Hugh2
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Everything posted by Hugh2
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I forget how long it was, but it felt like he was on the 40 man for only two weeks, I'm sure maybe it was longer but I know it was brief. I think the Rule 5 was mismanaged, leaving Ward unprotected was an obvious mistake. Politi and Song there's nothing you really could have done, but Ward shouldn't have been exposed.
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Well, you know how relief pitching goes. Some guys can never put it together, and others tweak a thing or two and become shutdown relief pitchers. Another teams trash becomes another teams treasure, it's not un justified carrying Ort until now BUT there's a very strong argument that it may be time to move on now.
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There were others too, wasn't there that SS who they literally just added to the 40 man a week earlier, traded for actually, only to remove him shortly after the rule 5.
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Well I don't think we should assume if we DFA'd Ort back then that today we'd be DFAing Ward. I feel that may be a false premise, besides the fact that he was picked up with the #1 pick should tell us that if anything we would be trading him not DFAing him.
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I suppose you could argue that in hindsight, but the fact that he was taken #1 overall tells you had had trade value, and the Sox let him slip away for nothing. So yes, it was a mistake.
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This is honestly the best outcome for the Sox. Now they don't have to burn a 40-man spot to keep Alfaro as a depth option. Right?
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It's still spring training, and it's true that he has stuff. It's an amorphous process, it's not like there's a clear definitive point in time where if you don't let that player go it means XYZ, Ort is almost certainly the next guy in line to be DFA'd and he just may be. Who knows maybe they still think they can fix something in him, guys who throw 100 don't grow up trees. But if it is time for him to go, what's the difference between last week and later this week at this point? We can play the hindsight game and say they should have DFA'd and added Ward to the 40 man but what is done is done. If it IS that time, that move won't be made until they actually are ready to make a transaction where they need his spot. Which may come any day now.
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This too. This is why I think it can already be labeled a mistake leaving him unprotected.
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Of course, they could have, and I'd suspect they would have. I think any team who loses a guy to rule 5 planned on starting them in the minors otherwise they most likely would be presumably making the big league club. I also think a very strong argument can already be made that the Sox made a mistake not protecting Ward, even if everyone on that list you mentioned pitches well. There were other guys who could have been left unprotected at that time. I'm not feeling ambitious enough to look up names but there were a few guys who they protected over Ward who they just ended up DFA'ing a few weeks later.
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It's not uncommon, but most mlb players don't reach the majors by age 20. Holding a guy to that standard actually probably makes the opposite point that people think they're trying to make. When something is uncommon enough to where you can just start naming names. There's always an anecdotal case out there. Yorke could easily rebound this year and be knocking on the door by season's end, or early next year and that's ok. That would still be a fast track to the majors.
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Let's keep in mind that still to this point Ward has yet to pitch an MLB inning. He's also going to be stashed in the back of the Nationals roster where a lot of other teams could not do that. Even if Ward isn't ready but close to it they can manage the situation, give him easy innings and mop up innings and still work on his development. You expect the Red Sox to compete, or at least try to. If you think someone like Walter could use a little bit more time in the minors you keep him there. Especially if you still believe he's a starter, in which case perhaps you make the argument he's the first one up if needed. Depending on how he starts the season, that may be the case.
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This is entirely possible and I'm guessing at this point likley. I still don't think letting go of Ort now justifies the Ward decision, I would think it would make the decision to not protect Ward look even worse.
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Ort, maybe Brasier?
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Ward should have been on the 40 man but I don’t think he would have been competing for a spot on the 26 man. Or at the very least I think you don’t see as much of him because the Sox likely viewed him ready by 2024, maybe late this year. He’s barely pitched above AA
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I think they send Dalbec to the minors. At least ti start the season, there’s really no space for him on this roster. Despite his starts at SS he really doesn’t offer much positional flexibility, aside from poor defense at 3Rd. He has options and it allows them to retain one of the bubble guys who maybe provide better positional versatility in a back up role. That’s not Dalbec and he has options. I really really really wish there was a way they could keep Alfaro as a third catcher. But that might mean him not getting another offer or really really wanting to be here. Perhaps they can work out an opt out in may and June and role with Wong as the back up. I like Alfaro, but can’t afford to have bad defense at another position.
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You are right on Alfaro, but Tapia depends on him. He has an upward mobility clause, so he has to come with them with another MLB offer for them to be forced to make a decision.
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And how often do prospects pan out? and I'm the biggest prospect homer in here and even I can see that. Also, you need 3-4 of them not just one so you need multiple prospects to pan out. Rafaela can field, but there are serious questions about his bat. Is Abreu a serious prospect at this point? he has sub-defense and platoon splits at 2nd. MAYBE he pans out as a left fielder? but that seems to be the only outfield position we have locked down (assuming Yoshida pans out) Anthony and Bleis are promising, but how far away are they? The point I'm making is we are thin in the outfield from an organizational point of view. EDIT: I'm confusing Abreu with Valdez here but....I wouldn't bet the farm on Abreu rounding out the outfield in a few years from now either.
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The thing is you're thin in the outfield, and looking to be that way for years to come. Kike is gone after this year, and Verdugo the year after is gone too unless resigned. That leaves us with one outfielder who has yet to take an MLB at bat. I still think Duran has a path to being an everyday MLB player. He has supposedly made some adjustments and looked better in spring training. I think you hold onto him and let him have some sustained success in AAA with the changes he made. It's worth seeing if he can pan out than the return I think you get back from him.
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I mean, in the absence of any other significant injury, he's pretty much being asked to do just what he is projected to be. hopefully he's only make 2 starts to start the season.
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Which is fine, be we have plenty of those guys on the roster already, if all you have are 4 and 5's then eventually your #2 and #3 starting pitcher is a back-of-the-rotation/swingman. I think if they both have a future in Boston at least one of them is going to have to move to the pen fulltime. Otherwise maybe one needs to be traded. Not now, we need all the pitching depth we can get, but neither of those guys will strike fear into the hearts of our opponents, and both haven't looked great at the MLB level yet.
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Crawford, or Winc? I don't think either of these guys is a starting 5 pitcher in a playoff-caliber rotation.
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This is also the same Winc who struck out 44 guys in 70.1 innings and put up a 5.89 ERA last year. I mean, you could argue Crawford wasn't much better, but did show the ability to miss bats more than Winc. I also think Josh can be good in the bullpen, when he dials it back he actually misses a few bats. He will never do that as a starter.
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somewhere between 10-15 after being dead last just a few years ago is not only an amazing improvement, it's probably a level of organizational growth our rivals aren't seeing. Things can always go one way or another, but if this trajectory continues the Sox should have a top 10 system by consensus by years end. Law might have them 15th. haha
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Which is fine, who are any of us to critique? how many people REALLY know the strength of all the minor league systems? What doesn't make sense is the Sox system seemingly got better, and even according to LAWS rankings they had more guys in the top 100 and move further up the 100.....but even in his own rankings they slipped from last year. Law always seems to be an outlier in some way.
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If by some Miracle a guy like Mondosei stayed healthy and Story came back, you could have a plus infield defense and Kike might tip the defense in the outfield to plus. Thats a LOT of things that have to go and stay right for that to happen. Rafaella may play into the mix by August too.