moonslav59

Yes, after the fact. Most was about Ward, since nobody expected Song would be eligible. I'm fine with the Ward criticism, but even that is highly speculative, which is fine, I might add. (I do it, too.)

Ort wasn't Rule 5, but yes, we could have DFA'd him. IMO, had we chosen to DFA Ort and maybe even Brasier, I'd have protected at least 3-4 other players before Song, including Ward and Politi. Koss, Wallace, Fernandez are 3, right off the top of my head. Here's an article that mentions Ward, Politi, Wallace, Koss, Fernandez, Wikelman, Paulino and Bonaci. It even goes on to list 12 other players. No mention of Song, at all. https://bloggingtheredsox.com/2022/11/16/which-prospects-did-the-red-sox-leave-unprotected-from-next-months-rule-5-draft/ This one mentions 6 names: No Song and no Hamilton https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2022/11/red-sox-leave-prospect-thaddeus-ward-unprotected-for-decembers-rule-5-draft.html Honestly, nobody would even consider protecting him, except maybe DD.

Do you think had explained how Rule 5 works and anyone asked every poster here, if Song should be protected, how many would have said yes? (Especially, if you also explaing Song's predicament.) Now, people are reaching to find another issue to blame Bloom for.

Had nobody taken Song or Politi, but someone had taken Hamilton, would we be hearing anything, like why did we protect Politi or Song?

That if any other team trades for him, he has to stay on the 26, but if Philly gives us something, he no longer does. Just seems strange, but baseball has many strange rules.

There is a very large probability none of these guys will amount to squat.

Not to even have one person mention his name means nobody should be bitching, now, IMO. Many posters named names and discussed borderline prospects. Nobody mentioned Song. We all knew if we didn't protect him, he could be taken. That's all that's needed to be known. We all assumed his status as ineligible was to continue. Frankly, it would have been absurd to protect him. Had we protected him, and he not became eligible, we'd be hearing bitching about keeping him over Ward or Politi. You know that is a fact. Now, for posters who do not pay any attention to Rule 5 and didn't even know who was eligible or not, I guess I could see how they might get upset, if Song ends up being the next Whitlock, but to me, that criticism rings hollow.

Agreed, and we could have provided him a minor league development progress, unlike Philly or whoever trades for him. I really wanted to see what this guys still has. No doubt, soxprospects.com has gotten many prospect rankings wrong, but they did place him 4th back in 2020- ahead of Ward, Groome, Houck, Dalbec, Murphy and Yorke. Only Casas, Downs and Mata were ahead of him. (He fell to 11th in Nov 2020 and 18th a year later, before they removed him from even consideration.)

Not a single person on this site even mentioned Song as a slight possibility of needing to be protected. At the time, we thought his military restrictions made him ineligible to pitch in the Majors for 2023. Roster slots are not something you just throw away on someone not even expected to be able to play. I realize Song may end up better than Ort or Brasier or Hamilton, but let's get real, here. This was a blind-sided move by DD (and I still think someone tipped him off from the Navy,) that may still end up being a meaningless attempt at finding a gem. The main difference, now is that DD needs to keep him on the 26, and we would have only needed to add him to our 40, back in December. It's much easier to "work around" that than the 26. No doubt, it would hurt, if Song goes on to be special, but I'd still find it hard to blame the Sox for losing him. The Song situation is much different from the Whitlock or Ward ones. Both of them were know to be ready to pitch, eligible and somewhat promising based on larger and longer sample sizes.

If it all comes down to who has the best rotation in the AL East, and using projections from STEAMERS, it looks like it depends on how you value rotations. The Yanks should walk away with the division, if you look at the top 2 SP'er, only. If you value the top 3-4 slots pretty equally, maybe NYY, TOR & TBR look best. But, if you value SP'er depth to 5-7 slot, the Sox are the only team with over 5 SP'ers with a projected 1.0 or better WAR, and we have 7! Steamer rankings: NYY 3. Rodon 4.4 4. Cole 4.4 43. Severino 2.3 55. Cortes 2.2 139. German 1.0 TBR 8. McClanahan 4.0 19. Glasnow 3.4 49. Rasmussen 2.2 76. Springs 1.8 97. Eflin 1.4 TOR 16. Gausman 3.6 35. Manoah 2.6 53. Bassitt 2.2 65. Berrios 1.9 128. Kikuchi 1.1 BOS 30. Sale 2.9 64. Whitlock 2.0 77. Bello 1.8 85. Kluber 1.7 94. Pivetta 1.5 98. Paxton 1.4 142. Houck 1.0 BAL 74 Rodriguez 1.8 105. Gibson 1.3 106. Bradish 1.3 I'd be hypocritical, if I started saying SP'er depth is better than having quality pitchers at the top of your rotation. I've said over and over, I prefer building a rotation from the top not the 4/5 slots. I still believe that, but I will say, about our rotation, all 6 or 7 of them have some serious upside. Their rankings are low due to injury history, youth or lack of experience as a 150+ SP'er. A guy like Sale would be top 5 or 10, if we knew he'd be 100% healthy, all year. Kluber and Paxton would be ranked much higher, too, with known good health. Whitlock, Bello and Houck just need to prove they can go 150+ IP (maybe just 130+) and maintain what they have show, thus far. Pivetta probably has the least amount of upside, but the guy has had some seriously long stretches of pitching like a strong 2/3 slot pitcher, that one can easily imagine he might string together a full season like this: 3.51 ERA from AUG 11, 2020 to June 7, 2021 (14 GS/74 IP) 4.02 ERA full year (Aug 11, 2021 to Aug 13, 2022 (25 GS/134 IP) 4.17 ERA from opening day 2021 to Aug 13, 2021 (23/GS/74 IP) 3.62 ERA May 7, 2022 to Aug 21 (20 GS/122 IP) 4.13 ERA May 7th to end of 2022 (28 GS/159 IP) Those are some decent stretches of good to very good pitching. He's never put 32 GS'd in a row, like any of these stretches. Maybe 2023 is "that year." We saw Big Dick do it!

If DD loves all his own players, we should trade Duran & Dalbec to Philly.

McGuire & Wong: Reese McGuire, Connor Wong praised in Red Sox camp WWW.MLB.COM FORT MYERS, Fla. -- While the recent Spring Training arrival of non-roster invite Jorge Alfaro added some drama to the Red Sox’s catching situation, manager Alex Cora on Wednesday endorsed the duo of Reese McGuire and Connor Wong. McGuire and Wong split duties over the final two months of the Nick Pivetta with 3rd bout of COVID: Nick Pivetta won't pitch in World Baseball Classic WWW.MLB.COM FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Calling it a “really difficult decision," Red Sox right-hander Nick Pivetta has decided not to pitch for Team Canada in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Pivetta had COVID shortly before Spring Training, and he has been dealing with the aftereffects in the first week or so Jim Rice speaks to team: Jim Rice speaks to Red Sox during Spring Training WWW.MLB.COM This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

That seems strange.

Good to know.

If all this is the fodder used to justify Bloom's firing, things are getting tame, around here-- for now!

Tomorrow- the Braves! Dermody gets the start, according to MLB.com.

If the Phillies give him back to the Sox, we don't have to keep him on our 26 man roster, but if we trade for him, do the same rules apply like other teams that may trade for him?

I do think he starts the year at AAA, and he is a 1B option, even if he used elsewhere down at Woo.

I meant looked good in ST'ing for his predicament- not ML ready good.

#31 to #40 40. Stephen Scott Profiles as a solid organizational player. Ceiling of a bat-first bench bat. Can play first base and corner outfield adequately and is now getting significant run at catcher. Type of player every organization needs. If he can get to even fringe-average defensively, prospects of reaching the major leagues drastically improve. 39. Gilberto Jimenez Potential mid-minors depth option. Ceiling of an organizational outfielder. Showed more potential when he was younger, but development has stagnated. At one point, you could dream on him becoming an everyday center fielder who adds value at the plate and in the field, but now does not even look like a future major leaguer. Needs work to refine his defensive game, but has the athletic ability and arm strength you look for in a center fielder. 38, Ronaldo Hernandez Potential up-and-down, bat-first catcher who is the third or fourth catcher on the 40-man roster. Ceiling of a regular catcher in a timeshare if he improves his defense and approach, but the likelihood of that happening is low. Given the barrier at catcher right now, could be used there in limited opportunities if his bat warrants it. Type of defensive profile that could really benefit from the automated strike zone. Questions about his approach, hit tool, and defensive profile cloud his future projection. Needs to improve hit profile to project as a major leaguer if defense stays as-is. 37. Johnfrank Salazar Intriguing player with some solid characteristics at the plate and in the field. Needs to physically mature in order to be able to handle more advanced pitching, but defensive profile gives him a higher-than-usual floor for someone his age. 36. Chase Meidroth Will have to hit, but has shown strong contact skills and advanced approach. Young for the college draft class and combination of age, contact skills and approach grade out really well on models. 35. Alex Binelas Impressed as a freshman with Louisville, hitting 14 home runs in 2019. Broken hamate bone caused him to miss time in 2020. Once seen as a potential top-15 pick in the 2021 draft, early-season offensive struggles caused him to slide to the third round. Showed flashes of his offensive potential in first pro year in 2021. Acquired from Milwaukee with Jackie Bradley and David Hamilton for Hunter Renfroe in December 2021 on the eve of the lockout. Participated in 2022 Winter Warm-Up 34. Tyler Uberstine Potential organizational depth arm. Fresh arm with limited pitching experience at the collegiate level, but possesses intriguing traits. Fastball has the traits teams look for. Excellent work ethic, ultra-competitive. Gets the most out of what he has. 33. Christian Koss Potential emergency up-and-down utility infielder. Ceiling of a utility infielder. Hit tool development will be key to reaching his potential. Has enough defense and power to profile in a bench role, but upside is limited if he cannot make more contact. 32. Freili Encarnacion Potential bat-first infielder who may need to move to third base as he continues to grow, but will be given a chance at shortstop to start his career. High-risk, high reward profile. Power will likely be carrying tool, but is not an all-or-nothing slugger either with a solid approach. Reportedly possesses strong makeup, a clubhouse leader with an affable personality. Good baseball acumen. 31. Marvin Alcantara Small, athletic frame. Needs to add strength. Has shown solid feel for hit and advanced approach for his age. Solid contact skills, but still in the process of developing power. Scouts identified him as one of the top position players on the 2022 DSL Red Sox. Was set to participate in the 2022 Fall Performance Program that was cancelled due to Hurricane Ian. No summary- "this page will be updated with a complete scouting report after the scouting team has seen the player in person."

Newsflash for some.

I’m trying to get excited for Chris Freakin’ Sale, but he’s been Freakin Chris Sale for too long, now.

Dalbec is not an option?

He doesn’t like ONLY his guys,but if Song looks good, give him Duran.