77 Hitmen

That sucks. Still better than a blown Achilles tendon, which some people were fearing.

What would a starting catcher cost the Sox?

Phew! I mean, it sucks that he might be out another 4 weeks or whatever, but better than the alternative people were fearing.

Thankfully, it's only an ankle sprain for Teel. His injuries this season certainly have sucked, but the good news is that it's nothing catastrophic. I don't know that a freak play at the plate where he twists his ankle is a sign that he's Luis Robert 2.0. Even though I hate to be a franchise that trades All-Star pitchers when their price tag passes the $100M mark, I'm still satisfied with us getting Teel, Meidroth, and B Montgomery for Crochet. Heck, we still might eventually even get some usefulness out of Wikelman Gonzalez.

Happy that Schriffdawg is back in the booth?

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

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.

I agree that the Sox have been terrible at wasting their ABS challenges. I'd agree with going up to 4 challenges. I'm guessing they only have 2 right now because this is the first year the system is being used and this is somewhat of a test run to see how well it works. I wouldn't be surprised to see it expanded in the future.

I was going to say that comparing Jacob Gonzalez's trade value to Gavin Lux's is apples to oranges but someone else beat me to it. It's also hard to compare what the Pirates had to offer now vs. other returns we could have gotten because it was rather unique: more pool money and the supplemental round pick just before the Sox were going first overall in the draft. I agree that this is a gamble as getting plus MLB players from the draft, especially after the first round, is hardly a sure thing. The merits of this trade is a good debate to have and it looks like we'll be debating it for the next few years, especially every time Gonzo gets an XBH, as these draft picks make their way through our system.

Amazing that this keeps getting overlooked. This wasn't Gonzalez for Thome straight up no matter how many times people say it was. Was this a good trade or a lousy trade? I have absolutely no idea. Could this end up biting them in the ass with Gonzo having a solid career while the Sox draft picks fizzle out? Maybe. The Sox are definitely taking a gamble here since draft picks, especially after the 1st round, are rarely a slam dunk. I remember when HS pitchers Matt Thompson and Andrew Dalquist were going to be great picks for the Sox I just think some of the arguments are being a bit disingenuous by saying this was simply Gonzo for Thome. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the guys the Sox were able to draft with the extra money we got from Pittsburgh will make this an overall win of a trade. Someone is welcome to bump this in 3 years and laugh at this post when all of our picks are out of baseball and Jacob Gonzalez is a starter in the All-Star Game.

Caglianone, Wetherholt, Griffin, Braden Montgomery, Yesavage.........WOOF!

The Braves giving draft picks a measly 500 bucks is ridiculous.

what jumps out at me is the amount that these players signed over-slot: Casteel (11) for $1.1M over, Weingartner (6) for nearly $1M over, and Prosek (3) for $800k over. On the other hand, Roch signed for $1M under and Thome signed for $400k under. Aside from getting the extra pick, what factor did the extra money obtained from the Pirates trade play in allowing the Sox to draft and sign all the the players they wanted? Also, why did the 11th round pick sign for such a large bonus ($1.25M). If it's because he's highly ranked, why didn't one of the other 29 teams nab him in the first 10 rounds?

If they really wanted to rub it in the Sox faces, they could have invited Joey Cora and George Bell to the event.

We all better retroactively stop calling Lance Johnson "One Dog".

It's a change in wind direction that's pushing the high smoke levels further N/NE out of the Chicago area today. The weather forecast I saw this morning suggested some of that smoke could make its way back here later today or tomorrow, but they're not expected anything in the Hazardous range of the AQI.

Yeah, he's only 19 years old.

I think KW was doing this until the day they were both fired. Didn't he get involved and overruled Hahn to get the Jake Burger trade done right before they both got the boot? And I'm not saying that to defend the overall failure of Rick Hahn, but it looked to me like Kenny was throwing his weight around right up to the bitter end.

Fun to read the posts from a couple of years ago that didn't age very well. As they say, hindsight is 20/20. I hope in a few years, we can similarly bump the Gonzalez trade and Draft threads and have a good laugh at the posts crapping on what the Sox did with this year's draft.

Who are the 6 players ahead of him?

Opening day keeps getting earlier and earlier - March 25th next year. All those March games for the Sox are in cold weather cities. And yes, we all know and have heard it umpteen times.....IF THERE IS A SEASON.

Getting rid of both Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn was the important first step in the process. The organization had fallen flat on its face under their leadership, which was made worse by them being in conflict with each other. That was a total shitshow.

I hope you can wait 8-10 years because that's the window they're talking about if they indeed are going with the Amtrak yard.

I see nothing in this article or any other source that I've read that suggests the Sox intend to move him to 2B. What they said was to note his versatility to play 2B, SS, or 3B. That is NOT the same thing as saying they're pegging him as their future 2B. "He then emphasized Cholowsky's defensive versatility, noting his ability to play second base, shortstop or third base without any concerns."