I like Weiland and am excited he's starting, but I think we're jumping the gun a bit trying to annoint him a top 50 prospect in baseball.  He's improved a lot with the addition of his cutter and the advancement of the rest of his pitches, but he's not that good (top 50 in baseball) of a prospect.  That's not to say he's not going to have a very good career as either a starter or reliever and do better than 50 other guys in the minors right now.  It's not a knock on him or anything like that - not in the least.  This site has him ranked the Sox number 8 prospect, which if all teams were equally rich in prospects, would put him in the 210-240 range in all of baseball.

All that being said, I'm excited to see him pitch on Sunday, and think he can be a possible contributor to this team for the stretch drive.  I think he can be a solid starter or a very good late inning reliever as soon as even this season.  We also said this about Doubront coming into this season and various other players thoughout the years so you never know.  If he does well and builds some value, I'd be fine with the team trading him in a package for a guy like Pence. 

It's just nice to see him having worked so hard to develop into something that can help this team in one fashion or another.  It gives me a lot more hope for guys like Fife and Wilson.