The winter meetings are still off in the future, but baseball’s offseason is in full swing. The Sox brought back several minor league free agents. Oh, and Alex Cora is back with the club to manage. In addition, we have a run down on important upcoming dates for the offseason. The guys talk through the players who will need to be protected on the 40-man before the rule 5 draft. Ian and Chris discuss the future of the minor leagues. And we wrap it all up with another installment of the 80-grade mailbag.    0:00 - Intros, housekeeping, email us and remember to check us out on Patreon 4:10 - Offseason news 9:50 - Minor League free agent signings 19:00 - Alex Cora returns to helm the Sox 30:20 - Important offseason dates 44:50 - Future of the minors 51:50 - Mailbag Players Mentioned Roldani Baldwin  Seth Blair  Raynel Espinal  Stephen Gonsalves  Joey Meneses  Johan Mieses  Josh Ockimey  Jhonny Pereda  Caleb Simpson  Martin Perez  Josh Tobias  Jay Groome  Bryan Mata  Hudson Potts  Jeisson Rosario  Connor Seabold  Conner Wong  Eduard Bazardo  Pedro Castellanos  Kutter Crawford  Jerry Downs  Joan Martinez  Alex Scherff  Zach Schellenger  Thaddeus Ward  Durbin Feltman  Kevin Garcia  Rusney Castillo  Nick Pivetta  Tanner Houck  Dustin Pedroia  Chris Martin  We also want to thank our in-residence musical guest, The Ludlow Thieves. Check them out on YouTube and Spotify. Got something to say? We love talking about what you want to hear about. Make sure to email us.     Love the show? Want to help us out while also getting exclusive goodies? Support the podcast by contributing to us on Patreon! Go to Sox Prospects on Patreon for the details.  Podcast Twitter Links:  @SPChrisHatfield @IanCundall @SoxProspects Subscribe on iTunes (please rate and review!) Subscribe on Stitcher (please rate and review!) Listen on Spotify Listen on YouTube Listen on Google Play Music Podcast Archive