he gone.

Can you imagine if the MLB moves away from Umpires to computers for calling balls and strikes? I don't think it happens in the next 2-3 years, but I definitely see it happening in the next decade. If that happens the value on a guy like Moncada instantly goes up a TON. Imagine those 35 called 3rd strikes and now how that changes his batting average and OBP, etc. This kid is going to be a stud.

For all the hate Moncada has been receiving over the year from both outside media and many on the boards/Twitter I really like his mental approach. He had a line the other day where he said he doesn't care if he strikes out 300 times this year, it's all about approach and growth. I think there's really something to be said about that. He's not freaking out with the K's, but understands he has to work on them. As he gets better and gets more respect from umpires a lot of these called third strikes might be walks. Also could you imagine if they did away with umpires and went to a computer system? It's not inconceivable - and if it happens he becomes almost even more valuable instantly

Madrigal has instantly shot up my favorite Sox board. I know most rookies do because they're shiny new toys, however I think he really has a chance to be a star in this game.

This thread is much better than the recap of the injuries in minors. I needed the positivity of our two best bat prospects!

Going through that list is tough as a fan! I get that these guys will be back and not all of them would ever be sure things to even make the majors, but yikes. As pointed out at the end of the article, it's definitely going to shift the rebuild back by 6-8 months between these injuries and the slower development of some of our guys (Giolito, Moncada, etc.). You have to wonder how that affects going after a guy like Machado -- we were already probably 50:1 dogs in that race, now closer to 100:1.

We can't expect that because Hahn was quite literally the one who couldn't value Tatis and traded him away.

I still remain in the minority here hoping the Sox start winning games. I have no idea the talent level in next years draft or how top heavy it is, so I may be wrong in this thought process, but I think we can agree that BAL and KC are going to be pretty much the bottom dwellers for the year. KC has more talent than Baltimore so maybe they start wining a few, but I think we also have more talent and should be playing better as well. Bottom of the bottom: KC&BAL Tier 2: Sox, Tigers, Miami, NYM, CIN Tier 3: PIT, SD, TX, TOR I think it's unlikely we jump to tier 3, and think it's unlikely anybody from Tier 3 comes down to our level. So you're talking pick 3-7 as a 90% probability or so. I just don't really care where we land in there. I'd much rather win ballgames actually. You have to start winning these games to start attracting future guys to the team. The Cubs did it with Lester. You see comments from Arenado and Machado about wanting to go somewhere where they can win, etc. At a certain point it's less about the top 5 draft pick and more about winning. 2013: Mark Appel, Kris Bryant, Jon Gray, Kohl Stewart, Clint Frazier, Colin Moran, Trey Ball, Hunter Dozier noteables after, Tim Anderson, Marco Gonzalez? weak draft) 2014: Brady Aiken, Tyler Kolek, Rodon, Schwarber, Nick Gordon, Alex Jackson, Aaron Nola, Kyle Freeland, Jeff Hoffman (notables after, Trea Turner, Sean Newcomb, Luke Weaver, Matt Chapman) 2015: Dansby Swanson, Bregman, Brendan Rodgers, Dillon Tate, Kyle Tucker, Tyler Jay, Benintendi, Fulmer, Happ (Notables after: Walker Buehler... pretty weak so far for MLB talent) 2016: Moniak, Senzel, Ian Anderson, Riley Pint, Corey Ray, AJ Puk, Braxton Garrett, Cal Quantrill Actually after typing that all out I'm not sure I proved the point I was looking to make... Baseball seems to be a crapshoot in all ways. lol. 1st picks, 3rd picks, 8th picks... they're all over the place. It does appear that talent drops off somewhat after 10 picks though. I'll end this long post with a different thought process than I started... Let's win games, but let's stay in Tier 2 -- somewhere in a top 7 pick. The following year we need to make a leap though. We need to play .500 baseball at some point to start attracting FA's if we want to win in 2020 or 2021.

Interesting move on Roach. I've never seen him pitch a single pitch, but seemed like his numbers were strong this year. Surprised we didn't at least give him a shot when he got this offer. I'd like to have seen him pitch 2-3 outings in the majors just in case, then let him go to Japan.

With this rebuild I have a feeling some of the players we like this year are going to look completely ridiculous soon. Daniel Palka is sneaking his way into contention. The man is built like Jose Canseco - when he makes contact that ball is scolded. I actually spent time yesterday looking back his minor league stats to see why I hadn't heard of him before. I think it's fair to say that he can hit 25-35HR if given a full season in the majors. I think it's also fair to say that he's going to strikeout 200 times and that I am legitimately a better OF than he is.

Actually now that I'm reading more of the responses I have a bunch more. Danny Richar! haha. I remember writing into Merkin mailbag about the Ken Griffey Jr. trade and how we'd regret giving up Richar.. Massett too. I remember backing Cris Carter saying that trade saying that we'd regret that too. (Carlos Quentin). Apparently I shouldn't be a GM. Danny Wright... I'll go quickly thru the years starting with 2010 so my list isn't long as hell. 2010: Brent Morel 2011: Does Beckham start counting yet? I defended that guy like he was going to be Robinson Cano like numbers 2012: Micah Johnson, Zach Stewart 2013: Erik Johnson 2014: Tyler Saladino 2015: Brett Lawrie 2016: I guess this counts to John Danks, thought he'd finish strong. 2017: Alen Hanson

Ummm, that might be me. My SoxTalk name, I named my dog after him... Anderson (although as a half joke really) But yes, I completely love the comeback story. The guy who was supposed to be good, fell out, and you want them to regain it. Over the years I've had many. Anderson always being my go to. Then it was Gordon Beckham. Then it was Johnny Danks at the end of his career. Currently I am on the Giolito turn it around bandwagon as well as the Anderson bandwagon. I guess he's not hated at all, but there were a lot of people saying he's not a starter. I think he can actually thrive in the league as a 30/30 guy.

I'd have an open conversation with Abreu. If the Astros want to put together some prospects for him that make sense you take it to Abreu and have a convo with him and say hey this is our thought process, we'd like to give you a chance to contend via trade and then resign you in 1.5 years. That would be my ultimate situation - trade him, get some nice pieces and then resign him.

So here's a question ... if you were to buy Scout or GR Club seats on StubHub for today's game -- do you get access for that like 8 hour block? And secondly, what limitations do those clubs put on the drinking? Just wondering on a Bday weekend how much trouble I could get into...

The only team that has too much pitching at this moment is the Astros who have Peacock and McHugh operating out of the bullpen and guys like Martes who have a ton of talent in AAA. They also have Whitley coming up the system too. And look what's going on there -- they are looking for additional bullpen help this year. They also are going to lose Keuchel at year end and will lose others in due time as well. So the answer is no. Even if there is a year like this year for the Astros where all these guys pan out and we have no room we will still have a role for each and every one. In the case where all these guys are throwing well you can use a few guys and package them for a Gerrit Cole. You can utilize a guy like McHugh and Peacock out of the bullpen for 2-3 innings at a time to keep the starters more fresh for the post season, etc. Also Covey, Giolito, Guerrero, Stephens, etc. are not exactly Cole, Verlander, McCullers, Morton, Keuchel, McHugh, Peacock, etc.

True, that maybe wasn't the narrative, but my point is more or less that the general consensus of this board changes wildly. Giolito in the spring vs. now Covey the last year vs. Covey over the last 4 starts On and on and on. Moncada gets it the worst. It's a rollercoaster. Don't get me wrong their are qualities of some of these players that are very nice. Palka is hurting the ball. Davidson can swat homers. Moncada looks really good at times. Nicky can take some walks. Engel can chase them down. etc. etc. What wins out in the end is TBD to me. I think it's based on what is needed on said 2019 and 2020 team. Do we need a guy who can crush homers cause we don't have much power, or do we need a guy who can take walks and get on base? Maybe we need defense in Center or speed on the bases. Again, I think we're only talking 2-3 guys from this group. It's TBD. So let them play and lets not overreact over one or two good weeks out of Palka. Theres a reason a lot of these guys haven't made it to the majors yet.

I sometimes think that SoxTalk has memory of a fly. All of a sudden we like Palka and Engel? And dump Garcia? Last year it was let Engel rot and Garcia should be handed an extension... oh and that Nicky Delmonico can be a part of the future and that Davidson is a joke. Then in the beginning of the year it was Davidson can be the DH of the future!! He gets hurt for a few weeks and all of a sudden it's play Palka over Davidson when Nicky and Avi return.... How about this? Really none of these guys are much better or worse than each other and put them on the Nationals or Cubs or Astros and they'd all be riding the bench or in AAA. If we want to be a team that really competes for it all each year I don't think many of these guys are part of it. Hopefully you find 2-3 players from this disaster of a 2-3 years of baseball.

Seeing as they kept Moncada down so long last year and Kopech this year I don't see them skipping Eloy to the majors. Eloy certainly has the talent, but they wont do it. Kopech not being up is beyond me ... nobody in that rotation now is more important to the Sox future than the success of Kopech. If we are ever winning a world series Kopech is your ace. Might as well let him learn at the bigs.

I'm all for trading relievers if we can get something decent, but if we're ever going to turn the corner in 2019 or 2020 we may need to look into extending some of these guys instead of trading them. Or retaining a guy like Soria. We trade everybody away and next year when the games count, we'll be screwed with a bad bullpen.

Move them all around. If Davidson needs AB's try him in LF, can't be worse than Palka. Either way neither are probably the answer, but would be worth taking a look. The more the year goes on the more I think we see Eloy all year in AAA. Leury will come back. Avi will come back. Cordell will need a look just to see what he is. The OF is going to get crowded and the Sox will use that as an excuse.

True. Let's get Keuchel and Gio Gonzalez too. Let's do this the right way.

Ummm, I guess I'll take the bait. Please give me a detailed write-up on Stewart vs. Madrigal and why he'd be a better pick. I'll hang up and listen. thanks.

He's got what? 1.5 years in the minors at the least? So 2020 at the earliest? Let him, Burger and whoever else play down at the minors for 1.5 years and meanwhile we'll have a pretty clear picture by then of what exactly Anderson is and will be as well as Moncada. Outside of Burger all the guys can play other positions pretty easily. So if that means Madrigal 2b or ss... Anderson at ss, 3b, or OF, and moncada at 2b or 3b so be it. We'll figure it out. At the very worst (best) you have what the Cubs have -- you have Zobrist, Baez, Happ, Russell, Bryant, etc. all moving in and out of the infield and LF, etc. I mean look at the Brewers this year -- people were like where you going to play Santana, Braun, Yelich, Thames, etc. etc. and Counsell just said there will be injuries that happen and off days etc. And guess what? It happened exactly like that. Also people like Santana all of a sudden have an off year after a great year last year. I don't have a problem at all. Let it all play out. At the worst you have some guys DH, play LF, CF, etc for a day or two a week. There are enough AB's to go around.

I think more or less it's a agree to disagree. I get your points, but I also disagree. I think there's a problem of always playing for the future and accepting failure at the MLB level. At a certain point the Sox have to put their big boy pants on and sign free agents, play the rookies, and learn from the mistakes at the MLB level to learn and grow into a successful team.

I think this is true, however I also think players aren't dumb. I think they want to go to an organization that treats the players right. We had a reputation when we were competing of bringing up guys like Sale when they were ready to compete. I think when you show players you want to win and do it the right way that it helps. Let's say there was no CBA or time clock, both Kopech and Eloy would be up as they are better options than we currently have. I think that's the point I'm trying to make -- I think you play your best options and try to win every game. If even half the guys that we love in the minors turn out to do the job theyre supposed to then we'll likely be more like the Cubs or Astros or Yanks that has too much talent in the minors and nowhere for them to play in the majors anyways. The difference between 2024 and 2025 to me shouldn't matter. Hopefully we have a Gleyber Torres or Kyle Tucker knocking at the door to take the place of an Eloy. Or a Kopech like guy knocking on the door of Kopech. If we build this correctly we should be in a good position to compete for an extended window.

My take actually not the popular one from the poll results, which surprised me. But I'd bring him up late June after his Super Two is for sure in the rear view mirror. I hate to be the "culture" guy, but I think if we want to start righting this ship we have to start acting like we care about winning. Less of Palka, more of Jimenez. I was, and still remain okay with the Delmonicos and Tilson's of the world getting their shot and realize injuries have played a part in these lineups, but I think there's a certain sense of making SOME progress this year in the right direction. I was hoping by now we'd find a few bullpen arms and a few players that look like they could be tradeable pieces and a few more that could be nice fringe starters/nice utility players in the future. So far Davidson has stepped up nicely for a DH role for a few years (if he can keep this up). Yolmer has shown himself to be a competent 100-115 game player who can ideally bounce around from 3b to SS to 2B to the OF on a contending team (Nunez type player on a champ team - Red Sox). Fry has pitched well, but other than that it's been pretty bad. I'm hoping one of Tilson or Cordell can prove their worth as a 4OF this season too. Other than that? I think this season has been disappointing when looking at Giolitos step back (wasn't expected by me) the fact that Fulmer proved my worries, etc. I know this process takes a long time, and I wasn't expecting even as many wins as we had last year, but I hoped to see more glimpses of exciting baseball stretches. A lot of sidetrack there in that post, but I guess what I'm saying is that I want Eloy up in the OF. I want the OF to finish the season with Avi (basically untradeable - or not for enough anyways) in RF or LF, Tilson or Cordell in CF and Eloy in LF/RF. I want Yolmer continuing his stuff at 3B, Anderson doing his job as SS and Moncada getting his swings in. I think catcher is interesting. I wouldn't mind Zavala up in the majors and Collins knocking on the door either. I want to build a culture. I want Kopech up. etc. I want this team rocking and rolling into 2019 at the end of 2018. Not limping.