Timmy U

Clase and Ortiz have been indicted. Unlikely either pitches in mlb ever again. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6792150/2025/11/09/guardians-pitchers-sports-betting-scandal-mlb-clase-ortiz/?campaign=15624343&source=athletic_breaking_targeted_email&userId=107704

Both Antonacci and Meidroth are good 2b who can play ss in a pinch. The question with both is impact, not defense.

Antonacci 3-5, HR, sb, 3R .394 1.074, playing ss today. Braden 1-3, 2bb .351 1.124. Fall League and all that, but these guys are both pretty close. The Meidroth/Antonacci debate is gonna be spirited. Not by much, but I am Team Antonacci.

Nice to see Hagen throwing strikes. He, Schultz, McDougal, and Oppor have way more upside than anyone the Sox would go after in FA. I am also intrigued as to whether Shane Murphy could eat innings as a number 5. Stuff is meh, but that might be 70 command.

The Sox are not in compete now mode, so any FA they sign will not move the needle anywhere but down. If you sign Tucker, Bellinger, Framber, maybe Cease and Naylor, you are tangibly improving your club. Sox aren’t gonna do that. Everyone else is sorta meh, so whether people want to play here is kinda moot. I could see them picking up Tauchman, signing a platoon bat like Lane Thomas or maybe Austin Hayes, then maybe Adrian Houser and someone like Gregory Soto and calling it an offseason. I think they won’t spend until they know what they have in Braden, Hagen, Schultz, McDougal, and Antonacci. If some of those guys, esp Braden, are good enough to be part of the core, I could see them going after a big fish after that.

Montgomery was 3-4 with a HR, 3b, bb. The pitching in that league kinda blows, but nice to see him and Antonacci taking advantage of it.

Most of that WAR is gonna have to be developed internally. Between Hagen, Schultz, McDougal, Oppor, and lesser guys like Murphy, and all the guys coming back from injury, they have to find at least three guys to add to Shane Smith. I think it’s possible. You’re never gonna get 15 WAR outta the types of FA the Sox sign.

This year’s FA class of pitchers is pretty meh. I would be fine with either a low dollar one year/milb contract with Fedde or maybe Perez, and I could see bringing back Houser, but multi-year deals for any of these guys feels like a bad idea. I just don’t want to end up watching the pitching equivalent of Benintendi.

A Kwan ceiling would be amazing compared to what the Sox have run out at 2b since Ray Durham.

Flowers played parts of 12 seasons in mlb and qualified for a pension. The guys in that league could do worse. You want AFL HoFers that didn’t pan out, try Brent Morel. I believe he hit .400 there.

I think that is a bonus. Less time on the mlb roster makes it easier to keep him. I think 2 TJS guys were taken in the Rule 5 last year. If you like him, you probably protect. If you question the ceiling and feel he’s replaceable, you roll the dice. I am sort of in between on him cuz I like hard throwers.

I left Eisert off this iteration cuz I kinda hate him. You are correct. He probably makes it. Plenty of other guys who could go tho.

Here’s my theory of what things may look like in a month. Feel free to point out that I am likely very wrong. Mason Adams, rep, Aldrin Batista, rhp Prelander Berroa, rhp * Cam Booser, lhp Sean Burke, rhp *Ky Bush, lhp Jonathan Cannon, rhp Juan Carela, rhp *Fraser Ellard, lhp Jairo Iriarte, rhp Yoendrys Gomez, rhp Wikelman Gonzalez, rhp *Bryan Hudson, lhp Jordan Leasure, rhp Davis Martin, rhp Tanner McDougal, rhp *Shane Murphy, lhp Peyton Pallette, rhp Shane Smith, rhp Grant Taylor, rhp Drew Thorpe, rhp Mike Vasil, rhp Steven Wilson, rhp Korey Lee, c #Edgar Quero, c Kyle Teel, c #Brooks Baldwin,ss/2b/3b/of Tim Elko, 1b Curtis Mead, 1b/3b/2b Chase Meidroth, inf *Colson Montgomery, ss Bryan Ramos, 3b Lenyn Sosa, 2b/3b/1b Miguel Vargas, 1b/3b/dh *Andrew Benintendi, of Luis Robert, of * Mike Tauchman, of (arb 3) Rule 5 Eligible but leaving off *Samuel Zavala, of Duncan Davitt, rhp Ben Peoples, rhp% Eric Adler, rhp% Adisyn Coffey, rhp% *Tyler Schweitzer, lhp Wilfred Veras, of DJ Gladney, of Connor McCullough, rhp

There’s a lot to criticize the Getz regime on, but their performance in the Rule 5 draft seems to be a pretty thin reed. Drohan wasn’t a sexy pick, but a lefty with starter traits who had success at AAA isn’t a horrible gamble for essentially nothing. Real problem there was health. Obviously they did much better this year. Also, why are people dogging on some JC pitching coach for getting his dream job? Seems kinda extreme, but I suppose there’s not a lot of news until after the WS.

Derek Hill survived nothing. He’s arb eligible and to cut him they would non-tender, not try to pass him through waivers.

The theory on Mead is that he was a really hyped prospect who couldn’t pick a lane hit vs. power. The Sox grabbed and said, “You gotta get stronger and hit for power.” They have a plan for him this offseason similar to Vargas. Is it gonna work? Who the heck knows? Gotta wait until next year to find out. But they are betting they can help him reach his ceiling. Not a terrible bet for a guy they picked up after he opted out of his AAA contract. Mead certainly has a higher ceiling than either of the pitchers they got.

James Franklin is out at Penn State. As someone who grew up in Michigan, he will be missed. Also, just letting the universe know, I would take a $49 million buyout.

No fan of the Cubs but I look forward to the day when cheering for a Cub loss is not the best thing a Sox fan can hope for.

Here’s a prediction: Sox go HS again next year. I’ll say Tyler Spangler and Sox Area Code guy Ethan Bass from Northbrook.

The fact that the Sox have only 3 arbitration guys, like 3 guys under contract and the rest pre-arb is all to the good. The tear down is finally complete and they can start building. I expect them to be very quiet this winter and then they can add payroll after the lockout when they know more clearly what they have. Tearing down the Anderson-Eloy-Moncada core has been one of the most disastrous periods I can remember as a Sox fan, but it does feel like they’re turning a corner. As to these 3 guys, for sure nontender Hill. They need the roster spot. The other 2? Meh. Insignificant either way in the long term.

This free agent class doesn’t exactly inspire me, but I would take Bellinger. It seems like his injuries are behind him and his positional versatility would come in handy as the Sox continue to figure out what they have. The pitchers are a real crapshoot. You don’t know what you’re getting from year to year with Cease and while I love his track record, Framber scares the hell out of me. There is a ton of mileage on that arm. in reality I will take the Josh Rojas/Nicky Lopez OF equivalent and I’ll be forced to like it.

Luckily for the Sox, the top of this draft is really deep. I would be happy with any of the top 4 guys: Cholowsky, Emerson, Lombard, or Spangler. Plus, Curiel, Burress, and Lebron could all up their stock. Sox should get someone really good no matter how the lottery turns out.

I think when considering the Sox farm system, rankings tell very little of the story. Rankings try to combine two really different things: high-end talent and depth. Of the two I think high-end talent is way more important unless you do a lot of prospect for salary trades like the Yankees do. The Sox have very good (not great) high-end talent. They do not have good depth. Their system would be much more highly rated had they drafted Konnor Griffin as the scouts wanted. But if you look at their 8th and 9th ranked guys, they are better than most systems. They issue is that they're top top guys slightly underperformed this year so instead of 65 at the top, they have like 8 55's and a 50. Those are all potential major league regulars, which is pretty darn good. Add that to the young guys they already have in mlb, you can start to see a corps developing. Now, they are likely to add a Top 5 pick in a deep draft. Also, there are several young players who may rise in the coming year. Fauske could be viewed very differently 12 months from now, for instance. Put all that together and there is definitely reason to be optimistic even if systems like the Brewers have even more reasons to be optimistic.

Drafting is so important. The difference between getting a #1 starter and a guy who maybe ends up in the pen can get a GM fired. Gotta say, I'm having Yesavage envy right now.

Post-hype prospect: Would you be into the Sox doing a buy low on Heston Kjerstad? He was BRUTAL this year in mlb and AAA. Fuller knows him. If he approves, I could see it. Likely out of options does not control the zone enough and is not a great defender. Wouldn’t give up hardly anything for him, but may be worth a flyer.