Plympton91 said:
Noe Ramirez's slop? Jonathan Aro's mediocrity? Brian Johnson's flight status to Birmingham?
Was it exciting to hear Dennis Eckersley's evaluations of Henry Owens over the weekend?
For one, Jonathan Aro might not have elite "stuff", but has posted a FIP below 3.04 at every level since he started playing full-season baseball, and has a 5:1 K:BB & 11.23 K/9 in AAA. Guys with those numbers even without elite stuff tend to become at least useful MLB relievers.
On top of him, you have three guys in Barnes, Hembree and Light who all have elite stuff but varying levels of command. Plus Tommy Layne, who has already proven he's at least a solid 7th inning guy for an MLB bullpen.
As for Eck, the guy might be a HOF pitcher but he's no scout. Taking his word as gospel is like saying whatever Joe Morgan believes is gospel.
Three fifths of the rotation in my view is getting absolutely critical seasoning for 2016 in Owens, Eduardo and Wright. Another 8-9 starts for each of them can tell you a ton about what they are today, what they could become and what they may not be. Then add in bullpen pieces like Aro, Hembree, Light, Barnes and Layne - lots to evaluate and potentially get excited about in 2016. Not to mention that on the other side you have Castillo, JBJ, Bogaerts, Betts, Swihart, and Shaw all getting much-needed MLB innings / at-bats.
This isn't 2012, when guys with zero future like Podsednik, Ciriaco, Mauro Gomez, Aviles, and James Loney were getting regular ABs for no other reason than the Sox had to send somebody out there; meanwhile in the rotation they tossed out Aaron Cook and a fork-in-his-back Daisuke Matsuzaka down the stretch. At least for this year, the team has plenty of young but unproven talent to evaluate.