Hugh2

I don't mind the buy/sell strategy, but not how it played out last year. It could make sense to free up some space on the 40-man by getting rid of some redundancy, but I don't want to see an integral piece (like Vasquez) go. For example, don't trade Paxton if you want to go for it but one of Kike or Duvall makes sense.

If the draft only consisted of college players, and only one layer of minor leagues existed (no Low A, high a, or aa) then drafting for need makes more sense. Think of it this way, Duran has become a staple in this lineup every day. He obviously wasn't ready for that last year, and while some guys are ready a little sooner his trajectory is very very common. Duran was drafted in 2018, that was 5 years ago. You don't draft based on current needs because they could completely flip flop in 5 years. This is exactly why you draft PBA, generally speaking. Lets say you need pitching, but you know you can scout draft and develop shorts stops better. Lets say Mickey Romero turns into a stud prospect, top 10 in all of baseball in two years but Mayer is at SS mashing. Well, you can move him to another position A LA MOOKIE BETTS moving from 2n to RF, or you can trade him for the very thing you need. Moncada+ for Chris SAle (led to a WS). position players are safer and hit more often, pitchers are riskier and at the same time more likely to pop in the later rounds. There's more than one way to skin a cat, but this strategy has worked very well for the Red Sox over the last couple of decades. In hindsight, they draft just as many pitchers as hitters, it's just that at the top of the draft its only 30% pitchers. I do think they need to do a better job at drafting and developing pitchers but that doesn't have to be analogous with going pitcher with your first couple picks all the time.

He's a very exciting player, I hope everything clicks for him. That's how these things go, sometimes they fade away into the void, or you could be seeing the beginnings of a stuf. With the picks they have taken, the Sox are probably about at their cap for this draft; so essentially the Sox can't sign anyone over 150K so don't expect any stud. I'm sure they will sign a premium player for insurance if one of their top 3 picks doesn't sign. Also, these things are never predictable, someone could sign for less than expected and you could see a highschooler sign for 250K etc. I would like to see the Sox get creative with pitching though, because, well that's all they can do at this point. For example. Tanner Witt was ranked 76th. If you look at all the top prospects left, and there's a lot, (6 in the top 100), they are all highschool talents. These are guys with bonus demands who didn't make it in the first two rounds and will likely be drafted today, most of them won't sign and elect to go to college, while others will have money thrown at them that teams saved by going under slot with guys the first two days. Someone like Witt does not have the leverage to go back to college, he's recovering from Tommy John, which is why he likely didn't get drafted. But he was a top talent before that happened. I'd happily waste a 11-20 pick on him.

These high school kids likely won’t be everyday major leaguers (if they make it) until 5-6 years from now. Which is why you draft BPA and not for need. Team needs will look different years from now. Also, some of these guys are going to move off position. Wait and see, one of these shortstops is going to play 3B, and one will likely play 2nd base at some point.

There’s a rumor going around that steel is signing for under slot. Which means, I expect a high end guy at #10 or #11

I love it

Sox just drafted their future 3B. Just turned 18 too, very young. Sox love that age projection scale

Highly ranked, seem to fall to them. The Sox will need the money to sign these younger guys, which means you can expect to see the rest of the day to be college seniors. All or most will be college players until round 11.

You mean, another athlete

The thing with Jordan is his hit tool, or how it will play up against advanced pitching. When you have those questions as a 17 year old it’s easy to shrug your shoulder and go “ehh” because everyone has those issues. But he’s 20 in the upper minors now. And while the stats look nice, I believe all his home runs are you breaking pitchers, he struggles against velocity. Those great stats won’t translate to the big league level if he can’t fix that problem. The pitchers are better, they all throw fast, and they scout the s*** out of you. They will find your holes and expose it.

really like? I call it guys who turned into all stars. (TBD with Bello). That's a very specific and relevant sample.

Riiiight, because there's just a ton of Bogaerts/Devers/Bello on the Sox team. I was very specific and intentional about that example.

No ranking system is perfect, but I put more stock into them than other bodies. Now, I apologize for getting this thread off of track. This talk has nothing to do about the draft.

While they've definitely had their blunders (as anyone will because nobody has a crystal ball) to be fait, Jimenez and Flores both topped out in weak systems. They've also been on the opposite side of the spectrum. When the entire national media was all in on LARS ANDERSON the Sox prospects were lower and said they thought there was a significant risk with him (still had him ranked high though). Also with Duran, if you listen to their preseason podcast, they were still very high on Duran.

Regardless it doesn't matter. I specifically laid out examples of prospects who were pumped up and actually made it to the bigs. So, call me in 2-3 years if Anthony is in the big leagues and performing like a star, and then we can talk. Devers MLB player Bogaerts MLB player Bello MLB player. Anthony NOT MLB player. Also, I know very well rankings are taken with a grain of salt, even the #1 prospect can go completely bust. I just put more stock into sox prospects than other scouting bodies. It's simple math, more eyes, better reports.

No, Teel will be in that range, Zantello will likely be in the back end of the top 20.

Soxprospects started the season with Anthony ranked 11th. Was he on anyones top 20 back in April?

who?

BA just moved Anthony into their top 100 last week.

Of course, but they follow ONE system, as opposed to all 30 teams. When you're that specialized you're going to be out in front of these things before anyone else. I didn't realize they weren't high on Anthony, I'm not really sure if that's true, and even if it was the exception doesn't make the rule. And FTR, Anthony is still a prospect, the guys I listed were prospects who actually graduated and became big-league stars. BIG difference. I mean look, If you trust mlb Pipelines rankings more than soxprospects cool, thats you. I trust Soxprospects more.

I would keep the better player, regardless of return. It's not like the return is going to be a big difference or anything great for either player.

When Story comes back then really either Duvall or Kike has to come off the roster

Garcia is ranked #17 in the Sox system, as a younger guy that says something. Brannon is ranked 31st. Now, of course, Garcia isn't even ranked on pipeline and Hickey and Brannon are 15th/20th respectively. But Soxprospects, while not any better than these other ranking organizations does do one thing way better than them, and it's 100% function of being able to primarily focus on the Sox system. They always identify and get out ahead of everyone else when it comes to the lower-level guys no one hears of. They had Bogaerts ranked a year before the national media was on to him, the same thing with Devers and Bello as well. If they have him that high, it's because he's very special and they've seen and heard a TON of things about him from within the Sox organization.

He has a much higher ceiling than both Hickey and Brannon though.

It’s Teel, and I just did the same thing