Timmy U

I wasn’t calling it success. I was predicting what they’ll do. Elias is stubborn.

The Orioles can score a lot of runs. They have had success with a patchwork rotation before. I predict they do nothing.

Flip candidates almost always have to be bargain basement guys made good. By definition, FA signings go to the club willing to pay them the most money. Unless Torres magically recaptures his form from the juiced ball year, he's getting paid the max of what any team wants to pay him. The prospect cost of acquirig him at the deadline will be marginal. It's similar to a scenario where Benintendi has last year's second half in the first half of 2025. He'd get you something, but it's not gona be a top prospect.

He’s not great but Torres may have some upside left for the Tigers.

I was at the game where he broke the streak with, I believe, a bunt single. Then he went yard. I seem to remember it was off pre-steroids Roger Clemens.

I dispute the premise that the reason the majority of Sox prospects have failed is that they were rushed. Yes, most prospects have failed. And, yes, many of them were rushed, but hitting in the majors has gotten increasingly hard and the Sox have not been good at developing players after their ascension. If, for instance, Eloy, Moncada, and Robert were rushed, you’d expect their initial time in the majors to be a disaster. But after brief adjustment periods, they all thrived. Then, over time, the league adjusted and they did not keep up. That points to problems in the major league staff, information, preparation, etc. Even Beckham had initial success. Now, I suppose you could argue that you have to wait for a prospect to struggle in the minors, adjust, and then they will be ready. But that can easily be disproved by hundreds of players who never struggled in the minors and then excelled in the majors Trout, Soto, etc etc. going further back, the Sox rushed a bunch of guys who were later successful. Harold Baines had no business being in mlb when he was called up. Robin Ventura hit .270 with 2 HR in AA and was the opening day 3b the next year. It’s possible all of those Sox prospects ho busted just weren’t good enough and would have busted whenever they were brought up. Or the Sox are not very good at helping their players once they get to the majors. Either way, I doubt a month in Charlotte is going to matter that much to Colson one way or the other.

Sox can’t even win most aggrieved fans. ESPN did a ranking and placed them 3rd, ahead of the Angels and Mariners cuz “things can turn around in a hurry”? Why the Mariners and Angels? God only knows. What about A’s fans? Their team left. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/43062978/mlb-2024-10-most-frustrated-fan-bases-angels-mariners-cubs-cardinals

Just what Venable needs, another guy who interviewed for his job looking over his shoulder

I like guys who can hit and they can work on the glove. Gunnar Henderson is an example of a good athlete people kept saying would have to move to 3b. With good coaching, he has made himself GG-caliber. Bonemer is a guy like that for the Sox. Bigger guy, great athlete. His D has been good as an amateur, but the ba is the carrying tool. Give me guys like that.

For sure. And at the lower levels there will be quite a few piggybacks.

Good list. I think you are too aggressive on Wikelman Gonzalez (I think they have said he is going to be in AA). Also, a little aggressive on Batista. I bet he spends the first half in that jam-packed W-S rotation. I bet they sign some AAAA guy for rotation depth in Charlotte. But this is a very good list. Kanny’s rotation is a real head scratcher. I think Reyes could see time there as well as Oppor, LaCombe, etc., plus I will be interested to see whether Yohemy Nolasco is back.

I hate this trade, but here’s the logic: Boston faces a roster crunch. They’re gonna have to DFA this guy, so they ask around for trade proposals. They Sox like the guy enough that Boston knows he ain’t getting past waivers, so they take less than he’s worth so they don’t let him go for nothing. They reports are good on Fajardo, but DSL pitcher is not a huge price, so the Sox were willing to pay it. Maybe Boston bluffed them and they had no other offers, but whatever.

Good trade for the Phillies. I am suspicious of glove-first shortstops that far from the majors. A lot of utility player risk.

Sox still have Wilson because he was had zero value at the deadline.

I hope they get more for this guy than they got for Brebbia, Wilson, Dominic Leone etc.

Wtf?! Why the hell are they trading Fajardo for a 32 year old DFA guy?! I hate this!

Sox roster was at 40, so we will see a corresponding move. After watching Ely kinda hate filling up 40 man with marginal relievers from other teams rather than giving our marginal relievers a shot.

Maybe they need a carpenter.

Agreed, but there is one more important point: Sox system is very full right now. Easy to add elite talent to one of the teams but the rotations and line ups are very crowded everywhere above the Complex league. If you add 40/45 type players who are not ready for AA, they wouldn’t have any place to play. The rotations of Birmingham and W-S are full. Position player group at W-S and Kanny also full.

Dominguez is penciled in to play left, but that is an easy position for the Yanks to play the hot hand. I will believe Dominguez gets 500 at bats for them when I see it.

Mayo appears to be the consensus favorite. I just don’t see it. O’Hearn is darn good. Mountcastle is a solid righty bat who plays 1b/dh. O’Neill is gonna take the righty at bats in right field, plus Kjerstad has to get time. Maybe there are at bats to be had at 3b, but that means Westburg is either hurt or playing 2b because Holliday has failed to make the team. If the Yankees believed in Dominguez, they wouldn’t be spending $50 mil on Bellinger. Wilson is a good player, but lacks impact. I would bet Jobe of those 4, but I would rather have the field. Look at last year. No one had Gil. Someone like Burke could grab it as a more experienced player who gets a full season. RoY is really hard to predict.

It would be 1 year of Tucker for 3 years of Robert. Not a horrible trade.

I see your point. Here are some counterpoints: You promote him because you want PPI draft picks. And not just rookie year. The Royals got one cuz Witt Jr. finished second in the MVP voting. Or maybe you want to get his struggles in adjusting to the majors out of the way ASAP, while you still suck. The Sox are going to be breaking in 3/4 of their line up in the next 2-3 years. Better to not have them all be rookies at the same time? It has never been a harder transition. Finally, maybe they want something, anything, that is interesting to watch about their baseball team. Keeping him down for a while makes sense, but I don’t think it is the only choice here.

Thanks for posting this. The whole interview is awesome. Ely is really high on Schultz, obviously. Very high on Carela. Loves Cannon. Thinks Thorpe is going to figure it out. Iriarte has upside, but there is a lot to do. High praise for Garret Schonle and Adisyn Coffey too.

4.2 fWAR