GreenSox

Rodon is not a pitching prospect. He's in his 4th year. He was drafted before the rebuild. He pitched in the majors 2 years before the Sox decided to rebuild.I know the Sox have a lot of pitching prospects. But the start of this thread is that the Sox want to be decent next year. And my response is simply that the reason they aren't decent this year is the pitching. What some people don't seem to appreciate is that Davidson, Leury, Palka, and Narvaez have out-performed on offense players that were fawned over from 2014-16. I guess it's the non-hyped prospect bias.

Why? Because the Sox have the worst starting pitching in MLB. So far they are 0/3 with top starting pitching prospects (and yes, they could improve). The pitching is why this team is so bad. Not the hitting, the pitching.

Then I would suggest that they trade Avi for some young pitching.

Sure, if they are legit lottery tickets. But to me moving Avi is priority.

Absolutely not. But the Marlins should be shopping the heck out of him off of this career year and only 2 years of control. A hitting catcher is icing before you have cake; career years, 2 years of control - big nix.

No Correa, no Altuve, questionable DH, no bench bat: the Astros need a bat. A team I'd love for Hahn to cut a deal with. Garcia for, oh some LF named Tucker currently hitting .143! Throw in a sweetener - Astros can have anyone from the major league bullpen.

Depends on how you value defense. Leury misses catchable balls out there. Anyway, the work by the Birmingham and Charlotte coaches seems to have been exquisite so at least he should continue to learn down there.

If it's really about him learning from different defensive situations, he'd face more of those in the majors. But maybe KW saw the effect of calling up Moncada, Anderson and the 3 pitchers, if not before they were ready, before they dominated lower levels and now he wants to make sure that the AA and AAA coaches do the teaching. Maybe Renteria, Cooper et al are more focused on winning games than on development. Thus, pitching Rodon for 110+, only tepid chances for Leury to learn CF, etc. Just speculation, obviously.

The Astros, without Altuve and Correa, really could use a bat. They are no lock for the division. They could use Harper...although imo, they could use Avi or Abreu even more!

Absolutely. I watched Bieber for a few innings tonight. He looked really talented- made a few mistakes, but he threw a lot of great pitches. I'd love to move him out of this division.

Reds are in build-up mode. They think they can compete next year. Nice move for them although all 3 are risks.

Well those were some heady comments from Kenny. Hard not to get pumped!

yea, forgot about him. Him too.

Yea, move Avilan and Cedeno - creates room and will get a little something. Currently in the pen, only Fry and Danish are of any long term interest really, as of now.

Unfortunately, he won't return anything. I'd be surprised if a contender wants him anyway. There's room to bring up a young starter - he can go to the pen.

Then the prospects come to the American League. No thanks. Archer seems to be a Q level pitcher to me...

If they can't trade Avilan or Cedeno, they just have to let them go. I Danish is getting his trial right now; my guess is the Sox already decided no on Guerro, but maybe he gets a trial soon - he's pitched reasonably well. Burr had a promotion despite walking 4.5 per 9 so I figured it was filler and thus I'd say he won't be protected. Absolutely protect Ruiz - he's pitched great this year and he's young. Mendick, Polo and everybodyy's favorite prospect from 3 years ago, Michalczewski - probably not.

Henzman is a college reliever turned starter; Dunning was a reliever, but he always projected as a starter; the Fla rotation was full. Hamilton as an 11th round pick college reliever as fine; 4th/5th round relievers are questionable. A college reliever in round 1 is super questionable. A guy I followed closely in college, was a college reliever, drafted in the teens a couple of years ago, and is the closer on a AAA team. He has a WHIP near 1.00 and averages well over a K per inning. He is not even in his team's top 30 prospects

No, we do not.

That's a cool site. Baseball trades are a blast. Thanks for the link.

I'm not sure that the relievers that the Sox are bringing in are particularly "high ceiling." Frare has been a reliever virtually his entire career; he was a 24 year old AA pitcher who just recently turned it on. The Sox have used some high picks on college relievers, but are college relievers really high ceiling? Or are they "quick to the majors" I can recall Huston Street being a first round pick, but they are rarely picked in the first round, where teams seek ceiling. I'm not convinced that high picks for college relievers is good value. Fry was a starter for the Sox until his surgery, so he too has starter pedigree. We might eventually see Lopez and Giolito in the pen - I hope not, but it could happen. I guess Fulmer too, but I think he needs a new coach/approach. Too much stuff to give up on. Medeiros is here to start. If he doesn't hack it, fine, he goes to the pen. But for now he's a starter. From Balta's numbers and my own sense, the best approach is to assemble as many quality minor league starters as possible; and from that group, you will find most of your relievers.

Injuries are an excuse. Fulmer, Lopez and Giolito weren't injured; if they had developed, or 2 of them, things would be on track. Add Moncada and Anderson. That is the first-wave core. No injuries.

Have the Sox decided whether he goes to AAA or AA? I noticed that his AAA appearance was v. the C Knights. Hope it's Charlotte, but I guess they'd have to clear some room.

The first step is trading Avi.

call him up and then we'll have to sweat out the Cooper effect.