GreenSox

It's the people who listened to Haber and made a pick based on his advice that should be embarrassed.

It seems better than it has been, although still probably bottom quintile.

This is a good time to pimp my "Tim for Rightfield" campaign.

I hope our scouts are savvy enough to be ahead of the curve on this and aren't wed to top 50/100 lists. Prospects rise and fall; heck the Dodgers just swapped a top 50 guy for an unranked prospect, in a deal that is considered fair. It gives a lot more leeway on making a deal; and we don't want yesterday's top 100.

Congrats...on all of it!

Sign Timmy and put him in RF.

Now that Busch is Ferris, perhaps the Dodgers can offer a different Busch and Ferris. I also wouldn't mind an old-fashioned baseball trade; Boston comes to mind. Not overly confident that the Sox can ever build this thing from the ground up (lack of infrastructure, international investment, etc.)

Right on!

Don't need/want the spare parts. Go stand in the corner with Cardinals' fans for that one.

Praise be. No more punting! I assume that this means no more ceiling relivers in the early rounds as well! (which I assume came complements of moneyball Haber)

Trading top prospects at all in this day and age, much less trading them for a pitcher coming off of a bad year.

Yea, this isn't good. The Braves may not have the most desirable prospects. But their FO has the sophistication to understand Cease's value, and the guts to make a move. And currently, the Sox are dealing with orgs that I fear lack both, esp. the guts.

I just saw that they signed Maldanado. Seems like some Pedro nonsense.

He's acquired the veterans for the price of an inconsistent reliever; far cry from his predecessor who would trade a legitimate prosect for a washed up veteran. Admittedly, his predecessor as a point of comparison is a ridiculously low bar. But Getz really doesn't have a lot of assets to work with. As for his work in player development, well it certainly hasn't been a success. But he can only try to develop the players he's given, and who knows how much of the problem was lousy drafting.

You know a lot more about this stuff than I do, but he doesn't walk and he doesn't hit homers. I see the 120, so I guess I'm missing something.

He really hasn't done much in the majors: his OBP was good in his first year, but that appears to be batting-average inflated, not supported by real power or by walks. He's got negative returns on his defense, per fangraphs. And as I recall, he was barely a top 100 prospect when called up, so it's not like he was one of these guys just waiting to explode. He seems more like the 3rd piece.

This is the sort of deal I was looking for with Cease: a Young pitcher, a young OF and, a couple of longshot prospects (Rays received a salary dump in lieu of the longshot prospects). The pitcher looks good; I can't tell about the OF on stats, but the Rays fans think he has star potential. I think it's easier for a GM to trade away players like this versus "top prospects" for which there is always high scrutiny.

I can see why: to stay ahead of things. To keep the org fresh. Their farm system is less than exemplary at this point. Probably a smart move.

Well, if the Tigers are spending money, I’m glad they’re spending money on players like this.

If he does, that would mean that Boston severely underpaid for Sale* or Baltimore has severely overpaid for Cease. Sox did sell Sale low, although the level of severity is debatable.

Lugo was good last year, after a nifty move by the Padres to switch him back to starter. If these dog starters are worth $10 million, $15 mill for him seems reasonable.

I'm hoping for a good young RF after all of this.

SS and C, which are defense-first positions, covered at minimum use of resources. You can get offense from OF at much less cost, They've played this right thus far, given the limited resources.

Yes, Collins and Burdi over Lux and Smith. The braintrust. Lux as a Cease headliner (how would he not be, at 3 fWAR, bizarre as it is) would be a really poor use of resources.

The Sox rebuild failed because they had zero prospect depth. In a touch of irony, perhaps that explains the reluctance of the Orioles and Reds: "We don't want to be like you." I think this ends up with the Dodgers who have prospects at the "use them or let them rot on the vine" stage. Maybe the Braves, Mets or Padres. A more mature team.