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You worry about your own team.

Just as a point of reference, but we kicked off our rebuild with a ton of high-end pitching prospects including several elite ones (peak Baseball America ranking listed). As you can see below, the overall returns have been disappointing. Unfortunately there is a high attrition rate with pitching prospects and that is something the Tigers & Royals will likely experience in the coming years. I think it’s way too early to be scared of either of these rebuilds. Lucas Giolito: 5th (2016) - Top of rotation starter Michael Kopech: 11th (2018) - Work in progress (injuries) Carlos Rodon: 15th (2015) - Non-durable mid rotation starter Reynaldo Lopez: 31st (2017) - Fringe back of rotation starter Dylan Cease: 38th (2019) - Work in progress (command) Alec Hansen: 57th (2018) - BUST Carson Fulmer: 70th (2016) - BUST Dane Dunning: 82nd (2018) - Work in progress (injuries) Spencer Adams: 100th (2015) - BUST

Started hammering the ball after this post. lol. Now he's slashing .257/.376/.440 (.816 OPS). That is elite as hell for a catcher. AND he's one of the best defensively. What more do the people want? It was ALWAYS stupid. People declaring him a failure over 15-20 games? What a joke.

I have no idea where Parkman comes up with this stuff

Alright guys, with a 99.9% win probability and only 19 games remaining in the regular season, it’s time to start thinking about our potential post-season roster. While the positional side is pretty cut & dry outside of maybe one spot, the pitching staff has a ton of question marks at the moment and lots of different options to fill up spots. Given the overall uncertainty, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how you all would setup our pitching staff for the post-season. For now, I’m going to assume 14 total spots, four starters / tandems, and that key injured guys are coming back (Bummer / Fry). Rotation: Giolito Keuchel* Rodon* + Dunning Gonzalez* + Cease We all know that Giolito & Keuchel are locks for the top two spots in the rotation, but after that things get a bit scary. For me, Dunning has passed Cease and should be our primary #3 starter in the playoffs. However, given potential innings restrictions for Dane, I’d like to see us use Rodon as an opener for him. And when a fourth starter is needed, I’d like to see a Gonzalez & Cease tandem with Gio more or less serving as Dylan’s opener. Now, if Dylan can get hot down the stretch I’d potentially reconsider, but so far his peripherals have been ugly and he will likely require a short leash come the playoffs. Bullpen: CL: Colome SU: Bummer* SU: Marshall MR: Foster MR: Heuer MR: Fry* MR: Detwiler* MR: Cordero Ultimately I’m going with the guys who have been effective this year, which means Cishek, Burdi, & Lopez are out. That being said, I would keep using Zack down the stretch and see if he can find a way to harness his command. His general stuff and ability to generate whiffs could be a weapon in the postseason, but right now he’s too much of a liability to warrant real consideration. Also, in shorter series, I’d plan on using both Cease and Gonzalez out of the pen if needed.

Too few starts for Dunning to put him ahead of Cease. But as you said it depends on how they finish the season. The Sox are more of a traditional pitching staff and probably want starters in the playoffs to go as long as they can unless they get hit hard early. Cease appears to be able to carry his stuff into later innings though he can never get to those innings because of his command. Dunning is still working on extending his pitch count and as we saw with Rodon and Lambert during the season and with Burdi ,the comeback trail is fraught with landmines. I think the bullpen is so shaky and Rodon's health issues should mean he's a bullpen piece for the rest of this year. He may not like it but at this point he should worry about building some type of value to resurrect his career rather than being a prima donna. There's a very real chance he gets non tendered unless he can stay on the field and produce. If MLB teams decide to non tender more than the usual amount of players due to trying to save money Rodon could be gone . Then there is a cheap talent pool out there for all teams to choose to rebuild the back end of rosters. Gonzalez should also be in the pen . Gonzalez , Rodon, Detwiler, Marshall, Cordero, Foster, Colome, Heuer is the no Bummer BP which might be what we have to deal with. Outside shot of Lopez if they want to see what he can do in the last few weeks. Fry and Burdi are also possibilities. Cischek would really have to pull it together very quickly from now to the end of the season but I doubt he will have enough chances to do that. The new rules regarding how many batters you must pitch to make the veteran guys more reliable than the kids with command issues like Fry and Burdi. Foster should probably be the 8th inning guy unless Bummer can return strong. Don't use him for multiple innings to keep him fresh even though the temptation will be great especially in games that could decide a series.

It depends on how well they do their rebuild. They have some good pieces especially pitching and have gotten some good hitting prospects too but the hitting still lacks depth and pitching can fade away quickly with injuries (as we have seen in the early days of the sox rebuild too).

Kneejerkery in the game threads is the very reason I keep the forums on during games, it just adds to the drama. Imagine the chat if EE missed that bomb, if Grandal didn't get the call at home plate, if Tim made another error, or if the pen lost the game, That's just baseball, so please let the kneejerkery continue.

I love the game threads. First the bottom of the lineup was a blackhole, Madrigal not playing WTF, and they proceed to collect a bunch of hits. Then Encarnacion hitting 4th so bad so terrible that he proceeded to hit a 3 run bomb and RBI single. Then its DFA Cordero and drop Cishek into a bottomless pit even though we're staring at guys like Bernardo Flores and Alex McRae now in the bullpen. Then its McRae is going to turn this into a save situation fast. Then you see the critical guys saying I will keep criticizing if they keep doing this well aka " I am right if they suck and if they are good I am responsible because I used the old reverse Jinx."

It’s such a weird feeling when the Sox just like win every day for 2+ weeks

We're living in em boys. Enjoy this.

What position players do the tigers have as top prospects besides torkelson and greene? Planning a rebuild around pitching prospects is dangerous given their much higher bust rates than position players. I think their best case scenario is being the mets of the mid 2010s. A couple good years, but an offense that was so inconsistent to below average they never had sustained success.

Hard to argue with any of this. The Sox probably don't have the rotation depth to make a World Series run. Hope I'm wrong of course. And as much as I hate to do this, if Cease continues to struggle, we may have to give Reynaldo another chance at the rotation.

With the Sox offering the most money, I'm over Zack Wheeler. They did what they could do short of moving the team to Jersey.

If you look carefully, you can clearly see Rick Hahn with a gun in the background.

Dallas Keuchel praised his game calling yesterday.

Where do you get these hot takes? Is there like a fortune cookie for bad baseball takes you get somewhere?

I've only watched them when they play the Sox. They seem to be just fine.

What about the Padres?

You guys are way more optimistic than my hardcore tiger fan friends. Old spender illitch passed and now his miserly sons run the club. Avila is a mediocre at best GM and they have maybe two solid regulars among their position players. And tinssaapp. They got a lot of work to do.

It is interesting how they decline after the Astros scandal.. Makes you think. Now if only MLB can find the right PED test for Cruz. It fascinates me how hes having another career year at the young age of 40.

Several players had career years in 19 at the same time, and most of them probably got some advice from Nelson Cruz on how Professionals Excel Daily.

Grandal won't stay this hot as he was the last two weeks and he will have empty weeks where he hits .100 with one extra base hit again (still will give you walks) but it is the bottom line you pay for and that bottom line is good.

He's good. I like him.

I can tell I’m getting old when I realize that I am kinda bothered by how Eloy wears his jersey. Just some instinctive old man voice screaming from the void to button it up.

How I felt after that unbelievable Robert catch to seal the win on Saturday is the best I've felt as a Sox fan in a long time.

Someone with the screen name "Beaver Eater" is talking about cringe worthy things. Hmmmmmm.

Great news. He’s been huge this year. With other options after we missed on Wheeler, Hahn hit a home run with this signing.

Not even remotely true

Grandal is good. Yasmani Grandal since August 1: .273/.393/.489 5 HR 14 RBI 18 BB 29 K -per Chuck Garfein on Twitter

Grandal has supposedly been not so good but his current wRC + and OPS+ are higher than James McCann’s 2019 numbers.

No

I did but I didn't post it . 😉

The Sox may have to do the unthinkable ....bring ReyLo back up for another start or two...especially if Keuchel's back has to be rested. Cishek is not an option in any important game where the Sox need a hold in late innings. Our bullpen is going to be pitching on on fumes by the time the play-offs start. What a waste of a year when we finally have a line-up that crushes the baseball.

People would be losing their shit about his low strikeout numbers

Whatever you do don’t look at Zack wheelers numbers.

Last week was Rankings Week at FutureSox and we closed that out with twitter questions from the audience. I tried to answer everything here: https://www.futuresox.com/2020/09/07/2020-midseason-rankings-twitterbag-questions/

2005 seems like a lifetime ago, I'm also an Arsenal FC fan and they won the league last in 2004. Both teams now are showing huge promise. 15 years of sporting depression, let's go!

Mazara and EE are starting to hit. Now if Moncada starts feeling better and returns to his pre-covid form, this line-up will be a juggernaut.

It’s a great feeling though! And fully agree, it would be great to see us play tough against the Twins, Indians, Cubs, & Reds down the stretch. Beating up on the Royals & Tigers is great for making the playoffs, but if we want to go the distance we obviously got to beat good teams as well.

Twins just lost. 1.5 games up on Minny.

This aged well. 😜

Well, its almost like there is more than one statistical category that should be considered. Grandal's OBP being .002 higher is not really an indication that he is killing it, he is just doing what he does. Grandal has also K'd more than Abreu, in 40(ish) fewer PAs. Not to mention that Abreu's OPS is more than 200 points higher. I just don't really understand comparing those guys honestly. They are such different players.

That's not crazy at all. I would be shocked if it was opposite of that. OBP is Grandal's best skill, and clearly not what Abreu is focused on. With that said though, I get what you are saying. With all the negative attention towards Grandal, he is still getting his walks. He has basically been the player he has always been.

This is crazy. I can't believe Contreras is where he is. He frames like an 8th grader. He violently pulled every pitch to the middle of the zone. I can't wait for robo umps just to kill all this stupid framing talk.

He has stated he is big on using video between at bats which has been banned. The unfamiliarity with pitchers plays into no video. It will matter different amounts to different players. Probably hurts the cerebral guys which catchers often are. He also commented on the catching side that video helps seeing that nights strike zone.

G7 once again your buddy Tex is here to explain it. If those ladies posted here we'd be discussing their hair habits as well. But they don't. We have you. You have pulled that hole card and you're working it like a stripper and his pole. No one else grabbed the salon card, they grabbed scissors and clippers. Once again this is why we need you. Nanc and Lori won't respond and keep the discussing going like you will. And bless your heart for it. We don't want you to be perfect. We need your quirky ways. We need you to be that slightly odd friend you don't know why is hanging out but you don't want him to leave. Yes, everyone makes fun of him when he's not there, but you'd miss him if he stopped hanging out. Greg isn't bad, Greg is great. You represent every salon going runway model with great hair. You are the lone voice sticking up for the Nancy and Loris of the world who need great hair. We salute you G7!