southsider2k5

Will be interesting to be able to get some real eyes on some of these guys again, especially the lower level guys who could be primed to break out.

If they put themselves ahead of what's best for the team, they don't belong on this team.

There is a lot of really good stuff in here, including the Sox usage of advanced technology with pitching and Dalquist learning what it takes to get major leaguers out, versus what it did in HS. https://www.futuresox.com/2020/09/21/accelerated-learning-curve-andrew-dalquist-gets-an-education-in-schaumburg/

Andrew Miller is currently in his mid 30s making over $11 million a year because of his history as one of the best non-closer firefighters in recent baseball history. If a guy like Crochet can take up that role, that saves your bullpen a ton of stress. No it isn't what you want when you draft a pitcher at #11, but when you look at how rare an Andrew Miller is, and what he has done for baseball teams when healthy, it would be hard to argue that wasn't a win of a pick.

At the end of the day if there were NO questions about Crochet, he would have been the #1 pick. He has that kind of stuff. I honestly believe if we had played a full college season that the Sox wouldn't have drafted him with the 11th pick. If he had showed what the Sox think he can be, he would have been a top 3 pick in all likelihood. If he had regressed towards what he had looked like before his previous season, he wouldn't have been on a radar until the later rounds as a lottery ticket. He also did some starting, but definitely wasn't a full time starter in college. He will need to really work to get himself into shape for the marathon that is starting, but the team wouldn't have drafted him if they didn't think he could do it, as well as believing in their developmental staff here.

1 Health 2 Rest 3 Alignment 4 Best mental state possible for the playoffs

The kid was making his major league debut after pitching a total of 3.1 IP in a game in the last year and a half. it is WAY too early to pronounce him as anything. BUT one thing you can do is look at the raw stuff and see that it is in the top 1% of baseball. Even if a bit comes off of velocity as a starter, you can see through a guy like Chris Sale that you can work in the mid 90's with good off speed stuff and a deceptive motion and release. Just for the little bit that he pitched the other day, you can see how his stuff could play in the starting rotation, it is a matter of how healthy they can keep him and if he can build up to 110 pitches every 5 days for a whole season. If anyone can get him there, we saw the Sox do it midstream with both Sale and Quintana. Another thing worth noting is that the Sox are notorious for simplifying a pitchers offerings during their early appearances with the team, and then letting them add back to them as they get comfortable with the initial offerings. With a guy like Crochet, even if they make him a basic fastball/slider pitcher out of the pen to start with this year, and even into when he is a starter again next year, they will eventually add something like change up or a slower fastball with more movement (4 seam/cutter, etc) Even a guy like Cease isn't a finished product at this point. He has no fastball control, so they aren't going to let him expand his offerings until he has his basics down. This is how the Sox operate.

Yet here you are.

All you have to do is listen to player interviews to know that point of view went the way of fiscal conservatives in the GOP.

I think you are new to baseball.

A bit too muchfor old greg tonight.

ok, that is awesome.

Again, Prozac.

If you had told me coming into this year that Nick Madrigal would have a higher OPS than Yoan Moncada, Edwin Encarnacion, and Nomar Mazara, I would have told you to share whatever you were drinking.

This seems odd.

Too much

For the record, the reported posts have been addressed.

Well if Bauer wants a recruiting video, we can just replay this game for him.

Those kind of things depend on how the pen is used before those games. If the pen gets toasted early, you can't go with a bullpen game.

Will be really interested to see what happens with Bummer and maybe if Rodon happens.

I think people put WAY too much faith into things having to happen 100% for them to be true. Deals fall apart all of the time in MLB.