Hugh2

I certainly hope not. It seems like we're more interested in adding a bullpen arm. Not that I'm against that, but I hope we're looking at adding some bats under the radar as well.

The Royals traded for Melky Cabrera and the top prospect who went in the deal was KC's #13 and the Sox still ate 5 million. We could have easily traded 2 B level prospects with Young to even out the money and upgraded our 4th outfielder and our offense against LHP. Melky could also play some DH and let Hanley play 11B if moreland continued to struggled. Everyteam in the division is getting better and DD is sitting around idle. I hope he has something in the works to improve this team.

He's a weird profile, at first glance he's a 29-year-old who's played at AA or above for 7 seasons now but some of that was as a pitcher and then he converted back to hitting. But yes, interesting would be the word but I'm skeptical he will ever contribute at the MLB level. Who knows, maybe he can play 1B.

Wed have to find a way to get him on the 40 man but a guy who is earning a chance right now is Jalen Beeks.

I never looked forward to Price helping us in the playoffs but I thought he could help us get there. Don't lose sight of what this team needs.

Yup....but then it begs the question of where does he play? possibly a move to the outfield? If Benintendi can't improve upon his at bats vs. LHP he could get some reps against lefties in LF. Maybe he can play some 1B? he might be kind of short for the position but he's not terribly short at 5'10" Maybe Hanley can take some more reps at 1B again and he can DH a little. If you can hit....these things tend to have a way of working themselves out.

It's hard to have a lot of confidence in a 28 year old who has been stuck in AAA for 5 years. But it's hard to not be intrigued by seeing how much better he's done this year coupled with the fact he's mad adjustments to his mechanics. As you said he will be up in September, and he will get a few shots then. If he starts smashing the ball at this level things will get pretty interesting.

Well I was going to suggest Bour, but he's out of the picture now. Could Alonso still be in play? The A's would probably want young pieces for Alonso that wouldn't involve taking anyone off the 25 man. $2 million isn't a lot to swallow and I'm not sure it puts us over the cap but it's small enough to be managable in some way. I'm feeling a little better with Devers up, but I think another bat could really put us over the top. This team is good, and it seems almost every game we lose is only by a run or two. The extra hitting will make the pitching shine that much better.

Like I said I wouldn't be surprised but the more I think about it the more I think he finishes the season in Portland. IDK, call it 50/50 which is taking the easy way out. But as you said earlier, he's not exactly killing it in Portland. Still, an OPS above .800 after making a jump to a higher level is encouraging. Actually, I wouldn't be 100% surprised if he started next year in Portland either. Although in that scenario I think he would be one of those early season promotions who would move up a level after a month if he was absolutely destroying the baseball.

Nunez and Devers make this team much better, without giving up anything. Anderson may be a bullpen arm one day and Santos is a teenager repeating the DSL. Those guys aren't likely part of your future and if they were they were more likely going to be complimentary pieces. Now if the Sox could upgrade 1B, I'd feel really really really really good about this team going forward.

I agree, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got an end of season promotion. As in, he plays a week in Pawtucket.

If only Carson Smith was a few months further along he could really solidly the pen. Or, he could struggle recovering from surgery. The range of outcomes seem wide.

I don't disagree, but there will be other teams who can pitch come playoff time and we need to hit.

A 1B that can pick up the slack with Moreland slumping + Devers might be the spark this team needs

I never truly bought the bringing a guy up too soon will ruin him either. A guys development gets stunted when is injured or sitting on the bench not getting at bats. Also FWIW I've heard nothing but good things about his defense.

Ben would have never had the balls to make the moves DD has made, but DD wouldn't of had the patience that allowed Ben to accumulate the assets DD used. They are different GMs for different times.

Touché I forgot about Florida

Cofveve boy has a ring, DD does not.

Not sure what's up with the animosity dude but whatever it's cool. I think you failed to see my original point. The Reds are going to demand that for Votto, that doesn't mean he's worth it...(the point is coming here) it means the Reds have no interest in selling on Votto. They don't exist to do us any favors. If they did intend on selling Votto then one has to consider the premium teams pay at the trade deadline. Teams always overpay, so the fact that that would be on overpay is mute. To be fair I don't really know what it would cost to get Votto but my original point was I don't think the Sox would be willing to pay that price, and I don't think the Reds would just give him to us for what we think he'd be worth. It's not realistic.

Weak argument, go back and reread what I wrote. I didn't use Lees contract I used the offers he got. Yes he got injured, hindsight is 20/20 but in no way shape or form does that change the market at present. 3 teams were willing to pay him that money, that's the point. That's just one example, I could care less about the results or another teams record the point was what the market is. And I don't think anyone would agree the market has depreciated in recent years.

This is completely unreasonable. They had staff leave their organization to become professional scouts, which is a testament to the level of professionalism they have. I've been a big fan of Sox prospects for a long time and spend more time there than here. I can tell you from years of experience they are the exact opposite of a hype machine. Very often they are lower on prospects than almost everyone out there who is unreasonably high on them. Henry Owens for example, everyone was talking about him being a #2 starter and they thought he was more likely a #4 guy if he could hone in his command. They were also lower guys who busted like Lars Anderson as well, I spefically rremember a podcast where they thought BA had him ridiculously way too high in their rankings. Sure, they don't have the same resources and amount of scouts as any professional team but what they do have is more eyes on our guys that BA, Keith Law, MLB, or BP or anyone else has. Those organizations use soxprospects as a reference all the time. Because of this, they are often the first guys to hype up players that sometimes DO become players before anyone else even has a clue who they are. Guys like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts.

Soxprospects pretty much never gives out an 8, its almost impossible and ufair to do so. Even if you had the next Ted Williams in the system now you'd probably have him as a 6 or a 7. You can't throw that label on a guy until he's actually in the middle of doing it.

Good post, people should really educate themselves on such issues if they find them interesting. We are extremly lucky as Sox fans to have a resource such as soxprospects as there is literally no other teams fan base that has the type of access to scouting, info, discussion and insight into their farm system.

That just goes to show you nobody truly knows. You can't predict with 100% certainty how another human being is going to physically and emotionally develop.

Greinke got 206 million for 6 years at 32. Salaries are ridiculous, just wait until the Machado. Harper generation starts getting paid. Stanton's 300 million will look like the new norm.