Reports were, they were playing him in the outfield AND infield to showcase his versatility.
Red Sox acquire RHP Quinn Priester from Pittsburgh; optioned to Worcester
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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Playing LF is not a sign of versatility. It’s basically the bottom of the defensive spectrum. Yorke needs to make it at 2B because he doesn’t have the arm to play the left side of the infield or the bat to be anywhere else.
And Grissom was in the organization because the FO did not believe that Yorke could be our future 2B.
I don’t know if it’s as simple as that, I think there were likely a lot of considerations that went into the deal, such as Grissom’s potential, Sale’s salary / injury risk, etc. I’m sure the assessment of Yorke was part of it, but maybe not the driving factor.
Agreed - the Sox FO swallowed the Kool-Aid on Grissom because "he's under long-term control!!!" ... and, Yorke wasn't ready. We now have a revolving door of 2nd basemen. They didn't want to bring up Yorke. He'll be in the September call-up (or sooner) with the Pirates.
The Pirates are going for it. If Yorke gets called up, it's probably as the last man - I doubt they expect or even want his contributions this year. That said, liking the kid, I hope he gets his opp and runs with it.
Good Lord, I reread the prior post to see what it was you were agreeing to. As far as I can see, it’s a total disconnect.. Petagine mentioned a multiplicity of factors surrounding the Sale trade, none of them years of control. What was it you were saying you agreed to?
Some deals succeed, some deals fail. So far, the expectations for Sale’s durability have been exceeded. What we have in Grissom is yet to be demonstrated for reasons that no one could anticipate. No Kool-Aid in evidence.
It's almost surreal to see Yorke actually moved for an SP. It'll be the end of an era around here when Dalbec is finally DFA'd. Good on him for building back his value this year, and I hope he succeeds!
RE: Grissom, it seems premature to write off a highly-regarded 23yo. To tie it in with this thread, the dude is only 1 year older than Yorke!
RE: Grissom, it seems premature to write off a highly-regarded 23yo. To tie it in with this thread, the dude is only 1 year older than Yorke!
Don't think I saw this in the thread, but when Priester was drafted, his big secondary offering was a devastating 12-6 curve. However, he had trouble locating it in the minors, so the Pirates basically had him move to the slider as his main breaking pitch and had him only use his curve secondarily. Which means two things:
1. He's still learning the slider - I believe he only really started throwing it about two or three years ago.
2. He has significant upside with the curveball if he can locate it better. Already, he's getting swinging strikes on it 15% of the time in his two years in the bigs and 18% this year - those are big numbers (I think league average is like 11 or 12). It's just that curves can get hit hard when they're not in the right place.
1. He's still learning the slider - I believe he only really started throwing it about two or three years ago.
2. He has significant upside with the curveball if he can locate it better. Already, he's getting swinging strikes on it 15% of the time in his two years in the bigs and 18% this year - those are big numbers (I think league average is like 11 or 12). It's just that curves can get hit hard when they're not in the right place.
Yorke has continued to hit for Pittsburgh's AAA affiliate: .381/.440/.524 in 21 ABs in 6 games. He has 8 total hits and 3 of them are doubles (no 3Bs or HRs). He's also been caught stealing twice. They are splitting him between 2B and LF just like the Red Sox were prior to the trade.
View: https://twitter.com/_NoahHiles/status/1835759161117728971
"Sources: The Pirates are promoting Nick Yorke to the big leagues. He is with the team in St. Louis. Yorke is rated the team’s No. 6 prospect per MLB Pipeline."
Good for him, I hope it ends up a productive trade for both sides.
Edit: he's in the lineup tonight and it's Skenes day, so I guess a serendipitous day off for the Sox and I can be a Pirates fan for the evening.
"Sources: The Pirates are promoting Nick Yorke to the big leagues. He is with the team in St. Louis. Yorke is rated the team’s No. 6 prospect per MLB Pipeline."
Good for him, I hope it ends up a productive trade for both sides.
Edit: he's in the lineup tonight and it's Skenes day, so I guess a serendipitous day off for the Sox and I can be a Pirates fan for the evening.
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Regardless of what happens with Priester and regardless how you feel about the player, we should be rooting for him as Sox fans. Have to believe when former Sox prospects do well it gives GMs more confidence to deal with the Sox
I pretty much always root for ex–Sox prospects when I'm watching other teams, not for any instrumental fandom reason, but just on the grounds that I generally have a sense of their pedigree and the narrative of their career. Barring a Brainer Bonaci scenario or something, I generally have some warmth towards such players, even a guy like Yorke I was a bit skeptical about when he was in the system.
I live in Chicago, like baseball a lot and commute past two MLB stadiums on days I'm in the office, so I'll occasionally just grab a random Stubhub ticket and take in a game on a nice night. Hopefully I'll see Yorke at Wrigley next summer.
If anyone cares...
Yorke went 0-3 on Monday night (with a stolen base, he somehow got on base)
AND he went 3-4 last night (Tuesday). And for now, he's playing 2B.
Well, gee whiz, we got Vaughn Grissom as our regular second baseman, right?
Year 5 of the rebuild ain't goin' so hot now, is it?
Yorke went 0-3 on Monday night (with a stolen base, he somehow got on base)
AND he went 3-4 last night (Tuesday). And for now, he's playing 2B.
Well, gee whiz, we got Vaughn Grissom as our regular second baseman, right?
Year 5 of the rebuild ain't goin' so hot now, is it?
Since Priester has already chalked up 1 win at AAA, I declared the trade an unqualified success after Yorke's first game in Pittsburgh. Anything that happens thereafter is irrelevant.
Yorke being expendable probably has a lot more to do with the following factors than Vaughn Grissom:
The team got a cost controlled pitcher with intriguing traits for Yorke. I hope he proves the doubters wrong about his defense and he has a long productive career. But it would be false to claim there aren't doubters, today.
Mike
- Skepticism over Yorke's ability to play in the infield
- skepticism over Yorke's bat being good enough to play in LF or 1b, should he have to move
- The emergence of Kristian Campbell this season as being a possible alternative at 2B
- The fact that Boston's 2nd best prospect in a SS and Trevor Story remains on the roster for next season
The team got a cost controlled pitcher with intriguing traits for Yorke. I hope he proves the doubters wrong about his defense and he has a long productive career. But it would be false to claim there aren't doubters, today.
Mike
Of course I hope Yorke does well in Pittsburgh. I do more than root for the laundry and I've been rooting for Yorke in the minors for a long time.
Now I root for Priester too. I think there's the making of a big-league pitcher in him and I hope to see that come to fruition in a Sox uni.
Best case scenario (however unlikely) is that they both become perennial all-stars.
It's not like I bear the Pirates any ill-will
Now I root for Priester too. I think there's the making of a big-league pitcher in him and I hope to see that come to fruition in a Sox uni.
Best case scenario (however unlikely) is that they both become perennial all-stars.
It's not like I bear the Pirates any ill-will
I think for a guy like Yorke who’s always had potential but also always had some big questions, going to a place like Pittsburgh who will let him work through whatever growing pains would be ideal.
Meanwhile, Grissom's late-season resurgence in Worcester has not died down. Since his return from the IL, he has the following line in 44 G:
But if we divide that stretch into two 22-game stretches, we get
These are small samples, of course, but that latter line looks like his career AAA performance (.311/.411/.465) with a bit of BABIP luck. If he finishes the year this way and gets a healthy offseason, I think there's every chance that he wins the second base job in camp.
40/154, 34/29 K/BB, .260/.385/.390 (fine, whatever).
But if we divide that stretch into two 22-game stretches, we get
14/90, 19/10 K/BB, .180/.289/.269 (vomiting emoji) followed by 26/97, 15/19 K/BB, .342/.474/.513 (eyes emoji).
These are small samples, of course, but that latter line looks like his career AAA performance (.311/.411/.465) with a bit of BABIP luck. If he finishes the year this way and gets a healthy offseason, I think there's every chance that he wins the second base job in camp.
That's really what was behind it. Yorke was perfectly fine as a 2B. But Campbell was better. And Yorke's performance was such that they were able to convert him into a young cost-controlled pitcher with high upside. A win win deal.
Nice, may it be number 1 of many.
I will say watching him in MLB games, one of the bigger concerns about his development was whether or not he could keep himself in shape for 2B. He was pretty filled out as a teenager and he's got a sibling who's also a big dude.
It seems like he's avoided that issue.
His overall numbers are respectable thus far. No bbs, and striking out too much, but the results are alright in a tiny sample. Will be pretty interesting to watch his career relative to Henry Davis, who many thought was Boston bound in the Mayer draft before the Pirates surprised everyone by taking Davis at number 1.
I will say watching him in MLB games, one of the bigger concerns about his development was whether or not he could keep himself in shape for 2B. He was pretty filled out as a teenager and he's got a sibling who's also a big dude.
It seems like he's avoided that issue.
His overall numbers are respectable thus far. No bbs, and striking out too much, but the results are alright in a tiny sample. Will be pretty interesting to watch his career relative to Henry Davis, who many thought was Boston bound in the Mayer draft before the Pirates surprised everyone by taking Davis at number 1.
I've been wanting to talk about this. Davis is still 25 and catchers sometimes develop late, so we can't say that the Pirates have screwed this up just yet. But all that said: have the Pirates screwed this up? .191/.283/.307 in MLB with a 30% K rate. He did rake at AAA both this and last year, but I'd be more than a bit concerned if I were a Pirates fan.
I think he's a change of scenery guy. A fresh start in a new organization might have him come closer to his AAA production, as he's not feeling the pressure of having to produce for the team that picked him first. Heck, the Pirates are getting a serviceable year behind the plate by a player with a similar career path ... Joey Bart
It's worth noting that Davis was kind of seen as the lower ceiling, huge floor guy of that draft. There were questions about whether or not he could play catcher, but pretty much everyone agreed that he'd be a good enough hitter to be a solid regular, even in the OF.
That was a really fascinating draft with really good early returns among the top prospects. There were something like 5 really good draft SS prospects in that class. Boston was linked to Lawlar, who was seen as a really good consolation prize to Mayer. Lawlar, might be better than Mayer (difficult to judge given Lawlar's significant amount of missed time this year.
Almost everyone mocked the Tigers for taking Jackson Job number 2. No one doubted the talent, but a HS pitcher in that spot felt super risky. Fast forward to this off-season, Job might be the top prospect in baseball.
Just a brutal miss for the Pirates at present time.
A lot of people freak out about the draft where Boston picked Trey Ball back in 2013 as an epic miss but when you look at that guys in the mx at the top that year, it doesn't look that bad. The Davis pick OTH, yikes.
That was a really fascinating draft with really good early returns among the top prospects. There were something like 5 really good draft SS prospects in that class. Boston was linked to Lawlar, who was seen as a really good consolation prize to Mayer. Lawlar, might be better than Mayer (difficult to judge given Lawlar's significant amount of missed time this year.
Almost everyone mocked the Tigers for taking Jackson Job number 2. No one doubted the talent, but a HS pitcher in that spot felt super risky. Fast forward to this off-season, Job might be the top prospect in baseball.
Just a brutal miss for the Pirates at present time.
A lot of people freak out about the draft where Boston picked Trey Ball back in 2013 as an epic miss but when you look at that guys in the mx at the top that year, it doesn't look that bad. The Davis pick OTH, yikes.
That entire traditional 1st round was pretty much garbage.
Kris Bryant was great for the first half of his career - and he was picked 2nd, so not like the Sox could have taken him. It's not like anyone taken right around Ball was any better - and hey - the Sox still got Hunter Renfroe (taken 11th) and Dom Smith (taken 13th) regardless.
This reminds me of @JMDurron 's GM Time Machine, which appears to have been lost to time. Judge was available for the Sox. Cody Bellinger might have been the best pick available in the 2nd round, then IKF in the 3rd and Pivetta in the 4th. Adam Frazier in the 5th, Jeff McNeil in the 6th, Yaz Jr in the 7th, not a lot more meat on the bone in this draft.
https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?forums/the-gm-time-machine.14/
Sure - but Judge (and the others) were all passed on by some teams that we generally consider "smart" and / or "wealthy" in ways we like to consider the Sox.
The Mets (money) took Dom Smith at 11; the Phillies took JP Crawford at 16 (probably the "best" 1st round pick outside of Bryant, and he was moved for Juan Seguara by PHI), the Dodgers took Chris Anderson, the Cards had two chances and took Marco Gonzales (who has been ok, I guess, but I don't exactly think "if only the Sox had drafted Marco Gonzales) and Rob Kaminsky, the Rangers had two chances and took Chi Chi Gonzalez and Travis DeMeritte, the Rays (smart) had two chances and took Nick Ciuffo and Ryne Stanek (both of whom signed for around Judge Money - Ciuffo a little more, Stanek about $50k less) and when we get to the supplemental portion (non traditional) of the first round, the Braves took Jason Hursh one pick before the Yankees took Judge.
That (traditional) first round - excepting Bryant at 2 - was just a pretty gigantic waste of everyone's time.
Jackson Jobe just got called up to Detroit today. I’m gonna have to start watching some Tigers games.
MassLive has an article on what the Sox have worked on with Priester to retool his approach and boost velocity since the trade:
Local Pittsburgh sports columnist, Dejan Kovacevic, has long complained that young Pirates pitchers show an ability to throw hard and magically don't anymore. Priester was one of the examples, at one point throwing regularly 95 and dropping down to more like 91. It's a prime reason a team like the Sox would want someone like this, thinking they could get him back to where he once was.
Yorke goes deep in The Bidet
https://x.com/Jason_Shetler/status/1840115942790938631?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet
https://x.com/Jason_Shetler/status/1840115942790938631?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet
