moonslav59

New Rankings for the remaining Sox prospects on soxprospects.com: http://soxprospects.com/index.html 1 Benintendi- no surprise 2 Devers- on the rise 3 Groome- only 18 4 Travis- ML ready once re-habbed 5 Dalbec- leap frogged Johnson & Hernandez 6 Johnson 7 Hernandez 8 Chatham 9 Ockimey 10 Raudes- leap frogged Chavis & Longhi 11 Chavis, 12 Lomghi, 13 Shawaryn, 14 Ysla, 15 Martin, 16 TBall, 17 Lakins, 18 Cosart, 19 B Mata, 20 Shepherd, 21 Bautista Other fast risers: Stephen Nogosek 35>25 Robby Scott 50>29 Austin Glorius 45>34 Tyler Hill 47>35

Our starting pitchers and years of team control (assuming Price does not opt out): C. Sale X X X Porc'llo X X X D Price X X X X X X E Rodr. X X X X X Wright X X X X Pomrnz X X Bucholz X Best hopes for in house solutions: Age/Pitcher 18 Groome 26 Johnson 24 Owens 28 Workman (3 years of control) 28 Elias (no options/5 years of control) 22 TBall 22 Shawaryn 17 B Mata

Great article on Ziegler the freak... http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/brad-ziegler-is-a-freak/

I said it meant something. Just not much.

I agree that it does mean something...but it certainly doesn't mean much.

That's why I said "different teams" due to roster tightness for most teams.

I have to vigorously dispute that any analyst would say we were set very well for the next 10 years. Take a look at our roster now and see what it might be in 10 years. All our Killer B's will even be past their primes in 10 years. I wouldn't say "very well set", but with more top far away prospects than other teams certainly improves out odds. While Betts, Bogey and JBJ would be past prime in 10 years (or gone), players like Espi would likely still have been under team control for years 4 to 10. Moncada maybe 1-7 or 2-8. Kopech 2-8 or 3-9 Having others like Basabe, Pennington, Diaz, Basabe, Asuaje and others would improve our odds as well.

We should trade Buch, Abad and Elias (not to the same team) for the best we can get, even if it's not much.

Both Abad and Elias are +0.1 with steamer.

Not ignore, but also not read too much into it either. Remember, Papi went 10 for his first 50 post season ABs in 14 games (0 HRs, 4 DBLs and 2 BB) .231 OBP, .280 SLG, .511 OPS, yet he was one of baseball's best clutch players of all time--if not the best.

Putting who I believe is our best 4 slot starter, ERod, in AAA has some merit, but it saves us no money and still probably keeps a $13.5 M arm in the pen with Wright and Pom as the 4-5 starters.

2 bags of used balls is the floor. Pat Light types might be the ceiling... far away prospects not needing 40 man roster status. DFA if nobody bites.

Good point, but we also have to look at this: Carrasco and Salazar started 50 games last year, and both were under a 3.90 ERA. Both returning is not going to significantly affect their seasonal record. If we are talking playoffs and their absence from it, the guys who replaced them did damn well, so how much of an upgrade can they give the Guardians when comparing 2016 to the hypothetical 2017 playoffs? Tomlin, Bauer and Merrit went 3-0 in the AL playoffs. They did struggle in the WS (1-2), but we're talking best of the AL here.

Our fifth starter spot was horrific last year. Depends how you look at who our 5th starter was. I think we started the season like this: 1 Price 2 Porcello 3 ERod 4 Buchholz 5 Kelly When injuries and struggles happened, one could argue Wright became our 5th starter and did great. I do agree with your point though, Sale is a huge upgrade over whoever our 5th starter was going to be this year (Buch or Pom in my opinion).

We should keep Ross. He's been very consistent over recent years. I'd trade Abad & Elias. I'd try to squeeze Hembree onto the 25 man roster (creative with the DL- which is now 10 days long). I've been saying all along, trading Buch solves a lot of financial problems that should outweigh the loss of starter depth, as we will have close to $13M of flex money to spend over the season. For example, if we can get to the deadline, we could trade for a starter making $30M and only be hit with a $10M charge.

$10.5M is the luxury tax number- the average salary of his contract. Cot's has this... 4 years/$42M (2014-17), plus 2018 club option signed extension with Atlanta 2/16/14 (avoided arbitration, $9M-$6.55M) $1M signing bonus 14:$7M, 15:9M, 16:$11M, 17:$13M, 18:$13M club option ($1M buyout) may earn additional $3.5M in performance bonuses award bonuses, including $50,000 for All-Star selection

It seems so long ago.

Did DD not see this coming when he signed Moreland, or is this a shock or was he never really interested at even a low cost? Of course, he may still sign for $60M/3.

Word is they are out on EE, but maybe Bautista.

The Red Sox have avoided arbitration with Brandon Workman, per a club announcement (h/t Tim Britton of the Providence Journal, via Twitter). Terms of the deal remain unreported at this time. Workman, 28, was eligible for the first time despite the fact that he hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2014. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2015, and never quite made it back to the big leagues last season — though did throw twenty minor-league rehab frames. While there may still be some risk in the health of Workman’s right arm, Boston isn’t staking much on its bet. MLBTR projected him to earn just $600K this year, most of which won’t even be guaranteed until camp is about to break next spring. Mostly, it’s a matter of occupying a 40-man spot, which the Sox are evidently willing to do to get another look at the former second-round pick. --Jeff Todd

I'm not sure I'd say the Guardians were better than the Sox this year based on a 3 game series. They also have to fill Naps shoes, if he bolts. They certainly stack up well with us on paper.

Agreed. Moreland would be the back-up 1Bman not a platoon. I seriously doubt it happens, but if he falls below the value DD put on him, one never knows.

I think we got Rutledge and Dominguez to fill the gap between AA and MLB 3B starter. Hernandez & Holt are also short term options with a chance at surprising us.

We've drafted and two in the last 11 years and kept one. That's great! The problem is that's about all the real good (non MVP type) talent we've drafted, except for comp picks.

That's one way to look at it, and I'm all in on the window approach, but the other approach would be to realize that it is going to be very hard to acquire top young prospects for the next few years, so why not keep all our top prospects, especially the ones a long way away, so we'll be ahead of the curve for next 7-8 years. I'm not saying I'm for this alternative plan, but we could have traded JBJ when Beni was ready or when Margot was ready. Trade Pedey when Moncada was ready. Trade Leon when Swihart is ready. Trade Pom when Kopech is ready. Trade Porcello or Wright when Espi or Groome are ready. Keep stocking the farm by trading vets for prospects when the next prospect is ready. Of course, we wouldn't make all these trades, but you get the idea of keeping the farm well-stocked by circulating prospects for vets before they bolt or get too costly. A balance might have been better, but not at the expense of the Sale of Thornburg deals. Again, I'm not upset. I'm thrilled with where we're at right now, but I happen to think out extended future will suffer deeply at some point.