Fan_since_Boggs

Groome finally has a decent start--5 innings, one run, 4 ks, no walks; let's hope he can build on it and keep improving.

D.Garcia is so hyped. He is a future bottom of the rotation starter at best and in the long run is a better fit for the bullpen. The Yankees need the depth that G.Whitlock would provide, but Cashman is a moron.

A possible strategy:

The high school pitcher Jobe has been moving up--he is an intriguing option. I was watching some of his video and he has a nasty slider. The Red Sox need SP prospects over position prospects. Still, I'm not taking a high school SP--too much risk involved. As good as Jobe looks now, how good will he look two years from now when he gets TJ Surgery? Davis will be hard to pass on for obvious reasons. If the Red Sox come out of the draft with Davis, it will be a good day.

The fact that so much has gone wrong with the top Red Sox pitching prospects is a reminder to me that I want a position player in the upcoming draft at 4. These pitchers are so fragile; spend early draft capital on less risky position prospects. 6 innings, 12 ks, and no walks for Felton. Keep it up, baby!

The Red Sox farm system is loaded with future stars. Dombrowski left the farm system in much better shape than given credit for. Casas and Duran are two of the top guys but don't sleep on Jimenez, and keep your eye on Rosario, an under-the-radar player that Bloom brought in. It is obviously early but Downs has been a disappointment so far. And things haven't worked out for the pitchers, either injuries--Houck, Seabold, and Mata--or lousy performance: Groome. Groome really needs to get his act together this year, he is running out of time. Due to the injuries to Houck, Seabold, and Mata, I can understand why the Red Sox need to stretch out Whitlock, he is next in line to enter the starting rotation. There are two pitchers to watch at Portland who have been impressive so far: Winckowski (acquired in the Benentendi trade) and our old friend Durbin Felton--remember how high we were on him as our future closer when Dombrowski drafted him? Let's hope Felton has finally figured it out and if Winckowski can develop a secondary pitch into a plus offering he will be on the fast track.

It hasn't worked out very well for M.Trout and the Angels. If Trout wasn't such a greedy doofus, he would have signed for less, giving the Angels more resources for starting pitching. True, Betts has won two World Series titles and so it is hard against his success. Although, when he won in 2018, the Red Sox weren't trapped in a 300+ million dollar contract. I do wonder if some of these enormous contracts are counterproductive when it comes to winning--less money you can spend elsewhere. This debate rages in football. Are you better off paying an elite QB 40 million per year or not? While I prefer the 40 million dollar QB, no single baseball player carries the same importance as an elite QB. So, yes, I support paying P.Mahomes and A.Rodgers 35-40 million per year; I don't support paying Mookie Betts 35 million per year.

I liked the Betts trade from the start. You offer the guy 300 m, as the Red Sox did, and that wasn't good enough for him. You don't want players like that on your team.

Clint Frazier: 53 AB, 0 HR, 19 strikeouts, .132 BA, .170 SLG, outfield defense: below average.

Devin Garcia sucks. This guy was a total train wreck in spring training. Maybe he has a future as a bullpen arm, but he isn't much of a starting pitching prospect, ignore the hype. Torres is a bad shortstop, Cashman should have known better. You move Torres to 3b and trade Urshela and bring in a real defensive SS, but this should have been done in the offseason. I was psyched when the Yankees resigned Lemahieu, I figured he was due for a decline. He is 32 years old and was never going to sustain that .360 BA. The Yankees have too many sluggers, high strikeout guys in Stanton, Judge, Sanchez. How many Dave Kingmans can you have in a lineup? It doesn't work. And then Cashman makes a bad situation worse by trading for R.Odor -- LOL.

Brian Cashman is the gift that keeps giving. After all, this is the guy who put together the 2004 Yankees, the biggest losers in the history of sports. Kevin Brown -- LOL. Other Cashman disasters: R.Johnson, C.Pavano, J.Wright, K.Igawa.

Boone isn't the problem, Cashman is. But yeah Boone will likely take the fall for Cashman's incompetence.

Is it possible that Downs and Duran are full time starters (second base and CF) beginning sometime in August? In the offseason, Bloom didn't go out of his way to address the long term needs at 2b and CF -- but why not? He must believe he has the talent within the organization to fill these positions, i.e., Downs and Duran.

Tough blow, but he is so young and could still have a bright future with the Red Sox. Fortunately, he isn't needed in the short term. With stud prospects like T.Houck and C.Seabold stepping up, the Red Sox are loaded with starting pitching depth.

I trust that Bloom will make the right decision at 4. His moves have been brilliant so far. And so if the Red Sox take the High School Shortstop at 4, over the catcher and Hoglund, that decision will be based on the belief that that Shortstop is supremely talented and too good to pass on.

A Yankees fan in meltdown mode.

I wouldn't be surprised if Hoglund ends up being the best SP to come out of round 1. You just never know how things will unfold. Classic example: how many pitchers were taken in front of Roger Clemons in round 1 in the 1983 draft? Take Hoglund at 4, sign him to a below slot deal, and then spend that extra money in round 2. I'm leaning toward a SP in round 1, just because the Red Sox are loaded with position prospect studs already: Downs, Duran, Casas, Jimenez. And a few other position prospects could develop into major talents, such as Yorke and Jordan. With this level of talent in the system, the Red Sox can easily fill in a few holes through free agency. But the position of catcher is completely different and you often can't rely on free agency to find an elite catcher, which is why H.Davis is also an intriguing choice.

Judge too, but good overall point. Yankees farm system = hyped.

I would take the catcher, H.Davis. I would love it if the Red Sox could get him under slot and take a hard to sign guy in the second round. The high school shortstops are impressive but the Red Sox will always have the resources to put together a top offensive team. You use the 4th pick of the draft to take something that isn't readily available. My second choice would be Hoglund. 4 might be a little high for Hoglund but if the Red Sox can get him at below slot, they can add a stud in round 2, while adding an impressive pitching prospect to the farm system.

Not only does Cashman stink at building a starting staff, a problem he has had for a really long time--it defines him as a GM--but he didn't do enough to fix the offense. The Yankees offense is too right-handed heavy, with big strikeout guys, making for a streaky lineup. Sure, at times the Yankees will bludgeon teams to death, they have a big payroll after all, but the lineup will continue to disappoint overall. With the dummy Steinbrenner kids running the organization, Boone will probably take the fall and blame for Cashman's mess. Moreover, how long do you want a GM to run an organization? Cashman has been with the Yankees forever and the organization is stagnant and stale. They need a fresh perspective. It is hard to overlook the fact that Cashman has spent more money than any other organization over the last 10 years and doesn't have a single World Series appearance to show for it. What kind of dipshit do you have to be to have the Yankees resources at your disposal and go 10 years without a World Series appearance? Baseball isn't that complicated.

Trout is great, no doubt about it. I sometimes wonder if his contract is counterproductive to winning. He is being paid so much money, the Angels can't spend quite as much elsewhere. The restraints that Trout's contract creates might explain why the Angels can't spend as much as they would like on their starting staff, for example.

Kluber -- LOL. Brian Cashman strikes again.

I agree; the Yankees starting rotation is laughable, this is not how you build a championship team. You can see this train wreck coming from a mile away. Kluber is a broken down piece of garbage and the Yankees are paying him 11 m. LOL.

A great trade for the Mets. I would normally think the Guardians could get more for Lindor, but there are only a few teams in baseball that can pay Lindor 300 million. And with the Dodgers giving all that money to Betts, and the Yankees giving all that money to Cole, they were less likely to give out another enormous contract. With so few teams willing to sign Lindor to a long term deal, the Mets took advantage and acquired Lindor without giving up a significant player in return. With that said, Gimenez is an elite defensive SS. While the Guardians will miss Lindor's bat at SS, Gimenz can play the position as well as anyone in baseball. And maybe Rosario turns into a better player when the Guardians move him to another position, perhaps 2b or 3b or the OF.

Due to the paucity of quality defensive CFs, Bradley Jr. is going to cost more money than I would want to spend. Moreover, he isn't far off from experiencing some kind of significant defensive decline. He is getting older and slower. I would go young and cheap in CF -- that is, Marcus Wilson competes against Jarren Duran in spring training and the guy who has the better spring wins the starting job and ninth spot in the order. The LF will be H.Renfroe, the RF will be A.Verdugo with JD Martinez as the DH (Benintendi will be traded). By going cheap in CF (rather than resign Bradley Jr, who will cost at least 10 mil per year?) the Red Sox will have more resources to invest in pitching. In the worst scenario, Wilson and Duran can't handle the starting job, and the Red Sox make a trade at the deadline for a starting CF, assuming they are alive and well in the AL East at the time. I like the idea of taking chances and going with young unproven players. You don't want to do that with every position, but doing that for one position doesn't strike me as an outrageous risk. You can sometimes find good players in guys who aren't top 50 prospects. If M.Wilson can provide the Red Sox with a .220 BA with 20 HR, and above average defense, that wouldn't be so terrible. He isn't Joe Dimaggio but maybe he will be good enough for the ninth spot in the order.