Top 10 list of traded away Sox prospects

[Jordan4life_2007]

My problem is that if you keep giving up stud youngsters for guys with some question marks something is eventually going to go horribly wrong. The guys you get aren't always going to make a major impact, just like the prospects aren't always going to pan out. Wells and Ritchie ended up being less than stellar acquisitions, and we were fortunate that none of the guys we gave up did anything major. With the exception of dealing Sosa for Bell, none of our guys that we dealt have become major players, at least as long as I can remember. Other teams have had much more bad luck on that front than we have, and if things really go wrong you can cost yourself 6 cheap years for a high productive player, something everyone needs. What if we had slipped up and dealt Thomas, Buehrle, Lee (we did eventually, but he got us a lot more value when we did deal him), Jenks, or B-Mac? People on this board would be going nuts. Many of us didn't like the deals when we made them, imagine if some of the youngsters actually did something.

 

I don't get all the hypotheticals. What if the Pirates had traded Bonds back in 87? What if the Mariners had traded Griffey back in 1990? Like I said, you have some cases in where you don't mess with your prospects. But prospects in general are a crapshoot. Some pan out. Many don't. We had the number one ranked farm system in the game in 2001. How many of those guys are in the majors now?

 

 

Freddy was inconsistent before he got here. The last few years before he came here he was not very good at all. Even now he isn't a world beater. Thome is still a pretty big risk given his health last year and his salary. Vazquez is another talented guy, but if he sucks he'll cost us a lot of money and we're not going to sign Contreras because of it. It's still possible that things can go wrong.

 

I believe Freddy was actually leading the AL in era at the time of the trade in 04. And he had, had plenty of success before that. And what do you mean he isn't a world beater? Define world beater. Is Jeremy Reed a world beater? How bout Mike Morse or Miguel Olivo? Freddy played a huge part on a World Series title team. I'd say he won that trade. What makes you think Vazquez is gonna suck? And the main reason the trade was made is to have some insurance in case they can't sign Contreras. If we don't, it won't be because of Vazquez.

 

 

It's working right now, but that's no guarantee it will work in the future. I'm not saying we shouldn't trade any prospects for anyone, I just liked it better when I was fairly sure that the guys we were dealing weren't going to do anything of note. The guys we're acquiring also look fairly good right now, but I and others might not necessarily like some guys that we get in the future.

 

So what you're saying is we should trade guys that have no chance of being good to other teams for proven talent? I wish it worked that way. To get, you have to give.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Once more i am talking about last off-season...

 

Either way everett sucks.

 

You mean the off-season of 2004? Alright then. I ask again, who could we have realistically gotten? Everett was pretty good insurance at the time. Nobody knew he was gonna struggle most of 2005.

[CWSGuy406]

Freddy was inconsistent?  And Kenny doesn't make the deal if he didn't think he could lock Freddy up long term.  Which he was able to do.  Thome is somewhat of a risk,  but everything points to him being healthy in 06.  Think Kenny even considers the deal if he had doubts? 

 

I'll just say this w/r/t Thome -- he wouldn't be the first big-slugger type to hit his mid-30s, and then just fall off of a cliff. Of course, he doesn't strike me as the type of guy who's lazy, and it also helps that Herm Schnieder (sp?) and co. are one of the best trainings staffs in baseball, but still. He's anything but a sure thing going into 2006.

 

And Chris Young... man, it sucks he isn't with the Sox anymore. If the Mike Cameron defensive comparisons are spot on, I'd say that he could already come up and just catch the ball, and still be better than a lot of major league CFers. If his combo of power and OBP is for real, and he becomes that .280/.380/.500 type player? Yikes... That's a star right there.

 

Oh, and here's my Ross Gload plug. I think he would've put up better numbers if given the same PA as Everett last year.

Edited February 10, 2006 by CWSGuy406

[Jordan4life_2007]

I'll just say this w/r/t Thome -- he wouldn't be the first big-slugger type to hit his mid-30s, and then just fall off of a cliff.  Of course, he doesn't strike me as the type of guy who's lazy, and it also helps that Herm Schnieder (sp?) and co. are one of the best trainings staffs in baseball, but still.  He's anything but a sure thing going into 2006. 

 

And Chris Young...  man, it sucks he isn't with the Sox anymore.  If the Mike Cameron defensive comparisons are spot on, I'd say that he could already come up and just catch the ball, and still be better than a lot of major league CFers.  If his combo of power and OBP is for real, and he becomes that .280/.380/.500 type player?  Yikes...  That's a star right there.

 

Oh, and here's my Ross Gload plug.  I think he would've put up better numbers if given the same PA as Everett last year.

 

I think will probably know by the end of April if Thome's 05 was a fluke or if he's really in decline. Either way, I feel it was a risk worth taking. And I no doubt hated giving up Young. I wish we could've given up Sweeney instead. However, I try and look at the positives. We've got a very talented 29 year old pitcher locked up for the next 3 years. A guy that gives us a better chance to repeat as World Champions. I can't agree on Ross Gload. I don't think he's a scrub or anything. But I don't think he could cut in as an everyday player.

[YASNY]

Sometimes, you trade off a bunch of prospects for proven ML talent and you win a World Series. Which is the ultimate goal, not prospect retention. Sure, eventually KW's going to trade a future star for a guy that doesn't pan out. It happens. So what? As long as this team has a realistic shot of a championship on opening day, I don't care how many propects he trades.

[YASNY]

You could easily change your post to read, this time last year ....

 

I think will probably know by the end of April if Dye's 04 was a fluke or if he's really in decline. 

 

.... and have been totally mistaken.

Edited February 10, 2006 by YASNY

[Jordan4life_2007]

You could easily change your post to read, this time last year ....

.... and have been totally mistaken.

 

So true. I never even looked at it like that.

[ZoomSlowik]

I didn't have a problem with the prospects we dealt until this year. The only times I've felt that we dealt guys that had the possibility of a bright future in the MLB were the Todd Ritchie deal (which was before Kenny's time), and the deals this offseason. We managed to get several decent players without giving up high-ceiling future stars. We got Colon for a random collection of junk; we got Alomar (who wasn't that far removed from being an All-star at the time) for a relief pitcher that could barely break 90 MPH; We got Everett for guys that weren't going anywhere twice; and we got Freddy for a passable catcher, a mediocre SS, and an overrated corner-outfielder with little power and less than stellar speed. Few of those guys had any chance of making any impact whatsoever, with Reed being the only exception (and he probably isn't going to be any more than a slightly above average OF even if he puts it all together). I think we finally gave up a couple of those type of guys with Young and Gio, and I hope it doesn't become a trend.

 

Our team is starting to get rather expensive, so guys like that are going to become important to our future success (past the next two seasons or so). We have Jenks, B-Mac, and Cotts to help our pitching a bit, and hopefully between Anderson and Owens we get at least one decent OF. But because of those deals this offseason there isn't much behind them for probably two years. We're eventually going to need some reinforcements from the minors, so I hope that when that happens they aren't already on another team's roster.

[YASNY]

I didn't have a problem with the prospects we dealt until this year. The only times I've felt that we dealt guys that had the possibility of a bright future in the MLB were the Todd Ritchie deal (which was before Kenny's time), and the deals this offseason. We managed to get several decent players without giving up high-ceiling future stars. We got Colon for a random collection of junk; we got Alomar (who wasn't that far removed from being an All-star at the time) for a relief pitcher that could barely break 90 MPH; We got Everett for guys that weren't going anywhere twice; and we got Freddy for a passable catcher, a mediocre SS, and an overrated corner-outfielder with little power and less than stellar speed. Few of those guys had any chance of making any impact whatsoever, with Reed being the only exception (and he probably isn't going to be any more than a slightly above average OF even if he puts it all together). I think we finally gave up a couple of those type of guys with Young and Gio, and I hope it doesn't become a trend.

 

Our team is starting to get rather expensive, so guys like that are going to become important to our future success (past the next two seasons or so). We have Jenks, B-Mac, and Cotts to help our pitching a bit, and hopefully between Anderson and Owens we get at least one decent OF. But because of those deals this offseason there isn't much behind them for probably two years. We're eventually going to need some reinforcements from the minors, so I hope that when that happens they aren't already on another team's roster.

 

Hind sight is 20-20. Every trade that was made brought screams of protest.

[GoodAsGould]

While it would be nice to keep some of our prospects... Its awesome when you draft a guy follow him through the minors and he becomes a good player in the majors.....

 

Im not going to complain because KW has won us a WS and we are in position to repeat and on paper have a better team than last season.

[RockRaines]

Everyone who is complaining about trading young. Would you have rather traded Brian Anderson?

[Jordan4life_2007]

Everyone who is complaining about trading young.  Would you have rather traded Brian Anderson?

 

It's hard to say. Personally, I feel Young will be the better player. Then again, Anderson is ready now. Young doesn't project to be ready until 07. So if we had traded Anderson instead, who's our cf for 06?

[ZoomSlowik]

Everyone who is complaining about trading young.  Would you have rather traded Brian Anderson?

 

Sort of a tough call. Anderson is more polished and closer to the majors, but Young has a higher ceiling. Personally I'd probably rather have let Anderson go, but that would have create a problem in center for at least this year.

[RockRaines]

Sort of a tough call. Anderson is more polished and closer to the majors, but Young has a higher ceiling. Personally I'd probably rather have let Anderson go, but that would have create a problem in center for at least this year.

Thats what im saying, a decision had to be made, and it was the correct decision. I think we overpaid for Thome a little, but Young had to go for Vaz. 3 years ago many scouts would have said Borchard had the higher ceiling when compared to Anderson.

[ZoomSlowik]

Thats what im saying, a decision had to be made, and it was the correct decision.  I think we overpaid for Thome a little, but Young had to go for Vaz.  3 years ago many scouts would have said Borchard had the higher ceiling when compared to Anderson.

 

That's pretty true. After a while it was somewhat obvious that he couldn't make enough contact, but by then it was too late. Thome was a necessary addition too. It'd have been nice to keep those guys, but I can't complain too much about who they got.