Con te Giolito

Unless his combine/pro days are abysmal he won't fall further than that. The Alabama defense is littered with pro players and he's shredded it two years in a row.

So if Watson makes it past the Browns and 49ers what do the Bears do? Trade down for a boatload of picks? Take Watson themselves? I'm not sure I see him falling out of the top 2 but if it somehow shakes out that way the Bears would be in an ideal spot.

Now that the board zeitgeist has moved to accept not trading Quintana until the deadline he will be dealt imminently.

I've been watching this for an hour and the 1st quarter is just ending. These breaks are egregious, is this the only money ESPN plans on making all year?

Yea Im not buying this explanation for the officiating double standard.

WORDING CAULFIELD, WORDING

Lately they have gotten carried away with Prescott and not using Zeke. Who knows if that was being done to preserve Zeke for the playoffs or whether their philosophy is shifting, but its been a noticeable trend of theirs.

Its too quiet around Quintana right now. Especially after that little blip last night...I sense an awakening.

My bad I didn't even check FS (doh!)...feel free to delete mods

http://www.baseballamerica.com/internation...oeBLK4EF5pFd.99 Some idea of what Robert is about: http://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id...s-island-beyond

Yankees fans are tolerating this "rebuilding" because it gives them a new opportunity to lord their superiority over everyone else by accumulating in vogue prospects, but another losing season and they'll get mad. They are having attendance issues, YES network is losing ratings and those same fans eager to pour giddily over prospects lists in the offseason wont be so supportive of Cashman if the Yankees are in 4th place. Lotta s*** talking amongst the AL East fanbases, finishing behind Baltimore and Toronto for another year would be insulting and unacceptable. Hal isn't Hank, that much is obvious, but he wont let the Yankees turn into a laughingstock. There's pressure on Cashman to contend and improve in 2017.

What I would give

This move to multi-inning bullpen guys and "firemen" is just a reaction to the growing scarcity of good starting pitching. How many starters around the league can get through a lineup 3 times who dont have ticking bombs in their elbows or shoulders? Maybe 50? Of whom about half you would start in a playoff game with enthusiasm. This stockpiling of arms is an attempt to get five and put them all in the same rotation. If the Sox can do that, add in a top closer (Burdi) plus a couple decent relief arms and keep everyone healthy its gamebreaking. Lotta ifs, but I get what they are up to.

Exactly. If the Sox are running out a rotation of Rodon-Giolito-Kopech-Lopez-Fulmer and all of them are hitting their cielings, or at least playing well enough that the Sox dont think they gain anything by bringing a new stud arm from into the mix, then the Sox are up 10 games in the division. At that point you're looking at possibly dealing those young arms for deadline pieces or letting them break into the majors as lights out bullpen pieces. This is where I agree with Balta though, strengthening the 2019 wave of the pitching Death Star has a lot of benefits because it allows them to be flexible. Having Dunning, Hansen and Keller/Perez all knocking on the door means in early 2019 that if things aren't working for somebody (and at that point it'll become clear who is destined for the bullpen or just cant hack it) there are new arms ready to step in and replace them. But if everything is working they are still valuable assets in myriad ways.

Lack of pitching has been just as instrumental to the Sox failures as lack of hitting. The bullpen situation has been an absolute travesty and that has everything to do with not having enough minor league pitching. I agree that the headliner ideally would be a top, top position player prospect but one thing I will never say after enduring the likes of Ronald Belasario and Hector Noesi in major roles is that the Sox have too much pitching on the farm.

Hard to compare Rodon and Glasnow. Rodon pitched like 30 minor league innings total before thrown into the major league fire while Glasnow has had five pro seasons with pro instruction and his issues walking guys has at best stayed the same. Now I haven't actually seen Glasnow pitch except what scattered video there is on Youtube, so maybe his command has improved and the walk rate just isn't indicating it yet. I kinda doubt that but scouting the stat line has its downfalls. Just by how I judge guys of Glasnow's profile I see him really as a reliever. Dominant relief pitchers are definitely not worthless, but I'm not trading Jose Quintana for a deal centered around one. Glasnow as the third piece would be outstanding as far as I'm concerned, and in a deal where he is included with Newman and Keller I can envision him as the third piece.

Pirates, but its close. What edges it for the Pirates is the lower risk profile on Newman (not that I dont like Tucker) and the lack of Franklin Perez from the Astros, who to me is the most attractive arm in their system from the White Sox perspective.

We are also finally totally free of the tyranny of FEDERAL HOLIDAYS and the cooling effect they have on the stove. Once we hear the words "mystery team" I'll know were close.

Love some good late nite hot stove leading into monday. Get some nice momentum going for a deal sometime midweek. I am of the mind that if the Pirates are getting Quintana they are giving up Meadows to do so. It makes no sense for them to deal Bell, and without one of those two Pittsburgh will have a real hard time competing with the potential returns from the Astros. Especially now that the Astros seemed to have taken their best shot at Archer only to come up short I feel like Luhnow will reflexively outbid the Pirates on anything that doesn't include Meadows as it means he wont have to offer up Bregman to do so. He'll do that even if his motivation is only to keep his options open, because once Quintana goes there's really not much left.

wRC+ is not a tool designed for evaluating the performance of 17 year olds. I know everyone here hates Avisail Garcia and never wants to say anything nice about him, but when the Sox acquired him there was legit reason to be excited. He had a very impressive season swinging the bat as a 20 year old in A+/AA and even before then he displayed more than just a knack for hitting as a a teenager. Fangraphs has its merits but god it turns into mind poison sometimes, just another way for people to confirm what they already want to believe by digging through a bunch of statistics and finding one they dont like from some kids age 17 season in low-A ball to say "LOOK HE SUCKED ALL ALONG".

Semien is turning into a very good SS with Oakland. 27 HR and his defense has become pretty solid now that he's not being asked to change positions every two weeks.

Even Fulmer. You have to go back a few years to find the time when Basabe would be #1, and I'm not sure being crowned king of that s*** mountain would be a compliment.

I don't think they are interested in re-signing Arrieta, but that's just my gut. It won't be for lack of money though, they are already swimming in it and these ticket hikes aren't going to dampen demand one bit.

Yankees could beat that offer in their sleep without even including Torres. Astros probably could too. Pirates would have to include Meadows, but if they were to put him in the deal I'm taking that package over that Cubs proposal. I'm not saying the Cubs don't have the bullets to get Quintana without including a major leaguer, but if one of the potential suitors already rumored become motivated buyers willing to move their top guys the Cubs won't be able to compete with their offers without including Schwarber.

Meadows, Torres and Bregman are all top 10 guys right now though.