade) 9. Owens 12. B Johnson 13. Ranaudo 14. Workman 15. Britton 16. Alex Wilson April 2012 2. Ranaudo 7. Barnes 13. Doubront (Trade) 14. Wilson 2011: add Pimental at #5 2010 1. Kelly (AGon trade, later) 7. Pimental 11. Doubront 12. Bowden 13. Tazawa (IFA) 2008 had Masterson & Buch

Agreed, but the "tweeners" was still an improvement.