Gene Honda Civic

QUOTE(Jeremy @ Sep 14, 2007 -> 07:54 PM) Maybe the average fan didn't know who he was but BP, Rob Neyer, and the like would reference him before the book came out so some people certainly knew who he was. Apparently he hit BA's top 10 GM candidates rankings the same season Kenny was hired, so he was certainly on peoples' radar then. Kenny was promoted in November of 2000, when DePo would have had all of 1-year of Asst GMing under his belt.

QUOTE(Cerbaho-WG @ Sep 14, 2007 -> 04:54 PM) With regards to your judging talent tripe, it's apparently acceptable for you to wait for players to impress you in AA, but 50 IP in the Pioneer League is enough for you to say that the player isn't special. Perfect sense. That's the point, which you seem to be missing. I believe rookie league stats are about as valuable as a wooden nickel. 5innnings 50 innings. it doesn't really matter. I don't care if you beat up a retarded midget once or 10 times, you're still picking on a retarded midget. I might be excited if he was doing this out of HS. Or if he had some secondary pitches. But right now he's just a lefty with one pitch. It's a plus, mid-90's pitch, but the competition he's playing against has never seen anything like that before. The results are not surprising, or particularly meaningful. A college first rounder is supposed to destroy inferior competition like that in the PIO league. Excuse me for not creaming myself. Here's a list of recent Sox first rounders, and how they fared in their initial assignment to rookie ball. Brian Anderson -- 1.075 OPS McCulloch -- 1.64 ERA 27K in 22 IP Gio -- 2.25 ERA 36 K in 24 IP Ring -- 0.00 ERA 9K in 5IP Borchard -- 1.037 OPS I'm glad Poreda hasn't failed. But he hasn't proved crap yet.

QUOTE(gosox41 @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 09:06 PM) Didn't Dan Evans have a lot to do with the loaded farm system that Colletti inherited?? Bob Logan White

QUOTE(Cerbaho-WG @ Sep 14, 2007 -> 04:08 PM) Do you get off by s***ting on anything that is in our minor-league system? Twenty-year-old in advanced rookie ball has a WHIP under one, SO/IP > 1, H/9 at 5.63. Yeah, not impressive in the least. Pot.kettle.black much? The only player I've crapped on is Collaro, deservedly. I called for Wasserman's (as well as Day's) promotion in June, and have been on board the Egbert train for a while. Not to mention DLS. I don't think rookie ball stats hold much weight, for anyone. I'll always hold my breath until a player puts up good numbers in full-season ball. Then I hold my breath again until they do it at AA or above. But honestly, can you look at the White Sox system and name two future stars without repeating yourself? I can't. Gio is a smaller Danks. DLS has star potential, but has only a handful of starts above lo-A. Carter can hit, but he's a future DH. Miranda looks like a great 13th round pick, but his best comp at this point is Jason Bartlett. Sweeney, well you s*** on him more than I s*** on Collaro.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 14, 2007 -> 01:05 PM) Its really nice to see Poreda pitching so well right off of the bat. Out of curiousity, how far way do the experts think he is from Chicago? 2010? 2011? 2012? I think he's a college pitcher throwing in the rookie leagues, and putting anything down on paper about his ETA is irresponsible. When you think about what Gio did in his first professional season out of HS, and where he is today, Poreda doesn't really look all that special.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 10:58 PM) Great start from Ian Kennedy tonight. Votto continues to mash the ball as well. But......but.....but. I thought prospects were supposed to struggle immediately out of the gate? Oh yeah, that only applies to ours. I believe Jason and I both wanted Kennedy, but we won too many games. Shant be a problem next year.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 01:27 PM) I love how the article pitts the failure to get a deal done with Santana as Ryan's fault. yeah, the Twins just throw around 200 million every offseason... Sounds like the Twins contract guy (their Rick Hahn position) was the real fall guy. Ryan may have been mulling retirement, and didn't want to mess with new underlings. Or he could have been shown the door as well. They're going to bring in a new guy to try and get things done with the young core/players worth keeping. Their development staff will remain in place, which is good for them. Though they have a similar dearth of hitting prospects right now.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 10:48 PM) /edit: I'd hire Cheat to be the GM, by the way. That's who I'd hire. The '05 team wouldn't have included Iguchi, El Duque, or Podsednik. But it would have had Polanco, Odalis Perez, and would have likely removed Konerko instead of Lee.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 10:40 PM) I think DePodesta, young though he was at the time, would've been a better choice. I'm sure there are plenty of others. KW isn't a good GM and he didn't come into the job with credentials that light up the world. And I never said the bulls*** you're attributing to me. I'm just saying, I don't have a list here and now of people who I think would've been better choices to be hired. Sheesh. C'mon greg. We know one of the two books you've read is Moneyball. Podesta was a nobody until that book came out, years after KW was hired. /Sidenote: My favorite Pratt Posts are the ones after he's "done" with a thread.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 09:16 PM) It's funny because it seems JR is giving him until 2012. True.dat.

QUOTE(Jeremy @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 12:53 PM) Not to split hairs, but halves of 1.8 and 5 would be an ERA around 3.4 not 3.07 on the season if the pitcher threw a similar number of innings pitched in each half. Since there are normally more games before the break than after and pitchers generally throw fewer innings if they're struggling, I'm thinking it had to be more like 4.5 or 4 in the second half if it was under 2 in the first half. Not to prove you wrong, but Haeger threw 111 innings before the All-star break and 59 after in Charlotte. If we assume his sub 2 ERA (1.8 is either 22 or 23 earned runs) in the first half, what would his ERA in the second half have to be to finish the season with a 3.07 ERA? By my calculations that would have to be [(58-23or22)/59*9] or 5.34-5.49. You can think all you want, but facts are on my side.

QUOTE(Jeremy @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 11:50 PM) I don't have any recollection of Charlie's second half last season but he had a 3 ERA on the season, how bad could it have been? He had like a 1.8 at the break, and about a 5 after it... Overall, his RA was about a run more than his ERA thanks to all the PB, WP and such that happens with knuckler.

QUOTE(Jeremy @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 11:45 PM) Peripherals (and rate of progression) are a completely different game for knuckleball pitchers. Haeger's walk rate actually improved this season; he struggled not because his walk rate finally caught up to him but because he gave up way more home runs than he ever had before. Charlie is still a baby for a knuckleballer so he still has a very bright future ahead of him. Broadway is running out of time to establish himself as someone who has a future in the majors as more than a long reliever/mop up man. That's funny, because Broadway has 3 options remaining while I believe Haeger only has one. Haeger's the one with limited time to establish himself, at least with the Sox anyways.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 11:27 PM) I'm going on about 15 pessimistic posts in a row. I can't muster up too much optimism, but I'll try. Broadway spent the year working on throwing a 2-seam fastball, didn't he? So maybe there's some hope he could drop that walk total if he actually does learn how to throw it. I agree that nothing anyone saw tonight should make them think Broadway is anywhere close to being effective in the bigs, 86 MPH fastball and all. But if he could somehow learn the 2-seamer maybe he could be a semi-effective junk-balling reliever or something. That would be a triumph for the minor league system. His peripherals were much better in the second half of the season, but he had an ERA well over six since July... Actually, that's exactly how Haeger's season went last year too; Dominant first half, bad second half, surprising September. (though I'd hardly call Broadway dominating in the first half) I guess I was a little too swayed by the second-half ERA. Though, I couldn't explain how he was keeping his ERA as low as it was on July 1. We'll see. Things could have clicked, and didn't really show up in results outside of an improved K/9 and K/BB ratio.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 05:35 PM) Here's the article talking about the schools.... I'm not sure why Iowa is so hesitant towards a deal extension, but I really doubt if either side backs out. You can never trust a guy name Van De Velde. They're always dragging things out much longer than they need to be. To tell you the truth, I'd rather they dropped Iowa State, and picked up a revolving date with some Big 12 schools. Missouri left them in the lurch last season. (I think to get Illinois on their schedule) But I'd like to see them play a home and home with Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, A&M, and maybe even Kansas before I'd like to see them play Iowa State again. On another note. I'd love to see the Big Ten and Big 12 take the weekend before the NFL season starts and play a couple of "neutral site" games in the heart of Big 10 and Big 12 country. There's a bajillion issues preventing it from happening, but I'd love to see 2-3 games go off in one weekend that pitted real football teams from real football conferences against each other. They could even do it the final week before the conference schedule opened up if they played at some of the indoor facilities like Ford, HHH, and Reliant. It'd even be good if they could do it with the SEC, add in the Georgia and Super Domes, though I'd rather see B10/B12.

QUOTE(kevo880 @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 10:56 PM) I really hope the WhiteSox organization stops putting our young starters in the bullpen. I realize it gives them major league experience, but pitching out of the bullpen is a different mentality that most of the starters have never experienced which also leads to early struggles. These young hurlers have a difficult enough task as it is moving from the minors to the "show", I hate that management makes it even more difficult on them by putting them in situations they've never been in before. Agreed 100%. For too long the White Sox have suckled on the tit of Earl Weaver, waiting for the 3-run HR and working young pitchers in through the bullpen. From now on, it's baptism by fire, low OBP grinders, and Andy Gonzalez at 3B!

Broadway was second in AAA in walks allowed this year, and tied for 9th in all the minors. That's not good. Last season, Charlie Haeger posted similarly poor walk totals in AAA, came up to have an improbably good September with the White Sox and carried that through to a... another year in AAA. 4 innings of work with the White Sox isn't enough to convince me that he's anything other than his performance at AAA indicated.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 04:41 PM) I noticed the answer you posted on your blog, but I do recall people hyping Prior as the unquestionable #1 selection in late 2000. It jumps out at me because, in my more juvenile days, I was trolling the Cubs official MLB website and first became aware of him through there. Prior's numbers were good, but not otherworldly in 2000. He was the consensus #1 as the draft approached, but I don't think he was anywhere near as highly thought of as Alvarez was a year before the draft. An interesting trend that I've seen pointed out by others is that the the consensus top HS talent (when that player is a position player) has turned out better than their college counterparts... Off the top of my head that list includes, Adrian Gonzalez, Arod, Griffey, the Uptons, Mauer, Delmon Young,

Yes the #1 pick is a bad thing to have... Ask yourself this question? When was the last time the #1 pick was such a foregone conclusing over a year before the draft takes place? Who was that player?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 03:54 PM) NIU? They were on the road for that game. And they've only played 2 games thus far - ISU game is this Saturday. Just curious, what measure was used for "grossing"? I don't know what Jason means... But NIU could have hosted the game in Dekalb, and have less than 30K in attendance, or they could play that game in Soldier Field and sell out 61K at $50 a pop. I'm sure they split that with Iowa.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 01:20 AM) Number one picks overall 2000 Adrian Gonzales 2001 Joe Mauer 2002 Bryan Burlington Pirates a dirt dirt cheap organization 2003 Delmon Young 2004 Matt Bush 2005 Justin Upton 2006 Luke Hoechvar Cheap move, the better move was to pick up Andrew Miller. 2007 David Price That still looks like a pretty good list. Yeah in '04, Verlander and the Rice trio were pretty universally ranked ahead of Bush, who was a mid-round talent. In 2002, Upton was viewed as the best HS position player by a good margin. Though I don't really recall whether he was a consensus #1.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 10:57 PM) pretty damn good... Actually that's pretty damn bad. Because we don't have any talent to give up. You can throw out names like McCulloch and Broadway and Haeger, but opposing GMs will want one of two pitchers this off-season; Gio or Fautino. And any trade that moves one of them figures to be a poor one.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 10:31 PM) However, if that's the case, I think it is automatic that you have a 7 man rotation There's a novel idea, I'm surprised hasn't caught on yet.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 10:22 PM) On that I'll agree. And I might even throw Broadway and Haeger into that pot as well. If you start the season with Contreras, FLoyd, and Danks all in the rotation, and a couple of them wind up as disasters...then after about 2 months, 1 month at the earliest if things are just horrendous, you find some way to replace whoever it is that is dying out there with whoever's performing at AAA. Haeger will probably be out of options at the end of next year (When did he get put on the 40-man?), so he'll almost certainly be given a long look like Floyd's getting this year on another bad Sox team.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 09:35 PM) I think it's highly, highly likely that our starting 5 to open next year is Buehrle, Vazquez, Contreras, Danks, Floyd. If that's the case, it has to be Buehrle, Vazquez, and the best three of Gio/Danks/Floyd/Egbert after the break... Heck, if the Sox continue to play poorly next season, which is a very good bet right now. You could see Fautino getting starts down the stretch. (He's going to be a fast riser)