Eminor3rd

Underslot only makes sense if there's some crazy deal to be had. No one you're getting at 49 is going to be worth passing on a first-half 1st round talent. And if the draft is this weak, what are you excited for in rounds 3-8? I just can't imagine picking Burger over White.

Non-athletic, weaker division hitter with good-not-great stats

WOW WTF

I mean it's gonna be JBB or Kendall

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jun 12, 2017 -> 06:04 PM) That's not the f***ing surprise we need, dammit.

Man. Huira down

Hopefully Mil is still on Adell

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Jun 12, 2017 -> 05:13 PM) Should teams be allowed to trade for picks, like every other sport? Discuss I think the primary argument against is that it opens the door for reduced parity by allowing some teams to invest heavier than others in the draft.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 12, 2017 -> 01:20 PM) I don't see how the Sox take Kendall with the strikeout comments being made The full quotation will bring you right back to uncertainty:

I think I'm hoping for Haseley. If we have to go high-risk, I'd much rather have Beck than Kendall. I'd much rather have a bat than Bukauskas or Faedo. Except I'd much rather have Bukauskas or Faedo than a 1b-only bat like Smith or White. Absolute dream scenario would be Royce Lewis falling somehow.

QUOTE (newbiesoxfan @ Jun 12, 2017 -> 11:50 AM) Saturday night at Coolray Field (Gwinnett Braves Park). Nice to see some of the guys you read about, actually play. The game was a nice pitchers duel until Giolito ran into trouble in the 7th. Giolito sat at 91-92 (according to stadium gun). That surprised me. I thought he threw harder than that. He only got a couple of fastballs by hitters. Did not have the best command during this outing. He did have a sharp breaking slider (87-88) that got a lot of called strikes. Not sure if he was throwing a curve or a change or both, but one of those pitches was coming in at 78-80. He did have a tendency to slow his arm action every 3-4 off speed pitches. I really felt like he didn't have his best stuff on Friday, yet I looked at the board and he had only allowed 1 hit thru 5 innings. Moncada didn't do a lot (2 walks), but he just flat out looks like a baseball player. I was wishing Sims would groove one, but he was on top of his game and didn't want any part of Moncada. Delmonico was 0-4, but is a big guy with a nice swing. I could see him on a ML roster. Anyway, that's my take. Thought I would share. Nice write-up, thanks for sharing!

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 12, 2017 -> 10:54 AM) Ack, I just can't get behind choosing a 1b here without more power than these guys. I get the lack of good hit tools in our org, but IMHO, you want to use your 1st round choice to select the player with the chance to be really special, particularly if you are rebuilding and envision having a lot of money to spend on payroll. Spend the money for the high OBP 1b in free agency, please. Same. It just seems like these types are already way too close to their ceilings on draft day, nearly every time. There are some exceptions, of course, but I'm not seeing anything to suggest that Smith/White look like those exceptions.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Jun 10, 2017 -> 12:51 PM) Wait, how do you get to "American people can't live their life after they've completed their punishment"? That's an insane interpretation if some/all teams choose not to draft him. He's a free member of society and he can choose to do what he wants (within limitations), but that doesn't mean an employer has to choose to hire him! There's consequences for actions, among them that employers don't have to give you the benefit of the doubt and can choose to hire elsewhere It doesn't appear you read the second paragraph in my post.

I'm with shack on this one. If the dude served his time, the dude served his time. You can argue that his sentence was too short or lenient (maybe it was, maybe not -- we have no idea about the details of his case), but that's different than arguing that American people can't try to live their lives after they've completed their punishment. People don't lose their right to life/liberty/pursuit of happiness after they get out of the penal system. The potential affect it could have on PR and team chemistry MUST be taken into account when a team drafts him, and will almost certainly remove him from many team's boards. Maybe every team's board. You can hate the guy, but it's crazy to blame this guy for trying to live his life. There's no argument to not allow him to try, IMO.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 03:38 PM) Because if you already are playing 1b in college, you likely already don't have the type of tools to be a star in the MLB. Right. You have to feel like the bat is REALLY special to believe it's going to work. Not just "well this is the best bat that happens to be on the board as of today."

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 02:23 PM) "A dime, a dozen" is just a figure of speech, of course. What I was attempting to say is that it doesn't require a lot of talent, or money, to acquire them. If you need a serviceable player, he is usually available. It's the big run producers that demand significant talent, in return, if a team attempts to trade for them, or acquire them through free agency. The point though is that they have a chance to be something much better than their mean projection. Anyone whose MEAN projection is "big league run producer" is going to go #1 overall.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Jun 8, 2017 -> 06:35 PM) There are currently only 13 1b in the league with an OPS over .800. Only 11 last year at the end of the season. I think many on this board are too worried about position value over getting the best bat available. It's not that -- it's how rarely college 1b prospects actually work out. The vast majority of big league first baseman were drafted at other positions and just grew out of them.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 02:18 PM) Yah, nothing more exciting than a guy OPSing .692 in his 2nd trip through AA as 27 year old!! Alan Hanson is a guy everyone on here wanted a few years back in a trade. Trying to think of who it was we were looking to move at the time at Pittsburgh was rumored as interested. Peavy maybe? Probably Peavy, yeah.

Man, this dude used to be such an exciting prospect.

Love this series. Thank you.

Yeah I'm pumped that our homestand ends Sunday, I'll actually have the evening off to follow the draft.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 7, 2017 -> 12:56 PM) Don't you realize you draftniks are falling for the biggest cliche in sports: Only caring about the future. Wanting the quarterback who never plays to take over. The unknown is always more mysterious and better than the known. You want the best possible draftee. You are all assuming your front office will take the right guy, sign the right guy, develop the right guy. Give me a winning team now. Give me all wins NOW. I'll take as many wins as we can get because a.) I don't care about the draft one iota. Whatever player we get, fine, I'll read the hype on him one day and hope to see him in the big leagues. In the meantime, give me wins now and give me free agents. The money the team spends? They should spend a TON considering what they are charging fans for food, drink and tickets and parking. I am much less front office friendly than most of you who trust our team to pick the right guy. There's always an excuse. Gee if the team on the field would have lost 2 more games we wouldn't have taken Rodon we'd have had Benetendi!!! Why didn't the team just lose 10 more that year?" Man I'm glad I'll never think that way. I want wins each night they take the field. Even this pathetic team. Give me a win tonight. We all want to win now, greg, but what you are advocating for flat-out DOESN'T WORK in today's game. The examples are everywhere. The league has worked WAY too hard on creating parity by disincentivizing the act of throwing money at players. There's simply too much value to be had in controllable, pre-free agent stars. It's called the meta-game, greg. The dinosaurs are dead. You gotta evolve or become extinct. All that said, I don't root for losses either. If we're conducting the rebuild correctly (and I believe that we basically are), any value we lose in a poorer draft position will be made up by the better-than-expected performances that led to the additional wins. At the end of the day though, the draft IS crucial to us getting back to the post-season.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 7, 2017 -> 12:56 PM) A lot of people would rather tank than pick 29th. Literally nobody here would rather tank than end up with the second best record in baseball.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2017-top-al...act-performers/

This draft class seems weak overall, and the second tier or talent seems to comprise pretty much picks 6-20. This is a year where I can't say I have a strong opinion -- it's just going to come down to who the Sox think is the best. Everyone that has any chance to fall to us has as many warts as virtues.