Dizzy Sox

QUOTE (oneofthemikes @ Jun 13, 2017 -> 03:09 PM) What's the story with high rated guys that have fallen a long way? Guys like Tanner Burns, Evan Skoug, Tristan Beck, and others that were rated in the top 75 talents in the draft are still around in the 7th round. Signability concerns? it's all about the $$$. I'm sure some of them will go in 11 due to the slotting considerations

I'm loving this draft

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 30, 2017 -> 08:02 AM) I would actually argue that Jeren Kendall has a much better shot at being a solid big leaguer than Alex Call or Jameson Fisher. He has 70-80 speed, + arm, + glove, + bat speed, and + power. If he didn't strikeout too much, he'd be a top 3 pick. I'm not really sure any of those guys you listed are worth the $4 million price tag. Of course Kendall has a better shot--that's why he'll go in the 1st round and Call and Fisher went in the 3rd and 4th respectively. Neither of them are prospects worthy of that kind of bonus for the same reason. That doesn't mean that Kendall has a higher likelihood of succeeding than others forecast to go in the top half of the 1st round, someone with, say, less speed but a much better hit tool (i.e. Burger). Here's the thing, and it gets proven time after time after time: precious few batters whiff as much as Kendall has throughout a sustained period but subsequently find plate discipline or learn to succeed despite high K rates. It just doesn't happen. Someone asked earlier in this thread if anyone has gone on to have a good career despite K'ing a third of the time in college and...if there has been it's news to me. You can try to teach hitters how to have a better approach at the plate or how to be more selective or to layoff of a certain pitch but it is very, very hard to 'learn' how to make consistent contact. Maybe it's a hand-eye coordination issue, I don't claim to know. But every year someone comes around who looks like Roy Hobbs crossed with Willie Mays Hays on paper except for the teensy issue that they just aren't able to barrel up a baseball with any kind of regularity. And every year teams pick those types of players only to watch them K every third PA once they reach a level where the pitchers locate solid breaking pitches with any kind of consistency. I get the temptation though. Watch Courtney Hawkins take BP--he can be a monster, an absolute beast, with a strong arm and very good speed for a guy his size. Jared Mitchell was like that too but faster. It must be frustrating as hell to be a such a great athlete but just not able to hit the damned ball. Ironically it isn't all that uncommon to find pitchers with big arms who stink up college for whatever reason and then wind up having solid pro careers. Alec Hansen is one player heading down that path in fact.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ May 28, 2017 -> 06:44 PM) Beginning to feel that you if Haseley isn't there, they're gonna take Kendall. And he's gonna be a divisive pick I want nothing to do with Kendall--his stats are underwhelming, he's shown no growth over his career at Vandy and the K rate is a huge red flag. In fact, he reminds me a bit of Jared Mitchell. I can only hope that the Sox maintain last year's focus on college hitters who have shown at least some level of plate discipline and production (Collins, Fischer, Call) and are taking long looks at Hasely, Burger, Hiura and maybe Even White if they decide to go for a college bat.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 3, 2017 -> 08:11 PM) Was about to post this. All I care about with him the strikeouts. Get that under control and I'll consider a huge win. He still needs to cut down on the K's, but even that is improving. He's averaged under 3 PAs/k, so far this season he's at 3.5 PA/k. Small sample size and all, but at least that's trending in the right direction.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ May 3, 2017 -> 04:01 PM) Frank Thomas, 1992.... "Mr Baseball" He played the "big time prospect" that the Yankees wanted to call up, so they released Tom Selleck's character, so he went to Japan to play. Not a bad movie if you can ignore the often cringeworthy "love story" undercurrent. That's the one I was thinking of. Going back to the early 80s...Charlie Lau in Max Dugan...as a young Sox fan then that was pretty cool.

Useless/stupid trivia question to keep this timely thread alive...Adam Dunn had a bit part in the in the movie Dallas Buyers Club. Anyone remember who was the last Sox player to appear in a major Hollywood movie prior to that? (Or at least the last one I can remember?)

QUOTE (flavum @ May 2, 2017 -> 05:50 PM) Collins threw out another runner. Everyone raise their hand who though Collins' fielding would appear to be ahead of his hitting at this point in his career? Dude's gonna rake soon enough, great to see he's also showing some skills behind the dish.

Barnum with 5 hrs his last 9 games, which is as many as he had in 430 PAs last year.

Charlotte vs. the Sox...who wins?

With this game Avi bought himself another 200 ABs this season.

I'm thinkin this Moncada kid might be decent.

SP: Buehrle, McDowell, Sale, Burns, Hoyt RP: Thigpen (CL), Hernandez, Jenks, Radinsky, Pall, Marte C: Fisk, AJ 1B: Konerko 2B: Durham SS: Ozzie 3B: Robin LF: Maggs CF: 1Dog RF: Harold DH: Frank Util: Valentin, Uribe, Rowand

On the right team Shuck could have filled a nice role as a 5th of/defensive replacement/lefty bat off the bench/speedy pinch runner. The fact that he received almost a full season worth of PAs over his tenure with the Sox tells you all you need to know about the state of the team during that period.

I hope the Rangers make a strong statement and tell the perpetrators to beat it. (Sorry, nothing funny about sexual harassment. I'll show myself out...)

I live in Texas and so I got to go to the game. My seats were in the OF, but for the 9th most Sox fans were standing in the lower concourse, waiting to rush down near the dugout after the last out. Man, what a feeling...my best sports moment by far. My throat was horse for days from all the yelling I did that night.

Usually my hopes for the Sox are dashed every season by late May or early June. At least the club has let me write off 2017 a good 9 months early now that we know Ventura will be back. Saves me a lot of time and effort.

I loved how he played the game--full of fun and happiness. The way it is supposed to be. Just incredibly sad... RIP

Avi always seems to do his best when it matters the least. Oh well, enjoyable game.

Great article, thanks! Any news why he hasn't been playing the last week or so? The draft is turning out to be one of--if not the only--bright spot of the season. Just over the first 4 rounds we added legit potential for a: -top of the rotation starter (Hansen) -closer (Burdi, who I feel could also excel as a starter) -offensive minded catcher (Collins) -athletic, multi-tool CF (Call) -plus bat at 1st or LF (Fisher) Even better, 2 of the 3 bats are lefty-a huge hole in the system over the past few years-and most importantly, all three hitters show advanced plate discipline. When is the last time that was stressed within the organization? The 90's maybe? Obviously chances are only 1 or 2 picks turn into ML-caliber starters, but for now it's nice to see us adding so much talent in just one draft haul (and I didn't even touch on others in the class who have flashed potential: Curbelo, Remillard, Hamilton, Schnurbusch, etc.).

What an embarrassment. I don't care how much money the Sox get out of the deal (if any)...the branding damage that goes along with this isn't worth it. To me, it just reinforces the image of the Sox being a 2nd rate team...I mean, Guaranteed Rate Field? That feels like a very short step away from having the Chico's Bail Bonds logo on our unis.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Aug 19, 2016 -> 10:44 PM) Why we didn't trade Shields in a huge seller's market when he had some value after a good run is beyond me I'd like to think we didn't trade Shields during his run of halfway decent starts because, despite of no lack of trying, no one else was stupid enough to take him on. That would at least imply the Sox understood what a mistake they had made by bringing him to the organization and were trying to rectify it. I have zero confidence that's how it played out.

Kahn!(le)

Yeah this one actually sounds like the Sox were being the stand-up guys, I applaud them for making a stand against what sounds like a terrible policy by the M's. Teams are raking in the cash...pretty lousy they're trying to redirect money away from what I can only assume is a very poorly paid member of the staff in the Clubhouse Attendant. Trying to offset the cost of food is a joke, and if the other attendants aren't being paid enough, then the Mariners can give them a damn raise on their own.

no no no no no no no. what a cluster.