Thomas_Ventura_Roberts

If Madrigal hits, pitchers are not going to want to pitch to him when there are men in scoring position. If there is someone on first, he will be marvelous for hitting and running or for getting a single or double in that situation. I'm sure he will take any walks that come his way. When no one is on base, a base hit could soon find him on second with his ability to steal, or he can wait for the big boys to drive him in. If he hits, pitchers are going to have to be careful with him, and he will get his share of walks.

Right now, with Nick having enough time to get adjusted to pro ball, he has a .579 AVG and a 1.337 OPS in AA Birmingham. Let us see how he does in AA ball.

Vazquel recently said that AA is a very good place for Robert to be for a while. As Hahn and others say, a prospect will tell you when they are ready for the majors; and if the White Sox wanted to, they could promote Robert from AA to the majors. As it is, they want him to get at bats and to fully settle into the American baseball environment. There would not be a big down side for him to dominate AA over a number of months.

If anyone wants to see a very interesting analysis of Vaughn as a hitter, go to the Royals SB Nation link. They did a write-up on him that combined the analysis that you see on various sites, but they also have a hitting expert breaking down his swing using video as to why it is so exceptionally good. The expert does his analysis with a side by side comparison with Gary Sanchez' current swing because the two swings are as close to identical as you will see in two players. Vaughn is basically a pure, all-fields hitter who can hit home runs without trying to hit home runs. One expert said he had 80 grade power to all fields. If that isn't enough, BA wrote "in addition to his feel for the barrel and ability to hit with authority, Vaughn has an uncanny understanding of the strike zone." The consensus is that he possesses a "preternatural" understanding of how to hit. I actually went and confirmed that that word meant what I thought it meant: rare, extraordinary, phenomenal, etc.) My impression is that some experts think getting Vaughn would be the equivalent of getting a Vladimir Guerrero Jr.. I'm not a scout, and I don't know if all this stuff is 100% accurate; however, one could see how even the Orioles or the Royals might be tempted to get an offensive stud and why the White Sox might think that if getting Vaughn were the worst thing they did tomorrow, then they would not be in bad shape.

The Sox stated process at the top of the draft is to arrive at a final 6 or 7 about a 6 weeks before the draft. After that point, they fine tune things among the 6 or 7 with no new names allowed in. Hostetler said they had about 6 in an interview, and that got translated to exactly 6. It is quite possible that the Sox felt he was one of their "super 7" six weeks ago, and they are talking to all the agents just in case. In the end, though, he may have ranked 7th out of 7, and he still may rank 7 out of 7 on their short list. It is kind of interesting if they had identified him as one of the seven best in any case. Nick is on record that the Sox will get an "impact superstar" at #3, and he has implied that, unlike last year, the top of this draft is unusually deep in that regard.

"Ervin Santana has declined his Triple-A assignment and elected free agency. White Sox no longer have to pay out his salary for the rest of the season." -- JF That is how I thought this would play out.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 14, 2018 -> 12:16 PM) He has been around for 6 years. I once read where the average DR prospect takes at least 7 years to develop, so at the very least, he isn't ahead of the curve, To be fair he took over an operation that was probably as low as you can go. I thin he has a couple more years at least before you can say he failed though. Some of these guys have to develop. But it is hard to pick out a 15 or 16 year old and say future star major leaguer. It's hard in any sport. I would imagine basketball would be the easiest. Lebron is a no brainer, but take these guys when they are sophomores and juniors in high school and project them in one of the hardest if not the hardest sport to project, is something where everyone fails. If the Sox didn't trade for Shields and all things remained the same, this thread probably does not exist. I do now at one of the seminars I was at during Soxfest last year, they were really projecting a Lat Am breakout in 2017. I don't think it happened to the scale they were hoping, maybe this year, but their development staff seemed pretty confident their LatAm signings would soon become household names to White Sox fans. This is completely true. When you are signing guys at the average age of 16 and when you started at rock bottom, it is going to take awhile. Right now, his early returns are Tatis (since traded), Adolfo, and Roberts. We shall see. Again, if he joined the organization in November 2011, that is 7 years; however, one would not have expected immediate signings that 1st spring. That means he has had "6 real classes." Given an average signing age of 16 years, that means his first real class is hitting the age 22. Getting signings is not something one is going to do overnight: getting Tatis, Adolfo, and Roberts is a healthy start. The Sox also are on records as going for the less obvious signings of guys with upside potential but not as sure things as the big money signings.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 25, 2017 -> 05:48 PM) This is essentially spring training for him. What is with all the Rodon hate. In two seasons with the Sox he has flashed streaks (and on multiple occassions) where he pitches at an elite level. 1st year was getting through the jitters, 2nd year was adding to the workload and obviously 3rd year should have been building the consistency, but still, he's striking out 9.1 guys per 9 innings and hasn't ever gotten hit that much. Walks are about the only thing we could argue much about. He's made 4 freaking starts after missing most of the year with injuries. Things take time. If he is getting crushed all year...then we can start to worry (more so because I presume he's got health issues...cause he's far too talented when healthy to not be at least a good pitcher). And where do the Andrew Miller comps come from? Miller was a crappy starter/crappy major league pitcher for his first 5 to 6 years (it wasn't until his 2nd year in Boston that he did anything worthwhile). And during those first 5 to 6 crappy years he wasn't striking out guys anywhere close to what Rodon does...it wasn't until his second year in Boston where his strikeout rate jumped to 11 per 9 inning (after being in that 6-8 range). Note: The only similarity between Miller and Rodon is they were high picks / very highly touted prospects, who throw left handed. Rodon's actual major league success (not withstanding 4/5 starts this year) as a starter are lightyears beyond anything Miller did early in his major league career. What you said is so true. In addition, if someone told me that a young pitcher, with limited minor league experience, coming off of an injury, and facing a really good offensive club would register 11 strikeouts in 4 innings, I would say that guy has some potential even if he gave up 4 runs. To paraphrase Steve Stone, some prospects with potential will take the next step in their development and some will not. There is no reason to presume he is any different than other talented young starting pitching prospect. Sure, if he doesn't take strides, then one would consider putting him in the bullpen; but for now, it is wait and see time.

I wonder what will happen to Sanchez. My hunch is the White Sox will patiently wait to find a trade partner who would be willing to play him as a starting second baseman. In the meantime, he will have to show his worth on the White Sox as a utility infielder. As for what the White Sox could get in return for him, I'm sure they would settle for a legitimate pitching prospect or two or a legitimate lower minors infield prospect.

For better or worse, we will get a real sense of Tim Anderson next year. My hunch is that he will be the player that the White Sox think he will be. In any case, he is one of those players where the most practical thing is to be patient and wait while focusing on other things. For the time being, I would like to get a sense of the rebuilding of the pitching staff.

QUOTE (Scoots @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 07:46 AM) http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/243...opicId=27118146 "They are making the decisions for us to be better as a team, and you have to buy into it," first baseman Jose Abreu said through interpreter Billy Russo. "I am glad I'm here, and I'm glad the team is finally following a straight line to the path we want to go. It's part of the business." "What it does is just establishes what's entirely going on. It allows us to continue to be constructive in the ways we are needing to be," infielder Tyler Saladino said. "In this sense, we are trying to be constructive to learn the things that it takes to win. Even if you take a step backward, you are able to continue to make the necessary adjustments after that. It's a constant progression." I find these quotes by Saladino and Abreu oddly satisfying, especially coming from a couple players who in my opinion will be here for a while (Abreu more than Sally). It's a good feeling to know that the players aren't blindly still trying to get the wild card spot and playing only for this year...they understand the process and how it works. Good to know they are on board with this, even if it means sacrificing this year and next year for it. I agree. For the players, obviously they would want to be part of year 3 of a rebuild instead of year 1 from a competitive situation; but it can be satisfying to be on a team that is going in the right direction even if one has to first go through some rough times. I'm sure that they want to get back to being in the competitive stage of a rebuild as soon as possible.

Interesting pickup. He was the #17 ranked prospect for the Rangers. He seems like a "let us take a flier" on this guy type of prospect. I wonder how much of the International slot money that the White Sox had to send.

It is interesting that Giolito is high on some lists. I've been intrigued by his progress. If he really is ready to be a top of the order starter, that would really help the White Sox.

How would anyone rank the 12 players received in the 1st big 3 trades and "special" international signing? For me, the first 4 are easier to rank: Moncada, Jiminez, Roberts, and Kopech. I realize there may even be disagreement with the first 4. The next 8 are more difficult to put into a definite order.

Good question. As someone wrote, there could be trades in the meantime.

I believe the Cubs philosophy of going over the cap and being in the penalty phase was that a lot of pitching prospects will fall in the $300K or under category as it is way to hard to know for sure which 15 and 16 year old arms will end up developing. While in the penalty phase, a team can especially budget for taking fliers on strong but uncertain young pitchers.

We already have a relatively inexpensive and good first baseman in Abreau, and we have more potential first baseman in the minors.

It is interesting to go back and read a good scouting report on Garcia when he was even younger. The ones that I read thought he had a floor as a utility player because of his speed and defense, but they held thought his ceiling was high as they thought he might be able to hit really well. Of course, they thought it way to early to tell exactly how good of a hitter he might or might not be. I know Darren Jackson knew him when he first came to the White Sox; and at that time, he really thought that Leury would be a player who needed time, but that he would turn out to be a real good player. Interesting stuff.

The three guys who we have tried as our regular center fielders (May, Garcia, and Hanson) have combined to hit .290.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Jun 10, 2017 -> 07:36 AM) Agreed, he will be back. He was better than May and his speed off the bench will be a great tool for the rebuild. Ditto on the agreed to all the recent posters. From the get go, the White Sox may have felt that if he had an idea of what big league pitching through a temporary assignment to the big league club, it would help him with his development when he returned to playing everyday in the minors.

I thought a comment by Marco Paddy to Steve Stone and Jason Benetti was interesting as he indicated that, now that Luis Robert was in the fold, he had to go back to work finding the next Luis Robert. Marco seems to believe in the quantify of quality players concept, especially with regard to signing 15 and 16 year old International players. For the next 2 years when he is limited to giving any particular player a $300K bonus, I wonder if he relishes the chance to finding a wide variety of $300K bonus players. In a way and for the next 2 years, there might be a player who another team might have offered $250K that the White Sox will offer $300K just because all their cap money has to be used in smaller chunks the next 2 years.

I wasn't able to see Tyler Danish pitch; but from the replays, his stuff looked good.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ May 27, 2017 -> 09:37 PM) If by bullpen rotation you mean bullpen, they've been blending young pitchers (or at least inexperienced pitchers) into the bullpen all season. The word bullpen should not have been inserted as the paragraph has since been edited.

It is now an official signing. Apparently, he got a $26 million bonus.

I'm surprised to see Engel.