Soxprospects.com Podcast

So a few things have gone down over the past 10 days, eh? The guys had a ton to talk about - the trades of Luis Alejandro Basabe and Jose Almonte for Brad Ziegler and, more importantly, Anderson Espinoza for Drew Pomeranz showed why the Prez of Baseball Ops is becoming known to many as Dealin' Dave. Plus, the Red Sox were able to get Jason Groome signed before the July 15 deadline, along with fellow draftees Bobby Dalbec and Mike Shawaryn, so the guys ran down what they thought of the full draft haul and how the Groome signing may have played into the club's willingness to move Espinoza. And with the deadline past, the SoxProspects Rankings were updated - where did all of the new guys fall? And who moved based on what the guys have seen in Lowell, Greenville, Salem, Portland, and Pawtucket over the past few weeks? Listen for all this and more!

The news in this episode was big enough to take up most of the conversation. First, just hours before we recorded, RHP Aaron Wilkerson and 2B Wendell Rijo were dealt to Milwaukee for infielder Aaron Hill and cash. And earlier in the week, Major League Baseball imposed unprecedented penalties on the Red Sox organization for rules violations relating to their acquisition of several international amateur free agents last season. Between those big stories, a draft signings update, and the Top 4 Update, we've got a packed episode!

With all of that draft craziness out of the way, it's time to get back to the grind, and with promotions afoot and new seasons beginning, there was plenty for the guys to talk about. In the Top 4 Update, Yoan Moncada (and his friends Mauricio, Jalen, and Ben) got promoted, Andrew Benintendi is getting his footing, and Rafael Devers is finally coming out of his funk. Meanwhile, the Lowell and GCL seasons have started, and Ian sat on the Spinners' first five games, giving him plenty to report about the best pitching staff that team has had in recent memory. And of course, we read and answered your emails!

With the 2016 MLB draft in the books, our friend Jim Callis of MLB.com came on the podcast to dissect the draft as a whole and the selections made by the Red Sox over the event's three days. Why did Jason Groome fall, will he sign, and what other team might he have had a deal with before the Red Sox plucked him at number 12 overall? How do the five college juniors selected by the Red Sox in rounds 2-6 compare to their selections in that range in past years? Will any of the well-regarded late-round picks sign? Jim answered these questions and more! Help support SoxProspects.com during our annual fundraising drive! Go to http://news.soxprospects.com/2016/06/2016drive.html for the details.

Chris, Ian, and Senior Staff Writer Will Woodward got on the horn quickly to react to the Red Sox selecting prep lefty Jason Groome out of New Jersey and Florida Atlantic shortstop C.J. Chatham in the first two rounds of the MLB Draft on Thursday night. Given that Groome was ranked by many as the top talent in the draft and reportedly fell due to signability and makeup concerns, there was plenty to talk about (and will be in the coming weeks).

It's draft week! To prepare for this year's MLB First-Year Player Draft, which starts on Thursday, June 9, Chris spoke to Baseball America Managing Editor JJ Cooper about a number of topics, including BA's history of draft coverage, the general strengths and weaknesses of this year's draft class, some players who could be on the radar for the Red Sox at pick 12, and whether the club might re-draft some past selections. Plus, in lieu of the Big 4 Update, we spoke with JJ about his thoughts on their starts to the season. Remember, during the draft, be sure to check out our News Page at http://news.soxprospects.com for up-to-the-minute news throughout the draft's three days!

As the calendar turns to June, we've got a new set of rankings to dissect and a bunch of listener emails to answer! We check in on the Big 4, chat about the hard luck that has taken the top two prospects on the Pawtucket Red Sox out of action, analyze Josh Ockimey's great start to the season and corresponding climb to the top 20, review the bullpen arms in Pawtucket and Greenville, and more!

In the unofficial second part of the crew's roundup of the first month-plus of the season, the guys looked at the goings-on in Portland and Greenville. The Sea Dogs are struggling in the standings, but noteworthy mound performances by Aaron Wilkerson and Chandler Shepherd merit discussion and further looks at Williams Jerez, Luis Ysla, Henry Ramos, and Jake Romanski were undertaken. Greenville has been home to many of the season's early pleasant surprises. Among the members of the Drive discussed are Michael Chavis, Josh Ockimey, Roniel Raudes, the Basabe twins, Kyri Washington, Tate Matheny, Austin Glorius, Jake Cosart, and Bobby Poyner. And in the Big 4 Update, the topics included which days - precisely - we might see an Andrew Benintendi promotion (could it be this week?), how much longer Yoan Moncada might spend in Salem (longer than Benintendi, at least), and Anderson Espinoza's record-tying start for the Drive (he gooooood).

It's been a month, but Chris came back from being a big shot andgot back on the horn with Matt and Ian to discuss the season'sfirst month. Things kick off with the first edition of the Big 4Update, looking at whether Yoan Moncada's strikeouts are a concernand why Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers flipped in the siterankings update on May 1. Then the guys gave us their notes fromthe field from the first month. Chris had the latest from Salem,with reports on Moncada, Benintendi, Devers, Trey Ball, and others.Then Ian and Matt responded with the word from Pawtucket on SamTravis and Deven Marrero. Finally, the guys aired it out on whetherit is a good idea for Blake Swihart to start getting reps in leftfield, and what's gotten into the big riser in the May 1 rankings,Teddy Stankiewicz.

Another successful trip to minor league spring is in the books for the SoxProspects.com crew. With fresh scouting and other intel to share, Chris, Matt, Ian, and Chaz got on the horn to talk about what they saw, as well as the All-New, All-Different SoxProspects Rankings! How did the big four of Moncada, Devers, Espinoza, and Benintendi look? What led to big jumps in the standings from Travis Lakins, Christopher Acosta, and Luis Alejandro "Not Just the Other" Basabe? Why has Yankory Pimentel made Chaz rethink everything he knows about scouting? All of this and more await in this episode.

In preparation for our trip to Fort Myers, the guys cleaned out the mailbag, answering your questions about the state of the farm system! Who would they pick for their All-Underrated Red Sox prospect team? How well would Mookie Betts do if he were to go down to A-ball? Conversely, what if Anderson Espinoza were called up to the majors right now? Is Travis Shaw a hall of famer? How does a team develop power arms? These questions and more await!

The guys are pumped that their trip to Spring Training is drawing near, but first, they got on the horn with Friend of the Site Jim Callis of MLB.com to talk about the state of the farm system! MLB.com released its Top 30 Red Sox prospects last week, so we had plenty of questions for Jim, and he had answers. Do the Sox have the best quartet of prospects in the game? Where was Andrew Benintendi on the club’s draft board last June? How will his hand injury affect Michael Kopech’s development and prospect stock? This and more await in another great episode!

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe has had all the coverage of the early stages of spring training, and he joined us for a conversation about what's been going on! What minor leaguers have already caught Pete's eye? How much work has Yoan Moncada been doing with the major leaguers? Are there really competitions for spots in the rotation and the back of the bullpen? Plus, Peter had a great story about his introduction to covering minor league baseball. The SoxProspects.com Podcast is sponsored by SeatGeek. Download the SeatGeek app and use our code, SP20, to get a $20 refund on your first purchase!

Pitchers and catchers have reported, so it must be time to fire the podcast machine back up! Chris, Matt, and Ian got back on the horn to discuss the (current and former) Red Sox prospects ranked among the game's top 100 prospects by various outlets. Can we learn anything by the rankings of Yoan Moncada, Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi, Anderson Espinoza, and Michael Kopech? Also, we got some great reader questions about Moncada, Henry Owens and Brian Johnson, Austin Glorius, Karsten Whitson, the 2016 draft class, and more! Who were our picks for sleeper breakout seasons? Who from last year's draft class are we excited to see in 2016? Listen to find out!

It's ranking season, and that gave us an excuse to get our friend Alex Speier of the Boston Globe and Baseball America to discuss his recently released list of the top 10 Red Sox prospects! We discuss the organization's first-class top 10 and potentially worrisome lack of depth after the top 7, whether the Red Sox gave up too much in the Craig Kimbrel deal, and much more! And as always, thanks to The Ludlow Thieves for our music! Get their new EP Sing Me Back, released Dec. 18, on iTunes!

Well, it did not take very long into the offseason for Dave Dombrowski to make a blockbuster move, as the Red Sox traded four of their top 25 prospects on Friday for Padres closer Craig Kimbrel. If there ever was a time for an emergency podcast, this is it, so Chris, Matt, and Ian got on the horn to discuss the ins and outs of the deal. We have scouting reports on Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, Logan Allen, Carlos Asuaje, and even Kimbrel. Was it an overpay, and even if it was, does it still make sense for the Sox? How much does it matter that the system is so deep and the Sox are set at shortstop and center field? How did the free agent market influence the deal? We leave no stone unturned in our debate!

The long-awaited second half of our season wrap-up hits three of your emails, then goes through our season-end rankings! How high did upstart Venezuelan Anderson Espinoza push into the top five, and why? What led to Luis Alexander Basabe and Logan Allen pushing into the top 15? What else did Ian see at Fall Instructs? Plus, we close with Chris’s interview with 2013 first-round pick Trey Ball, looking back on his season in Salem and the pressures of being the #7 overall pick.

On this episode of the SoxProspects.com Podcast: - It’s time to wrap up the season! We start by taking your listener questions. What players would be the best converting to or from the mound? Do the Red Sox promote players more aggressively than they used to? Why has the top prospect changed so often over the last two years? These questions get answered and more! - We recap the 2015 SoxProspects.com All-Stars. Who did our Forum members vote as the best at their positions in 2015? The answers may … actually they probably won’t surprise you really. - Lastly, we debate our picks for each of the 2015 SoxProspects.com Awards, such as Offensive Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Breakout Player of the Year, and more! Some tough choices here led to some good debate.

In this episode of the SoxProspects.com Podcast: - In Notes from the Field, Chris, Ian, and Chaz share their reports on Pawtucket’s Matt Barnes, Marco Hernandez, and William Cuevas; Salem’s Wendell Rijo, Mauricio Dubon, Teddy Stankiewicz, and Ty Buttrey; and Lowell’s Logan Allen, Travis Lakins, and Yankory Pimentel.  - Reviewing the September rankings update, we discuss Yoan Moncada overtaking Rafael Devers at the top and comparing the fast-rising Anderson Espinoza and Andrew Benintendi against the “old guard” of the Top 10.    - Finally, we share Chris’s interview with Salem Red Sox second baseman Wendell Rijo. Wendell discussed his rise through the minors so far, changes he’s made to his swing, the difficulties international players face coming to the U.S., and more.

We've got a backlog of listener emails to get to, so what better time than the present to talk about what you want to hear? You guys had some outstanding questions that gave us plenty to talk about. What are the odds of a top prospect becoming a good major leaguer? Which pitchers have the highest ceilings in the system? What players rank as the best in each of the five tools? And of course there's current events: What can we expect from Dave Dombrowski as President of Baseball Ops, and is Jackie Bradley's rebound for real? All of this and more awaits!