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Good call. Kid is still 16 year old so he’s almost a full year younger than most LatAM signings. 6 foot tall and weighs a buck fifty, so he’s got a lot of some projections left.

He’s my personal favorite. Young for league, good ISO, BB and K%

It also to do with all the players and all the trades mentioned, Tatis Jr might be the best young player of the bunch and that trade was worst of the bunch. ESPN came out with their annual top 25 under 25 list the other day, FTJ was already ranked 3rd behind Bellinger and Acuna. There is no telling how good the kid will be. As long as he is still making headline or god forbids becomes the best player on the league one day, Sox fans will not be able to look past this trade.

My boy Ramos with another 2 hit game. AZL offense is a well-oiled machine.

I think had he played for the Bulls and has a resume that rivals or exceeds Jordan’s, the fan base would have been more accepting of him being the GOAT, vs him not having played for this franchise at all. That said, there is definitely a bit of added pressure to succeed with constant comparisons to MJ if you’re at an all timer level, which can’t be said about all max level players, don’t think it moves the needle to the point where we’re not even in any considerations however.

I agree with Jenks that the perception of the ownership group, especially in basketball, is one of the key factors in the decision process especially for a premier free agent. Money is only a minor factor in this sport since money is the same everywhere except from their original team (it also doesn’t help with Illinois tax rate). While we have team prestige from 20 years ago, all of it is probably offset by the negative perception of this franchise, both management and ownership from recent years. It’s going to be hard for us to attract a true max level star unless our core players are heads and shoulders better than our competitors.

Mena is ranked 91st in Perfect Game's rankings (take this with a huge grain of salt), and the other two guys seem to be extreme under the radar prospects.

I still think 2019 was their best chance given they could have fit any 2 max contracts with a few moves to clear cap space. I know that our big 3 are young, but they only need to be complimentary pieces in that scenario. Heck, people are even penciling Nets as a legit contender next season when KD comes back fairly healthy, and I will just mention again that I think Bulls core is better than Nets core by a good margin. Now if we want to put all eggs in the 2021 basket, we’d need the big 3 plus Coby to yield at least 1 star and a couple of strong complementary pieces AND to be able to get to the 2nd round of playoffs. With Lauri extension kicking in then, they’d only have room for 1 max so it puts more pressure to have a strong foundation and whoever that’s gonna come in will put us over the top of being a legit contender.

Considering KD and Kyrie was a package deal, IDK who else would have been realistic for them. I don't think the winning culture was the reason they were chosen. They have a pretty decent young cast sans DLO, but it wouldn't have been better than the Bulls cast, who for the record would have room for 2 Max if they didn't trade for OPJ and have gotten rid of Felicio's contract. Maybe the new management has done a better job than I initially gave them credit for, but the aura that is playing in NY and not for a franchise named the Knicks and also being in a wide open East has a lot to do with it too. Otherwise, the Clippers, who made playoffs with the core that could have stayed intact even with 2 max contracts would have been the obvious choice in the winning culture narrative.

They have developed a few good rotational players under new management, but the guy who led them to the playoffs last year now plays for another team. I wouldn't say winning culture is what attracted Kyrie and KD to them. Had Lakers not traded for AD, I think you'd have a chance of seeing these two playing for the other LA team.

Except the Nets were ran pretty badly. They lucked into KD and Kyrie because they wanted to play together and Kyrie prefers the city of NY. They have also made some pretty bad trades and traded away a bunch of draft picks not too long ago. Their core of Allen/Lavert/Harris/Dwinddle pales in comparison to Bulls young core. KD and Kyrie didn't pick Brooklyn because they made playoffs once in the last 4 years.

Have a couple of guys down in DSL that are intriguing too part of the recent class. They make for interesting follows for sure, but it would be at least a couple of years until we find out if they're legit prospects.

Not sure if posted, looks like Burger is out for season.

That AZL team is hella interesting to follow, and should be even more so when Thompson and Dalquist steps onto the mound. Though I presume is Vaughn is on his way to Great Falls right now.

Add Bryan Ramos to the list of names to pay attention to.

Yes, he's mentally screwed, and probably the most depressing situation of all of them right now.

Hamilton, Burr, Lambert, Burdi injuries all announced the same day. What the fucking hell? We could fill a pretty good rotation and bullpen along with Kopech, Dunning, and Hansen.

Yea, crazy good job negotiation by Mets if he started at $4M. You can’t convince me Thompson is worth only $400k less than Allan, another example of Sox being bad at negotiations.

If a scout has strong gut feel for a guy who hasn't been drafted by 30 teams after 35 rounds, good for them. Even so, if they have that compelling of a case to go after the player we could have drafted that player earlier or sign them as UDFA.

I think we'd have ~$1.4M play with if Dalquist does not sign. For the reason you mentioned these 3 aren't highly ranked, I think that amount plus their respective $125K standard bonus could get it done. I get they're not nationally ranked, but part of the appeal of getting a high schooler is to hope that they break out once they hit pro ball and become legit prospects. Side note, I thought Glass was a done deal at ~$200K, though I'd be surprised that's all it takes, since he's an intriguing prospect.

Yep, if Dalquist doesn't sign, I think we could use the savings from other picks and sign all three of Britt, Trenkle and Krogman and still get the 3rd back next year. But Dalquist is signing for sure, no need to freak out.

One thing Sox has not been doing a good job of is the negotiation process. There are a number of 2nd rounders in recent years they went overslot when industry didn’t expect them to. They also like to convince themselves the guy they got in the second round has first round talent and didn’t mind give late first round bonus for them. With the Thompson signing, I think the shop has sailed on Krogman and Trenkle at this point, unless Vaughn is an unexpected underslot signing.

Checking on other signings on the tracker, what does green vs. red suggest? I thought slot for beyond 10th round is 125k. Did I read that everyone from 23rd round onward only received $2,500 bonus? We typically don’t hear bonuses if it’s under 125k, but that’s crazy if true.

I’d like Jontay Porter over Bol.

Oh and winning the Zion lottery with the 9th worst record is pretty nice too