NorthSideSox72

This is also posted in PHT, so if you clicked through there, no need here. But just in case you didn't and because it's related... FutureSox changing EIC's, among other changes coming.

As we've been hinting for the last few weeks, we have some pretty big changes about to roll out at FutureSox between now at when pitchers and catchers report. The first one is now official and you can read about it here. I would say it's the smallest of the three in terms of impact on our readers, but it is part of the broader plan.

3 months in High-A for a guy like Adolfo are a BIG DEAL. That's half a minor league season, and a guy who is very raw. Look at the numbers he put up - that was big time development and definitely worth it. And even with that he will STILL be healthy in spring, and with a team by May from what we have heard. If your choices are 3 months and 5 months of play in 2 seasons, versus 0 months and 6 months, you take the former without question.

Timing-wise, it made more sense to do what they did, even if the chances of healing on its own were small. Think about it this way - for a position player, recovery time is like 9 months. If they shut him down in March, that would have been missing the entire season, then starting in April 2019. By letting him DH and then re-evaluating in July, even if he still had to have surgery, he'd have had three critical months of hitting development done, and STILL gotten back in April or May of the next year. They did the right thing.

Well ISU has SHARED the title with KU a couple times during their run. Would be great to see ISU win it outright. With their full roster back in place now they are a pretty dangerous team, more so than they were for the first 8-10 games of the season.

Our latest Prospect Perspectives article is written by outfield prospect Micker Adolfo. Micker had a very interesting, and at time for him quite frustrating, 2018 campaign before ending with Tommy John Surgery. In his guest article, Micker talks about how the injury cropped up, adapting to DH'ing, the almost-comeback to throwing, surgery and where he stands today. There are some details in here I am pretty sure were never made public that are pretty interesting around what happened in July. Here is the article. Enjoy!

Fry had his first TJ way before his pro career, and really only missed a year of time. Bummer was a little more akin to Diaz in this case with two surgeries and that much missed time in a row.

One of the injuries is shoulder-related. Another was leg-related, but not sure exactly what. He pitched briefly in fall instructs but was pulled from like his second game there with... an injury. Guys who miss basically two full years, and have shoulder issues, usually don't make it. Though if you prefer glass half full, Aaron Bummer did miss nearly two seasons to two different elbow surgeries, and he turned into a major leaguer.

Has barely pitched the last 2 years due to an array of injuries.

Yes, and assuming Diaz' arm is still attached.

Thanks man!

It's actually six. But Burdi and Diaz didn't throw in a game in 2018, not a regular season one at least, so they are not on the list.

Yeah I got that feeling too. But it could also, maybe, just be a tactic to lay low publicly about it. Hard to say which is the case.

Can confirm both via our minor league transaction sheets.

The podcast episode with the Rick Hahn interview in full is now live. All the details, links to download, ways to subscribe, etc., are here. Enjoy!

FYI, the podcast with the full audio goes up tomorrow morning.

Jim Thome would have been great in Hunger Games DON'T @ ME

And have gone over their pool allotment in more years than not since Hostetler took over the draft team.

I literally just illustrated that this is, again, flat wrong. They INCREASED SPENDING, by quite a lot, after 2000 and after 2005. You are just wrong on this. Move on.

The bolded is exactly what happens at the core of most any rebuild. Pretty sure everyone here knows that, but it's not what you were saying.

You can blame them, and credit them, for every year. But your idea that the Sox lost momentum from 2000 and 2005 due to unwillingness to spend is just flat wrong.

It was the Sox drafting "safe" guys that caused the farm system to be a wasteland for years. Now the Sox are drafting, signing and acquiring the opposite, looking for ceiling, which is a good thing, and somehow you want the old days again? This is insane. And "the numbers game" says that MOST prospects don't reach their ceilings. So, it SHOULD happen, and you go get a bunch of high ceiling guys for exactly that reason.

Holy schnikies is this an explosion of bad takes. First, "talent hasn't proven itself yet"??? Did you actually think the rebuild would be over in 2 years? That is an absurd expectation. The future of the team is still mostly in the minors or having just arrived late last year. Other than Moncada, who we all agree hasn't been as good as we'd hoped (though he's not as awful as some are saying either), we really haven't seen enough to know at all. Squandering because they wouldn't spend? 2006 the Sox dramatically INCREASED payroll from 2005. That team collapsed late on pitching mostly, not because the team wouldn't spend. The 2000 team won the division, then the Sox went from near-bottom payroll to league-average payroll the next two years which is a big jump. What are you talking about? It is a miracle they won in 2005 in the same sense it's a "miracle" when any team wins the World Series. That team was dominant all year.

I said it when I scouted him in April, and later looks by others only echo it. Laz has a lightning-quick bat. He's also got a little speed, though he's not elite or anything in that regard. If he can learn to be a little more selective at the plate (which he did start to show a little in the AFL), he could be a dude.

We (FutureSox) caught a pretty big fish this time, getting a 1-on-1 interview with Rich Hahn. Highlights and some interesting quotes all right here. FYI, this was not an interview where I asked about MLB free agents, nor did we discuss many specific prospects. I didn't want to ask the questions everyone else is asking him. This is more about the process, the system, and what they plan to change going forward.