Chisoxfn

You can see Anderson, on the pitch, he brings his hands a bit outside and than back in and it prevents him from hitting the ball with any authority.

Anderson isn't keeping his hands in and is going around the ball, which is really hurting him offensively.

Anderson with the usual, grounder to the 3rd baseman.

QUOTE (daa84 @ May 25, 2008 -> 04:33 PM) btw is anyone else as convinced as i am that the espn thing is set up so that the umps dont look bad? i know it showed one earlier was a ball that they called a strike, i feel like K zone agrees with the umpire way more than it should I have a big zone, but i haven't had any problem with the ump. I'm fine with his zone and i just hope he calls it consistent for both teams.

Irvine, CA

Great hook by Lackey. Tip your cap to that. Interesting comment from Morgan, I'll be curious to see if we start noticing a more upright stance from Swisher over the next week or so and whether such will level out his swing plane.

Hunter is so f***ing good.

First crooked number of the day coming up for the Sox right here.

I don't know why, but I also think Thome and Swisher will too (even though Thome just popped up weakly).

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ May 25, 2008 -> 05:13 PM) Well let's just say the first 7 picks are (in no specific order): Alvarez Beckham Posey Matusz Crow Beckham Smoak Then I'd probably scrap the "college bat only" mentality and go best player available which in my opinion would be Hosmer, but assuming they don't want to touch Hosmer I'd probably go for one of Skipworth, Yonder Alonso or Aaron Hicks. I don't think going the high school route would be bad it just wouldn't be ideal. If Skipworth is there, I will be furious if the Sox pass up on him. He doesn't have unreasonable signing demands (Hosmer does, so I understand and won't blame the Sox for passing on him) yet he has very good tools. While he is a prep player, these type of catching prospect is very rare and the Sox would be foolish to pass on it. I understand people like taking the college player (safer route) but it is hard for me to compare the value in a stud catcher and a stud first baseman (how many more stud first baseman are there in the game than catchers). However, given that route, I would say that I'll be excited with any of the three guys you listed as I think all are capable of turning into perennial all stars (and while none are guarantees to do such, the goal of your #8 pick should be to get a guy who is capable of being a perennial all star and whether its Skipworth/Alonso/Hicks you are talking about guys with serious tools).

Brian Anderson is going to have a big game.

I won't comment too much on the mock, simply because the reality is it is a total crapshoot so its kind of a best effort. Gerrit Cole to the Yanks is an interesting pick, considering Cole has an absolutely brilliant arm (top 5 type of arm). The problem is his mechanics are questionable and there are a lot of experts already scheduling his first arm operation. One thing I want to comment is a name I really like, Brandon Crawford. This guy entered the season as one of the premiere collegiate players in the country (SS, UCLA) and he along with his Bruins had a down season but he has legitimate tools across the board (he has a lot of offensive tools, atlhough he still has to put everything together offensively) and could be an impact type of SS. If the Sox do pass on Beckham in the 1st round, than getting a SS like Crawford in the 3rd would be a major coup. I do want to point out that I tend to disagree on your assessment of Danks. I think he is a much more pure hitter than you give him credit for (I've watched about 10 or so Texas games on TV this year and he has a very smooth swing, but I think he's the type of player that should garnish a decent amount of power (not 30Hr power, but 15-25 Hr's isn't out of the question). Definately think he has the ability to be a very very solid OFer.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ May 25, 2008 -> 04:51 PM) I see too much Donny Lucy in Castro. Though my anger of drafting Lucy over Suzuki may still be affecting my judgement. I just don't see Castro as a top 10 talent. I think he's riding the coattails of Posey and Skipworth and doesn't belong in the same class. I would take Alonso if the catchers and Smoak are gone. I love Skipworth and keep hoping that somehow he falls to the Sox. I think he would be an absolutely tremendous pick. Aside from Wietters and Posey he is one of the best catching prospects to come out since Mauer (and that says something).

ACC has the top RPI in the country so they got that going for them. Of course the ACC hasn't had a national champ since 1955 (Wake Forest) and I personally hope that draught continues. I want to say that while Michigan has some talent (see Putnam) that it is a f***ing joke that they are getting a regional. I realize the midwest needs some representation but there were some more deserving squads. Below is the a list of the teams hosting regionals (per BA): ACC (4): Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State Big 12 (3): Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M Big West (2): Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State Pac-10 (2): Arizona State, Stanford SEC (2): Georgia, Louisiana State Big South (1): Coastal Carolina Big Ten (1): Michigan Conference USA (1): Rice

Nope, but there is a blog entry about it on TCNS, www.chisport.com

Okay, so if they want to go with the college bat and Smoak is off the board (I'm not going to even mention Posey/Alvarez as there is no way he'll be there at 8), than the debate would be between Alonso, Wallace & possibly Connor Gillespie. I personally think Alonso has more upside but Wallace is a pretty damn solid all around hitter. I don't buy into Wallace being a 3rd baseman, despite him playing a good chunk of this season over there. I personally think both are a decent size drop off from Smoak. I'd probably lean more to Alonso because he has more power potential, imo, and if we are talking about a 1B I want a guy that can hit for power (they should also be able to hit for average). Still, after Smoak & Beckham I think Castro is the next best collegiate position prospect (I put a premium on catching prospects though) and feel that the better value after Smoak is in the high school guys.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 25, 2008 -> 03:54 PM) There's no doubt Wallace is as good as a pure hitter as anyone in this draft, but if Smoak is there at 8, you take him. A switch hitter with 40 homerun potential doesn't grow on trees. Skipworth ain't dropping below the Marlins though, so I'll just scratch him off the list, and there's a good chance Smoak will be gone by 8 as well. However, if Skipworth, Smoak, and Crow are gone by 8 (T-Beckham, Alvarez, Posey, Matusz are going to be long gone by 8 and we aren't going pay Hosmer who will probably be picked by the Royals anyway, so might as well leave them off the list), I have no problem with Wallace. I'm not high on Beckham like everyone else, but I'd be okay with such a pick. My main gripe about Beckham is the unlikely hood of him staying at SS, and inevitable move to 2B, a position where we already have quite of a few interesting guys (Richar, Getz, and perhaps Ramirez and Shelby). As for the 3rd round, it looks like there is a possibility Jordan Danks will be there, and I'd gladly take him in the 3rd. We'd likely have to pony up 1st round money to sign him though. The Sox made him a very lucractive offer when we last drafted him and I have no doubt they'd do what is necessary to sign him (I don't think his demands would be completely ridiculous). I still say that as long as other teams are going above slot money than the Sox should be doing exactly that (i'm not saying be ridiculous, but if top talent is there, take it and throw the money out there...this system blows and the best way to fix it quickly is to throw a lot more money into the draft in the mid rounds because it will enable you to get an extra few top 3 round talents and a couple years of following that will really change the state of the farm system (combined with good scouting/coaching/player development).

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 25, 2008 -> 03:54 PM) There's no doubt Wallace is as good as a pure hitter as anyone in this draft, but if Smoak is there at 8, you take him. A switch hitter with 40 homerun potential doesn't grow on trees. Skipworth ain't dropping below the Marlins though, so I'll just scratch him off the list, and there's a good chance Smoak will be gone by 8 as well. However, if Skipworth, Smoak, and Crow are gone by 8 (T-Beckham, Alvarez, Posey, Matusz are going to be long gone by 8 and we aren't going pay Hosmer who will probably be picked by the Royals anyway, so might as well leave them off the list), I have no problem with Wallace. I'm not high on Beckham like everyone else, but I'd be okay with such a pick. My main gripe about Beckham is the unlikely hood of him staying at SS, and inevitable move to 2B, a position where we already have quite of a few interesting guys (Richar, Getz, and perhaps Ramirez and Shelby). As for the 3rd round, it looks like there is a possibility Jordan Danks will be there, and I'd gladly take him in the 3rd. We'd likely have to pony up 1st round money to sign him though. Shelby projects more as a CF prospect or at least the Sox are hoping that is what happens. In addition, Getz/Richar are not guys you pass up on drafting a player for. Plus you should be talking about going best available anyway at 8 (Sox shouldn't be drafting on need unless a player grades out similarly). The Sox have an absolutely ridiculous need at the middle infield though and Beckham would fill that, plus he grades out a lot better than Wallace. Wallace isn't even close to being graded as a top 8 prospect while Beckham is widely considered such. Plus he's a far more complete baseball player with much better skills. I can list another 5 to 10 guys I'd take at 8 over Wallace (both pitching/offensive prospects). Now if you narrow the list to collegiate players that list would get a lot smaller, but I don't think the Sox should just shy away from taking a prepster. If the best guy on the board is a prep player (Hicks/Skipworth/Hosmer) than you take him (all of those guys are better prospects than Wallace). Again, this doesn't mean they turn into better players, you never know what is going to happen, but a scouts job is to indicate who the better prospects are and than you play the percentages at that point (hoping you always are drafting as many good prospects as possible and at that point the %'s play out and if you've scouted right you've taken more good guys than most teams and as such you get more good prospects and major leaguers). I will repeat this, I'd rather take Danks (who'd be a major reach at 8) than Wallace and I'm going to continue to say that this rumor tying the Sox to Wallace is BS. I can only hope that the reasoning behind such rumor is that Kenny tends to see a decent chunk of games in Arizona and because of that teams assume he's a big fan of Wallace (than again, he may have seen a lot of games and fallen in love with Wallace which leads to the club overdrafting here).

LSU is playing very very good right now.

I will clear things up in a short summation. While we are not 100% on the information posted, we did perform some follow-up confirmations (those follow-ups indicated that the information appeared to be legit). However, we are not in the business of ruining peoples careers and the material posted was such that could ruin someones career. As such, we pulled it from the site.

I will also say I'd rather take Castro (Stanford Catcher) than Brett Wallace. This would be a bit of a reach pick (most experts are having a tough time placing Castro) but his tools are worthy of going top 10. The problem is he is still considered very raw for a college player. Still, I'm not a major fan of Wallace, at least not at 8. Aaron Hicks is the prep guy I love (aside from Skipworth/Beckham). In fact I like him more than Hosmer for the simple reason that Hicks is a better all around athlete. We are talking about a legit 5 tool kid. As a prepster his development will take a bit longer but good god he's got the ability to develop into a superstar and those are the type of guys I'd like to get with the #8 pick. I look at Smoak and you could very well be talking about Texiera. In fact, I like Smoak more than Alvarez at this point, although Alvarez has better athletism and a bit more tools. Still, I could project Smoak to being a .300+ hitter, high OBP, massive slugging numbers, while playing very good defense at first. We are talking about the type of hitter that can carry your lineup. Alvarez can do the same thing but while playing tremendous defense at 3rd (still raw in the fielding aspect but he has good range for a 3B and a f***ing CANNON for an arm).

Brett Wallace is not near as good as some of the other 3rd/1B types. Smoak/Skipworth (if he falls you take him)/Hosmer all rank much higher. I figure Hosmer will not go to the Sox though given his agent and thats a shame because he's a better prospect than Wallace. We can stratch Tanner Scheppes of the list as he has an injury which will probably knock him out of the 1st round. That doesn't mean whomever drafts him won't have to pony up first round money, but it does mean that if he's there in the 3rd I'll be doing my ornary b****ing if the Sox don't pick him up and offer him that sort of money (getting a potential top 10 pick in the 3rd round would be something you can't pass up on, not when you are a system as devoid of talent as the Sox are). That said, I'm sure Scheppes goes in the 2nd (if not the supplemental round). One guy whose stock has slipped a lot is Kyle Gibson. He's a very lanky offensive prospect with a lot of good raw power. His body is still incredibly lean so as he fills out I wouldn't be surprised to see him add even more power. He has good bat speed but his stock has slipped with a poor season. The main flaw I see in his game is that his swing is a bit long, but he's got very good tools and may end up being there in the 3rd. Danks is another guy whose stock has slipped and in his case I don't know why. EVerytime I've seen him play I come off impressed. He has legit tools across the board and has the ability to be a .280+, 20 HR+, 20SB, good defense type of guy and to me those type of players don't grow on trees.

Motherf***er...Titans blew yesterdays game in the 8th (which would have clinched sole poession of the conference title) and are getting hammered today. LB State holds the tie-breaker and will get the auto bid. Not that its a major deal, Fullerton will still host a regional but I still hate losing and this loss (2 out of 3, albeit on the road to a top 25 LB State team) could impact there possibilities at hosting a Super Regional (of course they still have to win a regional and I have my doubts because I truly don't think Fullerton's pitching is even close to being good enough).

QUOTE (Texsox @ May 25, 2008 -> 12:11 PM) I agree, and I've watched so many episodes, hell I know the Apelio season is after the King Crab season. But how many crab pots have we watched come over the rail? How many tosses of the hook? But Texas is up 8-1 on KSU for the Big 12 Title, (I love the P i n g of college baseball), and there just isn't much else to watch. Texas ix killing em too. Danks is 3-3.

Watching Texas...Jordan Danks is good, love that stroke. Kyle Russel, not so much (long swing).