GreenSox

Was an interview of Ely posted or linked somewhere? I'd be interested in reading it. Thanks

If Acuna and Baty is the type of offer out there, that is an easy no. Baty has had 3 bitter cups of coffee. Sure, the Sox should take a chance on players like Baty- but for the right price. He's who you trade Joe Borchard for; or today, maybe Vaughn (although Baty's numbers suggest that Sheets would have been a more even trade). If those are the best, then there really isn't much risk to holding Robert. And wasn't it a year ago when some called Robert a budding superstar and that our own GM said that he wanted to build around Robert? That said, it doesn't surprise me if that is the sort of offer: 1) The Bellinger salary dump didn't help the market. No the comparison isn't really equal: Bellinger hasn't earned his keep in 4 of the past 5 seasons; Robert has earned his keep in 4 of the last 5. But last year was a downer coupled with.. 2) The sudden and apparently intractable deterioration in several Sox hitters may make other teams leery of Sox hitters, until proven otherwise. Now every player is an individual it's kind of stupid and superstitious to "Avoid Sox hitters" but teams may be stretched to give them the benefit of the doubt. Robert should rebound this year. I think he will. And if he does, frankly, I'd rather keep him anyway. We don't have to dump all of our best players. CF is an important "up the middle position" and our minors aren't exactly loaded with high-end candidates.

Not I. I would at least insist on throwing in Bohm: meaning what the third team is willing to give up for him. Or maybe two more interesting prospects in their 10 to 20 range. In all, I would prefer to wait for June or July.

He’s a good backup catcher. We need him. One thing I really like about this trade is that the information asymmetry is about as narrow as you can get. One guy was in the last draft, and the other guy was in the draft right before. We know as much about these guys as once can when trading for prospects. I would like a shortstop too, but a guy has been in their system for a while and is injured - more risk with that.

Yeah, I was thinking him and/or maybe Valdez, who they’ve been peddling a little bit, via a three-way.

Astros could use Robert; their OF blows.

It's hard to judge Getz' performance re development simply because the inputs have been objectively weak. The international signing classes were consistently at the bottom; now the rankings aren't perfect, but I'd liken them to college recruiting classes: if you are recruiting 2 star players, you aren't going to beat Ohio State. And then there is the draft. I believe that Shirley is good evaluator of talent. But is he that good? - better than basically everyone else? Well, that's what he needs to be because the Sox punt away a lot of the picks in rounds 6-10.. But in doing that, the Sox are reaching for most of their 2-5 picks. If a guy is a consensus #50 and the Sox draft him at #50, if they pay him overslot, they have reached. If the Sox are deadeye accurate in their scouting and evaluation, that strategy will work; if they aren't, it's a huge fail. (And I realize I'm in the minority in questioning this strategy). Regardless, it's hard to build a contender from ground 0. But I think the Sox are off to a decent start with the pitching. Put some Free Agent money into a couple of sticks.

But we’re light at shortstop and centerfield; and light on elite prospects compared to the top farms: only Schultz would fit that.

1) Don't trade him 2) Phillies 3) Yankees 4) Reds

I don't see any point in trading Cannon; he won't deliver a top prospect; more likely a prospect who, if he develops, could be Cannon in 3 years. At some point, they need to start building up; the pitching should make good progress toward that end this season, both with starters and in the pen. They have a lot of good young arms as ready for the majors as they ever will be. That's why I want to hold onto Robert: at least they have something to start with. Along the same lines, I wonder who will be the opening day SS for this operation.

Fair enough. But he was 37, so you can't be surprised if the walls cave in.

Last year at this time, the FO said that they wanted to "build around" Robert. Pollock and Mazara and Encarnacion, etc etc were bad players. O'Neill and Sanchez are good players. That said, Baltimore needs pitching and if they don't want to pay for it, should have been in on Crochet harder than they were.

I would prefer those Phillies as top 2 guys, but that offer was from last summer.

He says it's expensive for the RedSox and then proceeds to dog the top 2 players we got. I can drive myself batty reading all of these things.

If that actually comes to fruition, we can trade one of them. And by the time that happens, the Sox will have a better idea of the holes they need to cover (right now, it's 9 by my count).