Dominikk85

I do think he would play in the expanded afl if he is healthy (and if that fall league can happen at all which we don't know yet). The swing looks good and he was an advanced bat but still if that afl is not happening he can't really play because you can't just put him in the majors after all the time off with injury and never playing above A ball.

Burger had a 1100 ops in college hitting 330+ with lots of walks and 20+ Homers. He always was a long shot to stay at third but he was a very polished college hitter who would have profiled at first or DH too. He wasn't super fit in college of course but still you dont expect an early 20 year old to RIP his Achilles twice. Fat players tend to get injured but not before their late 20s, that a player gets injured that early is rather unlikely.

I still like it because it prevents teams from keeping prospects down too long and use the minors as a reserve for mlb ready players. I would slightly adjust the times though, make it 6 years for HS and international kids and 4 years for college players because 5 years can be too little for international guys (who are only 21-22 after 5 years) while for college players 5 years is plenty (they are like 25-27 after 5 years).

Howard got less than crochet (3.7m) so I guess the sox simply liked crochet more. Also maybe timeline played a little role as howard probably isn't ready until 2024. Kelley will take time too but he has a mature body and maybe could be up a little faster.

So he got full slot value, right? This means he probably really was 11th on the sox board and they didn't want to save money. When looking at the board it probably makes sense, the better players really all went top 10 unless you like abel or howard more.

Are you worried about the reports of Kelley showing up out of shape in spring as of makeup concerns or do you think that is nothing to worry about?

I Think pipeline is the outlier, law said the change is bad and longenhagen didn't really mention the change. However I would prefer a plus breaker over a good change with an amateur. Not everyone can learn change up feel but it is possible however learning to spin the ball is hard. If the breaker has no command or a bad axis it can be corrected but if you can't make the ball spin fast at all your breaker will likely always be a "cement mixer" that just hangs up there.

I think that was kelley, crochet does throw a change but is not a viable pro ball pitch yet.

There is no question he is going go kill lefties with his slider but law said he struggled with righties because he has no credible third pitch. Law suggested maybe developing a cutter/slider hybrid to combat righties at least once or twice through the lineup which could be easier than developing feel for a change up. Still of course to be a full starter as a lefty he should at least try to develop a change up (straight 12 6 curve would work too but at his arm slot this is likely going to be a slurve which is not effective against righties at all).

Vaughn is certainly already better than the 30th guy, that is not the question. The question is like I have said in my other thread is whether you are willing to lose a year of service time with him by bringing him up.

I think there is a good chance he will never pitch in pro ball. He had tj so he is out until next summer and could very well be released until then. Kinda cruel but he of course was just picked to save money.

Of course we don't know if there will be a season but assuming there is there are proposals to make a 20 game taxi squad apart from the roster who can come up and down any time without 40 man moves. That is a good situation because of potential double headers and less off days and would be good for the Sox advanced prospects but how would that affect service time, especially vaughn, madrigal, kopech and cease? Would bringing those guys up in the taxi squad start the clock on them? Vaughn is an especially curious case as he hasn't played above high A ball but he likely would only need another 250-300 PAs in AA to be ready. Usually you would just give him those ABs but with likely no or only a late milb season do you put him on the taxi squad and start his clock or sit him on his ass and waste a year of development (except maybe some complex training and a fall league) but get an extra year of service? And what about the other 3 guys who are basically ready but could be gamed for extra service time? Robert is the only one were this is no issue due to the contract extension.

If you get a decent offer I would be open for a trade but I'm not sure you get a lot for either as neither has shown much in the majors. Also the time of the full time DH is really over, with 12 and 13 men pitching staffs most teams like to have more flexible players and rotate players through DH.

Abreu is a free Agent in 23 and vaughn likely not up until may 2021. I guess eloy will stick in the outfield through 2021.

In the end it doesn't matter if they get traded or pitches for the sox as long they help the team. However them getting traded could also mean they underperform which would be bad as you would sell low. It could of course also mean a monster trade for a superstar but I think right now that is not something to worry about

I think the most fair thing would be combined 2019 and 2020 record. That way you do consider 2020 results but you are getting a decent sample size and the worst teams draft highest. For the sox that would of course be great as they were bad last year but projected to be better so with a combined record they could get like the 16th picks despite let's say their 2020 record giving them the 22nd pick (if they are that good hopefully).

I think Manfred is pretty much a puppet of the owners.

I think now would be a good time giving him an extension. Offer him an extension. Offer him 6 years at 70m with a 20mil team option for 2027 that automatically kicks in when he has met certain thresholds indicating health and performance. This sounds like a bad deal for him but he also has not earned much and only one good year already and he could get injured any time. That is a risk for the sox too but not crippling if it goes wrong (like 10m per year) and could give them a controlled ace for the entire window.

I think the focus on high upside pitchers was right. Of course you can never have enough depth but it is easier to buy a 2 war 4 starter than to buy a 4 war star pitcher. Imo the sox have reasonable depth at sp (could always be better of course) but they lack that second ace. When you look at the teams winning the last decade they often had more than one ace (giants had Lincecum, Cain and later bumgarner, astros had verlander and Cole, dodgers have Kershaw and buehler, Nats had all those aces...). There are also other examples like KC or Boston but having two aces is a big advantage and if giolito and one of crochet and kelley could form a 4+ war 1-2 punch that is a big advantage in the post season and takes load of the pen too.

Not bad but I wonder if the sox could have gotten abel at 11 and kelley at 47. Slot value at 11 was 4.5 and bonus pool was 7.7 so that would have left 3m for kelley if they got 3 100k guys. Would that have been enough? Cant really judge that.

Howard would be stupid to not sign because the 21 and 23 drafts are going to be loaded with 2020 HS kids who are not signing this year. Much tougher competition for him and too much downside compared to upside.

I like kelley, he is a top 20-25 talent but is it worth to completely punt 3 picks AND not get BPA at 11 to get him? Sure if both crochet and kelley both work out it was a good draft but let one get injured and that draft could quickly become very bad. I'm not saying it has to go wrong but basically sacrificing at 4 picks and 3 of them completely is a big price to get kelley. I would have wanted a top15 talent at your second pick (Howard or abel) to sacrifice that much. Don't get me wrong kelley is good but imo not good enough to basically punt the whole draft to get him, for that I would want an absolute elite talent.

I like Kelley and crochet is not bad either but are the sox even spending all of their bonus pool? Don't like they are punting so much. Sure Kelley will be over slot quite a bit but crochet is probably at least a mil under slot so they should be able to pay kelley and still get somewhat decent picks and not just unranked guys.

Yeah, he is famous since he was a kid because he won home run derbies at age 12 and also was hyped on social media. This video called him next Bryce harper. However mlb.com podcast said he is more famous than good, not that he is bad and he does have huge raw power but reportedly not a great feel to hit and some contact issues against better showcase pitching. Definitely has big potential but also could be a bust and might be defensively limited too.

Don't want to get too political but this is a dumb take by Dougherty, because this is a pressing issue to black people and they are the ones who can speak on this, definitely better than asking white guys about their second hand experience with it. Now you can debate whether you should ask that question to an 18 year old new pro but if you ask that question certainly a black player is the right guy to ask just like you would ask a gay person on gay rights or a women on women's rights.