Monthly Notes: 40-man roster moves ramp up; rankings season begins

Here are November's minor league notes:

• Executive Editor Chris Hatfield and Director of Scouting Ian Cundall were busy with the Podcast in November, as they covered a wide array of topics. In episode 169, they went in-depth on their projections for who will be protected in the Rule 5 Draft, while also recapping the WSBC Premier12 Tournament and Noah Song's (pictured, right) potential military commitment. 

• Episode 168 covered MLB’s proposal to restructure minor league baseball. The proposed restructuring would bring significant changes to the minor leagues, including 42 teams that would lose their affiliations with major league clubs. The New York Times provided the full list of 42 teams, which included the Lowell Spinners, the only Red Sox affiliate on the list. 

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Willis heats up in Australia, Corcino homers

We continue our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of November 25 to December 1.

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Dominican Baseball League

Marco Hernandez was the lone Red Sox representative to make an appearance for his club this week in the Dominican. The infielder made a pinch-hitting appearance where he struck out but did not appear in the field. Jhon Nunez, Domingo Tapia, and Joan Martinez each failed to make an appearance for their respective clubs.

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Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (Puerto Rico)

It was a busy week for Red Sox position players in Puerto Rico, as only Matthew Lugo did not appear for his team. Sam Travis was the most active player on the week, collecting four hits in 13 at-bats and striking out only once. Edgar Corcino bounced back from a quiet opening game by launching his first home run of the season as part of a 3-for-7, 3 RBI week. For Mayaguez, Alan Marrero continued his slow start to the campaign with another hitless week and has now failed to reach base in 19 plate appearances. His teammate Jeremy Rivera (pictured) fared much better, however, reaching base four times (three singles, one walk) and driving in a pair of runners. Jantzen Witte also had a solid showing for Santurce this week, reaching base three times with a single and a pair of walks. Gregorio Reyes did not make an appearance on the mound for Manati. 

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Help Wanted: Scouting Report Manager, Web Editor, Social Media Specialist

We are opening three new positions at SoxProspects.com! For each of these positions, we're seeking a commitment through the end of 2020, but ideally we are looking for someone who will want to stick around with us for the long-term if there’s a mutual fit. Here are the details of the positions:

Scouting Report Manager. A member of our Scouting Team, the Scouting Report Manager will review a subset of our scouting reports each week for accuracy, recency, grammar, and formatting, and work with the rest of the Scouting Team to update those reports as needed. Other responsibilities may include: (1) maintaining the public scouting log; (2) turning updated Scouting Reports into columns on SoxProspects News; and (3) scouting Red Sox affiliate games. We anticipate that the time commitment for this position could be roughly 2-4 hours per week. 

Web Editor (Content Specialist). A member of the web editing team, the Web Editor (Content Specialist) will be responsible for: (1) aggregating news articles about Red Sox prospects on a daily basis; (2) working with the News staff to ensure those links are included in our weekly notes posts; and (3) updating SoxProspects.com to post those links to our rankings pages each morning. We anticipate that the time commitment for this position will be roughly 15-20 minutes per day. Interested applicants could also branch out into other areas. 

Social Media Specialist (Game Time). The SMS will join our existing social media team and will take lead responsibility for live-posting intriguing content during Red Sox affiliate games. The overall time commitment will vary. We’re really looking for someone that follows those games regularly and is generally available to tweet in the evenings – it doesn’t need to be every day, but the more interest and availability, the better. The SMS could also contribute by starting posts on the SoxProspects Forum to drive interesting conversations. 

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Travis homers, Hernandez scuffles

We continue our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of November 18 to 24.

Dominican Baseball League

After a solid debut last week for Licey, Marco Hernandez (pictured) struggled this week, going 1 for 13 with two walks. The only other player to see action was Jhon Nunez who went 1 for 4 in his only appearance. 

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Podcast Ep. #169: Why are we here?

It’s an existential question, and perhaps an appropriate one as the organization ramps up in the most pivotal offseason in recent memory. First, Chris and Ian recap the Sox representatives’ time at the Premier12 tournament, including a quick diversion into the latest news on Noah Song and his military commitment. It’s also everyone’s favorite time - the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft! Chris and Ian agree on the likely players - 4 of ‘em - added to the 40-man roster. Finally, after a quick examination of the list of 42 teams that would lose their affiliation under MLB’s radical realignment proposal, the guys got into a topic they’ve been teasing all offseason: the potential trade of Mookie Betts. What teams are potential landing spots? What is a realistic return? All that and more on this episode of the podcast!

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Song and Houck deliver, but USA bid falls short

We continue our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of November 11 to 17.

WBSC Premier 12 Tournament

It was a disappointing end to the tournament to team USA, dropping an opportunity to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics despite solid contribution from a pair of Red Sox hurlers. 2017 first-round pick Tanner Houck (pictured) got the start in Wednesday's Super Round matchup with Australia. The righty allowed two runs on just two hits in his five innings of work, striking out five, walking two, and throwing 46 of 72 pitches (63.9%) for strikes. Unfortunately, that was all the support the Australian staff needed, holding the USA lineup to a single run and saddling Houck with the tough-luck loss. Noah Song was outstanding, going unscored upon in 3 1/3 hitless innings across three appearances. Song struck out three and walked one, with a particularly dominant effort coming in Friday's win over Taiwan. Twitter user @redsoxstats put together a video of Song's effort. Song earned enough trust from manager Joe Girardi to get the call with two outs in the seventh inning and a one-run lead in the decisive Bronze medal game. 

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Song dominant for Team USA

We continue our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of November 4 to 10.

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WBSC Premier 12 Tournament

Team USA played just one game this past week, beating the Dominican Republic by a score of 10-8. Noah Song tossed a dominant inning, striking out three while giving up just one hit and no walks in a scoreless eighth. Bobby Dalbec went 1 for 4 with a single, a walk, a run scored, and an RBI. C.J. Chatham did not appear in this one. Team USA will play again tonight against Korea at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

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Podcast Ep. #168: Scott Boras is a genius

J.D. Martinez is coming back. And so are Chris and Ian to detail the latest off-season developments. First on tap, the aforementioned non-opt-out of the Red Sox designated hitter. But Chris and Ian caution, that doesn’t mean he’ll be suiting up for the Sox. Nor does it mean that Mookie Betts is getting dealt. But that’s another show. Continuing on this show, the guys share updates from the Team USA Premier 12 tournament, which features four top ten Sox Prospects. After a quick email from one of our Canadian listeners, Chris and Ian get to the main event. They explain and go in-depth on MLB’s proposal to alter minor league baseball. Make no mistake change is coming to the minors.

Listen in!

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Monthly Notes: Red Sox hire a new CBO, Fall/Winter Leagues, & Team USA

Here are October's minor league notes:

• The Arizona Fall League and the Asian Baseball Championship leagues have been up and running during the month of October with more leagues to get going as we move into the winter. Throughout the winter, SoxProspects.com has you covered with the weekly Fall/Winter League Roundup. There were four editions in the month of October, covering the weeks ending October 7, October 14, October 21, and October 28.

• You can also see the running statistical results of the various fall and winter leagues by going to the Red Sox Fall & Winter Leagues 2019-2020 page. There, you will notice a couple standout performances thus far this fall. The first is righty Tanner Houck (pictured, right) who has pitched well both for  Peoria in the Arizona Fall Leauge and for Team USA in the WSBC Premier12 Tournament. He was dominant in Arizona, throwing 23 1/3 innings, 2.70 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 26 strikeouts to 12 walks. He then went on to pitch for Team USA where he has allowed two earned runs in two appearances over 4 1/3 innings. Houck finished the season as the 7th ranked player on the SoxProspects.com rankings.
• There were some other standouts on both Peoria and Team USA. Ending the season ranked 20th on the SoxProspects.com rankings, outfielder Marcus Wilson hit .333/.412/.467 over 30 at-bats for Peoria. In addition to Wilson, shortstop C.J. Chatham and outfielder Jarren Duran all made the leagues Fall Stars Game rosters.
• While for Team USA, infielder Bobby Dalbec has not stopped raking, hitting an incredible .364/.462/.909 with two home runs, and Noah Song has not allowed a run over his first two innings.

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Dalbec powers Team USA split, Houck fans six

We continue our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of October 28 to November 3.

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WBSC Premier 12 Tournament

The flagship tournament of the World Baseball and Softball confederation kicked off this week, with Team USA being the only team to carry any Red sox minor leaguers. The red white and blue split their opening contests of the group stage, defeating the Netherlands and losing to Mexico respectively. Despite the mixed results for the team as a whole, the Red Sox representatives had a solid start to the tournament.

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James Dunne Promoted to Managing Editor of SoxProspects News

I’m happy to announce that James Dunne has been promoted to Managing Editor of SoxProspects News. James joined the SoxProspects staff in November 2011, and has been one of our lead writers for several years. He became a co-owner of the site in January 2018.

In his new role, James will be managing the staff writers and editors, leading the direction of content, driving consistency and style, and continuing to write. James's promotion will allow Chris Hatfield to focus on overall site direction, the podcast, media appearances, rankings, and scouting.

A Massachusetts ex-pat, James is now based in Syracuse, NY. He loves baseball, Pearl Jam, and beer, so I happen to like the cut of his jib.You can follow James on Twitter at @JamesDunneSP.

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Podcast Ep. #167: Halloween Candy Buyback Program

The hot stove fires have been stoked. Ian and Chris discuss the looming offseason. Topping it off, meet Chaim Bloom. The Red Sox took their time and did their due diligence. Bloom brings a creative mind and a collaborative spirit to the ball club. And his first move highlights a course correction. Along with Bloom, the Sox added new coaches to the big league bench. Chris and Ian pivot to rankings. They focus on the challenge of number three. Including a digression on the physics of baseball travel and manufacture. Working through the new rankings, Ian comments on how Instructs differed from prior years. The lack of games made it a challenge to assess the talented DSL guys in the system. We wrap up with the mailbag, both international and domestic editions.

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Duran ends the AFL on a high note

We continue our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of October 21 to October 27. 

Arizona Fall League

The Arizona Fall League came to an end on Saturday with Salt River topping Surprise in the championship game. The Peoria Javelinas finished 14-15 on the season, but went 3-7 over their last 10 games as they struggled down the stretch.

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Lin leads Taiwan to Asian Baseball Championship

We continue our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of October 14 to October 20. 

Asian Baseball Championship

After not seeing any playing time during the play-in round of the semi-annual Asian Baseball Championship, Tzu-Wei Lin (pictured) has been a key cog helping host Taiwan to its first title in 18 years. Appearing in three of the first five games of the tournament's "Super Round," Lin got starts at second base, shortstop, and in left field, going 6 for 11 with a double, homer, three walks, and a pair of stolen bases. That .545/.643/.909 line does not include Taiwan's 5-4 victory in Monday's championship game. Various sources, including President Tsai Ing-wen, have tweeted out congratulations, but a box score was not available as of midday. 

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Wilson, Duran highlight solid week for Sox

The Dominican Winter League and Mexican Pacific League got underway this past week, while eight Sox players saw action in the Arizona Fall League. Marcus Wilson (pictured) and Jarren Duran played well, while a pair of Sox relievers combined for five strikeouts in two innings. This week's roundup covers the period up to October 14. 

Arizona Fall League

Marcus Wilson returned to the Peoria lineup on Wednesday for the first time in 10 days and played well, going 3 for 8 on the week without striking out. Jarren Duran bounced back from a tough stretch with a 4-for-11 week in which he picked up a double, a triple, a walk, a stolen base, two RBI and four runs scored. The week boosted his AFL OPS to .790 in 14 games. C.J. Chatham struggled at the plate, going 0 for 8 with three strikeouts in two games. Brett Netzer made his fall league debut at third base on Thursday and went 0 for 3 with a pair of strikeouts. 

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