Bruce_Blixton

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Feb 23, 2011 -> 06:37 PM) I like the pic of Kenny doing his best to look relaxed And rolling with TWO pairs of sunglasses, dude is straight pimpin'.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 01:50 PM) Here's a link to my big board organizational projections. NorthSideSox72 said he would have a board up too. JPN366's 2011 Big Board 1.0 Awesome job with the Big Board! Is it confirmed that Ryan Buch is being moved to the bullpen? If so, any reason why? It seemed like he was really excelling as a starter last season, I was excited to see his progression this year.

QUOTE (scotty22hotty @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 09:43 PM) Why not Tony Gwynn Jr., instead? (if healthy) An elite defending CF with a 1.7 WAR in '10 (2.4 in '09) Looks like a great 8/9th place hitter when guys in the OF need rest... I like the fact that Milledge can play all OF positions and has the potential for some pop as well. Tony Gwynn Jr. is a great defender but he's too similar to Pierre. If/when CQ goes down in 2011 Milledge could bat closer to the middle of the order whereas with Gwynn you'd be left with Pierre and Pierre 2.0 taking up two spots in the lineup. To be honest, either one of them wouldn't be a choice along with several other players. I was worried we might miss Andruw next year, now...not so worried.

Some pretty solid players getting non-tendered, I wouldn't mind seeing Lastings Milledge replace Andruw Jones as our 4th OF and try to sign Eugenio Velez to a minor league contract.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 7, 2010 -> 03:23 PM) In this economy, unless we pay a sizable chunk of Buehrles salary, we aren't getting much in terms of quality for him. True, his salary has become an albatross, but I don't think he's lost all his value. A lot of people (me included) were saying the same thing about Javy before we traded him to the Braves and we all klnow how that ended up. I'm willing to bet we could get a similar trade package for Buerhle if we agreed to send $4.5 mil with him.

Depending on how the extension talks go between the Sox and Danks, I wouldn't mind seeing Kenny deal either Danks or Buehrle for some quality talent to bolster our minor league system and start a philosophy of plugging holes in our lineup with younger options rather than over-the-hill veteran stopgaps. If that entails enduring a couple of mediocre seasons and third-place finishes, then so be it. We need to get away from our current approach to putting together a lineup. I think we can deal from our only true source of strength, starting pitching, and acquire some dynamic bats that could help our team immediately as well as contribute for us in the near future as well. If an extension with Danks doesn't materialize this offseason, even before the Winter Meetings, I would be actively shopping him around. I submitted a trade scenario for Danks to the Rangers in an earlier thread so I won't belabor the point here. If Kenny is able to negotiate an extension with Danks then I think he should look to trade Buehrle for some bats. IMO I think the only way you get the most value out of Buerhle is by trading him to an NL contender that is in the win-now mode, it looks like the AL might have caught up to Mark these past couple of seasons and I think a move to the NL would re-energize his career as well as lengthen it considerably as well. I think the best match would be with the Reds, they're coming off their first playoff season the 1990s and could certainly use another consistent arm at the top of their rotation to go alongside Bronson Arroyo, Cueto and Volquez to form a rotation that could conceivably compete with the Phillies and Giants. I could see Buerhle dominating the NL Central next season as the NL tries to figure him out. So how about one of these two scenarios: White Sox send Mark Buerhle to the Reds, the Reds send Chris Heisey, Devin Mesoraco and Yorman Rodriguez or White Sox send Mark Buehrle to the Reds, the Reds send Juan Francisco and Devin Mesoraco. Heisey could be a suitable RF and no. 2 hitter, Juan Francisco would provide a power threat from the left side but there are serious concerns about his K rate and defense, could probably step in as our everyday DH in 2011, Mesoraco is a 22 year-old power-hitting catcher that had a breakout season but is blocked by the 2010 draft pick Yasmani Grandal and Yorman Rodriguez is a raw, toolsy 17 year-old that could be a superstar or superbust.

Nice to see Escobar lighting up the AFL, very Morel-esque. Anyone else see him putting up Orlando Cabrera type numbers potentially?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 22, 2010 -> 06:13 AM) There is not one person on this board who would really think the Sox rotation subtracting Danks is anywhere near as strong as it is with him. Look at the 6 you have penciled in. Peavy, huge question mark. Garcia isn't even signed and even if he does, huge question mark, Sale-------huge question mark in a rotation. Jackson looks pretty solid but his history suggests he's no sure thing. Buerhle will do what Buerhle does. Floyd hasn't been solid for more than 2 months in each of the past 2 seasons and ended the season hurt with a sore shoulder. You are going to need Jackson and Danks both to be big. If you are going to go into a re building mode, fine, trade Danks, but if you truly are trying to win a championship, you're only fooling yourself dealing him, at least for what has been discussed on this board. If a team is willing to go over the top, give you some offense and a real good pitcher, then its plausable.There is no way you do what the original poster suggested and Danks as part of a package for Colby Rasmus? Ridiculous. I think this is the fundamental problem with the organization, we're constantly in a desperate "win now" mentality so we're constantly chasing our own tail to get to the top. We're trying to win on a budget without a legitimate farm system which is a recipe for failure. Even the Yankees have a solid farm system that blows ours away. The deal I suggested in the original post was an effort to add some young, athletically dynamic talent to our farm system, especially up the middle at SS and CF. I would love to hear anyone else's proposals for trading Danks, having a spirited discussion about the future of the Sox is always a good time!

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Oct 21, 2010 -> 07:12 PM) I'm actually impressed with the thought from you Blixton. I didn't think many here knew about Engel Beltre yet alone Profar and Font. (who I didn't even know) You should post more often in the minor league thread on the future sox board. Always good to have a legitimate poster who knows about prospects and evaluations. Wouldn't mind knowing if theres any guys in the minors who know/played with or against. And other than DA, I've been very adamant on trading Danks. I'd rather give up Floyd or Buehrle. That's how highly I think of him. Thank you good sir, I used to post over at WSI but I found it very cliquish over there. If someone disagreed with anything you said you were immediately berated as stupid and shut down. The posters over here seem a lot more open-minded, even the disagreements are well debated, so thanks everyone!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 21, 2010 -> 05:07 PM) No. Pitching wins. I wouldn't mind Fielder for a season, but not for the Sox best pitcher. Besides, since he only has 1 year left on his contract, shouldn't is trade value be much lower than last offseason and at the deadline? That's the formula used by you trade Danks guys. Considering Buerhle, Jackson and Peavy all expire either before or at the same time as Danks, maybe KW should unload them all. Marquez could pitch opening day. Konerko had a better year than Fielder in 2010 so unless Prince picked it up, the Sox would be weaker offensively and defensively at 1B in 2011 than 2010 and be out a sweet starting pitcher. Of course, Prince may hit 50 homers in 2011. It will be interesting to see how much Fielder gets in arb. You would figure at least $13 million. He had an .871 OPS last year. Putting things in perspective, Jim Thome's worst OPS with the White Sox was .864. You're using a straw man argument, "if a player only has two years left on his contract then you trade Danks guys want to trade them." i don't think any of us that are considering trading Danks think that we should trade everyone at the end if their contract. We've constantly been saying that Danks is probably close to his peak trading value due to his arbitration clock. I've tried to make my case as clear as possible, we should look into trading Danks since he's not likely to re-sign with us. I know that everyone wants Jon to stay here forever but the bottomline is that this is still a business and Kenny does have a budget (whether that budget is fair is a whole different debate).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 21, 2010 -> 10:21 AM) I'm not being silly at all. The reason people want him traded is he has 2 years left under team control. Obviously he's not as valuable as Pujols, but he's about as valuable of a White Sox as anyone. Trading him would be a mistake unless there is some sort of injury concern. On this board people are saying Buehrle is appropriately paid $14 million because he gives you 200 innings. Danks gives you a better 200 innings, so he's worth a lot more than his arb number, yet, for some reason people want to trade him. It's not that I want to trade him, but it's probably the smarter business decision for the team right now. We all know that it's team policy to not sign pitchers to long-term contracts, it was a miracle that they were willing to sign Buehrle to a 4 year deal. Danks has already shown us that he's not interested in signing an extension with us and wants to test the free agent market after his arbitration years are up. Most likely he'll be offered a 6-7 year deal for 15+ mil/year, an offer we'll never match. I only suggested trading Danks because of the team's philosophy in dealing with pitchers, not because he's a player under the control of the team for two more years. We're not going to have this discussion about Beckham when he's got two years left. Trading Danks this offseason would probably receive the maximum return for him from here on out.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 20, 2010 -> 07:09 PM) Not sure why the Rangers would give up that much when they just announced today that they are going to try their absolute hardest to resign Cliff Lee and that they are going to bring a very legitimate offer to the table. Considering they amount of cash flow coming into the organization right now, it's not unfathomable to believe that they will be able to resign him. True, the Rangers will see a revenue increase regardless of how they finish the postseason, but as rockren pointed out, when it comes to the free agent market, it's the Yankees world and the rest of us are just living in it. The smart money would try to target someone like Danks to keep costs low next season while collecting all that added revenue.

I know that the idea of trading John Danks isn't the most popular idea, but from a business perspective it's probably a good time into "selling high" on Danks before he inevitably leaves for an ungodly paycheck in a couple years. (a paycheck we'll never match) I came up with this trade scenario the other day and wondered what people think of it: White Sox trade: John Danks Jordan Danks Rangers trade: Julio Borbon Engel Beltre Jurrickson Profar Wilmer Font Pros for Texas: If the Rangers make it to the World Series and win it and with the Astros wasting away, they'll have the entire the entire state of Texas as their fan base and the revenue increase that should come with it. Couple that with what appears to be a highly motivated and aggressive new ownership group headed by Nolan Ryan, chances are they'll be making some moves this offseason to stay atop the AL. This means they probably wouldn't be too shy to take a chance on a young lefty beating on the door of free agency like Danks, especially if Cliff Lee bolts for New York. They'll need to find a viable replacement and John Danks under Greg Maddux and Nolan Ryan's tutelage might do the trick. Plus, the Rangers might get a hometown discount from Danks if they were to try to extend him. Many have written Jordan Danks off and with the current state of our minor league development system I have too, but that doesn't mean it's too late for him. With the Rangers track record with cultivating and nurturing young hitting talent, Jordan could start tapping into the potential everyone's been talking about for years. Pros for the Sox: Acquiring a legitimate top-of-the-order type guy in Borbon would allow us to move Pierre to the 9 hole where he'd be a better fit and add a nice up-tempo pace to the lead-off spot again. I really feel like he's on the cusp of breaking out if given the chance and with Andrus holding down lead-off and their crowded outfield, it doesn't appear that the Rangers can give him that chance next season. Engel Beltre has Matt Kemp type ability and similar character issues as well, there's no doubt that he could be a legit 20/20 guy, maybe even 30/30 if he puts it all together. He'd add an exciting dynamic to our minor league outfield depth to go along with Jared Mitchell. Wilmer Font is a big, young right-hander that has shown flashes of brilliance but hasn't put it all together yet. I have a lot of trust with our pitching development guys in the minors, they always seem to be able to get the players to pitch above their ability. Jurrickson Profar would be the real centerpiece for this deal though, 17 year old switch-hitting SS that was already named the Northwest League's top prospect in just his first professional season. I know that they refused to include Profar in the Cliff Lee deal, but Danks wouldn't be a half-season rental like Lee. Sorry for the long-winded post, just wanted to make sure I backed my idea up with some logical arguments rather than fling s*** at a wall.

Brandon Short and Saladino have been out of their respective lineups for a while now, are they on the DL or something?

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Aug 23, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) Surely not ..both of those guys are very down to earth ..Shoemaker a little on the shy side. Different note, Omogrosso is excited to be caught by Blackwood during his rehab!

Kannapolis is going to have a fun team to follow next season with Wilkins, Blanke, Hamme, Heidenreich, Spencer Arroyo, maybe they'll have Trayce repeat the level too.

Heidenreich has been on fire this year, honestly I think he probably has more upside than most, if not all, of our pitching prospects. (even more upside than Homberg, before he got traded away)

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 08:33 PM) Heidrenreich had 12 BBs in 22 IP last season. He only has 10 BBs in 65 IP this year. He has also increased his SO per. He'll move quickly up the sox prospect boards next season. Saladino last 10 games: .412/.524/.706/1.230. Really like this kid as a prospect. Brandon Short.. 8 BBs this month in only 36 ABs. He's quickly becoming my favorite prospect, ever since I saw this I knew he could turn into a solid middle infield prospect. Love the sound of the ball coming off his bat.

Thanks for the replies, I agree that his bat is nowhere near being Major League ready but from all reports his glove certainly is. I just thought it might inspire/drive him if he saw the amount of preparation that guys like Vizquel put into the game and hopefully have some of that rub off on him. It's amazing to see what Vizquel has done with Alexei over this season. I guess I'm higher on Escobar than most, but a 21 year old switch hitter that is holding his own in the Southern League is still pretty impressive.

Hi everyone, first let me thank all of you for forming such a comprehensive and detailed resource to keep up to date with the minor league system, it's one of the, if not THE best, fan-operated minor league forums around. So to you guys. Wanted to get your guy's opinion, with Escobar's sustained success so far in AA, would anyone else like to see him get a September call-up to get some one-on-one mentoring from Vizquel? I mean, what couldn't a slick fielding, switch-hitting SS learn from Omar, right?