If only the guys that Law projected to be SPs were allowed to be SPs, there would be about 20 SPs in MLB at any time. He said Luis Severino didn't project as a long term starter (everyone else disagreed), then he was a top 3 AL SP (behind Sale and Kluber) for a season and a half.Law doesn’t seem to project any of the Sox pitching prospects as long term starters.
You'll be glad to know Law hasn't written for ESPN for over two years now.If only the guys that Law projected to be SPs were allowed to be SPs, there would be about 20 SPs in MLB at any time. He said Luis Severino didn't project as a long term starter (everyone else disagreed), then he was a top 3 AL SP (behind Sale and Kluber) for a season and a half.
I have never been a huge Law fan but his recent work is embarrassing and ESPN really needs to replace/upgrade him.
Yeah, I meant The Athletic, sorry.You'll be glad to know Law hasn't written for ESPN for over two years now.
Your vendetta against Law is curious. I know many on the board discounted Law when he whiffed on his assessment of Pedroia, but that would be curious for a Yankee fan.
Law and all your prospect guys such as McDaniel will usually be pointing out the chances of a minor league SP moving to the pen due to a number of factors. Thats not exclusive to Law.
It's true that the Red Sox haven't had a "great" pitching prospect in a while. As far as I can tell the last two to be ranked top 100 by Baseball America were Jay Groome and Anderson Espinoza. Neither of who are in the organization anymore or have even made it to the big leagues.
The Red Sox have also literally just graduated at least a few guys who could make it as good to average starters (running the spectrum from Bello, Houck, Crawford) and others who profile to be good relievers, like Whitlock, even though none of them were top 100 prospects.
Heh, I mean, you can look him up but he had a few moments in the show. Nothing memorable.Michael Kopech should get a mention here. And whatever became of Casey Kelly, I wonder?
Michael Kopech should get a mention here. And whatever became of Casey Kelly, I wonder?
It's kind of wild that Casey Kelly was as highly regarded a top prospect (#22 on MLB's 2011 list) as he was. He was young for his level, which accounts for a lot, but the numbers really don't stand out.Heh, I mean, you can look him up but he had a few moments in the show. Nothing memorable.
Yep- two way prospect. He preferred to play SS, but the Sox wanted him to pitch.Wasn't Kelly both a pitching and a SS (or something in the field) prospect?
He was only a SS his first pro season. The organization allowed him to try in order to entice him to sign. He was a two sport star (He was also a QB if memory serves) and had a little leverage. The consensus when he was drafted was that he would not likely have been drafted on day one as a SS, that his future was on the mound. He really wanted to try and spoke of preferring playing every game (sort of like how Dalbec told folks he didn't want to pitch when he was drafted).Wasn't Kelly both a pitching and a SS (or something in the field) prospect?
He only pitched two full seasons and that was 4 years ago, right? This reads to me like Law got it right when no one else did.If only the guys that Law projected to be SPs were allowed to be SPs, there would be about 20 SPs in MLB at any time. He said Luis Severino didn't project as a long term starter (everyone else disagreed), then he was a top 3 AL SP (behind Sale and Kluber) for a season and a half.
I have never been a huge Law fan but his recent work is embarrassing and ESPN really needs to replace/upgrade him.
Dead ringer for David Foster Wallace. But perhaps that’s the wrong phrase…Wow, he’s got great moss too.
Kelly's Korean Baseball Reference entry has 200 pages of endnotes.Dead ringer for David Foster Wallace. But perhaps that’s the wrong phrase…
Watching Walter pitch last week, I got lefty Eovaldi vibes.I can promise you Keith Law has never seen Yoshida in person. He has no idea what he will or will not be as a hitter.
His “relief risk” argument is always so strange to me. The ONLY reason Brandon Walter would be a reliever rather than starter is if he becomes a dominant reliever. I’m not sure why that’s supposed to be a negative.
He’s left handed, throws an unbelievable amount of strikes, and has offerings for both right and left handed hitters. I have no idea why he carries “reliever risk” outside of the fact he’s a funky lefty who could be an amazing reliever.
It’s just odd.
NiceKelly's Korean Baseball Reference entry has 200 pages of endnotes.
Kind of some scary names in the Casas writeup too, especially since we know a couple of them so well!FG released the “Imminent Big Leaguers” version of their write up of Boston’s system and I’d have to say that those are two of the worst names to see comparisons to in that Mayer blurb! (FTR, I don’t think the author is suggesting things will be as bad for Mayer as it was for those two.)
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/prospect-report-red-sox-2023-imminent-big-leaguers
Too many ABs, he has graduated anywhere he was eligible, as has every player who has been on the MLB team all season so far.Not sure what qualifiers Kiley uses to consider players prospects, but I assume Yoshida doesn't count anymore? If not I'd be stunned if he wouldn't be in everyone's top 50 at this point if he's still eligible.
I saw Bleis but read it as Bleier and I was all WTF?MLB does not include the graduated players. Their top 100, which I believe was updated a week ago includes...
Mayer #5
Bleis #75
Rafaela #84
https://www.mlb.com/prospects/
The pitching within the system is a little scary right now. Drohan taking a leap helps, but the pen arms behind the Major League roster are pretty terrifying. It's why they are having to go out and make minor league moves for added arms.Bleacher Report is not a big fan of the Sox system, dropping them from 19 to 21 in their rankings which I believe came out today.
Here's who they say our top 10 is:
bleacherreport.com/articles/10076951-updated-mlb-farm-system-rankings-at-2023-seasons-quarter-mark
- Top 10 Prospects
1. SS Marcelo Mayer (Tier 1)
2. IF/OF Ceddanne Rafaela (Tier 1)
3. OF Miguel Bleis (Tier 1)
4. 2B Nick Yorke (Tier 2)
5. SS Mikey Romero (Tier 3)
6. OF Roman Anthony (Tier 3)
7. LHP Shane Drohan (Tier 3)
8. C Nathan Hickey (Tier 3)
9. 1B/3B Blaze Jordan (Tier 3)
10. LHP Dalton Rogers (Tier 3)
In terms of BR's individual rankings, this was from 5/8:
#17 Mayer
#67 Rafaela
#81 Bleis
HM (101-150) Yorke
bleacherreport.com/articles/10075220-updated-mlb-top-100-prospect-list-1-month-into-2023-season
So much of the Bloom chatter is about the major league roster and whether he should be held accountable for its pros and cons (OK, mostly people are complaining about the cons). But there's a pretty good chance that THIS^^^ is the actual thing he was tasked with and will be judged on. Personally I think there's close to no chance he gets fired this winter because the major league roster went through middle infielders like Spinal Tap drummers. Eventually he and others will be judged on whether the system led to playoff success, but that's a couple years off probably before you can make definitive judgments.System has had a pretty remarkable last month. So much progress for so many players, seems almost across the board.
Basically the lone exceptions are the injuries to Mata and Bleis.System has had a pretty remarkable last month. So much progress for so many players, seems almost across the board.
Romero injury, too. But yeah, it's been a lot of fun & at least he's back now.Basically the lone exceptions are the injuries to Mata and Bleis.
Buy yes: many more upbeat signs than downers.
At least offensively the depth appears to have really shored up quickly. Longenhagen is definitely lower on, for instance, Blaze Jordan than most, but his #29 prospect having an MLB caliber bat is really nice. Obviously we're not Baltimore but when you can dive into there and find potential big league help in the long term deep in this list, it's nice. Now the arms are still an issue/thing, to his point, but it's nice to see this back on the upswing as it'll make trades and depth so much easier to put together.Fangraphs goes in depth on the system.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/boston-red-sox-top-46-prospects-2023/
Some very encouraging stuff, though Longenhagen has been more bullish than most on the Sox the past few seasons.
-Has them as "comfortably in the top 10" and separating themselves from the Yanks and Jays' systems in the AL East
-Owned up to missing on Yoshida and would rate him as an FV 60 now.
-Very high on some lesser broadcast arms.
The top 100 lists are kind of whatever. It's nice to get your people recognized, but what's really encouraging to me is all the guys we have who would be in the top 300 or even top 500 if such lists existed. It's that organizational depth that kind of reminds me of the BB more darts drafting strategy. We have a lot of guys who could be a real guy at this point which is great for future roster construction & trades.With 30 MLB teams, you'd expect each team to average just over 3 guys in the top 100, if talent was spread out evenly.
Boston having #6 is great. Having #87 and #91 is good (good to have 3 since the average team should have that many), but not great in that they're down the list. But having a fourth guy at #92 is nice.
And of course they've graduated a lot of players to the majors, so they're no longer on the prospect list. If Bello was still a prospect, he would obviously be very high on this list. But other teams have graduated top prospects too.