chitownsportsfan

Either through LA or the draft is how it works for good teams. Every team will go through a drought but look how stacked the systems in Minnesota, Atlanta and Houston (among others) are despite calling up a bunch of guys. The Sox won't have the chance to be drafting this high again hopefully anytime soon. They have had a massive advantage in pool money and draft position the last few years. Doing better than average should be expected.

I'll give them credit for not overthinking things with Vaughn and Madrigal. They didn't get too cute and try and play the "bonus pool" game, they didn't take some HS kid that hit 500 foot bombs at a showcase but is 6 years away; they took the consensus BPA and luckily both guys slot in nicely both position wise in the org and timeline wise in the rebuild. Hey, sometimes you just need to not trip over own dick. Good job with those picks but merely not tripping over your dick won't cut it long term.

Hopefully KW and Nick are fairly evenly matched in ping pong and FIFA because they are going to have a lot of time to pass in the "special assistant" office complex.

that was my first thought as well. he gets a pay raise and a new title and one of those little offices the Japanese have for folks that serve no purpose in the org anymore but everybody needs to save face.

come on man there was some talk madrigal could go 1st overall. There were many types that absolutely loved his high floor. He fell because the clubs in front were either scared by his stature at 1-1,1-2,1-3 or were looking for pitching or a higher ceiling guy to fit their timelines. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/could-a-5-foot-8-second-baseman-be-drafted-first-overall/

The jury is still out but I'm not going to give Nick a bunch of credit for taking Vaughn and Madrigal. They both fell into the Sox' lap for both BPA and best organisational fit into the rebuild timeline as polished college juniors. As Parkman noted overall you'd expect to hit on at least 1-2 guys later in the draft regardless of round just almost by dumb luck. I don't think the early returns are that great on Nick's first three drafts but it is early. As for Burger, @ptatc will yell at me but if you take a "bad body" guy that high you better be sure he's got the work ethic and willingness to cut weight to be a factor. It does not appear that Jake Burger is a "lifer", "grinder" or whatever it takes because it appears that he is not even a pro baseball player at the moment. Not everybody has to be Kopech on social media and post mountain climbs and barrel tosses and trap bar deadlifts but Burger's twitter reads like a damn NEET, and that's not even really mentioning WTF he did (we'll never know) to rupture his achilles again. Who even does that as pro athlete in their young 20s?

We can close the book on this one because that is really the crux of it. Fangraphs' other projection system for prospects, KATOH, one that is entirely SABER based (or is supposed to be) had Brinson as the #9 prospect in MLB in 2018. Nobody saw his epic crater coming. To use Brinson as a comp for Robert just seems like trying to fit a round peg into a square hole for the sake of a pre-formed narrative.

@raBBit got anything for us plebs here?

and be good or bad in as many different ways. lame ass report. if that's all he had he should have waited.

somehow I missed that at the time. Here it is in all it's glory.

Stone Poney has been feeling his oats for awhile now. He gets to compare baseball knowledge with Jason every night that's not helping to tamp down his ego. I hope in a few years Jason pulls out a "Stone Poney" on him and drops the mic.

I need your brevity and succinctness Christ you're saying in 20 words what I'm saying in 200.

There are plenty of 4.45 guys in the NFL. There are very few true 4.3 guys and those guys, even with flaws, are invaluable. Playmakers. Guys that can look pedestrian for three quarters then rip off a 80 yard punt return and change the game. Robert is a 4.3 guy in this analogy. He is an outlier among the best in the world. There might be 2-3 guys in all of MLB that have his speed and agility and natural base stealing acumen. Brinson stole 109 bases in Milb and was caught 41 times. Most of it at an older age relative to league than Robert. Robert has 59 swipes against only 15 CS. Brinson averaged a triple roughly once every 100 AB. Robert averages one about every 60. They really aren't comparable imo.

It's horse shit logic imo. He's "too toolsy" to be challenged in AAA is framed as a drawback? GTFO. I also see a lot of hindsight bias and needless comparisons to a completely different player in Brinson that cratered Gordon Beckham style almost inexplicably. One only needs to look at the speed numbers of Robert compared to Brinson to see that Robert has elite speed and is a different profile. Robert has a MLB ready carrying tool and that is elite speed. It should allow him to have a Buxton esque impact in the field even if he only hits 250/300/450 for a couple years. I really can't shake my head enough at that logic. I don't pretend to watch these prospects as closely as these guys but the logic is horrendous, it's akin to old time scouting imo where you start with a narrative then build around it rather than the other way.

right. similar to playing poker and seeing you've got $50 already in the pot and a speculative (but smart) all in might work well. the "pod odds" for the cubs was the right time to make that trade. But the mets trading for a closer with a 75 win roster? OOF.

Obviously there are exceptions to every rule. Chapman is a once every decade type talent at closer (or every 5 years) and the Cubs were at the point in their window where they could dream on Flags Flying Forever. It's similar to Boston trading about 40-55 projected WAR over the next 8 years for Sale and raising a banner. Not exactly the same but similar. If the Sox are projected to win 90+ games in 2021 and the 2020 draft pick is traded for a Chapman type I won't wring my hands over it.

Never trade a top 50 prospect for a closer is the lesson. Which is why if the Sox get anything in the top 100 for Colome + filler we should do cart wheels.

The Cano trade has a great chance to be their Tatis Jr for James Shields trade. It was a desperate move selling low and buying high. Every single Mariners fan that watched Cano and Diaz in 2018 could have predicted massive regression. One is at an age 2B, even HOF ones, fall of a fucking cliff historically. The other is a closer with great stuff but command issues and a relativity short MLB track record. Now the Mets are in a position where they almost have to trade Thor this deadline. Just to get back a Kelenic type prospect. Be glad we aren't Mets fans, we got that going for us. They are much, much worse off than when the Sox started their rebuild.

Man we can trod some ground and beat some horses around here in a tank season. I'm really looking forward to discussing games again and current events and not future hypothetical revolving FAs and service time. That should be offseason stuff. Carry on.

a lot of people have a hard time with that concept. there are a range of outcomes in future events. most of those outcomes will be better served with an extra year of control over a top 4 prospect in baseball.

TBF, and I'm not bending over backwards here to defend the Sox, most teams at any given year only go 6 deep 7 AT BEST in "guys that won't beclown themselves starting" in their orgs. Including a bunch of teams teams that are actually trying to win and have rotations that cost more than 5 million as well unlike the Sox. Chicago has no veteran starters costing anything and they lost half a dozen arms to injuries. That's just a recipe for disaster and we've seen it. We all saw it coming even if they stayed relatively healthy. It's a cliche at this point but the buck stops april 1st 2020. b****ing and moaning and condemning starts for real then as the tank is ovah. I'll be right there with you should it come to pass and they suck again. Let's hope this offseason they actually spend some fucking money and the obvious hole is pitching.

this is one of the 60 or something according to hawk. With this era it's more like one of the 80.

fegan seems as frustarted as I've seen him on twitter. I think everybody's patience is running thin with this season. We need Eloy and TA back ASAP.

what happened to his 2 seamer wasn't that the pitch that briefly shocked the world last year and allowed him to have some success?

wow, another fucking misplay from jay creates a run for the marlins. I'm so fucking ready to get rid of these bums.