Chisoxfn

The max Fullerton can offer its coach was 140K. Tenn has so much more resources and factoring in bonuses, it sounds like Serrano will be right around the $500K per season mark. Pretty substantial raise and good for him! Sad that my program, from a financial perspective, just can't compete with the big boys, even though it is one of the premiere baseball programs in the country.

Anyone watch falling skies? Have it on the dvr and look forward to catching it.

Happy Bday Steve!!!

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 19, 2011 -> 11:29 AM) Erik Johnson (2nd round pick out of California) is pitching right now on ESPN. I said when he was drafted that he reminded of Danny Wright based on numbers, height/weight and stuff. Now watching him pitch on TV, I am convinced he is Danny Wright 2.0. Has a very similar delivery. It's almost scary how much Johnson resembles Wright. I really like Johnson. Lots of potential there. Real nice 2nd round pick and he had nice velocity which he sustained in the game. You can tell he's got some command issues, but overall, I think he's the type of guy the Sox can help out and really get a lot out of.

I'm closing this crap.

If people have a minute, please help! One of our local teachers is in a Pepsi contest to win $10,000 for her class to put a library in. Vote at this link and text 106604 to 73774. Elston is currently in 17th place, and the top 15 get funded, so your vote would help a ton! This is a great teacher, who really wants to do right by kids in a school with about an 80% poverty rate. http://www.refresheverything.com/booksforelston Thanks guys.

Dang it. I wonder if we can grab Vanderhook back. I doubt it, problem with Fullerton is they don't have the resources to pay top program money. Maybe we can lure back Horton from Oregon, ahaahaha. I wish. At least when Horton left I was very confident in Serrano, now not so confident in the potential options. My list of guys I'd like: Horton - Rumor has it that Horton isn't happy in Oregon, but at 400K per year, I highly doubt he's coming to Fullerton to take a 200K or more pay cut, haha. Rich Hill - USD's coach who has kicked some butt and done a great job recruiting and coaching some top pitchers Batesole - Fresno State's coach; Not sure if Fullerton could pay more, but clearly, from a national spotlight and history standpoint, Fullerton is a better job. However, in college baseball, how much spotlight is there anyway? Esquer - Cal's coach might be attainable and he seems decent. Greg Bergeron - Young guy, former Fullerton, offensive coordinator for UCI and the Asst. Head Coach for Fullerton. Very raw but knows the Titan offense and history. Plus he might end up at Tenn too.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 12:00 PM) They were all #1 draft picks. However, 2 of them didn't have the talent to be. Broadway and McCullough should not have been first round picks. Poreda still is a lefty with a big fastball, which makes you a first round pick. Broadway was a consensus 1st rounder. If the Sox didn't pick him, someone else would have. Maybe not a high upside guy, but teams loved his spike curve that he threw and thought he had a good enough fastball and command plus the makings of a nice 3rd pitch. Guy was lights out in college. He figured a pretty safe bet to eventually make it as a 4th or 5th rounder (as far as picks go). Just never worked out. I wasn't on board with the pick but at the time the Sox picked him, he had talent. He wasn't some bum. McCulloh, now that was a guy on the major slide who just kept sliding. His velocity was down, stuff was down, etc. I think Sox were hoping he'd rebound, but a year earlier at Texas he was a much better pitcher. Sox reached when they took Kyle when they did, imo. That said, most of the other picks around him that most people were interested ending up busting as well, IIRC. And Daniel Bard went a pick before us, so don't say we could have had him. Joba might have been the one guy some people liked that we could have had (which would have been nice).

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 14, 2011 -> 08:34 PM) Of course, I'm of the opinion that in the long run this year, we're a better team without Jake Peavy on the roster. This post has no logic, none. We are much better with Peavy and the attitude he brings to the clubhouse.

And for all the b****ing, Juan Pierre did put up a .365 OBP (.285 avg) in the month of May. May also happened to be a solid month for the club. He also had a > .700 OPS. June hasn't been as kind to Juan yet., but he had a nice game yesterday and that alone (given the small sample size of at bats thus far in June), will make his current June stats respectable. Basically put, Juan has been playing pretty darn well the past month (offensively). The problem is he did give up a good number of this hits getting thrown out.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 06:03 PM) If we don't win it this year, that's 3 years in a row where we failed to live up to expectations. Conversely, if somehow we can get this thing, that's 2 central titles in 4 years. One of those is fireable, the other gets an extension. Completely agree. I also think Ozzie has done a great job handling guys like Sale, Morel, Beckham, and Ramirez. And quite frankly those guys are part of the future of the organization. He's also done great with Danks making sure to publicly back him and telling him to forget about what happens, etc. Love the way he's handled Rios and Dunn too. The reality is we are paying both of them money to produce and while they havent', Ozzie is smart enough to know our best chances to truly be a dangerous team is to get them firing and the way he has publicly handled there struggles and from what it appears (also internally), I've been impressed. Whether his strategy ends up working with the guys, who knows, but regardless I like that approach. I can think of a few times that I got pissed at a decision he made as a manager, but I read the game threads, a lot of people will b**** if he does and b**** if he doesn't and that just isn't fair to any manager. Oh, did I mention, Ozzie also seemed to do a nice job after Thornton struggled. And I think the way he handled that situation might be partially why Thornton has been able to turn things around (he is also way too good to be that bad for an extended period of time, without some sort of injury).

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 02:37 PM) And when they lose the division for the sixth time in his tenure, do we also get to remember this? Or is that considered gloating? Fair is fair.

I'll just remember all of these comments when the Sox win a division title for the 3rd time in Ozzie's career this year. I also happen to think a managers most important job is to manage his players as a whole and has less to do with the in-game decisions though.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 11:02 AM) I just choked on my New England clam chowder. You can't be serious. He's done a phenomenal job of not over-reacting like a bunch of nut jobs here and staying calm and as a result the players responded. Ozzie has a tremendous ability to try and put his players in the best chance to succeed. That might not be in-game managing but it is an art that he has managed exceptionally, well, imo. And I know someone will now make a bunch of posts about how Kotsay being DH was a position he couldn't excel at, but by and large, Ozzie has done that and you'll hear a lot of his current and former players allude to that. Ozzie understands how up and down the game of baseball is and he isn't going to overreact to things too often. I have problems with some of his ridiculous comments and some of the things he does, but by and large, he's a good manager. The question to me is at some point, players tune guys out or maybe just need to hear another voice, and when that type comes, it comes. It will happen to pretty much every mgr and coach.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 10:57 AM) Its hard to believe because barring injury (which is possible here I suppose), people's speed doesn't fall off a cliff. It goes down gradually. But as I pointed out, it doesn't need to fall of a cliff for his effectiveness to have a big drop. I agree that just a step could potentially impact his game significantly. But I also tend to think a step is actually a pretty good size change in speed. Which given his age wouldn't be a shock and if it is the case than if I were manager, once he had proven he couldn't handle that lost step, he'd get less playing time. The problem is, Ozzie is like many managers, in that he wants a protypical leadoff hitter, and outside of Pierre he doesn't have any other options, so there isn't a better alternative in his mind (and this would be true of a very significant amount of mgr's, including some of the best in the game, like a LaRussa).

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 10:25 AM) I agree that the hyperbole is terrible. However, in reply to your bolded... Juan Pierre if "just slower" is no longer a starting major league ballplayer. His ability to steal a lot of bases at a 75%+ clip, and cover ground in the OF with his speed, are not pieces of his game he can do without. Without them he's just not good enough. To me the question is how much "slower" is he and I don't personally know that answer. Part of him getting thrown out could just be him having a flaw in his technique when it comes to getting good jumps and part of that is about confidence. The more he "thinks" about something, the slower he might appear. As long as he has above average speed, he should be a solid player. When that skill isn't there, than I think it is time that he is reduced to more of a bench role. I personally don't know if I've seen enough to say he doesn't have the speed anymore to be effective or if it is more of a mental thing as of this point. Kind of like how fathom points out that part of his problems in defense seem to be his “timidness”. I don’t know the answer because I’m not around Pierre enough to see first-hand the difference in his actual skills (e.g., his practice, the time it takes him to get from 1st to 2nd, etc). The eye test isn’t pretty to date, but as I pointed out above, part of that could be due to practice or a slump. The longer it goes though, the more you think it isn’t a slump anymore.

He was a 2 way player at Michigan right? Or was that his brother?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 10:18 AM) Dunn and Rios are still in their prime, Pierre's been thought of as a regressing player for a while now. There's still a good chance Rios and Dunn bounce back, especially Dunn. But there's the age/physical hurdle for Pierre to overcome. If I was going to bet on any of the 3 players to bounce back, it be rios. He's so talented and still physically there. The problem is, he's in such a funk and mechanically I think he needs to make an adjustment to that swing. Dunn is out of shape and has a slow bat thus far and Pierre is pretty much him (just slower). That said, I still think Dunn could turn things around to (or I sure as heck hope he can). My hatred of him probably makes me more biased though. I'm just trying to point out to you guys that talking in these crazy absolutely is detrimental to the overall quality of the board. I get that Pierre isn't ideal, I really do. But I have to respond when I see some of the stuff getting thrown around in here. If a good chunk of Soxtalk ran everything, every player would get cut within a week of making the roster since as soon as something bad happens, they are immediately the worst of all time at this or that, etc. It just isn't true. Baseball is a long season and you fail a lot more than you suceed and intangibles and other factors not measured directly by some of the new power stat (like OBP/OPS/WAR/etc) do exist. And sometimes you just have to ride out guys slumps because they have proven they are capable major leaguers (no, they aren't all all stars and we'd love to have better guys at different spots) but you just have to be patient and hope it is just a slump. Think about how Boston has ridden out some of Big Papi's slumps. Just my 2 cents.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 10:10 AM) This is where I've got to disagree with you Jas. You may be hard pressed to believe that in one year Juan Pierre's defense has completely fallen off the table, but it has. He had a couple week stretch where he didn't cost us a game in May, but even when that was going on there were several misplayed/adventures out there where he barely recovered on balls that last year's Pierre would have gotten to easily. 2010 Pierre would have made last night's catch while pulling up at the end, with room to spare. He's playing like 2006 Podsednik out there. He is getting poor jumps, taking bad routes to balls, and when he's close to a difficult catch it bounces off his glove. And I said, he's playing below average. But guys have had slumps before and it is pretty crazy to me that a guy could have just "lost" it that quick defensively. I don't know what it is, and maybe it is a physical thing where as he's gotten older he's lost some vision or doesn't see as well at night or loses depth perception. I agree that he's struggled, but I also don't see much better of an alternative right now. If we really wanted to, I'd be ok with Lilli at the top spot (as I mentioned in the post above this) but I still see Dunn and Rios being far more worthless offensively than Pierre right now (someone will point to me Dunn's OBP but he's been worthless so far). The problem is, right now, Ozzie wants to see these guys improve, if they don't, than I think by the end of June/early July we will see Viciedo get his chance. Until than, I don't have a problem with what Ozzie has been doing and I think its why his guys truly like playing for him. This has been Ozzie's best season as manager, imo.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 09:59 AM) I thought Pierre was fine last year. He provided defense, good base running, and an okay OBP for a leadoff hitter. But this year is a completely different story. He's costing the team on defense (by almost all statistical measures and by the screw-ups everyone has seen), he's incredibly inefficient on the base paths, and his hitting is what I expected it to be. If you add all of those things up, it equals negative contribution. When you have Viciedo mashing in the minors and Brent Lillibridge hitting like Jose Bautista every now and then, there's no reason for Pierre to touch the starting lineup. I know it is hard to believe that a player can regress as much as Pierre has at base running and fielding in just one year, but it's not totally abnormal for guys like him to regress heavily. He's actually made it pretty far for a guy who relies on speed and speed alone. What about when you have Dunn hitting like garbage or Rios being worthless. Pierre has at least hit and done a decent job of that over the past month and defensively outside of maybe yesterday's play (which wasn't near the gaffe that some of you make it out to be, imo), he's been improved. He was really bad that first month of the seaosn, but since than he's been better. Still, his lack of efficient base-stealing is costly and it is why I would prefer a better alternative and I honestly think I would have Lillibridge leading off for this club right now. However, that is a big risk. Maybe we put too much pressure on Lilli and he regresses and we lose out on what could be a guy turning into a solid everyday player (who is playing some insanely awesome defense).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 06:33 AM) This is purely my feeling, but I think we are seeing the effects of a $125 million payroll on drafting. I think we really went cheap because of all of the money we are spending at the major league level. And that is a short-sighted way for an organization to operate because truth be told, spending more on drafts, actually better enables you to manage your major league payroll and thus save you money down the road. It is my biggest problem with the organization under Kenny. I actually like our scouts and baseball people and I think we will see in a couple years that Buddy has done a good job overhauling player development (plus as I've mentioned many times, I think we do a tremendous jobs with pitchers in our organization already). The problem is, our budget, just doesn't compare to other teams budgets. I team with a $120M payroll should spend on average of $1-$3M bucks in bonuses to a copule non-draftable guys (e.g., the international FA's on a yearly basis) as a way to supplement for the lack of top round picks. They should also budget some additional money to take a couple over-slot guys, again, as a way to supplement not having top 10 to 15 picks year in year out.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 12:23 AM) And/or in scouting as well. I'm sure there's a reason. There's no way 30+ rounds with no high schoolers is a coincidence. Could very well be that the Sox feel that by taking a lot of college guys you have better odds of hitting on a multitude of guys and you can eventually spin them for what you want. Plus if teams were overvaluing high school guys in this years draft you could end up with better overall value picking the college guys. I don't think anyone in baseball, regardless of the club, is lazy when it comes to player development. Some are just far better at it than others. And I actually like the fact that the White Sox primarily hire "baseball" scouts versus applying this statistical nonsense on the draft. I think the statistical purposes serve better value at the major league level than say the low minor league and amateur ranks.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 10:14 PM) The draft reviews will start to flow tomorrow. Honestly, I think this could be a very deep draft class for the Sox. They picked a lot of college guys that put up solid enough numbers to do well in the low minors. Hopefully a few of those guys can make the leap into being a legitimate prospect. I'm going to need some convincing on the Johnson pick, but the Soptic pick sounds good and I love the Gardeck pick in the 8th if they can sign him. Gardeck and Johnson are two of my favorite picks and I'm warming to Walker. Being a guy who loves what speed can do for a baseball club I love the idea of the possibility of Walker panning out and just being wreaking havoc on oppositions for years to come. I get what you are saying about the collegiate guys but the thing that dissapoints me is it seems like we took a ton of relievers and while I don't know the ultimate plan for these guys there were a lot of picks that kind of had me scracthing my head (mainly because I tend to prefer a certain type of player). However, if the Sox can sign 1 or 2 guys late that should have went earlier, things would warm up for me. I also think our organization has actually done a decent job finding later round talent the past couple years (see: Hudson, Dex Carter, Brandon Allen, Aaron Cunningham, Clayton Richard, Chris Young, etc). I mention all of those guys because regardless of what they ultimately turned/turn into at the major league level (or in Dex's case how he fell apart eventually, but he still turned into great value for the Sox), they all had pretty solid trade value for guys we ended up developing a little later on (some were picked early in the top 5 rounds, others a little later). Kind of like what I thought Mitchell would end up doing and still hope he might eventually do (Mitchell with more power potential though). But you know what, I can't fault things from an injury perspective.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 9, 2011 -> 09:40 AM) Which team would want a .260 hitting corner outfielder with a slugging percentage 30 points lower than his on base percentage who can't field, can't steal bases, and is in his mid-30s already? No sane team would want him just for the hell of it, it'd be out of necessity, even if it's for the league minimum. There are far worse role players out there. In the NL, I'd love to at worse, have a guy like Pierre on my bench. I cna pinch run for him and even if he isn't the same base stealer he once was, he's still an above average base runner that would be of great use in a late game situation. I could also use him as a pinch-hitter to start off an inning or as a pinch-bunter. And I am hard pressed to think that in just one year his defense has completely regressed from being an above average LFer (which he was last year defensively) to utter crap defensively. In fact, while it might not have been a great play yesterday, I didn't have any problem with it and by and large his arm is what sucks about his defense. His range has been fine most of the year (sans his early hiccups). Has he been good in LF, no, he's been below average this season as a whole. But people here love to overreact and talk in pure absolutes. And contrary to the statiticians opinion (IMO), there is value in a guy that can smack hits, even if it is just singles. Singles are still a valuable commodity in the world of baseball and you don't always have to slug. Do I want Pierre back as a starter, no. Would I prefer a different leadoff hitter, absolutely. However, Pierre was solid last year and people still acted like he was the worse left fielder in the game. I get it, a lot of you are going to hate to hate cause its the cool or fun thing to do, but lets not pretend like the Sox are the only team that would have Pierre on there roster and worse yet, that since no one else would pick him up, he's the worse position player in the majors. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

That rumor of the Sox drafting Ozzie's kid this year or promising him they would is complete crap.