There is an article floating out there, the in the last 10yrs the Sox are 2nd to the Stros in drafting.

As a guy who has to a small extent some experience in drafting and scouting players I have to say that it really is a crap shoot. Particularly when you are talking about high school and to some extent JC players. To me, the ability of some scouts to be able to PROJECT what a kid is going to be like when he is 21-23 years old really separates the good scouts from the average ones.

But even they admit that it still is a guess. And this is why I think more and more major league teams are investing more and more resources in scouting the Latin American and South American players. The major reason is that these kids play baseball all week and day long. It is their ticket out of poverty and they and their families know it. And when you get kids that are hungry that way and also introduce them to learning good baseball techniques, these kids do have a leg up sometimes over our high school and college players.

I also have to say that unfortunately injuries occur to young players that knock them out of achieving their potential and I think that it is wrong to blame an organization that drafts a kid high and then that kid breaks his leg or foot severely or blows out his arm. that isn't the fault of the organization or the player unless the player does something really stupid.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Conveniently left off Rodon and Anderson.

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Can you trust Giolito?

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Jake Burger was fat and had a pisspoor arm(3rd baseman, my ass)
Carson Fulmer was a mechanical disaster

I'd say that the odds are that Giolito will be a mainstay in the pitching rotation You never know about any pitcher but he has good mechanics, has two great catchers receiving for him and should be fine.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

More than you can Joe Biden.

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Jake Burger was maybe the best hitting prospect in that draft and was a pretty good 3rd baseman defensively. He got hurt TWICE. Fulmer really disappointed me and I was wrong about him. His problem was not mechanics in my estimation, it was his failure to hit his spots and he never learned to pitch when he was ahead in the count. He wasted way too many pitches. that isn't mechanics, that, to me, was the lack of balls.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

that is a high bar

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

We need him to be the all star and ace for this to work. He can't be Javier Vasquez

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

He is not an ace, he is a solid #2.

The crazy thing is, you weren't scouting his team mate?

Here's the thing. You can have #2 stuff and still be an ace. There are HOFers with #2 stuff. Giolito definitely has what it takes mentally to make himself an ace. As long as you have that go to pitch, and he has a go to, ace is a possibility.

When I think of an ace, I think of a stopper. If there is a losing streak, this guy is gonna dominate every start and stop one of those streaks. When I look to Giolito, I think we have a pretty good chance to win. I think he potentially has ace stuff, just mentally he is not an ace If he figures out that curve, maybe then. Mark Buehrle had some decent numbers, but I never thought he was an ace.

Mark Buehrle rarely had numbers that would jump off of a stat sheet, but he had stretches in his career where he definitely had ace stuff going.

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Was Tom Glavine an ace? Mussina?

Tom Glavine was at times overshadowed by the other guys in his rotation. Mussina definitely had ace type years.

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HOFers. #2 stuff. But BRILLIANT pitchers.

Mussina was an ace with Baltimore.

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Elections have consequences.

I definitely thought Buehrle was an ace without eye popping numbers. I'm happy if Giolito is Buehrle.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

You could be right. He has the ability to be one.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I'd say yes to both.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

12 years (11 with 31+ starts and 200+ innings), a World Series, 3 gold gloves, 4 AS games with one of them being a start. Yeah, I'll take that

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I can't say Buehrle was an ace. Too many games he got lit up. But he was brilliant, despite his protests.
"Aw shucks. I just look at what fingers Catch puts down, then throw it at the mitt"

There's no way I think Giolito will have a career like Buehrle, but I think he can have a peak with a better season or two or maybe three than Buehrle ever had.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I think Sale was an ace, not so much Burhrle, and I REALLY like me some Mark Buehrle. Outside Sale, I think the closest we have seen an ace, might be the middleish of 05-06 Jose Contreras. That dude was DOMINANT for like a year.

Yeah, Sox don't win the WS without that run by Jose. All the more impressive when you consider he was 42 years old when he did it.

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Satchel Contreras!

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Loiza had one as well

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Cocaine induced?