Jack Parkman

The Sox have 3 pitchers that are MLB ready(Cease, Dunning) or close to it(Kopech) plus a guy like Lopez with an option that will almost surely be used, so the only way this becomes a complete disaster is if none of them take a step forward. I'm pretty sure that Kopech won't be up until June or whenever they get his TJS year back in the event of a shortened season. Dunning has shown enough to get a look this year, and Cease still hasn't pitched a full season or anything close to it at the MLB level. It sucks that the rotation is behind the offense, but if the Sox are patient....they could have a huge window of greatness in the near future, however in order to do that, you risk some of these guys busting. They might only be in the market for 1 SP, and in that case I'd go with someone who you know what you're going to get from when healthy, and that would be Odorizzi.

Richards and Archer have upside, and Odorizzi is a solid 3. It's not the worst thing in the world. The Sox have a killer offense so they can make up for some of their SP deficiencies.

Typical Jerry spending bullshit. He hasn't gone over the top since he signed Albert Belle in 1996, and that was more of an FU to the other owners for not squeezing the MLBPA more in 1994-95.

I never expected them to do more than sign a pair of pitchers from the group of Quintana/Richards/Odorizzi/Walker/Archer and sign Joc Pederson and maybe Michael Brantley for DH or a closer. If they did all of that, they'd still be adding $40M to the existing payroll, and $20M to last year's. This is still disappointing, but I'm not surprised at all.

Rogers saying that is more legit than any rumor up to this point. FU Jerry....

Ok, let's agree to disagree there then....I admit I haven't watched him all that much but he was horrid in the intrasquad games. Might have just had a bad couple weeks.

I think that if they keep Eloy in LF it's only a matter of time before he and Robert hurt each other seriously. Moving Eloy to DH is more about protecting Robert than anything else.

If they can find a spot for all three of Vaughn, Eloy and Abreu, then sure they can keep him. My opinion is that Vaughn is blocked until Abreu is no longer starting. I'm not sure I want a butcher in LF and a well below average defender at 1B. You can deal with one of those, but not both.

Yeah, and everything that's been said about Vaughn is that he does too.

I already corrected that. Youkilis is a much better comp. Kotchman was the first guy that came to mind.....forget that. Strike that from the conversation. It was just me thinking on the keyboard.

No....Sorry for the misinterpretation........I'm totally sold on him as an eventual contributor, but not sold on him being MLB ready on OD. Got it? And yeah, Votto is another possible outcome for Vaughn. If the plan is to continue to play Eloy in LF.....then by all means, keep Vaughn and add him to the untouchables list. However, moving, say, Vaughn and Cease for Snell and Eloy to DH creates more roster flexibility and potentially more lineup balance, albieit at a higher price tag.

I honestly think Colas to the Sox is about as close to a done deal as you can get without it being a done deal. I'd be shocked at this point if he lands anywhere else.

The definition of the ad absurdum argument. I told you guys that in my opinion there's 2 spots(DH, 1B) for 3 guys(Eloy, Abreu, Vaughn) and the I'm not sure that Vaughn is good enough defensively to play 1B. This isn't a fact, this is an opinion. It's not a problem as long as they continue to attempt to hide Eloy in LF. Unfortunately, that jeopardizes both Eloy and Robert's health. Vaughn is a hell of an offensive prospect and I'm not arguing that. What I'm arguing is whether or not he's completely blocked. BTW I can see the Konerko comps for his ceiling if you're talking about Paulie's best years. This is Parkman's opinion on roster construction. Sports forums are to discuss this type of stuff, right?

Um, like I said if I thought he wasn't a butcher at 1B it would be fine. If you're maximizing your lineup, both Vaughn and Eloy are DHs and while they're both good hitters, Eloy brings more to the table.

It was beyond one bad throw, and one bad game. It's pretty hard to make 3 errors on one play.

LOL. Delmonico has proven to be a Quad A guy for a while.

I'll admit that maybe he just had a bad camp defensively, but damn it was bad.

I'll disagree about him being a butcher. He's about as playable at 1B as Eloy is in LF. You can live with it because of the bat, but in a perfect world, he's a DH. What I saw from Vaughn he needs to put the glove away.

Read the Addendum. I saw a bit of Vaughn during summer camp and he looked like Hurt at 1B. Couldn't throw accurately, dropped a lot of balls, etc. He makes Abreu look like a Gold Glover, and Abreu has put in work to get to average at 1B now.

It still doesn't change the fact that he's likely a DH and so is Eloy. Vaughn is a very good prospect, but honestly I'd rather pencil Eloy in at DH and find other options for LF and as long as Abreu is productive, he's got 1B locked up. Abreu has worked on his defense and is adequate there now. What I saw from Vaughn during summer camp was Frank Thomas bad at 1B.

I've read reports that see him more as a 20 HR guy, but they all rave about his ability to hit and his approach at the plate. Could he be a 30+ HR guy? sure. I'm not convinced it's likely though. I think Youkilis is a good average comp. In Youkilis's best power years, he hit 27 and 29 HR respectively, and the other years he was in the 16-19 range. Also, when Vaughn was in the minors after he was drafted he didn't destroy either level of A ball, so it makes me question him being MLB ready after not even going to AA yet, which is the real testing ground for a hitter. I want to see him at AA before making any judgments about his MLB readiness. If he destroys AA, sure bring him up.

Kotchman was literally the first guy that popped into my mind about someone that was supposed to be high BA/OBP and 18-22 HR/season. I thought he'd have more power than Kotchman but not a 25-30 HR guy. I should have done some more digging, then I found Youkilis. I'm not a huge fan of player comps either, but they're easy for people to understand. I like using 3 guys in a floor/average/ceiling format, and I guess I'd take Youkilis on the average portion for what I see Vaughn as. In terms of ceiling, the guy I think of is another Sox 1B/DH, and it's the one that wore the street the park is on. Speaking of that, I think it sucks that #35 was retired when James Shields got here because it would have been cool to see a jersey with Shields 35 on the Sox.

You guys see that one, right? The huge issue is that I see both Vaughn and Eloy as DH only. And obviously if you're going to pick, you pick Eloy. I think it's completely asinine to continue playing Eloy in the field. If they want to hold Vaughn down one more season I'm not opposed. Both Eloy and Rosario suck in the field, but if I had to choose I'd take Rosario in LF and Eloy and DH.

Ok I found Vaughn's comp.....Kevin Youkilis as a 1B https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/youklke01.shtml

Like I said....I'm not completely sold on Vaughn. I have no doubts about him as a contact hitter, but I'm not sure he's a 30 HR guy. I could see him as a guy that hits .300+ every year with a ridiculous OBP but only hits 18-25 HR/season with 35-40 2B. I think a guy like Vaughn has value, but I'm not sure how much value he has as a 1B/DH only guy. The more I think about it, the more I lean toward him as a trade piece.