Hugh2

Every year I’ve followed Sox prospects they have had most of the Sox top picks listed as probables. So this list should give us an ideal of who they may target. http://news.soxprospects.com/2023/07/2023draft.html?m=1

Today is draft day, picks 1-70. I know not all fans are interested in amateur ball and the big wide world of prospectadum and that’s ok, to each their own! I don’t expect this thread to live long. But we can discuss draft talk here and for those interested in getting to know our picks we can post scouting reports from results as well.

Next year, yes

FYI This is the guy I’ve been talking up here for a while. I think the Sox need to be heavily invested in Yama.

Keep Rafaela, kid has JBJ defensive potential and can do it in CF and SS. Mats needs to love to the pen. Keep the farm, this is supposed to be “sustainable growth”. Go buy an ACE to lead Bello/Whitlock/Houck, if Sale is healthy great.

When is Cora going to learn nothing good ever comes with Kike at SS. He belongs at 2nd and CF and that’s it

Right right right. All I said is Kike has a much more extensive record hitting in the playoffs than just 2021 like you said. Don’t get it twisted brotha!!!

It was a very short sample size before he got hurt but Chang really seems to set the defense right on this team. Almost makes me want Story to come back and stay at 2nd

It was a very short sample size before he got hurt but Chang really seems to set the defense right on this team.

It wasn’t just 2021, he’s a career .900 ops playoff batter over 16 series and 200 PAs. He’s consistently performed in the playoffs. And he’s a career BWar 16 player. Sure he sucks now and might be gone soon one way or another. But he was a good player and you’ve never liked him even when he was

Kike seems to perform better at 2nd, even with the bat. We are going to find out shortly if that’s the case. At least with Chang back he will not touch short, or at least shouldn’t. It will be interesting to see what happens when Story is back. Kikes tenure in Boston might not last to the end of this season

http://news.soxprospects.com/2023/07/2023draft.html?m=1

Agreed, a manager can only do so much. To some Cora is the worse manager, well......5 years ago he was the greatest manager. He also had the luxury of managing a team capable of winning well over 100 games. Give Cora a roster like that again and watch how much better his decisions look.

All the mock drafts have a Plethora of position player infield players. That also happens to be the Sox M.O. so Maybe they cut a deal with whoever will take the least, or maybe they go after someone who falls.

Kiley McDaniels has Matt Shaw going to Boston as well. Here's another that's not the same. Keith Law: Boston Red Sox – Colt Emerson, SS, John Glenn High (New Concord, Ohio) Yes, another infielder for the Red Sox, although I don’t think you can have too many good infield prospects, ever. Emerson’s one of the younger players in the draft class and there are at least some scouts who think he’s one of the better pure hitters. I’m only hearing them with hitters, including college guys Shaw, Brock Wilken and Chase Davis; and high schoolers with Bryce Eldridge – who supposedly wants to go to a team that will also let him pitch – Houck and Mitchell as other possibilities.

You can't just throw the same 2-3 guys out there every night. A manager has to be conscious of who they're facing, who they will face tomorrow, the day after, and who they're playing next week. They have to see what matchups are going to happen or could happen. Guys like Garza, Jacques, Ort, Kluber (he's on the IL now) are going to have to pitch at some point, and unfortunately, the perfect opportunity (up 15-1 or down 15-1) is not going to present itself as much as it would to make the decision easy. Assuming you have 5 guys in the rotation, a manager only has 8 guys in the pen, and he's going to need 3-4 innings every night. If you have guys on your roster sitting and not pitching, then the fewer innings they pitch are going to be made up by the other guys thus increasing the chance of injuring the good guys who are actually worth something. I get in a vacuum, looking at one game it can become easy to scratch our heads at Cora "Why did he bring this guy in" but the reality is, he has to think about the rest of the week and all 162 games, and keeping guys healthy. It's not as easy as it looks from the armchair.

Story, when healthy, is an astronomically better defender than Yorke. Yorke's value is almost entirely tied to his bat.

I kinda hope while everyone is bidding on Ohtani Henry swoops in and gets Yama for 1/4 the price.

This is a great post. My only caveat is while I do think the scouting department primarily decides which amateur talent to bring in I believe someone in Blooms position is going to have their hands in the big moves. Like a first round pick or a Yoshida. I think Owners can get involved in the even bigger stuff. Like Signing Bogaerts, going after Ohtani, or trading away Mookie Betts. Henry, if he had any balls could simply say “go after Ohtani and do whatever it takes, the wallet is open”. I’d be happy with Yamma

Maybe the plan is to fire Bloom and hire Dave back

If that’s fair, and perhaps it is. The only moves Dave is really good for is Kimberly and Sale. And he extended Sale. Dave didn’t build this team, he put the cherry on top.

Personally I think GM/Presidents/whatever title you want to give the director of operations get WAY too much credit for player development. Aside from special cases like Yoshida, Ohtani, Dice-K or the first pick in a draft they probably never heard of half these guys until they're signed. I will say this however, people were very quick to give Dave D. credit for "not trading" the right prospects which he inherited. E.G. Devers, Benintendi. If that holds true in a balanced world, shouldn't Bloom get credit for "holding" on to Bello????

There are two types of people. Those who analyze everything Bloom does and recognize each move separately, there's good and there's bad. Obviously, when you have more bad you have bad results. Then there are those who just say "team bad Bloom bad everything bloom do bad bloom do thing so things must be bad because Bloom bad, bad bad Bloom bad" Which is fine, but don't tell the rest of us that we are Bloom lovers just because we don't hate every single thing the team does by default.

Imagine if we traded for Alcantara last year? We'd have him in our rotation, which might still look good long term but we'd be worse off because you'd be subtracting Bello, our system would also be less Rafaella, Mayer ++++ Bello might have reached an untradeable status, he's exactly what you want to trade for and he's here now. But a year ago he's the profile of the type of guy you end up trading for high-end pitching. And how much better would we be right now if Sandy was even pitching well? we weren't exactly blowing the world away when Sale was pitching like a vintage Sale for a month. This is why you strike when the iron is hot. Striking too soon would be like blowing your load just to get up to being a decent team. Also, there are many ways to build a better roster from Drafting, trading, and free agency. There's a time and place for everything, and with the money they have to spend next year and the FA class headlined by pitchers, it makes all the sense in the world to be looking to sign an ACE this offseason and NOT trading resources for them. Think of it this way, would you rather have Ohtani???? or Ohtani and still have Mayer+??? Not saying Ohtani is the guy the target but I think my point is made. To be fair, I thought all the stars aligned for the Sox to go after a big shortstop this offseason, they did not.

Who?