Hugh2

He put up a 3.9 WAR last year and a 6.8 War the year before. Even if any team thought he was the 3.9 guy and nothing else he's easily worth that contract. $7.7 isn't a lot of money to even small market teams. I really don't think 15-18 teams is accurate. Maybe closer to 1-2 teams wouldn't want him for the money only. Did we hear specific names being thrown out for Abreu, or Rafaela??? doesn't mean they weren't discussed either. We know the Sox were shopping outfielders, the fact that we don't have specific names means nothing, I'm pretty sure if a name gets thrown out there and deal never moves past "you want him? uh no" that stuff doesn't get reported, but rather the deals that come close and fall apart; those are the ones I think we are more likely to hear about. The fact that we don't know specific names means a deal never became serious......which is exactly what you would expect from a team that is overvaluing their players.

I'm not sure you go from a 6.4/5.5/7.7/6.3 to a .5 WAR guy because of just regular decline. He had offseason surgery and was rushed back and has suffered from it. His mechanics are off, the fact that he's playing is fine enough for me. The bat and defense will follow if he's healthy.

Pure 100% conjecture on my part, but Lindor just strikes me as the type of guy who is going to play well into his 30's and still put up 4+ war seasons. I know he's having a down year this year but I'd happily take him as a come back candidate.

I don't remember specific names being thrown around, but a lot of people on the radio, and soxprospects were mentioning that people around the game were talking about Duran being shopped in the offseason. I think all the outfielders were so they just weren't overvaluing Duran but rather all their outfielders.

By all accounts the Sox overvalued Duran, and it wouldn’t be such a bad look this season if he wasn’t awful at the plate this year

I'm not proposing Story for Lindor straight up. The ideal would be the money would equal out enough this year to allow the Sox to not cross the next LT threshold, and in return they could give the Mets a real piece for Lindor. and I know you DON'T CARE but I ran it through BTV anyways and they accept. Trevor Story and Henry Godbout for Lindor. Although I'm sure it would take more moving pieces than that.

Why wouldn't they take Story back?

Lindor

Any system that graduates a Mayer/Campbell/Anthony one year and then a Tolle/Early is going to take a massive hit. The fact that they're still technically in the top half of rankings is an amazing statement for their scouting and development department. I did compare Phillips to Tolle, that doesn't mean they're perfectly comparable. But they both had profiles of guys who could be anything from a #2 starter to a reliever. I'm not really sure how comparable they are other than that but now that I'm looking at them they both were highly regarded pre-draft MLB/BA/ESPN PT 87/82/72 MP 61/67/40 Payton Tolle received a 2 million dollar bonus, Marcus Phillips received a 2.5 million dollar bonus. So Phillips was ranked higher but Tolle definitely had a better first year. But I'm competely unconcerned with a guy struggling his first 1/2 season of pro ball. We have no ideal what their development plans are and what they are working on with these kids, and it doesn't really matter because that's not what I was comparing with them either. The raw talent exists in their system which was the point.

That's been a Red Sox thing for a while though, I think even under Bloom they liked pitchers with elite extension

Yeah, I get all that, but I'm not getting all hung up on small sample size stats for teenagers. Guys this young are just as often working on things, making mechanical changes etc etc etc. You just as often see the opposite, guys in FCL levels putting up .900 OPS and never even get out of the minors. I get they have a long way to go and a lot can go wrong between here and the majors, but I like betting on athleticism and talent and the Sox seem to do as good of a job as the rest of them at developing those guys. Phillips might be a reliever, he also might be a #2 starter one day. Payton Tolle had high reliever risk too. I just don't understand how those warts make the Sox system worse than 1/2 of them. Other organizations have guys like Phillips and if they didn't have high reliever risk they'd be a top 25 prospect.....heck even those guys end up being relievers often.

ADD: I think a lot of prospect rankers weight proximity to majors heavily. Guys like Sadbiel Delzine, or Harld Rivas might show immense potential and could be top 100 prospects in a few years......but every system has a few guys like that and a lot can happen between now and then. I think the Sox have a lot of those guys, and they seem to do better than most at developing those guys up the ladder.

They drafted 11 pitchers and 9 position players. But their top 3 picks were position players and it is clear that the bulk of talent they're banking on here is on that side of the ball. I didn't mind the overstocking of arms, but it was obviously time to shift.

I mean they have roughly 160 guys in their system, as do other teams. How do all those players stack up against the sox 15 and below???

I think there are a TON of guys with talent, youth and ceiling that are very much worth talking about. Dorian Soto, Marcus Phillips, Harold Rivas, Jack Winnay, Gerardo Rodriguez, Hector Ramos, Garielvin Silverio All within the top 30 and very intriguing names.

BA just released their mid season rankings parking Boston at #14. The system isn't weak but it is weaker; that will happen when you graduate the #17 and #52 ranked prospect. I don't think that says much about what happens past the top 10. I actually like the Sox depth, the system might have taken a hit because top heavy guys have graduated but I'm not sure how much that speaks about the depth of a system.

I forgot that the trade deadline is August 3rd this year, for some reason I thought it was July 31st. Either way, they don't have to be buyers right now. They have more time to prove themselves.

There's a lot of moving parts that even I don't understand yet. We had the 8th lowest amount of pool money and I thought I read that there were more top 250 ranked guys left undrafted in this draft ever. A lot of top ranked guys pulled their names or told teams not to draft them. There's a lot going on right now, college has new eligibility rules so college players have more leverage now, seniors don't have to sign if they've played 4 years and players can also go back and get NIL money so there's very little incentive for guys to sign way underslot like we've seen in years past to take that money and shift it elsewhere. Strategies shift, and in the end almost all these names we know nothing about and we judge the merits of them based off of MLB.coms list when every team has their own board. Pure conjecture here, and just a theory, but I wonder if the Sox identifed some transfer guys that weren't ranked but they identified as having the talent they like to work with and they thought they would sign. Maybe even a few highshcool guys that fit that profile. It might make sense for some of them to just play pro ball if they risk going to a program where they might not get any playing time. Makes sense to just start your pro career. But this is what happens when you sign multiple free agents, you lose draft picks and you lose bonus pool money.

If I'm the Sox brass I'm looking at this homestand vs. the A.L. East coming out of the all star break. If they go 5-4 or better in that stretch then with few caveats I'd be buying.

I don't think it means much, they're pretty much just putting the players on team control there. Crochet/Bello/Suarez/Early/Tolle/Bennett/Crawford/Houck/Oviedo + are all under team control for next year. I think they're more projecting them to be on the roster. Who may actually be in the pen is much much more fluid.

Yup, they get an A+ with the pitching. Transfering young rookies into the big leagues at the plate however I highly question. Pure hyperbole here but I wonder if thats why they are scared to promote Franklin Arias.

.5 games out of the playoffa

Texas took Brody so that dream is dead

James Clark is another name I’d love to see the Sox pick

Two position players….its like the good ol days. Wonder if they go SS next? Bomilla is still on the board. I wonder how much the NIL changes things. Teams will need enough money to sign these guys away from NIL money, can college teams take it away? because I’d imagine a college program doesn’t want to pay to rehab a guy. Meanwhile I’d love for Boston to get an elite talent here. I’d rehab a first round talent with a third round pick 18. Left handed. Throws 100 MPH. Local kid. Sign me up