Timmy U

The Cease return boils down to how you felt about Thorpe at the time. He was a top 50ish prospect but as a righty change up specialist. I am usually not real high on command over stuff guys, so I was down on it. Before Thorpe was hurt, he dominated MiLB, and showed flashes in MLB. Both Iriarte and Zavala took steps back. The return was 1 player light the day it was made. Feels lighter than that now. I still have hope for both iriarte and Zavala. Thorpe? Who knows at this point?

Possibly. It is an odd profile: tons of contact, almost zero swing and miss, but goes outside the zone, 30 power. So, all the OBP is in the batting average and there is no slugging. If he doesn’t have plus defense, that’s barely a regular. Maybe he’ll get stronger or more selective, but right now he looks like a second division regular.

Wilson had like a .630 OPS with disappointing defense last year. He has some work to do to win RoY.

I wish. He is out of options. I predict Ramos is the odd man out.

Swanson at 6 is a little crazy. I will note only Henderson and De La Cruz are not making a gazillion dollars, so I would keep expectations down about the Sox getting to league average any time soon. It’s Coldon or bust.

So sad. One of my all time favorites. RIP.

Opening Day?

Thanks. God forbid anyone express any optimism about anyone. Negativity until proven otherwise.

Could it be $$$?

Why is everyone concerned about how good the Dodgers are? There are 28 teams between the Sox and the Dodgers right now. Achieve “not the worst team ever” and then we can start worrying about the Dodgers.

Patino is a nice consolation prize. Let’s take more of the Dodgers class.

At least the Blue Jays scored that sweet Myles Straw contract.

The Jose Leclerc Oath: First, do no harm. Second, do no good either.

But what about their porous border with Buffalo?

Yep. He did not have a good first season. I don't think the Sox are gonna bring him stateside this year, which would be a terrible sign. Herrera was a typical Sox International: R/R mature physically, power over hit, defensive questions as to whether he'll stick at 3rd. Cruz is rail-thin with much more projection left, hit over power, and supposedly a very good defender. But he's still a Paddy guy and Keller sounded a little skeptical in his presser. We'll see.

Ben Badler says they have only 2 medium-sized commitments. They have a big chunk of cash left over that they were saving for Sasaki.

For sure. And my prediction is that team is Texas.

Very encouraged that Zavala has essentially ditched his leg kick. Him breaking out would be huge for the org. Personally, I have not given up on him playing center. He's not Robert out there, but to me he's at least as good as someone like Roman Anthony. If he hits, I think he could stick there.

I have never liked the player and was vehemently against the deal as soon as it was made. That said, I hope he proves me wrong and hits and is able to be competent somewhere like 1b.

Baldwin, Sirotka, and Parque were all pretty good before they shredded their arms within weeks of each other in 2000.

Industry people are often stubbornly predicting moving players to lower defensive positions etc. On pipeline podcast they were talking about how one evaluator was convinced Verlander was headed to the bullpen. I say, we let Montgomery play and over time it will be obvious whether he can stay at short or not. Any talk of moving him to 1st is insane. He might be marginal at short, but he is great at 3b.

I didn’t say I believed in him. I said that’s what I thought his plan was. As a wise man once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

Similar to Santos going to Charlotte, Leyland gets to go up a level with some of his team from Kanny. This is a crucial assignment for the coaches as the Dash look to be loaded. I have Saucke, Zavala, Montgomery, and possibly McClain in the outfield. I imagine Jeral Perez, Antonacci, and maybe Bergolla will be there. Outside chance Ronny Hernandez makes that team as well. Smith and Taylor are probably both in the rotation. Like half of their top 30 with probably pass through at some point.

I think he does have a plan, but it’s not sexy. Build industry-standard or better processes/practices in all departments — scouting, development, analytics — outcompete other teams for young talent, then have a choice of players to form the core of a team. That is, don’t count on three guys you got from one trade to save the franchise. Then when you have that base, spend more to retain/acquire players for sustained success. That is easier said than done and is going to take a lot of time and money to complete, but it is perfectly rational. On the Future Projection podcast this week, Carlos and Ben talked about the successful teams have excellent communication between FO, PD, and scouts. The Sox have been remedial in all three areas and had terrible communication. Getz is trying to fix that and get them to at least league-average. It was clear by the second half of 2021 that the Sox needed a complete demolition of their org, scrape it below the foundation and then build something entirely new. Last year was year -1, this is year 0. Building something competitive is gonna take a long time.

I watched Narvaez a good deal with the Mets. Really seemed old for his age. Catching is a tough job. Always liked him, so maybe this is a decent no-cost pick up. Unlikely he would be worse than Maldonado.