Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
On that note, MLB Prospect Watch ranks Triston Casas No. 86 on its updated Top 100 prospect list:
http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=prospects
My feeling exactly. I presume a model for an ideal team would see around 3 good minor leaguers promoted every year to stay under the competitive balance tax first and/or second tier limits. Feeding the club in that way would keep a reasonable percentage of players in the prearb or low arb categories, leaving salary room for some higher paid star quality players, both home grown and also from the FA market. DD's approach did win a title but also placed us far from a perceived ideal model. It will take a disciplined and thoughtful front office to develop a plan for returning the team to full competitiveness. Getting the right GM is the first step of that process. Demanding accountability from the manager, coaches and players is the second step.
It's very difficult to keep feeding 2-3 solid players a year from your farm when you keep having picks from 24-30 or worse due to tax penalties. The IFA market is also very hard to dominate, these days.
I'm not saying it can't be done, but we need to get some people in our scouting and talent evaluation area who know what their doing. Management has to set the tone. It's hard to demand accountability from the players, coaches and the manager, if an important area keeps coming up short.
Gone are the days where we can sign Devers and DHernandez or Bogey, Iggy & Montas in 2 international signing periods. Gone are the days of drafting Betts, Barnes, JBJ, Swihart, Owens and Noe Ramirez in one draft with the help of 4 comp picks or Ellsbury, Buchholz, Lowrie, Hansen & Bowden in another with the help of 6 comp picks.
Trying to rely on just spending big can never be sustainable.
So, who can we hope will be the "3 per year?" We'll need a lot of luck to get 3 every year from this group:
2020:
D Hernandez (unless you counted him for 2019)
Dalbec
Chatham
Ockimey or Duran
2021
Houck
Duran
Ward
2022
Groome
Casas
Mata
2023
Jimenez
Flores
Lugo
Decker
We'll need a hell of a lot of luck!
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
Because DD almost bankrupted our farm system of major talent, we will need a few years to return it to a more ideal producer of ML talent. For the time being, we will need extraordinary development and oddles of luck to get an average of three ML entry players out of the people we currently have in the system. We won't know unless we try these young men out under fire. Something I wished to do in September, but the FO and management wasn't thinking that way.
Now, we need to hire good people in the front office and directors of player development and then have the patience to let them develop the farm. DD was not going to lead that effort and it was a reasonable move to say goodbye to DD and some of his cronys. The hard part will be finding and signing quality replacements.
I'm not saying I'd like to reverse all these deals, but here's my take:
I'd love to have Kopech and Logan Allen for next year and beyond.
We could trade JBJ and have Margot in CF.
Moncada could be our 2Bman or DH(1B?).
Dubon could play 2B or utility.
If we go farther back beyond DD, we could have Montas, Rizzo, Shaw (DD) & others.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
You beat me to the punch. Consistent team competitiveness does require a contribution from the farm on a regular basis. Spending to keep players who distinguish themselves and effective trades and FA pickups are also important. The way baseball is currently arranged, balance is required. The Yankees are spending $233 million this year, so they are spending and they also were smarter with their farm. I am optimistic that the Sox can get their act together and reverse their current trend during the next couple of years. The first thing to do was to recognize that there was a problem. That was brought home in spades as we are out of the POs with 9 games to play.