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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 18, 2024 8:50:48 GMT -5
"This draft is really atrocious after the top tier or two — there’s a very strong group of eight college players who should be the first eight picks in some order, then a decent second tier of guys from the college and high school ranks that maybe gets us to about pick 20, and then the position player group and the college pitchers just kind of fall apart. There are certainly interesting players beyond that, and if you are willing to swim in the high school pitching pond there are plenty of those guys to sign, but this year’s draft is going to have a lot of first rounders who wouldn’t go nearly that high in a typical draft." I'm a broken record with this, but I definitely think if you had to choose an optimal strategy in a vacuum it would be whatever college player in that tier you feel will go underslot and then high school arm in the second.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 17, 2024 21:22:51 GMT -5
Meidroth .211/.404/.315, with 12BB and 7k in 50PA. I am really hoping we get to see him playing acceptable infield defense and getting on base at a decent clip next year in the bigs. NEXT year? You lack imagination, friend.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 17, 2024 21:21:44 GMT -5
All the talk has been on Johanfran, for good reason, but brother Jhosty is hitting really well too. Maybe they’ll earn a joint promotion
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 17, 2024 17:20:09 GMT -5
Meidroth .211/.404/.315, with 12BB and 7k in 50PA. I am really hoping we get to see him playing acceptable infield defense and getting on base at a decent clip next year in the bigs. I forget, are they using the ABS in all of AAA again this year? I believe that's the case. I would be very hesitant to put a ton of weight on statistical performance that significantly dependent on BB rates in ABS leagues. I can see the argument both ways. Yeah, that's not the same zone he'll be getting in the MLB. On the other hand, it shows he clearly understands the zone, which is a skill indicator that I personally value quite a bit.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 17, 2024 15:40:02 GMT -5
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 16, 2024 18:22:06 GMT -5
Last year, Gonzalez allowed 16 runs in 8 2/3 innings in four April starts, walking 16. Which is to say, he's started very slowly before and it is hardly a reason to write him off. On one hand this is fair but on the other at what point does it constitute a trend that actually affects his major league outlook? It’s easy to write off when it’s in AA but would anyone be accepting of “oh he’s just a slow starter” if he was doing this in Boston? That’s almost certainly an overreaction and I’m not out on him as a prospect or even a starter at this point but I do think it’s a genuine point of concern.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 16, 2024 14:56:33 GMT -5
Maybe I’m missing your point but Urías is hitting .143 and isn’t a shortstop, so why are you invoking guys who would never have been considered options like him and Fitzgerald (who they already have another version of in Sogard)? Jeter Downs Niko Goodrum So you’re just listening bad players, now? I’m not quite sure what your point is.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 16, 2024 13:25:27 GMT -5
I do like the skill set a bit but since he talks about Jacob Jenkins-Cowart I’ll note that he was easily the coolest dude I got to interact with at the UVA regional last year, so I’d be stoked if the Sox drafted him
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 16, 2024 8:15:35 GMT -5
It's going to be so disappointing when he makes it to the majors and his nickname is just Wikky. This made me think of Wikelpedia, which I personally find amusing
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 15, 2024 12:19:46 GMT -5
A couple days late, but I worked the broadcast for Vandy-A&M on Saturday and had a few takeaways.
I'll quickly make note of a single underclassman (though I could talk about A&M's for days), and say that while he didn't do much in the game, RJ Austin was still a standout for me. It was a little like Jared Thomas at Texas where you could tell that, even though he was playing first base, he was clearly the best athlete on the field. Vanderbilt has a ton of upperclassmen across the middle infield and the outfield and, like Texas, very few true power bats, so I take it as a positive sign that they're doing what they can to get Austin's bat into the lineup (where he hits leadoff) as opposed to sticking him there because he can't handle another position. Unlike Thomas, who I like but is probably relegated to a corner outfield spot, Austin throws righty so he is a viable middle infielder. He was a top 100 recruit in his class as a shortstop, and while I can't find where else he's played the field at Vandy, he did play at least second, left field, and center field in the Cape Cod League (for the YD Red Sox!). He's a pretty classic contact-oriented speed guy, but I liked the approach and thought the swing had enough speed behind it to generate some decent power for the profile. He's been pretty productive from the jump, including the Cape, so if he transitions to a middle infield spot or center field next year, he's going to be a real guy for sure.
The two high profile players in this game were the starters, and it was a bit of a topsy-turvy day in that regard. You had Carter Holton, Vandy's ace who hadn't gone fewer than 5 innings all year and had generally worked with good control only going 3.2 innings after a first inning in which he couldn't find the strike zone. And on the other side you had Tanner Jones who hadn't gone LONGER than 5 innings all season going a smooth 7.1 shutout innings and generally dominating a merely okay Vanderbilt lineup. Both of these guys have real question marks as starter prospects, but are interesting arms nonetheless.
Jones is a pretty classic power arm, an athletic 6'2" and good repeatability to his delivery. He was sitting 93-95 pretty much the entire game, even into the 8th inning (the stadium gun had him slower but I was next to the intern with the Trackman data), so he has a starter's fastball for sure. He also has a really good changeup that plays off of that fastball quite well. That being said, there's not much of a breaking ball present, so when hitters are picking up on the changeup, it's really reliant on overpowering hitters with the fastball, which works but obviously is not something you're going to want to rely on as a professional. There's a lot to like there, but also it's a profile that doesn't have a ton of floor, given how volatile of a pitch mix that is, imo. But there's still plenty of tools to work with.
Carter Holton is a little more of a floor guy, to me, though there are physical limitations that may cap his ceiling. Those are pretty obvious - the guy is 5'11". A lot of teams may try to put him in a box for that reasons, but I do think he has the chance to stick as a starter. To begin with, his fastball was also 93-95, much better than I expected from a small lefty. He also gets a ton of movement on his breaking ball, and even in an outing where he exited early and the box score doesn't look great, I think I had him down for 14 whiffs (a lot of those were Braden Montgomery, who had his worst day as an Aggie). He did spike a few, but for the most part it was a very legit weapon. The control and command have been good on the year just going by the numbers, but in the first inning he just couldn't find the strike zone and they made him pay for it. A leadoff homer off of what I believe was a changeup (more on this in a second), a hit batter, 3 walks, and all of a sudden you're down 5-0 to the new #1 team in the country. After that, though, he settled in for a couple innings until he ultimately got chased in the 4th. The changeup is the point of concern for me as far as a starter's arsenal, as it seemed like that was the pitching A&M was really keying in on and doing their damage off of. But, that being said, despite the size concerns, he has a really good fastball-slider combo and enough of a track record of control that I will chalk it up to sample size weirdness, so I think he's certainly worth a look as guy you can develop as a starter knowing he has the stuff to play in a relief role.
I'll probably cut it for now as I've already gotten a little long-winded, but there are some other really interesting prospects for A&M that I have yet to mention in depth (Jackson Appel, Chris Cortez, Evan Aschenbeck) that I will get to at some point, as I will see them plenty more times before the season is over. Not a ton else stood out to me from Vanderbilt's perspective, they had a bunch of solid bats but no real standouts.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 14, 2024 14:25:27 GMT -5
Hey! Pablo Reyes did another thing! I’d like to spike from the roster Pablo when Grissom & Romy are ready, but then question becomes who would be your backup 1B/3B? Romy, right?
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 13, 2024 20:25:36 GMT -5
How long do you wait to promote Roman to AAA? Is after the Ref rehab assignment too aggressive? My two cents is that his development should be centered around Opening Day 2025, so I don’t see a ton of need to rush him unless they feel like AA just isn’t challenging him. I’d let him rake for a couple months and then push him and go from there.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 13, 2024 20:17:05 GMT -5
Promising early Early results. The early Early results make me feel good about being early on Early after seeing him live at UVA last year
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 13, 2024 20:11:41 GMT -5
2nd HR of the day for Eddinson Paulino Easy to see why he’s become a bit of a forgotten man amongst the position player talent in the minors but he’s still super young for the level, so it’s awesome to see him off to a really promising start.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 13, 2024 12:29:38 GMT -5
Great that he’s gonna play catch but scared the crap out of me that he’s going to test it because he feels anxious lol
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 13, 2024 8:08:15 GMT -5
Christian Koss: Traded to San Francisco (March 2024) They have a relief pitcher handling these matters. Edit: Yu Chang is out til May Luis Urias is on the Mariners' roster Maybe I’m missing your point but Urías is hitting .143 and isn’t a shortstop, so why are you invoking guys who would never have been considered options like him and Fitzgerald (who they already have another version of in Sogard)?
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 12, 2024 22:26:03 GMT -5
Oh great, it’s only took a couple weeks for this brainless discourse to return. I’m sure the front office definitely intended for nearly $75 million worth of players to get hurt almost immediately Tampa lost their shortstop for much, much less reputable reasons, and they’ve been more or less fine. Atlanta won their World Series after Acuna went down and they traded spare parts for underperforming spare part veterans. This isn’t the first offseason where some articulated a need for further depth that was ignored; it’s fair game to scrutinize the organization. This isn’t the first time. It’s fair game to scrutinize, but I wouldn’t call what that poster said or has ever said “articulating” anything. There’s failing to address certain aspects of the roster (I don’t agree with the scrutiny but it’s debatable) and there’s acting like they aren’t trying to win, which is just stupid. There are very obvious examples in the current MLB of teams that actively aren’t trying, the Red Sox are not one.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 12, 2024 21:02:23 GMT -5
I’ll also say that if they put Hamilton back out there tomorrow as SS, they clearly have no interest in winning the game. It should have been clear in the off-season that they give absolute no f*cks about winning many games. Oh great, it’s only took a couple weeks for this brainless discourse to return. I’m sure the front office definitely intended for nearly $75 million worth of players to get hurt almost immediately
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 12, 2024 20:08:30 GMT -5
Another A&M note - Ryan Prager just threw a run-rule 7 inning shutout against Vandy - 10 K’s, 0 BB’s, 4 hits (none til the 5th). He’s bounced back from a bad start against Florida to stay really hot in SEC play, and has been downright excellent all year.
If a team feels like there’s a couple ticks of velo to be added there, he’s a top 3 round prospect to me.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 12, 2024 18:41:56 GMT -5
I am super biased, but he should be 1:1. Worth noting that those train tracks are FAR from the fence. I was so young and innocent when I came into the year hoping him or Condon would fall to 12.
There’s a non-zero chance (not likely, but not impossible) that A&M has the first overall pick in these next three drafts.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 12, 2024 18:33:19 GMT -5
Not that Johanfran should be factoring into this decision much, but with the catching strength in the system both at the MLB level and with the rapidly ascending Teel, Hickey feels like an obvious trade chip, right? The bat is legit but if there’s a team that thinks he can be the strong side of a catching platoon, I think you have to explore the return. I think he’s at best the weak side of a platoon with Wong/sometimes DH, but Teel is going to force that issue sooner rather than later. He feels like a guy Billy Beane would have loved. It feels like it's going to take a stroke from God for hickey to be a passable MLB C other than in an emergency. I don't think they could pass him off as an option to play C to other teams but his bat is legit. Chris and Ian on the last pod said it’s mostly the arm and that you can squeak him by against teams that aren’t going to run a lot. Going by the Georgios Papagiannis principle (niche NBA reference meaning it only takes one team looking the guy to do something mildly crazy) it’s not a huge jump from there to 60-80 game a year catcher for a second division club, imo.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 12, 2024 18:24:16 GMT -5
Not that Johanfran should be factoring into this decision much, but with the catching strength in the system both at the MLB level and with the rapidly ascending Teel, Hickey feels like an obvious trade chip, right?
The bat is legit but if there’s a team that thinks he can be the strong side of a catching platoon, I think you have to explore the return. I think he’s at best the weak side of a platoon with Wong/sometimes DH, but Teel is going to force that issue sooner rather than later.
He feels like a guy Billy Beane would have loved.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 12, 2024 18:21:03 GMT -5
Kyle Teel vs helmet is gonna be a fun career long battle
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 12, 2024 17:31:20 GMT -5
Can we fire Bloom again? I’m looking back at his drafts, and it just adds to my frustration of what a waste this has been. Jud Fabian? Mikey Romero? Cutter Coffey? Even Yorke. Sure, they may turn it around, but … not looking great. I just can’t believe how much the Orioles have jumped past the Sox even when their ownership was barely spending. Bringing up "Bloom's failures in the draft" while ignoring Roman Anthony is picking cherries IMO. I put blooms failures in quotations because GMs from what I understand don't really impact the draft as much as one might think. He also drafted Mayer and Teel but those were kinda slam dunk picks but still. Also this is ignoring the fact that most of these draft classes during his tenure look like they could be pretty good lol I get why people would be frustrated about Yorke (though I think It’s wildly ignorant of at least three significant contextual factors), but anyone that thinks those drafts are bad needs to go look at what an average draft across the league looks like. They’re not exceptional but they’re pretty solid.
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 12, 2024 16:31:34 GMT -5
I think if they were so concerned about floor they would’ve gone college player, I think they picked them because they liked them as prospects Nope. We picked them because we could sign them to under slot deals Chaim was always looking for a bargain. …That’s not how the MLB draft works… Like, you do realize they still spent essentially their entire pool, right?
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