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I don't feel like anyone has said differently. It is more like could it have been an asset today for a potential playoff team.

If he even sticks there. He has games in the OF as well.

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I assume they set it up to get Martin and Burke at home against the Yankees. Try to out slug the Rangers for a couple games and put the two best starters against NY.

@Y2Jimmy0 , excellent write up. Very interesting summary of what the Sox did and what they were thinking for the draft

This is and should be the goal

Can the Sox add pieces this year that will make them a World Series contender or just help them possibly make the playoffs? The answer to that determines how much value you give up to get that piece or pieces. This team is maybe a year away more likely 2, from being a serious WS contender. Until that time comes you can't be giving away any of your top prospects and I will be very disappointed if they do.

We have to remember, Sox were playing with house money with Gonzalez. He was another bad year away from getting cut from the organization. They worked on his swing and turned him into an asset for the future. That's what good organizations do! And to be frank, I hope Gonzalez kills it in Pittsburgh. Kid deserves it after the changes he has made. It was just a solid baseball trade that helped both teams.

On the IR is the most likely place.

This is true for a vast majority of Sox fans. But on social media and message boards, I still expect a vocal minority to dial up their outrage to 11 every time Gonzalez hits an extra base hit or knocks in a go-ahead run for the Bucs.

Except we had all of that except the one extra pick, before the Gonzalez trade, and the extra pick ended up almost exactly fitting Prosek in, minus $300k. Thome signed for almost exactly what he would have slotted at if he had been picked at #41. If you look at the slot for the #35 pick, it is $2.9 million, or $300k less than we got Prosek to sign for. That $300k came from another pick somewhere else. The math is such that paying $3.2m for a pick slotted at $2.4 (again, you can even add back the extra $400k from the Thome pick moving up, that is still $300k short. If you believe that we planned on drafting Thome all along, which we have zero reason to doubt, the net effect is Prosek and a loss of 300k towards the rest of the pool. Who that ended up bumping out potentially? Who knows.

Provided he can demonstrate some health/production over the next couple weeks, I wonder where he finishes the season.

Being English I am also a big fan of cricket which also has challenges like abs, and some players are just bad at making the challenges, one captain got 10 in a row wrong.

I hope MLB goes to full-time ABS; the home plate ump gets an instant ball or strike notice and makes the call.

Challenge accepted.

OMG!! Can we stop drafting and developing future Royals, please?!?!?

I like what Boston Smith has been doing but he has a total of 68 games in the minors. He has jumped up from A to AA and should be applauded but he will need time to develop behind the plate.

I was more talking about the apparent success there has been around tweaking guys swings ie Colson, Gonzalez, Vargas

I've never heard of someone gaining weight or ODing from listening to a single song too much.

Also, one thing we haven't had in, like, forever is a surplus group of prospects that other teams crave and will ill-advisedly jump at, like Pittsburgh just did with Gonzo. And the tradeoff isn't "Gonzo for Thome". It's Gonzo, plus the overall #1, a bunch of shrewd scouting/negotiating signings - for 3 crazy good prep bats, a very interesting prep arm, Volchco and a bunch of fliers on insane college power bats". If we wind up maxing out a half dozen interesting prospects from this class, that's the jackpot.

This was a big debate my freshman year in the dorms. I've always said when you find a song, just play it non stop until you're sick of it. There's no reason not to.

Oh, sure. I'm 62. Me and my buddies get together for a weekend of drinking, cards and steaks. We throw on the iPods, and it always comes back around to Elvis Costello, Steely Dan, Zep, Bowie, Clash - all stuff that shaped us in our teens. I'm weird, tho. Music's like a drug. I'm always looking for that odd song that hypnotizes me for a week, where I have to play it non stop because it strokes something in my cerebellum. I can rock out to TP's Freefallin' anytime, but that song just doesn't scratch that itch, anymore. Sure, there's stuff I've really tried, and just can't listen to. Trap rap. I'd give Chief Keef a listen, still do, but that, and a thousand other similar songs - I can't tell any of them apart. So onto Fela Kuti and Tabu Ley Rochereau.

The boys got into Texas just after 7:30 PM local, so plenty of time for a good night's rest. The Rangers had a shorter flight coming in from their loss in Atlanta, but the Braves worked their pen a bit (5 relievers threw behind Eovaldi last night) so we'll have a rest advantage there at least. DeGrom is having (another) good year, with 8 quality starts in 18 tries. He's gone 5+ IP in 15/18, allowed 3 ER or fewer in 14/18, and recorded 5+ K's in 15/18. If you want to be optimistic, he's actually been worse in his 3 starts with extended rest this season. The handful of games where he's been roughed up have involved him giving up multiple HRs, which the Sox lineup is capable of when clicking. He allows most of his HRs to LHB (10/16), but has slight reverse splits this year thanks to an effective changeup. He's also been pretty elite at home (2.51 ERA, .518 OPS against), so the best bet might be just hoping to see enough pitches that he doesn't go 6+. He did miss his last start with a glute strain, so maybe TEX is more cautious with his workload tonight.