Why Red Sox First-Rounder Marcelo Mayer Was Compared To...Snickers?
NESN Logo Sign In  Boston Red Sox first-round pick Marcelo Mayer earned some very favorable player comparisons after being selected No. 4 overall in the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft on Sunday. Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager was one of those comparisons along with San Francisco Giants Brandon Crawford. And then there were those who linked Mayer to fellow Eastlake High School alumni, and former Red Sox slugger, Adrin Gonzlez and even Chipper Jones. Well, perhaps the most intriguing comparison Mayer received was not to any of those aforementioned, or any baseball player, actually. It was to a candy bar  a Snickers to be exact  by Red Sox amateur scouting director Paul Toboni. Toboni, as explained by The Athletics Chad Jennings, referred to Mayer as a Snickers due to a reference in which candy bars were used to explain a below-slot drafting strategy. Using that analogy, Toboni spoke about a player who is the most talented, but also the most expensive. Jennings actually used the candy bar reference in a story earlier this month for The Athletic. I once had it explained to me this way: Imagine you have $10 to spend on candy bars. Your favorite is Snickers, but Butterfinger and Twix are close runners-up, and at the very bottom of your list is a Kit Kat, Jennings wrote on July 8. At this store, a Snickers is $7, a Butterfinger and Twix are each $5, and a Kit Kat is $3. If you really love the Snickers, then maybe its worth going for the singular choice. Thats spending full slot, or even over-slot, in the first round. But if its close, maybe you buy the Butterfinger first, and still have enough money to get the Twix, too. Thats an under-slot strategy.  Essentially, Toboni is saying the Red Sox felt they should go with their favorite option at No. 4 overall even though it may limit what they could do  and what candy bar they could purchase  later on.