Prospect and Minor League Discussion

Post #101 » by **Chach** » Sun May 27, 2007 11:21 pm

I am almost ready to buy into Moss. If he retains this power for the entire season, I would be open to having him as our fourth OF and trading Wily Mo for a catching prospect perhaps or a corner IF. I'm not entirely sure he will keep this up but he is walking at a good clip and hitting for legit power. mahalo
~Chach~

BS007 · Post #102 » by **BS007** » Mon May 28, 2007 3:56 am

How is Geroge Kattars doing? That guy we trade David Wells for? The catcher from San Diego?

The Rondo Show · Post #103 » by **The Rondo Show** » Mon May 28, 2007 10:24 am

FYI: Clay's start will be airing on NESN at 1 PM EST this afternoon.

Oh, and Kottaras has sucked. Batting .200 or so.

cmaff051 · Post #104 » by **cmaff051** » Mon May 28, 2007 7:53 pm

Buchholz is dominating on pure stuff right now. I'd move him to AAA just because he can just overpower hitters in AA so it's not doing him any good. In AAA, he'll pay for some of the mistakes he has made in AA. Other than his changeup, his command of everything was spotty today.

Post #105 » by **Chach** » Mon May 28, 2007 9:15 pm

I used to think that way but I just don't see it anymore. So what if he "pays" for his mistakes? It's not like he's being an idiot and refusing to work with his coaches. If a guy is being a pain and is going to do it his way, yeah I'm with you. But they need to straighten out his mechanics in terms of landing and that will help his fastball command.

The Red Sox are not production oriented in their promotions, they have set goals they want the players to reach development wise and Clay has yet to do that. And I don't see how exposing him to tougher conditions and a brand new coaching staff that he does not know will help him. When he stops falling off the first base side of the mound as much and is commanding his fastball better, I will buy him the ticket to Pawtucket because I want him up there as soon as possible but he simply isn't ready to make that jump and I think Portland is the best place for him to do that. mahalo
~Chach~

Dirty Water · Post #106 » by **Dirty Water** » Mon May 28, 2007 11:39 pm

Man I finally saw some clips of his pitching. That curveball is just filthy.

Post #107 » by **nykgeneralmanager** » Tue May 29, 2007 4:29 am

Bleeding Green wrote:I can't wait to see him battle with Phil Hughes for the next 5 or 6 or 10 years. Hughes has the obvious edge in command of his pitches, but Buchholz has the far superior stuff. Hopefully we get to see some great games.

Also: http://redsox.bostonherald.com/redSox/v ... id=1002868

I think that Hughes has better stuff, plus he is younger. His fastball is better and I feel that his curve is better. Hughes has both a power curve to bury in the dirt to get guys swinging, and a slow curve like Zito's to get guys looking. The change goes to Buchholz, and overall command goes to Hughes. However, Hughes' change has developed at an amazing rate since just last season...last year he couldn't throw it for a strike, this year he threw it 3 times in a row and got Teixeira to strike out swinging on all 3.

It seems like Buchholz simply cannot control his fastball, which is just weird considering how well he commands his secondary pitches.

Post #108 » by **Chach** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:14 am

Buchholz's stats thus far are better than Hughes's stats last year yet he's winning by pure stuff, not because of his command. While Hughes has tremendous stuff, part of his dominance is in his ability to command his pitches. If Buchholz learns to command his fastball, he is going to be disgusting and will rival Hughes. The only thing Hughes has on him is age and Buchholz hasn't been a full time pitcher until a few years ago so he's not your typical 23 year old. We will be having this debate for a decade chief

. mahalo
~Chach~

cmaff051 · Post #109 » by **cmaff051** » Tue May 29, 2007 11:40 am

Buchholz is pitching out of his mind in regards to his BB/9 rate and it will come back to normal. I happen to think that the stats lie here and that Hughes control/command will be better translated to the majors than Buchholz's.

Post #110 » by **Basketball Jesus** » Tue May 29, 2007 12:45 pm

And you base that on...

cmaff051 · Post #111 » by **cmaff051** » Tue May 29, 2007 1:41 pm

Basketball Jesus wrote:And you base that on...

Because he doesn't have pinpoint command consistently of any one of his pitches except for his changeup, while Hughes has pinpoint command of all three of his pitches?

Buchholz started out extremely hot. You actually expect his command numbers to get better as the year goes on :eek1:

. He's not going to keep up his 1.90 BB/9.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist really. I know you guys are excited about Buchholz, but you need to temper your expectations. He still gives up way too many flyballs with his stuff, and I would expect his HR rate to go up. He's had a hot 51 innings... can he keep it up?

Post #112 » by **Chach** » Tue May 29, 2007 4:17 pm

He has very good control, it's command that is lacking at times. Control is simply not giving up walks, command is being able to place a singular pitch where you want it. Here is his BB/9 at each stop
2005:Angelina CC (his first year pitching full-time):3.06
Lowell:1.96 (warning small sample size)
2006: Greenville: 2.53
Wilmington:2.25 (small sample size)
2007:Portland (to date) 1.75

Each year his control has gotten better and better. He went from having alright control to better to outstanding. Will it regress a bit, I'm sure it will. I'm not sure anyone here is going to say that he can pitch much better than he has thus far. But it's not just the numbers, it's the scouting aspect. Today he didn't have anything but change-up control and he limited hitters to what, two hits? Pitched a shutout while he was in. He is the exact opposite of being hot. A guy who's hot is someone who is riding his natural abilities to his 95% max. He is the opposite, his lack of fastball command (and overall command yesterday) is holding him back from playing at 95% of his potential. The kid needs to refine his delivery because he's a mess up there when he's rushing (he's falling to the first base side like a sack of rocks) and once he slows that down, the command will come. And THEN everyone's in for a world of hurt. mahalo
~Chach~

The Rondo Show · Post #113 » by **The Rondo Show** » Thu Jun 7, 2007 1:20 am

Jed Lowrie is 2-4 tonight with a triple and a double. This guy is quickly bouncing back from his disappointing and injury filled season last year and establishing himself as one of our of best prospects.

As a 23 year old in Double-A, his OPS is now over .900 despite a slow start and his OBP is a ridiculous .435+. He'll likely be able to stick at SS, too.

The Rondo Show · Post #114 » by **The Rondo Show** » Sat Jun 9, 2007 3:58 am

Moss: 3-4, HR, 2 doubles, 2 RBI's. .299/.400/.542/.942.

Ellsbury: 2-4, triple and a walk. .286/.371/.365/.736 at Pawtucket; maybe he is heating up.

Lowrie: Beastin'. 2-5, triple, 2 RBI's. Stats not updated but his OPS is probably at about .930 now.

Buchholz: He sucked, let's trade him. 5 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 K's. K/9 drops to an embarassing 11.65.

Markos · Post #115 » by **Markos** » Sat Jun 9, 2007 5:44 am

kobeSTOPkobeDONT wrote:Jed Lowrie is 2-4 tonight with a triple and a double. This guy is quickly bouncing back from his disappointing and injury filled season last year and establishing himself as one of our of best prospects.

As a 23 year old in Double-A, his OPS is now over .900 despite a slow start and his OBP is a ridiculous .435+. He'll likely be able to stick at SS, too.

This feels good. I've been a big fan of his for the last 2 years and still think hes a baller. Even after last years poor play I still thought he was one of the top 20 prospects in the system. (whereas a few ppl on this board disagreed)

Post #116 » by **Chach** » Sat Jun 9, 2007 6:10 am

kobeSTOPkobeDONT wrote:Moss: 3-4, HR, 2 doubles, 2 RBI's. .299/.400/.542/.942.

Ellsbury: 2-4, triple and a walk. .286/.371/.365/.736 at Pawtucket; maybe he is heating up.

Lowrie: Beastin'. 2-5, triple, 2 RBI's. Stats not updated but his OPS is probably at about .930 now.

Buchholz: He sucked, let's trade him. 5 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 K's. K/9 drops to an embarassing 11.65.

I've heard reports that the Sox asked Buck not to throw his curve tonight, I think he only threw one or two. Same with his slider. Basically, they forced him to make pitches with his fastball rather than relying on his great secondary stuff. That would explain why he was out after five with a pitch count close to 100.

I definitely jumped off the Lowrie bandwagon. Brandon Moss had scarred me a bit in terms of jumping on guys with sudden success then showing sudden failure. Lowrie obviously has skills that he displayed at Stanford but I was hearing reports that he wouldn't be able to stick at short and with his hitting woes, I worried about him. But I'm back on the bandwagon, he is a 180 degrees from last season. Good bat, good defense. People are saying he might actually stick at short. Life is good for Lowrie. mahalo
~Chach~

The Rondo Show · Post #117 » by **The Rondo Show** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:41 am

The Sox outbid several teams and signed 18 year old Che-Hsuan Lin today; the top prospect out of Taiwan.

This guy can flat out **** fly. Plus-plus speed, a cannon for an arm and a great glove. Doesn't project to hit for a ton of power but he'll likely hit for a high average, steal bases and play gold glove caliber D.

They've got some freak athletes in the low minors between Beltre and Tejada and now Egan and Lin.

Post #118 » by **Bleeding Green** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:17 am

He's no Chih-Hsien Chiang, but he'll do. Apparently he runs a 10.78 100m dash.

http://taiwanbaseball.blogspot.com/sear ... suan%20lin

Good stuff. I love the bit about how to turned down more money from the Mariners because he wanted to be a Red Sox.

There are going to be many hyphens in the 2011 Red Sox lineup card.

The Rondo Show · Post #119 » by **The Rondo Show** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:23 am

Bleeding Green wrote:He's no Chih-Hsien Chiang, but he'll do. Apparently he runs a 10.78 100m dash.

http://taiwanbaseball.blogspot.com/sear ... suan%20lin

Good stuff. I love the bit about how to turned down more money from the Mariners because he wanted to be a Red Sox.

There are going to be many hyphens in the 2011 Red Sox lineup card.

Is Chiang really considered the better prospect? I consider him a pretty interesting prospect as a 2B with power at such a young age; but this guy Lin is pretty hyped.

Anyways, rough days for Bowden and Lester. Lars went deep (2-5), though

edit: Back to Chiang, I'd like to see quite a bit more patience in Chiang but he is still having a pretty damn impressive season.

Post #120 » by **Bleeding Green** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:49 am

Well, he has shown more power than anyone else in Greenville as a 19 year old 2B. That's something. He's younger than Lars, plays a more premium defensive position and has shown more power thus far. I'm excited.

I love that the Red Sox are seemingly the premier organization in Taiwan. I believe Chiang also took less money to go to the Red Sox. That's a nice pipeline of talent to have.