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Or maybe we let him work through being a Major League Starting Pitcher at the age of 23 and hope he develops to the point that those negative value pitches become positive value ones. Corey Kluber wasn't the Corey Kluber we know today that's won 2 Cy Young Awards until he was 28. Besides, it's not like there's anything at stake for the team this season, so you might as well see if development time will turn him into the player we hoped we were getting from Washington.

BOOM

Your arbitrary use of nothing but an opinion doesn't help yours.

I'm sorta inclined to think like @southsider2k5 that his hit tool will age rather gracefully but at the same time he'll be even more pigeonholed as a slugging DH and if he loses power, he's going to have a hard time getting to 3-4 WAR on hit tool alone. Given Jose's place in the Sox' history (as a Cuban, as a Latin ambassador for fans and players) I'd like to see him stick around, but it's not an easy decision.

We'd be crazy to offer him an extension without seeing how his shoulder holds up first. So glad some of you guys aren't gm

I disagree. What Abreu means to the team in terms of leadership to the young players and his role of big brother to Moncada means the Sox determine Abreu's value. If that value is not met then he is not traded. I've been saying for a while now that IMHO Abreu is more valuable to the Sox than what another team is willing to pay in a trade. It's best to wait and see without expectations. I still remember spring training 2018 some Sox fans felt Hahn should have taken the best offer for Q. Hahn's patience payed off big time.

He's still just 23 and learning how to overcome Major-League-level struggles. He overcame it earlier in the year before the hammy sidelined him. Give him time, we all need to have confidence he'll get back into form. I think a lot of us are placing high expectations for Yoan to emerge as the Sox version of Bryant or Altuve. Not everyone turns into a superstar overnight. At least he has shown flashes of his potential this year between the struggles.

Had to be bumped...he hasn't been the same player since he came back from the hammy injury. Or there's a good reason every home plate umpire is out to screw him over, and Renteria's not backing him up. As far as mechanics, he's definitely flying open and losing track of the flight of the ball...lots of K's and weak contact (except for the bomb to straightaway center in MIN), high number of K's, few walks (umps not helping there), and he's also made a number of key defensive miscues in the past couple of weeks as well that have proved costly. Batting from the RH side against LHP has been even more of a mess. Not sure where he goes from here, and where he eventually bottoms out. Right now he's at a 719 OPS. That's acceptable if you're Brian Anderson in 2005, but not in today's game.

Greg, this may surprise you but I agree with you 100%. Good post!

Benetti is unbearable sometimes. He's like a toddler always asking "why". The idea of starting each atbat with a small strike zone and expanding it with each pitch is flat out dumb and when Stone shot the idea down, of course Benetti had to ask why.

It's funny how Trump has made it that two wrongs DO make a right. Just cause Trump is an awful individual, it's suddenly become OK for others to do the same.

Make sense. We couldn’t sign high end players, and the promising outfielders from last year’s team are all stateside.

Nobody tops Cutler.

they really do, thats because we couldnt sign any good players

He's no Eli

That would be a disaster given his command and inability to hold runners

That's a pretty good way of putting it. Bennetti needs to learn that every thing that enters his brain doesn't need to be said.....

It's called loser's limp

I've noticed he gets ahead of himself way too often.

Electronic strike zones can't come soon enough,this is sad.

Kevan Smith is the new Ted Williams, my column:

No kidding. Breaking ball was looking very nice. Touched 94 on the fastball as well. We'll see if it continues, but so far - so good.

We all knew who the starter of this thread would be when this happened last night, and I bet most of us could paraphrase what that poster would write.....

My prediction: first Kopech, then Stephens, then Dunning, then Hansen, then Cease...which one of these guys will get injured? Which ones will get packaged for an all-star in 2021? Which ones will join Rodon, Lopez, Gio? Covey? in the rotation? Will any of these guys be in the pen? Where does Fulmer fit in all of this? The future is unknown, but damn it sure is bright. And how awesome is it to have all of this friggin insurance/depth?!?

GOP-ers in this thread coming alive for the first time in months and jumping to the defense of making it harder to vote. Wonder why.

Well that escalated quickly.

There's a reason why the GOP undertakes these efforts again and again and again, and it sure as hell isn't because it creates a meaningless hurdle.

I was pretty high on Avi being a middle of the order bat for the future of this team after last season. I don't doubt he can replicate what he did last year, but I think he's too much of an injury risk to count on him being a part of this team in the future. The guy misses at least a month every season due to some kind of injury. It's ridiculous. Plus the slow start to this season pre-injury...who knows what he will do when he comes back, but he only will have 3 months to show that last season was no fluke.

Yeah, cmon. It is totally easy to produce .300 -30-100 every single year. That is why everyone does it.

Anyone else kind of meh about him coming back? I like seeing others play like Palka (possible move to left when Garcia is back?).

He did start a throwing program. But has yet to be moved into affiliate ball. My typical mode for this is no news is bad news, but sox also don't seem that concerned about providing detailed information on minor league injuries.

In-person voter fraud continues to remain essentially non-existent. It is not a real problem that needs addressing in this country, and we sure don't need to disenfranchise tens or hundreds of thousands of legitimate voters to address a problem that doesn't exist. It's voter suppression. That's why the GOP does it. Sometimes they let the mask slip and make it a little too obvious, but that's the underlying reason again and again.

Every day the Republicans continue to become the most radical right wing party in any democratic country and continue to gain more and more power. Democratic Party better start to do something.

The whole point of extending now is to get a discount. If you can get him for 6/$90 after this year, for example (team control through 2024), then you're taking a risk that he'll blow out and you're on the hook for that money, but he's taking a risk of losing 3 prime free agency years if he does bounce back. Of course it's a gamble, but if you're unwilling to take calculated risks trying to build a championship baseball team, you're not going to build a championship baseball team.

Thanks for sharing. It bears repeating that we have had a couple of very similar pitchers to Lucas in Jon Garland and Gavin Floyd. I know a decent amount of people have quit on him already, but with what Washington did to him, and then trying to rebuild both his motion and his confidence, it isn't going to be an overnight thing.

FWIW, it was mentioned on the broadcast Saturday that Coop said Giolito had the best side session he's had since he was acquired by the Sox.

The information I'll have in 3 years over how good Rodon actually is, the production he'll have provided are more valuable to me right now than the discount rate potential for years 2022-25 or the discount rate of trading him. Sometimes just hold tight.

Well if they talk to him and thats what he wants, i agree. I am just not sure he is as valuable to another team as he is to us and nobody pays what we demand. But if they do give us a kings ransom then great!

Not a great difference between picking 2nd or 7th. Something like 6 WAR over a six year period. Far better to uncover a Covey or two and settle for 7th. Picking #1 is different. That can be worth tanking for.

Dylan Covey is more than two years older than Fulmer. What Covey's doing right now is good evidence of why you don't take a guy with good stuff and convert him into a reliever because he gets beat up after getting rushed through the minors.

Fair questions re: Anderson and Moncada. I am also concerned. WAR proponants will probably disagree but I'm not sold on either. Ultimately, Moncada needs to move to 3rd to make room for Madrigal. We also need a 1st baseman (ideally LH) who can prevent errors, not create them (Abreu should DH if not traded) and a catcher who can influence ball and strike calls. We have some excellent young pitchers rising through the ranks but it will be disheartening to them if we can't make routine plays behind them. There is a reason the Padres paid up for Hosmer to anchor an otherwise young IF and pitching staff. Its time we start focussing a bit more on defense, especially up the middle and first base.

Rodon, Covey, Kopech, Lopez, Hansen, Giolito, Fulmer, Stephens - there are so many arms there already who could make appearances, and i still expect a couple guys from the end of that list to break out eventually. Maybe I could be talked into a 1 year deal guy if Hansen and Rodon continue to have health issues, but not for a big splash. There's better places to spend money.

Had no idea the Sox are looking for SP's. I do not see the value in what investment is required for Macho and Harpo. Southside would not be their likely choice.

Is Anderson solidifying his spot? Why can't the struggles of their younger players keep them from investing in free agency? I think it should. There's no reason to dive into free agency if the team isn't in position to contend next year (or year after), which is based on the progress of the younger talent. Is Moncada a good player? I'm concerned.

Great insights. And Julie ... for realzzzz ... great writing!!!! I humor myself to think that I know just a little about GREAT writing.

He won't have enough of an opportunity to establish his trade value, so he will likely be the starting right fielder, next season. Then what could transpire, if Lopez, Kopech, Giolito and a healthy Rodon keep the Sox in contention, and Avi has a good first half, is that they could face the dilemma of either trading him before the trade deadline, or keeping him, for the final stretch of the race. If Eloy has already been called up, he could certainly take over in RF, but having both Avi and Jimenez in the lineup could be the preferred strategy, if the Sox are indeed competing. Of course, If the Sox falter, out of the gate, all of that would be a mute point.

The last report was as of May 17th. At that point he was throwing bullpens. Think of this as spring training, as Hansen had none. Those guys go six weeks before they ramp up to game shape. We are at 3-4 weeks. Hold the panic for another couple of weeks at least.

I would send him to the minors. Give him a different voice from Cooper. No reason to give up on him either. A lot of prospects don't make it - so far, 3 top pitching prospects are up and only 1 looks like a keeper. Which is why counting out 7 nice pitching prospects in the minors and saying "there's our rotation of the future" won't work. Stunted growth, injuries...keep the pipeline flowing. Draft better.