Leaderboard

I’m not sure I really care much anymore. I don’t ever want to draft a 1b top ten again, but when the alternative profiles are Mississippi prep talent, soft injury riddled second baseman, or TJS pitcher, it’s not like you are veering into safer territories. when you look at previous “bad” drafts, there is no safety anywhere, it can be an entire first round of only 1-2 major leaguers. At least Cags has 2 plus tools. Griffin is high upside. I still hope Condon falls.

It’s a great trade. Not even about the player at 39. That pick is worth $2.4 million. The Nats pick 10th because of the same rule prohibiting the Sox next year. In theory, they could float Chase Burns or Hagen Smith down to 10th overall now with your extra $$. That’s why it’s a valuable trade

Ok but what if they draft him as a center fielder

I would hope so as well. A .968 OPS in 36 ACL games in his first stateside action is great for someone we were adamantly told wouldn't amount to anything because he's short ??.

Remember when Sheets appeared to have improved his hitting earlier this season? Current Line: .224 / .315 / .379 / .694 Career Line: .228 / .297 / .395 / .692 Sheets, you are who we thought you were.

I've never seen a sox CF that gets better jumps coming in than Robert. Going back he has some issues but coming in and to the sides he's the best I've seen, and that includes Cameron in his early prime.

It was the year after they won a World Series lmao. They sold off Carlos Lee after 04 because they refused to pay him, refused to resign Magglio and let him go to the tigers, and had to get Dye coming off a broken leg and AJ coming off of a year when he was vilified in San Francisco. the pen was a bunch of castoffs. This was the same playbook it just was lightning in a bottle.

Folks and fans it is now official! The Sox now have more losses than any other team in MLB history before the All-Star break. 70 was the magic number. It breaks the tie they had at 69 with the 2018 Orioles and the 1979 Athletics. Congratulations go out to the three stooges on this honor...JR, Getz and Grifol! ???

I still don’t think you understand how this all works and I try and explain this every year.

Pipeline has him at #23 in the Sox system and they slap a 40FV on him. Love Jim Callis, but this is insane. Anyone who saw him last year at W-S would have been at least 45+ once he proved he could play short. Hitting .330 all year at higher levels, I think he's a 50.

It’s only going to get worse in the second half. Yet, the three stooges as you call them aren’t going anywhere this year.

Very good sign for Kopech and the trade market in general

you think a team with half the talent is gonna win more games after July 30th? I want what you're smoking. you realize they're probably trading away everyone who has a pulse, right lol

I would say they overused him in an entire season sense. He has held up to the workload well so its not a short term issue. However he is already double his previous season high. He is already at more innings than conventional philosophy would say he should go or at least close to the high end of it. They are just pushing it with adding more innings. It's not just this season but what he looks like next year. Most pitchers that pitch in the post season say they aren't the same the next year just from the extra time and innings with that.

That may have been the worst home plate umpiring I have ever seen.

Schriffen moaning about the umps, like shut the f*** up b****. What do you know about what is and isn't a strike? You don't know s%*# Also I am drunk

Sheets can go away with Eloy.

This performance is shocking because it is so one-sided. Flexen is throwing to a normal strike zone. Pirates are throwing to the Grand Canyon. I'd check his friends' Fan Duel accounts for this game.

I actually doubt either Robert or Crochet will be traded before the offseason, BUT... Bowden is an idiot. He's never right about anything.

A tip of the cap.

Pitching several times a week in relief, often back-to-back days, throwing as hard as you can, is supposed to be easier on his arm and keep him healthy? Not to mention that he got hurt as a reliever and has stayed health as a starter. Pitch him every 6 days and cap his pitches/innings.

I think the plan would be make him an opener for two months and then ramp him back up to a starter before the playoffs. Two NL GMs that Jim Bowden talked to who have interest in Crochet said as much. And I think that plan could potentially work, although it certainly comes with risk. That being said, there is no player available who could have a potentially bigger impact in October than Crochet. If you’re confident in what you have to make the playoffs, he’s the ultimate World Series swing for GMs with big balls.

I kind of liked the accidental idea of not signing this year's pick and getting it back again next year, lol.

I don't think so. It probably helped. Everyone knew he was going to get bullpen number innings in the second half. This shows other teams that the Sox are protecting him for the next team.

question I have is, will the Sox spend money on real talent in the off season, because we will have almost an entire roster to replace. RF, 3B, SS, 2B, 2 to 3 starters, a backup catcher, possibly an entirely new coaching staff. if they think they're just gonna turn the Sox into Charlotte/BHam Midwest, the record next year probably won't differ from 2024 too much

A lot of players are already returning to the mean. The production we saw in other cases will be replaced at a higher level with people from the minors. I really think we’ll be better in the second half regardless but don’t get me wrong: we are still going to suck ass.

If your Fandom is based on winning, you picked poorly.

I agree with you. I think the only real option for a deal would be something like 3/$45m or 3/$50. Guarantee him 5/15 for his 2 arb years, and maybe you get a deal on a third with a buyout in case he gets injured again. But he's young and has little mileage on that arm.

Sox luck. The quarter lands in a crack and is not clearly heads or tails.

We all had very different ideas about how he would be handled that for sure when it was 1st announced he would be a SP. I've reread that thread a few times. I was conservative like everyone else. I understand the line of thought that the Sox have done him a disservice but on the other hand they'd allowed him to stay in the majors rather than in the minors and reduced the time it would take to become a FA. I'm one of a few who thinks if the Sox offered him a conservative extension that bought out a year or of his FA years he would be wise to take it given his history but others say it would take $100M to get him to bite now . But others think I'm crazy because they think in 2027 ( 2 short years) he'll get a big payday while I think 2 years+ is a long time and a lot can go wrong .

I agree as I've said many times it's unprecedented what's going on and there is a good possibility it could backfire which is why I don't understand why other posts say that Crochet could be in line for a $200-300M contract. A whole hell of a lot would have to go right for a guy with no track record of starting pitching and poor health to overcome those thingsto be in line with that kind of contract which I said a few posts back.

Your premise is correct that Crochet should have a say. He has never been a starter and has never learned how to deal with a starters structure and load. He has no idea what he us doing. He is making it up just like the Sox are. He has physical limitations that he has no idea about how to quantify them. What is normal fatigue, what are normal aches? He could he doing long term damage to his body and he thinks it's normal because he's never experienced them.

Are you like a child that doesn't understand that Crochet has a big say in what happens to him ? If Crochet thought the Sox weren't doing what best for him he could say I'd rather do it this way just like Kopech . But since things are working out for Crochet sofar then we have to assume he and the Sox are in sync on his pitch count per game . Why does that make me the old man ? You're the one always yelling at the clouds about how everything sucks . Screw Getz screw Grifol the players are bums as if you didn't know that in the 1st year of a rebuild and with huge budget slashes that things would be ugly. My approach is level headed, yours is very emotional . You wanted people to stick it to @JUSTgottaBELIEVE because Crochet went 2 innings and you thought it was the start of a permanent workload decrease right around the 100 innings mark until others corrected you that it was workload management for the All Star break and you said yes you guys are probably right.

This is where I'm at. All 3 of the guys have some major red flags. If it's Cags so be it. Toss him in right field and let's hope for some prodigious dongers on the south side.

Yeah, I think that’s what a team would prob do. Either have a 6-man rotation or keep him on schedule every 5th day and have him pitch an inning or two with a long reliever. How many teams could do that though? It would have to be a team that is basically a lock for the post-season but I don’t know if there is ever such a thing.

Did not see that, only he was on the 7 day IL.

I can say with 75% conviction that Crochet will never get a $200M+ contract. Too many things have to go exactly right for a pitcher who has no track record of pitching one full season yet and no track record of health. Why anyone would hyperbolize to that degree is insanity with so much working against him . Remove the fanaticism and give it odds like Vegas does. Vegas might give you 2-1 odds against him ever getting a contract like that. As much as I think he's much bigger and stronger than he's ever been , he's got to be great and healthy for the rest of this year and 2 more years in 2025 and 2026.

Nah, that’s a weak excuse. The Sox have sucked for years. What does a .490 baseball get anyone? No playoffs, no chance at a WS, so what does that do for you? You may as well just be excited about every win the Sox get in a losing season cuz .490 doesn’t get them anything better.

No, that is not what I am saying. Your expectations are understandable but too high considering the current Sox owner. I understand being upset about not extending a stud like Witt in the hypothetical scenario in which the Sox drafted him but you are the same guy that wanted to bring back the decaying corpses of Abreu and Anderson so you can watch them attempt to play .490 baseball. The fact of the matter is that there are some teams with cheap owners like JR that don’t want to and won’t spend on all facets of their organization to win. But obviously that is no excuse. There are other ways to win, even with a low MLB payroll. Look at the Rays for example. They are competitive almost every year because they have a good front office, good scouting, and good development. Instead of being upset about not extending players that may or may not be past their prime, you should be wishing we had a team like the Rays that know how to: 1.) Draft the right players and develop them. 2.) Trade away their MLB players as they get more expensive via arbitration and approach free agency for promising prospects. 3.) Don’t waste a combined $20+ million dollars on garbage veteran bench players year after year like the Sox when your own developed prospects would be better for a fraction of the cost. Instead of championing a wise change like this, you wish we would sign over-the-hill nostalgic vets like Abreu and Anderson because you are apparently happy watching .490 baseball. The question is, why are you happy to watch .490 baseball that leads to absolutely nothing?

Commish needs to hit the Sox with the biggest fine in history in the best interests of baseball. Or demand they let fans in free.

Who is Roberts? We don't have any players by that name.

Likely worth more? He’s worth way more. I don’t know what package Baltimore could put together to pry Skenes away, but it certainly doesn’t begin and end with Holliday.

His approach makes you think he's going to be a legit pro. Watching Colson this year has been very frustrating at times as he'll literally take 3 pitches straight down the plate without flinching. I'm not souring on Colson, but man do guys like Baldwin do everything and then some and they just don't get the respect they deserve.

Baldwin 2-3, 2bb 1K. His K was taking a very close 3-2 pitch. He is a ballplayer.

His boss is.

His waitress at the Lawrence KS Applebee's

It's not "headhunting". It's shot blocking. Maybe in the 65+ league at the Y no one is athletic enough to do this, but this is standard fare in competitive basketball. Clark said it wasn't a big deal, as did Reese. None of Clark's teammates tried to do anything about it because they also knew it was incidental. Tell me how you know better than all of them? You either have no idea what an actual hard foul looks like, or you really want to push the Reese is a villian agenda for some unknown reason.

greg needs more pearls to clutch...