Chisoxfn

Nope, but I'll make sure to watch out for any of our guys slated to play. We'll also make sure that before the CWS starts that we have a list of guys still playing and when there teams are scheduled to play in the CWS. Obviously I'm rooting for my Titans. Afterall, I am an Alumni. Turns out Chad Ford is also an alumni.

Jake Fox is most likely a AAAA player. I wouldn't at all make a trade for Jenks without getting at least two upper echelon prospects in return. We have no need to move Jenks and he's paid just fine and is still very young and under our control for a bit longer. Vitters would have to be part of the trade and there is no way the Cubs deal him. Plus the rest of the Cubs system is pretty piss poor so they aren't a good partner, imo.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 11:26 AM) We're shooting a bit higher with Danks2. His upside appears to be that of Grady Sizemore. Completely agree. He has flaws to his game but defensively he has all the abilities and tools to be a great defensive outfielder (whether in CF or in RF, cause he's got a f***ing cannon). And offensively again the tools are all there, although as everyone knows he has a high strike out rate. I actually like Danks and Viciedo more than Beckham although Beckham is the safest bet to have a good major league career, imo. And I like Beckham a lot too. I think all three have a shot at being perennial all stars. Flowers does too, although I don't like him as much as the others. Flowers more so because a guy that can hit and for power at the catcher position is rare and with such a weak group of catchers it isn't that tough to eventually be an all star.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 10:28 AM) If I'm wrong... Who's balls do I have to kiss again? Also, Gage, you were dead on about how we should have drafted Crawford. Still K's a ton, but he's been hitting this year, and his ability to play SS could also translate to 3B, 2B, or even maybe even somewhere in the OF. Morel, while he seems like a decent player, he's just meh. I think it was rocks. Morel seems like maybe a Bill Mueller type of ball player. He was a big over-draft though, plain and simple, as was Kenny Jr.

You got to love the type of athletes we got in those two selections. I know I do. It is also why I like Lauman, he's a very toolsy type of guy.

If Danks and Floyd prove themselves, than with Buehlre there the Sox are in a pretty good position to still compete while retooling the offense. And if Richard or Poreda look like solid starters than it means the Sox are in a great spot. My guess is we see one of richard/Poreda slide to the pen (or traded) and the Sox bring in one more really good starter and than we'll have a sick rotation and can deal with some of the growing pains on the offensive side of the ball.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 10:15 AM) I think I'm passed that stage. I was there a few weeks ago. At this point for me, it's about watching Beckham every day, and now hoping to see Poreda get some innings. On top of it, we are getting to see how Getz and Anderson handle starting every day, Ramirez dealing with playing short, and seeing who is going to be in the team picture for next year. It's certainly bad baseball, but there are some interesting reasons to watch. Plus we get to see Danks and Floyd battle through and hopefully get themselves ontrack. Floyd appears to have turned the corner and I'm hoping for his 4th straight good outing. Hopefully danks turned the page yesterday

Fullerton is going to start there Saturday starter in game one of the CWS, Noe Ramirez, a true freshman. If it pays off it means we'll have our ace, Daniel Renken (true sophmore) in game two.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 09:19 AM) BTW, regarding Viciedo and for that matter Ramirez, according to Rick Hahn, the White Sox still hold the 6 year rights to these guys, its not a situation like some Japanese players where arbitration is agreed to be waived, so the clock on Viciedo isn't running quite as fast as maybe we thought. Yep and it really is a great situation since Viciedo is quite the talent. That said he's gotten better and better each month in Bham and I fully believe we'll see him up in September to get a cup of coffee. He is going to be an incredible hitter, the only thing that might prevent him from being a perennial all star might be his lack of plate discipline, but the guy flat out can rake and uses all fields. He's going to be a special one. I love Viciedo.

QUOTE (Seymizzle @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 09:52 AM) The quote sounds similar to what Maurice Gartell's coach said about him the year he was drafted. And he was another guy who really fell as a senior in college. He was supposed to have really solid tools all around but playing at a school not known for baseball really hurt him. Might be the case here as well, plus, a lot of college seniors will fall because they don't have the dazzle of a prep player or maybe a juco guy that still has a bit more "upside" so to speak.

Burnside missed a season in college after undergoing surgery, but as a sophmore he was pretty damn good for Auburn, even gained the role of Friday night starter. Burnside was horrendous in his senior season (first year back from injury, only made 4 appearances his junior year as he was recovering). Prior to undergoing Tommy John, Burnside was climbing up draft boards and was looked at as a guy who might be able to move into the top 4-5 rounds of the draft. Below is a scouting report on a healthy Burnside, it was based upon his performance in a collegiate summer league, the Valley League.

QUOTE (Seymizzle @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 09:46 AM) That's a quote from the U. Maryland website. Seems like a guy that might be able to beat the odds and become a backup Ofer in the bigs.

QUOTE (Seymizzle @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 09:38 AM) A.J. Casario A five-tool player and excellent pro prospect ... strong left-handed hitter with good speed and ability to hit the ball to the opposite field for power ... outstanding outfielder with one of the strongest throwing arms in the ACC ... hustles every play. Sounds like a great value pick at this stage in the game. http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/casario_aj01.html The above link is his player profile, says he is a senior but I believe he is a junior. He was drafted by the Dodgers in the 27th round out of high school. Apparently the Dodgers wanted him to go to a JUCO for a year and they'd give him more money than the typical 27th round pick. He decided to go play for the Terps instead. Expect him to hit well in short-season but the question will be whether he has the tools to hit as he moves up into the higher levels, imo.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 09:24 AM) 33 ER and 9 HR in 24 IP? Yeah that's not looking great. He must have improved this (senior) season. I'l see if I can find this year's stats. Does Big West have a conference page with stats? Unless I'm nuts, he doesn't play in the big west

QUOTE (Seymizzle @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 09:18 AM) Sox are drafting a lot of college seniors so they'll most likely sign. First off, welcome aboard, and second off, your spot on. It looks like a lot of these guys are seniors that they plan on getting into the system. We'll see them in short season ball soon enough, imo.

Took me a while to see me give any analysis but than I found it: And I still wish we had taken Crawford. He was on BA's list of great value picks in last years draft (based upon professional production). And we all know Dan and I had the biggest JorDanks mancrushes around. More of my expert analysis. Pretty much holds true to this day, imo (between Beckham and Smoak). Luckily Skipworth isn't there as he's struggled mightily thus far. I still like his long term future but I'lld take Becks over him, haha. Another doosie, this time me ripping on Fathom (which I almost never do, but it was too good not to relive, haha):

There could still be a debate between Smoak and Beckham. Smoak is a hell of a hitter.

I got a busy day at work so I plan on attacking these picks in a set of ten or so, mainly talking about guys that have some sort of skill-set or interseting fact about them. However, the reality is that most of the guys going right now are either going to go back to school and try to improve there draft stock (especially any high school kid and a lot of juco guys) or they will most likely be organizational guys. That said there might be a few intriguing guys that come off the boards, maybe a college senior whose slid down for whatever reason or something like that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 08:21 AM) If you are getting on base 45-50% of the time, you aren't really staring at strike three that often... I believe he's talking about Swisher and I'm in complete agreement with him. When your hitting .240 without a ton of power (he has decent power, but not a ton) than you aren't an everyday player (unless you play gold glove defense at an elite defensive position). I think average is becoming one of the most underrated stats in baseball. There is a lot to be said about a guy that can handle the bat. There just arent' as many guys that can do it anymore and it is kind of sad. I think back to Tony Gwynn and Ichiro (luckily he still plays, although he's clearly on the downside of his career).

As long as the Sox are in "contending" mode, we will see Josh Fields play first base. However, if the club falls out of contention you can expect to see Allen or even Viciedo promoted to handle 1st. My guess would be that they'd call up Allen before Viciedo because Allen is probably a bit more ready, although Viciedo clearly has the highest upside. That won't happen for another couple weeks, although a loss today would put the Sox closer and closer to the point where they have to turn there attention towards getting some of these young guys ready for next season. Not only so those young guys are more capable of playing next year, but so the Sox get a period to evaluate the guys at the major league level and decide what exactly they'll need to do to be able to compete next season (in what will likely be another season where a .500 record in the Central means your a contender). I personally expect to see Danks in Chicago by the end of July, however, Allen being up depends on what the Sox do with Thome/Konerko. If Konerko is healthy and Thome wants to stay in Chicago, Allen wont' get AB's. If Thome wants to go to a contender, well, than we'll see Allen promoted with Konerko sliding to DH. I'd say Paulie would get off-days but as long as he can take the field I don't see Konerko sitting out, he's just not the type of guy to do it. He's a gamer and he'll battle through, whether we are competing or not.

I want to point out that we are serious about seeing changes, if people don't change, we'll have to do things that we at Soxtalk don't like to do and it starts with suspensions and would end with bannings. People need to understand that this site wasn't built to be a cesspool, rather as a tremendous resource and community of awesome Sox fans!!!!

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 07:19 AM) Once it works on Firefox (hey I tried to help you) I'll be there. Well the forum works...afterall it is a part of Soxtalk, haha. We'll be set once we get on our new server at month end. A faster server too

Why does this surprise anyone? Ozzie has always been Mr. Conservative when it comes to injuries. It doesn't surprise me at all that he said this as he probably doesn't want the club thinking about Q right now since he's not playing currently.

I wonder if Kenny told he's going to be a bench guy, but after things settle down (ie, we trade some guys and open up roster spots) that Fields is going to get one last chance at either 3B or LF. If we shut Quentin down, than we'll need another outfielder and Fields might be that guy.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 03:17 PM) haha true But I just dont think he's ever gonna be healthy consistently. Based purely on a hunch. I'm not "smart" and haven't done any "research" about it, just a hunch... I had a hunch that the SOx were going to trade for Randy Johnson a few years ago. Hopefully your hunch is as wrong as mine was, lol. I also have a hunch that we'll see Jordan Danks by the end of August, more likely by July.