Nardiwashere

Not sure I understand what you mean by "organic talent" but I think Moncada, Giolito, Kopech, etc. illustrate the Sox current philosophy than drafting Royce Ring in 2001.

Julio Encarnacion is a 14 year old out of El Palero, Dominican Republic, that I really like. Advanced hit tool but I don't know if he'll be able to stick in CF in 9 years.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the situation but it doesn't seem impossible that teams knew/suspected he would defect and be able to plan around the time it would likely take to clear. In my uninformed opinion, that's what I assume happens every time.

Few of the arguments are based on any information. The "We shouldn't have 2 million to spend" argument assumes the Sox had no idea he would be available, didn't plan for him, and simply forgot to participate in the international amateur process. The "I prefer other players" argument is ridiculous because no one here knows anything about any of these guys. Luis Robert was the biggest Cuban prospect in a couple years and no one even knew how to say his name... some reports said he was slow, etc. What information do SoxTalk users have about 16 year old kids in the Dominican Republic that they like better? If they sign him, cool... I hope hes good. If not, cool... I hope the guys they get end up being good.

Not seeing why there's so much outrage over being interested in a fast defensive wizard at SS who doesn't K that much. Guys who cover international prospects don't even seem to know much about them, let alone guys sitting in a cubicle on Soxtalk. How can anyone have such strong feelings about this one way or the other?

The Cubs and Dodgers and all these other good teams move guys around to different positions all the time.

Awful organization. Tampa is run by a bunch of idiots. OUT OF TOP FIVE!

Braves have Ryan LaMarre on their AAA team. He's so bad, he couldn't even stay in the horrible Sox organization. I am throwing them out of the top 5 of farm systems too.

Padres have Chris Stewart on their AAA team. He's 37 years old and has a negative career WAR in the MLB. Are they no longer a top 5 system?

I can't wait for the real games to start. People are arguing the merits of Alcides Escobar signing a minor league deal. Who cares??

If someone told you Burger would have Pablo Sandoval's career, you'd be insane to turn that down.

Yeah... I agree with some of the other posters... Post-Machado, people are flipping out over everything. He's a big dude, he was always a big dude, and he just had two lower body injuries. What do people expect? Pablo Sandaval was huge and had a couple allstar seasons.

Anyone know if they are doing the Ballpark Pass again this year?

I'd take Greinke's salary off AZ's hands. The next three years, try to get a rotation out of 5 of the following: Greinke/Rodon/Lopez/Kopech/Cease/Giolito/The ghost of Dane Dunning/Hansen/Lambert etc.

👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻 I refuse to be blamed for this! I've had this name for years on WSI... besides... the Nardi era was torn labrums, right? If the prospects start tearing their labrums, I'll banish myself back to WSI.

Eloy isn't being forced to sign the contract at gunpoint by Reinsdorf. If a deal is reached, it is because both sides think they are better off with the agreement than without, not because one side is a villain and the other side is a naive victim. If an anonymous poster on a message board is aware of the chance that the CBA will change the way young players are paid, Eloy and his agent are as well.

Why do people ask to be permanently banned? Why not just stop going to the site?

If I've learned anything, Brewers became a good team because they signed a lot of position players from Wisconsin. That's the secret recipe for team building.

huh? Also... no one ever said let's go see Charlie Tilson. I'm not the one advocating for more "non-New Trier position players from Illinois." You are. No one ever said let's go see Jason Kipnis either. You're just complaining about nonsense at this point. Do you want them to get non-pitchers who lived in Illinois (but didn't attend New Trier) because you think it will help them win or because you are concerned about attendance figures?

And you are defining homegrown as LITERALLY growing up in Chicagoland area or Illinois (except if they went to New Trier)... Why the hell does it matter where they were born? This is the most bonkers take I've read in a long time.

Joe Mauer was drafted first overall in the Mark Prior draft. He wasn't some hidden scouting discovery the Twins made because he is from Minnesota. Are you saying Ray should have been chosen by the Sox in 2013? Do you praise the Sox when they acquire Charlie Tilson and Burdi?

That doesn't explain what you said... Tell us how drafting 10th and not 5th in that draft is a "scouting failure."

Ok... thanks. That makes much more sense.

Here's another question... What happens if you are following a schedule of SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4, Opener in the middle of the season and your #4 SP gets rocked and he needs to be taken out of the game super early. Your bullpen picks up the slack. A bunch of bullpen guys pitch in your opener game. SP1 does ok, but he's facing the Yankees and they make him throw a lot of pitches and he leaves in the 5th and the rest is pitched by the pen. SP2 is fine and pitches 6 innings but that game goes 12 innings. etc. etc. etc. Isn't it easier to just find guys who are able to keep a team in the game?

Maybe my understanding of the opener is wrong. To me, that just sounds like an organizational decision to be quicker with the hook for their shitty pitchers. I thought the idea was you pull them before they get into trouble and each guy has a limit like the way they pitch all star games. What's the typical length of an outing for the opener? Does anyone know what the longest outing was for a guy who "opened" a game for Tampa or whoever else did this last year?