Timmy U

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.

KC struggled all year. Depending on health, their line up was like 2.5 guys.

I thought it was interesting that Baldwin was the first current player they listed. Maybe it's alphabetical. But as the #1 Baldwin stan on this board, I hope it's because they really like the player and think he's going to be a key contributor this year.

The interesting thing with Vaughn is how long his slumps last and how deep they are. Every year he's a pretty good player for 4/5 months, but his bad month(s) are so bad that it drags down his value. Usually it's September. Last year it was April/May. If he could shorten his slumps or hit .200 instead of .150 during them, he could become a 120 WRC+ type of guy. That would be league average for a starter at that position and make his contract a bargain. Maybe Fuller can help him with that.

Meidroth's reputation with Boston is that he is quite good defensively even though physically he may not look the part. OTOH, I am leery of MiLB players that are extremely passive with low exit velocities who build stats on taking walks. MLB pitchers generally go after guys who can't hurt them. So I am skeptical that Meidroth is really better than Badwin or Sosa or Gonzalez or Nishida or whoever. But my fear is not the glove.

My understanding is if Vaughn went to arbitration, the contract could be voided and he could be released. But, if you agree to a contract with him to avoid arbitration, that contract is guaranteed. Am I mistaken?

No.

Loved the interview. Thanks for posting. I run a smallish organization and how he talks about delegating, getting info, process, etc. is spot on. Very impressive.

The Sox were like 29th in team defense last year so Lopez and DeJong were not the answer. I believe better coaching, preparation, and positioning is going to make a big difference no matter who they run out there. Amaya got a fairly long run last year and does not appear to be an mlb player. I think between Baldwin, Sosa, Meidroth, and Montgomery they will fill their middle infield. Had no hopes for Amaya anyway.

Called. It.

Excellent! He did a nice job at Birmingham.

Nice pull on the two Jordans! Sadly, Spencer Adams had hype when drafted, but never had plus stuff. The other two names from back then were Jimmy Lambert and future big leaguer (briefly) Bernardo Flores. A lot of those guys (esp. Stephen’s, Flores and Lambert) were seen as relievers. Low draft picks who struggled some in college that the Sox were trying to reclaim. I seem to remember Stephen’s was overused in college and never did much after being drafted.