kwolf68

That was a dirty hook. Send the kid to the showers, he did a credible job all things considered.

THAT was a curve ball. Not a work of art, but he battled through 5 innings, kid is learning.

They are sitting on the fastball, not even thinking of anything else.

Jose does hitting well.

Yep, unless he gets through an inning or two quick, he's probably due for 5. I'd like to see the Sox NOT push his counts over 100 today. We have 2020 to think about.

Yea that's what I've seen. He did have one nice curve that missed wide, otherwise, nothing. His curve is a plus pitch, so this is just part of growth I think. He managed to minimize that damage, a ball Engel could have caught, a duck snort and a ball of a glove. I don't think he's as bad as his line indicates.

Their lineup is pretty bad. Cease with a good fastball and change, but I haven't seen a decent curve/slider yet (though I did miss part of first inning).

If he didn't jump he probably easily catches it.

In every game pitched Cease has had one really shitty inning, then usually settles it down. This is part of making the jump. Gonna be some hiccups. Good time to have them, sort things out when the wins don't really "mean much".

108 pitches. WoW. His line actually turned into being decent, considering

NOTHING in my statement should have lead to such a comment. I said nothing of Dylan's long term potential. I questioned bringing him up and a shit bag Royals team really didn't have too much trouble with him and how would he fare against actual MLB lineups? The question many raised was, "what was the point" in bringing him up? Experience? Fair enough. But he's really not ready.

It was actually strange they called him up given his struggles in Charlotte. The stuff is (or should be) electric, but his command is still a W.I.P.

Feels almost as bad, but certainly not on that level, to when Kopech blew out his elbow last year. The excitement just sapped in one moment. Cease was actually pretty terrible tonight honestly. Yea, he was overshadowed by the wretched defense, but he was struggle with a crap lineup. I'd hate to think what the Twins, Stros or Yankees will do to the kid. Hope the next start he takes a step forward.

The defense was horrible, but also an ugly start for Cease.

His stuff looked better against Detroit, other than the fastball which I think he's commanded better tonight, but his change-up is nothing compared to the Detroit game. I think he gets 1 more inning and he's done. Unless by some miracle he has a 10 pitch inning.

Yea, but you'd expect guys to not completely suck in the field at the highest of levels, but I think Charlotte has been a bungling mess on defense as well. So he's used to it.

Sad thing is not a single ball was hit worth a shit (other than Merrifield's leadoff), they have two broken bat duck snorts and a couple other flares. With Cy Sparkman pitching, 3 is probably too much however.

He has to be with the misfit defense behind him. He needs to go Zen.

Moncada's and Abreau's attempts at those throws in the first inning were pathetic. Generally they are not lazy I'll admit, but the effort on those two plays, especially at 3rd Base was an awful effort.

Laughable on every level. So basically only Yolmer needs an error and the entire infield other than P and C will have collected an error (yes I know they gave Cease the one error, but Abreu should have had that). Time to clean house after this year. Outrageous fundamentals, pisspoor defense, lazy ass team. Horribl.

Then there is that. LOL

A couple years ago I saw in Engel a little bit of what I now see in Harrison Bader, a great defensive player with just enough hit tool to be a solid MLB player. Bader has more power, but there are a lot of similarities. Bader struggles against righties a lot, but manages "just enough" with his good lefty splits to look like he's going to hit in the .260 range as a pro player. A .260 hitter that should also hit and steal 20+ while playing elite level defense is a WIN. Engel doesn't look like a .260 hitter, he is more a .220 hitter w/ much less power than Bader and if he can't get on his speed is meaningless. I think it's time to cut bait.

Detroit has Casey Mize and Matt Manning, though both in AA right now, likely heading for the show next year. Those two are dynamic and one could argue those two are just as promising as either two the Sox have. Sox have a vastly better farm than Detroit when it comes to hitters, but the pitching is well in debate. And don't think Kopech is ready to step into any rotation next year. He'll likely be on an innings limit so his contributions to the Sox in 2020 will be limited. Same for Dunning.

Neither one of these guys are very good prospects. Both ceilings are back end rotation and that's even debatable. After the 3 suspects (Cease, Kop, Dane) the Sox have ZERO ZERO ZERO in the way of rotation prospects. They have a couple of intriguing bullpen prospects (Burdi, Hanson, Hamilton), but nothing for the rotation anytime soon. Hanson is disappointing as well, because when he's "on" he looks like a future ace, but he just isn't consistent enough, thus it looks like he is now destined to pitch out the pen. Pilkington and Steiver are guys I want to see develop from the 2018 class, but either are at best back end guys and at least couple years out. EVERY SINGLE ounce of optimism in the future of this rotation rests on a few EXCEEDINGLY talented, but enigmatic (for different reasons) names---Gio, Rey, Carlos, Kopech, Dane, Cease. Not a single one of those guys has really proven jack and 3 of them have already danced with Tommy John, two in current rehab and speculation a 4th could be heading there.

Is he able to command at least 2 pitches?