2024 MLB Draft

Is the doubt because of the talent level of Yorke or Romero? Or could it potentially be due to their path being blocked? (Grissom, Story/Mayer being moved to 2nd, Meidroth, maybe Valdez? Paulino if he can hit LHP? Just throwing that out there...

I feel like you've been around here long enough to know that's not how this works. The Red Sox signed Trevor Story while they had Marcelo Mayer and still had Xander Bogaerts. They signed Pablo Sandoval when they had Rafael Devers. They traded for Vaughn Grissom because they liked the value and they needed help in the short term, and the more good players an organization has, the better. I don't know enough about Christian Moore to say one way or the other if he's the guy, but eliminating him because they've drafted guys at the same position who didn't work out (who, for the record, haven't yet not worked out, to use a double negative) is a bad approach. You all sound like the people who said the Lions shouldn't draft Calvin Johnson because of Charles Rogers. I mean, Moore hit 29 homers this year, he's a very different player than Mikey Romero.

How are Yorke and Romero comparable other than being HS picks. Romero was drafted as a SS, his write-up on this page said some evaluators believed he would be able to stick at the position. If you want to say don't select 2nd base only guys in the first round then I can see that rationale but I don't get lumping Romero into that.

Our scouting report says that he’s potentially an average big league shortstop. Potentially average. Not floor. I just drafted a SS 4th overall, the year before. Then spent 150m on Story. I don’t believe many in Sox organization see him as our future SS.

Also being overlooked in the Christian Moore discussion is if that's being considered his absolute ceiling, he'd almost certainly be below slow, and potentially well below. So yeah if you wanna throw a fit over a guy who may just be a bat-first second baseman you can choose to do so, but the flip side of that pick may be high school pitchers in the next two rounds as a result.

You don’t draft for need in baseball, these guys are usually a minimum of 2/3 years away….sometimes 5+ if they’re a high schooler. Tons of crap changes in that time. You pick the best players and when they get to the high minors you can deal them if they’re blocked

2nd baseman are almost always the bottom of the skill totem pole. If you are playing 2B in college, it is because somebody on your team is a better fielder than you are at SS or CF -- and you are not even in MLB yet -- where players are even more athletic and need to be even more defensively skilled. Drafting people without the potential to be a frontline SP or a C, SS or CF in round 1 is stupid -- unless the player has a 60 grade hit or power tool and they play elsewhere.

There is not enough data or insight into a pre-professional player to like the floor enough of a kid without potential premium position or premium tool talent to warrant using a round 1 pick on them. You can find kids who play well at their level but don't have future MLB-level talent all over the draft.

If you have a pick in the top 15 at least, the pick should be based on the player's ceiling. And at 2B, the ceiling is determined by excellent defense (typically from a SS who moves to 2B as a professional) + excellent offense. If you think a guy is a a likely 30+ HR 2B, maybe it's a discussion. But without shifts, your 2B needs to play excellent defense because it benefits your entire pitching staff. Or conversely, a not great or poor 2B robs value from your pitching staff.

I don't have a comment on whether Romero will stick at SS or not -- but I do believe the above to be true on a probabilistic value basis, which is how teams have to make decisions.  So I would really prefer we not select a 2B in Round 1.

Not all drafted players need to make a career in Boston either, if he develops into a 45/50 FV guy and gets dealt for a big league piece, that’s a win too. Just get and develop talent then figure it out.

I'm no Ian Cundall but I watched him pitch and he was 93-95 on his fastball with decent secondaries that will probably make him a solid mid-rotation starter for a long time. His biggest problem was the speed difference between his slider and curve were almost identical so MLB hitters will either get an low 90s fastball or mid 80s breaking ball.  If his fastball were upper 90s, he'd have an easier time working off the fastball and his secondaries would look much different. His MLB pipeline profile also checks out on mid-rotation upside. I reserve my #1 starter label for electric stuff that I'll know when I see it.

I also 100% hope they draft Yesavage. 

This is a weirdly strong take for taking a pitcher over a hitter who grades equally when all of the historical data suggests hitters are better bets in the draft.

Personally, I would be more frustrated if their plans for succeeding in 2026 rely on a 2024 draft pick being part of the rotation (or really, any part of the equation at all).