Chisoxfn

Fathom, you don't draft guys based upon what you have in the system that much, you draft who you think is best. This guy clearly has some tools. Given this was our first pick though, I wanted the Sox to be bold and agressive. Sounds like almost everyone on there boards was gone and this was the next guy on there list or at least, this was the only position player even close to grading out at 47 on there list where as they still have a lot of pitchers grading out in the 2nd to 3rd rounds and given how deep of a pitching draft this is, the Sox felt that by taking Walker here and with what they project they can do with there next couple of picks that this overdraft was the best strategy. I like his upside and talent and i don't buy into this saying anything about Mitchell. The key to me is will the Sox organization start developing guys or not. In the next year or two we'll have a better idea since the organization has now had a few years under Buddy Bell and he supposedly put in some pretty major changes to the overall player development.

Congrats Sqwert!

It has risen a bit due to his ability to hit. But he is still something like the 60th rated prospect in his state (albeit, it is a state loaded with talent). In no way am I insinuating he is a top 3 round talent or anything like that.

You guys are seriously overreacting. But oh well.

Ozney is a quality prospect. I have no problem drafting him (as long as it is in an appropriate round).

Tough loss for Fullerton. Tip my cap to the Illini. Nick had been money all season and just couldn't do it. I was still heartbroken from Saturday's 1-0 loss to Stanford. When the matchups came up, I thought Fullerton was going to lose (of course, I thought they would lose to Stanford). Well done Fullerton. Pretty crazy out on the West with both Fullerton and UCLA going down.

Was never worried. They did a nice job pulling away in the end. Illinois should have a shot against Kstate. But they have very little chance of taking down Stanford (who is loaded with talent) or Fullerton two games in a row.

Just 116 for me. Couldn't believe I didn't know any of the Padres and had forgotten about Mr. Green.

We clearly need to start supersizing for the good of the economy.

I completely disagree. Right now the Sox have done nothing but play Dunn and now I think it comes to the point where mentally he might need some breaks. I would work on getting him into the field more but until he starts hitting confidently against righties we need to consider our useage of him against lefties and in key situations. Somehow the Sox are going to have to figure out a way to get some benefit out of him, becuase as much as I can't stand Dunn, he's a better player than this (duh). I could argue all day how valuable he really is and his OPS makes him appear more valuable than he is, but the Sox have to hope he figures it out. I would say that my biggest concern is his bat looks very slow and that is a very alarming fact because if he has no bat speed (and its a result of aging), he really will be worthless.

Plus, who knows if they've done it to other people. Might as well make em learn there lesson.

?

Personally, for the sake of college baseball, I hate the new bats. No more "ping". It has really impacted a lot of natioanl programs too since power is just so far down that teams who were built on power are just getting killed (see LSU). The reality is there aren't many guys who early in there college career are going to be able to rake with regular bats. However, I understand the safety use of things and I also understand that from a talent evaluator standpoint if everyone used wood bats it would make things easier.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 2, 2011 -> 09:16 PM) I know Bosh hasn't played well in this series yet, but it seems like he deserves a little better than that after the series he had against the Bulls... Especially since Wade played awful in that series and they only won due to the performances of LBJ (who was huge in the 4th against the Bulls) and Bosh (who was pretty damn consistent). Haslem also played a big role as well.

Student Loan debt is 850B and growing. It actually exceeds credit card debt in this country. And from 10 years ago, the average student loan debt in this country has increased by ~54%. Pretty insane given how much more we are actually spending as a country. It is actually quite mindboggling to me that debt has increased that much and tuition costs have increased as much as they have as well (and that isn't a coincidence, imo), all in a short 10 year span. Makes you wonder what the f*** we spend our money on, given gov spending has done nothing but go through the roof.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 3, 2011 -> 07:38 AM) God yes. But that would have had the government "Paying your neighbors' mortgage" though. And we can't do that, people who screwed up have to suffer. Let me give you an example of one of my dads clients: Client bought a house for 850K. Said house today is worth probably between $400 to $450K. Client reached out to the bank at a time the house was worth 550 to 600K (owing 800K) and requested on 4 separate occasions that the bank negotiate a deal with him (He would have paid $100K cash for them to reduce the loan to between 500K and 550K). That would have been money the bank got. Since the bank said no, which was now 3 years ago, they have not received anything. No mortgage payment, no nothing. My dad’s client has since saved up a large sum of money (to buy another place in cash, regardless of his s*** credit). So when the bank eventually takes this thing over, they are going to end up netting, around 400K (give or take 15K, after you factor in the commission and costs of escrow, etc). Seems like a huge loss compared to the alternative. Another crazy statistic, in California, ~40% of homes are underwater, Las Vegas, Florida and Arizona are all still above 50% or so based upon a study released this month. This crap isn’t ending yet. I don’t think anyone realized how bad things were going to get before they get better. The key is, affordability is still ultimately not there in many areas and until the prices correct to that price point, you are going to continue to have too much negative pressure on pricing.

Wow. Hope you are ok Willie!

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jun 2, 2011 -> 10:11 PM) I was unaware. That sucks. The guy was Kurt Suzuki. Basically the guy everyone was clamoring for when the Sox took Lucy instead. Not known for his defense but he's supposed to call a good game and is a smart guy. His bat graded out quite nicely and the only question was whether a team graded him out as a catcher or a 1B/OF type. Sox graded him as a catcher and as a result he was drafted pretty close to where most experts thought he would go (if a team liked him enough to stick behind the plate).

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Jun 2, 2011 -> 05:51 PM) IIRC, he was asked to be the 6th man while here. He had a problem with it. What makes you think that he'll be okay with doing it now? The point of the whole article was that he's going to be a lot different after the perspective of rotting on a s***ty team in a s***ty situation in Detroit.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jun 2, 2011 -> 05:57 PM) Pretty much. He isn't right at current time, and he isn't obligated to share his medicals either. Most speculation has him being picked by teams that have multiple selections and thereby can afford to miss out. Tampa and Boston are thrown around the most. Boston already hit a homerun last year on Ranaudo who slid massively due to some concerns but had just massive talent.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 2, 2011 -> 05:52 PM) From everything I've read, it sounds like we shouldn't touch Purke with a 100 foot pole. I read a recent scouting report saying his fastball has dropped 4-5 mph since HS and he tires real fast. There are some serious injury concerns with him too. Couple that with his asking price, I have a feeling he will fall a lot and wind up returning to TCU. This is true, but he wouldn't be the first guy that you take a flier on that ends up working. His upside is much higher than almost any pick in that range. Now, I will say this, if the Sox were willing to spend that much, given teh depth of this draft, I'd rather they take a couple fliers on guys and give a few guys overslot money. Purke has a lot of talent.

I'd be down for Purke if he somehow slides to 47. Sox would obviously have to dish out some cash though (4 to 5M). Which they won't. There is a shot Goodwin could be there too (drafted by Sox before, repped by Boras, kicked out of UNC and now playing for Miami Dade CC).

Thoughts are with ya wite

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 2, 2011 -> 09:17 AM) I remember Danks being talked about like a mid career Mark Kotsay. High average, 20 homers, good speed, great defense. I don't remember ever hearing about big power. He was always thought of a guy that would potentially develop power. However, those projections kind of went out the window the longer he stayed at Texas as the power just didnt' develop as many expected it to. He would hit the ball incredibly hard, his swing path just didn't lend itself to those hard hit balls turning into homers (rather line drive doubles, etc).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 2, 2011 -> 09:46 AM) The problem is that Ben Gordon with the Pistons has been less effective than Kyle Korver has been the last 2 years. That part I don't disagree with. However, I see plenty of reasons why his struggles there could go away and in this instance, given the current state of the CBA there is no harm from us as a fans perspective in making this trade. Gordon has a high probability of being far better than Korver (imo) and we get the #8 pick for two lower 1sts and end up with Bogans back anyway. I just don't see how you could have a problem with this hypothetical deal. Doesn't really impact our cap status other than Jerry would have to pay some luxury tax (again, this is all under the current salary arrangement).