Chisoxfn

QUOTE (fathom @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:24 PM) I know I got ridiculed for my Floyd hate last year, but everything about his numbers showed he'd really struggle this year. He led the league in unearned runs, which can be a scary stat. Come on, he pitched a little lucky in the first half and a bit unlucky in the 2nd half and he definately passed the eye ball test (ie, he looked good). Even this year, he's looked good at times and awful at other times, but the biggest thing is just a better more agressive gameplan, imo, where he attacks the hitter more and obviously shows better command.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:24 PM) Well I don't mind Cabrera and Swisher are gone but the goofyness or feistiness they brought or at least we were told they brought to the table, wasn't replaced. The Sox are 2 games out. I just hope KW doesn't let this get away from him and tries to fix this asap. 83 or 84 wins and a hot October, KW can pat himself on the back again. Come on, Konerko, Thome and JD are the goofsters. Note, I love those guys to death but I think we all know they are quiet vets and AJ doesn't have anyone to goof around with. I figured the Sox had learned a thing or two about 2007 but apparently not.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:20 PM) When you have the same cast of characters for a few seasons, how is snapping going to get them going? They've seen it and heard it all from him. How come no one has mentioned that maybe our pitchers are just dead tired from last year, as they had to throw a ton of innings and made a few starts on short rest (well worth it at the time)? Oh, I figured we'd see regression from Danks and Floyd as they were both young and pitched a lot of innings. I expected to see less regression in Floyd cause he had a longer history of throwing innings, but I expected regression either way and I think the Sox had to have as well. Which is why I b****ed and moaned about what the Sox had in the back of the rotation to start the season and of course anyone with a brain b****ed and moaned about CF cause we all know that was a joke.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:20 PM) Didn't they make a big deal out of the attitude and general personality change when the got Swisher and Cabrera? They really were back to the quiet almost take your beating like a man mentality the disaster of 2007 was. Yep and I think thats a really bad thing. Than again, I was one of the only people that still liked Cabrera by seasons end.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:17 PM) I shared this in chat, but Ozzie and KW disagree on going young right now. KW wants to see an infusion of young players on the roster, and Ozzie wants to ride it out with the veterans for a while longer. This was perfectly illustrated in his Beckham/Poreda comments. It just doesn't make sense to me though. At the same time, the Sox were going to have a problem when we were counting on Contreras and Colon without a true plan B in the back of the rotation. Still, this division is so bad that its winnable and I almost think thats why the Sox didn't go into a full rebuilding mode this year or at least a really ballsy retooling period (where we relied very heavily on young players). I wonder if Kenny sells quick. We know he loves buying before the deadline, but we haven't had to see him sell too often. I also get worried because he hasn't always been the greatest guy at getting value when he sells, that said, he has a knack for scouting and he has gotten some pretty good finds when he's sold (but he's also acquired a s***ton of garbage in deals where we are selling a player; see Swisher/Durham deals).

QUOTE (fathom @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:14 PM) If you're referring to Ozzie, isn't he responsible for some of that? If he's supposed to be a great motivator, then how in the hell is this team so flat to start every game. FWIW, this has been Ozzie's best year at handling the pitchers. He's had a good sense of the games we're competitive in. I just wonder why Ozzie hasn't snapped. But I think it might be because he realizes how laughable his everyday lineup has been most of the year. Either way, something has to happen and fast, imo, to get this s*** back together.

QUOTE (JDsDirtySox @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:11 PM) my calculations are now telling me we will win 67 games this year. I should start scouting who the top pick in next years draft is going to be, haha.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:09 PM) I was just screwing around. I do know the Greg Walker headhunters will probably be out tonight, but the pitching was terrible. Dick, I've defended Walk as much as anyone on here, but I also woudln't fault the franchise for firing him if they did in so decide to. A message needs to be sent and unfortunately you can't demote the whole lineup so its usually easier to go with a coach. I just don't think Walker is the reason they suck, although firing him could like a spark under some players asses. I also think Walker would find a job and they would more likely demote him down to the minors or something as opposed to purely fire him.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:08 PM) Just a hunch but I'm thinking this is where Ozzie threatens to quit. I want to know what the f*** is up with Guillen. Aside from getting tossed in the Tribe game for protecting the Indians players he hasn't done a f***ing thing. I wonder if he's quietly pissed about what he was handed this season? That or the Sox brass has another plan in mind and is truthfully planning on tearing things apart and going into a rebuilding mode for at least this season.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:05 PM) Carrasco's warming up. These 2nd year stars (Quentin, Alexei, Danks, and Floyd) are having just nightmare seasons. I woudln't exactly say that danks has had a nightmare season. One bad start and I do recall quite a few people expecting Quentin to have a bit of a rebound. Wrist injuries are tough to come back from, plus his swing doesn't look near as quick as it did last season. I expect Floyd to get his s*** together though, same with Alexei and Quentin.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:01 PM) The approach does not change from one game to the next. From the get go this team looks overmatched on certain days and they do nothing to change the tempo of the pitcher. You know based on the first four innings and many other games this season that they may get a run or two later when the game is out of reach after Broadway gets his hands on the game. I will use the Minnesota game yesterday as the kind of game the White Sox are incapable of playing. They look like they just do not care. Broadway hasn't really pitched all that bad.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 15, 2009 -> 05:10 PM) If the Sox fall out of things in the next month and end up 10 games out of 1st, I just hope they give Fields the rest of the season to show what he can do at the plate. Benching him for a day or two is ok, but when your team is not going to compete for the AL Central, you have to get some young guys into the lineup to see if they can be counted on the following year. I still think the best strategy is turning Fields to a team in need of a 3rd baseman that has a nice looking pitching prospect that is still raw or has some question-marks but upside. Maybe even a failed first round selection or something along those lines.

Perfect Game recently had an article showing all of the 2006 signing bonuses through the first ten rounds. When you take a look through you'll notice that most of the Sox players were signficiant reaches, as evidenced by the significant smaller signing bonuses compared to what the average player was getting. Next week, I'll put together some actual statistics just to show how much under average the Sox spent on the 06 draft (which was a very horrific draft for the Sox). Probably the worst draft in the last 10 years. Omogrosso and Shelby (albeit McCulloch) were about the only two guys in the first ten rounds that went for near slot money and well they are the only guys in the draft worth mentioning. It is pretty crazy though where you'll see at least a few guys later in the draft that get 6 figure bonuses. I even noticed the Rays and Royals throwing down pretty substantial amounts of cash. http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/articles/Dis...px?article=1304

2-0 Jays?

Before people act as if Cecil is a nonamer, it should be mentioned he was one of the Blue Jays top prospects and is was a #1 draft pick two years ago, IIRC. This isn't a nobody and he has done nothing but pitch exceptionally well in his professional career (shooting through the minors).

QUOTE (chunk23 @ May 15, 2009 -> 10:58 AM) BA Mock Draft 1. Stephen Strasburg (Nationals) 2. Dustin Ackley (Mariners) 3. Grant Green (Padres) 4. Kyle Gibson (Pirates) 5. Alex White (Orioles) 6. Donovan Tate (Giants) 7. Zack Wheeler (Braves) 8. Aaron Crow (Reds) 9. Jacob Turner (Tigers) 10. Chad Jenkins (Nationals) 11. Mike Leake (Rockies) 12. Tanner Scheppers (Royals) 14. Shelby Miller (Rangers) 15. Tim Wheeler (Indians) 16. Matt Purke (Diamondbacks) 17. Bobby Borchering (Diamondbacks) 18. Chad James (Marlins) 19. Rex Brothers (Cardinals) 20. James Paxon (Blue Jays) 21. Everett Williams (Astros) 22. Andy Oliver (Twins) 23. Eric Arnett (White Sox) 24. Mike Trout (Angels) 25. Tyler Skaggs (Angels) 26. Kyle Heckathorn (Brewers) 27. Jared Mitchell (Mariners) 28. Max Stassi (Red Sox) 29. Brett Jackson (Yankees) 30. Tony Sanchez (Rays) 31. AJ Pollock (Cubs) 32. Garrett Gould (Rockies) Here's BA on our projected pick http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/college/?p=1026 I noticed Grant Greens name wasn't on the list. I keep wondering how far his stock has really fallen. Before the college baseball season, Green appeared to be a lock as a top 10 pick and many experts had him going #2 overall with a good season. I know we already have a shortstop but if he really does slide to us I just couldn't pass him up. He's a hell of a talent. Below is a link with some info on him, but I'll definately get something written up on him in the coming week. http://projectprospect.com/article/2009/04...ospect-is-green

On a sidenote, good find on that link Ozzie. Lots of good tidbits in there.

Ah yes, I'm familiar with Perfect Game. Just not the acronym, haha. Alan Simpson is good but I've always thought he tended to over-exaggerate and a guy hitting 96 once on the gun tended to mean he sits at 96. And a guy throwing one really good slider, means he now has a plus slider. Just my two cents, but again all of this is based purely on what I read. In the case of Arnett there wasn't a ton out there but I did see a ton of first hand reports from this season and it sounded like the 2nd and 3rd time through the order teams would start to hit him a bit (still not a lot, given his very good overall numbers) and that it was because he really just had a fastball most of the time and it wasn't one with a lot of life (which means he really does need a pretty darn good secondary pitch as well as good command).

From ProjectProspect.com Pretty telling statistic and if I were a scouting director it would probably scare me a bit about taking a SS super early in the draft. Than again, I tend to believe shortstops are the best athletes in the field and as a rule of thumb I'd draft quite a few of em throughout the draft with a theory they could play any up the middle position.

What happened in the top half of the first for the Sox?

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ May 15, 2009 -> 04:13 PM) PG has a slightly different take on his secondary stuff: Whose PG? I can't say I've seen him pitch, but I'm hoping to catch some footage of his start tonight against Ohio State. If he in fact had a plus slider, I'd say he'd be a lot more interesting, but I read a ton of reports indicating that there is a lot more juice than truth to Arnett (and when I say that I mean there is a lot of hype and that really his stuff isn't as good as advertised at least in terms of what publications are saying). Again, this is based on zero first hand experience when it comes to him, but I read a lot of places indicating that he had a pretty non-existent secondary pitch, although it had improved this year.

BA is 0-3 with 2 strikeouts.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 15, 2009 -> 04:03 PM) lol, Nix might indeed be the better defender, but Getz is an extremely good defender as well and has done nothing but make great plays at 2B. The slight defensive upgrade at 2B Nix might provide is not worth the defensive dropoff at 3B if we put Getz there. While Nix didn't look great playing 3B for the first time in a year and a total of 9 times in his career, he'd still be a better option at 3B as he has the much better arm. Getz is also thought of as a potential long-term option at 2B, so your better off moving the other guy around as opposed to Getz. Or at least thats Ozzie's though process and I can't argue with it.

Also, just an FYI, if you want to see a comprehensive listing of the write-ups thus far, just look at the very 2nd post on this thread.

Right now it sounds like he might get one last shot as a starter in college but that theres a good chance that ultimately he ends up in the pen, but regardless, he has a shot to be a high impact pitcher. I also agree that I probably pass on him @ 23 (take him over IU's starter though) and pounce on him in the supplemental round.