Hugh2

Well, and this is just my own opinion, there’s a difference between a “good trade” “bar trade” and “great trade” and saying the trade worked out or not. Guys can get hurt and reduce their value, doesn’t mean at the time it wasn’t a great trade anymore retroactively. Perhaps great is an exaggeration, still I’d rather not debate the semantics, you’re probably right. It was a good trade.

Luis Urias the last from 2021-2022 was 24 and 25 years old. He looked like young player coming into his own. During those two years he hit.244/.340/.426 hit 39 HR's and played plus defense. This year, only 55 at-bats separate him from that player. If he returns to form the sox just got a starting player with multiple years of team control. Worse case, they got a cheaper, better Arroyo. This also helps plug up the infield next year as well which was looming with question marks even with a healthy Story. Don't hate this move just because Bloom didn't go out and buy a pitcher, just hate him for not getting a better pitcher. Again, this is a great trade on it's own, people are just angry its' not a big name, and I get that. He's still just 26 now.

Urias is still just 26, this could be a steal. And if not then he’s an upgrade on the bench for effectively nothing. At least I think he’s 26. Someone will call me out if I’m wrong

Well people may be disappointed in Rafaela. I hope he can hit enough to stick in the majors. Correction, his defense and speed and contact skills give him a high floor. He’s a future MLBer. How much he hits will ultimately determine if he’s a defense first or something more.

Well the glove is ready now, the bat may never be ready. Hopefully he can at least be a .700 OPS guy.

Well you can't really get a player for 2/3 of a year...I get what you're saying though. If Mayer needs a little extra time then so be it, if he's ready problems like that can work themselves out. Said player could be needed at another position due to injury and if all is well you can trade him. This is why I wouldn't have been opposed to getting someone on a 1.5 year deal this deadline. Ahmed Rosario was the name I brought up in the past.

I'm not against this, but I think they get a stop-gap SS/2B type and stop-gap outfielder (either starter or 4th type depending on Turner). That's what I think they do, I think Rafaella and Mayer could round that lineup out by mid year.

If I hadn't listened to the podcast and was just ranking on my own I'd probably guess he'd be in the 14-16 range. But I think they're going to sneak him into the top 10. Somehwere 7-11 is highly likely, with closer to 11 than 7 more so.

Rafaellas value is so so much tied into his defense. Imagine taking Jackie Bradley Jr. and wasting his defense at 3B/2B?. Look, sometimes you play a guy out of position, even if he's superior there to yield to a proven big league star. But those pills become much easier to swallow when the guy can hit. Did anyone really care when Mookie Betts moved to the outfield? no because he could hit. Rafaellas swing data has huge red flags in them, he literally chases everything. And while some guys at the MLB level turn out to be Vldamire Guerreras and can just do that, most guys with that profile struggle to ever become good MLB hitters. If he can OPS at least .700 then he will be an everyday player who adds tremendous value at CF. That's where I think he belongs. With that said, if the bat never takes a step forward, but he isn't a black hole at the plate and Duran keeps improving. I wouldn't mind seeing him used as a super utility guy who MAINLY gets reps in CF/SS

agree to disagree. The staples in this lineup are all leftys, any right hander is some combination of here on a short term deal, old, injured often, or production comes and goes. I think they would value a rh hitting power bat that could play all three outfield positions well. I also don't think they will target two starting pitchers, they should and may get one, and hope SALE/WHITLOCK/HOUCK can at least lock down one spot. Aside from that, you will probably get that 2nd arm to start in the form of minor league depth. Look no further than last night's starter down in WOO last night. Dinelson Lamet, lol that's your starter. I won't be shocked if they add one who is aproven in the majors, and I think they should. EROD is still out there. Also, I don't think they're adding two or even one high end relief arm. If they pick up a starter and arms come back someone is getting pushed to the bullpen, and a lot of those guys can be really good there. You already had bullpen depth added with the Kike trade. I'm not really sure what else they do, but it would seem logical they will go SP3 LH SS/2ND

Maybe I should go back and relisten, I may have misheard something when they were talking about the "general range" of where they were thinking of putting these guys. A raw HS guy like that taken in the 2nd round would be strange of them to put right into the top to. He had a similar ranking to Anthony before the draft and he didn't make the top 10, however, they seem to be higher on Zannatello. We will see one way or another.

Maybe Zanatello will be lower, maybe more in the 7-10 range, but I think Teel will be up there. Listening to the last Soxprospects podcast, they didn't say where they were ranking them but did elude to what range they were thinking. Callis who was on for an interview would have him top 3. I think soxprospects will have him in the 5-7 range, MAYBE 4. They tend to be biased towards guys they've had eyes on, although, all rankers are.

If even one of Coffey and Romero get going that draft looks really good with Anthony blowing up. Curious to see the new Soxprospects.com rankings. I'm sure I don't have their right order but I feel the top 10 will be: 1. Marcelo Mayer 2. Roman Anthony 3. Miguel Bleis 4. Ceddanne Rafaela 5. Kyle Teel 6. Nazzan Zanatello 7. Luis Perales 8. Nick Yorke 9. Shane Drohan 10. Mickey Romero Yes, most teams get a nice new shiny silver toy after a draft but our system will look/will be stacked.

The best thing that could completely transform this already potent lineup is a big RH bat right in between Devers and Casas. Maybe that's more 2024/2025 but even with Story coming back I don't know how you can trade Adam Duvall if you're going for it. Duvall is the exact type of guy you would be looking to trade for right now if you didn't have him now.

This team, if fully healthy, is much better than last years IMO

Oh I agree with the sentiment here, I think we go for it this year, but I don’t think we see any big ticket acquisition, we will see a very Bloom like move. I think he adds a starter and an infield bat and hopes better health pushes them to greatness. It almost worked for Bloom in 2021. Heck, I wouldn’t mind the pitching equivalent (in value) to Schwarber.. maybe he will surprise me, but they probably get some guy with. 4.5-5 era who can throw innings who their scouting department says can be better with a tweak. But seeing what Giolito cost, I would not be opposed to a slightly better upgrade than that

I've been anticipating a starting pitcher at the deadline......and the feeling of waiting for them to sign a pitcher all offseason met with Kluber has re-traumatized me. They probably add a #4ish guy at best. Which will be great if Sale could come back healthy, IF Sale could come back healthy.

Not if you're clearly going for it you don't. Which they should.

Two? top prospects? I wouldn't call Bush a top prospect. I'm not saying he might not turn into a nice relief arm at some point. But he's never been ranked, and his stats don't pop out. He's #3 in the Angels system, which is a horrible system. He probably wouldn't be top 20 in ours. Quero would be top 5 in ours. Quero was the 89th-ranked prospect. His stats were down this year too, but he was only 20 at AA, they also got a relief arm back in the deal as well. The Sox equivalent to this trade might look something like Ceddanne + Mata. But that ain't apples to apples, Rafaela isn't a pitcher and you never know how organizations value guys. The Angels could be down on those guys and really high on Quero. Point is. The Sox could get a good starting pitcher rental without giving up the farm. Which is why I'm all for a rental this year. This is the year you get a rental because you have a shot with some help and you don't blow up your future.

Bobby will likely be traded. The team has reportedly been upfront and honest with him about that telling him he's "playing for everyone else"

Bloom is making some great trades but the problem is he’s completely allergic to the big move. The price for rentals seems to be higher this year. I hope Bloom doesn’t get any buy/sell ideals and gets rid of Paxton. He’s the exact type of guy you’d want to trade for right now if he wasn’t on your roster. And Sox still need a starter.

I thought they had them ranked 5th before the draft too? EDIT: I might be thinking of pipeline. Still they must of been close to that already because everyone else had an infusion of talent in the draft too. Although, I think they may have really liked our draft as well.

No, but a lot of guys who fit the mold of starting pitcher go bust in the past have turned out to be pretty good options there. Guys like Webster, Owens, RDLR, and Ranaudo failed in the past where today guys like Houck, Winck, Murphy, and Johnson are succeeding. Yes, none of those guys look like Bello, but they're the exact type of guys you need to make that work. What they really need is another starter or two, and a few bullpen arms who are an upgrade but have options. Kind of like the guy they just traded Kike for. I think they assume one of Whitlock, Sale, Houck fills one rotation slot and they go out and get another. If they do that, and maybe add another bullpen piece along with two additional starters (one coming back from injury) they could make a nice little run here. Assuming bats don't go cold.

The problem with that ideal is if you have starters going less innings it puts more stress on the bullpen, however, having more multi-inning guys capable of that can mitigate that issue. Also, you need guys down in AAA you can trust because you're going to be rotating that depth on the back end of the 26 all season. When you have better options than Ort/Garza coming up thats' been shown to be a viable strategy, or at least in Tampa. Actually, to be fair, it hasn't exactly worked out horribly for the Sox so far but I don' think that can last all year. They need to add at least one starter.

If we DFAd him we’d likely paying his whole salary. I’m surprised LA is even paying a million.