Jake

Asche goes up there and looks like he can hit and work an at bat, but just never hits

The lack of professionalism is seriously stunning, we've always been better than this.

The lack of communication is just kind of baffling. I've been trying to figure out if I can go do some chores around the house but they've been acting like the game is about to start...but then not starting it....

Hahn = Cub fan, suspicions are raised

I'm guessing this may be a similar deal to what we did with them with Jesse Crain where the return is contingent on some component of his play. TBH, I would have rolled with Bourjos long enough to get at least a super low level prospect, so I'm hoping there's a chance of getting that rather than just a little money. International money would be welcome, though.

I think both have upsides as MLB regulars, the question is just what that floor is and how likely they are to get to their ceiling. Sanchez has a higher floor I'd say given that he's been a productive player in AAA. On the other hand, there's a little more mystery with May since he's arguably been rushed and has faced some injuries that an optimist might say have hidden his true potential.

Benetti/AJP? I'm down.

Fulmer threw 81% strikes in MLB games this spring. In MLB last year, he threw 57% strikes. Seems to me there was a concerted effort to make him throw as many strikes as he possibly could muster. Whereas some players may be told to throw a bunch of curveballs or changeups until they get a feel for it, it seems like the Sox must have told Fulmer to throw strikes until he has a feel for it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 28, 2017 -> 11:10 AM) He is basically Carlos Sanchez with a lower batting average who plays CF instead of 2B. FWIW, Carlos Sanchez has a much better offensive track record as a minor leaguer than May. With that said, I still don't think all hope is lost for Sanchez as a non-terrible hitter.

Yeah, it sounds like he's going to be a better defender than Owens. Owens was a similar overall hitter, but walked more and stole more bases.

Jacob May = Jerry Owens

I also have reservations about Giolito because there's not a lot there that still justifies top 10 prospect status, especially with his reduced velocity and good-not-amazing minor league stats. Curveball is for real, though. But the trade was great. There is just as much, if not more, reason for optimism with Lopez and Dunning is as good as a 3rd piece in a trade ever gets.

QUOTE (Soha @ Mar 23, 2017 -> 08:13 PM) One obvious answer might to be to make sure he looks healthy and doesn't have a lurking injury. This was the first thing to come to mind. Might want to see how he's interacting with teammates and coaches too since the opposing GM might not be forthcoming with negative info about that.

The peak of the tourney to me was the first inning of the Netherlands-Puerto Rico semifinal game. You had two huge plays from Yadier Molina to make the first two outs and the atmosphere was just insane. Then Wladimir Balentien, who it seemed like was able to win games by sheer force of will, hits a bomb and just goes ham and as he watches it leave the yard. That was the most fun, but somewhere Ian Kinsler was s***ting himself watching all that disrespect.

Singleton reminds me of Matt Davidson. Had a clear path to the majors, succeeding at every level. Then once he doesn't get his second MLB opportunity he just languishes in the minors and regresses, all the while reaching new heights of striking out. On the other hand, at least Davidson actually did reasonably well in the majors.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 21, 2017 -> 09:39 AM) These deals often seem to go to players that didn't expect to be there. Gets himself some guaranteed money for life. Nothing is certain in baseball. It makes sense for Anderson to take the money here. He is very unproven and as a shortstop could be a knee injury away from being significantly worse at his job.

For the Sox, this deal makes a lot of sense. They're exposed to some risk because there are statistical indicators that Anderson would regress this year (though scouting reasons to expect improvement). But their current payroll obligations make it such that the franchise will be fine if Anderson fell off the face of the Earth. The upside is so high that we can easily stomach wasting $4M/year if he busts. If you give out enough deals like this, you only need a small portion of them to work out to break even.

I can't imagine any other team is as harmed by non-participation as Team USA. In particular, our pitching staff seems bafflingly bad. Here are non-participating Americans listed by 2016 WAR: 1. Clayton Kershaw 2. Noah Syndergaard 3. Max Scherzer 4. Rick Porcello 5. Justin Verlander 6. Chris Sale 7. Corey Kluber 8. Madison Bumgarner 9. David Price 10. Kyle Hendricks 11. Jon Lester 12. Jake Arrieta 13. Jon Gray and then you finally get to the first American WBC participant, Stroman. And then we can look at relievers specifically: We do have the best, Andrew Miller. Yay! And then... 1. Addison Reed (had to double take at that one) 2. Zach Britton 3. Tyler Thornburg 4. Will Harris 5. Mark Melancon and then we get to Nate Jones and after that, about 10 more until you get to Luke Gregerson. Of course the point isn't that 2016 WAR should be the main criterion for selection, but we're just not anywhere close to assembling our best. And let's think about some of the position players missing: 1. Mike Trout 2. Kris Bryant 3. Mookie Betts 4. Josh Donaldson 5. Corey Seager 6. Adam Eaton 7. Brian Dozier and then Ian Kinsler and Brandon Crawford, a few spots and you get Murphy and Arenado. The outfield stands out, though—why does Team USA have Christian Yelich batting 3rd? McCutchen probably shouldn't be getting the time, but I understand how some may not be inclined to penalize him as much for last year when he had been so sensational for years beforehand. Either way, I find it galling that the US has the world's two best players (Trout and Kershaw) and neither is out there. They have their reasons that are perfectly rational, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. It's also bad for the tournament. On one hand, nobody will like it around the world if the US wins every time...it has to be competitive. But few would deny that the US has the most talent in the world, so it delegitimizes the tournament if Team USA does poorly each time, as it has pre-2017.

I'll be sad when Hawk goes, but his eyesight in particular has gotten poor. I'm a big Hawk fan, but when he clearly can't see things it makes me feel bad for him and I don't really want to feel bad for him while I'm watching a baseball game. I do worry that I'll never get to have a broadcaster who gets excited when the Sox do well again. I don't live around Sox fans so it's nice to have a fellow Sox partisan in the booth. Regardless of the PBP guy, I can't stand Steve. I know he's Mr. Straight-Laced, Prestigious Color Guy, but his arrogance rubs me the wrong way.

I'm afraid the buyer would move the team.

My feeling has always been that when you rush a player with a strikeout problem, you make it very unlikely he ever manages to be something other than a very high strikeout player. Some do manage, but for the most part only the special ones.

My AT in college always said MRI just stood for "More Radiographic Income." Said a lot of common injuries (e.g., torn ACL) are accurately diagnosed manually.

Baseball has the best overtime of any popular sport since it always renders a winner and the gameplay is unchanged. Why ruin it? I'm happy for them to shorten minor league games, but if it is indeed seen as a test for a future MLB rule then I say it's a solution in search of a problem.

Never made sense to me to get mad at a teammate for playing badly. Low effort? Sure, get mad. Making preventable (mental) mistakes? Definitely, let him have it. The guy sucks? That's not his fault.

Honestly I've never gotten the impression that there's a bunch of pressure on the prospect pundits to be accurate. I think that would be especially true at ESPN, whose reputation is not at all at stake. Part of it is that I don't think anybody is really going back and checking all that often, not to mention that there aren't necessarily clear criteria for retroactively grading someone's prospect rankings.