8/26 Gameday Thread: And Then There Were Six

The GCL Sox were destroyed by the opposing starting pitcher. After a leadoff single was erased by a strike em out throw em out double play, Xavier Javier set down fifteen of the next seventeen batters. The two he didn’t get ended up creating the only score thus far for us, with a walk and a reach by error. Javier’s final line was 6 IP, 1 H, 1 unearned run, 1 walk, and 11 Ks.

In the bottom of 10th in GCL.
Regular baseball. Not using the new rule of starting a runner at 2nd

And Then There Were Five

Speaking with Head of Scouting, Ian Cundall, he says, "Top performers or guys who are more regarded prospects have a chance, [like] Abreu, Howlett, Marrero from the hitting side. Also watch out for "any college arms from the pitching side".

As far as Mi Rule 5 picks go the Sox did a solid job of snagging Tendler. He’s been useful in Portland this year.

We still have a long way to go to rebuild the system. But it seems to have a better second half of the season.The first half was dreadful!

Interesting that, unless the game logs are incorrect, they are not using the automatic runner on second in the minor league playoffs. Or at least not in the GCL.

Hard to think of a more brutal end to a season than a wild pitch.

The bad drafts have hurt them .As they haven't been able to replenish the graduations and trade aways. Hopefully the recent draftees and ifas change that.

I don't think the "bad drafts" thing holds anymore. Have they had a bad draft since 2013? You could argue 2015 was weak after Benintendi, but they cut deeply into it by giving up picks to sign Ramirez and Sandoval (ostensibly to help the major league club), but even after that Lakins and Poyner look like contributors. You can't gut your draft pool and then blame the drafting. And the "after Benintendi" would do a lot of lifting in that opinion anyway, since either he or Bregman is the best player in that draft--getting him was way more important than getting a marginally better player in, say, the fourth round. Jury is still out on 2016, but I'd be surprised if fewer than four of the top six play in the majors, and all six have a realistic shot at getting there.

They aren't graduating dudes because players near graduation like Kopech, Allen, Shaun Anderson, Dubon, etc. were traded to help the major league club, but that certainly doesn't make the drafts themselves bad. The fact they made draft picks good enough to be flipped for current major league help is why the team is about to win over 100 games.

I went to the opener of the Lowell series in Norwich yesterday. The first order of business was to try to get any updates on the injury status of Montero and Dearden who hadn't played since the 18th. I went behind the Spinners dugout where 5 players were leaning over the rail before the game but was a little embarrassed that I didn't know any of them. The Connecticut scorecard doesn't list the players so I was reduced to "Hey guys". One turned around and I asked how Tyler was. "Tyler who?" I was asked. Tyler Dearden. Then one of the 5 said he was Tyler. (Next year I will remember to print the roster before I go) Tyler said it was a back injury that sidelined him but that he was feeling better. I asked if he would play again this year and he said that was the teams decision. I told him he was having a great year and proceeded to the bullpen.

This was a longer yell but again a player was gracious enough to turn around and answer my question about Montero. He said he would not pitch again this year but had begun throwing again so we can hope the one month rest will take care of whatever the issue was. He was dominating in his last outing on July 6 in Norwich.

Great to hear your in-person updates, soxin8.