GreenSox

The Sox should be all over the minor league systems of the NL west. Arizona always has excess outfielders (and a couple of young pitchers of interest) and needs a closer and a ready-now starter. The Padres have 0 a 1B/DH and the Sox have 4 of them. Et al.

The Sox, understandably, tried to smooth out his delivery. It didn't take. The problem is drafting players with funky deliveries and swing-hitches in the first place. Why put yourself in the position of immediately having to fix a problem on a high draft pick, especially when they struggle mightily developing any players?

I think Peller would be better off not making so many trades and using more of his young players. Hahn, of course, absolutely buried the Sox with his lazy and reckless young-for-old trades, especially in his first try. I can't think of a single Hahn young-for-old trade that ended up a big net plus (there may be one, but I can't think of it). The Sox aren't set up poorly for the future...IF the FO was capable. There's a lot of things they could do, including finessing this upcoming July trade period. But, they can't and won'.

Preller doesn’t have a farm in the 26-30 range. Preller can identify young talent. Hahn cannot.

Well, he was drafted for the purpose of rushing him to the majors in 2020, so it's no surprise that they rushed him back. Of course they should have taken their time with him and kept him in Arizona or the like, as you suggested.

"Premium Talent"

Right. And the first trade, as I remember, was for a Rule 5 slap-hitter Tilson.

Only players whose contracts expire at the end of the year. No way have Hahn & Co. done the necessary groundwork for a real selloff. That still leaves him Giolito to trade, and maybe Hahn can avoid effing that up.

It's Twitter's fault!

Looks like another first round draft choice is officially toast.

Romy's something else. SLG > Eloy, Vaughn, Moncada et al. Taking some walks would help him broaden out.

I hope that this FO is assiduously studying the farms of the Orioles, Mariners, and about 10 other teams. But I think that the price of, say, Giolito will something like be Grandal's contract + a mediocre prospect. I hope I'm wrong.

Yea, it reminds me of the saber notion that there is no such thing as "clutch." And their logic made sense to me and I basically agree that clutch doesn't really exist. But then I would ask whether there is such thing as the opposite of clutch - aka "choke" - and I never got a straight answer.

They're still at naught-era analytics: Ks don't matter for hitters; Ks are all that matter for pitchers (while modern front offices are looking for weak contact).

Not signing Harper or Machado, while unfortunate, isn't why this derailed. This derailed because the team lacked depth from the start, and then never evolved beyond the initial core. Teams need a steady infusion of young players to create depth and to keep everyone sharp. It's just one of many nuances that this FO can't grasp, can't accomplish or both.

Neto is a nice looking SS for the Angels. Quick riser, too.

He’ll probably be DFAd to make room for Elvis Andrus. Elvis’ veteran leadership is the missing piece.

They could have given him a day or 2 to get his feet wet, get comfortable again. And if his velocity isn't where it was, he should be in Arizona or Charlotte, taking his time.

This is exactly it, beautifully written. And I think the reason is that he's never learned to evaluate talent, never learned analytics, and has refused to surround himself with people who do understand these things.

I'm sure that Rick will remind us of this tomorrow. But in the chance that he doesn't, let's all remember that no one feels worse about this situation than Rick Hahn.

I see that Lambert is the sacrificial lamb in the bullpen this year.

It's a big ask, but I'd like to see more nuance from the FO beyond "going for it" or "tearing it all down."

Yes, what he thinks that they will do v. what he thinks that they should do.

Dispatching relievers in July for Rule 5/AAAA players and otherwise napping in July (except for a couple of high end players) didn't help; you won't get a ton for the relievers, but if you maximize opportunities, eventually you'll strike gold.

Yes they do. And non-smart teams - ahem, ahem - don't have a clue.