moonslav59

I feel the same, but examples can be found, even within the Sox history that show non college picks can be winners or are currently somewhat promising: 202: Lester -Bellarmine Prep 2007: Anthony Rizzo- Stoneman Douglass 2008: Christian Vazquez- PR Baseball Academy 2011: Mookie Betts- Overton HS TN 2012: Ty Buttrey- Providence HS NC 2014: Michael Kopech- Mt Pleasant HS TX 2018: Triston Casas- American Hertiage FL 2019: Matthew Lugo- Beltran Academy PR 2020: Nick Yorke- Archbishop Mitty CA, Blaze Jordan DeSoto MS

Rocker was a consensus 1 or 2 pick, not long ago. I guess he saw a dip in his velo, but reports are out that it has returned to the norm. Have other shown they are better, or has something happened to make him not look so good, anymore?

I never expected us to compete for a ring in 2021, even after winning 9 straight. I though the best we could expect was to compete for the WC and maybe surprise for a round of two in the playoffs, if everything went right. Well, about everything has gone about as well as we could expect, and we are in the lead for the WC slot (3 games ahead of the second contender- the Guardians). I'm not thinking making trades that sacrifice any promising younger players to try and win, this year is logical. I'm thinking JD for a good SP'er, this summer is not going to happen. No contender trades a good starter to another contender. At best, we can hope Sale amazes us, Brasier contribute and maybe Houck comes back. Then, we trade Chavis and maybe some other non promising prospect(s) for a salary dump or two (RP'er and OF/1B?). That might inch us closer to improving our odds at advancing farther in the playoffs. I can't see us doing anything big enough to make us serious contenders, this year. Does anyone really want us to trade top prospects for a long shot chance? Now, maybe some of you do not like teh chance of someone like Downs or Duran becoming an impact player, so trading one plus some others for Scherzer might make us a top 4=5 contender, but I seriously think that happens. We are not trading JD for a good starter. The only way he gets traded is for prospects.

2021 Numbers- highest paid players 1.090 Trout $37.1 M (146 PAs) 2.31 Cole $36M .857 Arenado $35M 2.21 Scherzer $34.5M .731 Machado $34M On IL Verlander $33M 3.86 Price $32M (21 IP) 2.64 Bauer $31.3M 3.39 Kershaw $31M .708 Pujols $30M (was DFA'd) .582 Miggy $30M 3.68 Greinke $29.9M .838 Altuve $29M .844Stanton $29M (DH) 0.56 deGrom $28.1M (10 GS) .687 Rendon $28.1M .873 Harper $27.5M .720 Goldschmidt $25.3M .764 (139 PAs)Votto $25M ... .656 Lindor

A lot of teams have looked real good at certain times. It wasn't long ago, I heard people talking up the Astros as the team to beat. I never hear anyone talk about the A's, who have gone 39-21 after losing the first 6 games of the season. Almost all of the top contenders have looked like the best at some point, this year.

I'm sure Bloom has his top 4 in order. I doubt it changes between now and the draft, unless there is a major injury.

I agree on Frelick, but Jobe might be a legitimate top 4 or 5 pick. 3 seems too high, though, but what do I know?

Almost every team has already lost 4 straight, so does that mean no team can win? Even not counting the 9 game streak, we've also won 5 straight, 4 straight twice and 3 straight 3 times. I think it is safe to say we will have some winning streaks to come, too. Although we have not lost 4 straight, yet, while most good teams have, I think we will lose 4 or more straight at some point- maybe multiple times. I'm not disagreeing with you. Our starters no longer look as good as we hoped, I'm just saying we are streaky- both ways.

Agreed, but their SP'ers do not look 5 deep enough to win 10 straight.

7- zip. We are up 5.5 on the Yanks with 96 to go.

As much as all the "expert sites" can't agree on what order the top 4-6 picks will be, I think it will be understandable if Bloom takes any of the consensus top 4 or 5, and if he flops, it will be hard for anyone to say he really blew the pick. If he takes someone not named Leiter, Davis, Lawlar, Mayer or Rocker, maybe. BTW, MLB has this as their latest mock draft: 1. Mayer 2. Leiter 3. Jobe 4. Davis 5. Frelick 6. Rocker 7. Lawlar Now, they have 2 of the 5 I listed going 6 and 7. Jeesh!

I never hinted that we can't lose 4 in a row or more. I'm pretty sure we will, at some point and maybe more than just once. As of now, we've lost 3 straight, three times. That's it. We've had these winning streaks: 9 5 4 4 3 3 3 Are you saying we can't have some more winning streaks?

The Yanks have lost... 3 straight 7 of 9 11 of 15 13 of 18 Yes, 5-13 in their last 18 games (after winning 6 straight). The Sox have lost... 2 straight 4 of 6 7 of 13 9 of 18 It's not as bad as it seems. We are streaky, so maybe we have a few more win streaks up our sleeves. We've won 9 straight, 5 straight, 4 straight twice and 3 straight three times. We've lost 3 in a row three times. We knew June would be tough. We are 6-6 in June.

The Yanks lost 7-0 as German got shelled. Maybe our only joy will be finishing ahead of them.

And, isn't that statement saying something about the manager's ability to get the most out of the talent?

Whoever Bloom drafts, I'll have confidence he took the right guy, but we all know it's kind of a crap shoot. Every draft has someone taken lower that beats out several higher picks. I'm sure this one will not be different. Let's hope people don't look back and single out our pick as the bad one. If we take a hs SS over Leiter or Davis, and they go on to do much better, I think the criticism will be brutal and maybe not entirely uncalled for.

It's a good one- just most are old or injury prone. I'm thinking an older starter might be good, since they may only be a 2-3 year risk.

Hopefully not right exactly in between.

He now leads the team in ERA.

Exactly. Two wins in a row, and the attitude flips like a light switch.

Bobby Dee: Mr. clutch!

Then, Buch, Montas, A Sanchez, ERod,,, Nobody close to being an ace or being like Lester.

Some were all gah- gah over Masterson that they wanted him back.

or Whitlock, if you count minor leaguers who started with other teams. Houck had 3 nice starts. I'm not sure he counts. Whitlock, too.

Replacing Eovaldi $17M and Price $15M with an ace could be the big difference maker for 2023. I'm hoping was can do something this winter (too).