GreenSox

Overall, how would you assess the results of using high choices on prep pitching over the last few years?

As usual CWS, your post laid it out eloquently. But, given their refusal to fire Hahn, I just think that a sell-off will be Hahn picking players off of prospect lists with half-assed negotiations. If he's parsed and analyzed the prospect lists of the 10 or so teams that will be in the trade market, then yes we should sell. But at no time in his tenure, as he shown the ability, interest or energy to do that.

$.50 on the dollar, at best. I’d rather win the division, although that’s just howling at the moon.

The Twins and Guardians continue to spin their wheels; and I believe that should the Sox sell it will be basically a bargain sale. So I continue to hope. This week offers another opportunity to turn things around in the fresh Pacific air against modest competition. Toward that end, the Sox pitching, by ERA, was #29 in April, #11 in May and #2 in June. That's the path for this team, such as it is. The glimmer persists.

Given that this team has consistently been in the bottom tier of OBP for most of this century, i don't think I'm going out on a limb to say that the org's philosophy is to be extremely aggressive; taking pitches is not prioritized.

Most CEOs of, say hospitals, didn’t work as nurses. Most oil company CEOs didn’t spend time as a roughneck. Hahn is bad at his job because he is a bad manager. If he were managing a Starbucks, it would be a disaster. We all know that Hahn doesn’t know his core business: he can’t evaluate on-field talent, and he doesn’t know analytics. That’s not unusual. What’s unusual is that he has refused to hire the best people he can find who do know those things. Instead, he hires people who, if not his immediate friends, have similar backgrounds. Look at Haber, his chief assistant: top schools, sharp dresser and same skillset (or lack thereof). Where's the analytics department? Hiring people who won’t show them up is a common trait of bad managers and Hahn scored big in that department. Billy Beane and Andrew Friedman weren’t afraid to hire Farhan Zaidi, e.g. Hahn hires Haber. Look who Hahn’s hired as field manager (when he’s been allowed to): not the sharpest knives in the drawer. And, of course, he’s an excuse machine, another trait of bad managers. I could go and on. He just needs to go.

Well I wasn't exactly serious. I guess it's had to portray just through text.

I think that's what's likely to happen. But is it really inevitable if the Sox get serious and try to leverage assets? Could they get Pfaadt from Az for Giolito? He had a bad "cup of coffee" which might lower his price; or maybe for Giolito and Graveman? And/or one of Arizona's many OF prospects? I just wish they'd take this upcoming trade season seriously.

And they couldn't wait to get him out of town when he was approaching free agency.

Vaughn should end up being an .850 OPS guy, with 20-25 homers. Not elite, but solid.

They are treating Crochet like he's a 34 year old journeyman middle reliever. That's not fair to Crochet. It makes me sad. They did a similar thing in 2016. They used their 2nd first round pick for Burdi (who was only a reliever) just a week or so after trading for a broken down Shields. Lesss than 2 weeks after being drafted, he pitches, 1 game in Az, then 2 weeks in high A, 6 weeks in AA, then AAA then injured. Of course, in the middle of all of that, they announce a major rebuild. Atrocious.

I'd prioritize building real farm system.

Guardians and Twins win again. I'm getting less and less confident that the Sox can win the division.

Unless he wants to make thoughtful, carefully scouted, well-negotiated trades, which he and the FO have the ability to do (but rarely bother to do), picking up scraps is all I want from him.

Well, this is 8 so let it happen. The trade he was really derided for was sending Swanson to Atl for an average starter (name escapes me). No problem with this; didn't cost anything. Sox could get lucky. Now trading for guys like his in July, which the Sox have done often in the past, is a different story.

Just bad luck...

I don't know whether or not you are right about that, except to say that if he's drafted as a reliever, he in no way is worth pick #11. Rushing him up to the pen in the year he was drafted is ridiculous, regardless.

I largely agree, but the internally developed talent, most of which came from the late 90s and early naughts, was drying up pretty quickly. Although he made several terrible trades and others that were sort of lose-lose, he made enough nifty ones to keep the Sox winning. Any way you slice it, he's 10X Hahn, who doesn't have a feel for anything. It's just disappointing that KW hasn't stepped in to stop this nonsense.

Today is press conference day, right? I look forward to the succor from his words of wisdom.

I don't know if this is the right guy or not (other than that this org. doesn't have a lot of room for players who can't defend), but the Sox certainly should have the leverage in trade negotiations. I pray that they use it for a change; there are a lot of good young players, and if one team won't meet the price, look to another.

Nice. Give 'em hell, Jose! Edit: I had assumed he had performed well in AA: Almost everyone in this org. is a free-swinger, but yeesh.

Bump. It's been over 30 hours.

The Sox are going to waddle and waffle. Cleveland is going to sell. The Twins will try but get nowhere and lose to... Detroit's going to win the division, aren't they?.

Banks has 4 pitches and doesn't walk many. They could stretch him out.

For Crochet, this the Sox are probably the worst possible org. that could have drafted him. They rushed him at every turn. I read a quote of his recently that he hoped to start at some point. Well, nothing that the Sox have done has suggested any interest at all in having him start, including both before and after his injury. As for the Sox, they wanted a middle reliever, and by golly, it appears they got exactly what they wanted.