Day: January 27, 2009

 Quick Post

Sox Officially sign six as Non-Roster Invitees

Within the last couple of days, the Red Sox have officially signed six players to minor league contracts and will report to Spring Training as non-roster invitees. Mostly seen as depth in case of the inevitable injury, the six players are:

Fernando Cabrera (RHP): Probably has the most major-league potential of the group, the 6'4" Cabrera has very good stuff, including a low-mid 90's fastball with good sink on it and an above-average split-change. Underwent elbow surgery last year, but came back and threw well in the Puerto Rican Winter League, picking up 12 saves while only giving up 12 hits in 22.1 innings and posting a 23 K/6 BB ratio.

January 27, 2009 daniel rathman
Fireside Chats Podcast

Fireside Chats #32: Where a Keurig machine is our answer to greenies

Paul and Tim discuss the merits of the Keurig coffee machine, the contracts of Kevin Youkilis and Jonathan Papelbon, and look at the early returns from the infield in the 2009 "For Better or Worse" series on Fire Brand of the American League. Oh...and how could we forget banging our heads against the Varitek wall a few more times before a final decision is made.

All that and more on Episode #32 of Fireside Chats on MVN!

January 27, 2009 tim daloisio
Lars Anderson

Fire Brand’s Top 40 Sox Prospects

Recently, ESPN ranked the Sox system 7th in all of baseball. This was quite a compliment to a team that just this past season graduated four of Baseball America's top five Sox prospects (Buchholz, Ellsbury, Masterson, Lowrie). Led by Director of Amateur Scouting Jason McLeod, the Sox quickly stocked up their system through the amateur draft and international free agency. Their 2008 draft class has arguably the highest potential of any team, and all of that was made possible by the Sox willingness to go over the slot to obtain guys that are considered to have signability issues. Part of the reason that has caused this has been the emergence of top prospects Pedro Alvarez and Matt LaPorta, two unsigned draft picks in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Spending over the slot should be a continuing trend for a team as rich in resources as the Sox, allowing them to remain as one of the top systems in baseball.

January 27, 2009 daniel rathman