BBTF.org/m/red_sox : Baseball America’s Top 10 Prospects: Red Sox

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Mitchell: Pedroia, Cano and Magical Thinking

(www.huffingtonpost.com)

posted 12 hours ago by Repoz to red sox, yankees | 14 comment(s)

Pedroiadolia: The psychological phenomenon of seeing wacko images on dirty uniforms.

The narratives around the two players, however, could not be different. Pedroia is almost the prototype of the over-achieving “scrappy” player. He is a 5’8” middle infielder who does the little things well. This ignores that he was also a second round draft choice who played baseball at a top baseball school. Cano, on the other hand is bigger, more athletic and does not project scrappiness at all. Throughout ...

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1. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) posted on October 31, 2012 at 04:02 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Even so, the Red Sox will need more than those youngsters to ease the pain and embarrassment of the last two seasons.

Tune in to the HOT STOVE to find out who they overpay for!

2. Drew (Primakov, Gungho Iguanas) posted on October 31, 2012 at 06:04 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Pretty good list, actually.

3. Drew (Primakov, Gungho Iguanas) posted on October 31, 2012 at 06:34 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Young players did provide positive developments in Boston, with...Felix Doubront tying for the team lead with 11 victories

Sometimes I hate BA.

4. the Hugh Jorgan returns posted on October 31, 2012 at 07:13 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

1. Xander Bogaerts, ss
2. Jackie Bradley, of
3. Matt Barnes, rhp
4. Allen Webster, rhp
5. Henry Owens, lhp

Awesome. I believe the rotation needs shoring up and they can use a SS and RF, so there you go. Unless the FO makes some real noise in the FA market and spends all that cash it has lying around, the Sox will be pretty average in 2013, so let's be average with some fun, young guys!

5. Matt Clement of Alexandria posted on October 31, 2012 at 07:18 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

None of those guys will be ready to start the season. Bogaerts and Barnes both almost certainly need another year, and Owens is a couple years off. Webster and Bradley, in a best-case scenario, could contribute in the second half of 2013.

Also, Bogaerts is projected to have to move to 3B as he fills out. Big kid. He might stick at SS, but it's not the best bet.

6. John DiFool2 posted on October 31, 2012 at 07:32 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

The article sadly spends very little time actually discussing said prospects.

7. Matt Clement of Alexandria posted on October 31, 2012 at 07:42 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

The profiles are behind the paywall, sadly.

8. Jose Can Still Seabiscuit posted on October 31, 2012 at 08:38 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Alex Speier did a (free!) podcast with Jim Callis today. It's a bit over an hour long and worth every second of it and really covers most of the stuff that was behind the paywall. Either go to weei.com or search weei podcasts at iTunes to find it. I really can't overemphasize how much I enjoyed the conversation they had.

Callis said in the chat that he thought Bogaerts would be in the 21-30 range overall but he talks about him with a LOT of excitement. Listening to Callis it's clear that Bogaerts to 3rd is not fait accompli, at least not right away. I mentioned this elsewhere today but it's based more on an anticipation of how Bogaerts fills out rather than an inability to handle the position. I think that's an important distinction.

9. Darren

posted on October 31, 2012 at 09:13 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Jose also mentioned over in the ST thread that the Rubby de la Rosa would slot in around Webster if he were still a prospect. Both of those are great news, IMHO. It reinforces my belief that the Sox have pitching prospect depth that they can deal for what they need.

10. Golfing Great Mitch Cumstein posted on October 31, 2012 at 09:53 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Because he was mentioned in the excerpt, I will ask my question here. Is there any hope that Middlebrooks could develop his OBP skills at ML level?

11. Matt Clement of Alexandria posted on October 31, 2012 at 09:59 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Hope, definitely. Middlebrooks has improved his plate discipline every year even while moving quickly up the ladder in the Sox system. He was an extremely raw athlete when he was drafted. I'm not expecting him to be better overall next year, but he should continue to develop his skills.

12. JH (in DC) posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:10 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Boosh.

13. Sonic Youk posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:19 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

If there's a decent change Bogaerts sticks at short, he'd have to be one of the very best prospects in baseball, right? Like top 10, I'd think.

14. Jose Can Still Seabiscuit posted on November 01, 2012 at 08:39 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

If there's a decent change Bogaerts sticks at short, he'd have to be one of the very best prospects in baseball, right? Like top 10, I'd think.

That would be my expectation too. I really can't overstate how excited Callis seems to be about Bogaerts. Speier asked him at one point what kind of hitter he would be in the Majors and Callis said "well, .300 hitter, and I don't know if you'd put any limit on home runs, I'd say 30, well, 25 but I think that would prove to be low." I think Callis probably has him mentally as a top 10 guy but there is enough possibility that he can't stay at short that he moves him down all the while thinking "damn this is too low."

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Mitchell: Pedroia, Cano and Magical Thinking

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