Jake

I'd like to know how we ended up underspending our international pool — I didn't realize we were trading current-year money. So in this case, it may not be this trade that is a huge fuckup but something else that happened before

This is a real headscratcher to me. Unless there's something we don't know about these prospects, it seems like we just gave up a big chunk of a very finite resource (int'l pool $$) to save a little money on Nate Jones

Fulmer will be with us until the 5th spot comes up again at which point we'll call up Hector. Whether Fulmer stays past that point will probably depend on who among the players with minor league options is rested.

Anything's possible, but I think there's a very small chance that Jose Rondon is going to be a MLB player of any value. I do not think he's better than Yolmer, who has also been disappointing. Last year, Rondon had a solid offensive year in AAA and MLB with a sub-.300 OBP and low batting average. He hit 24 homers between the two levels after never topping 7 in any prior season. He simultaneously began to strike out at a rate that is only sustainable with either a lot of walks (nope, very few) or a lot of power. His defense did not look good to the eye or the metrics, especially at SS. He's not a fast runner. While I generally am skeptical of things like this, he also gave the impression of having his head up his ass much of the time. I'd rather watch Ryan Goins play than him.

I strongly doubt the front office is hoping to lose at this point. The value of shuffling around a handful of draft spots is not large. You can see how being just a tick better this year has helped push attendance and TV ratings up. At some point, you need to give fans something to cheer for, because eventually they stop being fans. About half the guys I knew in high school that were Sox fans are rooting for the Cubs now and these weren't people who don't care at all about baseball. But you can only keep running horrible teams out there for so long. That doesn't mean we need to empty the farm to bring in Zack Greinke or something, and it doesn't even mean we shouldn't look at trades for guys like Colome, but there's no urgency to lose. The effects of losing are primarily negative.

Seems to me the right choice when TA returns is to send Reed down. Then you can move Jay (who seems to clearly be playing hurt), Eloy, and maybe Castillo through the DH.

Are they that much more dysfunctional than the Lakers?

Give them Carson Fulmer and let's make a deal. If they're too stubborn, I'll throw in an Alec Hansen

Grindiness

The point of his statement is not that he's some baseball god whose play is unquestionable. It's that he's trying his hardest, however good that is, to win. He seems to be wondering whether the Sox are trying their hardest, which is a reasonable question.

What you say makes sense to me and of course you're the expert. I have also heard people make the argument for cross-training on the basis that it basically prepares you for the unusual movements (in the chosen sport) such that they don't turn into injuries. So for a distance runner, playing some basketball trains them for lateral movement, so they don't blow out a knee on the rare occasion they have to suddenly plant and cut sideways during a run. Is that thinking right or have I just been misunderstanding?

The insta-IL without diagnosis to me is a good sign that the trainers who dealt with him thought there is no chance that this is <10 day injury. I would think if it was just the equivalent of a charlie horse or something, there's no way they'd send him to Chicago, let alone send him to the IL. This feels more like one of those cases where he has an injury that can be easily be assessed manually by a trainer but that they always go to an MRI to confirm.

You're right. Nobody offers month by month defensive splits, but Eloy's outs above average on Statcast (which I regard as the best outfield defense metric available) has only dropped by 1 since then.

I feel like I never see Robert hitting a high pitch in the many highlights we get of him

Listen if you make him a DH at age 22, then he's a bust. I'd rather continue risking him in the OF than remove basically all his upside as a player so early in his career.

The Celtics example has been discussed, but the Knicks remain a good example. They did what you have to do in order to bring in major stars and they got burned, which is an occupational hazard of trying to build a superteam.

There have been sporadic reports about his knee bothering him, so I suspect they're trying to limit how much he's running.

I wouldn't be against the Bulls finding a different way to build a winner because it sure seems that "sell out for superstars" is a method that burns most of those who try it. Most of our recent championships have been won by a team that drafted most of its key players and didn't exactly sell out to add Durant. Raps sold out, got their title, and now get to watch as their Finals MVP goes to LA. Boston isn't totally dead yet, but their acquisition of Kyrie didn't yield much (but maybe they didn't really sell out to get him). Lakers got LeBron basically by default after the Cavs ran him out of town and it's not clear yet whether their attempt to build a super-team will be successful. Knicks thought they were getting KD and, well, you know. Plenty of others left at the altar over the years.

Yeah when you're an expert at scouting, you just know

He looks like he's on track to be ready by about April 20th next year

I wonder if this might be a sign of a quick recovery from Tim.

My feeling is Bulls going after Russ would almost certainly be the perfect Bulls thing in that we would trade away good assets, get a declining Russ, and win nothing with him but at least get to say we went after a star player.

Probably about time. I don't think he was a great candidate to skip a level, anyway. And we know from his experience in Winston-Salem this year that he's capable of going on the kind of prodigious tear that forces him to the majors.

I think Kawhi wanted to play for one of his hometown teams, but was going to try to make it the best situation he could for him. I think he managed to accomplish that.

Just glad he's not a Laker