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).

Of course Crochet pleaded with them to start. Kudos to Getz for being open to it. And he may have done it anyway, without Crochet’s prodding. And we know that Hahnber wasn’t going for it. anyway, this looks like a good deal. And it has some depth to it, which I like.

Yea, if his OPS reverts back to .850, his 3/$60 salary going forward (with the team holding the options on it) looks good and he'll have 3x the value at the deadline that he has now. The Phillies, for one, have a CF who can't hit.

Of course not, but the discussion was about Robert who, like Gimenez, is coming off of a terrible year, could be traded. At least Robert is who I was referring to. And I'd prefer to hold onto him anyway.

He looks interesting. There’s nothing wrong with putting any of these ML-ready guys in the bullpen, without crowning them as a career reliever. It’s a good way to get the feet wet in the major leagues.

Well, the Guardians got back something for Gimenez and his .638 OPS; and he had a $100 mill contractual liability attached and has had really 1 good season on offense out of 5 (2 partial seasons). Now they didn't get top prospects or anything, but they got some pieces.

I know it's a lot easier to keep a underdeveloped pitcher on the roster than hitter. But looking at that preview list, Ryan Ward of the Dodgers has raked at all levels, and has spent 2 seasons in AAA. He shouldn't need development - at this point he can either play or he's a AAAA hitter. You can always send him back if he can't play. It's high risk, but also high reward. Or the guy from the Cubs - now he does need development but his D is elite so he can at least be used as a late inning OF. There will be an interesting pitcher available in round 2. And the Sox already have a lot of interesting pitchers who they can throw into the pen and who are as ready as they ever will be for MLB. On Edit I see they are picking Shane Smith. i hope he brings the Saints with him for some good jamming.

Unless there’s a pitcher who really stands well above the crowd, I hope they pick one of the hitters. A pitcher with good stuff will be available around two. And lord knows the White Sox need hitters.

The Sox have several players that they really need to audition in right field. I can’t see the point of signing marginal veterans like this.

I can’t argue with your logic that the market should be there for crochet. But, I just think that teams just don’t want to trade their good prospects. From their perspective, the risk > reward. If a GM doesn’t make the deal, and crochet turns out to be good and the prospects do nothing, a GM will be yapped at a little bit but it will be forgotten If a GM makes the trade and crochet turns out to be bad and the prospects turn out to be good, a GM would be absolutely destroyed. And I think this is true, even though the odds favor crochet being good much more than they favor the prospects end up being good. And if you consider the teams that have successfully rebuilt, they have rebuilt through the draft and international signings. Not through dispersal trades. The White Sox were the exception to that, but they had a lot to trade: players who were still young and signed to long-term deals at below market prices. A competent GM would’ve never needed to rebuild in 2016.

That’s a great trade for Cleveland. How do they keep doing this? and after seeing that Gimenez contract again, I take back everything I said about Adames’ deal.