Red Sox youth

dbenny

New Member
Aug 15, 2021
2
Is anyone else feeling extremely optimistic about the Sox young future? This feeling I have may be because of Casas’ recent call-up, but I am very optimistic about what they have for young professionals, and prospects coming up in the next few years (More so with position players than pitchers. They have asked a LOT from rookie pitchers this season). Let’s look at their big name young guys.

Devers (hopefully)
Verdugo
Casas
Wong
Duran
Downs
Mayer
Blaze
Yorke
Rafaela
Bello
Whitlock
Houck
Kutter
Winckowski

There’s so many more guys you could throw in this mix, and even the underwhelming guys on this list like Dalbec or Duran still have very notable ‘pros’ and could benefit from a little more time in Worcester. Anyone else feeling good too, or do I have too much confidence in their future depth?
 

BravesField

New Member
Oct 27, 2021
252
Is anyone else feeling extremely optimistic about the Sox young future? This feeling I have may be because of Casas’ recent call-up, but I am very optimistic about what they have for young professionals, and prospects coming up in the next few years (More so with position players than pitchers. They have asked a LOT from rookie pitchers this season). Let’s look at their big name young guys.

Devers (hopefully)
Verdugo
Casas
Wong
Duran
Downs
Mayer
Blaze
Yorke
Rafaela
Bello
Whitlock
Houck
Kutter
Winckowski

There’s so many more guys you could throw in this mix, and even the underwhelming guys on this list like Dalbec or Duran still have very notable ‘pros’ and could benefit from a little more time in Worcester. Anyone else feeling good too, or do I have too much confidence in their future depth?
I think all Sox fans love their minor leaguers, Love them to a fault. Unless they struggle, then watch the board light up....

I think you missed Bryan Mata on your list.....
 

dbenny

New Member
Aug 15, 2021
2
I think all Sox fans love their minor leaguers, Love them to a fault. Unless they struggle, then watch the board light up....

I think you missed Bryan Mata on your list.....
Mata! Yep. Forgot about him, I’m always thinking of the other Bryan, Bello that is.
 

Sin Duda

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
818
(B)Austin Texas
I have an unnatural love for Little Raffy (Rafaelito?), Ceddanne Rafaela. Member Sherm Feller posted this link in the Minor League thread that was quite informative, particularly regarding his defense, which one Sox coach says is better than Mookie's at a similar stage of his career. Giddyap!
 

Max Power

thai good. you like shirt?
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
7,878
Boston, MA
I have an unnatural love for Little Raffy (Rafaelito?), Ceddanne Rafaela. Member Sherm Feller posted this link in the Minor League thread that was quite informative, particularly regarding his defense, which one Sox coach says is better than Mookie's at a similar stage of his career. Giddyap!
According to the Globe, he "runs circles around" Mookie at a similar stage of their careers.

Red Sox prospect Ceddanne Rafaela, who could be better than Mookie Betts, wraps a superhero season (bostonglobe.com)
 

walt in maryland

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
223
Woodbine, MD
Is anyone else feeling extremely optimistic about the Sox young future? This feeling I have may be because of Casas’ recent call-up, but I am very optimistic about what they have for young professionals, and prospects coming up in the next few years (More so with position players than pitchers. They have asked a LOT from rookie pitchers this season). Let’s look at their big name young guys.

Devers (hopefully)
Verdugo
Casas
Wong
Duran
Downs
Mayer
Blaze
Yorke
Rafaela
Bello
Whitlock
Houck
Kutter
Winckowski

There’s so many more guys you could throw in this mix, and even the underwhelming guys on this list like Dalbec or Duran still have very notable ‘pros’ and could benefit from a little more time in Worcester. Anyone else feeling good too, or do I have too much confidence in their future depth?
Yes, very optimistic. Could easily add several other names to the list. Obviously not all will work out, which is why you need organizational depth, which Bloom is building.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2007
6,348
I wish they’d done a comparison w/ JBJ. Mookie was great, but Bradley was other worldly.
I don't think I'll ever see a guy as good as JBJ could be in CF during his prime years. No possible comparison... but I'll take someone even close to as good as Betts could be when he was manning CF any day without hesitation.
 

CarolinaBeerGuy

Don't know him from Adam
SoSH Member
Mar 14, 2006
9,422
Kernersville, NC
I don't think I'll ever see a guy as good as JBJ could be in CF during his prime years. No possible comparison... but I'll take someone even close to as good as Betts could be when he was manning CF any day without hesitation.
I agree wholeheartedly. When there are comments out there that Rafaela’s defense is off the charts, I figured JBJ would be a good gauge of just how good he actually could be.
 

effectivelywild

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
466

Sin Duda

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
818
(B)Austin Texas
I agree wholeheartedly. When there are comments out there that Rafaela’s defense is off the charts, I figured JBJ would be a good gauge of just how good he actually could be.
There is space even above JBJ who, as you may recall, never had elite footspeed. What he always had were elite jumps, recognition, and routes (and arm).
 

chrisfont9

Member
SoSH Member
My only (poorly supported) counter to this optimism is that there is so much talent coming into the sport. Just amazing high-ceilinged young guys in all directions. So while in the past a raft of talent like this would make me not only excited to watch them but certain that they will move the needle, the reality is that at least a few other teams have even better youngsters and this influx of talent may be necessary just to avert catastrophe.
 

joe dokes

Member
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Jul 18, 2005
30,243

Yelling At Clouds

Post-darwinian
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Jul 19, 2005
3,406
Its funny to read that and compare it to the stories about Duran in CF in the minors, where the often-repeated "still working on some things" fell far short of describing how un-ready he was for a regular CF gig.
It’s something for us to bear in mind when advocating for the team to call-up a top prospect - sometimes the thing they’re working on isn’t clear from scouting the box score! I’m super-guilty of this.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
14,285
My only (poorly supported) counter to this optimism is that there is so much talent coming into the sport. Just amazing high-ceilinged young guys in all directions. So while in the past a raft of talent like this would make me not only excited to watch them but certain that they will move the needle, the reality is that at least a few other teams have even better youngsters and this influx of talent may be necessary just to avert catastrophe.
I was thinking Averting Catastrophe was not only prudent planning, but also a good band name.

But it turns out it's already a book, & a cat rescue.



https://mobile.twitter.com/avertingcat1

The advantage the Red Sox have over at least some of the teams with more of the fun prospects is the financial clout to supplement those players, buy more lottery tickets & retain the chosen ones.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2007
6,348
I was thinking Averting Catastrophe was not only prudent planning, but also a good band name.

But it turns out it's already a book, & a cat rescue.



https://mobile.twitter.com/avertingcat1

The advantage the Red Sox have over at least some of the teams with more of the fun prospects is the financial clout to supplement those players, buy more lottery tickets & retain the chosen ones.
That last bit is difficult, and mentioned earlier somewhere…. It should be noted that as poorly as DD developed the farm system he made pretty good calls on who to hold and who to deal.
If the White Sox got Devers instead of Moncada, this entire board would have considered it a better deal at the time. Likewise there was a lot of Betts for Syndegaard discussion back in ‘16.
Theo whiffed on a few- he preferred Anderson over Rizzo- but mostly all the GM’s since ‘02 have made good calls. Bloom has accumulated more and hasn’t really made any significant trades where he sent major prospects away
 

RobertS975

Member
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Jul 28, 2005
367
.I would rather look at "can't miss" minor leaguers as trade assets in order to get proven major league players. There is a long list of players who were too good to trade that never panned out.... Donnie Sadler, Casey Fossum, Henry Owen, Craig Hansen to name a few. Obviously there are exceptions, but for Sox fans value their prospects to the point of being considered untradeable is generally not wise.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
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SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,735
.I would rather look at "can't miss" minor leaguers as trade assets in order to get proven major league players. There is a long list of players who were too good to trade that never panned out.... Donnie Sadler, Casey Fossum, Henry Owen, Craig Hansen to name a few. Obviously there are exceptions, but for Sox fans value their prospects to the point of being considered untradeable is generally not wise.
Of course ‘proven major leaguers’ often flop after being traded for too, Joey Gallo on NY and Josh Hader on SD are two recent examples.
 

Cesar Crespo

79
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Dec 22, 2002
21,588
.I would rather look at "can't miss" minor leaguers as trade assets in order to get proven major league players. There is a long list of players who were too good to trade that never panned out.... Donnie Sadler, Casey Fossum, Henry Owen, Craig Hansen to name a few. Obviously there are exceptions, but for Sox fans value their prospects to the point of being considered untradeable is generally not wise.
There is also a long list of players that were too good to trade that did pan out. Devers, X, Betts, Nomar.

What do you think the Red Sox would look like if they traded away all there top prospects? What would 2018 have looked like without Mookie, JBJ, Benny, Betts, X, Barnes and Eduardo?

"Keep the right ones, trade the ones who don't work out." That's easier said than done. Also, what teams repeatedly trade all their top prospects? Most trades nowadays don't involve team's top prospects. They involve players like Binelas, Hamilton, Valdez, Rosier.

More often than not, hitters among the top 20 prospects in MLB work out. Working out being a 3 WAR player. I'd be heavily against trading Casas and Mayer, even if they end up not panning out. Unless it's for a good MLB player who is cost controlled for another 4 plus years (a deal that isn't happening).

I'm also not sure what you mean by "top prospect" but 3 of your 4 examples are pitchers. BP loved Henry Owens and had him as high as 19th. Every other publication had him 40 or below. Fossum was never a top 100 prospect and Hansen topped out at 54. Donnie Sadler's highest rating was 28th.

I see people suggest trading the farm away but it's always for this non existing 23 year old all star with 4 plus years remaining on his deal that is somehow available because reasons. Or do people want to trade away Rafaela for a 31 year old rental? What are the possible deals that people would make to improve the Sox?

Seems like the best use of prospects nowadays is trading marginal ones at the deadline for rentals. What type of prospects would one be willing to give up for an expensive arb players who hits FA after 2024?

I get what people would be targeting with Mayer/Casas, I just don't think it's available. What would people be targeting with Yorke, Rafaela, Lugo, Paulino, Mata?
 

chrisfont9

Member
SoSH Member
The advantage the Red Sox have over at least some of the teams with more of the fun prospects is the financial clout to supplement those players, buy more lottery tickets & retain the chosen ones.
Yep, that puts them in the upper tier of the sport as long as enough of the kids pan out. Who else is on that list is a little tricky, because teams like the Mariners might not seem likely to spend, but in fact they have plenty of money and were just waiting for the talent to give them a reason to feel optimistic (and now have bought all of the Reds' decent players). So that top tier might be more crowded than we think.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
14,285
That last bit is difficult, and mentioned earlier somewhere…. It should be noted that as poorly as DD developed the farm system he made pretty good calls on who to hold and who to deal.
If the White Sox got Devers instead of Moncada, this entire board would have considered it a better deal at the time. Likewise there was a lot of Betts for Syndegaard discussion back in ‘16.
Theo whiffed on a few- he preferred Anderson over Rizzo- but mostly all the GM’s since ‘02 have made good calls. Bloom has accumulated more and hasn’t really made any significant trades where he sent major prospects away
I was more referring to retaining players post-arb more so than not trading them pre-majors. I don't think we'll see too many of those Sale-type trades from this FO.