Bruce_Blixton

No doubt. Fond memories of all those guys, Lil' Hurt will always have a special place in my heart.

Everyone's jumping on you for this but I was thinking the same thing about inheriting that position. Lillibridge, Saladino, Mendick, Remillard, half of this year's roster. The only thing working against him is that his last name is a little too bland.

Tony La Russa admits he's not the decision maker but he was referring to his bowels.

Initially when he was drafted, I tabbed Burke as an athletic, glove-first 4th OF type in the mold of Adam Engel, but after his performance this year in the minors and the AFL I'm starting to think he might eventually become an everyday player.

I'm confused why Veras gets slept on by the minor league analysts. Seems like a 20 year-old batting clean-up in AA should cause people to take notice, but he's still ranked #22(?!) in our top 30. I can't think of a player outside of Montgomery, Schultz, Quero, Ramos and maybe Mena that I'd rank ahead of him right now.

Can we bring some of the Dominican scouts stateside? Seems like they actually know what they're looking at.

He's scheduled to start in Birmingham today, maybe he'll hop on a charter flight to Cleveland after they pull him.

I know it's way too premature for player comps but Veras' current trajectory is reminding me of El Caballo. Third baseman converting to OF, good raw power and looks like a developing hit tool. Really excited to track his progress this year.

Looks like it was an immaculate inning for Vera too, pretty auspicious start to the kid's pro career.

Dalquist over Kelley and Thompson is pretty surprising, also we have a dearth of LHP in the system.

Are we sure it's actually Elijah Tatis out there and not Enoy Jimenez wearing Elijah's jersey?

I would really like this draft, prep catchers are definitely high risk but as was noted it looks like he has the athletic profile to move to a different position down the road. Maybe a little like Craig Biggio? Regardless I hope the Sox employ a strategy like this one this year, targeting high upside HS talent in the first couple of rounds. Maybe they can work out an underslot bonus in round 1 and spread it around the next few rounds like San Diego and Cleveland have done the past couple of years.

I'm excited to see how the kids from PR develop, especially Torres. Really like hearing about his defensive ability and athleticism. D.J. Gladney sounds like a big boom-or-bust type prospect, the power is legit though. My interest is piqued by Sammy Peralta, great K/9 this year and seemed to lock in at the tail end of the season. Maybe he figured something out? Cameron Simmons could be a great buy-low guy, maybe he can have the same trajectory as Jason Coats. Highly regarded college prospect still coming back from a major injury. Not sure if he's signable but Logan Glass sounds very interesting.

80 grade clock in the background.

I wouldn't mind seeing the Sox groom him into an "opener" role, I feel like he could dominate one time through the lineup.