Hugh2

And how much money do we spend on RF/CF/SS to make up for what we don't get because we are trading away Mayer/Rafaealla/Duran for a #1 starting pitcher??? You could say those guys could bust like the Sale trade, or that maybe they dont' and you pay more in free agency to get the production those guys would have given you than you would in free agency on a starting pitcher. I suppose it comes down to which you have more faith in. I have faith in the Sox ability to draft and develop young position players. I'm not trading away those three, unless you 3 more of them in your system. The Sox system was around the 10-15 range in strength, probably closer to middle of the pack because some didn't consider Yoshida a prospect. It's not the time to trade for an ACE. If you had this EXACT same farm system, but a better MLB club, with more talent, and young talent locked up long-term (think Atlanta) I'd say strike now. Otherwise, it's premature.

losing all your talent that you'd want around that ACE just so you can have an ACE makes you the Angels for the last several years. I'm not saying we Don't trade for an ACE, but we don't just do it to have one, and I'm not opposed to paying for one with the likes of Ohtani and Giolito on the market next year.

or may get posted at least. It's a risk, but he will be in his early 20's and will come cheaper than the Ohtani/Verlanders of the world and he has some of the most electric stuff on the planet right now. Yamamoto is expected to be posted not Roki, going to research now on when we can expect that. I mixed the two up. Yamamoto is a young stud too. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/02/mlb-rumors-yoshinobu-yamamoto-ace-japan-npb-posted-2023.html

This is why you don't go for it until the timing is right. Having an ACE pitch his prime seasons here when you don't have a pipeline of star talent around him is wasteful. You can't sign ALL your stars, you have to develop them, and if you're trading guys away you're lessoning your chances. A strong team and a strong farm is when the iron is hot. I think that's in two years from now. Personally, I want to see them go big after Ohtani. Or maybe, the Sox want to go after the younger next big thing to come out of Japan in Roki Sasaki or Yoshinobu Yamamoto who many people say is BETTER than Ohtani, at least as just a pitcher. Who is Japan pitcher Roki Sasaki? WWW.MLB.COM Every baseball fan should know the name Roki Sasaki. He's the 21-year-old sensation from Japan who's already the most electric pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball. He's a once-in-a-generation talent in the class of Shohei Ohtani. He's finally on the global stage at the World Baseball Classic, where he'll start Japan's He will be posted next year.

The problem is going for the guy in his early prime is going to cost you an arm and a leg, unless he happens to be a FA (which doens't happen often because guys get locked up early now) in which case it will cost you two arms and two legs. At some point you have to strike

Guerrero is a relief pitcher. Wikelman has a wide range of possible outcomes, too far away to count on. He could figure it out and pop, or continue to struggle with his command and look more like a relief pitcher in several years from now. The pitching in the system is NOT very strong, Drohan is a nice surprise, but the pitching is still a weak point.

Here is the Soxprospects projected rotation for the 2025 year. Lets keep in mind these projections assume zero trades or FA acquisitions. It only uses guys who will be in the Sox system in 2025. Garrett Whitlock Brayan Bello Brayan Mata Brandon Walter Shane Drohan Lets be honest, not one of those guys has established themselves as a starter. You can see it with Whitlock if he can stay healthy, and given his young age and ability to miss bats at the MLB level you can see if it Bello, but the question marks get bigger after that. That's 3 holes, and if one of the top 2 can't stay healthy it's 4. Now I'm not saying someone can't pop and fill in the gaps but anyway, you slice it, most permutations of a near-distant future COMPETITIVE Red Sox team probably involve acquiring a TOTRS via trade or FA. I think it's reasonable to see two starting pitcher additions to this team over the next two years that are not within this system. So I can see SP1 Free agent 1 SP2 Bello SP3 Free agent 2 SP4 Whitlock SP5 Drohan/Mata/Walter/Gonalez/Chris Murphy/Free agent 5

Your two best options for starting pitchers on that list is Bello and Drohan. Drohan is far from a sure thing, he's promising and is seeing his stock rising but he just popped as a guy who is looked at as a future starter for only a few months. Guys who are top pitching prospects and have been "guys" for a while fall short of becoming MLB starting pitchers all the time. If I'm projecting the Sox starting rotation 4 years out from now, maybe Drohan is on that now, but if you had 5 Drohans in your system you can count on 3-4 of them failing as starters and maybe 1-2 of those guys becoming decent to better bullpen arms. There are other young arms in the Sox system who have potential but they're just too far away to have any real confidence in (that can change in a year or two). I'd put these guys on that list. Luis Perales SP#8 Wikelman Gonzalez SP#14 Elmer Rodriguez-crus SP#16 Haven't talked about Mata, with his horrible control he seems destined for the bullpen but if something clicks he could be better than all 3 of those guys and Drohan. What I love most about Drohan, is he is the prototypical prospect we DON'T get in this system. We have the opposites of Drohans, guys who are good prospects and fail. Drohan wasn't considered a top prospect and his stuff ticked up and now he is. That's the type of thing that happens in a good system that can develop pitching. Hopefully, this is a sign of better things to come.

Does Bloom get credit for "not trading away" the right prospects???

Idk know if there’s any weight behind this but it’s been said Kike always hits better when he plays 2nd, he also fields a much better 2nD too. If that was true Chung reset the defense and made the offense better, if not it’s still upgraded the defense, if him or story can come back strong at SS and push Kike to 2nd, then with Durans emergence in CF this lineup looks better than I thought they would be.

Teams with big attendance feel the pressure to keep winning and the money flowing in. They also have the money because they have the attendance because they’re in larger markets. It works both ways. If the Sox keep winning, they will be sold out. I believe that. Think of it like this. Considered how they’ve played the last few weeks are you more or less likely to go to a game right now compared towards your feelings on the team a few months ago? I know I am.

It will be interesting to see what transpires at the deadline this year if this team is in it. Rentals have been cheaper in recent years and I think there will be a few guys out there. Giolito and Ohtani should be on the market, maybe Sonny Gray if Minnesota fell apart. Might be a chance to build some rapport with a quality arm and sign them after the season as well. Totally agree on Casas, I’ve been seeing a lot out of him recently that I saw out of Yoshida right before he got hot. He probably ends the season around .250 range but a high OPS because he will get his walks and hit for some power. If the hit tool develops more next year he will be an all star. He’s just SOO big, you know when things clicks he’s going to be hitting mammoth shots with ease. This team is stacked with LHH, it might be nice to add a RH batter at the deadline too, but we might gain that if Duvall comes back strong too. Liking Turner so far, we have good right handed hitters we just don’t have any beasts to hit next to Devers. But can’t complain about what this offense is doing. The pitching is scary, but shows lots of promising. If a man traveled back in time 6 months from now to today and told me that a few injuries really derailed the staff and the team fell apart and hit their way to 82 wins I’d believe it. If that time traveler told me they stayed relatively healthy and most of Kluber/Sale/Whitlock/Bello/Paxton figured it out, the pen was elite and the team wins 95 games I’d believe it. I feel there’s a wide range of outcomes with where this starting rotation will go this year

Here’s a crazy thought. If the Red Sox had swept the Rays instead of the Rays sweeping them they’d be 24-10, that would be the best record in baseball. The best, they rays would be in 2nd place at 23-10. It’s amazing what a difference ONE series can make. It’s still early, is the main take away, but also that every series matters. This team has been winning series.

That…..pretty much sums up the game perfectly

Oakland finished last last season with Sean Murphy. Mariners have a losing record with Castillo and Fernandez. Philly has Schwarber, Harper, and the $300 million dollar man Turner and they’re not looking so great in 4th place. How great does St. Luis look with Goldschmidt, and Nolan Arenado? Stars alone don’t win you games. It takes a full team. If you look at last years FA class, the top free agents (with an exception) are all performing like garbage right now. Bloom took Stryfe for not signing any “star power” and instead went out and built a bullpen and depth. Yoshida might end up being the best player in that FA class. People get so hung up on who WAS a star and can’t enjoy seeing stars being born right in front of their face. But people can’t except that because their “eye test” is reading what other people say. Like Keith Law who bashed Boston for signing Yoshida and instead insisted they should have used that money on Catcher Wilson Contreras. How’s Yoshida, McGuire and Wong doing BTW? Remember when everyone freaked out because Keith Law said our farm system sucked too. Who was in here telling people to not listen to the hot garbage coming from Law? Hmmmmm who was it…what was that posters name.

Well if we wanna just stick with our division there COLE and Judge in NY. For years the standard was Trout/Ohtani but LA is playing decent.

If the Sox were in the NL West they’d be in 1st place in front of LA. They’d be in 1st in every division except the NL East and West, where they’d be 2nd. At this rate there’s little difference between 2nd or 3rd in the division of all three wild cards are coming out of there

Chris Sale is not maintaining his composure here at all

No bullpen depth in AAA, this move makes me believe they’re not thinking about moving Mata/Johnson into a bullpen role anytime soon. That could still change.

Teams with “stars” are garbage last place teams right now too. In the end, fans care about wins and losses and when you win….new stars are born. We could be witnessing the birth of 1 or two right now but what might really appease some is “NAME” star power. I’m not concerned with the offense. There’s a nice little star nursery on the team right now. It’s still the pitching tat bothers me though. But you can buy a star or two. Lots of good pitching will be available at the deadline this year

Crawford is even with Ort?

This is technically accurate.

I do not consider hater a strong word, although their hate can be strong. I do think there's a difference between saying "you're a hater" towards the haters in here and saying "you hate XYZ" It's a commonly used term amongst the kids these days. The times, they do a change. It's also a lot quicker to say than "people who have a less than favorable view towards the front office in such a way they become cynical over everything" Don't worry, even if the Sox were this good they are bound to have bad stretches. It's still early works both ways. The boo birds will have their day in the sun again. Everyone is a hater towards something in life.

Even good teams go through bad stretches, so....there's plenty of season left for the BOO BIRDS.

I don’t call em out individually, I let them do that. Except when I don’t, but 100% of the other times I do.