Sox Rule 5 thread

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
So would you have rather have lost one of them than Johnfrank?
I am irrationally high on Johnfrank, but yes, I would much rather lose any non-bolded player than Johnfrank. & Railin Perez. & Alexis Hernandez. Mixed feelings on Ramirez & Bell, & don't care about losing the Ryans.
 

Hendu Candu

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 6, 2003
485
Upstate NY
Seems like an MLB-ready bullpen arm. Terrible his whole minor league career until moving to the bullpen last year.

Baseball America's RoboScout tabbed him as the best available pitcher.

With the addition of Dylan White to the team at Baseball America, one of the many benefits is access to the RoboScout tool and Stuff+ scores for minor league prospects. RoboScout does an excellent job of objectively identifying high-performance prospects while balancing age to level performance among each player and their peers.

When researching Rule 5 picks, models like RoboScout or Stuff+ allow us to cut through the noise and look at players on a somewhat even footing. We used RoboScout and Stuff+ to create charts of the top available players and listed each below. We have included the Top 20 players with the highest Roboscores among position players, the Top 20 players among available pitchers and the Top 20 Stuff+ scores among available pitchers.

In a moment of unity between the Roboscout and the industry, the robot identified Justin Slaten as the top available player in the Rule 5 draft. He has the second-highest Roboscore, the highest among players who reached the high minors and the third highest Stuff+ score. Over the last week, Slaten’s name has been the buzziest of potential picks. Slaten was also one of five pitchers with intriguing stuff from the Arizona Fall League we identified last month.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
Most of these guys headed out today were Dombrowski acquisitions.

#21 Drohan (could return) - Bloom
#39 Fernandez (could return) - Dombrowksi
#50 Johnfrank - Dombrowski
#88 Hernandez - Dombrowski
#89 Bell - Dombrowski
#97 Ramirez - Dombrowski
#113 Perez - Dombrowski
#135 Fitzgerald - Dombrowski
#167 Ammons - Bloom
#217 Miller - Bloom

Speier had been advised that the Red Sox were getting pillaged:

View: https://twitter.com/alexspeier/status/1732479604428833007
 

LogansDad

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
29,806
Alamogordo
I am irrationally high on Johnfrank, but yes, I would much rather lose any non-bolded player than Johnfrank. & Railin Perez. & Alexis Hernandez. Mixed feelings on Ramirez & Bell, & don't care about losing the Ryans.
I get it, especially since you spend so much time covering the minor leagues (and doing a really exceptional job) for us here, but I think it's kind of a product of the kind of bad MLB roster and the depth of the system at this point. Any of the guys taken could have been protected, but I count them at 39 on the 40 man right now (still dealing with COVID brain a bit, so I may be off), and they essentially need to add two SP's, a RHB outfielder and (in my opinion) a second baseman. And they need to do this with very few players on the 40 man who are likely to bring back any impact players in return, so chance are that a lot of the 40 man rosters is going to start being waived when they make these moves anyway, and the best candidates would have been the players just selected in the R5.

I am, admittedly, not as high on Drohan as you, so take that for what it's worth.

I do agree that losing a solidly prospectable catcher sucks.
 

The Gray Eagle

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
16,904
Drohan and Fernandez gone...
Frustrating, since we still have middle relief nobodys on the 40-man like Weiss, Jacques and Llovera.
I am also disappointed that we didn't take Anthony Prato, who was my personal fave. But no one else took him either, so apparently he's not in a lot of demand.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
I get it, especially since you spend so much time covering the minor leagues (and doing a really exceptional job) for us here, but I think it's kind of a product of the kind of bad MLB roster and the depth of the system at this point. Any of the guys taken could have been protected, but I count them at 39 on the 40 man right now (still dealing with COVID brain a bit, so I may be off), and they essentially need to add two SP's, a RHB outfielder and (in my opinion) a second baseman. And they need to do this with very few players on the 40 man who are likely to bring back any impact players in return, so chance are that a lot of the 40 man rosters is going to start being waived when they make these moves anyway, and the best candidates would have been the players just selected in the R5.

I am, admittedly, not as high on Drohan as you, so take that for what it's worth.

I do agree that losing a solidly prospectable catcher sucks.
Pretty positive their 40-man is at 38 (was 37 after Mills, Verdugo out, Weissert & Slaten in). But I'm more frustrated about the MiLB portion than the MLB portion because that seems like unforced errors to me & they can protect an additional 38 players outside of the 40-man on that.

I'm lower on Drohan than SoxProspects (he's my 21, their 15). & perhaps lower on him than the White Sox, but I think it's bad business to be losing these guys for nothing & we need to be doing better along the margins. Maybe this is residual mismanagement from the Bloom era & we'll see how things look moving forward. It's kind of crazy to make up 20% of the MLB portion of the R5 & 12.3% of the overall when we make up less than 4% of the league & don't have a particularly good roster.

If the new overlords just don't think Drohan has a future because he's not a hard throwing right hander with a good slider, or that Fernandez is too wild/injury prone, so be it, & I'm definitely happy to see how the rest of the off season plays out, but yeah. The MiLB stuff especially seems like some unforced errors were made.

& I hope you feel better!
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
Summery of this week:

Fitzy out, Fittsy in.
Ryans out, Dick's in

In one day, we unloaded 80% of our Ryans, losing Fernandez to the R5, Fitzgerald & Miller to the AAA R5, & trading Ammons.

Zeferjahn better watch his back. Breslow clearly has some sort of past trauma involving someone named Ryan. Won't speculate further.
 

Manramsclan

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
3,374
It's amazing that we can both be so bad at pitching & have so many pitchers taken away from us because we don't protect them.
This is what I came here to post. Something doesn't add up. Either our pitching development is terrible or our evaluation on what makes a pitcher successful at the MLB level.
Honestly I hope it's the former because with Breslow, Bailey and recent additions etc.at least that is being addressed.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 13, 2021
12,324
It’s especially frustrating that the prior regime was unable to convert any of these players into help for the major league team- lord knows there were enough holes.
 

simplicio

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 11, 2012
5,306
It's amazing that we can both be so bad at pitching & have so many pitchers taken away from us because we don't protect them.
Isn't it more an indication that Bloom's development machine is starting to function well but the results just haven't graduated to the high minors/MLB yet?
 

Petagine in a Bottle

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 13, 2021
12,324
Isn't it more an indication that Bloom's development machine is starting to function well but the results just haven't graduated to the high minors/MLB yet?
Seems like a generous take. Could be that organizations don’t think the Sox org properly evaluates their players, or are unable to maximize their potential as well. Who knows really, probably a combination of factors.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
Yeah... not really interested in relitigating Bloom & what this says, other than that I'm confused about letting interesting young players (who were mostly acquired under Dombrowski) go for free & protecting people who one would presume without being able to see the 38-person list, would be less interesting (imo).

In terms of MLB R5...I guess I will have to defer to Breslow on Drohan & Fernandez until he shows that he doesn't know what he's doing.
 

Jed Zeppelin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2008
51,553
Drohan doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who will really sting down the road to have lost. Another Chris Murphy type. Not useless but a replaceable arm especially if the new braintrust are basing everything on a stronger pitching apparatus.

No real thoughts on the others. We have about 8 Fernandez types in the system and the pen is growing into a real strength anyway (with lots of Bloom-era college draftees potentially on the way. Most likely scenario by far is every MILB prospect selected washes out eventually before even reaching the point of “interesting 3rd or 4th piece in a trade.” It is a little blip given the depth of the system
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
Turns out with our new old guy isn't even a good catcher...

Mickey Gasper (AA, AAA) 147.1 innings, 30 steals, 3 cs (9.1%), 25 IPEP.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
Is his framing elite, perhaps?
If he was elite at anything I'm pretty sure he would have caught more innings. But who knows? The Yankees have a ton of catchers. Maybe they just keep bringing in Yankees on each R5 to figure out how they get their pitchers to look so worthy of trading for.

Maybe they just think it will be useful to have someone help Fitts feel at home, or like the idea of having a utility guy who can also play catcher?

In his MiLB career (keep in mind he's 5'9):

1B - 150
C - 78
2B - 16
DH - 13
P - 3
3B - 1

Last year the 28 y/o had a 129 wRC+ in 188 PAs in AA & 47 wRC+ in 78 PAs in AAA.
 

JimD

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2001
8,696
It’s especially frustrating that the prior regime was unable to convert any of these players into help for the major league team- lord knows there were enough holes.
I'm with you on this. The coming 40-man crunch was visible all season, I get that they were probably hoping Drohan would do better at AAA but he must have had some value at the trade deadline.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
Parker & Hen-ri-kay pod on the R5 draft.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0o1pftMxVvRCPQUdZnPboy?si=R7Zvz0oUR-mOpiWRMKAf_Q

I think Drohan will stick in Chicago. He should be fine with an off season to get it back together & should be passable in low leverage.

Disagree with Parker saying Drohan would need to start or pitch long relief. That would only be if he's actually pitching well (or they need a Bear Claw day), otherwise he'd probably just get a low leverage inning here & there like Ward did (35.1 innings in 26 games). One thing working against Drohan is that he had reverse splits last year, .794 OPS against righties & .881 against lefties, so he needs to figure that part out. I'm guessing it relates to the changeup being more effective than his slider at this point & throwing more changeups against righties. I think he'll be able to get the shape back on his breaking stuff over the off season, though.

I agree that Fernandez also probably isn't coming back, but I would probably have it slightly more likely because the Cards are more likely to be trying to win & Fernandez has blow up potential, too, with less incentive for them to keep him around since the upside of a 1-inning relief pitcher is less than of a potential future starter. For all the crap Drohan gets for his 6.47 ERA in AAA, Fernandez wasn't much better at 6.16. Both were obviously great in Portland (1.32 for Drohan & 1.77 for Fernandez), but just because Fernandez throws harder & has nastier stuff doesn't mean he is necessarily enough more ready for MLB to overcome the lower ceiling & better team.

I'll say 25% chance we get Drohan back & 40% chance we get Fernandez back.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
I looked into the Gasper/Fitts connection.

6/4 & 7/9 were the only 2 games that Fitts pitched & Gasper caught.

Stats in those games...

12 IP
3 ER
8 hits
2 walks
1 HBP
10 strikeouts

2.25 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 1.5 bb/9, 7.5 k/9
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
So it turns out the Red Sox didn't bother to use all their 38 protection slots, allowing several players to be taken for no reason. Seems weird.

SP pod dropping later today.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
Yeah.... this makes zero sense.
Yeah, listened to the SP pod today. Still confused about why they left so many openings on their AAA reserve list & Ian/Chris didn't seem to understand either.

Red Sox lost 9 guys, Yankees lost 7, & no one else lost more than 5. & other teams were surprised about who the Red Sox left out there.

It almost feels like they didn't like these players personally for whatever reason & used this as a way to move on culturally or something without the backlash of cutting them? Idk, best theory I have right now.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6RZo08qu8dMRvD3FKwP6zZ?si=fao9155VQdWM04EwRzT97A
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
Yup...

...underwent a nerve decompression procedure in his left shoulder this morning, manager Pedro Grifol announced.
The current hope is that Drohan will be able to begin a throwing progression by the end of camp, though that will obviously depend on how his shoulder responds in the early stages of his recovery.
The Sox haven’t provided a timeline for Drohan’s recovery, though he’ll certainly open the season on the injured list. He’ll accrue big league service time and pay during that time. His status as a Rule 5 pick prevents him from being optioned to the minors. Drohan will need to spend the entire season on the White Sox’ big league roster and/or injured list — with 90 days on the active roster — in order to shed his Rule 5 status for the 2025 season. If the White Sox want to drop him from the roster at any point, he’d need to be placed on waivers and, if he clears, offered back to the Red Sox for a nominal sum of $50K.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/02/white-sox-rule-5-pick-shane-drohan-undergoes-shoulder-surgery.html?utm_source=twitter
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
15,260
Most of these guys headed out today were Dombrowski acquisitions.

#21 Drohan (could return) - Bloom
#39 Fernandez (could return) - Dombrowksi
#50 Johnfrank - Dombrowski
#88 Hernandez - Dombrowski
#89 Bell - Dombrowski
#97 Ramirez - Dombrowski
#113 Perez - Dombrowski
#135 Fitzgerald - Dombrowski
#167 Ammons - Bloom
#217 Miller - Bloom

Speier had been advised that the Red Sox were getting pillaged:

View: https://twitter.com/alexspeier/status/1732479604428833007
Seems like a good day to take an early look at the fallout from R5 day:

#21 Drohan (could return - MLB IL) - Hasn't pitched, injured.

View: https://twitter.com/VinnieDuber/status/1773407211076612100


#39 Fernandez (could return - MLB) - 6.2 IP, 4.05 ERA/3.87 xFIP

#50 Johnfrank (A-Ball) - 1-19 with 2 bb & 3 k's... .071 BABIP & -21 wRC+

#88 Hernandez (A-Ball) - 84 wRC+ in 40 PAs (106 last season)

#89 Bell (High-A) - 3.2 IP, 2.45 ERA/3.30 xFIP

#97 Ramirez (High-A) - His first start of the year was filling in for AAA & getting whooped by Norfolk, but then he went to A+ & threw 3.2 scoreless innings.

#113 Perez (High-A) - 4.2 IP, 1.93 ERA/5.20 xFIP

#135 Fitzgerald (AAA) - 125 wRC+ in 32 PAs.

#167 Ammons (A-Ball) - 3.1 IP, 2.70 ERA/4.76 xFIP

#217 Miller (AAA) - 8.2 IP, 3.12 ERA/3.09 xFIP