The White Sox have returned Rule 5 pick Shane Drohan to the Red Sox, with Chris Cotillo of MassLive among those to relay the news on X. Drohan won’t need to take up a spot on Boston’s 40-man roster.
Drohan, 25, was selected by the White Sox with the fourth pick in last year’s Rule 5 draft. Unfortunately, he underwent shoulder surgery in February and had to begin the season on the injured list. He started a rehab assignment about a month ago but struggled to get into good form, allowing nine earned runs in 9 1/3 innings. He struck out 15 opponents but gave out eight walks.
As a Rule 5 pick with his 30-day rehab window closing, Drohan needed to be added to the active roster but Chicago wasn’t willing to do that. The designated him for assignment last week and any club could have claimed him off waivers, but doing so would have meant taking on the same Rule 5 restrictions. Since they all apparently passed, the Red Sox are able to reacquire Drohan as non-roster depth.
He’ll now look to continue his development in the Red Sox’ system. Through May 10 of 2023, he had thrown 252 1/3 innings in the minors in 56 games, including 54 official starts. He had allowed 3.57 earned runs per nine frames in that time with a 26.3% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate.
Since then, things have been a bit shakier. He was promoted to Triple-A at that point but had a 6.47 ERA in 89 innings at that level, walking 14.9% of batters faced. The White Sox had him working relief outings on his recent rehab but it’s possible the Red Sox will stretch him back out now.
You know the Red Sox farm system stinks when even the White Sox don’t want a free player.
That is not how it works. The White Sox would have to keep him on their 40 man, whereas the Red Sox do not.
Actually, the white Sox needed to keep him on the 26-man roster, not just 40-man.
Boston can leave him off both.
You know you don’t get baseball when you don’t understand how Rule 5 works.
ERA of almost 9.00 during his rehab assignment apparently didn’t give the White Sox much hope he’d fair any better on their AAAA team…
The Sox banked $50k from this move, ironically just enough to pay out the $100k, 50/50 split from the weekend series v the Red Sox.
Need to start offering free beer a couple nights to get people to go to Sox Park…
Actually….2 free beers with ticket purchase to select games
Gotta get drunk to distort the terrible product on the field lol
Maybe they’ll have another disco demolition night.
Just have a fan pitch an inning on blowout games, which is often, and that’ll entertain us!
Burn baby burn
If John Henry announces he’ll walk through the grandstand I’m sure attendance would see a boost that day so fans could heckle him and let him know what they really think…
or host a Worst Series versus my Oakland A’s.
Hard to believe that 3 years ago both teams were facing off in the Playoffs.
2 free beers with ticket purchase to select games
==============================
The Yankees, when George was still in charge, would gave out free tickets if the opening day weather was bad. So my friends and I would wind up with Tuesday night tickets v KC. But since the tickets were free, that amount was added to our beer budget.
Hence the saying “there is nothing more expensive than a free Yankee ticket”
White Sox already have the cheap tickets with beer special!!
mlb.com/whitesox/tickets/specials/baseball-and-bre…
Tickets & Brews!
GASox – You should have seen the Fenway crowds the past few nights, it looked like the games were in Philly.
Imagine what it will look like this weekend, not that Henry will care.
Henry doesn’t care who buys the tickets, or, even if they show up to the game once it’s sold.
I’d be curious if we have any economists on site who would or have played with the numbers. Are the red sox more valuable as a cash generator relying on cheapest possible payroll (This year down in the low 170s and falling) with fewer home fans but a baseline of sales between commercial resellers and out of town visitors? Or is a crowd packed with fenway faithful who require an extra $100m in payroll an increase that will make enough returns on merchandise, concessions, and TV revenue to generate larger overall profit?
We don’t know gate figures, but, lots of empty seats on TV. Ticket sales we know, and, we know average in-stadium spending per attendee. So we can calculate what they should get per game with a packed house. And we know ticket sales. The only part to assume is how many empty seats were seeing on TV each game as lost revenue per home contest, and, then I guess we have to make an estimate as to how nesn hurts.
I’d wager Henry had someone work out the numbers, and, they’ll cut payroll and say screw the on-field product until that revenue curve inverts. Then, when it’s not tenable anymore, they’ll invest for the shortest possible time and rinse and repeat.
Welcome to the dark ages until Henry dies. At least he’s getting older….
GASox – It’s hard to quantify how much in payroll needs to be spent in order to maximize profits, as there are so many variables.
We’ve both said many times it’s not just *how much* is spent, but how *wisely* it’s spent.
Ticket sales is not relevant these days because of dynamic pricing, they are offering huge discounts through package deals, group discounts, and selling on the secondary market.
TV ratings is a big factor, considering FSG’s owning of NESN. Without good ratings or attendance, sponsorship revenue dries up.
Bottom line (no pun intended) if the profit falls below a certain level, I think they will start spending again. I don’t think there’s any scenario where they can consistently turn a profit with a bottom-ten payroll. So basically we are saying the same thing.
I still believe if the Sox financials drop far enough, Henry could be forced out. Last I heard he owns only 40%, therefore Redbird could team up with Michael Gordon and Tom Werner.
BTW – How do you feel about all the NY ties to FSG ownership? John Henry the longtime Yankees minority owner, Redbird a NY investment firm, Arctos Partners based in NY, Werner with strong roots in NY …. most of the owners have no ties to Massachusetts or even New England.
Fever – to be honest, situs of FSG, Arctos, Redbird, principals, etc really doesn’t concern me all *that* much when dealing with a fractured ownership group. Reality is, NYC is a financial center for the country, so, it stands to reason many parties would have some ties there. (As much as I generally have disdain for NYC in general for a wide range of reasons beyond it just being the NYY home turf.)
I honestly think allowing the type of securitization that the Red Sox became part of should be banned by MLB for all teams, and, that team ownership should be restricted to parties with no interest in any other professional sports franchise – controlling, majority, or minority status. Add a divestment requirement within xyz months (12? 18?), much the same as when buying interests in other mlb clubs.
As a practical matter, Henry won’t be forced out. His actions are increasing the net cash flow out of the organization, which, is all any of the various owners care about. What my musings were about is a suspicion that Boston is headed for a $150-160m payroll, and, that the net profits are likely higher than if they ran a $250-260m payroll because of the out-of-town fans and commercial resellers buying tickets. Less fans means less overhead as well, less time needed to clean up the stadium, less concessions workers, less trash, lower water and sewer bills, so on so forth. Not a HUGE amount, but, incremental.
Remember, NESN relies far less on direct-to-consumer marketing and far more on Comcast and their ilk bundling in the service, not to mention that nesn subscriptions have sox revenue piggybacking on the contending status of other pro sports teams in the city. A lagging sox product won’t hurt the revenue of the captive rsn as much as if it were a purely baseball driven outlet.
GASox – Excellent reply, thank you!!
I guess my question with regard to FSG ownership and their ties/roots, do you think that’s a factor in their lack of desire to win? If John Henry owned his beloved Cardinals, would he have a stronger desire to spend/win? Does he not view the Yankees as a bitter rival (the way Lucchino did) because he was a longtime Yankee owner and is still close to many in the Yankees organization?
Overall I think owners who have more motivation to win are more likely to spend to win. Many people believe Larry was the driving force behind the spending that led to at least 3 of their 4 championships.
I very strongly agree with you on your proposed ownership requirements, it’s not a coincidence that Henry’s lack of interest in and attention on the Red Sox, and of course lack of spending, coincided with FSG’s other sports ventures and the investment from Redbird.
Unfortunately I don’t see MLB ever instituting those new ownership rules, because we all know the commissioner will always be the owners’ puppet and the owners would never agree to limiting their own personal financial options. Not even if it leads to marquee MLB teams like the Red Sox spending like a mid-market or small-market team. This is why the Red Sox ownership situation more than anything has me so down. No matter who is the manager or the head of baseball ops, it will always be a lot harder to field a competitive team each year with the same Red Sox ownership structure.
So if Henry’s actions no longer increase the net cash flow out of the organization, in large part due to dwindling profits, it’s possible he is forced out …. right? I need a glimmer of hope here. LOL
BTW – Is there a way I can see more than just my 10 most recent notifications? Because I sometimes post a lot and then don’t go online for a while, the 10 notifications fills up fast and I can’t see how to view notifications directly prior to my most recent 10.
Remember last year when the world was coming to an end because the Red Sox let 3 guys get taken via Rule V:
Lets Update:
– Thaddeus Ward pitching like garbage in minors.
– Noah Song’s arm destroyed because he was rushed to MLB after 3.5 years layoff.
– Andrew Politi pitching like garbage in minors after being returned
Im amazed the Red Sox survived it.
Yeah the Red Sox are really thriving (checks standings, ducks)
You mustve been part of the chicken little gang.
Nice troll attempt, Theo. Whatever the causes of 2024 mediocrity (note: that was supposed to be the case going into the season), that has nothing to do with the Rule 5 overreaction last year. Tons of people cried ineptitude on its basis and barked down sensible replies, and now there is no hiding the egg on their faces. That’s it.
Long – It goes both ways. The chest puffers tend to way overvalue non-established Red Sox players for various reasons, usually because they are incapable of properly evaluating talent. That is why most of them overreacted, they believed the hype. It wasn’t that long ago they were praising the acquisition of Cooper, how did that work out.
“It wasn’t that long ago they were praising the acquisition of Cooper”
————————-
What are you talking about? “Should be better than Dalbec” or “Makes sense” is the best “Praise” I can find in the article.
mlbtraderumors.com/2024/04/red-sox-acquire-garrett…
———————–
Now lets look what the haters said when the Red Sox acquired Cooper Criswell. Heres my favorite:
“Another great signing by Breslow. Please I beg you Breslow get out of the dumpster already!!! Do you really believe that Breslow is going to get Yamamoto. Please already! Breslow should be embarrassed about this signing of a guy with an ERA north of 5 and giving this guy a million dollars. This is the type of guy you invite to spring training on a minor league contract to try and make the team. God help us this year.”
mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/red-sox-cooper-criswell…
———————-
Youre such a troll.
Kyle – I’m not gonna call out the people who praised the Cooper move because unlike you I’ve got class, but if you make the effort to read the comments below the article you linked you can easily see what I’m talking about. A bunch of them thought Cooper was let go *only* because the Cubs already had too much talent at his position.
And unlike you, I don’t dispute there are radicals on both sides of the fence – the haters and the suckups. But there’s a whole lot of intelligent, knowledgeable posters here who have disagreed with your views and made excellent cases as to why.
Now cool it with the juvenile name-calling if you want me to continue responding to your posts. Try disagreeing without getting personal.
So your comment is classy?
You called people out first. Which is the ONLY reason I responded. Then you just called out people again in your second post. Lol.
You seriously gotta look in the mirror, without those rose-colored glasses on.
——————
Also, I searched through the comments. Im seeing a few tempered positive comments, and I mean very tempered. I also see a lot of ‘hate the move’ comments.
I cant find a single comment “praising” the move. Nor can I find youre ‘too much talent’ comment. I used “cubs” and “talent” as search words. No clue what youre talking about.
Oh I found it “ridiculously deep”.
Clearly a Cubs fan, not a Red Sox fan who’s proud of the depth the Cubs have.
Thats ALL YOU GOT?!?! Your little rant about “Chest Puffer” Red Sox fans is supported by one Cubs fan comment. Lol.
Kyle – Calling out means naming posters from other threads/articles.
I never write “so and so said this”.. That’s what I meant..
Replying directly is perfectly fine though, that’s what messageboards are all about.
Where did I use a name? It didnt happen.
If you wanted to, you were able to locate who I was talking about. Just as I was able to locate who you were talking about with your ‘Cubs have too much talent line’.
How do you see a difference? And such a vast difference to the point that you feel you are on such high ground that you can call it out. Your self-awareness is zero.
————–
I guess you want to let the whole “Chest Puffers” comment disappear, and concentrate on other things. Because you were completely wrong.
Kyle – Follow along please!
I didn’t say you used a name, nor did I say nobody had a negative response to the acquisition.
I’ll address the other stuff later as I’m working, surgery comes first.
“I didnt say you used a name”
Thats exactly what you did:
” I’m not gonna call out the people who praised the Cooper move because unlike you I’ve got class”
and
“Kyle – calling out means posters names”
More gaslighting, a common technique of trolls.
Kyle – Sorry it took so long to get back to you, it’s been a very busy week.
I didn’t say you have no class because of Cooper, you have no class because of your extensive reputation for:
1) Falsely accusing people of things they didn’t write
2) Incessant name-calling and personal attacks
3) Inability to admit when you’re wrong, like saying Dombrowski didn’t leave any talent in the farm system
4) Unwillingness to acknowledge when others are right or even to acknowledge you agree with them
I could list plenty more, but I don’t want to beat a dead horse and quite frankly it’s boring.
I asked you nicely to stop with the namecalling, and yet you continue to call me a “troll” …. ah yes, that most juvenile word that only keyboard warriors use when someone has a different viewpoint as them. Do you have the guts to call people that to their face or even on the phone? I’m pretty sure I know the answer to that.
Anyways, I’ve given you enough chances and I certainly won’t continue interacting with anyone who constantly attacks me and calls me juvenile names. So best of luck to whatever team you root for, as clearly it’s not the Red Sox.
KyleT
Youre such a troll.
==============================
Some of these people are just idiots. Shank was recently chirping about some of the waiver wire pickups.
1-Everyone does it.
2-Without these low-end pickups, we wouldn’t have Bernardino, Criswell, Slaten, and Booser. We have thousands of years of BB history that show EVERYONE picks up marginal guys in the hopes of turning them around.
Shank = Shaughnessy?
I stopped reading him awhile ago.
“Yet you continue to call me a troll”
You called me as having “no class” then denied it. Lol.
So, if we’re going to play that game. I didnt call you a troll in my latest comment. I said “Gaslighting is a common technique of trolls”. Learn how to read
See, we can both play the gaslighting game.
Dude, says “surviving” you pretend he says “thriving”
That;’s adorable.
Song pitched 32 innings in the minors. He was never healthy to begin with.
But I did hear that the Phillies organization was mean to him while he was pitching those 32 innings.
Song was ramped up much too fast in a Beat-The-Clock Scenario. He shouldve never been put in that situation in the first place.
Red Sox fan of 53 years, and I could have cared less about loosing any of the three! None were ever going to amount to anything. The Red Sox brass was correct in not adding them to the 40-man. David Hamilton and Wilyer Abreu were added and performing very well!
The Red Sox will have some interesting choices this coming offseason.
The Red Sox Rule 5 eligible list for December 2024:
Angel Bastardo
Alex Binelas
Brainer Bonaci
Bryce Bonnin
Taylor Broadway
Zach Bryant
Allan Castro
Brendan Cellucci
Juan Chacon
Nathanael Cruz
Theo Denlinger
Kelvin Diaz
Hunter Dobbins
Juan Daniel Encarnacion
Albert Feliz
Max Ferguson
Richard Fitts
Michael Fulmer
Grant Gambrell
Jhostynxon Garcia
Bryan Gonzalez
Luis Guerrero
Francis Hernandez
Nathan Hickey
Gabriel Jackson
Blaze Jordan
Niko Kavadas
Robert Kwiatkowski
CJ Liu
Eduardo Lopez
Matthew Lugo
Elih Marrero
Tyler McDonough
Tyler Miller
Wyatt Mills
Yordanny Monegro
Juan Montero
Wyatt Olds
Eddinson Paulino
Ronald Rosario
Corey Rosier
Reidis Sena
Chase Shugart
Phillip Sikes
Karson Simas
Adam Smith
Nick Sogard
Noah Song
Luis Talavera
Christopher Troye
Tyler Uberstine
Miguel Ugueto
Brian Van Belle
Diego Viloria
Jacob Webb
Jeremy Wu-Yelland
Nick Yorke
Ryan Zeferjahn
MLB1971:
Fitts, Gambrell, Jordan, Lugo, Sogard and Yorke are musts. Then theres 2 or 3 others that could be protected. The rest arent going anywhere.
Red Sox should easily be able to fit the important names on their 40-man.
Gambrell is a stretch since he will be 27. I’d like to give Binelas a little more time. He just turned 24, and has 30-HR power. Still needs a good year of development.
Hunter Dobbins might get protected. He has a 3.93 ERA at AA.
I cant find it, but I thought Gambrell used to be a 2-way players, and only recently began pitching full time. I’d think he’ll get taken if left exposed. Regardless of age, I’d put him on the 40-man, Red Sox need more pitching depth.
All in – Agree on Hunter Dobbins, I think he has better chance of success than Gambrel. IMO the Red Sox will protect Fitts, Dobbins, Fulmer, Guerrero, Lugo, Yorke, Sogard. The list of players will change depending on how they perform the rest of the year though. I think Sogard will get a chance in Boston before the end of the year if they plan on protecting him.
Not hard to correct this 1:
Ward was taken because it was thought he had an outside chance based soley on his A ball performance. IOW. Typical rule 5 pick and didn’t/hasn’t worked out.
Politi never was considered any kind of a future by Boston, appearantly someone else thought different and gave him a very short ST look, found what Boston already knew and returned him and he’s still nothing more than a milb middle reliever.
Song was taken by Philly for 1 reason.. Dombrowski was hailing his pick when he was in Boston as some steal of a coup, then he himself is responsible for breaking him to this day. Taking a kid, who for 3y barely picke a a ball, then thrusting him straight into the majors was the most ego centric driven things have seen in years.
Anyone with a functioning brain cell knows Song should have been slow walked back, but it was impossible with what dombrowski did, to what was and should have been still 1 of the most exciting pitching and young men around. Ruined by that man’s ego. Disgraceful it was and still is.
Spot on johnsilver. Couldnt agree more.
Not sure who you were “correct”ing, but my comment was meant as sarcasm.
If it only takes 10 minor league inning to injury your elbow to the point that TJS is ultimately required then it’s possible that it was inevitable. I agree that Song was a DD pet project and that 3+ of layoff likely contributed to the injury.
C’mon, it is an annual rite of Spring. The haters hate all our prospects, until we let one go. Then they become HOF candidates.
On a more serious note, it was despicable what DD did. There was about a 0% chance the Phillies would keep Song. He claimed him to punish the RS, and set back whatever chance Song had.
Despicable lol
I liked Dave Dombroski and thought he did a good job. None of the prospects he traded has done anything earth shattering. Schwarber wanted to stay with the Red Sox too but after the team over achieved in 2021 Bloom was going to go back to mediocrity after that, cheap bargain contracts and high upside guys. The ownership is only interested in profits now and not putting a competitive team on the field. They pick up clowns like Bloom and Breslow because they will be Henry’s lap dogs and tell you it’s raining while peeing on your pants. This is a mediocre, lousy team. They are selling you this bs about developing talent and all that’s a cover for cheaper payroll. No one wanted the GM/ Baseball President be use no one likes John Henry and the idiot move in firing Dave Dombroski. I said that this team would be out of it by the end of May beginning of June and I was right on the money. Now 13.5 games out. Yeah this might be okay in Tampa but not in major market Boston.
“None of the prospects he traded has done anything earth shattering.”
What young players did he bring in that were “earth shattering”? Or even, what players did DD bring in that were going to contribute on even a mediocre level at the time. And please dont mention drafted/int signings, that were too young to contribute, and only started contributing in 2023 and 2024.
The Red Sox had a massive void of young talent from from 2019 to 2023.
When you:
1) Bring in ZERO young players.
2) Trade away 31 prospects.
3) Go Over The Threshold for 2 straight years.
4) Dont extend several young players before they reach FA.
5) Have a couple of terrible long-term contracts on the books.
DD did a great job winning a WS, but so did Ben Cherington. He left the future of the Red Sox in dire straits. Thats a simple fact.
—————————–
Oh, and please dont pick one of my points and act like its the only thing I said. The state of the Red Sox in 2019 was an entire mess, not something thing that could be fixed with a tweak or a couple of FA signings.
Kyle – You were proven wrong a while ago, so then why are you still repeating the same false statements?
Dombrowski brought in Rafaela, Bello, Casas, Duran, Houck and Crawford. You simply cannot follow the Sox at all for you to *forget* all 6 of those players.
In fact on Tuesday’s NESN pregame show there were 3 analysts all pointing out how great a job Dombrowski did with the farm system.
It’s been well documented the 2019 Sox team, which was nearly the exact same team as 2018, was torpedoed by Cora’s managing. Again how can you not know this?
What’s next, are you gonna lecture us on Risk Management too?
Clearly your reading skills are fading with age.
I said “And please dont mention drafted/int signings, that were too young to contribute, and only started contributing in 2023 and 2024.”
Those players combined:
2019 = 0.0 War
2020 = 1.3 War
2021 = 1.1 War
2022 = 2.2 War
2023 = 9.2 War
2024 – 7.0 War
Were the Red Sox suppose to shuck from 2019 through 2022? You were not happy during those years. Or are you trying to say those 4.6 Wins during those 4 years were super important? So all the young talent that shouldve been contributing was traded away, and no new talent was brought in. Causing a blight or as I call it the Hangover from the 2018 WS.
Check and Mate.
Schwarber wanted to stay with the Red Sox
==================
Schwarber has a 4.3 bWAR with Philly for his $20M per. Not missing him.
He changes sox more than I do!
He had a very good AA season last year, until he got promoted up to AAA and it all fell apart for him. Guess the WhiteSox were expecting the AA part.
Wasn’t this guy supposed to be at least Bruce Hurst 2.0?
No
The White Sox selected him last November. Then Drohan had SHOULDER surgery this February. It’s now all of four months later and, for obvious reasons, they can’t keep him on the 26-man. That hardly means his career is over. He just needs to recover and rehab properly, and then rejoin the minors. The major concern is that shoulder surgery is often very difficult for a pitcher to come back from, and he may not ever recover the form or the promise he once showed in AA.
Drohan was great in AA. He was one of the worst pitchers in all of AAA. The Red Sox scouting websites have said he was not hurt when he was promoted, but changed his pitch mix and went away from what worked in AA, because the competition was better.
Unwilling to add him to the roster lmao he literally can’t be much worse than any pitcher they have on there right now.
I agree. Drohan was pretty good in AA, but obviously bad in AAA. But the rehab stats mean nothing. I always assume that GMs see a ton more than we do, but given the WS near lock on 30th place, I’d have thought they could find room in the BP even if he threw very few serious innings.
Drohan couldn’t handle AAA last year, but maybe he’ll turn a corner. Worth having back.