GreenSox

This series was an utter disgrace.

Fulmer had a rushed, jerky delivery. It was an obvious even to an amateur watcher like me. He also induced a lot of bad chase in college that wasn't going to happen against pro hitters. It wouldn't surprise me though if Smith was a JR pick. Our insiders/gurus posted many times pre-draft that they'd be surprised if the Sox took a pitcher; and yet, they did. The guys ranked 12-15 on Law's list look interesting to me - get one on an underslot.

Clevinger's owner-buddy must have sold his shares to the Ishbias. I expected Clevinger to do well in the pen. That performance was certainly below expectations.

And of course the Dodgers know this and will try to get a nice bargain. They'll do better than a 0-WAR offer, probably a 1-2 WAR offer: Outman and a decent prospect. I doubt that prospect is "frontline" at this point.

And he didn't go past 5 or 6 innings very often in college. In 2023 they draft low-ceiling Gonzalez and in 2024 they pass on high ceiling Cags. Well, I think the way they draft is weird and sort of arrogant (and they don't have the results to support arrogance).

Matt Thornton for Borchard. He spit the bit on the major trades. But none of the bad trades were devastating (in contrast to those of his successor). The Sox were good for most of the period 1990-2010. Not coincidentally, their farm system was consistently good until the end of that period....and not from the fruits of dispersal trades, but from their own drafting, international signings and development.

Technically, the last was Marcus Semien in 2024 (and a few other years). And before Semien and Anderson was Chris Young in 2010.

How is this depressing? It's progress. Yes, the Ishbia's first priority is having a spot to park some money. But I doubt that they put up with a dog-and-pony show for too long. And at some point, JR's sons may have "that talk" with their aging father. And as somebody said above, you can print money if you do this right.

Astros were so good at finding these players that they drummed-out a young JD Martinez during the rebuild and it didn't matter. I agree that the Sox have been way light on finding diamond-in-the rough types. Hahn actually found a couple of these guys right before he decided to rebuild; I guess he found some c. 2020 but then forgot about them. All relievers. Hahn barely used Rule V at all during the rebuild.. He got virtually nothing from secondary trades in the rebuild or from secondary pieced in major trades. Nothing on the waiver wire. Getz may have found 2 keepers in Rule 5. So far, nothing in secondary trades or as secondary pieces in major trades -to be fair, many secondary pieces have been low minors guys. He doesn't give himself much of a chance on the waiver wire- he just picks guys who don't have a real hit-tool, most of whom are 30+ anyway.

I agree . And that's how I saw it last year; although the 3 much-discussed players (Caglianone, Wetherholt, Griffin) were there when the Sox picked, they still went pitcher. I don't know if they are better at drafting pitching than hitting, but under Shirley they have certainly used far more top-of-the-draft resources on pitching than hitting.

I just wonder how much of this evaluating/drafting, particularly on the position player side, is as much luck as skill. Last year, the consensus was "worst upper end draft class in a decade." Well Cam Smith, drafted #14, is already in the majors and playing well. And I read somewhere that they think Nick Kurtz, drafted #4 and paid substantially below slot, now looks like the next Jim Thome. Kristian Campbell looks like a great young middle-infielder, but he was the 27th SS drafted in 2023, and the 3rd by the RedSox.

So the rumor is that there is no trade talk. Outman's a AAAA player at this point. So it boils down to "front-line prospect." Nah, just stay away from the Dodgers.

I viewed Madrigal and Vaughn at the time as similar picks: high floor, low ceiling that should give the Sox 2 fundamentally sound position players for a team that was coming together . But Vaughn is just not fundamentally sound. His D is iffy. And on offense, aside from the lack of HRs (I never really expected him to be more than a 25 guy anyway), he just doesn't walk enough. He's at 6.5% and dropping. He should be at least 10%. And if he were, his other numbers would be better to.

The White Sox organization was loaded with young talent at that time (from 1990-2005 into 2010). KW was constantly making deals and his moves finally clicked for that one year. That talent base should have won a lot more divisions, if not titles, than it did. Getz has just got to get young talent into this organization...especially position players. It's tough when we've shown no ability at all to evaluate/draft amateur position players. I don't think we're as far away from being able to put together a competitive team as most probably do....but we're a long way away from having a real pipeline to sustain winning.

I understand that the Sox don't need either player now. I just don't think it does the player any good to leave them in the minors when they are ready for the majors. And not much good ever happens for the Sox in Charlotte, anyway. It's like a back hole. Anderson, arguably, was rushed. Presuming Vaughn hit well at the alternate site, I'd say, no, he wasn't rushed. He looks like a hitter - he just can't hit. Colas may have been rushed. Now he's been de-rushed. He may be the next OF candidate.