Jack Parkman

Na dude, the front offices aren't the problem, the fans are. We're not going to enough games or purchasing enough merchandise for the FOs to be successful. How can they spend $1 when they only have $.50?

Anything that happened before 1947 might as well be the 19th century to me.

The Sox went for the Home Run in their trades, despite the org usually being risk averse. I actually commend them for that. Moncada has the upside to be a MUCH better player than Benintendi or Devers. Kopech has a chance to be an ace. If either player reaches their ceiling they've already won the deal. Lopez/Giolito/Dunning was a fair deal for Eaton. The wild card is Giolito as he could swing it from a fair deal to a clear win for the Sox, should he get out of his own head. Eloy and Cease for Quintana was an excellent trade as well. They nailed all 3 deals and I don't know how you can argue otherwise. Even if they don't work out, they still got excellent value. The odds are that 3 of these guys are going to hit it big. Which 3 do is the question. Only time will tell.

Stay Far away. Keuchel is the next Shields.

I think Robert also has the potential to get fat like Jones did as he got older. I don't think Robert is going to be nearly as good of a defender as Jones was, but he physically reminds me of him. He does. I'm sure Moncada can piss on baseballs as well, we just never see it in games because of his struggles to make contact.

Robert reminds me of a young Andruw Jones.

Agreed. Moncada and Robert both have the potential to put up a 10 WAR season or two. Whether they actually do is unlikely, and will have to be seen. Mike Trout is special because he puts up 10 WAR seasons consistently, something I don't think that either Moncada or Robert will do because they're both too volatile of players. Look at Bryce Harper's healthy seasons and peak, and I think Moncada and Robert will look a lot like that. They both will have individual seasons of 8-10 WAR sandwiched between seasons of 3.5-6 WAR. You're never going to exactly know what you'll get with those two. You could get an MVP season or just an above average season, or somewhere in between.

I don't know how Dick Allen could have possibly topped any of Hurt's 93-95 seasons. Belle's 98 was close. Maybe I just ranked Dye too high from 06 because of the fact he hit .300 and Thome didn't, but as I was thinking about it, I thought that Thome's 2006 might have been better because he was an on base machine. OK I just looked up Dick Allen's 72 season. That was before my time so I forgot about it. I'd still take any of Frank's 93-95 seasons ahead of it, but you have an argument with regard to him and Belle. Now that I have the whole picture, I'd say: 1. Belle's 98 2. Allen's 72 3. Thome's 06 4. Dye's 06

Who did? Thome? Holy shit.

Beat me to it. RIP, Ted.

More opinions: Kopech: I wasn't sold on him until about late July last year. At that point, he had answered all of the questions I had about his control. I thought he was overthrowing and would end up as a closer before then. I saw him in person for his first start in a Sox uni and was impressed...until the rains came. I'm going to have to re-evaluate him after he returns from TJS. I wonder if the Sox would attempt to obtain a year of service time back by sending him to AAA until 6/15/2020. It is a completely justifiable decision due to his injury and it would be hard to win a grievance on his behalf. Getting his feet wet post TJS in Charlotte isn't unheard of with someone of minimal MLB experience. We know about his fastball, his slider is electric and he has an average curve and change. Robert: If he stays healthy, I completely expect him to be a top 10 prospect on most lists entering 2020. He's basically the same player as Moncada, with slightly more power and he bats right handed. Just like with Moncada, the sky is the limit if he can make contact at the MLB level. Nobody's seen enough of him to know much more than this. Cease: If his changeup plays, he's got ace upside. A bit worried about control. He still has significant reliever risk. Cease is basically the same guy I thought Kopech was until he(MK) found his control last summer. Great fastball and Curve, below average change and slider with room for improvement. Other OF prospects, not going to write them up, but in order of how much I like them: 1. Adolfo 2. Rutherford 3. Basabe (Rutherford and Basabe are pretty near equal in my book, I decided to go with Rutherford first because of his hit tool) 4. Gonzalez 5. Walker I don't expect much from Hansen or Dunning because they can't stay healthy. I'll get to Madrigal and Collins later.

Completely agree. I'm not even mad they missed. I'm mad HOW they missed.

Belle's 1998 was probably the best non-Frank season in Sox history. Dye's 2006 is a distant second.

Dye's 2006 was one of the best offensive seasons by a Sox hitter outside of Frank.

This is the key to the rebuild. It depends on those three guys. If two don't develop in to stars, they're screwed. As good as Eloy is, both Moncada and Robert's ceilings are higher. Eloy is the safest bet to reach his ceiling, but his ceiling is, in my opinion~4.5-5.5 WAR. Moncada and Robert will probably be at least 2.5-3.5 WAR players, with the ability settle in at 5-6.5 and put up individual seasons of 7-8+ Ceiling in terms of player comp, based on my opinion: Eloy-JD Martinez Robert-Mookie Betts Moncada-Jose Ramirez This is ceiling, as in best case scenario people.

I don't think Betts will do it, even thougj he went 30-30 last year. The Red Sox don't steal bags enough.

My intention wasn't to be condescending or anything, it was to explain how people sometimes overthink and overcomplicate things that should be simple or intuitive based on the acquisition of knowledge, if that makes sense to you.

OMG I actually agree with Greg here for the most part. The only thing is that ESPECIALLY the deal that Machado signed had a chance to be worth the money. There's probably going to be 2-3 bad years at the end of it but he's going to be worth it for the first 7-8 years, and that is worth the 2 bad years at the end. I wouldn't have structured the Harper deal the way they did, I would have structured it with 300M over the 1st 10 years and 10M annually over the final 3 years.

There is a direct correlation between intelligence and cynicism. The smarter you are, the more you understand exactly how the world is fucked, but that is beside the point. That comment is something I should have kept to myself. Just fucking forget I said it and move along. The whole thing came out in an unintended way and I'm not even going to attempt to correct it.

I'm going to choose to find enjoyment in the growth of individual players. Wins and losses haven't mattered to me since they traded Sale et al. If enough individual players improve, the wins will come as well.

I'm usually classified in that group but the amount of overt negativity is becoming grating. We're all pissed they failed on Machado. We're all pissed they wouldn't pony up for Harper. Guess what? There's still reason for optimism. Not everything is doom and gloom. You can still find enjoyment out of this baseball season. I was pissed for 2 weekas and now I'm ready to move on. We should just all accept they're not signing FA outside of the bargain bin and move on.

Keuchel wouldn't be any better than anyone we already have. I don't trust him one iota in GRF and I think he's going to be either injured, lit up like a cheap xmas tree or both wherever he signs. Keuchel is the next Shields. Stay far away Hahn.

Yes, nobody is ever allowed to get better. That is what I keep hearing from everyone here. A player gets to the Majors and he already is what he is. You can never improve, you can never get better at anything. Good to know. We're all doomed. It's fine to be skeptical but to say nobody can improve defies all logic. Shit has really hit the fan here. It is getting to the point where rational discussion is no longer possible.

Edit: I guess that was something that I should have kept to myself. Sorry to all I offended. I didn't mean for that to come out that way. With regard to Lopez, I think his curve has more potential than his slider. His slider and changeup are too close in velocity that they negate both of their effectiveness.

I'm starting this thread so we can have an intelligent discussion about the major Sox rebuild pieces. I'll give you my thought on a few players and I'll add more later: Moncada: The dude oozes talent out of every orifice of his body. It's easy to see why he was once the #1 prospect in the game. With him, it is all about making contact. His hit tool is the most questionable of his tools. When I evaluate him, batting average and Ks are the two stats I use to evaluate him. When he makes contact, he absolutely pulverizes baseballs. If he gets his hits and cuts down on the Ks, the rest will take care of itself. His eye is incredible and he absolutely has the potential to approach or exceed a .400 OBP. If he ends up hitting .275+, he's going to be a star. If I had to pick who the next 40-40 player is, the only players capable are Trout, Jose Ramirez and Moncada. Reynaldo Lopez: Out of all of the Sox controllable pitchers, he's the guy least likely to bust. He's at the very least going to be a back end starter, with the ceiling of Carlos Carrasco. The only thing that may hold him back is his lack of a consistent breaking ball or out pitch. His fastball and changeup are both above average, but his breakers aren't great. If he can develop one, he can be a good #2. Giolito: He's the most frustrating pitcher I've seen in a Sox uniform since Javy Vazquez. His breaking stuff is awesome, he throws mid 90s but his stuff moves so much he has no idea where its going. He looks every part of a future ace stuff wise, but somehow can't miss bats or hit the broad side of a barn. I'm not willing to give up on him yet, but it is baffling to me how his results are so awful given the quality of his arsenal. He has to figure out how to harness it otherwise he's going to bust. Long story short, the dude had been a project since the Nats fucked up his delivery and anything they get out of him is gravy.