caulfield12

"Zavala can hold down center field for now with his good instincts. His arm strength may be his best defensive asset and will serve him well if he eventually moves to right field. Lessening his defensive responsibilities would put more pressure on his bat..." https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/samuel-zavala-694214?stats=career-r-hitting-milb The biggest concern is his frame and losing speed as he gains weight and gets older...he's certainly not a pure CFer, and a move to a corner seems forthcoming.

Who also appeared on The Apprentice?

"He wasn’t a headline piece of the return by any means, but the Sox surely hoped that he could build off two solid seasons to begin his career as a member of the Padres’ bullpen. From 2022-23, Wilson totaled 106 innings of 3.48 ERA ball with a 25.4% strikeout rate, 10.9% walk rate, 1.19 HR/9, 27 holds and a save. Things didn’t pan out as hoped. Wilson had multiple IL stints due to back strains, saw his fastball velocity dip from 94.5 mph to 93.4 mph on average, and served up eight homers in just 34 1/3 innings (2.08 HR/9). His 20.9% strikeout rate and 16% walk rate were both career-worst marks." mlbtraderumors.com

He is now the 30th/31st rated prospect at BA. Other than pitchers like a Davis Martin or maybe Romy Gonzalez at some point...hard to remember an impact player coming from so far back in the pack with the Sox.

"That excellent return for two years of Crochet aside, the club’s offseason has mostly been defined by adding shorter-term ancillary pieces who could potentially be flipped at the trade deadline in July. Matt Thaiss, Cam Booser, Mike Tauchman, Austin Slater, Bryse Wilson, Josh Rojas, and Martin Perez all fit this category to one degree or another, with the latter five names all being signed to inexpensive one-year deals that should make them easily affordable for even budget-conscious contending clubs this summer should any of them play well enough to justify a trade." Well, Getz did beat the Twins of the AL Central teams for best off season... https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/poll-whos-winning-the-offseason-in-the-al-central.html "For now, Bader and Coulombe add up as a $9.25MM boost to the Twins’ payroll. President of baseball operations Derek Falvey told reporters ( that the spending space came about after Twins chairman Joe Pohlad “greenlighted….the ability to add a little bit here to this team. I think that’s a credit to them and certainly a tick up for us that allows us to add a little bit more to this roster that we feel already had a good base, but now we’ve clicked off some of those needs.”

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/steven-wilson-621051

He's 2-3 years away right now. The bigger problem is that he's not a CFer in the same way Montgomery isn't a major league SS. That puts even more pressure on his bat.

Even Trae Young is getting tired of it all...

What's the definition of a crooked developer vs. an owner who refuses to spend any private money for a project...when the near universal model recently has been something close to public/prvt partnerships? You can certainly not argue that the new Federal government stance is to cut spending across the board...so what compelling reason would a highly subsidized (through anti trust exemption) sports league be protected at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars?

If Heyward hits like 2023 when he was a capable platoon bitter for LA...but he was oft injured last year and 36 now.

2. Orioles: 31.6-point difference PECOTA: 75.6% | FanGraphs: 44.0% "PECOTA projects the Orioles to overcome the losses of Burnes and Santander and challenge the Yankees for AL East supremacy. FanGraphs, though, sees things differently, ranking the O’s eighth among AL clubs in terms of playoff odds." https://www.mlb.com/news/2025-mlb-playoff-odds-biggest-differences-in-projected-standings

And Berror has fallen to the 30-40 prospect range...

Connor Joe and Jayson Heyward are going to replace Profar for SD. Sure they are...

"This is without knowing what money the Dodgers sent to the Cubs in the Brasier deal. Plus, the Dodgers will sign Clayton Kershaw at some point after spring training opens (when the Dodgers can utilize the 60-day injured list to create more space on the 40-man roster). And with only 15 position players on the roster, the club will likely add there as well, perhaps especially since the door for a potential Kiké Hernández reunion remains open. Last year the Dodgers paid an MLB-record $103 million in competitive balance tax, with a $353 million payroll for CBT purposes. The highest CBT payroll on record to date is the Mets in 2023 at $374.68 million, which the Dodgers are expected to surpass this year." https://www.truebluela.com/2025/2/7/24355017/dodgers-payroll-tanner-scott-kirby-yates

https://sports.yahoo.com/mavericks-reportedly-beef-up-security-after-death-threats-against-gm-nico-harrison-in-wake-of-luka-doncic-trade-002739733.html

Just hard to believe a player described as a “beast/Gold Glove candidate” at third would get moved to second… At third, he blocks maybe Vargas/Ramos/Montgomery…but at second he blocks Sosa/Meidroth/Vargas and maybe Baldwin. For now, I guess we have to assume Baldwin or Amaya win the SS job for at least the opening month.

Is Rojas actually better at second than third? It seems that the only position Vargas could play decently in second…but then that also blocks Sosa/Meidroth.

Rubenstein is also getting “pushed” off the Kennedy Center board in Washington...tough year.

So the plan is to play Rojas, Drury, Tauchman/Slater in order to accomplish what exactly?

Has to be something to do with his injury status and not being able to do anything until he officially comes off IR.

Then when they finally debelop to that "good" level...and become more expensive, we can trade them off and continue the perpetual rebuild.

Pre 2024 Montgomery had a better case for the majors than this version...only Sox fans accustomed to rushing prospects want to see him after OD in the freezing temperatures. That's hardly the ideal hitting conditions...or fielding, for that matter. And the team's record next year should be worse than everyone but maybe Colorado and Miami. Do we really want to draft third or fourth again? That would out us on track to parallel the Bulls...minus their attendance numbers.

We don't need to waste MLB bats on guys like Fletcher Julks and DeLoach that are fourth outfielders at best. Hahn got pretty much zero depth/bench players out of 2017-2019 playing time opportunities...and that lack of depth killed them. But at least we had starters with 3-5 fWAR potential across the board at that time. Right now, other than catcher...and Braden Montgomery, feels like we only have 2-3 starting positions with 75% confidence filled for 2027.

Quite the testament to his perceived trade value...he sucks so bad only the worst team in baseball history might have use for him, maybe.

Scholtens was filler/mop-up at best...when "healthy" and next to zero trade value. Might be negative value, actually. A good story for one month about persistence perseverance resiliency.