Timmy U

Man, this is fun. I could get used to suddenly having the best offense in the league.

The return is gonna bum me out regardless. It is so rare for the Sox to have a top 10 prospect or a potential 5 tool talent. For it to end this way with Robert is sort of crushing. It’s the way it has to be, but I am going to mourn what might have been.

Civale is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.

Do you think the Sox are ready to spend on vets? I'm more asking a question than having an opinion on Naylor. I'd imagine not losing 100 games 4 years in a row might be a goal, but it's not the way this team is behaving.

What are people willing to pay Naylor? 3/45? 2/25? I don’t even know what his market is gonna be. I don’t think the Sox are ready to hang a long contract to a good-not-great player heading into his 30s. If he’s reasonable, sure. He’s way better than Ryan Noda, but the last thing the Sox need is a brand new Benintendi contract during a rebuild.

That’s not a huge haul. I can see why the M’s did it. Nice rental for them.

Antonacci 2-3 with 2 doubles. He is currently hitting .455 in AA. I think he’s eventually a big leaguer. Jury is out on what his position will be.

I mean no ill will towards Bill Mitchell, but his lists are consistently horrible. If the Sox have 13 players better than McDougal, they have the best system in baseball. Kyle Lodise 12 spots ahead of Antonacci?! Does he watch any games? Not Sox games. I mean baseball games. Little League, anything? There are so many problems, I’m getting my next Top 30 from Duck pees on prospect names dot com.

Winning is fun.

I suspect a lot of people associated with the Sox are “not far from rehab.”

Perfect. Just in time to not be a trade asset.

I am at the game too. Maybe I’ll run into you, James.

I am in Pittsburgh today precisely to sprain his ankle. You’re welcome.

Outrighting Nastrini was what both the Sox and Marlins were trying to do. Dodgers succeeded. Hopefully they can fix him. Seems like a good guy.

McDougal is close to the innings he pitched last year. Maybe they’re gonna budget him the entire second half?

The Sox need someone to be what they were drafted to be. Either Montgomery becoming an All Star would be nice. But they also need a couple surprises like Barger for Toronto or McKinley for Detroit. Someone like Sosa or Baldwin or Antonacci outhitting their tools because they do not have enough legit prospects to build a decent offense.

Cuz Boston already played the White Sox?

If you suck, you always have a hard schedule cuz you don’t get to play one of the worst teams, you.

So... No Trade Winds forum this year?

Syndergaard got touched for 3 runs on 6 hits in the complex league. Doubt he’s throwing hard. But LaCombe threw 3 scoreless and Cristian Gonzalez continues to hit. Kinda nice.

Grant Taylor, Wikelman Gonzalez, and Tanner McDougal all have plus curveballs in the Sox system. They use the curve as a wipeout pitch and none of them really throw it that much for strikes. I think there are still hard curves out there, but the slow, loopy curveball is a lot more rare cuz modern hitters have gotten better at looking for it.

I always loved hearing from Harold. I miss him every day.

Yes. We’ll see. He has hit enough to where they may want to see that through.

So far, very mixed. Bonemer has been quite good, Smith has looked good but walked a bunch of guys, and Antonacci has been solid. But their Comp pick, Larson, and their 3rd and 4th rounders McLain and Saucke, have been hurt all year. Add to that that they drafted a ton of college relievers who need development, it could have gone better.

This is going to be a long long rebuild. There’s not much hitting talent above low A ball. Braden Montgomery, Antonacci, and hopefully Zavala are about it. I suppose you could hope for Jacob Gonzalez or William Bergolla, but if either of those guys is an every day player, something has gone terribly wrong with Colson Montgomery (not entirely unlikely). The good news is the Sox have Bonemer, Mogollon, Wolkow, Ronny Hernandez, and maybe Nunez at Kanny Gil, Steven Flores, and maybe Cristian Gonzalez in the ACL plus Mieses, Herrera, Soto, and Cruz in the DSL. You add Fauske and Carlson, suddenly they have a fair number of teenage hitters who may be able to move up the system together. It’s a long shot, but there’s some offensive ceiling at least.