Chisoxfn

Hell f***ing Ya

That was a good pitch Paulie just dropped the bat on it and hammered it.

They looked really happy. This was a bonding moment!!! Sox picked up Jenks for the blown save...WOOT WOOT.

That felt good...real good.

YES YES YES

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 06:15 PM) Well, if Beckham goes no. 1, then Posey falls to 5, IMO. The Giants won't pass on Posey. So, that leaves KC and Baltimore as the only real big threats to take Smoak, and it looks like Baltimore wants Matusz. Also, it looks like the only player KC would take ahead of Hosmer is Beckham. I really think that if Beckham goes no. 1 overall, there will be a good chance now that both Smoak and Crow will be there at 8. Man, that'd be a tough decision. I'm hoping Smoak goes 3 (Royals could have went with Alvarez at 3, but that doesn't look like it will happen unless Pitt shocks the world and doesn't take him) to the Royals, Hosmer than would go 5 to the Giants (they like Hosmer more than Posey I think) and than we'll see Posey quite possibly slide to 8. Its me hoping, but who knows.

Hosmer will go 3 or 5, book it. And him going 5 is the only shot Smoak falls to the Sox pick.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 12:49 PM) I'm still proud for being the sole person responsible for the Sox World Series victory. Whaa, you? Ummmm, *cough* ME *cough*

Danksy

Good god, if Buster Posey were to fall that would be tremendous. Hell, if we wanted to convert Posey to SS, he'd grade out above Beckham (thats how good of an athlete Posey is). I can't utter how excited I'd be if Posey fell into the Sox laps. Skipworth is the more likely candidate to fall though. Crow is not going to get past the Reds (despite all this talk about Kelly going there) just like Castro is not going to be taken by the White Sox.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 09:35 AM) Wasn't this Hochevar guy the #1 overall pick in like 2002 or so? The guy is very talented. Out of Tennessee if I recall correctly. He hasn't put it all together yet though and has definitely been susceptible to the long ball (based on the couple games I saw of him earlier in the season).

James OnCurry is not really considered a PG. If you consider him a PG, than Ben Gordon is a PG. In fact, Gordon is a much better PG than Curry (just think about that cause Gordon blows balls at everything but scoring). The best thing that will happen to this franchise is Gordon getting out of dodge. He's one of those all or nothing players I hate (similar to my distaste of Jim Thome). Ben Gordon coming off the bench is a valuable asset to a franchise, Ben Gordon the starter who gets a near max contract, is an absolute travesty and the Bulls need to let some other team deal with that mess (and they should be able to get something valuable back in return too).

Beast, so you know Loaiza signed. Its been reported in the Suntimes blog amongst other places.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 11:54 AM) I believe Riske was a class A free agent the one year, and we didnt offer him arb missing out on the picks. Had the Sox offered Riske arb, the Royals wouldn't have signed him to the deal they did and he probably would have accepted arbitration. Its the same reason why we won't offer Juan Uribe arb (as he's still got a chance of qualifying for type B compensation (1 pick).

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 11:42 AM) hmmm Pick #26 Why would we trade Durham for Jon Adkins when we could have just let Durham walk and get compensation?!? I was mad at that trade back then, this does not help matters. I know this happened 5 years ago, but still... I hope Kenny does not plan to operate this way any longer. This is because everyone thought the compensation system was going to be gone as a result of the new collective bargaining agreement. It had been widely reported that was going to be the case, but at the end of the day that was one of the things that didn't make it into the new agreement (just as a refresher, that was a time where many many experts believed there was going to be a lockout or strike and was the same time baseball was talking heavily about contraction).

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 11:26 AM) Cubs picked Ryan Harvey right before Markakis. ouch. Speaking of ouch, the year before, Cole Hamels went right before we took Royce Ring. Joe Blanton was the guy the whole world thought the Sox were going to take instead of Ring. Turns out the rest of the world was right.

IIRC, the slotting system was not in existence for the Borchard pick. That said, I didn't follow the draft at that time so I can't comment on that fully. However, after that failed pick the Sox have been afraid of going out and putting out big bucks on a prospect. They can put it down and rationalize it anyway they want, but they have went with the easy sign since that point in time. In there defense, most of the time they pick (which is usually in the teens & twenties) has been at a point where typically guys grade out relatively similarly.

QUOTE (29andPoplar @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 09:42 AM) Jason, I just don't think they'll go with a high school guy. Call it a hunch. Now if Smoak is on the board they've got to think really hard about passing him up. Heir apparent for Konerko when his deal expires after 2010. Then again, the same could be said for Brett Wallace. Aren't the Giants all over Smoak though? The Giants are very interested in Smoak, but they might also consider Pedro Alvarez if he falls (in fact I'd be shocked if they didn't). Brett Wallace doesn't at all compare to Smoak. I've seen both play a few times and the reality is that Smoak is as good (or at least close to as good) of a pure hitter as Wallace (don't get me wrong, both show the ability to be tremendous "pure" hitters), except Smoak possesses far more power potential and is better defensively. Neither Skipworth or Smoak appear to be tough signs either. I understand that the Sox may not take Skipworth and if he's on the board it won't be the first time I've flipped out at the way the Sox do business. I felt the same way when the Sox took Lucy (over Suzuki who I absolutely loved and saw play numerous times at Fullerton), McCulloch, and Whisler. Those were probably the three most disappointing picks since I've been following). The other thing that always gets my panties in a bundle is the Sox unwillingness to take talented guys that fall and offer over slot money. Maybe not going after Alvarez (I understand 9.5M is a strong commitment to a player that young, especially if someone like Smoak who grades similarly is on the board), but I see no reason why not to take a flyer on a top 3 round talent whose slide down because teams know he'll cost 2 or 3 round money (or he may have a strong lean to a school). In there defense, they were aggressive with Danks, but its well known Reinsdorf refuses to go above slot money (and I have a problem with that approach because I think its fiscally smart to go above smart money because in the long term, with proper scouting, it gives you more good prospects.

And if you could read (this is me defending the person) he was throwing out possible moves (since Ozzie had said he was going to shake things up). He wasn't stating what he would be doing. In terms of Josh Fields, take a look at his MILB numbers this season. He's been downright terrible.

He's got big legs. However, he dropped a decent amount of weight and actually has solid speed. That said, you could probably say there would have to be at least some concers about his weight. He's a tremendous pure hitter whose had 2 straight triple crowns in the pac 10.

Smoak is arguably the best hitter in the draft. Skipworth is the best prep catching prospect to come out since Joe Mauer Beckham is a legit top 10 talent, but isn't in the same category as the above two guys. If the Sox pick Beckham with Smoak/Skipworth on the board I'll be very dissapointed (and this is coming from someone who likes Beckham).

I should add that the SS I absolutely love is Crawford out of UCLA and if he somehow is there in the 3rd round the Sox need to take him.

Personally I think both Khalil & Michael Young are solid shortstops. Young had a couple above average seasons but as a whole neither are what I consider upper echelon shortstops. However, there is a great article on Baseball-Intellect which actually breaks down Beckham's swing and compares it to Alex Rodriguez. The similarities are staggering. The only legitimate question is to ask whether Beckham has the bat speed and raw abilities of Alex Rodriguez (or even close to it). http://www.baseball-intellect.com/Articles...kham-swing.html

Interesting move. I always liked Loaiza. I don't know how much he has left nor do I really grasp where he's going to fit. That said, you never know who goes down and what Kenny has up his sleeve. I've long been comfortable with a guy like Broadway being able to come up if someone goes down, but if its crunch time maybe the Sox are more comfortable going to a veteran in that circumstance. Or, maybe the Sox are going to see what Loaiza can bring and at that point trade one of there starters (hoping Esteban can come in and be a league average starter) for some offense.

TCSN: White Sox Draft Preview By Andrew Dunn Chisport.com