Hugh2

I posted this on another forum pre season about the Sox system. Not the prospect who could make the biggest jump, but the one prospect who could really make the biggest impact in our system if he did, I thought that guy was Chatham. He was the #1 ranked SS in the draft and we got him. It was a weird year though were there weren't really any top ranked college SS in the draft at all but you never know. We got Pedroia with a 2nd round pick. It would be nice to strike gold again with an up the middle college player in the 2nd round.

any one of these guys could have a 3 hit night and skyrocket past the other one right now. Sox should have given Blake more developmental time behind the plate, he'd have a golden opportunity right now.

No it's not, but the kid is a projected lottery pick for a reason. He's also 7'1 with a 7'10 wingspan. You just can't teach that. He would instantly be a rebounding blocking machine in the NBA. His only caveat is his offensive game isn't as developed as his defensive game. But the Celtics don't need scorers with Kyrie and Hayward coming back. Bamba can also shoot the 3 which is unique for abig man like him. He resembles Joel Emblid in many ways. But the narrative in here that Bamba is a smokescreen is very plausible, Danny Ainge is very good at not showing his hand. But I'd love me some Bamba.

the 22 Million was obviously a HUGE part of this and definitely central to the decision....but no way they DFA him if he was still raking. Why? that would literally make no sense, and even if plausible why not wait another 200 PAs? the 22 Million become 100% relevant the moment he started to slump. At that point, the Sox decided they likely weren't getting much more out of Hanley, his 22 million could be better spent next year, and the roster spot could go towards a kid who still has talent in a system devoid of it.

JBJ is an elite defender at an elite position, and as bad as his numbers are I think he can hit and will in streaks. You need your offense to be consistent as a whole but you can live with a guy like JBJ in the bottom of your order and ride the offensive waves. You can't have a whole team of those guys, but I'm fine with JBJ on this team now, and into the future.

this is literally the most disappointing season for Sox prospect watching I've ever seen in my lifetime. The system is empty.

Bogaerts is going to get paid in FA. If his injury really damped his numbers last year and he is the guy he is this year next....He's easily going to get 25 million a year. If you could extend him now at 20 per annum, then I'd jump all over that. If not, trade him for prospects and sign Machado.....but I'm crazy.

Tzu-Wei Lin

Yes, he's going to owe uncle sam a big sum of money pretty soon.

Anyone still worried about Mookie Betts?

The conclusions I see in here are disturbing and I'm glad many of you are NOT the G.M. For what's worth I'd probably ruin this team too. Correlation without causation. People assume that because the team is playing great now that guys like Pedey and Bogaerts would add nothing too it is just ludicrous. Guys will have peaks and valleys and as the season goes on having more talent will help push this team into the playoffs.

I think that is a little unfair. 2017 draftees mostly have a couple weeks of sample sizes right now and the 2016 draft was all about Groome. As weak as our system is, I still think Groome has a lot of potential with a high ceiling. However, he does have a long way to go. A lot of the picks from our 2016 draft are also already gone, Guys like Anderson and Nogosek left to bring in Nunez and Reed. Others like CJ Chatham, Dalbec, and Shawaryn have showed potential too. Chatham lost some time recovering from an injury but he's off to a hot start and Dalbec has the best raw power in our system. Yes, those guys are far off and not big candidates to be stars but how many teams end up drafting more than one high ceiling prospect who puts himself in that stratosphere every year? and like I said that draft was all about Groome. The 2017 draft is just ridiculously too soon to even talk about. Also, I think drafts are more of an indictment on a team and it's scouting department than a G.M. although I think a G.M. probably does have his hands all over the first round pick. So lets see what Groome and Houck do. Houck who was drafted in 2017 doesn't even have 11 innings yet this year.

I wouldn't advocate jerking any guy around but moving a guy from starting to the bullpen is perfectly normal. Even if you think his place is in the bullpen, you let him start as long as he can, maybe he proves you wrong but if nothing else he logs more innings and lets his stuff develop more. Beeks seems destined for the bullpen, he just doesn't seem to have the size to endure a full season nor the strength to go deep into games, and his stuff is better in short bursts. Nothing wrong with that, we have holes in the pen too and he could be really good there.

I think this just goes to show that teams are more and more viewing the strikeout as just another out.

This may be the craziest thing I've read in a while. No offense, but this is just bananas, and writing words in caps doesn't make it any less crazy. Do you honestly believe, a team(s) is going to let a perfect healthty player sit out a signifant portion of the season because he says he's injured when he is not? If Price was that unhappy here then why not just pitch good enough to opt out? That narrative makes more sense than yours and that's all you have to begin with, a narrative that makes little sense. Don't you think teams have X-Rays, CAT-Scans, and MRI's on players? I'm dealing with a workers comp issue right now, an employee can't just delcare themselves unable to work. They have to go see a doctor, and they can have the surgery and go back to work if they wish, they can't just sit at home and get paid for nothing with zero proof of injury. Also, this did not come out of left field. Price had been dealing with issues since spring training, he had pain for a long time before and it had been festering up. This was in no way shape or form a completely random injury that came out of nowhere as you have claimed. And even if it did, this wouldn't be any less bananas. Listen, I'm not too happy with how things transpired with Eck and Price last year either, but that doesn't mean we have to throw on the tin hats and go all conspiracy theory about everything.

Hitting a guy in the mid back is one thing, and many would argue is part of the game.....but Headhunting is a completely different issue. No one should advocate for guys being thrown at there.

I believe that ship has sailed a long time ago. He probably still has a higher percentage of making it as a starting pitcher as he does a position player at this point in his development. If his stuff ticks up in short bursts and he can recreate himself as a reliever that is the best place for him right now.

Trey Ball had a nice day out of the bullpen. 2 IP, 0 Hits, 1 BB, and 3 K's and threw 24 of his 36 pitches for strikes. Perhaps his stuff can play up in the pen and he can recreate himself as a shutdown reliever???

Rebuilding the farm is always the goal and inevitable. Even with a low first round pick you can strike gold, Aaron Judge, and Mike Trout were selected 32nd and 25th overall in the first round. I think the concern, or perhaps a better term the hurdle to cross is rebuilding the system under current CBA rules. The Sox have done very well over the years to take advantage of loopholes in the draft. In the past, you could receive multiple first-round picks, and spend without much consequence. The MLB draft is a different animal in that you can draft an HS player who can elect to not sign and go to college. Some examples of guys the Sox have drafted out of highschool who didnt' sign and came back into the draft to sign much higher have been You can't spend more than 5% over your cap without losing draft picks. This system didn't exist until recently. In a year like 2011, the Sox not only had multiple first rounds picks but they had a larger bank. They could draft Swihart, JBJ, Barnes, and Owens in the first round. That's 6.65 million dollars alone in the first round which is more money than they had to spend in 3 of the last 4 drafts overall. On top of all that they still had 750K to throw at Mookie Betts and 4 million overall outside the first round. That type of playing field to pump talent into your system is just not there for the Sox. That doesn't mean it won't happen, that doesn't mean other big market teams aren't facing the same issue but it does raise the question as to how.....how is this going to happen. The pipeline that has fed the Sox system for years has recently been re-routed to allow smaller market teams more money and access to pump their systems with talent. The international pool of talent has been one way the Sox had solved this issue in recent years, but they went a little too overboard and lost two years of signing players and the rules for the J2S period have changed as well. It will be interesting to see what the Sox do going forward, perhaps they try to trade more to build their system up. Perhaps they roll out with 2 DSL teams and try to find/develop talent through numbers instead of QTY. These are 16-year-old kids by the way. This seems to be the picture me and others have painted in the past when we've talked about a cliff! but perhaps the word cliff is a bit misleading and inappropriate as cliff implies we know what is going to happen. I suppose a better way to illustrate it would be to say we're driving down a road and rather than a cliff coming up ahead, the path has become very foggy.

Maybe, but he started last season in full-season ball so it wouldn't make much sense to hold him back this year unless something is up. It very could be very insignificant, and mean absolutely nothing, he very well may be up in Salem by the end of the week and pitch in one of the first couple games.

I'm wondering if he's hurt? or was hurt and got a late start to st so they're holding back a little while.

Things don't translate to the MLB level for many reasons. Sometimes the hit tool isn't developed enough for a hitters power to translate. Often a players lack of bat speed or recognizition of pitches can stop there hit obp and average from translating. A smart base runner who can exploit Milb catchers will be exposed at higher levels and thus his SB will not translate. This is why I think Scouting reports (the eye test) and stats go hand in hand. You need both. Results matter, but how they get results can sometimes tell us something about the hitters future. Gun to my head if I had to pick one MiLB stat to predict the future success of hitters I'd take OBP. A good plate approach tells me a lot about what a guy will do if he has the stuff to move to the next level.

I was just going to say Clay Buchholz, but he wasn't really a depth option to start the season. He was an A ball prospect with promise who took a huge jump forward during the season and shot up the ladder. No one would have guessed that in in spring training. The team did have other talent then as well but none were really close to the majors. Of course if Clay could have made that jump then hypothetically Michael Bowden and Daniel Bard could have too. I would also say that Brian Johnson may very well end up having a better career than Kason Gabbard. It would be nice to not have to pay to replace Pomeranz.

Is anyone still worried about Mookie????

Maybe not over the past year or so but 3 years ago he was a former first-round draft pick (well, he still is), your number one prospect, and looks destined to be your starting catcher.