Soxprospects.com Podcast

After the craziest Red Sox trade deadline in recent memory, Chris, Matt, and Ian were ready to break it all down. What is up with all the young, upper-minors pitchers? Who exactly did the Sox get? What on earth does the roster look like now? We have all of your answers here.

Chris got Matt and Ian on the horn to talk about the recent big dates on the player acquisition calendar: the July 2 opening of the international signing period, and the July 18 draft signing deadline. Did the Red Sox screw up by going over their international pool allotment to sign one extra pitcher? Did anything interesting happen among the draftees? Listen and find out!

Fresh off the heels of the first half of the midseason review, Chris, Ian, and Jon got back on the horn for part two, taking a look at how things have gone in Salem, Portland, and Pawtucket so far. We also took some of your emails, answering your questions about Mookie Betts, Garin Cecchini, and the draft! Want to impress your friends at parties? Hit the download button!

Finally getting back onto the normal schedule, Chris, Ian, and Jon started our midseason review, taking a look at the season thus far in the DSL, GCL, Lowell, and Greenville. Oh, and the top prospect in the system got promoted to Boston this week, so of course we talked about Mookie Betts's arrival in Boston. Hear the guys talk about who's up, who's down, and get the first of two rants in this two-part episode as Chris vents about players in the GCL not actually playing. 

Today's show, "2014 Draft Recap." Act One: Who'd We Pick? Chris talks with Matt and runs down the whole draft. Are these guys good? Where'd all the college seniors go? You'll hear the answers to these questions and more. Act Two: Scouting the Newbies. Chris gets Ian to dish on what he sees from the players selected in the first ten rounds in videos and scouting reports. From Chris's computer in Salem, New Hampshire, it's the SoxProspects.com Podcast. Stay with us.

After a bit of a break, Chris, Matt, and Ian had some things to discuss. Ian and Chris have seen Portland recently, and they had plenty to dish after seeing one of the most prospect-laden teams in the country, on players like Mookie Betts, Blake Swihart, Henry Owens, Brian Johnson, Sean Coyle, and the very recently promoted Travis Shaw (so recent that he was still in Portland when we recorded). We also answered your emails and talked about which prospects in the system are due for a promotion. You know Sergio? Join us!

With the first week-and-a-half of the season in the books, Chris, Ian, and Matt got on the horn after Pawtucket's first homestand to ruminate on the state of the system's Triple-A affiliate. The guys traded notes on Allen Webster, Anthony Ranaudo, Rubby De La Rosa, Garin Cecchini, and more. In addition, the guys took a quick spin around the other affiliates, highlighting the top performers so far on the young season, as well as answering a couple of your emails. FEEL THE POWER OF THE PODCAST!!

Minor League Opening Day 2014 is here, and we're getting you ready! Chris, Jon, and Ian talked about the season-opening rosters at the four full-season affiliates, touching on Trey Ball and Ty Buttrey's absence from the Greenville roster, the conservative initial assignments of several pitchers, and of course the strongest (Pawtucket) and weakest (Salem, by far) rosters.

On Saturday, the guys roamed the back fields for the A-ball and Rookie-level games, and there was plenty to see, first and foremost our first look at 2013 first-rounder Trey Ball. Chris also shared an interview with Peter Hissey about his offseason teaching English in Ecuador and his thoughts entering his seventh year in the system.

With three days of camp to catch up on, there was plenty for the guys to talk about. In the second dispatch from the Fort, the guys talk about what they've seen from Anthony Ranaudo, Allen Webster, Myles Smith, Garin Cecchini, Blake Swihart, Rafael Devers, and more!

After the crew's first day(s) out on the back fields, Chris screwed up and deleted the audio from the short podcast we recorded. But don't worry - we'll do it right tomorrow. We still have an interview for all of you with PawSox broadcaster Jeff Levering about his take on the past five days of camp!

What better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than with the final offseason ranking of the Red Sox top prospects? Longtime friend of the site Jim Callis, now part of MLB.com's MLB Pipeline team, came on the podcast to chat about his new gig and his top 20 list. Topics ranged from why Jim thinks Mookie Betts is the best second baseman in the minors, how close Xander Bogaerts is to consensus top prospect Byron Buxton, and more!

Chris, Jon, Ian, and, eventually, Matt thought it time to get to your emails, so that could mean one thing: mailbag podcast. You asked about first-timers in MLB camp, Steven Wright's place on the 40-man roster, trading with the Cubs, Garin Cecchini's chances of forcing his way into the Majors, and whether the Sox can continue to stay near the top of the farm system rankings, and we talked about all of it. Just how distracted can Chris be while a Sox-O's game is on in the background? Download and find out!

We continued our offseason rankings conversations by chatting with ESPN's Keith Law. We asked Keith about how the Sox system compares to other top systems, how Garin Cecchini compares to Bill Mueller, who might be breaking into the top 10 in the future, and more! Who needs a Valentine's day date when you can listen to Chris, Matt, and Ian?

No guest this week, but an action-packed episode nonetheless! Chris and Matt play some audio from interviews with Blake Swihart, Mookie Betts, and Drake Britton from New Stars for Young Stars, and along with Ian, get back to the inbox with more than a month of emails to answer. Questions hit on players changing positions, how the current crop of pitching prospects compares to past groups, the Rookie Development Program, and more. And in this episode's Where Are They Now?, we covered the prospects in the Erik Bedard trade. (Note: We apologize for the errors contained in a previously uploaded version of this episode. Those issues should now be fixed.)

We've hit 50 episodes! To celebrate, Chris and Ian had a chat about Baseball Prospectus's Red Sox Top 10 list with BP's Jason Parks and our very own Chris Mellen. Discussion hit on Jason and the BP prospect team's process for making their lists, a rundown of the Parks vocabulary, and, put simply, every nook and cranny of BP's Red Sox list and beyond.

It's ranking season! With the release of Baseball America's Red Sox Top 10 prospects list, we were joined by Alex Speier, also of WEEI.com, to talk about the list. We discussed his process for researching and writing the scouting reports and ranking the players, the tiers that developed at the top of the list and... well, too much stuff to recount here, but trust us, we talked about a lot of stuff. Just listen!

There may not be much going on, but Chris, Matt, and Jon still got up from their Thanksgiving naps to answer some reader questions. Among the subjects on tap were how contracts are calculated against the Competitive Balance Tax, how the Sox plan to use Cuban pitcher Dalier Hinojosa, what to make of Brian Johnson's 2013 season, and a lightning round of quick player questions. Inspired by a listener email, we debuted a new regular segment, tentatively called "Where Are They Now?", where we check in on former Sox prospects. Today, we look back at the prospects involved in the Adrian Gonzalez trade.

After shaking off their World Series hangovers, Chris, Matt, and Ian pulled themselves together to set up the offseason. Listener e-mails covered which upper-level pitchers might move to the bullpen, a review of who the heck Devern Hansack was, and how players get picked for the Arizona Fall League. The offseason preview covered the rest of the winter leagues, the Rule 5 draft, free agency, and everything you need to know to get you through until pitchers and catchers.

During a lull before the World Series, Chris, Jon, and Ian got together to answer a bunch of your questions. Bogaerts and Workman on baseball's biggest stage! What players have made the biggest improvements this year? Who's everyone's next prospect binkie going to be? Just how ridiculous of a dboule-entendre can Chris use to describe his beard? All this and much more await. Listen now!