Why? The asking price is kid prospects, which we can't give up. Most of our little guys are great players with the potential to become superstars.
Jacoby Ellsbury is definitely going to be one of those always-on-base guys with hits every which way--not to mention a spectacular base-stealer. There's also great evidence that he'll improve over the winter; he hit .308 in 2006 in AA Portland, and in the first 17 games of 2007, still with the Sea Dogs, hit .452. This year, in case you haven't noticed, he also made it to the majors. This has also been the case in the rest of his career; he hit .330, .352, and .406 in his three respective years in college, for example. It seems to me that he'll do most of his improving during the offseason until his crazy talent plateaus in a couple years (at what we can expect to be a high level). In my opinion, he will probably have a Pedroia-type rookie season--that is, struggling at some points but ultimately doing a great job.* See: September 2007.
Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester both have great stuff** and could each win 20 games within even the next few years. See: no-no and World Series game 4, respectively.
Brandon Moss sometimes gets overlooked. Whoops, did I say "sometimes"? I meant "often". He did pretty well in his September call-up, batting .280 in 25 at-bats. Of his 7 hits, 3 were for extra bases, including a triple. Also, Moss has a great arm, which Jacoby definitely lacks (one of his biggest faults, and the main reason he should stick to center field). He's also noted as a great teammate, a guy who can notice his mistakes and fix them, on and off the field. His approach at the plate is very refined and doesn't really chase balls. Basically, watch out for Brandon when he establishes himself in the majors. Nothing to see here except what we can expect he'll do next year as the first off the bench for the outfield.
Not that he'd be potential trade bait, really, but it's worth mentioning Jed Lowrie. He was promoted to AAA-Pawtucket this year and hit .300 there, .298 overall. He's one of those guys who can really work a count, which is probably his best asset; he can also field well, as a shortstop, and a move to second is possible (though not likely, if he's to move up to the majors, considering we've got Pedroia). He's also a speedy guy, considering he's on the smaller end of professional baseball players at 6' even. Nothing to see, again, except what we'll get of him next year.
Honorable mention to George Kottaras--what's up with that guy? When will we expect to see him play with the big boys?
But I'm not even going to bother mentioning li'l Dusty P. He's not goin' anywhere.****
*More on my statistical love affair with Jacoby soon, I promise.
**I had a thing with Clay's changeup for a while, right after the no-no. Seriously, have you seen it? Smokin'.***
***Yes, I did just say "smokin'". Did you notice the regular post went from ** to ****?
****Yeah, no one's untouchable. But do you really think the Sox would like to lose this guy?
