moonslav59

I get it. I just wasn't sure, if he was signed to a minor league deal, or not, or if he had some date to opt out. Apparently, he does not. He may end up on someone's 26, but maybe not on opening day, so if that is the case, couldn't he choose to stay with our AAA team?

OK, so he has to be on the 40 or can choose to leave.

But, can he stay in our system?

The 267 PA sample size vs LHPs in 2024 is pretty significant, Dham hit: .256 with 7 HRs and 24 XBHs and 24 SBs. Over 650 PAs, that's about 15 HRs, 50 XBHs and SBs. That is a plus 2Bman in MLB. His defense at 2B was plus, too. I'm not going to say he "deserves" another long look, but I'm not sure why some seem to be so down on him, as a platoon 2Bman. Romy absolutely killed LHPs in 2024, and was second to Ref as our best batter vs lefties. We don't kno, if that is repeatable, and his defense at 2B was questionable, according to the numbers, but I feel the tow should be okay as a 2B platoon to open 2025. The ST'ing numbers point towards it working, at least for a while.

I agree, and if continues to do well vs LHPs, to start 2025, it mbe hard to replace him with a FT Campbell. (I suppose Campbell could play FT by playing 2B v LHPs and OF vs RHPs, but our OF is already loaded with LHBs who do well vs RHPs.)

If we can stay healthy, our pitchers should have one big advantage over 2024: much better defense behind them: C: The same? Narvaez may not be better than McGuire and jansen, but maybe as good on D. Wong needs to show improvement, but we can't count on it. 1B: Worse. Casas will play more, under my assumption of good health. 2B: Better. DHam is much better than EValdez, Grissom, Reyes and others. Romy is okay, I guess. SS: Much better. Story blows everybody we had in 202away. 3B: Much better. Bregman is on the opposite side of the spectrum from Devers on 3B defenders. LF: Depends how often Duran plays LF nd not Ref/Yoshi. CF: Better as Rafaela should play here more often and Duran, when he is not. RF: Same as Abreu returns and maybe Rafaelsa or Anthony play here. 2 much better 2-3 better 2-3 same 1 worse

In a sense, his shoulder issues has made the problem (if it even is one) go away... for now.

Good to know. I was wondering about this, as roster crunch time nears. If we lose Ottavino and Moore, I won't shed a tear. Adams & Zavala do seem like it might be worth trying to keep as options. Davis is in between, IMO. Having Thompson until July is nice. Anything on Eaton, Toro and Newcomb?

Of course, there are players that show there is some randomness to the top 100, but I have to believe the top 33 did better than the middle 33, and the middle 33 better than the bottom 34.

Although a seperate issue from the timing of calling up prospects, this has been a long-standing problem with the Sox system. In the past we just spent on pitching, and ho-hummed the farm's failure with finding and developing top pitchers. I will say, I think the pendulum started to swing several years ago, even if perhaps by blind luck. While Houck, Bello & Crawford may not be great, they do represent the three best farm-produced SP'ers in over a decade. The lack of any great SP'ers on the farm now, may support the case that little has changed, but I see a much more promising group of pitching prospects than we've had in over a decade, as well. Some started out in other systems, and were acquired by our GMs, but nonetheless, here is the list: Whitlock, Slaten, Fitts, Winckowski, Priester, Weissert, Sandlin, Kelly, Penrod, Fajardo, Gambrell, Jackson All homegrown: Guerrero, Perales, Dobbins, Early, Monegro, Mullins, Wehunt, Dean, Carlson, Ingrassia, Mata Tolle, Cason, Valera, Reyes, Delzine, Paez, Neely, Clarke, Tygart and more I think we have turned the corner, but still have a ways to go. I like Breslow's focus on adding more and more pitchers. He drafted more of them, higher in the draft, and gave out more bonus pool money to pitchers than we have done in a while.

Look at the splits and defense at 2B. He's a decent 2Bman vs RHPs. He should not start vs LHPs. I guess you can call a platoon player a "role player," but he's the long side platoon and that is usually called the starter.

Well, DHam has done pretty well in ST, while others struggled. Not only does he have an .837 OPS, he has 5 SBs in just 40 PAs. He's looked pretty good.

While true, EValdez had more 2B PAs than anyone else in 2024 and by almost double the next guy- DHam. 202 EValdlez 118 DHam 109 Grissom 56 Romy, 42 Sogard, 39 Westbrook 17 Rafaela, 16 Reyes, 11 Gaspar, 8 Wong, 3 Short I am pretty sure DHam starts the season at 2B vs RHPs, only. I think Romy plays vs lefties. My gut tells me Campbell is better, but I'm fine with waiting on him.

If we need a LF'er beyond Duran, Ref and Yoshida, we can just add Anthony or Campbell to the roster.

Is this the current depth chart? (Player in parenthesis are not on the 40.) C: Wong & Narvaez, Sabol (Zavala, Hickey, Kolozsvary) 1B: Casas, Romy, Wong (Binelas) 2B: DHam & Romy, Grissom, Sogard, Story (Campbell, Mayer) SS: Story, Romy, DHam, Sogard, Grissom (Mayer, Campbell) 3B: Bregman & Devers, Romy, Grissom, DHam (Toro, Eaton) LF: Duran, Refsnyder, Yoshida, Abreu, Rafaela (Anthony, Thompson) CF: Rafaela, Duran, Abreu (Anthony, Thompson) Jh Garcia RF: Abreu, Rafaela, Refsnyder (Anthony, Thompson) Jh Garcia DH: Devers, Yoshida, Refsnyder and maybe Casas, if Devers could play 1B SP: Crochet, Houck, Buehler, Sandoval, Bello, Giolito, Crawford, Fitts, Priester, Criswell, Dobbins RP: Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock, Winckowski, Bernardino, Wilson, Weissert, Guerrero, Penrod, Murphy (Newcomb, Adams, Ottavino, Fulmer, I Campbell, Moore, Moran, Davis, Mills)

Does this mean your choice is DHam? (I'm fine with the choice of a DHam-Romy platoon at 2B. I've said that all winter. I also think Campbell is a better choice, based on upside potential and speculation.)

If I had to answer, I'd say yes, but it's based on 100% speculation, and I think I know more about DHam's abilities than KC's. I like DHam at 2B vs RHP. He's a plus defender, there, which alone is a huge step up over the majority of our 2Bmen from 23-24. A .720 OPS is pretty good, in today's game, but his speed turns him into a bigger plus on offense.I'm more okay starting the season with a DHam-Romy platoon at 2B than T Thompson in RF or Yoshida in LF (assuming he can throw 100 ft.) Bases on what I know, and I have only looked at ST'ing box scores, I'd give KC a slight edge, based on his upside potential. I had hopes he might be equal to DHam on 2B D, but I'm not sure on that one. On Anthony, I think he is MLB ready, yesterday. I'm doubt he will outhit Duran or Abreu vs RHPs and Ref vs LHPs, so it comes down to Anthony vs Rafaela. Rafaela has the edge on D, and I have not given up on his offense, but as of now, I think Anthony would easily outhit him in 2025, with the same amount of playing time (near FT.) that is all speculation, of course, but with Abreu just getting started in ST'ing, I'd lean towards having Anthony on the 26 ahead of KC. Things can change in 2 weeks.

I'm not so sure they are randomly scattered, and my guess is more All Stars came from the top third of the 100 than any other third. Your numbers do look about right as a whole. While it is true, we cannot really count on any prospect, even ones that look great on the farm, with 3 of the top prospects in all of MLB, I think it's safe to expect 1 or 2 do do well for us- maybe not in 2025, but soon afterwards. I've certainly been pumped up over past prospects who amounted to squat, but these three look for real.

I'd say our LF depth is fine, unless we need Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF. If that is the case, an Anthony call-up makes too much sense not to happen. BTW, Romy and Wong could play some LF for short spurts.

Three deep is a "gaping hole?" Wow, what is 1B, then? A canyon? Adding Campbell or Mayer takes a second or two. They are depth.

I'm not sure players wore their pants like that back in the days of Burks.

We did have a long stretch of pitching prospect failures, but not many were nationally ranked, very highly. My point was more about when we chose to call up our prospects- was it every clearly too soon or too late? I had an issue when we called Bogey up, after just 10 games playing 3B on the farm, but those were desperate times at 3B.

Is rank really immaterial, or is that just the way the categories spread out over the top 100 picks?

So be it. I think that has been one area we've done well.

LF: Refsnyder (Yoshi vs RHP?) CF: Duran RF: Rafaela