Hugh2

BA came out with a podcast 2 days ago called "who's No. 1?" There's some great stuff in there. It's a weird draft year, not as strong at the top buy extremely deep, a ton of players who didn't go into last years pool will be on the board this year. The fact that there was no Cape Code league, no season the year prior, and no national circuits mean a lot of scouts have been playing catch up. This leaves the possibility for a lot of movement in this draft. There will be guys who really rise/fall over the next month. There does not really seem to be a consensus #1 there and we could see a few teams cut deals with players at the top. Despite past performance of drafted pitchers I'd prefer Rocker then Leiter, some people are saying Brady House is the exact top of prospect Bloom likes. High School SS seems to be a strength in this draft.

Forgot all about the Brentz leg shot, oh man what a bad look. Shout out to Thunder, going to take a long hard look at taking that 45-minute drive up to Hartford this weekend.

Honestly, if we could play that stretch @ .500 I'd be happy.

College bat vs. High School bat. Although, we know college bats are usually a much safer bet than a high school bat. Still, Brentz was selected 36th in the 2010 draft and Casas was taken about 10 spots earlier as a high school bat. Brentz was heralded as a more safe offense-ready player and Casas is someone you can dream on. Well.........we all know how that worked out. Any whooooo Casas is now 21 and although the sample size is pretty small he's handling AA pretty well (after a loss season), when Brentz was 21 he was .598 OPSing it in Low A. Brentz ended up putting some decent numbers up at the AAA level, but he was never able to take his game to the next level. Brentz was an outfielder while Casas was a 1B, at 1B you have to hit, if he had played a premium position (such as SS) he might have been one of the first HS players taken in the 2018 draft. But, lets be fair here, there's till plenty of time for Casas to flame out, but I'd say there's more reason to be hopeful in his future than we ever had for Brentz at this point. I think the offense potential from Casas is more than it ever was from Brentz, and certainly so at this point, but as a corner infielder he's going to have to hit and hit well to be a regular. Interesting factoid, the kid threw mid 90's in HS, too bad, that arm will be wasted at 1B but if he reaches his potential with the bat who cares.

Will be some time until we know if this was a good trade or a bad trade.

Pull the trigger!!!!!!!!!!!! Kluber alone isn't enough, but with a little bit of luck, some health, a mid-season return of Chris Sale and this team might compete in 2021.

Yeah man, I'm all about blowing up the farm and the payroll to compete for 2nd place too. Cool story.

To be fair, Riley has less than 1/3 a season worth of innings at 3B during his first two partial seasons. Before he Graduated from the minors he was a consensus top 50 prospects and ranked 22 by BA with a much higher ceiling and higher floor than Dalbec. Doesn't mean he's going to be better....but if I was a G.M. I'd rather have Riley than Bobby over the next 5 years. I don't see Atlanta parting ways with young pitching for that.

Here is the Soxprospects summation on Houck "Potential late-inning reliever, with a chance to develop into a back-end starter if his splitter develops to complement his slider and he refines his fastball command. Could also succeed in a multi-inning relief role. Will likely struggle to turn over a lineup of major league-quality hitters with his current pitch mix and mechanics. Arm slot and fastball-slider combination make him extremely difficult on right-handers, but his low arm slot and lack of a third pitch give him trouble against lefties. Splitter is a new addition to his arsenal, but it has shown potential against left-handed hitters, which will be vital to chances stick in the starting rotation. Has the size and demeanor you look for in a pitcher; able to bear down when necessary." A couple of things I'd like to add. At one time Roger Clemens was pegged as a guy who had a ceiling of a #3 starter. You never truly know what a guy can become, and we've been so used to our pitching prospects falling short of expecations I feel like we are due to have a guy shatter them in the other direction. Very SSS but Tanner showed us a lot of promise last year.

My god what year am I living in? Well, if anything that makes Wright more valuable to them.

Mata is interesting as his profile has changed over the years. Earlier he was considered a back of the rotation starter pitcher because he had a good feel for pitching and he had a nice 4 pitch mix. But seeing how he didn't have that one dominant pitch or velocity he didn't really profile as a guy who you can move to the bullpen if he fails as a starter. Fast forward a few years and he's added a slider and added velocity. Now I think his ceiling is a little higher, but so is his floor as a late inning reliever. I've always been intrigued as Mata, but......I've learned over the years to not fall in love with Boston Pitching prospects.

wait....we're talking about Kyle Wright right?

Atlanta has enough talent in their rotation to not have to worry about losing Wright, but they are going to lose Teheran next year and Gausman the following year. Wright is a guy who they should hope to slide in and take a rotation spot which is what you want as a first-place team. I just don't see Atlanta taking that deal seriously. Dalbec was never a top 100 prospect and his ceiling strikes me as a Mark Reynolds type of guy if he pans out. There's a lot of swing and miss in his game and he could have a very pedestrian year (despite a decent showing in 2020 sss) and struggle before adjusting to MLB pitching. Atlanta, being a 1st place team might not want to part with a pitcher they think is on the cusp of entering their rotation for a guy who plays a position they don't really need an upgrade at. Riley is probably closer to producing at the MLB level than Dalbec is and he was regarded higher....and I certainly don't see Atlanta moving Dalbec to 1B and kicking Freeman out. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush, and that trade is asking for a bird in hand for a bird in the bush for a team that is in compete now mode.

The only thing that would have lost Mookie Money this year would be the Covid Market. Still, there's just no way to tell how a big market team might have responded. A team like TB needs to cut back in a covid world where NY or LA can just blink. Unfortunately, there is not a marquee FA to give us a template to go on. If there was, and the market is depressed, then you could argue a guy would take a one year deal and jump back in the waters next year. The one thing Mookie would have going for him is he would clearly be the best FA in the market (by a lot) and his value would be sky high right now. I suspect if he opted to sign a contract this offseason and Covid truly did drive the price down he still gets over 300 million.

I share your enthusiasm for Song, but Wright is closer to impacting a big league club and may have a higher ceiling as well. Doesn't matter, I don't Song even gets you close to Wright.

Given the state of our rotation, Happ would be a welcomed addition. Still, he's yet another year older and a guy who is probably not going to give you more than 175 innings next year. If the Sox are going to compete next year they need to strengthen the top of the rotation. The reality is, there just isn't much of a market for pitching. So a guy like Happ strengthens the middle of your rotation, you improve the bullpen and hope for a good year from E-rod and a mid-year return from Sale. If all that happens and a WS is a possibility you can always dive into the trade market next summer and improve the top of the rotation (given an ace is available).

I think Alex Verdugo is going to be a stud, not as good as Mookie, but 300 million dollars + cheaper for 5 years. I firmly believe unless the Sox gave Mookie similar money (they weren't going to) he was going to leave Boston. You can't fall in love with these guys and it would be bad business to invest close to 1/2 a billion dollars when the offense is not your problem. The trade will look even better if Downs turns into your everyday 2nd baseman. Not sure he's ready yet so maybe they can get a Cesar Hernandez on a 1-year deal? In hindsight, I wonder what the market for Mookie Betts would have looked like this year if stayed with Boston? Team budgets are tight and people are afraid of making long-term commitments but at the same time, he would be the clear-cut top FA in the market.

He does, but we have more time with him than I suggested. His opt out is after the 2022 season.

One thing about these Sox over the past couple decades is they've had a nack for falling apart and putting themselves back together. 2013 is probably the best example of this. They've never been afraid to change strategies that have had optimal and sub-optimal outcomes. For example, the Sox of 2013 would never sign David Price, they just wouldn't do it, it was never going to be part of their organizational philosophy. Ben Charrington did a great job at rebuilding the system, but the Sox were able to switch direction and bring in a guy like Dombroski had the balls to blow it all up and build a championship team. G.M.'s do that all the time, win 100 games and sit home in October so 2018 is just that more special. I'm not saying it's going to be a good year this year, I think best case scenario is with a clean bill of health this team hits like crazy and trades for another ACE at the deadline. Unlikely, but that's how we get to October. I'm also not claiming to know the future but I will say this. I think the Sox are willing to go over the Luxury tax, they just wanted to reset, I suspect a rebuild is coming after this year via trades and FA. And honestly, if guys don't opt out like JDM and Bogarets (unlikely) they only need to focus on the pitching side of things. I'm not saying trading Mookie was a great decision, but I think we have to see what they do with it.

I remember back in the day I used to comment here all day long. Life has swept up in its many wonders of homeownership, parenthood, and running a business. I apologize if this has already been brought up but the F.A. classes of 2021/2022 look pretty stacked. I believe that is relevant given that they will get under the luxury tax threshold this year.

I don't have the patience to read through 11 pages so I apologize if I'm reiterating other voices. There's a case to trade and retain any good player depending on what the price is. The extension Bogaerts signed made it clear he's the type of guy you extend, but if Betts wants top dollar I think you have to at least entertain the thought of trading him. He could completely restock the system. This team could easily be as good as they were in 2018 next year, however, so perhaps you see how good you play this year and if you're in a position where the Yankees have a strong command of 1st place perhaps you trade him at the deadline.

It's kind of crazy to think a hometown discount at this point might be 10/300. But with the uncertainty free agency has provided the last few years I wonder if Mookie would bite if the front office came to him with that deal.

One of these guys are definitely trade bait. I agree with Jacksonians take that Chavis has the higher floor and Dalbec has the higher ceiling, but I don't think there ceilings are that far apart. If Chavis hits enough to play in the majors he has enough power to be a 30 HR guy too. This season has all the makings of trading away a couple top prospects for a late inning reliever come July.

I'm surprised no one is talking about Trey Ball.....the outfielder.

I always think the most recent scouting report is the most relevant. Scouts often try to project these guys and it's never 100%. You can look at a guy, look at his size, his body type and movements and you can see that he may not only not be a great athlete but he could have the body type that can easily put on weight. That's why it's easy to look at some guys and say "he's going to move to 3b" "he's going to move to 1b" etc etc. While I generally trust that consensus, at the end of the day, no one truly knows how these kids will develop. Sometimes guys work very hard to change their body and improve their athleticism and they just stick and improve where they are.