Hugh2

remember JDM has an opt out after this year, and with the season he's having one has to assume he will opt out. If you spend big next offseason, you need to save some money for Bogaerts who will likely opt out after the 2022 season. That or you let him walk. I would also want to start thinking about locking up Devers.

Kimbrel signed 3/42 2 years ago. More recently Liam Hendricks signs a 3/54 million deal. I think if you want to keep Barnes you're looking at 3/60

Franchy hitting .379/.419/.897 with a 1.316 OPS in AAA. BRING HIM UP!!!!!!

Lets also not forget about Josh Winckowski who we also received in the 3 way trade. He's been pretty darn good up in Portland. sporting a 2.25 era, opponents are only slugging .279 against him with 23 hits and only 9 walks in 32 innings.

It will take years to close the book on this trade. AB has a skill set that does not age well, but Franchy might not ever put it together either. In the end you traded two talented players who were underperforming. Right now Franchy is batting .379/.419/.897 with a 1.316 OPS in AAA. If he started the year in AAA putting up those numbers people would be screaming for him to be in the majors, the reality is Franchy probably needs MLB at bats to see if he can ever make that jump. That would have been easier to do in a bridge year, and I suspect that is what the Sox FO thought this year would be. Anyways, considering I knew the Sox were not getting top prospects, I really like the guys they did get. One of them might turn into a top prospect one day. Luis De La Rosa looks like the type of guy who could become a good mlb starting pitcher if everything breaks right. Sox need pitching in the system. Here is a write up about him from the Royals review. "De la Rosa has an array of positive projection indicators, with some of that projection already starting to bear out,” Baseball America Senior Writer Ben Badler said last year. “A former shortstop who moved to the mound before signing, De La Rosa is a bouncy athlete who has grown two inches to 6-foot-2, 175 pounds with a fastball that has also grown since signing. He’s now reaching the low-90s, with loose, easy arm action and the projection for more velocity to come. For someone without much experience on the mound, De La Rosa has shown surprising pitchability, with a slider and an advanced changeup for his age" 19 year old Freddy Valdez Ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 29 international prospect during the 2018 signing period, Valdez inked a deal for $1.45 million with the Mets that July 2. He was big for the class then and that remains the case as he stands in at a listed 6-foot-3, 212 pounds. The Dominican Republic native showed off some power and ability to take a walk in his first taste of the pros in the Dominican Summer League in 2019, hitting .268/.357/.432 over 57 games. That prompted a first stateside move to the Gulf Coast League that season, and he returned to the U.S. for the instructional league last fall. "The Mets like Valdez for his above-average hand speed that can result in some impressive exit velocities when he makes a solid connection. He also shows an impressive eye at the plate for someone his age, though he can get too passive at times. His swing can also get long, which holds down the overall hit tool. Valdez is a solid runner but is decidedly a corner outfielder, due to his size and struggles at times with routes and jumps. His arm is a potential above-average tool, though that too will take work as he works on his release to make the most of his arm strength. There was plenty to build on for Valdez in 2020, and that will continue to be the case for him when he returns to game play in 2021. The power and arm make him a standard corner-outfield candidate at the top level, and the other holes in his game could be improved with experience." Grant Gambrell He's a little older than the rest, of course every prospect is going to be older than they otherwise would be for their level after missing a year in the minors. Gambrell feels like a guy who could take off if they moved him into a bullpen role. "At his best, Gambrell sits in the mid-90s with a plus breaking ball (there might be two, but if so, they've run together in my looks) and a tailing, mid-80s changeup that he uses in some clever ways, including as a means to jam righties. His stuff has been inconsistent and he missed considerable time with injury during college, which creates some relief risk. We're talking about a pitcher who only worked about four innings per outing during his sophomore year, and struggled when the Royals asked him to work as a starter and blow way past his previous single-year innings total after they drafted him in 2019. But Gambrell was sitting 94-96 during 2021 spring action and looked to me to be in much better shape than the last time I saw him. The 2020 layoff means the innings increase piece of Gambrell's developmental track still feels harrowing, but he has a power-pitcher's repertoire and a chance to really blow up this year because he came to camp with a totally different body"

People complaining about this trade was the most predictable thing, I suspect it will get worse before it gets better. The reality is, no one should be surprised, we were told months ago that the list of prospects the Sox had to chose from were not top 20 guys at the time. We knew they would be lower level lottery ticket types, which I'm honestly fine with because I'll take the higher ceiling with the added risk.

https://theathletic.com/2627484/2021/06/02/brandon-workman-could-be-rejoining-the-red-sox-offering-a-boon-to-the-bullpen/?source=dailyemail Makes one optimistic on Workman

https://theathletic.com/2627484/2021/06/02/brandon-workman-could-be-rejoining-the-red-sox-offering-a-boon-to-the-bullpen/?source=dailyemail Makes one optimistic on Workman

Agreed, I think Casas can compete for a big league spot next year.

He had a 6.75 ERA and a 2.38 WHIP, but it just wasn't about the stats his velocity has gone down into the 80's. We'd be cutting Workman to make room for Workman if we had that on our team. Hopefully he can regain some of his stuff here.

I'm not sure how highly ranked Ginn was 5 months ago but at the time it was said that the list of prospects the Sox were choosing from was NOT top 20. Not top 20 then, these guys could be top 20 now.

The thing is the small moves matter too. You have to put 25 guys on a roster and no one likes the moves that strengthen up the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 25th guy but that's just as important. A guy like Bloom is expert level with those types of moves because he comes from a market like Tampa. It will be interesting to see how he can do with that philosophy but the Sox purse, which to be fair we will need a couple of years.

I do think G.M.s take a more active role when it comes to the top pick, but after that I think it's all the scouting team.

Right now, you could say Arroyo is an above-average hitting CFer but his defense is plus at 2nd. I'd take Arroyo over Kike at 2nd right now and definitely Marwin, Kike is effectively our Cfer. Part of the problem is we have so many utlity/platoon/versatile type players it's hard to know who's what. I love those type of guys on my team, but not a bunch of them. EDIT: you mean Arroyo replacing Arroyo with Duran but Kike moves to 2nd and Duran plays CF. Not sure Duran is quite ready but I suspect we are going to find out at some point this season. When that happens I think Verdugo moves to center and Duran moves to LF. He's not a great fielder, surprisingly for his speed.

One more vote for Brewer.

Probably, lol.

We should get some news on who these PTBNL are very soon. Here is why I'm excited. The list of guys the Sox can choose from was determined months ago. There could be a guy or two on that list whose prospect status has shot up the boards, it won't' be a high level guy in AA or above but I can see them getting a guy with a high ceiling in A ball. Don't close the books on these trades just yet.

If it makes you feel better I think there is a lot more that goes into a pick than who the G.M. is. The Scouting unit in place feeding Bloom info is completely different than it is in Tampa. A draft is also about your scouts, your cross checkers, your assistant G.M, your director of scouting etc etc. Hopefully, Bostons apparatus can turn his luck around.

I'm not sure Duran can give us anything better than Kike at the plate. Maybe one day he could, but he could easily come up and not be very good at the plate and Kike has better defense. But, he might be able to make those adjustments this year and be able to give us something better than Kike down the road.

Kike hasn't been great but he hasn't been that awful. The league average line for a CF is .240/.315/.395 He's marginally worse than that, and his fielding and versatility bring value too. I wouldn't be opposed to an upgrade for Kike, but I don't think you can plug every hole especially on this team. Do we really want to trade the farm to solidify a WC spot? I think we can make a big upgrade at 2B, or maybe we upgrade the OF and play Kike more at 2B. For production, the two obviously places to upgrade for me are 1B/2B. Ironically our two best prospects are Casas/Downs at those positions respevtiely. I don't think they're ready (certainly not Casas) but it's not a stretch that one of those guys can plug a hole by years end. My money is on Downs.

I can tell you one thing, having to wait an extra month is annoying!!!

Again, I'm no scout, but if I'm trying to build a consensus of what the top tier of talent is I think that first tier is Mayer/Lawlar/Leiter/Rocker/House/Davis. Who knows what the Sox board looks like. There could be another guy or two in there and one of those guys out. But I'd be willing to believe they'd take a guy from that tier who wants the least money. Which, make one wonder if Davis/Leiter are the obvious picks if they fall there.

Agreed, which is why it made all the sense in the world to send Franchy down and bring Santana up. They didn't sign Santana to sit in Worcester it was time. I feel like Santana isn't given enough talk. He hit for a .857 OPS in 2019 in his age 28 seasons in 511 plate appearances. That's a pretty decent sample size, and given his age, it's not unrealistic to look at him as a late bloomer. It's easy to look at his 2020 stat line and call it an aberration but he only had 63 PA's. I think Dalbec is going to be streaky like JBJ was, less glove more power. You can live with that in your lineup if the rest is good, but not 3-4 guys. Santana closes the gap, maybe a guy like Frazier solidifies the bottom and makes the Sox the most dangerous offense in baseball.

I've been hearing this as well, not sure how I feel about it. If the Sox view the talent level and potential of a tier of 7-8 players and one of those guys are willing to take less money and give the Sox an extra 1 million to 1.5 million to play with later on I'm all for it. But if they're passing on a top 10 talent then I'm not interested. Take the ceiling, this draft is pretty deep, I think they could still sign a guy for slot at #4 and still have a great draft. I have absolutely NO ideal what the Sox plan on doing, but I wouldn't be surprised that what they do could be determined by who is there at #4. There might be a guy or two that they are willing to sign for slot, and if not there other guys they're looking to make a deal with.

This is true, but I'm not that bothered by it because they're taking more swings and have more to show for it. In all of MLB the Sox offense is 2nd in SLG% 4th in OPS and 6th in Runs scored. So, while I might not be bothered by the overall product, I think the bottom of the lineup is very weak and not indicative of a team that could make a deep run in October. It would be nice to see more production in the bottom of the order.