Official Boston Red Sox 2005 Thread

[DuffysCliff]

Quote: Originally Posted by CWood2

If Ellsbury and Hansen sign soon enough, I'm going to watch them with the Spinners if they're assigned to Lowell for the summer. That's how stoked I am about our system, I'm with you guys!

From what it sounds like, Ellsbury should be signed very soon, and could be in Wilmington by the end of the summer, which is what they did with David Murphy who is also an advanced college hitter. Hansen on the other hand probably won't sign for awhile, and even if he does sign before the minor league season is over, he may not pitch much or at all (depending on how many games are left, wouldn't want to burn an option year). I don't think he goes to Lowell to begin with either, maybe Wilmington.

Another guy they are hopefully able to sign is Pedro Alvarez, a HS third basemen. They offered him a predraft deal where they took him at #47 and gave him a 750,000 bonus, but he turned it down, so they took him in the 14th round. My gut feeling is that they won't be able sign him though as they are already spending a lot of money on this draft as it is. Heres Alvarez write up from Baseball America

Quote:

The lefthanded-hitting Alvarez is one of the better hitters to come out of New York City since the Indians took Manny Ramirez with its first-round pick in 1991. He has beaten up weak pitching this spring, hitting .526-8-23 in 38 at-bats, forcing scouts to schedule their own batting practice sessions after games to get a truer reading on his hitting ability. He looked overmatched at last summers' East Coast Professional Baseball Showcase, but got himself in much better shape for this season, and it made a difference in all phases of his game, particularly his speed and mobility in the field. He’s also shown a better swing, with power potential that some scouts have graded up to 65-70 on the 20-80 scouting scale. Alvarez is not overly athletic and has a thick physique that resembles a young Carlos Baerga. A Vanderbilt recruit projected to go as high as the third round, he has attracted major league general managers to his games.

We need more power guys in our system, and if we are able to sign him and Jon Egan, both should help us out in that department.

I'm also pretty interested to see what Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden do. Unfortunately they will only pitch 1 or 2 innings at a time.

[CWood2]

Quote: Originally Posted by camulos

Same here! I'm going to 2 Sea Dogs games in July. Hopefully the team is still intact. This is what Theo said about Pedroia: ''We had been planning for an All-Star break move [to Pawtucket], but with Edgar Renteria's wrist a little sore we wanted to see sooner rather than later how he'd adjust to a higher level," Sounds like they also were waiting for Hanley to come off the DL. Will Pedroia still be able to play in the AA All-Star game? It's being played in Portland this year so it would be a shame if he missed it.

Man, the AA All-Star game would be amazing to attend since most of the top prospects are at that level. How hard would it be to get tickets...with the smaller stadium factored in? That's something I need to look into.

Who's projected to be in that game from our Sea Dogs btw? I wonder if they have the vote standings somewhere...

[CWood2]

Quote: Originally Posted by DuffysCliff

From what it sounds like, Ellsbury should be signed very soon, and could be in Wilmington by the end of the summer, which is what they did with David Murphy who is also an advanced college hitter. Hansen on the other hand probably won't sign for awhile, and even if he does sign before the minor league season is over, he may not pitch much or at all (depending on how many games are left, wouldn't want to burn an option year). I don't think he goes to Lowell to begin with either, maybe Wilmington. Another guy they are hopefully able to sign is Pedro Alvarez, a HS third basemen. They offered him a predraft deal where they took him at #47 and gave him a 750,000 bonus, but he turned it down, so they took him in the 14th round. My gut feeling is that they won't be able sign him though as they are already spending a lot of money on this draft as it is. Heres Alvarez write up from Baseball America We need more power guys in our system, and if we are able to sign him and Jon Egan, both should help us out in that department. I'm also pretty interested to see what Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden do. Unfortunately they will only pitch 1 or 2 innings at a time.

Any comparison to Manny, who may have been the best high school hitter ever, is pretty impressive and makes me wanna sign this kid all the more.

As far as Buchholz and Bowden, it's pretty interesting how the Sox and A's took a bunch of high school arms this year, and fairly early in the draft. Did they put out a revised version of Moneyball without me knowing it?

[ehh]

Quote: Originally Posted by CWood2

Any comparison to Manny, who may have been the best high school hitter ever, is pretty impressive and makes me wanna sign this kid all the more. As far as Buchholz and Bowden, it's pretty interesting how the Sox and A's took a bunch of high school arms this year, and fairly early in the draft. Did they put out a revised version of Moneyball without me knowing it?

Just curious, what kinda stats did Manny put up in HS?

[CWood2]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

Just curious, what kinda stats did Manny put up in HS?

I say that mainly based on his reputation coming out of HS as the best NY hitter at that age. His power and approach was so advanced that it was easy to project him to the player he is now, even though he may not have panned out. Not sure about the numbers, but I know he was a beast!

[Stu]

Quote: Originally Posted by CWood2

Man, the AA All-Star game would be amazing to attend since most of the top prospects are at that level. How hard would it be to get tickets...with the smaller stadium factored in? That's something I need to look into. Who's projected to be in that game from our Sea Dogs btw? I wonder if they have the vote standings somewhere...

I doubt there are tickets available. It's hard enough to get regular season Sea Dogs tickets these days.

I'm not sure who will be involved for the Sea Dogs. I think it's not all of AA, just the EL so they should have a few guys there. I would think Pedroia was a lock, and West, Moss, Papelbon, Lester and Deschenes probably have a shot.

The IL all-stars were announced so I'd imagine we'll find out soon. Chip Ambres was the only player from Pawtucket to make the team.

[Stu]

Quote: Originally Posted by CWood2

Did they put out a revised version of Moneyball without me knowing it?

Moneyball isn't really about college vs high school, but more about finding what is undervalued and stocking up on it. When it was written, college players were undervalued but that isn't the case now. With so many other teams going after College players, it made more sense to go with a "best available" approach.

[Stu]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

Just curious, what kinda stats did Manny put up in HS?

This is all I could find on Manny's HS career, from his mlb.com bio:

"Manny graduated from George Washington High School in the Bronx...was named All-City in 1989, 1990 and 1991 and was the New York City Public Schools High School Player of the Year in 1991, when he batted .615 with 14 homers in 22 games...was inducted into the New York City Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame in October of 1999"