Hugh2

At some point in 2023? I thought he figured to be back by June? did I miss something, now it's "maybe"????

Good thing we didn't sign Rodon

I mean, if anything, this gives more merit to your first sentence.

If Song gets into games this year, after a full year of playing ball, I think it could be better assessed whether he's worthy of being protected or not. I suspect, because of his career trajectory, the only way Boston is able to hold onto a guy like Song would be to move him to the bullpen and try to fast-track him to the majors. Hoping, he regains a lot this year and is ready at some point next year. This of course, is contingent upon a LOT of things.

I believe DD has 14 days after opening day to add Song to the 40-man. I doubt he would return him before then.

It’s actually a pretty darn good comp, which is why I brought it up to Red. The results were….predictable.

Dude was about as Elite as JBJ had ever been in 2021 out in CF. It passes the eye test, my young mans 20/20 eyes.

Not saying much? do even ever check what's what before you comment. Duval is a plus defender on the corners and when healthy a 30/100 guy, which by all accounts he is healthy and fully recovered from his wrist injury. It's almost like there's something that may be making you biased against Duval. He's a potential 30/100 guy who plays plus defense on the corners. That's a guy who starts on most teams, let alone rides the bench. The only knock on Duval right now is the fact he's playing out of position, but that ain't his fault.

No but he's on the team now, and he'd be a massive upgrade over what they have on the bench, and his positional versatility is valuable and may be needed by the time Story comes back. What are the odds that one of Turner/Devers/Casas/Verdugo/Yoshida either gets hurt or is tremendously struggling?

In a perfect world Duvall is not in CF, but I think if healthy he can have an extremely Hunter Renfroe esq season at the plate. I suppose in a perfect world Story and Mondesi are healthy and Push Kike back to CF allowing Duvall to play in an LF/RF/3B/1B/DH role.

Duval is an MLB vet who has proven he can hit when healthy, I'm unconcerned with how he looks after 1 week of spring training games.

I don’t think people realize how good Mondesi and Duvall can be if healthy. Or maybe it’s just that they don’t have much confidence in this team staying healthy. I have more confidence in Duvall staying healthy than Mondesi

It could be way worse, in reality, it's not bad....but given how last year went to start this year off in such away doesn't exactly strike confidence in anyone. Still, I'll remain optimistic, I'm looking forward to games.

Right now those two are ahead of Mata on the depth chart, and baring a rash of injuries a good performance by at least one of them can keep Mata down on the farm most of the season to continue developing. But I wouldn't be surprised if he's surpassed those guys by mid season.

I know people say not to look into ST stats, but especially now, look who is playing. This is what I love about spring training, there’s always a few guys who’s name you read and you have to ask yourself “who the heck is that?”.

It's not like Paxton wasn't rehabbing and ramping back up all last season. He didn't suffer a major setback but rather a minor injury at the end of the season. With a normal offseason, I'd expect him to be right here. It's a good sign.

First of all, 1.5 is still 1/2 the time frame as 3 years. And seeing how some are being so specific here it's actually more like 3.33 years. Also, when you miss 1.5 years from Tommy John, you're not not throwing during that time. And you're in a professional system, with the care, attentiveness of pro mlb trainers and doctors etc. You are on throwing programs with pitching coaches, and at some point facing live batters. It's a completely different experience from being away from a sport for that time frame. Then more than DOUBLE that time frame. A case-by-case basis it may be. But has anyone ever taken 3 years off from the sport and made the jump from A ball to the majors. Ever? even just once?

My point is the difference between 4 years and 3 1/3 years is non-existent to insignificant at best. That's why this whole conversation is stupid. It doesn't matter. If he lost his stuff after 4 years, he's already lost it after 3. Could it return? yes but not in one season.

Just like prospect rankings all things can vary. This is #1 on my list

I dunno, this has got to be top 3 of all time.

BA ranking as #10 says something. When Law had us low the naysayers were out in full force, that ranking was to be taken seriously but now that someone else says we are a top 10 system they have nothing to say.

I would be happy with at least 5 of the 7 making it to the season healthy.

My god this is the dumbest f***ing argument ever. Song hasn't been pitched since 2019, people see it's the 2023 season coming up. They do simple math and get to 4, but when you really think about it by the time he pitches this year it will have been closer to 3 1/3 - 3 1/2 a year. Whoopdy f***ing do, what point does anyone think they are making here? This does absolutely 100% ZERO to do with the fact that it's been a very long time since he's pitched competitively. Does anyone actually think there's a HUGE drop-off in velocity and stuff going from 3.33 years to 4 years? That's a long time to not pitch AND make a jump from low A to the majors and STICK. Even if Song turns into the next Scherzer it will have been the right call to not have protected someone who fits his profile. Guys like him don't get picked, it was called unprecedented and the only jackal the say otherwise (Peter Abraham) is a baffoon who doesn't know what he's talking about. EVEN HE WALKED back his own comments and said he overreacted. He probably gets returned or the Sox gets an asset for him. There's are a billion reasons to call the Sox FO incompetent, but we'd be better off blaming the rain on them at this point. Seriously, I nominate the conversation in this thread over the last week for the dumbest convo in Talksox history award. PLEASE can we get the regular season and just have more interesting things to talk about. Talk about straws...damn.

DD absolutely did not expect this, because now he has to carry him on the 26 man. It's weird, people are looking at this like DD is a genius who picked Blooms pockets. Which is an easy narrative to buy into around these parts given their track records here, but I think the opposite is true. DD didn't want this to happen, he wanted to carry Song on the exemption list this year.

this sounds very plausible.