Xander crew. Awesome?
1. Xander Bogaerts, ss
2. Jackie Bradley, of
3. Matt Barnes, rhp
4. Allen Webster, rhp
5. Henry Owens, lhp
6. Blake Swihart, c
7. Garin Cecchini, 3b
8. Bryce Brentz, of
9. Jose Iglesias, ss
10. Deven Marrero, ss
Farrell takes over a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2008, its longest drought in 15 years, and hasn’t reached the postseason in the last three seasons despite baseball’s second-largest payroll during that time. Both the rotation and the bullpen wilted in 2012, and the club’s primary focus this offseason will be rebuilding the pitching staff.
Young players did provide positive developments in Boston, with Will Middlebrooks homering 15 times in 75 games and fellow rookie Felix Doubront tying for the team lead with 11 victories. Down on the farm, shortstop Xander Bogaerts continued to develop rapidly while several 2011 draft picks (outfielder Jackie Bradley, righthander Matt Barnes, lefthander Henry Owens, catcher Blake Swihart) provided intriguing early returns. Even so, the Red Sox will need more than those youngsters to ease the pain and embarrassment of the last two seasons.
Repoz
Posted: October 31, 2012 at 03:48 PM |
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1. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: October 31, 2012 at 04:02 PM (#4289455)Tune in to the HOT STOVE to find out who they overpay for!
Sometimes I hate BA.
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!
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.
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.
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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