The Final Minor League Update

With the completion of the Puerto Rican Winter League yesterday, baseball takes a month long break for Red Sox Nation before pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Puerto Rican Winter League

Aaron Bates: 4-11, 2B, 2 K – .315/.370/.435

Reymond Fuentes: 1-6, 2 K – .182/.250/.227

-I'm really curious about why they put Fuentes here, honestly. It just seems like a chance to hurt his confidence facing advanced pitching. Oh well, hopefully he realizes nobody expected him to put up numbers here.

Ken Roque: 2-5, 2B, 3B, BB, 2 K – .316/.350/.474

-Roque didn't get many plate appearances, sadly enough, but he spent plenty of time in the field. Roque had a real breakout year in 2009, with an OPS of .920 in the GCL and .858 in Lowell, but is still going relatively unnoticed, so I'll call him one of my sleeper picks for next year.

Angel Sanchez: 3-14, 2 BB, 4 K – .318/.392/.434

-I really think Sanchez could be a good piece for the Sox' bench next year. A very good defender who can replace Scutaro late in the game if his defense ends up wanting, or even just average, and got his wheels going again some this fall, with 6 steals in 38 games.

Fernando Cabrera: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K – 5.14 ERA, 5:4 K:BB, 1.57 WHIP

Jason Rice: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K – 0.00 ERA, 13:6 K:BB, 0.83 WHIP

-Relieving seems to have worked out quite nicely for Rice. Look for him coming out of the pen next year in Portland, where he needed to get to avoid getting too far behind age-wise. His control still needs a little work, but with a 95 MPH fastball and strikeout numbers like these, he's got a fair shot. Also worth noting that, after walking 4 in his first 2 innings, he only walked 2 in his last 11.

Red Sox Rookie Program Underway, Mike Hazen on WEEI, and a Signing at Best Buy

The Red Sox' annual rookie program is underway in Boston. Participants can be found here. The Red Sox do not ignore the many aspects of a career as a baseball player that have nothing to do with a bat, ball, or glove, and focus on life as a major leaguer in this short program. Generally speaking, we haven't had a lot of problems with past participants such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Daniel Bard, and Dustin Pedroia, so they're probably doing something right.

Mike Hazen spoke on WEEI's Dale & Holley Show. Hazen was mostly there to talk about the Rookie Program in general, but also had some positive comments on Jose Iglesias' Arizona Fall League performance, citing his homers and a quick swing--and of course his fantastic defense. He also talked about the difficulty of developing catching talent, and seems to not have a problem with taking it slow when it comes to bringing one up through the system. The interview can be found in its entirety here.

Finally, many of the participants are going to be having an autograph signing at the Best Buy near Fenway to support the Red Sox Foundation this coming Monday (the 18th) from 3:30-5:00. A $10 donation will get you a chance to meet the participants and get autographs from them. It's for a good cause, so if you can, go down, say hi, and let them know that we're looking forward to seeing them in Fenway.

So ends the Knuckleball in the Sox' farm system. When Wakefield eventually retires, it'll likely be gone from the team entirely. Good luck to Zink. Make those NL guys flail at some bad ones!

Baseball America Grades Sox as Second Best Drafters From '05-'08

The Sox got an A on their '05 draft (Ellsbury, Buchholz, Lowrie, Bowden, Exposito), a B+ in '06 (Bard, Kalish, Reddick, Anderson), a C+ in '07 (Hagadone, Rizzo), and an A in '08 (Kelly, Westmoreland, and quite a few others with plenty of potential). Notably, all these drafts came under Director of Amateur Scouting Jason McLeod, who left with Jed Hoyer for San Diego. 2010 will be the first draft for the new director Mike Hazen, but he learned from the (apparently second) best.

The Giants ranked first, with an A in every year but 2005.