Hugh2

Exactly, it's his first start back, as long as he can let it fly without pain it's all good. He will have time to try and get his mechanics back on track.

I don't, the organizations overall draft record is superb.

Trey Ball still has a substantially better chance at contributing to a MLB club as a pitcher than he does a catcher. People want to salvage the pick value, that is a poor perspective to have on things. It is what it is, prospects bust, but this is all a result of his draft slot which we really really really need to drop. Why not take 1/2 the hitter in the minors under performing and switch them to pitching? why not take the worst 50 pitchers in our system and convert them to hitting.?

Oh please, it's semantics. This isn't that serious.

That system also had a good draft that year too with college players, guys who got the token A ball assignment then flew up the system in no time. Ellsbury and Buchholz were contributors in 2007. Also, consider that they came in a system where the Sox had 4 1st round picks just like the team built now came from a 2011 draft in which team team drafted large contributors to this team. They also boasted a system in 2005 that brought in the likes of Beckett and Lowell and still had Papelbon, Lester, Pedroia, Delcarmen, Ellsbury, Buccholz, in it. The uncertainty to me comes from the mechanism a team uses to bring talent in. The drafts in 2005 and 2011 saw the team bring in talent with 4 first round picks. Not only are the Red Sox no longer going to receive additional picks like that but for a few years now they've been unable to spend heavily after the first round and just throw cash at everyone. International pools are becoming more restrictive as well. The parellels from 2005 to 2016 are pretty big actually, that's a good comparrision. But to me, the uncertainty comes from the mechanism to replenish that system have been stripped away from baseball. I'm not saying it can or can't happen, I just don't see how right now. Some might not care about that, but I do.

key word there is AAA, and yes he has 7 HR's this year in over 450 PA's 5 of which he's had in AAA and if I'm correct here I believe the Pacific Coast league is a hitters league, they are filled with hitter friendly parks with short porches. I like Dubon, but I still think his most likely best case scenario is a good utility player.

I don't think we see Chavis until 2018, mid year to end of year. If he continues to stay hot this season and has a great spring, perhaps he could break camp with Boston. But who knows.

One reason for having a strong farm system is to trade from strengths to improve weaknesses. There's nothing wrong with that, Dombrowski has made a lot of moves to improve this team now. My only problem with many of DD's trades is they mostly seam to be 3 for 1's or 4 for 1's. This is partially the cause of the depth problem the system has, but to be fair it's kind of hard to critisize DD TOO much because he's pretty much won ever trade. Won ever trade with the caveat of the Shaw/Thornburg trade, however that is mostly due to the fact that Thornburg has been injured. If he was healthy and formed a 1-2 punch with Kimbrel I don't think too many people would be complaining about that trade. I still think a guy like Espinoza could turn out to be a stud, but he doesn't have to flop for that trade to be good for the Sox. It was a classic trade now at the expense of tomorrow move and as long as Pomeranz excels you can't be too upset. I mean you can....it's a free country.....but really you can't.

Baseball certainly is a funny game.

I was trying to pump the breaks big time with Leon last year. Some people just can't seem to see more than the present. I got no problem riding hot hands, and Leon is fine as a backup.

If we assume best case scenario for every player then sure, there ain't no cliff. While I've been a "cliff" in the past, I think that is a very poor way of putting it. I think uncertainty may be more accurate. As in, there is more uncertainty who play 1B next year than RF, but that doesn't mean 1B will give us less production than 1B.....but I'd bet on it.

Not sold on Barfield, also I don't think Chavis sniffs the MLB this year. He probably barely sees any time in AAA, maybe an end of season promotion. Mata goes today, with Smith beginning his rehab.

Michael Chavis is getting some time in at 1B for the rest of this year, which is very interesting. If he breaks with the team you have an entire homegrown defense. Vaquez/Chavis/Pedroia/Bogaerts/Devers/Benintendi/JBJ/Betts.

I agree, but the market for relievers has been absolutely ridiculous the last few years at the deadline. Heck the Yankees practically built the leagues best farm system from dealing 2 top relievers. So if those are 2 of the three guys (depending on who the 3rd is) I'd say this is a pretty good deal for the Sox. (The two according to Mayo, not me)

Jonathan Mayo ✔ @JonathanMayo Another @Redsox relief prospect, Jamie Callahan, is another apparently headed to @Mets for A. Reed. Red Sox top 30: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2017/?list=bos … Jonathan Mayo ✔ @JonathanMayo It appears that reliever Gerson Bautista is one of the prospects heading from @RedSox to @Mets in A. Reed deal

And just like that I'm hearing rumblings from sources on twitter that it's Jamie Callahan and Gerson Bautista.

If this is true along with your last post I'd like to throw my hat in the ring and guess that Beeks/Shawaryn are the guys.....maybe some other lower level DSL guy putting up good number who we haven't heard of yet too.

We keep hearing rumors about the Sox and Mets with regard to Reed but nothing about Bruce. A bullpen upgrade would be nice but an offensive upgrade is needed just as much. This almost feels like the offseason when the Sox made a bunch of moves but then got stingey when it came to 1B. That's hurting them now and they have an opportunity to fix that.

I think Moncada has the higher ceiling, but I think Devers has the higher floor, and his ceiling is still really high. From a purely offensive perspective, I don't think Moncada is any better than Devers, it's his athleticism and speed that makes him a true 5 tool player potentially. But I think Devers might actually end up being the better hitter. He has a shot at being a perrenial 30 HR hitter with a high AVG/OBP/SLG line.

I'm not sure I would call Vottos contract hideous as long as he's putting up seasons like he is this year. The back end might get pretty ugly, but he strikes me as the type of guy who can hit until he's 40. I base that on absolutely nothing.

I'd take Devers over Beltre the next 6 years.

Agreed, although I might be willing to include our better prospects if the players coming back came with a few years of control. Admittedly I'm less aware of who is on the trade market this summer of years past. Life hits ya sometimes, in a good way. But I actually have some faith in this offense coming together without any changes and being better than we are now. I think to some extent the offense is just slumping but another bat plus the addition of Devers could really put us over the top. Now, I hate one game sample sizes, but having one better option in the pen and one more good bat might have completely changed the outcome of a game like today. Kimbrel is fine, and the rest of the bullpen is ok but you always put yourself at risk when you have to rely on your pen for 12 outs. Reed fills a hole, as does Bruce.

20 years old and they're already pitching around him lol. This kid can play. His power to all fields is very impressive, and with a good plate approach at such a young age.

I was thinking of him taking up Young's spot and DHing other days with Hanley at 1B. However, I think Bruce at 1B can work too, especially if the Sox think Hanley can't/won't play 1B full time due to his shoulder. And I'm not worried about the cost, I was the biggest proponent of building from within and holding onto prospects a year ago but that ship has sailed. Everyone has had the experience of being tied up at an intersection because someone starts to pull out and then stops. "Make your damn mind up"!!!!! We've put our eggs into the next 3-5 years basket, I'm not about to support pulling halfway out and stopping. If you're going to go go, we've made moves to win now so we should continue to make moves to capitalize on this window. This doesn't mean you make stupid trades, it just means you're not afraid to make moves that help your team.

I might consider that package or something in between if the Mets included Bruce. I'd slide Hanley over to 1B and your lineup would look a lot better, especially with Devers hitting at 3rd.