Hugh2

If, I had to guess I'd say the Yankees are most definitely sellers and will remain so. Perhaps if they notched a few more wins the last couple weeks things would be different. But that also begs the question of what we would be if flip flopped spots with the Yankees???? They are only 3.5 games behind the spot we are in right now.

whose to say the Yankees are even sellers all the way at this point. Yankees are 3.5 out from a wildcard, and still have a deep pen after trading Chapman. Maybe the plan all along was to get good value for Chapman and see where they stand in a couple weeks because they could easily justify flipping Torres or even trading Mateo with Torres in the system. Does Severino/Judge/Mateo get them Sale????? that's a pretty strong package.

At the rate the pitching market is going up I wonder if we could flip POM, throw in a top prospect of ours + and go out to get a Sale type. Or, maybe you sell high on Wright for prospects and package them up with a Moncada/Kopech combo for some Chris Sale. Crazy I know, but with all the crazy s*** said in here I think I'm allowed one once in a while.

While I generally agree with the theme here, I think it's important to note that fans often pump prospects up higher than their ranking or value around baseball for various reasons. Some thought Henry Owens was a future ace, or #2 but he never had that potential pedigree as a prospect. WMB was highly regarded because he was our #1 prospect, but he was also a #1 in a system that was regarded as weak at the time and wasn't a top 50 guy like Bogaerts, Swihart, JBJ, Betts (was slated to be #9 before he graduated). Sure, there are also your Kalishs, and Websters, and Hansens, then there are other guys who developed elsewhere such as Reddick and Lowrie. Sometimes guys get hurt, I'll always wonder what could have been with Ryan Westmoreland. Still, if you look at the WAR of our top 100 prospects vs. the WAR of all other teams top 100 prospects over the last 10 years I think we've done as good as if not significantly better than any other team. Our guys pan out better, so I think we should put more stock into our own prospects.

Yes but 30 in fat guy years is like 38.

I agree, Benitendi is much younger than Brentz was at this age, about two years younger. That doesn't make Brentz slash line look all that better, actually I'd put much more weight into Andrews stats seeing how much more age advanced he is. Also, I think it's worth noting that Andrew Benintendis BB/K rate is 22/30 in Portland while Bryce's was 40/130. Andrew is showing much much much better plate discipline. Many consider BB/K rate one of the best predictors of MLB success. For that reason I don't think he's as likely to bomb as Brentz, because Brentz has already effectively bombed. He was a first round draft college bat who doesn't have the power, defense, or speed to even carry himself as a 4th outfielder right now. With Andrew Benintendi's speed/defense combo I think he has much more of a chance of at least sticking on a MLB roster as a 4th outfielder rather than the up/down guy Bryce has been.

Devers is absolutely destroying baseballs. In July he's .379/.433/.695 From what I've read his defense is pretty good too. Anyone get out to see a Salem game this year????

I have little issue with win now!!! but not at all costs. It's like betting big when you're at the casino, you can't play if you don't win buy losing some money isn't a big fear if you came with plenty to play. But if it's 2 A.M. and you've spent a lot of your chips, you may want to walk away instead of going over to the ATM and emptying the rest of your bank account. It's nice to have prospects to deal, but you can't completely empty your farm in todays game without real sever long term ramifications. I think we reap what we've sown at this point, and that might not be a bad thing. Pom looked great last night while Wright and Porcello still look strong and I still believe in Price and E-Rod to some extent helping us down the stretch. Despite last nights performance you know this team is going to win you some games with the offense alone, and they have some reinforcements coming off the D.L. as well. Kimbrel being one them.

After the return for a rental closer, and a guy with 1/2 a season track record pitching like an ACE I'am scared to see what it would cost to get Sale. I can reconcile overpaying to fill holes when you have the depth as I have with Kimbrell and Pomeranz but at some point you have to be very concerned with completely gutting the system to go for it. The future does matter.....I'd move on from Sale.

Moncada has done well at AA, although he does have a few yellow flags that suggest he should not be rushed anymore. He has not hit from the right side as well as he has from the left, and his K rate is up there. I doubt anyone will be penciling in Moncada this year, we can revisit this in 2017.

Well nobody has a crystal ball. A guy can give you every sign he's ready and then just NOT be ready and thus you're hurting the team and his development by keeping him there. In a perfect world you would never have to option a player, but you will never truly know what a guy is until he is in the majors doing it. And by no means is player development linear either. But as I said before, if Benintendi is close to the player we think he is, I highly doubt buring through an option year is going to matter at this point. If he can help the team in any way and the team thinks so as well bring him up.

It should also be worth mentioning that Moncada has been taking ground balls at 3B before games.

I don't think the gap from Swihart to Moncada is astronomically high but Swihart is one year removed from being a top 25 prospect in all of baseball and has shown some promise at the MLB level. That adds value, but Moncada has the ceiling of being an ELITE player and as valuable as Swihart is two of him don't make up for excluding a guy like Moncada from the deal. Now Swihart could go a very long way in value when packaged up with a guy like Moncada, Moncada and Swihart should get just about any team listening in a trade deal. But when you trade for elite talent you have to give up elite potential.

There really is no one else, Ryan LaMarre is having a good year and a good July so maybe you get some value out of him while he's hot in the same sense that Brentz gave you a good week, but he's not a guy. You know Castillo isn't the answer and Ramos is just another prospect who has notably cooled off in AAA ball. If the Sox think Benintendi is a better option than them, then I say do it. But unless Mookie is going to miss some significant time I still think they should/will hold off a little longer, even if we do see him this year.

LF in Portland is closer to Fenway than Pawtucket, so a switch to LF doesn't exactly mean a call up is imminent but I would not be surprised if we see him this year. Yes, option years matter and I'm kind of arguing against myself here because I've made this argument about people in the past as well but if you call him up you might not be sending him down. Also, if Benintendi is the guy we all hope he is, then who cares about that 3rd option year??? If he's good enough he's going to stick and if he can't make the adjustment to MLB pitching then I'd rather see Swihart developed out in LF anyways. If you think the guy is ready and can help your team in some capacity to win this year.....you don't care about the option year.

You could say the same thing about Mookie Betts, the power is in his wrists and his bat speed. As long as he has that I'm not worried, I worry about him losing his power when he's 30. Also, I don't think the power is his carrying tool anyways.

I was never 100% sold on Shaw as well, but I think he will be fine. I think he's done enough long enough to prove he's going to be a better MLB player than his prospect status ever warranted, but always thought he just got hot at the right time last year and early this year. Still, I think given how disastrous the Pablo signing has been, he's been a big breath of fresh air and if the organization does plan on moving Moncada to 3B then I'm more than fine with him as a place holder. Moncadas only weakness seems to be batting against LHP. Right now he's at .260/.394/.351 on the year with those numbers slightly worse at the AA level. Besides that, he looks very close to MLB ready. My guess is, assuming the plan is to play Moncada at 3B at some point next year is he starts getting reps there in the Arizona fall league, possibly end of the season or beginning next year. Someone on the last soxprospects podcast said interestingly that they wouldn't be completely surprised if the Sox brought Moncada up for a playoff push as a runner off the bench. He's got that speed/power combo that makes his game so special across the board

Completely incomparable. Sale is about 1/2 the financial cost as Hamels, a better pitcher, and 4 years younger on the right side of his prime. Apples to Oranges.

If anything that trade is too light. It took 2 top 100 prospects, one arguably a top 25 to get a reliever. The premium for a TOTRS, who is arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball is going to be significant. Remember, the White Sox have the right to walk away from a deal here. They are the sellers, and everyone in the league would want Sale if he was available....they hold the chips, not us.

The better the player, the better the return demanded. Also, and this is remarkably important here, is that quantity will never make up for quality in trades. That last point rings more and more true the better the player you are trading for. With that in mind, I think we have to acknowledge that a trade for Sale starts with someone like Bogaerts or Betts. Although if they believe in a guy like E-Rod, you might be able to center a deal around him if it is also headlined by Moncada. If Sale was for sale (pun totally intended) it probably looks something like EROD/Moncada/Kopech/Devers.

Keep your eyes on Joe Kelly. I always thought he had more potential as a reliever since the day we traded for him. More time is needed to trust him but the early results in Pawtucket are promising. He by no means would be the first failed starter to become a relief pitcher. Actually some of the best closers in history were just failed starters.

DFA him.

you're giving up more potential future value than the present value you're getting. Which makes sense, if I was going to give you $1 today....I'd expect to be paid back more than $1 dollar 5 years from now. Espinoza has the potential to return a heck of a lot more value than Pomeranz will to us and he has too because that value will not only be realized in the future but it comes with a risk premium as well. The term "overpay" is a bit misleading, or misunderstood by some because they are not factoring in that time value and risk premium associated with the player.

The Padres probably asked for Espinoza plus as well, perhaps. What a team asks for is a negotiation tool, in the end they'll take the highest bid, Moncada/Espinoza is probably the "buy now" price.

I don't think it does make up the disparity, there is not much value in a guy who can only pitch half a season, especially when you have no one to come in and fill the void. If there is any validation to your argument then consider this....Clay is pitching like garbage now and hasn't had a season where he's been healthy AND good in quiet some time. Santana substantially adds more value to the back of the rotation than Clay does. Not only because I think he can stay healthy, but because Clay looks to be done and is probably garbage going forward.