The Red Sox are in the “pole position” this offseason, writes MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince for Sports on Earth. The Sox, along with the Cubs, are the two clubs that feature excess offense and plenty of money to spare. For Boston, their area of depth is the outfield, where Mookie Betts, Rusney Castillo, Yoenis Cespedes, Daniel Nava, Shane Victorino, Allen Craig, and Jackie Bradley Jr. are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s no doubt the club needs to add pitching, and they can be expected to use their depth to do so.
- In a wide ranging article for GammonsDaily, Hall of Fame journalist Peter Gammons speculates about the Red Sox offseason, including the fate of Mookie Betts. In short, he’s not going anywhere. According to Gammons, he’ll fill an everyday role and bat atop the order as an on base threat with Dustin Pedroia. Other news sources have wondered if Betts could be used as trade fodder or start the season in the minors. Gammons discusses the club from top to bottom, so the full article is worth a read.
- In the same article, Gammons discusses two up-and-coming Sox prospects – Deven Marrero and Manuel Margot. Marrero is a potentially elite shortstop with offensive upside. Some scouts prefer him to Indians top prospect Francisco Lindor. Margot is a 20-year-old outfielder with plenty of speed and defensive capabilities. His hit tool and power are considered decent too. Either player could be used to headline packages for top pitchers like Cole Hamels, Jeff Samardzija, or Sean Doolittle.
- Contrary to previous reports, the Red Sox do not expect to meet with any players during this week’s GM Meetings, says Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. Instead, they will meet only with teams and agents. While it’s been widely reported that the club and Pablo Sandoval planned a sit down, that meeting will be restricted to his agent Gustavo Vazquez. This isn’t cause for alarm – it’s a standard industry practice.
Who says Marrero is better than Lindor?
That’s what I want to know. Maybe the scout was saying defensively and it got lost in reporting
I want to say the same thing but I thought I remember before this season that a good comp for Lindor was former Tribe SS Omar Vizquel but I could be wrong.
I’m pretty sure an article on here a while ago compared one shortstop prospect to a young A-Rod. I’m not sure if that was Lindor or Correa, and it might be neither of them. I’m pretty sure it was one of the two, however.
It was Correa. He had the build and size similar to A-Rod in high school.
I also read David Wright for him on another website but couldn’t find one for Lindor.
So he’s used steroids in high school?
Maybe it’s a Red Sox scout.
Defensively makes sense. Marrero has been touted for his glovework for a long time. Though, I remember thinking his ASU teammate Demichele would have been a better pro because of the bat (but that hasn’t happened).
Marrero has to be something if anyone believes hat he’s better than Lindor, who has been touted as one of the best MLB prospects for some time now.
I just read the article on Gammons site. It mentions something about “one highly respected veteran scout is the best defensive shortstop in the American League and that, in his opinion, Marrero is a better player than Indians phenom Lindor…which set off an interesting debate, since several scouts believe, like Mike Roberts, than Marrero is going to hit. The who’s better debate is for five years from now”.
Lindor is 3+ years younger too. Marerro is 24 already, you aren’t going to see the growth that you will with Lindor.
My guess is it’s probably not so much a scout is particularly high on Marrero but rather they are low on Lindor. Because I can’t see anyone ranking Marrero a top 10 prospect. It’s also possible they were talking straight from a defensive position standpoint.
Well if you ask Peter Gammons, the entire Red Sox farm system is tied for the #1 prospect in baseball.
Well I’m not asking peter gammons, I’d ask the scout that said that.
Probably a Red Sox scout…
Gammons is simply trying to inflate Marrero’s perceived value. Marreo is now a better trade chip than he was last week even though he literally hasn’t proven anything.
Unless of course they were just talking about his defense. Reality is we have zero insight into the context of that statement.
This is true. We don’t know the context. Only experience I have with this is when Jose Iglesias was coming up, there were no comparisons to anything other than “defensive magicians” or other defensive-minded SS. If there were comparisons to offensive or even balanced SS’s, I missed them. I guess by default I’m relating these comments similarly.
From what I’ve gathered the scouting on Marrero and Lindor is a similiar player. The biggest difference is the hit tool, where Lindor is believed to be much better than Marrero. That may be the difference between a top 10 prospect and a fringe 100 as the ability to hit (at least in my opinion) is by far the most important tool. All it takes is one scout to not believe in Lindors bat to put them in the same sentence…..of course as you originally suggested it could just be Gammons taking something out of context and blowing smoke too.
So Boston Red Sox v. Cubs 2015 World Series anyone?
Oh wait, but the Dodgers have been making some moves lately too.
RS need a lot of pitching to make that happen.
Offense has some question marks as well
Left side of the infield is a bit questionable, but everywhere else they could be pretty solid. Right now their pitching just looks awful.
So do the Cubs….
I say 2016 we see that match up
Too many question marks still for each team. I like the potential thought, but all of the free agent signings for each team won’t go as planned and there’s still roughly 10 other teams “in the hunt”. No clear-cut superpowers IMO.
The problem with Marrero is that he is 24 already. IMO, as a Red Sox fan, I don’t think he is as good as Lindor, who has shown the capability to hit at AAA. I think a good comparison for Marrero would be Stephen Drew, except with less power. Both are great defenders at SS, and possess good OBP skills. Obviously, it’ll be interesting to see if Marrero can show the ability to hit at AAA, as he’d have a fair amount of value. Also, I must add, Manuel Margot looks like the coming of another great player, hitting 12 HRs and stealing 42 bases in 115 games between A and A+ ball. He’ll be an interesting player to watch.
Another guy that came out of nowhere, per se, this year was Brian Johnson. One of my old baseball coaches used to buy tickets to the Future at Fenway games. And the last one I went to he pitched but I think he took a liner somewhere but don’t remember where. And sadly it was in the first season. I wanna say it was either 2013 or 2012. He was with SS Lowell.
Man, he did have a great year last year. It’d be interesting to see him pitch at AAA next year. I think it’s safe to say the Red Sox future is bright, as long as some of our prospects pan out like they should.
I like your concept, but, sadly, when was the last time a Red Sox phenom prospect panned out they way they “should” have?
Plenty of prospects have since 2000. The most recent I would say is probably Rizzo. I’m perfectly fine with how Tazawa has turned out and he was a highly touted prospect. Granted it was originally as a starter.
I rest my case! Lol.
*My goal is to die young at a very old age. Thanks to my 6-year-old daughter, Michelle, so far, so good! *
Don’t know if the Red Sox have had many “phenoms” over the years. I guess Bogaerts has been the last one, and he hasn’t shown that status yet. But it has only been one year for him at the big league level so, let’s re-evaluate him in two years to see if he reaches that status. Honestly, the last “phenom” I can think that the Red Sox have had has been Hanley Ramirez, and he certainly proved to live up to that status. I guess you could consider Betts a “phenom” too, but that has only been in the last year or so. He has had good success at the MLB Level so, I’m looking forward to him building off of it next year, which I think he will. As for Red Sox prospects that have succeeded, their have been many over the years; Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lester, Youkilis, and I’m sure the list goes on a fair bit further. Just because the Red Sox prospects the past couple years haven’t panned out, doesn’t mean it’ll continue that way. They’re bound to hit gold one day, atleast I hope so.
You don’t tend to draft phenoms at the bottom of the rounds. Additionally, the kids drafted since the Red Sox went back to the pack are just now becoming “of age”. Come back in 3-5 years and I’ll let you know which highly-regarding prospects panned out.
Marrero is already 24 though, if he was really that good and had that much upside with the bat wouldn’t he have been up by now?
He was drafted out of college and has only spent three years in the minors. Most players need more time than that in the minors.
The good ones come quick…or so they say, whoever “they” are.
“Either player could be used to headline packages for top pitchers like Cole Hamels, Jeff Samardzija, or Sean Doolittle.”
Which one of these is not like the other?
Jeff Samardzija is unlike the others. Hamels and Doolittle are lefties and Samardzija is a righty.
Don’t know if SirRemy is being a little sarcastic or not. But Doolittle is a reliever, and the other two are starters.
Ah yes it’s that time of the year for Peter Gammons, the official minister of propaganda for Red Sox Nation to hype up no name prospects. Any scout who thinks Marrero is better than Lindor should be fired on the spot…but knowing Gammons, the scout is probably in his senile mind.
They are both defensive wizards, it about whos bat pans out. They were both hit well in AA but struggled at AAA. And Manuel Margot is not a no name prospect. He’s a potential 5 tool player; resembles a young Adam Jones.
Scott Kazmir – Manuel Margot
No thank you, Margot looks too promising for a ~2 War pitcher. Those are available on the FA market.
Maybe Scott Kazmir from when he was on the Rays a decade ago…
Marrero could be the real deal but what then do you do with him???do you play him at SS where he would be ideally suited and move Xander to 3 B or LF–3 B was a new positions that he didn’t adapt to OR do you use him as the centerpiece of a trade to Atlanta, the Phills, for Hamels and Pap, or Miami for Stanton?
The question about Brian Johnson, having seen him pitch twice at AA SeaDogs, in my estimation he is a better LH pitching prospect than Henry Owens. He mixes speeds well, has a full compliment of pitches, and he knows how to set up batters. He and the lefty prospect, Rodriguez, they picked up in the Miller deadline trade from the O’s, and the lefty they got for Peavy, leave the RS in an enviable position–4 potential LH starters. Of the four, Johnson, who was hit in the head , I believe, is the best pitcher.
Don’t know if Marrero fits into the Red Sox plans, he is more so trade bait I would think, unless he starts hitting. As for Brian Johnson, he had an amazing year last year at AA. What you were seeing was probably a guy who had everything going right. SoxProspects have him listed as a back-end of the rotation arm, and while I’m sure that’ll be somewhat re-evaluated for next year, I don’t think he’ll get buffed up to Owens’ level. They might consider his ceiling as good no.3 or no.4, but not at Owens’ level, who is considered a high end no.3 starter on a first-division team, which I would consider a no.2. However, if Johnson can continue this trend next year at AAA, it’ll be interesting to say the least.
Don’t know if Marrero fits into the Red Sox plans, he is more so trade bait I would think, unless he starts hitting. As for Brian Johnson, he had an amazing year last year at AA. What you were seeing was probably a guy who had everything going right. SoxProspects have him listed as a back-end of the rotation arm, and while I’m sure that’ll be somewhat re-evaluated for next year, I don’t think he’ll get buffed up to Owens’ level. They might consider his ceiling as good no.3 or no.4, but not at Owens’ level, who is considered a high end no.3 starter on a first-division team, which I would consider a no.2. However, if Johnson can continue this trend next year at AAA, it’ll be interesting to say the least.
Don’t know if Marrero fits into the Red Sox plans, he is more so trade bait I would think, unless he starts hitting. As for Brian Johnson, he had an amazing year last year at AA. What you were seeing was probably a guy who had everything going right. SoxProspects have him listed as a back-end of the rotation arm, and while I’m sure that’ll be somewhat re-evaluated for next year, I don’t think he’ll get buffed up to Owens’ level. They might consider his ceiling as good no.3 or no.4, but not at Owens’ level, who is considered a high end no.3 starter on a first-division team, which I would consider a no.2. However, if Johnson can continue this trend next year at AAA, it’ll be interesting to say the least.
Just to answer your first point – Would you rather have too many starting caliber players, or not enough? You can always trade or stash excess talent in the minors or in other positions/roles. Acquiring more talent is the difficult part.
Marc – Agreed, too many is better than too few.
They are both nothing more than prospects now, let’s see how it plays out when they get to the bigs!