maggsmaggs

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 26, 2014 -> 10:51 AM) Do you want to try for Melo? If so, they couldn't trade for Afflalo now. So if you were okay with going Afflalo plus some serviceable guys, then that is fine, but getting Afflalo now means no Melo. They could have gotten Afflalo, after signing Melo (if Knicks did a S&T) but the point is, we have to be in a position to offer Melo outright and adding Afflalo wouldn't allow for that (and you can't repackage Afflalo for a while so it is a misconception that the Nuggets can use him for Love, unless of course it really is a 3 way deal). It could be for Love...in December when he's eligible to be traded again. I am just assuming we don't get Melo. You're right though. But I still firmly believe that GarPax are not good GMs. Terrific scouts. Bad GMs.

Wow. Just an amazing miss by the Bulls. GarPax really have no business being General Managers. They can't consummate deals. They are terrific scouts and that should be their roles, but they do not know how to manage the salary cap, recruit free agents and ever make a big move.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 04:59 PM) Rizzo has been the better player. He is younger. He is much better defensively. He has a wOBA of .400. Anthony Rizzo is turning into a stud. Abreu is awesome too but we are being homers if we suggest that Abreu is better and it's not close. Come on. Agree. Both great players, but I would take Rizzo, too. Much more of a complete player right now. If Jose can work on laying off the breaking pitch low and away, he could really increase his walks and make the Abreu-v.-Rizzo debate much more interesting. But right now, Rizzo gets the nod.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 10:48 PM) The meniscus injury shouldn't really effect him too much. Yeah, but now it is basically 2.5 years without consistent game action.

I just wish I could not pay attention to anything Bulls related for the next two weeks. So much misinformation. Do not want to ride the emotional roller coaster.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 08:02 PM) I'm not sure how it will kill that nature. The draft is all about scouting now under the new CBA, an international draft will just be an extension of that. The only difference will be that big market teams can't use their excess revenues to simply outspend the competition like the Yankees are currently doing. Exactly. Nothing will replace good scouting.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 05:22 PM) Don't the Sox have $4.6M to work with? With that budget, I think it's a huge fail if you don't get one of the top guys, because you'd still have plenty of money to toss around on half a dozen of guys in the $250 to $500k range. I'm starting to get a little worried that the Sox did not plan for teams like the Yankees to go way over their allotments and have failed to adjust their strategy before it was too late. I guess we'll see soon enough. I mean there is nothing the Sox can do about the Yankees. The overage tax on the Yankees does not nearly deter them like it does most other teams because of relative revenues. $10 million in overage penalties affects the Sox WAY MORE than it does the Yankees. Rick Hahn is among the smartest guys in the games, if he thinks it would be worth it to go over the bonus caps by at most 5%, I have no doubt he has the freedom to do so as long as the money + tax for going over the cap is taken out somewhere else (most likely the ML team).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 22, 2014 -> 01:06 PM) Call me when they actually are able to add a star, without being lucky in the draft. Until then, it is all bs. Exactly. I have complete skepticism until GarPax actually consummate a deal for a star. Lucking into Rose does not count.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 22, 2014 -> 11:32 AM) I agreed with everything you said until the Johnson's speed is overrated comment. All scouting reports I have read have put it in the 70 to 80 range, meaning it's plus plus. I am going off the 80 grade. And I just think that he may have terrific raw speed, it simply is not manifesting itself on the baseball field yet. He is only 14 for 23 in SBs.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jun 22, 2014 -> 10:57 AM) I would probably be a supporter of a different ranking system that focuses on how close somebody is to contributing to the MLB roster. Afterall, that is the idea of the term prospect. Hawkins sure is strong, Danish has the quickest release on the planet, Anderson can hit etc, but these aren't grown men yet, so you have to talk subjective ceilings & floors ad nauseum. Check this out: we don't even know if Adams' body can handle 150-200 IP on a consistent basis and we want to say he's a top prospect for our ML Club. Get to AA, prove your ability to be a healthy horse, prove your dedication to your career, and then let's get excited. I think exceptions to this system might be generational potentials like Harper, Trout, Kolek etc- guys that just have IT, or just enough of IT to warrant expedited ascensions through systems. Unless I'm overlooking somebody, IMO our top 2 prospects are Semien & M Johnson and it ain't even really close. Davidson & Rodon would be the top of the next tier. And part of growing up and maturing is not only physical but mental. Sometimes it just clicks for a guy all of a sudden and he sees the game in a different light. Can't predict that s***. I think when valuing prospects, you truly need a holistic approach that balances proximity to the Majors, likelihood of reaching their ceiling, the ceiling of that player and mental make-up. I think Rodon is No. 1 in our system by a large degree. He is close to the Majors probably a year or 1.5 years away, has very strong make-up (according to the reports), has a huge ceiling and still has a solid chance to reach it. At worst, he probably is a useful mid-rotation arm ala John Danks before his injury. At his best, you have another Chris Sale in your rotation. I like Johnson and Semien, but neither overwhelm you with tools (save for Johnson's speed which I think it a little overrated) and neither has a concrete position.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 20, 2014 -> 11:08 AM) http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2014/#list=int MLB has a top 30 rankings out the July 2 prospects. The guys that have been linked to the Sox are ranked as follows. Ynoa - 17 Nunez - 26 Alfaro - 28 The scouting report on Nunez is very enticing:

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 20, 2014 -> 09:03 AM) Appel and Rodon are not the same. One factor people aren't mentioning here is, Rodon was taken #3 overall. That means, to have it make sense to not sign and go next year, you have to take everything into account risk-wise, with the only possible reward to occur if he goes #2 or #1 next year. Think about how much risk there is, for a reward that is very unlikely to occur (being the #1 or #2 pick)... and as a senior that year he'd have nearly zero leverage and probably have to sign below slot anyway, thus reducing or eliminating that reward if it were to even occur. Rodon turning down slot would be an epic failure on his part. And it is definitely not in his best interest to be pitching 150 pitches per start while throwing sliders as the majority of those pitchers. It is still SUPER early in the signing process. There shouldn't be any worry until we are one week away from the signing deadline and he is not in the fold.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Jun 20, 2014 -> 07:29 AM) Real happy with the system direction, could be top 5-10 by July, 2015 There is no guarantee we get either of the two players and even with adding them (assuming we did) and Rodon and the rest of the 2014 Draft group, there is no way we break the top 20.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jun 19, 2014 -> 11:22 AM) David Price could be a free agent after this season and I'd still do that deal. Bowden is on drugs if he thinks TB would do that. Hell, I'd give that up for Samardjiza.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 18, 2014 -> 09:09 PM) Agree to disagree. He was among the lead leaders in OPS prior to his promotion to AAA. His plate discipline was extremely good and he demonstrated decent power for a leadoff hitter type. I get the SB numbers are way down, but I'm not sure that really matters. We've seen the scouting reports and know the speed is plus. Honestly, I think in most other organizations he'd be hyped up by their fans. The guy isn't a Juan Pierre type, he's got way more athleticism and can become an all-around dangerous hitter IMO. I was high on him last year and his Southern League performance only makes me more optimistic. If I was 100% convinced that he would stay at second base, I would be much more optimistic about his future. You could easily project him to be a top-10 offensive second baseman in the majors for a long time. But if he has to move to the outfield like many are suggesting, then that dents his value. He has never played center field, so it is a stretch to say he will become a above-average center fielder. And if he has to play left field, he won't have enough of an offensive game to truly be a difference maker out there.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 18, 2014 -> 08:25 PM) Micah Johnson has a decent chance of being a top 100 guy IMO. I would be more inclined if his SB numbers weren't terrible this year. As it stands, he does has one plus tool (speed) and all of the rest are not special. And his plus tool is not even manifesting itself this year in the SB column. While it can appear in other ways, SBs are a large component in grading the speed tool.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 18, 2014 -> 04:08 PM) Jim Callis ‏@jimcallisMLB 5m No. 6 overall pick Alex Jackson agrees to terms w/@Mariners. Trying to pin down exact $ (north of $4 mil). Pick value = $3,575,900 @MLBDraft Looks like the Mariners will be paying an overage.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 18, 2014 -> 02:00 PM) It is games played by the individuals. The "pace" though basically predicts another DL stint for Abreu. So his "pace" for games played is much lower than it might actually be if he stays healthy the rest of the year.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jun 17, 2014 -> 08:48 PM) http://blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners/20...g-with-jackson/ Looks like the Mariners made some progress with Jackson. They are using the same strategy we are. Also interesting because Jackson is represented by Boras.

You can find it sort of Baseball Reference. You will have to do the individual math, but you can get the league-wide strikeouts and at-bats/plate appearances. http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/l...cgi?id=c1884526 This might be even better: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/l...e.cgi?year=2014

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 02:12 PM) The Giants have a top 2B prospect behind Hicks...they're not going to trade for Beckham and bring him to a new league unless their lead over the Dodgers falls to 3-5 games. They're not being threatened right now. I didn't look beyond MLB.com's top 10 prospects for them, so I missed their second base guy. Panik?

I posted this in the other Flowers thread, too. Maybe the Sox could try to acquire Giants prospect Andrew Susac. He is stuck behind Posey and pretty much ML-ready right now. The Giants do not have a real MLB second baseman. Their starter most of the year is batting (Hicks) is batting .177 though with 8 HRs but also has an insane 32% K-rate. So a swap of Beckham for Susac would benefit both teams. Plus, the Giants do not have a top prospect at second base. MLB.com's prospect report on him. Granted, it's the Pacific Coast League, but he is batting .288, .388 OPB and an .892 OPS.

Maybe the Sox could try to acquire Giants prospect Andrew Susac. He is stuck behind Posey and pretty much ML-ready right now. The Giants do not have a real MLB second baseman. Their starter most of the year is batting (Hicks) is batting .177 though with 8 HRs but also has an insane 32% K-rate. So a swap of Beckham for Susac would benefit both teams. Plus, the Giants do not have a top prospect at second base. MLB.com's prospect report on him. Granted, it's the Pacific Coast League, but he is batting .288, .388 OPB and an .892 OPS.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 15, 2014 -> 08:44 AM) Who are some FA catchers next year or is Nieto next? Nieto. Phegley. Smith. And there is literally nothing in free agency for next year: John Buck (34) Ryan Doumit (34) Nick Hundley (31) – $5MM club option Gerald Laird (35) Russell Martin (32) Jeff Mathis (32) – $1.5MM club option Wil Nieves (36) Miguel Olivo (36) A.J. Pierzynski (38) David Ross (38) Geovany Soto (32) Kurt Suzuki (31)

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Jun 14, 2014 -> 03:42 PM) Got it, and I assume they could likely offer 4 years of college as well that would not count against the cap. Correct.