Chisoxfn

Mines like 100 bucks a month.

Agreed. All of them are welcome here. You seem really cool Jim and I'm sure all your team-mates are cool. You guys seem to be a real close knit bunch and thats great to hear. The only thing I ask is that you guys don't forget eachother when you make it to the show, cause I love watching teams where everyone picks eachother, up etc. Its some of the best baseball ever. Ya never know, one day I could be in the organization in some way, at least I'm going to try to. Go kick some butt in the double header tomorrow.

I will vouch that is it Jim Bullard. He's a good guy and I enjoy all comments, whether from fans or players because you get different perspectives. I think it is good how the players are willing to step up for eachother. It shows commrodory (excuse the spelling) and I am so excited for the future of this organization. Right now its the only thing that really gets me excited. And like Mario said, were gonna be going down and watching all the games and I can't wait to do so. I'll definately stop by and give a shout out to all of you. We love hearing from ya guys. Some may be harsh, etc, but know this, WE ARE ALL ROOTING for you to become stars.

One thing that always impressed me about Liefer, is that every time I saw him at spring training, the guy would absolutely mash the ball. He would put on a show during batting practice. He showed great power that one year with the Sox, but after that the power was never really there for him. Either way I wish Jeffro like.

That was entertaining.

Lol, for a sec Ithought you were quoting me. I guess thats from the article. Ya, I'm with you, Frank is in.

He was pretty bad last year in the Angels organization. Still, its kind of odd that they would keep going with a 23 man roster. I'd like to see Yan and Reed move up to Birmingham to fill their roster. Then when Cotts gets healthy, you move O'Neal back down to Winston Salem.

Mark Haley will become the new Baron's hitting coach, replacing Greg Ritchie, who was promoted to Charlotte(AAA) after Greg Walker was hired as the new White Sox hitting coach. Haley is coming from the Great Falls White Sox and has been a part of the White Sox organization for the past twelve years. During his stint with the organization, Haley has served as hitting coach for Winston Salem (1999-2002) and as manager of Hickory (A) in 1998. Also: The Barons added two pitchers to the roster, which gives them a total of 23 on the active roster. They activated RHP Rob Purvis, who missed most of last season with an injury. They also called up RHP Brandon O'Neal from Winston Salem (High A). O'Neal was 0-0 with a save this season and had a 4.95 ERA in 16 appearances. Courtsey of Futuresox.com

Also in regards to my personal way of ranking prospects. I rank them based on stuff, control, and statistics. I fit into the minority because I don't really base things on the "gun". I think having a great fastball is fine and dandy, but people have proven time in and time out that you don't need that fastball to be a stellar pitcher (Fassero, Maddux, Buehrle). Whats more important is that you have good movement, control, and can effectively change speeds. When a guy has a great fastball, it definately makes things easier, cause they have a great margin for error, but in no way does it guarantee sucess. My theory is if a pitcher can control his stuff, and has a good mindset of how to pitch (I think a lot of that comes from experience and simply understanding the game), then they have every shot to be successful. Of course a good way of evaluating how they are doing is based on stats where you can look at walks, strikeouts, how many hits they give up, etc. Still, stats don't tell you how hard he was hit, how the defense played, so there are definately flaws in only grading off of states, especially if its based on a very short span of stats. If you look at stats I think its best to look at a much larger picture, so you can see the progression of a pitcher (has their control improved, etc). Also, like Brando said, I'm sure some of you could be working on a new pitch and trying to hone that, which could lead to a few more hits a game, etc, simply because your experimenting and the time to experiment and add pitches is usually before you reach the majors, cause I'm guessing, its way harder to experiment and add during the major league season. That you would have to do during offseason and spring training. Thats just me speaking on my method on judging a prospect. The other people who pitched in also have their ways and we tried our best to mesh everything together. I thought one of the benefits are that some base things harder on one thing then another, so you get a varying perspective. Like I said earlier, we will work even harder on our next list (Midseason List) and try to explain more.

First off thanks for the comments. You the players are the ones who know the most about yourselves so what we did was only try to describe things the way we see them. We had a lot of arguments when we came up on the list. Some people wanted some guys higher, others wanted them lower. Overall we tried our best to put things together and then divided reports up amongst a few people. Personally I think we were probably a bit hard on West, but its mainly because he's got such dynamite stuff. Speaking for myself, I Think he has a great shot at making the Sox. I think like everyone, people have things they need to work on. Most noteable I think every pitcher can always work on control, etc. Thats just my two cents from my playing days and watching (I'm far from an expert and no I wasn't good, lol). Let me also say I never ever ever think I could play like you guys do. To make it to the level you all are at is downright impressive, and more importantly your all striving to make the majors, a VERY impressive feat, and for that I have the upmost respect for each and every one of you. I also agree with you Jim that numbers can be very decieving. For example if you look at some of Buehrles outings you would think he was hammered, while in fact there were a few games where the defense was atrocious or he just gave up a ton of "duck-snorts". Anyway, as always I look forward to catching a few games this summer and trying to pick up on more things. Were always striving to make our articles better, so your feedback will definately be taken into account. Were always striving to do better and I wish you all the best of luck.

Wino, make sure you have a ton of fun on this trip. You wont' be missing much other then the excitement of a White Flag trade and being able to look at a bright future (I love telling myself that ). Hope you have fun seeing all of Europe. It should be a freaking blast

He'd be a solid pickup as it would mean Chandler is out. I'd rather have Kordell, Grossman, and Griese then Chandler. My theory is make the qb position as strong as you can get it and we'd definately be 3 deep. Griese may be an idiot off th field, but he's very sharp when it comes to running the west coast.

Either way its nice to see Mike Morse and Gonzalez get rolling. Two of them have the tools to play and as long as they hit they'll be in good shape. Also good to see Stumm get in.

I hope you get on a roll Jim. The Barons could definately use some great spot starts from you and McWhirter. I also hope that Cotts, Ulacia and Malone can get back healthy.

Is it that you have to hire minority candidates or is it that you have to interview a few people?

even worse, two really good ones for Tyler Houston.

Rauch has been pitching really good in AAA. Its nice that he's throwing the slider again or at least he's supposed to be.

Since thus far we've all been drastically dissapointed, I was thinking we could all remenice (Sp?) about our favorite Sox teams. My favorite one would probably be 2000, although I also loved the early 90's Sox. Watching Frank and arguing with my friends when trading ball cards whether Griffey or Frank was better was always fun. They also had Rock Raines, One Dog (Lance Johnson), and of course Robin Ventura. And of course my fav pitcher, Black Jack McDowell.

Joe Borchard (aka LTP - LIGHT TOWER POWER)

Thomas is gonna bust up on Andy Ashby.

Well, I'd go with the Dodgers and I think there is a no hitter. Therefor I'm gonna go with Jimenez because he strikes out less.

Can you cork an aluminum bat? I wish they didn't have aluminum bats. MLB should donate money to the NCAA so its mandatory to use wooden bats. Aluminum sucks.

I hope I see Manuel chatting with all the Sox fans before the game at the Biltmore. My plan is to make sure he gets hammered, slip some girl 5 bucks to keep him busy and maybe the Sox will be forced to hire a new manager. I have nothing against Manuel, I just want Backman here. Also, anyone wants to see a manager like Jerry Manuel, watch the Dodgers game, Jim Tracy is identical. Both are good guys and the players like them, but both suck at MANAGING. There is a reason both teams have crappy offenses.

Well we'll see what jinx works. Whenever I see the Dodgers they get beat. Bad for my dad, fine for me. Either way, I want to see a no hitter.

I got World Series 2k3 and its really good. My buddy has high heat and says its good too.