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It's hard enough to figure out who the best prospects are . When you're trying to figure out who to keep and who not to keep among bottom dwellers , options matter .Once he's on the 26 he would have to pitch extremely well with the Sox not to be DFA'd . You don't really expect miracles from guys who can't throw strikes. The fact that people reacted 1st and did not even consider how many options he had left is more indicative of them being dumb than the actual move.

There it is then. Thank you. I didnt see anyone else mentions his options unless I overlooked it. Not so dumb then as our wonderfully reactionary meatballs would have us think.

One nothing burger trades spots on the 40 for another nothing burger. See deck chairs on Titanic. Patino might actually be better. Cousin is a complete unknown. Hasn't pitched at all in the states and is older than Patino . Looks like he's pretty bad at throwing strikes also. But hey maybe in the 2+ years he hasn't pitched he became good enough to see what he can do in AAA.? Maybe it just came down to options. Did Patino have any left ?

There are teams out there close enough to contention that a good OF with 2 years left before FA plus a top blocked prospect with a lesser one might be enough pry away pitching from a team like Seattle. A guy like Bryce Miller may be as good as Cease in 2024 and way beyond just 2 years. There's a lot more ways for Baltimore than there is for the Sox to invest their talent wisely. For the Sox it's trade Cease and Robert before either one of them turns back into a pumpkin for as much as you can get. That's it. That's our only hope to even start to think about injecting some hope into this franchise and even then JR is still in charge with a FO that we don't yet have a handle on .

Oh I do like what you said about tanking. But I'm not sure it's all about one player or even top picks that you get every round of the draft. It's more about trying to artificially create a spending floor among the dreg teams of baseball. It's like a floor CBT when it's not really needed. Those cities already suck at baseball for good reasons. Taking hope away from fans that tanking might provide a superstar to build around is unnecessary. It's like all the Sox fans have is Robert and why no one wants him traded now. f*** it trade him and Cease and get as much as you can right now. Being the best farm in baseball would provide more hope than we're getting now. We'd field a competitive team sooner and still have a decent amount of prospect capital.

Well duh ! ?

What is all this hoping Elias and Balta cries? I certainly hope that you don't cry if you are ultimately disappointed with the return for Cease. When you expect a haul that just means different things to different people and we won't know if it was a haul for years to come. You can judge a trade as quickly as you want to and hope for immediate tears but the end result should be contributions that lead to playoff wins. Baltimore is currently in a position to get those either with or without Cease. They have a truckload of talent that they can use to trade with any team. Santander ,Hays and Mullins will be traded eventually and Baltimore will replace them from among Holliday, Cowser, Kjerstad, Beavers. Picking the right ones at the right time is crucial to Baltimores stay at the top. Trading a player who turns into a star while retaining a bust are franchise altering decisions. Teams should prospect hug. Tatis Jr. & Semien perhaps Bassitt all have had better careers so far than anyone who the Sox got back in any of the rebuild trades. Cease may or may not fit into that Sox that shine briefly for 1 or 2 season but can't sustain it for a full career arc but I can't blame any team suspicious and cautious about our young but incredibly fragile and inconsistent core guys. Robert finally breaks out and now he's worth a fortune after one year of fulfilling his promise. What happens next year if he produces like he had been before 2023 ? Cease disappointed last year and he's still worth a haul but we all know it's your last season that counts the most towards your value . If that isn't true then why keep saying Robert is untradable because he's worth too much for any team to afford. In the Sox situation and looking at Robert's career thus far that is precisely when you should trade him. How much more can his value go up ? How much value did Moncada gain after 2019. When was Eloy's peak value ? How about Giolito ? When was Rodon's peak value and what did the Sox get for him ? What would Cease and Robert be worth together for Baltimore ? Let's say they keep Holliday but all their other prospects are available do you think a 2 for 7 or 8 very good prospects wouldn't be enough to excite the fan base or jump start this team for at least a run at the Central by 2026 ? Cowser, Kjerstad, Mayo. Ortiz, Beavers, Hall, Basallo, Norby, Westburg, Fabian, Bradfield, Jr., Povich, McDermott, Horvath. That's 14 guys. Take 7 of them and a couple lottery tickets and let's get this party started!

We'll see. Just seems like every time we think how much a pitcher is going get, they get more.

If you are going to pay Woodruff for missing maybe the whole season in 2024 do you think he'd want to bet on himself and become a free agent in 2026 or take longer years, like 4 guaranteed years but with an opt out in 26 and 27 ? Looks like you're putting payroll at about $10M more than it's at right now for 2024 (minus Cease salary + the acded salaries for your proposed additions).

I've brought up that scenario before about saving for next year . Frankly you'd have to trust JR and there's nothing to stop JR from saying yes I'll give you an extra $15-20M next year and then he increases the payroll $5M and tells Getz we incurred a lot more losses than I anticipated because the team was so bad. You knew I wanted to compete asap. You should've spent the whole budget on a better team. Trust JR to keep his word and telling Getz you're fired for questioning his authority to do as he pleases seems more likely

This is a bit different than you saying payroll won't be an issue so definitively. If it's not an issue I wanted to know your thoughts on the final payroll and what we can expect to add. If JR gave Getz a cap where payroll isn't an issue what advantage is gained by Getz not spending up to the limit ?

Are you sure about that ? So you expect the Sox to sign a FA starting pitcher ? In what price range? Or I'll ask this. What is the final payroll and what indicators lead you to your conclusion ?

That's what everyone else is asking. I've been begging for 3 or 4 off seasons for the Sox to trade for young LH OF, throwing all kinds of names out there. Some got traded, some were rumored to be on the block and not traded. Some were just names I threw out there. Like most fans I'm not privy to who is available. Some are hoping we get a LH OF prospects who can step right in like Cowser or Kjerstad from Baltimore. In the meantime scour the dumpsters and AAAA guys who can't hit but can run and field.

Getz has already said Colas will start the season in AAA. He's in the doghouse for not showing the respect to his coaches by throwing to the wrong bases and not taking more pitches.

There are certain things that good GM keep in mind. SS and CF. Prospects drafted or traded for that play these 2 position are usually the fastest and most athletic. That means they can transition to other positions if they physically mature out of CF and SS. Compare the kids physique to his parents to get an idea of how their physique will look as they age. I'm sure good scouts look at many indicators besides the obvious like stats, current body and temperament. Bat speed, swing path, fluidity of movement, mechanics, intelligence , humility, work ethic all mean more to some scouts than others. It would be cool to find the scouts with good track records on picking high school, college and international players , pick their brains and see how well they can verbalize everything they saw that maybe someone else overlooked, some intangible that they valued above all else. Maybe there's a book out there already about it.

How do they add power hitters ? As of now they have Cease and Robert to trade. Many on the board want only prospects and don't want to find a guy with less control who could increase in value to be flipped later (Lux for example). Need value to get value. Since the Sox have been so bad at drafting and especially development ,getting guys close to the majors or guys with 3-5 years of control keeps the Sox out of the full development process. Higher floors means more certainty. With the way the rebuild core performed should remind us that the Sox are not the Dodgers when it comes to helping prospects reach a higher level of performance. If Getz made an announcement that the Sox are fully committed to developing youth and are revamping and hiring top people to that end and was willing to go into details to support that kind of announcement, that would be the best news the fans could possibly get this off season.

I think Getz would be limiting the return by going pitching heavy. Get the best 3 guys from one system even if the 3 are all pretty equal. If Baltimore is keeping Cowser,Kjerstad, Holiday, I think a package of Coby Mayo, Dylan Beavers, Ortiz or Norby, Hall. Just take the best guys, no need to focus on pitching. You can trade Robert later for pitching. I'd love me some Andrew Painter after he heals up. Beavers is a savage you havent heard much about yet. Power hasn't shown up in games yet and that's good. Underestimate him for now. He's just 22 . Did well in A+, even better but less ABs (134) in AA in 2023.Tall, lean muscle , room to grow, gun for an arm, great swing. I think he's primed for a big season this year . Not sure he'll be back in AA to start the season. Probably won't stick in CF but ideal for RF. Reminds me physically a bit of Bellinger , his swing looks smoother not as violent probably not as good a fielder or runner , maybe a better arm.

U don't actually have to . There are ways to stream almost any game from any major sport onto your smart TV. Quality is usually HD and the stream is sporadic but I'm thrilled with free. After I figured out how to get it from my computer to my TV without Chromecast or mirroring . 19 inch SD to HD 50" . I've been enjoying ( for lack of a better word) a lot of Bears Bulls and Blackhawk games. Some would find it annoying that the picture will go into the refreshing mode fairly often and you have to go through a trial and error period on a TV browser and figuring out the best way to access the signal consistently but hey getting all major sports free doesn't come easy. There's no expensive equipment involved just your basic smart TV and your willingness to be patient with the streaming quality and signal strength.

Some of it has to do with the age of some of the guys having a 2nd one. Ptatc can handle the medical reasons. There's only so much wear and tear human joints and muscles can endure before they are permanently weakened.

Where's the Carpenters video ?

Great article and some pretty good comments too. It just goes to show how little JR invests in acquiring and developing youth.

What's wrong with Beavers? He's 22 LH CF with a good eye, nice arm. If he doesnt stick in CF he can play RF. He might be a year away so maybe you can get a final look at Colas in 2024 if the Sox ever think he can make some strides. Or they can trade Colas. 55 overall scouting grade same as Kjerstad and 2 years younger. Cowser is a 60 and 23. Turning up your nose at a guy like Beavers tells me your expectations from Baltimore are misplaced. Hold Cease for what exactly ? Till the All Star break ? Too risky. Who exactly do you think the Sox are going to get that would beat a strong Orioles package of LH's and a pitcher . Ortiz, Beavers and Hall would be a pretty strong package. That's 2 up the middle guys and their best pitching prospect besides Rodriguez .

Yep Baltimore will be trading Santander, Mullins and Hays son so their young OF prospects can step right in. Santander needs to go asap. Does Holiday jump right in to replace him or does Kjerstad or Cowser. I don't see many here suggesting LH OF Dylan Beavers as a potential trade candidate. He's considered a 5 tool guy. Id be happy to take him if Kjerstad and Cowser are next in line for the O's outfield. I'd consider Beavers a pretty good headliner. And who wouldn't love a prospect named Beavers ?

I loved your analysis. Very well thought out. Extremely basebally and gutsy. I'll always give you a lot of credit for putting yourself out there. Evaluating prospects is difficult. Rankings sometimes means very little like with Busch. He's still rated as of one the top 2 Dodger prospects at 26 yrs old and without a glove only because of his bat. The Dodgers have absolutely no use for a player like that. Look at the guys they turned from nothings into somethings. Outman, Justin Turner, Max Muncy. The one thing they all have in common is that they all can play the field and fairly well . If you can play the field ,hit HR's and walk the Dodgers like your potential. They don't care about K rate if the other 3 are solid. And that's worked for them. I also think think being LH is very important to them. It's easier to fix those guys. LH's are ideal strong side platoon guys when you get to face opposite handed pitchers a lot more than RH hitters, Muncy and Outman can all play multiple position. Outman all 3 OF positions and Muncy 3 infield positions. I think it's very important that the Sox come away with a strong fielding LH position player , maybe even 2 of them. That Dodger package doesn't have that. I like Pages but he's RH and coming off a tore labrum. Pitchers are even harder to evaluate. Sheehan hasn't had many minor league innings. I think he's ready to pitch 125 innings this year based on his total of 122 last year but I wouldn't push him to go above that Inning total from last year given it was his 1st time pitching that many innings. Ideally you want to see an innings increase but maybe its best with SP to get the arm used to a certain amount of innings rather than continually pushing it higher . 2 straight years of 125 and then an increase. I don't know if any teams currently handle SP prospects that way so it's my own personal recommendation. Teams havent exactly figured out how to prevent TJS so maybe they are pushing them too hard too fast. I'd rather get a pitcher, with all other things being semi equal, a guy who has a few years in a row with a better minor league track record involving IP and durability. I'd have to do a deeper dive on the multiple mid 20's Dodgers guys to see who fits that bill. Gavin Stone looks ready to pitch more innings. He's smallish as a pitcher and he didn't impress in his call up last year. His fastball can go 98 but doesnt miss bats with it as much as he could. SO evaluating pitchers is really hard. So much can change from year to year. Add a pitch, better control, better command that changes everything. With all that in mind as I said I'll take the innings and durability among a bunch of mid 20's guys. Baltimore has a lot of LH prospects. I'd definitely prefer them as a trading partner.

I think Getz is going to want 1 or 2 of Frasso, Stone, Sheehan, Ryan, Hurt or Knack. Those guys are all 25 and Knack is 26. I don't think there's any way a Cease trade is completed without a starting pitcher. Pages shows a lot of promise. In his 2nd go round in AA he did very well but it was just 33 games. But he torn his labrum in his 1st AAA game on May16 and missed the rest of the season after surgery. Shoulder injuries impair his power stroke for a bit. He's RH and plays RF ( Cuban ,avg defender , strong arm, nice walk rate.) He could use some AAA time. Previously he was added to the Dodgers 40 to protect him in the Rule 5. I don't think there's a need to ask for Rushing. You might not have a true headliner because of Busch's lack of position or 1B only profile but there are worse things than a LH slugging 1st baseman. I suppose you could work with him at 3rd base and see if he can improve there. I still think Eloy has to be gone for him to play . You could alternate Vaughn and Busch between DH and 1st base. I think he'd be an instant starter for better or worse.