Odds And Ends: Tazawa, Anderson, Viciedo

I'm not disappointed about the Sox not landed Tex either. I'm excited to see Lars play. I don't think he's overhyped. You have to go to a game and see the guy play. He's got some pop.

Andruw Jones was a fine player for a number of years, and Mark Prior was dynamite for the one year of healthy pro ball he played. Not really sure why you'd bring up those guys instead of players like Sean Burroughs, Corey Patterson or Ruben Rivera - guys who were ACTUALLY flops after all the hype they received as minor league players. Lars Anderson and Matt Weiters could end up being great players, or they could end up being average players, but I doubt it will have much to do with the praise they are getting now. Some guys have it, some just don't.

"Just like with Phil Hughes and before him Andruw Jones and Mark Prior its not always a good thing to give these great minor league prospects such high expectations. Nothing against either team, but they are really overhyping Lars Anderson and Matt Weiters. Then again I could say the same thing for Austin Jackson."

The thing you're not taking into account is the major difference between pitchers and position players. The only position player you listed in the "didn't pan out" section is Jones (Noting that Hughes has another few years before the jury's in on him), and he had five seasons where he got at least an MVP vote or two. He didn't not pan out, he just fell off the shelf.

Pitchers tend to not pan out more often than position players since so much more goes into pitching a game. Anderson and Weiters have much better odds of working out than Hughes or Prior did.

Don't say Hughes didn't pan out. In'07 he was pitching a perfect game with 7 outs to go. Then he injured himself. He's only 23. God, what is Prior, like 34?!?

I always loved Andruw Jones, but he had a terrible swing. Went against everything you are ever taught. I do believe he was on HgH or something though.

And of course Davidoff would rate the Yankees as having the worst off-season. He favors the ones that are able to unload salary than to add.

I wouldn't count Hughes out at all especially since he'll be starting in AAA. And I didn't get Davidoff calling the Yankees "Winners with Downside" either. I think the Yanks undoubtedly had one of the top 5 offseasons this year.

I am really hoping on Anderson also and am glad to have been able to have seen him play a couple of ST games so far, but he has not really looked good, probably because he's been overmatched with facing upper ML pitching since he's barely even played AA ball even, but still he's a top prospect that am sure was a key reason they did not want to over pay for Tex.

I certainly would not say Hughes is washed up, maybe not as hot as he was, but he has good stuff and still should be a decent MLB starter. Wouldn't say that about Kennedy, who the Yanks should probably try to trade while he has some value maybe, but Hughes is a keeper IMO.

Here is a nice swing comparison video with Tex and Anderson, along with scouting report on Anderson:

http://www.baseball-intellect.com/boston-red-sox-top-prospects-part-1/

Tazawa probably could pitch in MLB right now...because he pitched shutout innings against Northeastern, Boston College and the Cincinnatti Reds in the 7th inning (AAAA-time in ST). All sounds good so far with Tazawa and I'm excited about him...but I'm not sure why you could come to this conclusion.

JP - I think you missed Andruw Jones and his 1.100OPS in AA at age 19...

And I see a lot of questions long term with the pitching.

You forgot to mention that Danks looed great.

Mike Restovich played high school baseball in Rochester, MN and was a draft pick of the Minnesota Twins.

"You're right about Danks. What did you think of Poreda?"

I didn't watch the whole game, but I did see Poreda pitch. That fastball is beast, but I really didn't see much of a second dominant pitch, and he was pitching to the Cubs AAAA lineup (late innings of ST games = AAAA hitters with prospects mixed in) Most SP need that second pitch to succeed. Obviously, you have to watch him more to truly gauge, but he either

1. lacks that dominant pitch
2. isn't confident in it.

If the Sox want him in the rotation, I think he'll have to start the season in AAA working on that 2nd pitch.

"And no, Lance Broadway, Jeff Marquez, Jack Egbert, and Jhonny Nunez don't count as high upside."

I agree. The only one in this group I see at the major league level is Broadway as a #5... only because of his intelligence not his arm.

The good news, however, is that a lot of salary $ comes off the books after this year and the future middle of the order looks to be Ramirez, Quentin, Danks, Beckham and Vicieado ... so they will be able to spend money of free agent starting pitching.

Actually, I think the Ken Williams has his eye on Halladay.

"Actually, I think the Ken Williams has his eye on Halladay."

Halladay would easily net Poreda, Beckham, Jordan Danks, and one of Brandon Allen/Viceido in a trade. Easily. There goes the Sox farm system.

I think Kenny's FA target is Lackey, if he indeed hits the market.

Another possibility would be that Toronto makes another team take Vernon Wells and his huge K if they want Halladay.... which would mean Yankees.