Didi Gregorius inherited Derek Jeter’s position, but so far it appears that he has not inherited his defensive intuition, Billy Witz of the New York Times writes. Yankees manager Joe Girardi has said repeatedly that Gregorius is trying to do too much on the field, but Witz isn’t sure if instinctiveness is a trait that can be learned. Here’s more from the AL East..
- The Red Sox have a strong farm system despite a history of spotty selections in the draft, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes. Prior to this season, the Red Sox’s system was ranked No. 2 by MLB.com and Baseball America, fifth by ESPN, and sixth by Baseball Prospectus. That lofty status was achieved in spite of the fact that their most successful first-round pick since Clay Buchholz was Daniel Bard in 2006. There may not be a Bryce Harper or Mike Trout in the bunch, but there’s still plenty of talent there, Mastrodonato writes. Boston holds the No. 7 overall pick in the upcoming draft.
- Peter Gammons of Daily Gammons looked at some potential draft choices for the Red Sox. Unfortunately for Boston, this is a draft that does not have high profile college players and is regarded as a deep class rather than one loaded with future superstars at the top. Gammons notes that Boston has spent a lot of time on University of Arkansas center fielder Andrew Benintendi and he could be a consideration for them at No. 7.
- As May draws to a close, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times decided to look back at how new Rays baseball operations president Matt Silverman fared this offseason. Topkin starts off by checking in on Ben Zobrist, who was traded as he was entering his final year before free agency. Zobrist is expected to fill a role similar to the one he played in Tampa Bay now that he has returned from the DL, but the Rays felt that it was more important to get a package that helped them in the present and future. Topkin also looks back at the trade of Jeremy Hellickson to the Diamondbacks and notes that he wasn’t worth $4.275MM given the Rays’ starting pitching depth. If either infielder Andrew Velasquez or outfielder Justin Williams – the prospects received for Hellickson – make the majors, then it’s probably a bonus for Tampa Bay.
BoSox system is HYPE rich, talent poor.
I am so tired of hearing about the Red Sox farm system, and that they developed Lester 10 years ago.
They are not at all in the ballpark with the Royals, Twins, Cubs, Nationals, Cardinals or Astros (among others) – but they’re always pumped up like they are.
I just write the hype up to the Sox/Yankee/Dodger/Cub fan bases….so often a kind of entitlement sets in where they express the thought that they should be able to pillage lesser teams because of their superior talent. Truth is, by and large, there’s just over reporting going on. Take the Rockies….the only time you’ll hear about their system is after its produced and leading them to the playoffs. Just overexposure in some markets.
The Rockies were ranked as a top system, so i’m not sure I get your example. If scouts felt the rockies had a better system than boston or the dodgers they would rank them above them. The same way they ranked the rockies over the yankees.
When were the Rockies a top system? Scouts don’t rank systems.
I do think that most places consider them a top ten system at this point….they’ve had a productive one in the past
Guys like law or callis are scouts whether or not they work for major league teams.
You can say anyone is a scout. I guess you win the argument then. You should go straighten out Callis though. He’s confused because he says he’s not a scout.
I’m not sure where Callis says he’s not a scout but either way Law, and Kiley mcdaniel are both former major league scouts, BP hires scouts that routinely leave to work with MLB teams.
Law did almost no scouting in the majors. McDaniel? I’d want to know more before I thought it mattered. But the point still stands. You’re claiming because some of the people at consumer prospect evaluation sites like some Red Sox prospects, that the universe of people including actual scouts for teams think that its true.
I’m not speaking about the scouts, but the fans and the much larger media that has to fill space with prospect chatter. For instance… Colorado doesn’t have a Peter Gammons constantly stoking the fire.
Peter Gammons doesn’t affect Baseball America or Keith Law when they do their rankings.
No…I’m just saying that the media market in the larger cities allows for a lot more clatter. It creates more hype…and a tendency to overrate. For a long time it was the Yankees base that did that with trades and free agency…now I’ve seen it shift to the Dodgers. Fans mince and parse who they can get from other clubs using their own phenomenal systems. Its just the attitude that I perceive. It happens with a.player like Tulo. Sometimes I get the impression that large market fans think Colorado owes it to deal him to them.
What makes Baseball America and Keith Law so wonderful?
He didn’t say they were “wonderful”.
TB1223 is right, I didn’t say they’re wonderful. But they are scouts, and they are impartial.
They are scouts that could not get jobs with ML organizations. Once every 2 or 3 years I look back on their top prospects from a few years before that, and it’s truly scary why people hold them in such high regard.
Law had a job in a front office, and several people have been pulled from BA and BP.
And how many prospects that teams draft bust? It’s part of the game, prospects bust, and no scout is perfect.
Law’s getting paid a lot more than any scouting director, and it’s probably an easier job too. (Provided you have thick skin).
That’s simply untrue.
Difficult to remain impartial while critiquing the hand that feeds
The hand that feeds? I didn’t know they critiqued their employers, I thought they critiqued players.
Critique players, assets of an organization that has a financial interest in a positive reflection of those players. Access, perks, interviews, and “sources within the organization” all contribute to a writer performing their job.
These guys don’t write about the major league team, don’t do interviews, don’t need access. They watch minor leaguers play and make opinions on them.
Again with the “scouts” thing. Tell you what, I proclaim that you are a scout, so there’s another scout saying their great. And impartial? Keith Law certainly isn’t. I assume you know the people at BA assigned to the RS.
Gammons is a Shill for Boston organization.
And? He has nothing to do with any of these rankings.
I’d say that’s almost certainly not true.
Rankings and predictions are as useful as a trapdoor on a lifeboat. I quite paying attention to them years ago.
Rankings in baseball are actually very useless, but I think sometimes they give a general sense of the state of a farm system.
I think you would be hard pressed to find a GM who says to ownership “we need to trade for this guy because BA and BP have him ranked as a top prospect”. If their own internal sources say the guy is worth it than that’s a different story.
It doesn’t take phenomenal intellect to determine who the best 100 prospects are. That entire industry is built to market to fans consumption. It makes people sound smart when they can say something like..”well, we’ll need a Top 50 and a Top 100 back”…I rarely make trade proposals here…I just think it’s too much open ended speculation. I mean… its easy and OK to say..”yeah, the Phillies really need a position prospect back”
With 2 well known national writers located in Boston, and the fact that both their AAA and AA teams are within the greater Boston area, I would agree
I have no idea why you think lester has anything to do with current rankings.
Because every time I point out the reality of the Red Sox farm system here, I’m told they developed Lester and others years ago.
What about Anthony Rizzo, Masterson, Anibel Sanchez, Hanley Ramirez and Josh Reddick? I guess they don’t exist.
See?
Anthony Rizzo is a product of Boston’s farm system; Josh Reddick, Jed Lowrie, Hanley Ramirez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Anibal Sanchez, Justin Masterson (was really good for a while), Dustin Pedroia…
Because the Red Sox had a few down years, people talk like this is a perpetually bad system. 1998- 2004 Red Sox drafted very well, 2005-2010 were bad, 2011-present good again.
Oh jeeze. Talk about carrot theory.
What’s carrot theory? Did he play with “Brantley”.
Lester, Pedroia, Papelbon, Buccholz, Rizzo, Bogaerts, Betts, Han Ramirez, Garciaparra, Ellsbury…
Bingo. And how many of them have come out in the past 3-4 years?
Look me up in 2 years on Betts and Bogaerts.
How many teams produce stars every year? Or every two years?
Huh?
I’ve read about the wonderful Red Sox system for over 3 years here. Where are the players? Middlebrooks and Brantley couldn’t miss. And all those pitchers they had. One kid here told another poster that fans of other teams were “envious” of the Red Sox farm system.
Look at the lists above. The players that are good came through that system 7-10 years ago. The people in charge have changed since then.
Who is Brantley? And Middlebrooks was a flawed player who a lot of people doubted all along (plenty of them Red Sox fans, including myself).
Prospects take more than 3 years to develop most of the time.
I knw this sounds terrible – but I am not impressed with Betts, Castrillo or others. I’ve seen them play. Stats can be held up for a while, until the rest of the league gets a read on young players. Has always been that way. With all these great guys in the pipeline, why did they give those extended contracts to Hanley and Panda, when they have no pitching?
That’s convenient; “I don’t like their current guys, because stuff, so therefore their system stinks.”
Because they have 3 pitching prospects in the top 100, and a boat load of money, and a ton of prospects they can trade for pitching.
Start Trading then ,unless your Boat is the size of a canoe!
I’ve seen Betts play too, and I think he’s pretty darn good. Eye tests are bad for a reason. #ConfirmationBias
Wasn’t Middlebrooks the next Brooks Robinson.
No.
No? He was the next Mark Trumbo at best.
Josh Reddick is pretty good. Betts is pretty good. I mean we could go through the list and argue a bunch, but the Red Sox farm system is likely worse than public perception, but almost assuredly better than you give them credit for.
And the Jury still out on these two !
what organization produces a steady stream of major league talent every year?
You have to go back 10 years for more than half those players.
We can sit here and argue, but the Yankees haven’t produced a good player other than Gardner in a long while, nor have the Phillies. The Tigers really havent either. They play a different game, the big markets.
They use the prospects to get the big leaguers because they can afford to have bad farm systems.
The Phillies could have an infield of Maikel Franco, Jon Singleton, Jon Villar and Freddy Galvis, and an outfield of Michael Bourn, Domingo Santana, Anthony Gose and Cody Asche.
A rotation of Hamels, Jarrod Cosart, Vance Worley, Aaron Nola, Trevor May and Carlos Carraso too.
But I’d rather have the 5 straight NL East titles and the 2 WS appearances that trading these prospects lead to.
The Phillies could have had continued long-term success, though. Cardinals East, if you will. Instead, they chose to completely sacrifice the future.
“but the Yankees haven’t produced a good player other than Gardner in a long while”
I hear that Betances fella is pretty nasty
The Yankees have done a pretty good job at churning out decent swingmen (Greene/Phelps/Warren/Whitley), as well as guys like Betances. They definitely deserve credit for developing some of their pitchers. Heck even Pineda looks amazing, and I’m sure the Yankees have helped develop him to some extent.
Boston has plenty of talent. No amount of it can ever approach the predictions of local media and fans.
Every local media hypes their players. It’s just that this site far more frequently posts Boston papers articles.
No, the Red Sox have a solid system, albeit one they bought with money by exploiting the massive hole that is MLB’s signing international free agent rules, not by drafting well.
WHEN is MLB going to do away with these ridiculous international free agent rules and force all internationals to be eligible for the June draft so all the bad teams have a chance at them? Or just make it nothing to do with the draft and make it so its not a free for all and give the worst teams first shot? And if they don’t want to pay $100M then it goes to the next team. As a fan, the Red Sox and Dodgers are really annoying at what they’ve been doing the last few years…
“No, the Red Sox have a solid system, albeit one they bought with money
by exploiting the massive hole that is MLB’s signing international free
agent rules, not by drafting well.”
This would make sense if Moncada was their only top international player. teams had an equal chance at Margot, Devers, and the other top IFA players on boston they missed their chance.
Keep watching. Teams cannot spend on International free agents indefinitely. There is a formula. MLBTR has reported on it.
I have no idea what formula you’re talking, but teams can spend indefinitely on IFA’s assuming they don’t go over budget. And when boston, and the Yankees stay under budget they are great at finding IFA talent.
Throw enough spaghetti on a wall and surely some of it will stick. I’m not sure if they’re great at finding talent, but they’re good at using financial flexibility to cast a wide net.
Drafted: pedroia, Anibal, ellsbury, betts, bogaerts, buccholz, han Ram, lester, papelbon, rizzo
Generally true of all systems THO…and, while not so dramatic, of prospects in general.
Truth teller
Find video of Eduardo Rodriguez’ first start and get back to us. That’s just one example of talent in the organization.
BoSox system is HYPE rich, talent poor.
Herald article is odd. They do know that you can acquire talented players as international free agents right? The draft isn’t the end all and be all of getting talent.
The International market is slowly being leveled out, in the same way revenue sharing and the luxury tax have impacted MLB over the past 5-7 years. The Yankees and Red Sox have gone into the International market because they can no longer overpay for endless free agents and take on established veteran contracts in trade. All they did for decades was spend money. With a level field they’re not so wonderful. And boy, as noted above, hearing about their sensational can’t-miss prospects is slowly becoming a running joke. Peter Gammons started this by pushing every player from the Yankees and Red Sox – no one listens to him anymore.
Peter Gammons..lol
Not only that, but the first round of the draft isn’t the only way to acquire talent. Betts will turn out to be a pretty great pick after the first round. Not to mention how good owens, swihart, barnes and bradley were at certain points. They were all certainly good picks even if they all bust, which is doubtful.
They were all certainly good picks even if they all bust”. If Mr. Spock had been a baseball fan his head would explode right about now.
I’m not sure why this is a hard concept, if harper somehow busted would that have been a bad pick? He was clearly the best player in the draft.
None of the redsox first rounders were drafted out of place, and all had high trade value for years.
So now your logic is jumping to comparing 4 players who have either had a cup of coffee at the MLB level and been sent back down, never made the MLB level or have been called up and are struggling to a player that has been relatively successful for 3+ years? OK. BTW, Chris Sale might dispute that Harper was clearly the best player. Considering Harper was voted “The Most Over-Rated Player in MLB” 3 years in a row by the other MLB players I think they would disagree too.
I never compared any players i’m not sure what you’re talking about. Especially the part about Sale being better than Harper because players voted one as being overrated.
Even if we conceded the fact that Harper was overrated that has nothing to do with his actual talent level in comparison to Sale or anyone else, so it’s kind odd to bring up that poll and make the logical leap that Harper is worse than Sale. That type of logic would surely make Mr spock’s head explode. .
30 GMs out of 30 would pick Harper if given the choice between Harper and Sale. We’re talking about a guy leading the NL in homers at age 22.
Yes, but what would Sale say?
I’m pretty sure Sale would admit that he’s not as good at baseball as Harper.
It is impossible to actually say that and a month of outstanding play after several years in the league does not change history.
Are you arguing that Sale is better than Harper? Because that’s not going to be true irrespective of how many times you say it.
Herald article is odd. They do know that you can acquire talented players as international free agents right? The draft isn’t the end all and be all of getting talent.
Didi of late has looked better than the Didi to start the season, at least by the eye test. Though the errors still pop up now and then, he’s looked a bit more relaxed the past few weeks fundamentally. He’s also looked to have a better approach at the plate, despite the lack in overwhelming numbers to back that,which he’d been working on. He’s still not quite optimal, but little progress is still progress.
Didi of late has looked better than the Didi to start the season, at least by the eye test. Though the errors still pop up now and then, he’s looked a bit more relaxed the past few weeks fundamentally. He’s also looked to have a better approach at the plate, despite the lack in overwhelming numbers to back that,which he’d been working on. He’s still not quite optimal, but little progress is still progress.
Boston also had to spend $135.5 million on two of their top guys (Castillo and Moncada) to get that farm system rating.
Can you imagine the grief they will get if Moncada turns into a bust or gets injury prone like Slade Heathcott?
Just curious – why are we comparing Moncada to Heathcott? What similarities do they have, other than being baseball players, that suggests one’s injury history would affect the other’s?
I think the OP was just using a prospect they know as an example of someone who was hurt. I think the similarities end there.
You could choose to not be condescending, which would be nice. And you absolutely were comparing Moncada and Heathcott. Read what you wrote.
Well they were rated super highly before those signings as they still have 5-6 top 100 prospects. Castillo is also rarely even counted as a prospect.
Castillo isn’t part of those rankings
He’s part of Baseball America’s ratings.
On Fangraphs, WAR/UZR has Gregorius at 2.9 UZR, Jeter last had a UZR that high in 2009.
Perhaps Yankees fans just don’t understand what good SS defense looks like anymore??
The biggest qualm with Didi is the errors/miscues he makes. Take those away, and you have a pretty good defensive player. Because of those, he’s just slightly above average, his UZR is a pretty good indicator of where he’s at right now.
NY put up with Mr Goodie pants for his bat that was productive. Good Shortstops, rarely make costly errors and mistakes Didi does , Guy an Average SS with a Weak Bat!
His range is great, his arm is great, and his approach at the plate is improving. To boot, he’s looked much better fundamentally recently in the field as a whole, he still needs to cut the errors out. His defense,even factoring in errors, is above average. The only reason people are so harsh in their evaluation is hands down the errors. And Headley has more so far than Didi does, so who’s to say it’s not a slump? Also, it’s not as if we gave up a star to get him, and it’s not as if the market is swimming with realistic/better options. Patience is key with him.
Ya Didi isn’t going to keep this team from being a playoff team. The Yankees hopes aren’t resting on his shoulders. He’s a decent enough shortstop.
Derek Jeter was never a good shortstop, should have been moved from SS years prior to retirement. Yankees are just spoiled because they are used to star power, and seeing a Didi Gregorius just doesn’t suit them.
If the bat is great, they will leave them there. Look at Manny and Piazza. 2 terrible guys at their position defensively but 2 guys with HOF numbers. Only the latter one though will appear to make it in there though, but I think you get my point.
Both Juicers, only one got caught !
Please.
Derek Jeter was a very good SS for at least the first half of his career.
1997, 1998 and 2007. What do those years have in common?
The only 3 years in Jeter’s career he had a positive dWAR
Defensive statistics are awful.
Your eye test is better?
Let’s see if the Red Sox waste this #7 pick like they did in 2013.
Trey Ball should change his name to Cuatro Ball.
It’s WAY too early to say Ball is a bust or a wasted pick.
erick aybar used to try too much when he was younger. he always have had range and a strong arm. now that he learned when not to throw to first he is a very good ss.
Yeah, but he has always been fairly consistent with the bat. Didi is a black hole offensively, and defense is where he provides his value. He’s been the player most people expected he’d be when he was acquired in the offseason, yet it seems like the New York media is surprised.
That’s because NY lives in a Bubble, until really kicks in like right now with aging,expensive Stars.How does Cashman have Job ?
Cashman is good at his job, that’s why.
If Red Sox had kept their prospects, that are so “overrated”, this would be their lineup:
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Rizzo 1B
H Ramirez DH
Reddick RF
B Moss LF
Iglesias SS
Castillo 3B
Swihart C
Lester SP
A Sanchez SP
Buchholz SP
Masterson SP
Wright SP
Papelbon CL
Bench: Bogaerts, Betts, Lowrie, Middlebrooks, D Murphy, Vazquez, Tazawa
Who is Wright again?
The knuckleballer, I think?
Rusney is playing 3B? Interesting.
Tulo is the Right SS for the New York Yankees , what is Cashmen waiting for make the move now, include Didi in the package for the Rockies.For the New York Yankees to have a nonentity as Gregarious is a disgrace when Yankees need/want Tulo and he wants to go replace his Idol Jeter as the SS for the Yankees. Three Good prospects gets it done!
As a Yankee fan, please no. Nothing again Tulo, but youth and athleticism are something the Yankees desperately need. Didi and three good prospects is the wrong direction. The Yankees are failing because of the number of high salary-in-their-decline-phase players they already have.
Tulo in his decline phase is still one of the best players in baseball though..
Why is there an assumption that Tulo wants out now and the Rockies want to deal him? They might be just as close to dealing some talent for a front line starter.
Because the national media creates the impression that teams in small and medium sized markets only use is to be feeder teams to the large market teams so they trade players they’ve developed for prospects that are not all that good. Over the years, the fans believe it.
Cole Hamels a Rockies uniform?
I’m not necessarily saying Cole Hamels, but the Rockies have expressed a desire to acquire a front line starter via trade. Its not likely they’ll ever get one in free agency.
Seems like maybe andrew Freidman was the smart guy pulling on the strings of all the rays success…
The Rays are a well built organization. They have plenty of smart people running their baseball operations. Friedman was certainly good at his job there, but they can succeed without him.
More like Lucky, could you see him in Tampa, For about 6 months before he got fired !