vilehoopster

Have you seen Smith in ANY of his starts this spring. In his first start, he was nervous and walked the 1st two guys and they scored. But since then he has been amazing. Did you see him against the Dodgers and a very real Dodgers lineup? And I know it's spring training yada, yada, yada. But Smith has looked really impressive.

This is me. I am shocked (and concerned) by this call. It seemed Martin really, really deserved it. But I could have understood Perez or even Shane Smith; Cannon not so much. Martin has been in the organization longer and has been untouchable in ST. I would really like to know the logic behind this decision.

I said this in the other thread: Vaughn at 1st; Drury at 2nd; Sosa at SS; and Vargas at 3rd. Injuries have to stay away and Drury not be flipped, but that could very well be 70 to 80 home runs from the Sox infield. Maybe more than 80.

Drury is a 2nd baseman. Play him at 2nd and let's get some home runs out of our infield. I think someone suggested this in the Opening Day 26 man roster thread. Oh yeah, it was me.

If Shane Smith is not in the starting rotation, my opinion of Venable is going to plummet. Really, right now, I have no opinion of him good or bad, but not going with Smith is a good way to start it off really poorly.

I don't understand people suggesting this or that lineup or infield and everyone seems to keep leaving Sosa out of the lineup. He's cooled off lately, but he was/ is one of the Sox's best bats in spring training, and that's coming off his great September where he seemed to really figure things out at the plate. I really think he's got to play and have his at bats. Also, I don't start to understand this, "Play Amaya at short until Colson is ready" thing? Amaya is terrible offensively; I'm angry he's still getting ST at bats. He's Maldonado 2.0: a complete dead bat in the lineup. Why would anyone want to play him? Meidroth is not quite ready yet; I really think he needs to go to AAA for a while and to bond with the others. So, this is the lineup, more or less, that I want to see; let's score some runs! 1st Vaugh 2nd Drury SS Sosa 3rd Vargas Rojas fills in five days a week where he can. At 3rd when Vargas is DH or at 1st, same with Sosa, Drury and so on. That's 70 to 80 home runs next year from your infield. Again, let's score some runs. When whoever is ready to come up at the trade deadline, trade Drury, hopefully he'll have 12 or so home runs with less strikeouts and be this year's DeJong. Outfield: Benintendi, Robert (let him prove he can stay healthy and get some real value at the trade deadline), and I have no idea in right. There's nothing in right as a option that I start to like, some lefty/ righty platoon. With Benintendi and Robert (full season, maybe traded), that's another 50 home runs. Now, what I would like to see is all the youngsters stay down in AAA and have success and bond. Then I say bring them all up together in late July: Meidroth, Colson, the cacthers and the two lefty pitchers a little bit later in August. But basically bring them up as a group and work them in full time into September. Well, I'm tired typing, but that is what I would like to see.

I hate to say it, but there's a lot of truth here. It would take more than a nice spring training to remove both the odor and the injury fear.

For the Sox to have a chance to win 63 (which I think is possible but doubtful), the Sox need at least three starters better than Perez, which I think is very possible.

Iriarte will go down to Charlotte and do just fine. He'll probably have a locker right next to Burke. But both of them will be very good pitchers in the future.

Really for a 23 year old on his 2nd ST appearance. That trade is looking just fine. Actually, I think he will solve this and turn out to be a very good pitcher for the Sox. (Just not today or anytime too soon.)

Did I miss it in this thread anywhere, but did anyone bring how well Martin pitched today, especially against a very tough set of six batters. I thought he looked outstanding, his 2nd game of the spring where he's been really good. Again, he wasn't throwing against minor league batters, but some really outstanding bats. I have to think right now (I know, only two short outings) that Martin has the inside track of being the opening day starter.

I just went and looked at the game stats. Amaya has been up three times with runners in scoring position and all three times he has struck out, all three times. If the Sox lose this game by a run or two (I know it's only spring training, but still) you can squarely put the blame on the loss on Amaya's shoulders. But really, I don't think that's true. I think the blame has to go to Sox management for ever wasting the time to sign him and play him this spring. Why waste at bats that could have gone to so many more deserving and real prospects. Why did we waste a second of spring training time on Amaya?

That has to be the 9 or 10th time this spring that Amaya has been up with runners in scoring position, and he has gotten out EVERY time. Am I correct, it's happened three times alone in today's game. Just cut him. He's terrible; he was terrible last year. Cut him.

Wow, he did not help himself today.

What other pitchers are we excited to see today? In a way, kinda all of them. I'm very curious about Smith, Booser, Leasure, Mason.

No one has mentioned him, but I think that there's a very real chance that Shane Smith could be in the starting rotation this year. His minor league stats are rather impressive. Also, as the # 1 Rule Five draft, I would think that means the Sox have some high expectations for him .

I have a question. I've thought this for years, but this spring with all the pitchers in camp and all the NRIs and all the position battles, this question seems more relevant than even in past years. But with so many players in camp, shouldn't that Sox be trying to play two split-squad games everyday or almost every day? I always wondered why there weren't more split-squad two-game days. Was it lack of pitching? Well, the Sox have plenty of pitchers they want to look at. Is it hard to find other teams to do this with? Are the games for spring training already scheduled and can't be changed? I really don't know much on this subject. Can anyone say why a team does or doesn't play more split-squad games?

I understand the appeal of Meidroth and his great OBP in the minors. But I still think that a lot the reasons why people are thinking he'll be the Sox starting 2nd baseman is "Second-String quarterback syndrome" (when a team is playing badly, fans always think the unknown player must be better than the present player). I still think that outstanding September earns Sosa a huge edge to be the Sox starting 2nd baseman this year. And yes, "Look at Meidroth's stats," you say. And they are impressive. But look at Sosa's stats from his last two years at Charlotte; they are also very impressive. Both years with an OPS well over .800. It's up to debate and fun to talk about. That's why Spring Training is exciting and gets us all talking.

You are showing your ridiculous anti-Getz bias trying make the DeJong signing sound like anything but a total win for Getz and Sox management last year. DeJong hit 18 home runs for a team starved, STARVED for power, and then he was flipped for a prospect. That was exactly what Getz and management was hoping to get out of that signing. A total win.

Yes, it's the strike zone.

A couple things before hand. I see Gallo being this year's Mousotakas, cut before the season starts. Last year Cease got traded before ST was over because he was really great in ST. I don't see that with Robert. He'll be completely unmotivated like he was as the trade deadline approached last year; this nick or injury and chasing balls low and away. He'll be starting in CF for the Sox, and we hope he shows something so we can trade him at the deadline. So, here's my lineup, (not so much bench pieces). 1. Vaughn at 1st 2. Drury at 2B. He will be this year's DeJoung. The Sox will hope he has 10 or 12 home runs by the deadline and they can flip him. Then it's Sosa 3. At SS will be Rojas to start the season. All this talk from Merkin and the Sox PR people that Colson has a great chance to leave ST as the starting SS is total BS, and the fact that they're all saying it, makes me really think it is BS. They want that extra year of control. When the time is over, then he'll come up. 4. Vargas at 3rd. Rojas will be the back up with Vargas doing some 1st and DH. 5. in LF, a platoon of Fletcher and Stater. 6. In CF, Robert until the deadline and Getz will be forced to give him away because his stats will be less bad than last year, but still not very good for him. Then Taylor. 7. LF - Benintendi 8. At catcher: first Lee and Thaiss. The two minor league guys will be up after the all-star game. Starting pitching -- I am really concerned with this. I keep hearing on various podcasts that it seems likely at Perez will be our opening day pitcher. If this is true, the rotation is in horrible shape, horrible. What is Perez? The 3rd, 4th, or 5th starter on a team with a real rotation? If we can't get, at least, two starters clearly better than Perez, our rotation will be terrible. I don't know; maybe the Sox will have him as their opening day starter to give him some false credit so we can flip him later. This is who I see as the Sox best starting pitchers in order: a. Cannon b. Martin c. Perez d. Wilson e. Burke But if anyone knows me on this board, I am a huge Thorpe fan. If he is not injured, (that is a big if) I see him as the ace of the staff when he comes up, maybe after a 3 or 4 weeks. I don't know about the bullpen. Let me use the same logic for Anderson as I did for Perez. If Anderson is our closer more than a few weeks into the season, the bullpen must be and will be absolutely terrible. So that's my opinion.

Thanks for posting this. I'm always pessimistic with any arm soreness going into Spring Training. It seems like any more, at least, half the time it's ends up as TJS.

You beat me to this. I was gong to say, "You mean along with Thorpe?"

"His performance was, frankly, awful, and it was covered up by a tiny bit of good luck. He was really, really bad. Like, I can seriously say - I have never been more disappointed by a top 50 prospect. " June 22 - Det. -- 6 innings - 0 earned runs June 28 - Col. - 6 innings - 2 earned runs July 5 - Miami - 6.1 innings - 1 earned run July 10 - Minn. - 6 innings - 2 earned runs July 21 - @KC - 6 innings - 0 earned runs Then the elbow thing started and he had two bad games then stopped. Did Cease even sniff a stretch like that in his first two years?? Now quote me his BaBS oh, I'm sorry his BABIP. What a stupid stat that must be. So BABIP tells the story and not those 5 earned runs over 36 1/3 innings. This only reinforces my last claim: You totally misrepresent the facts to fit your negative agenda. You literally said, about those six games (in quotes above) "frankly, awful . . . never more disappointed in a top 50 prospect". How can you with a straight face type that up and then stand by it. You're continuing to make stuff up, finding silly stats, rather than admit; again, that Thorpe, Iriate, and Zavala are literally something, not nothing. You cannot win this debate, not with that stretch of games and Iriate's 55 ranking for MLB. They are something and the value of return on the Cease trade is still open for discussion.

"Right now, the White Sox seem really likely to have traded away Cease and Fedde and Kopech without literally anything of value in return." The exaggeration and ignoring of facts and reality by the doomsayers and complainers on this board is incredible, just incredible. Now I get the complaining about the Fedde/ Kopech trade; I can't start to justify that one. But again there is no real evidence that the Sox lost the Cease trade, none! It very possible that the Sox might resoundingly win that trade. The evidence for that being a Sox win is every bit as strong as the evidence that the Sox lost it. But still people with their negativity agenda have to continue to warp facts and info. First of all, that people are citing Steve Wilson as evidence that the Sox lost that trade, that is totally ridiculous. Wilson from the start was a 100% a throw-in of no value. People saying the Sox lost the Cease trade because Wilson was cut, is exactly like saying the Sox lost the Chris Sale trade because Victor Diaz never made it to the majors. Both players were throw-ins, none factors in the trades. So Thorpe and Iriarte are "without anything literally of value"? Really, really? Are you going to maybe admit that there's a little, tiny smidgen of exaggeration there, maybe some hyperbole, or a total misrepresentation of the true; because i'm going with the last one, the misrepresentation thing. It's funny how in "without anything literally of value", the poster is willing to declare a 20 year old prospect loaded with talent as a bust, but at the same time ignoring a five game stretch of pitching by Thorpe, as a rookie, that was way, way better than any sort of five game stretch Cease achieve in his first couple years. That five game stretch and Iriarte's 55 level fastball, slider, and changeup (that's right off MLB.com), and Zavala's athletic talent, I think that those are things literally very much of value. But go ahead and dismiss the trade as a loss because of Victor Diaz, oops, I meant Steve Wilson.