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I am close to 100% sure the Trips will end up screwing Rollins again tonight. Rollins is set for a face turn, not sure how I like him as the top face on Raw at the moment though.

QUOTE (StrykerSox @ Sep 16, 2016 -> 09:25 PM) Semien doesn't even get on base 30% of the time. That's what we need! Saladino's OPS was .674 until he had this good 18 game stretch. It's a fluke, just like he had at the beginning of his career. So that means he's been very valuable the last 18 games, and having a decent season for middle infielder standard, what's your gripe? You have a personal vendetta against him, get over it.

From a fWAR perspective, if we want to be a playoff team, we need at least 36 WAR's (~18 offense, 14 starting pitching and 4 bullpen, according to 2015 and 2016 numbers), . Here's how the potential returning players for 2017 could fare: Offense: C - Navaez/whoever the starter is 0.5 WAR 1B - TBD 2B - Saladino - 1.5 WAR 3B - Frazier - 2.5 WAR (if BABIP theory is true) SS - Anderson - 3 WAR (projecting growth in year 2) LF - Melky - 1.2 WAR CF - TBD RF - Eaton - 4.5 WAR DH - Abreu - 2.5 WAR (time to move him DH) Bench - 0.3 WAR Total minus TBD - 16 WAR Ideally we'd move Abreu to DH to hide his shortcomings defensively, however, I do not think the Sox would end up doing that, so whoever they bring in as DH and Abreu would combine to total of 2.5 WAR. We'd need a 2 WAR CF (Ideally 3-4 WAR, if the other players do not meet their projections) to make the lineup at least playoff caliber. So someone like Blackmon, Cespedes, or Inciarte (would make the OF defense much better) would be ideal. Starting Pitchers 1. Sale - 5 WAR (easily 6+) 2. Quintana - 5 WAR 3. Rodon - 3.5 WAR (is 2017 his breakout year?) 4. Shields 0 WAR (could be much worse, please release him) 5. Gonzalez - 1.5 WAR Total 14 WAR Our 1-2 is top notch. Rodon is teasing us in second half again and could put it together next year. Gonzalez is better than expected and should hold his own as number 5. Shields killed us this year, we must release him (though I don't see it happening). If we could get a reliable #4 (~2-3 WAR), this is comfortably a playoff quality rotation. But I'm doubtful we could do anything to improve, and I do not think Fulmer/Burdi will be the answer in 2017. Bullpen 2016 =3.2 WAR, could finish ~3.5. Need more pieces in 2017 But WAR does not factor in how many blown opportunities we had as a team. In a perfect world, we need a more consistent closer (however I think Robertson sticks around, and I do not want to see Jones closing). We definitely need another quality lefty, and another solid contributor. Pencilling in at the moment as Robertson, Jones, LHP FA signing, Jennings, Ynoa, FA Signing or Juan Minaya (I think he has potential) In summary, we have the pieces, should be close to a 30 WAR team, but would need the following to be a contender in 2017: - Another core player, preferably a high end CF - A quality DH - A quality lefty out of the pen - Shields to not wet the bed every time he starts . If Hanh/KW wants to go all in, we need to move Abreu to DH, both the eye test and advance stats tell us he hurts on the field more than he helps. We also need to move Robertson off the closer role and get ourselves a more consistent and reliable closer. To me these two are long shot but are must moves, otherwise we will hang around the WC for much of the year and end up missing by a few games.

Looking at next year, both Kanny and WS will have some decent to good OF prospects to be excited about. I'm hoping WS opens with Fisher - Call - Rodriguez and Kanny opens with Schnurbusch - Booker - Adolfo.

What happened to Eddy Alvarez's speed? Dude went from 53 SB last year to only 10 this year. Perhaps an injury or something?

I tend to prefer prospects with higher floors, I'd rank Call up there as the best Sox prospect for 2017.

Foxsports has no clue what is legit and what is worked in WWE apparently. http://www.foxsports.com/wwe/story/wwe-fin...on-blood-082316

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 23, 2016 -> 05:50 PM) Narvaez has been good so far.Great eye at the plate. Avi was starting to get hot before he got hurt and got 4 hits in his 2 games at Charlotte. Sanchez will get an xtra base hit tonight. Avi has always hit well in Triple A, career .367 hitter (270 PA). Classic AAAA player.

There were plenty of matches in the past where guys were busted open and match continued. The fact that Randy was busted open and Brock just kept pounding on him till the match was called made it seem scripted to me. The way Randy was protecting himself makes it easier for him to cut himself with a small blade then Brock doing major damage on him. Either way I hope they continue to build on this cross brandy storyline/rivalry. Neither guys had been involved in good storylines in a while.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 21, 2016 -> 10:09 PM) That was awesome. I'm legit questioning whether that was supposed to happen or if Brock is just that brutal. That's exactly how he should be booked. Definitely scripted, Shane O'Mac coming out and getting F5'd gave it away.

Just scrolling through the box scores and the guy who blew the lead for Hansen was Aaron... wait for it... Bummer. What a fitting name for a middle reliever.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 10, 2016 -> 08:53 PM) Aaron Schnurbusch is giving him a run for his money. He's been fantastic for a 16th rounder. 2 for 3 so far with a homer. OBP over .500 after 40 games. BABIP too high.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 6, 2016 -> 02:02 PM) Nobody is going crazy. Problem with Soxtalk: Young players struggle in A ball and they automatically are bad picks. Young players do well in rookie ball and it's because it's rookie ball. I am reasonably excited about Hansen, the realist side of me feels that top prospects (almost 22 years old) are expected to dominate rookie ball.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 31, 2016 -> 06:09 PM) Chris Comito has had a sneaky good season. Minus the stint in Kanny.

Nice to see him bounce back after that slow start in BHam earlier in the season. Looks like that stint in AFL isn't a fluke. Would be nice if he fills the need as starting CF. Elite speed and defense along with decent OBP potential isn't a bad combination for this team.

QUOTE (BaseballNick @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 10:24 PM) Engel 2-5, 3B. Eddy Alvarez 2-4. Hunter Jones (CF for the Dash) was 4-5. Great Falls is being no-hit through 6 innings. It's hard to believe, but Moises Sierra is only 27 years old. You'll see him in the majors again.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 12:45 PM) So chances are the names that appear on the top 25/30 lists for Baseball America, Fangraphs, and MLB.com don't represent a collective view of the top available international talent out there, that the Sox bypassing all of those guys is no big deal? Ok, I guess I didn't realize the bogus nature of all of those lists compiled by those reputable organizations. Just going to have to put all of our eggs in the basket of hope that the Sox front office, long known for their excellence in scouting, has somehow done a better job this go around than teams like the Padres and Braves, who did go after guys on the top 30. Fool's errand on their part? You have to take those rankings with a grain of salt. Consider this, most of the development for these 16-17 year old kids will be in the next 2-3 years, a lot could change over that period of time - they could grow 2-3 inches, gain 20-40 lbs, develop a power stroke, gain 8-10 MPH on their fastballs, which changes the tools they bring as a player. Do yourself a favor and go find a scouting report for Chris Sale coming out of high school. He was such an afterthought that FGCU was the only D1 school to give him an offer. This is very common for many high schoolers every year before they hit their strides in college. But to me the kicker is these kids play in a foreign country and most of which do not play in organized competition American high schoolers do. I've read that once they've come to verbal agreements with teams, they basically disappear till the signing date so that other teams/scouts could not get in contact with these players. Chances that people who made up these top lists have a good read outside of maybe 5-10 kids is very slim. Scouting for the July 2nd international signing is such a crapshoot that I honestly believe that it is the most difficult area to scout if all of professional sports. I have no problem with the Sox going with kids they see a few traits they like and also going with quantity versus putting all eggs in one basket.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 06:59 AM) Chris Sale reached the 1000 innings pitched mark yesterday. Baseball Reference uses a 1000 inning minimum to qualify for their "all time" leader boards. Here are a his rankings in a few categories: WHIP - 10th - 1.0615 All time leader - Addie Joss - .9678 K/9 - 3rd - 10.12 All time leader - Randy Johnson - 10.60 K/BB - 2nd - 4.724 All time leader - Tommy Bond - 5.036 ERA+ - 15th - 140 All time leader - Mariano Rivera - 205 Pretty impressive. Hopefully it continues for another couple thousand innings. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/...ls_career.shtml I'm totally fine with this dude having the honor over Sale. Check out that comb and the 'stache!

So much potential down in the AZL lineup, nice to see them hit well as a team last night.

Davidson has been consistently average to above average the past few months. Maybe he could net us someone like Addison Reed from a seller in July.

Inside fastball on 2 strikes, automatic out.

With the conservative nature of the ownership, don't expect Robin to be gone until we're 10 games under .500

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 12, 2016 -> 08:42 AM) I expect Curelo to be fairly expensive in round 6. He's pretty highly regarded. Hickman probably signs this Time too. That's probably most of their bonus pool though. I think we might have a shot with signing at least one or two, I wouldn't imagined they'd spend 6 of the last 7 picks on HS kids if they think they won't have $$ left over. Don't know anything about the last kid selected but according to FS tracker, he does not have a college commitment yet, so he could be an easier sign.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:34 PM) .220 is definitely much worse than Austin Jackson (regarding the OP) Please. What's this? 2005 and we're still looking at batting average to tell how productive a player is? And while Engel might not hit much, he's at least a plus runner and fielder, and fwiw hit really well the last month or so. I'd give him a shot to see how he handles split playing time with Avi, there is no harm in that compared to the replacement level value we've been getting from Ajax.

Honestly, I'd give Adam Engel a shot since he couldn't do much worse than Jackson offensively. Defensively, he's ready for the job.