MackowiakYakYak

We have a pretty likeable team. I'm also an Engel guy and would add Leury as a favorite but with both maybe outside the top 5. Another interesting question is which players do you dislike? Eaton, Keuchel, and Grandal are the main ones I hear grumbling about. I'm curious who people don't like and why

Love our toolsy boy. Hopefully the Sox have learned from their “draft a high-walk, low-K college player” philosophy and keep picking up more interesting prospects

Not trying to incite. What’s your position? That Moncada and his contract are actually a negative value? Or something else?

Not sure the exact stance you’re taking but posters are usually enthusiastic about all the long-term signings. Moncada, Robert, Eloy, and Anderson extensions were all applauded with Bummer’s having a mixed response. I don’t think anyone had mentioned it yet but absolutely you have to include that as a positive for the organization. And of course all the great contract extensions that gave us value to acquire our prospects.

Buerhle without a doubt. He gave us the statistics and the best moments. I remember watching Sportscenter and every play had the Buerhle-meter. He had his buzzed save in the World Series. The no hitter and perfect game giving us the Dewayne Wise catch. No contest.

I agree that DHs will probably not cost that much. I would be fine with the organization running out the clock and grabbing a DH that is passable for occasional outfield or 2B/3B games. Although I won’t bet against this organization’s “veteran with a one-year contract” curse

And we should run a poll because there is a lot of noise and it’s tough to tell where everyone stands. It feels like people are more positive than last night, but I gotta know what to write to Hahn when I give him Soxtalk’s Weekly Performance Review.

We’ve got a few camps here. Pick your side: Good trade for winning now and Dunning doesn’t make or break us. Good trade in value gained over lost for a ToR SP Good trade only if Lynn gets extended otherwise bad. Good trade only if it includes a big all-star acquisition otherwise bad. Good trade only if if it includes a few good mid-dollar FA signings (Joc/Hendricks-type) otherwise bad. Bad trade because winning clubs keep cheap and good 4/5 starters around. Bad trade because Dunning has true 3rd SP+ potential. Bad trade because it means Reinsdorf is cheap/TLR is in control. Bad trade because the Sox needed a true #2 or a more elite SP. Bad because Jake Burger is sad. Bad trade because Weems.

I’ve always liked the Mets as NY’s Sox-equivalent. Plus David Wright seemed like a cool guy when I was growing up

What’s the scouting report on him? I can’t find any 20/80 tools rankings. All the articles are just obsessed with him being a two-way Shohei

I don’t understand how you can come to the negative conclusion. Coaches don’t rave about a player being an amazing person when they are a fat, lazy, PoS as Two-Guns is opining. Being a coach at the high school level, I’d never give my highest praises to a kid that is funny as hell but doesn’t work at all. If we have the whole Sox org and Missouri State’s staff saying he’s the most amazing person, then I’d imagine Burger was doing what he needed to be doing. If he was able to hack 3B at the weight and get more power, then it could’ve been intentional for how Burger and his coaches understood the dude’s body. Some lower body injuries later it seems obvious he needed to be slimmer or he needs to be now, but calling him lazy seems presumptive. I’m not even that high on Burger as a prospect. I expect absolutely nothing from him and would be happy with a few accumulated war for his career, but you’re being nasty without justification.

Maybe a season or two too late, but he wasn’t holding us back long enough to ruin his legacy. He probably did something positive with Quintana and Sale, and those two having immense value got us our core. Can’t complain too much. Glad he was here before and glad he’s gone now

It’s the playoffs for the first time in Renteria’s career. He’s rested guys for injury and tried to preserve others late in the season. Bullpen use during the season is not all about putting the best pitcher out there everyday because you have to think about the next day or the playoffs. I’d say nows the time when we really get to judge Renteria’s game decisions.

I’m on the side of not worrying too much. Our boys need some rest and health heading into the real games. A division is a cool achievement that teams are proud of when they’ve got nothing to show for their post-season run. It sounds like a lot of Ricky’s decisions have been about resting minor injuries in the bullpen, and that’s the main reason we’ve lost the last few games. The offense has been lukewarm but not disgustingly bad considering the number of games they’ve played in a row. Panic Level After First Five Games: 8/10 (We were all way too invested in every game) Panic Level After Last Six Games: 3/10

I’d say on re-ranking he’d jump into the top 5 easily, but Torkelson and Lacy are still slightly next level in my mind. His biggest risk was that he had weird usage and average stats at the NCAA level, but his stuff absolutely plays and he looks beautiful throwing. From a pure drafting standpoint (we will see how the rest of his development goes and if we can develop him fully into a starter) he is a massive hit and I’d say you give the front office a perfect score on that pick.

This. The guy looks strong enough and he makes every pitch look effortless. Fulmer was a huge question mark because he was undersized and had a high-effort delivery. Crochet looks efficient. As other’s have said, I don’t know if he’s ready to throw even 80 pitches, but I don’t doubt he could in a few years

Dude becomes a moron when he talks outside his wheelhouse, but cancellation isn’t that much of a thing. Most of the time people just whine about things someone said and, unless it’s exceptionally insane, life moves on

I’ve heard positive about that Yas guy too

Do we know anything about how he has been doing though? I’d hate to Fulmer a guy that has some big upside. Don’t mess with a kid in year 1 of the window when he could mean a lot in years 2 through 10

Burger was probably a worse than 50/50 chance to stick at 3rd when he was drafted

I like that he was our guy and he’s ended up being great. Shows that we are looking at the right free agents even if they decide to go elsewhere for non-$ reasons

Baseball Reference doesn’t have a framing score for catchers. He compares in a general hitting style to those two with high walk rates, high strikeout rates, and decent power, but that’s it. He’s better in all those categories and he has better defensive catching stats than those two. Catchers are just an ugly position.

Stone does similar things, but in a more off-hand way unless Jason encourages him to finish or expand on the idea. It really depends on the situation and what is worth hearing at that point. Nobody cares what’s a good idea for Reynaldo or Cease to execute because they’re usually missing their spots. I’d say Giolito is the only Sox starter that makes sequence development interesting because the pitches play off each other and he mostly hits his spots

You could tell he was getting excited and added some extra bass to his strike calls

Do people not realize we are talking about a catcher that strikes out ~28% of the time and doesn’t walk more than 5%? He doesn’t have the launch angle to make me think he can sustain a high iso if he isn’t squaring the ball up well. I like him a lot, but at most he gets 10m/y for 1+1 or maybe 2+1. He’s no more valuable than Tyler Flowers was at his peak I’d keep him. He’s not going to be expensive