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I’m convinced Luis Robert is the most talented player in the history of baseball, given how bad this organization is at developing players.

I don't hate the trade. I get it. I hope both succeed. But the folks writing off Mena as a nothing were some bizarre takes to me.

Good god. i had high hopes Getz new org charts would solve this.

This is a move positive first reaction than you would expect. If he's not reiterating that no tax dollars towards the stadium, he's obviously open to it.

Moncada single, Eloy double to left center got another run in the 3rd. Leasure with a clean 4th, 2 fly balls and a K. Ky Bush in for the 5th, generating some weak contact in his first inning. Fletcher apparently made a very impressive play on one, but the next two bloops fell for singles. One was maybe playable per the radio team, the other was in no man's land in shallow CF. Bush gets out of it with a K and a routine fly to LF. Sox still up 2-1 headed into bottom 5, with Moncada/LRJ/Eloy slated for probably their last ABs of the day.

If this article was written about literally anyone else but Mena, Sox fans would be blowing this off as spring training fluff.

IMO, that supports the argument that JR's bluff of the team moving is just that - a bluff and they aren't moving in the first place. It would be a different story if the Sox played in a dilapidated stadium that was simply awful like the Expos and A's. Do I think the Sox franchise would be much better off with a well-designed stadium at The 78? Absolutely. But GRF isn't so bad such that MLB would approve a Sox move to Nashville or Charlotte. Plus I don't know why MLB would want to go through some convoluted scheme of letting the Sox move and pissing off 1/3 of Chicago only to put an expansion team here at the same GRF. Why not just keep the Sox in Chicago and keep Nashville open for an expansion bid?

Hard luck for Nastrini, as a ball hit to the OF apparently took a weird bounce off the padding for a leadoff triple. The commentary made it sound like there wasn't really much LRJ could have done with the ricochet. The run scored on a groundout. A pop out and K ends the inning. Nastrini finishes with 2IP, 1ER, 1H, 1K, 0BB. Speas pitching now.

Honestly the most likely outcome is both teams get minimal to no output out of these guys.

I would be excited if I heard a positive report about Cease's spring velocity. Or Crochet's. Or Kopech's.

There's been a lot of great discussion on this trade and I can't add much more but this seems like a trade where the Sox "win" only if Fletcher produces like 3-4 solid seasons. Otherwise you just gave up a prospect for another fringe roster guy and why do we need a fringe roster guy in a rebuild? I dunno, maybe there's like a 1/5 chance chance this backfires horribly but that's still a 1/5 chance you should not take.

One thing that has struck me about all 3 of these trades is that the Sox, despite being the team that is rebuilding, sent away the only real prospect of the bunch. We didn't make any of the teams we traded with feel paid or trepidation. Instead we he helped them relieve their 40-man crunches, and those that weren't on the 40 man were really 3rd tier guys. A lot of volume, and hopefully some of it works out.

The one thing every team does now, even the Rays and A's is let the public know how much THEY will be contributing above and beyond their handout. What's JR's number? Never provided one, so probably zero. A new owner would pay something.

It’s not about like or hate. It’s about assessing what the Sox need to do to build the first credible sustained core since Himes did and was shitcanned for his efforts. Dumping future solid prospects for players who at best can possibly contribute a couple wins on current and future 60ish win teams is not smart. I don’t care whether Jerry, Tony, Getz and Pedro continue to lie out of their asses about this not being a rebuild. This is a complete tear down and rebuild. If they want to improve the current team, find, spend some money on legitimate free agents. If not, stop doing stupid s%*# and spend your time efforts on building the future, not being a boarding home for senior league baseball or mortgaging the future for Grindy McGrinder and MLB Senior League tryouts.

I wish I could say I'm surprised about people getting their panties in a bunch about a live BP session (good lord) on Feb 26 but I'm not.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2024/02/25/prospect-cristian-menas-velocity-popping-at-dbacks-camp/72739130007/ Because of course. Mena has been there for 3 weeks and is already topping at 96. Dumb trade, Sox are idiots and can't develop talent.

So it’s official? They’re gone? Moving to Nashville? Did the owners approve?

Bat .260? What’s his OBP and ISO? Defense in RF will be better no doubt, but if he doesn’t draw enough bases and slug some then it’s a move that doesn’t really move the needle this year (which really doesn’t matter) and one that could cost us a young arm who could help us wins finally do matter.

The Dom Fletcher hate is kinda weird. Guy has the potential to be the best Sox RF since 2016 Adam Eaton. Now that isn't a huge bar to clear, but he looks like a pretty easy 2 WAR floor guy, with upside for quite a bit. Not sexy by any means, but a nice role player type. This Adam Engel comp is nuts and doesn't even make sense.

The Dominic Fletcher vs. Adam Eaton comparisons are devoid of reality. Adam Eaton had over 900 PA at the same age, wasn’t a 5th OF platoon only guy with 102 PA entering his age 26 season. This trade wouldn’t be defensible if the Sox were actually trying to compete in 2024. It’s absolutely ludicrous in terms of where the Sox are today. It shows a lack of comprehension by Tony and or Getz in terms of what needs to be done over the next few years to try to get to a place they can even sniff .500 baseball.

Fletcher wasn’t even in the same vicinity as guys like Mazara or Avi were as prospects. Colas would be much closer. The problem is they expect near an 800 ops again (like AZ in 100 at bats) and the underlying peripherals nearly all point towards more luck than long term sustainable success.

I would just say that Eaton was a far better prospect who actually dominated Reno and did so at a younger age. I’m not suggesting that people here are expecting Fletcher to be Spanky Jr., but I do think people are overlooking some of his flaws because of how well a similarly small statured RF prospect worked out for us.

Like vs love jumped out at me. Curious wording. Could be nothing, could be a veiled dig. Taken on its face it seems like a harmless tweet, but we know how much of a prick Stone is on social media. Hard not to read deeper into it.

If Hahn did what Getz did, he'd still be employed. He is giving the younger players time to learn and grow in the minors instead of rushing everyone. You can't argue with that. Look at what the fools did last year with Korey Lee, Sosa, Popeye. Goes all the way to Beckham. Beckham was awesome when he first came up but was figured out. Could say the same for Madrigal, Vaughn, Burdi, Kopech and the kid from Vanderbilt. How much is forced from the JR hand, the KW philosophy and Hahn's general stupidity we will never know.

If Bush can be a groundball lefty no. 4 type that would be very helpful at GRF and in a rotation of RHP.

First one wasn't particularly hard hit, second sounded more solid. Radio said they were shifting him to pull, and he found a gap both times. Hard to judge how much of either was more Rangers positioning, Moncada trying to hit 'em where they ain't, or some mix of the two.

MLB has been talking about expansion very recently. That is "who".

Seriously. You'd think so judging by the reaction. Maybe these thoughts will bring some fans back off the ledge: The Governor said he needs to be convinced it's good for the state and hasn't seen that yet. He did not say anything to the effect of "no way, absolutely not in a million years regardless of the terms, we won't give a dime toward this project" MLB wants to put an expansion team in Nashville and reap an exorbitant expansion fee. I doubt the other owners would be keen on letting the Sox leave a perfectly serviceable stadium and the #3 TV market and take the Nashville market off the boards. The only 2 teams who have moved since 1972 played for years in a decrepit stadium and tried for years to get a new park in their current town. And the A's move to Vegas is hitting major roadblocks and isn't quite the done deal it appeared to be a few months ago. Until someone builds something on The 78, it's still available for a potential ballpark in the coming years even if nothing gets passed this year. A deal could be made in future years and maybe with a new owner. I have not seen JR say anywhere that his current funding proposal is his last and final offer before he brings in the moving trucks. All Pritzker's comments tell me is that he's not going to cave to JR's first proposal and give him everything he wants. He'd be a fool to say anything otherwise.

And Eloy GO gets a run home and leaves men on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Moose K Fletch GO Promising situation fizzles 1-0 Sox

I am absolutely hoping for the opposite. Rushing the guy from AA because you have to fill a spot on your competitive roster that is totally competitive and definitely competitive is a Rick Hahn classic. Montgomery was hurt for a good portion of last year, has 218 plate appearances at AA, and a .218 batting average at AA. Let him play his way up. Give him 2 good months at AA if he's healthy, then move him up to Charlotte, and if he's still strong there, then bring him up later in the season. If he has any more injuries or struggles with anything, take your time and wait until next year - if you wait until April 2025 you might even have a shot at a compensatory pick for him being an opening day callus.

If Fletcher was in his early 20’s rather than 26, this trade really would’ve made more sense.

Yeah this trade didn't make sense to me from the start.. Hope I am wrong.

Hmm. It's like a few of us said. A 20 year old probably isn't a finished product. Especially one that's pitching in AAA already. Go Mena go!

I'm not for fiscal responsibility, moreso spending public funding on things that actually help the citizens of IL. Like the medical debt erasure proposed.

Stone compared them directly in that text. It was not a retweeted and I read it to be intentional.

I get to actually claim bona fides, because I picked which Dash-Cyclones game I attended based on him pitching (I wanted to see him or Vera). His curve made the Cyclones hitters look silly. Unfortunately this past year (when he was in AA), I got Dalquist. My wife's input on Dalquist was "he should stop pitching so poorly."

Keith Law is just one guy. Not overly concerned with cherry picking certain farm system rankings for stuff like this. I love how some here are suddenly these Mena fans. I am sure the guy had some supporters here before the deal (I certainly liked him), but its not like he's some upside arm. Has fared OK being young for each level but a fastball that maxes out 91-92 as a 20 year old and a career WHIP over 1.4, including last year. He could very well end up being a serviceable back end SP. But we traded him for a guy that is already a serviceable OF that hits from the left side, something this roster could certainly use. Seems like a pretty basic baseball trade to me.

Weird that you don't think that reigning ROY Corbin Carroll or top 20 prospect Alek Thomas are even in the D-backs' outfield picture. Jake McCarthy has hit at every level. That's nothing like saying he's blocked by Eloy, Colas and Sheets.

I wonder if Fletcher will ever say that a 13 year old is a leader in the clubhouse or on the team?? Hmm?? Fletcher won't be the dick that Eaton was. Remember the emphasis on clubhouse?? I like this trade because it will help the team THIS year. I still plan on watching the games and hoping the Sox win those games. He will help the Sox THIS year. He'll play good defense, take the extra base, and bat around .260. Is anybody going to argue that that these types of results is not a BIG improvement on what, at least the last five years.

I've liked him so far, but if anyone thinks he's not going to be cheesy, his "SOUTHSIDE STAND-UP" call after Quero's spring training walkoff had me cracking up. Once he gets comfortable, dude is going to slide into his basketball/slamball persona.

Schrif & Stoney will be great I like them already. I am looking forward to the regular season broadcasts.

Fletcher doesn't have the speed to play CF . His calling card as a good defensive OF are his reads and jumps. In CF you have to cover a lot more ground and having top speed often makes up for bad jumps. If heakes a bad read like he did yesterday he's going to look bad. Now I don't care about a bunch of spring training errors made mostly by the kids who aren't going to be on the 26. There's a lot of hate going around Soxtalk for good reason but hating on the new guys in ST seems crazy to me. Blame JR all day every day for the sorry state of affairs but can everyone cut the players some slack ? We all know they are mostly fringe MLB or career minor league guys. Please don't let you current disdain for the organization cloud your judgement on basically innocent players because they weren't born with the physical gifts necessary to be the best of the best. It just seems petty and mean spirited like calling Benetti a dork and essentially forgetting he has overcome major physically disabilities that most of us can't imagine.

Gregory Santos is probably the best (recent) example...

That Santos deal could be a move in this category. That Santos injury doesn't sound minor.

Well, Nicky Lopez was a 4 WAR player with the Royals in 2021, so we have that covered. Which arms are bad, and who didn't want them? They traded for Soroka, and beat out the Mets for Fedde. Both were top prospects, and still have talent. Flexen, Kuhl, they had some success in the past. No, they're not Big Unit in his prime. I'd bet they're all ahead of Jesse Scholtens in the 'first up' category. I wish Hahn did robust dumpster diving like this. Nobody mistook this team as 2-3 moves away from a World Series competitor. And who even says the top guys this off-season even sign with the Sox at market? If the Sox were doing this every season, they'd have a couple of Kenyan Middletons every year to step in when Aaron Bummer went down, or to flip for a lotto ticket.

Spent like 15 million on offensive downgrades on a team that already couldn’t hit. This is going to be so unwatchable.

I hope Colas gets a fair shake to make the team and start, rather than Getz handing RF to that AAA platoon guy to justify that pathetic trade or Pillar. This should be a clean slate.

I agree. That debt is *only* $50M. If Jerry isn't willing to cover that, then the state should tell him no. JR is saving at least that much by slashing payroll after the rebuild crashed and burned. There are no term limits for Illinois Governor. Edgar chose not to seek a 3rd term voluntarily. Everyone else since him has been limited due to their incompetence and/or crookedness.