Thomas_Ventura_Roberts

I think the Sox thought his college coaches overused his slider this year, and they want him to continue to develop his change-up and fastball command. It seems they are very pleased with how that went. Now, if they were to bring him up and pitch him sporadically out of the bullpen in competitive spots, he probably would end up using his wipe out slider to get guys out more than the White Sox would like at this point. I think priority number one is for him to keep making the progress that he has, and I would guess the Sox have him on track to be in their rotation soon enough next year. Of course, if the Sox find an offer for Danks or another one of the starters in the off-season that is to their liking, things like that could effect the exact timing for when he finally arrives.

The White Sox are in better shape when one adds young veterans in with prospect lists. In addition, one can always make a trade or sign a free agent as an alternative to going the "deep ditch" route that the Cubs took. For example, the White Sox needed a young first baseman for the short and long haul, and they got Abreau. I think they need a left handed hitting outfielder and some relief pitchers, and they can go make a targeted push for those. In contrast, the Cubs are kind of unbalanced in their prospect list, and one can't just presume that they will be able to acquire all the pitching that they will need.

There is something about Sanchez that I really like. He seems like he can be a very good defensive second baseman; and offensively, his hitting stroke from both sides of the plate just "looks" natural. Sometimes, a prospect can put up good stats, but there is something about their stroke that makes one say they are not a natural hitter. With Sanchez, his stroke seems natural, and one can imagine him living up to his hitting potential. Because of that, one can imagine him being a "championship" caliber starting second baseman. Again, I am just commenting on one intangible quality and otherwise taking a hopeful yet wait and see attitude.

Can't wait to see the progress he makes in our system. Hope this enables the Sox to make some trades.

I like John Danks, but he may be the player that can best be turned for a position prospect that we still need. Normally, I would still stick with keeping a quality left-handed pitcher; however, if Sale, Quintana, and Rodon are expected to be three lefties in our rotation next year, then it would make sense to re-balance things by trading Danks for the best available major league ready or almost ready prospects.

That is an interesting bit of commentary by Jack McDowell. On a related note, I know that Don Cooper in a Score interview more or less said that he would love to be able to testify and give advice to that committee about the relationship between mechanics and arm injuries.

I wouldn't be too fast to trade Beckman given his quality defense and given that he will have the stats of an above average offensive second baseman before the season is over. The same goes for Ramirez too. It isn't easy finding all around quality guys at those positions.

In 2012, John Sickels wrote that he had great power and a great arm, but the big undecided would be whether he would ever hit in the majors. He opined that he would not be as good as Raul Mondesi was, but that a better comparison would be to Jose Guillen. Like Jose, he forecast that he might develop relatively late. My guess is that the Sox are throwing the dice that there could be some upside with him.

When we acquired Flowers from Atlanta, his reputation was of a guy who probably would be quite productive offensively in the major leagues, but that he would need to focus on his pitch handling and defense. For whatever reason, he is a big strong guy who is now healthy and has gone back to more of his batting style when he was in the Atlanta organization. Our hitting coach feels he is doing a better job of recognizing and reacting to hittable pitches and staying within himself. I don't know how he will end up this year, but his current performance may better reflect his major league hitting abilities than his performance before now.