moonslav59

Some of these ranking services obviously value upside potential more than others.

Not "old" but past prime. Some players drop off a cliff around 32-33.

It's always been about health for you guys, over the last half decade or more. I'm not sure you can expect the same as 2022 from Rizzo & Donaldson. Judge will have a hard time repeating, too. Your offense is suspect. Your pen is not as loaded as it has been, in recent years. I project first place for you guys, but I do not think it's a lock.

He might be a bigger “suspect” than Whitlock or even Bello or Mata! 😝

Schreiber beat Whitlock in every meaningful category- even IP as a RPer. Maybe he meant last 2 years combined

For decades and decades the roster was 25. Let’s not get too overzealous over the value of the 26th man on the roster.

That was kind of my point. I have to think he kept up some sort of workout regime to keep his arm strong. If not, then his lack of brains would be reason enough not to have protected him.

My feet sweat too much for regular slippers. but the open heel ones are ok (closed toe.)

Did he throw off a hill behind the barracks?

Some interesting points about fangraphs' top 100 list: 1. While Mayer is ranked 18th and Bleis 20th, Arizona has 4 prospects in the top 16. Baltimore has 3 in the top 17. 2. Jordan Lawlar is ranked 12th. He was drafted 6th (2 slots below Mayer.) 3. The number one pick in 2021, Henry Davis is ranked 38th. 4. #3 pick, Jackson Jobe is ranked #110, and #2 pick Jack Leiter is ranked #111. 5. Besides us having 2 in the top 20, we have 3 in the top 29 (Mayer, Bleis & Casas), 4 in the top 49 (Rafaela), and 5 in the top 102 (Yorke). 6. BAL has 6 in the top 66. 7. The Yanks have 2 in the top 40 and 3 in the top 50. (No more in top 112) 8. TOR & TBR have none in the top 23. TOr has 1 in top 50/ TBR 3 in top 50. TOR 2 in top 112/ TBR 4.

Like your slippers?

Is there really a Japanese player better than Ohtani? Best players on Team Japan that aren't Shohei Ohtani WWW.MLB.COM Mike Trout started talking to Shohei Ohtani about the World Baseball Classic in the middle of last season. And Ohtani, playing for Japan, told his Angels teammate, the Team USA captain, something that left Trout in disbelief. "Talking to Shohei about that team, he tried to tell me that he Yoshida was listed 4th... The WBC will be the first look a lot of MLB fans get at Yoshida before Japan's contact king joins the Red Sox for the 2023 season. Yoshida is a two-time batting champion in NPB's Pacific League, but he's not just a slap hitter. He drives the ball. The 29-year-old lefty swinger is one of the hardest hitters in Japan after Murakami. Not only did he bat .335 for Orix in 2022, he also slugged 21 homers and posted a 1.008 OPS. Yoshida hit over .320, slugged over .500 and had an OPS over .950 in each of his last five seasons in NPB. He averaged 22 home runs a year over that time. Yoshida's plate discipline is also extraordinary. In 2022, he walked nearly twice as often as he struck out: 80 walks to only 41 strikeouts. And that's his worst ratio in the last three years, because in 2020 and '21, he had more than twice as many walks as K's (72 walks to 29 strikeouts in '20, 58 walks to 26 strikeouts in '21). That's 210 walks and only 96 strikeouts in the three seasons combined. Juan Soto-type numbers.

What a fence-sitter!

Even if we knew Song would be able to pitch, I'm still not sure it would be worth protecting him. I do think he's more promising than several players on our roster, but having to keep him on the 26 seems like a move for teams in a total rebuild/no compete situations. It's a shame we may not get to see him develop, but the unique situation he was in was something we knew about when we got him. I can't see why any tears should be shed, but iof he ends up doing very well, the "what ifs" may become deafening.

I like Bleier, but his cost and age moved him up. I could see him swapping places with Paxton or Wink. The bottom 5 are pretty closely bunched.

Conspiracy theory alert: did someone in the Navy give hints to DD?

To me, that takes Bloom & Co. totally off the hook. No way should they have used up a 40 man roster slot on such a double or tripled unknown situation. (Unknown skill & value, unknown military status and unknown interest from other GMs.)

I could see, if we were looking to compete for a ring, keeping pitchers who might help, this year over longer term promises. If we doe end up competing this year, I think I will see these choices a little differently, even if Ort and Brasier don't help all that much in 2023. BTW, Ort has some promising attributes, too. His age works against him, but the Sox knew enough about TWard to make the call. If they all end up sucking, nothing was lost. The Song choice was more difficult. He seems more promising, but so far away from the bigs. With all the eligibility issues going on, I can see why they felt he would not be taken. I still have not heard a definitive answer on whether we knew he could pitch in 2023, before the Rule 5 protection date.

I'm just commenting on your not calling them suspects, instead of prospects. I understand why you believe what you do. Those two have "shown something," so they are no longer total suspects. Either or both could still fall flat, as might Bogey, Renfroe, Beni, and others, going forward. Just about every baseball player is "suspect" to some degree.

Certainly, we know enough about some of the prospects received to know brown when we see it. Wink is still a bit unknown, but does not have the same promise he had 2 years ago. The other 3 from that trade have done nothing to distinguish themselves in 2 years. Luis de la Rosa might be one that moves up. The Hamilton and Binelas for Renfroe still are largely unknown, but again, neither have done much to impress, except Hamilton did something to get protected on Rule 5. The Vaz return is way to early to even begin to grade out. Plus, we lost 2 months of Vaz, unlike Beni & Renfroe. Maybe the best Bloom trade has been Hembree & Workman for Pivetta & Seabold. Maybe The McGuire deal will jump to number 1. Mondesi may surprise. I have hopes Valdez and Abrue will convince many it was a good trade. If you combine the Diekman and Vaz trades, it looks real sweet, to me. 3 years of McGuire for 2 months of Vaz and a dump of salary on Diekman, plus 2 pretty good prospects in Valdez & Abreu.

Bello is not a prospect, anymore. Casas won't be soon. Do you consider Mayer, Mata and Rafaela "suspects?"

Here is my ranking for the bottom of our 40 Man Roster (not to be confused with who will be DFA'd next) 1. Ort 2. Brasier 3. Hamilton 4. Chang 5. Bleier 6. Murphy 7. Mills 8. Dalbec 9. Winckowski 10. Paxton The DFA list would consider positional needs and years of team control and not just skills and value. As reference, here is a rough list of the bottom players in recent years on opening day: 2022: RHern, R Garza, Bazardo, Duran, Downs, DHern, Seabold, Arauz, TShaw, Valdez 2021: J Rosario, H Potts, Brewer, Arauz, M Wilson, Chavis, E Bazardo, Seabold, Brice, Valdez 2020: KHart, Chatham, Shawaryn, Mazza, T-Z Lin, Lucroy, Araus, Chavis, Valdez, Covey, Brewer, Brice, MHall, Walden, Peraza 2019: Reyes, Shepherd, DHern, Lin, Chavis, Lakins, poyner, Walden, STravis, Brewer

I think he was referring to T-Ball, but he seems to think all prospects are suspects.

I think some of that stuff is overblown. I do think many of these guys would be better served going through a natural progression through the minors, but I'm not sure many, if any, have been ruined by being selected Rule 5. They still get workouts under the best coaching in the system (maybe not the best for them)and pitch simulations with the best hitters in the game. I doubt they force anyone into pitching more IP than they should have- more likely it is almost always less real game innings, which can harm or stunt growth, but probably not in a long-lasting manner.

I still think Arauz would have become an all star had we not selected him Rule 5.