Trading the Farm

I’m not a “prospects” guy. I’m a proven talent sort of guy. I will trade prospects for proven talent any day of the week. In the right sort of deal, of course. I’m not talking about trading a young star for a middle reliever on his last legs. (Although, I will always think the Bagwell trade wasn’t nearly as bad as people have revised history to make it.) I’m talking about getting quality young talent back in exchange for potential young talent. Think Pavano and Armas for Pedro. Or Ramirez and Sanchez for Beckett. So, when I’ve been reading all the prospect rankings that various outlets have been releasing, I start to daydream a little bit. When I saw that the Sox have seven prospects in the ESPN top 100, my initial reaction was, “Woohoo! Load up the truck for Mike Trout!”

Of course, that wasn’t a realistic reaction. That trade wouldn’t happen. Or, would it?

Just for fun, let’s dive into fantasy land. The rumor is that Theo once offered the Mariners their pick of four or five player for Felix Hernandez. What if Ben Cherington called up the Angels and said, “We want Mike Trout. You can pick five players to have back in trade.”

On the ESPN list, the top five prospects (who you would assume the Angels would pick) are #2 Xander Bogaerts, #42 Henry Owens, #51 Bradley Jr, #53 Garin Cecchini, and #56 Blake Swihart.

That would leave two players left on the top 100 list, Mookie Betts, and Matt Barnes. Two players on the top 100 is a slightly below average farm system, if you assume each team should average 3. In reality, since the best teams have 5-7 players, having two would rank you pretty high. So, even after dumping the farm, you’d still be left with a decent farm.

I know what the initial reaction probably is. “You can’t touch Bogaerts!” And, I can understand that. For one thing, it would leave a physical hole at short for 2014. You’d need to sign Drew to plug the new hole. Bogaerts also has the potential to be a special player. But, you’d be getting a player back who has shown that he is a special player. I don’t think you can get too upset about that.

Owens could end up being a #2 or #3 starter. But, the rotation is pretty full at the moment, with Workman and Doubront ready to fill up some spots for the long haul. If Lester gets his extension, rotation help suddenly isn’t urgent.

Bradley could be good, but you’re getting a CF in the trade, remember? Cecchini is blocked a bit by Middlebrooks, so that wouldn’t hurt too much. Swihart could be a good catcher, but the Sox have another good catcher in the system. And, that’s it.

You’d miss Bogaerts, but have Trout and two of the top100 prospects left.

I wonder if the Angels would make that deal.

But, that’s not even the point.

That trade, where you empty the farm system, doesn’t look terrible. So, why not some lesser deals? What about trading two of them for a nice young player?

Let’s take this farm system out for a spin, and see what it can get us. This is an opportunity. Most of the other teams with good farm systems are good for a reason. The major league team is terrible, so they get lots of high draft picks. The Astros have the best system. But, they have way too many holes to start trading 4-for-1. The Sox don’t have “too many” holes. So, trimming the fat makes a lot of sense. Maybe get a star left fielder. Maybe swap three pitchers for one pitcher. Let’s focus.

And maybe give the Angels a call, just in case.

Time is Winding Down

That’s right. There’s just one week left to enter the 2013Section 36 Scavenger Hunt. (Less than that, really, since it’s after noon at the moment) You’re running out of time to find those items.

Don’t despair. I purposefully didn’t make the items hard to find. After all, this is supposed to be fun. How easy did I make it?

Well, if you’re reading this post, and can’t find item #35 or #36, I have some questions for you. Really, those should be two automatics right there. #6 is something you make on your own, and #13 is something you can just print out. #18 can be creative, if you need it to be. The same with #24.

So, that’s really six things that anyone can find without even breaking a sweat.

Now, if you consider yourself any sort of decent Red Sox fan, you probably have #9, #21, or #26 sitting in your house somewhere. Probably even #34.

I bet lots of you have #22 sitting in a closet. You may not want to admit it, but probably #16 as well.

So, really, we’re looking at twelve items most of the people reading this have right at their disposal. Some of the others might take a car trip or two. But, I bet you know where you can find them. I can think of lots of stores that have #3, #7, and #31 on the shelves right now.

This time of year, I bet #20 is on display…if you don’t already have one.

So, what are we at, 16 of the items that take minimal effort? That’s almost half. I haven’t even gotten to the ones that a die-hard should have on hand. If you’re a dedicated Sox fan, but don’t have #5 or #10, #19, #26, or #29, you definitely should.

So, like I said. It’s not supposed to be a challenge. It’s supposed to be fun. Something to get out and do with some friends. (Perhaps some friends who already have some of the items) See how creative you can be. See how great your pictures can be.

There’s one week left.

Collecting the Sox: Patches

The other day I was doing one of my periodic eBay searches for Red Sox championship items. One of the items that came up included the “B Strong” patche that the Red Sox wore on their uniforms. For some reason, it was the first time that it hit me that collecting uniform patches would be a nice area to get into.

At the moment, I only have a couple patches. One from the 1999 ASG, and one celebrating the 2004 World Championship. Obviously, the 2004 version is different than the ones worn on the uniform. But it gets the idea across. I don’t know that I now have plans to expand on that, but it certainly seems like it could be fun.

The Sox have worn any number of patches on their uniform over the years. It might have been for special events like the ’99 ASG, or Fenway’s 100^th birthday. Or, for participation in the postseason. That definitely allows for a lot of variety in a collection. Every patch would look a little different. There are different shapes and sizes and colors. If you wanted to focus on a specific player, you could do that. Say you loved Dustin Pedroia. You could collect different patches he would have worn, and include the ones from the All Star games he’s appeared in.

I guess my main problem with collecting patches is what to do with them. At the moment, I have one of my patches sitting on a shelf, and the other framed with a ticket stub. If you’re going to display a collection, it needs to be done better than that.

Since they’re patches, the obvious answer is to sew them on something. But what? A jersey is another obvious answer. But, I’m not sure a bunch of patches covering the front of a jersey would be the look I’d be after. You can always just sew them on a Red Sox blanket of some sort. That would look pretty sweet. But, it would be pretty large. You’d need to be able to drape it over the back of a chair or something. Perhaps a shadow box, or memo board they could be hung on the wall with. I’m not really sure. Does anyone have a great display of patches that works well?

I especially like the way patches allow you to follow history. You can see how the patches went from 75^th birthday to 100^th birthday. Or, remember specific events like World Series appearances. I like the idea of sitting back and looking over a collection and traveling back in time. A large group of patches would certainly accomplish that. I also like the “official” feel of it. Despite the modified ’04 patch in my possession, I like things that feel official. I imagine I’m not alone, which is why “locker room” hats and shirts sell so well. Somehow, a patch matching the one the Sox wore on jerseys makes more sense than, say, coke cans that have the same logo on them. Even if they’re just replicas, there’s a feeling that you have a piece of the game. I like that.

I may have to get more patches.

From the Pedro Binder

2002 Upper Deck

Boy, is there a lot to like about this card.

You know me, I love pictures. If you can give me a card with a large expanse of uninterrupted picture, I’m a happy camper. That’s exactly what Upper Deck did with this design.

The best part about it? They were still able to put all the information you could want on the front of the card. You have Pedro’s name in the biggest font, along with his team name. It has his position, and even his uniform number. All of that is nicely tucked onto the bottom of the card, out of the way. That leaves about 80% of the card as clean picture.

Of course, with so much picture on the card, there’s limited space for design elements. There’re a couple bands of color, a bent line or two. It’s certainly simplistic, but it definitely works in this case.

Unfortunately, for a card so dedicated to the picture, they didn’t select a great one. I know that every card of Pedro can’t show him throwing a pitch. There needs to be some variety in there somewhere. But, stretching out his shoulders? The picture does do a great job of showing the slits Pedro made in his jersey sleeves. But, that’s really all it does for me.

The card itself, though, is almost perfection.

Two Big Signings

One made by the Red Sox, one not made by the Red Sox.

I’ll start with the latter one first, because it’s the most fun. The Yankees spent an absolute TON of money on a pitcher who has yet to throw a pitch in the major leagues. I remember being surprised that Tanaka didn’t sign Scott Boras as his agent. Obviously he wanted to get as much money as possible. He was moving to the other side of the world to a league he didn’t know. So, I assumed that secondary factors like “being closer to home” were out the window. If you’re after just cash, you sign with Boras. Apparently, though, the guy he had did just fine. Was it a good signing? How can it be?

I hate that the questions are always, “Will he be Darvish, or Daisuke?” Why can’t he be Peavy? But, I’m going to fall into that trap anyway because it makes a better comparison. Before Dice-K came over, we heard a lot of highlight stories. His epic performance in the high school championship, for example. The highlights always mentioned this extreme number of pitches he threw in these appearances. Then, he came to the Red Sox, and people kept complaining that he couldn’t finish hitters off, threw a ton of pitches, and couldn’t stay in the game. Why were we surprised? It took him 175 pitches to beat a bunch of high schoolers. I get the same vibe with Tanaka. A lot of his highlights come from his extreme usage. What happens when that stops in NY? What happens when he’s on a pitch count? What about when he doesn’t get the superstar’s expanded strike zone. Dice-K never really adjusted to that. I think it’s a huge question mark.

Speaking of question marks, the Red Sox made a signing of their own. They signed former all-star Grady Sizemore, even though he hasn’t appeared in a game for a couple years. Why? Good question. What does he have left? An even better question. My assumption is that they brought him in almost exclusively for Jackie Bradley Jr to follow around like a little puppy. The guy was a gold glove center fielder, and an elite lead-off hitter. Anything JBJ can learn from that is a bonus. And, who knows? Maybe Sizemore can provide some speed on the bases. Apparently he’s already running in straight lines at 90%. Maybe he can be that sixth outfielder who gets some sparse playing time. It’s definitely worth a shot on short money. If he returns to all-star form, that’s OK too. The important part is that they’re not counting on him coming back to full form. Dan Duquette used to make these signings all the time. But, he always counted on them. He might sign three washed up CF on the cheap, and hope that one of them ends up making it. The difference was, that he needed at least one of them to make it, because he needed a CF. The Sox aren’t in that position. Bradley Jr is just fine. They don’t NEED Sizemore. He would be a welcome luxury. But anything they get out of him is a bonus. That’s the time to make the high risk-high reward signings.

When the risk is almost zero.