Chisoxfn

You'll also fine a ton of good info on him in the AAP section. A top 50 senior who was drafted later in the draft because college seniors can fall as teams found and drool over younger guys. But Gartrell has tools and the big thing scouts seem to boast is that he has a cannon arm and good speed (not great speed). http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=52137

Despite the title, that is a video of Stephan Gartrell hitting a homer off of McGee. It was a 94MPH fastball that he belted out of the park.

I'd say he's still on the outside looking in, but he has a very good skill-set, one that I believe Ozzie Guillen would like. In fact, if the Sox can't find anything in the outfield, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Gartrell got a shot. He really seems to be putting things together and he is definately a prospect. Top 10, probably not, but he's a guy that if you give him a shot might earn himself a major league job.

This is a pretty good draft to have 5 picks in the first 3 rounds as most experts would tell you that outside of a few guys, there are a whole hell of a lot of players who bundled together and grade out similarly. These are guys that all would be considered fringe 1st to 2nd round picks, but with some uspide and this bodes particularly well when you have a ton of picks in a range where similar players will be available because it will allow the Sox to really build up a lot of depth and talent in the minors. If they do things right and don't go on the cheap, they could easily be on there way to having a farm system much like the Red Sox and in this economy that is a big big thing.

Below is an article from Merkin regarding the Sox draft:

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 15, 2009 -> 09:52 AM) How are they going to do that? How is Bob Sanders going to stay healthy?

Very sad...RIP.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ May 14, 2009 -> 09:21 PM) Peyton has been running the show for a while. He has a billion page playbook memorized I wouldn't be betting the Colts this year. They lost one of the best head coaches in the league, one of the best oline coaches in the league, and arguably the best offensive coordinator in the league. This is all after they somehow made the playoffs despite playing awful football most of the season (I know a Colts fan will probably jump on me for saying this, but I watched most of the Colts game last year and they were not a playoff caliber football team, nor were the Chargers).

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 15, 2009 -> 09:05 AM) Well this 2 man team is nowhere near being anything like the Bulls dynasty. Not even the same planet. I'm not really saying it is, but for a chunk of this season they looked like locks to win the NBA title. Of course that was often times with a healthy Bynum.

Laker fans and the players seem to be reaming Bynum. I think now is the time the Bulls try to swing a deal to get the Lakers big man. I don't think you'd have to give up as much, given the questions surrounding his knee and the fact that the Lakers might have to change things up. OBviously this conversation changes if the Lakers go on to win the title or if Bynum gets back into a groove in the playoffs. Plus acquiring Bynum shouldn't kill the clubs chances of being able to get a franchise player in 2010. I think a Hinrich/Tyrus Thomas for Bynum and filler deal would work. Lakers needs a point guard, Hinrich could fill that roll, and Tyrus Thomas is an athletic big that could play along side Gasol. Maybe they'd prefer Noah, but I'd probably do that as well, even though Noah really played strong down the stretch.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 15, 2009 -> 08:33 AM) Denver over Seattle and it isn't even close. This LA team is a 2 man team with a bunch of role players. They're highly overrated and I'm a Lakers fan. The Bulls were a two man team with a bunch of role players and are widely regarded as one of the greatest dynasties ever.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ May 14, 2009 -> 10:41 PM) He throws pure filth but was just crazy wild in college. He had trouble finding the strike zone some last year too but seems to be putting it together. Reportedly he sits in the upper 90's with his fastball and has a curve that is just a hammer. His curve is one of the nastiest curves I've seen the past year or two. Its a big time hammer, but his delivery is a wreck and this spring I talked to my friends and basically we all thought there was pretty small odds on him ever being able to repeat that thing. But if he does, wow. And his velocity is a bit over the place or at least it was this spring, one game he'd be upper 90's and unhittable, next game low 90's. However, thats the spring. And if he at all finds command, look out.

It seems lame this early, but this is a very important game. Sox need to get off to a good start in Toronto.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 14, 2009 -> 08:20 PM) We haven't done a ton of rookies in what, 10-15 years? The Sox are always plugging a new cheap guy into the line up to try to save some payroll. With the hype surrounding this minor league system right now, do you really think Kenny Williams is going to go out and spend money on anything but pitching? I just can't see it. The Sox aren't going to go out and spend big money on pitching, thats a certainty.

http://www.southsidesox.com/2009/5/14/8755...-seasons-for-cf A pretty interesting piece from Cheat's Blog. Basically shows how awful Brian Anderson has been, but if you think he sucks, just imagine how piss poor this seasons current production has been. Of course this season, Anderson statistically has been relatively solid as a starter in CF.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 14, 2009 -> 07:54 PM) Is their any reason not to promote him to AAA, at this point? He's been treading water at AA for years, they might as well just give him a push. I think they will. I wonder if they have Hudson fast tracked and we see him get promoted in a month or month and a half (and McCulloch go up at that point). That is of course assuming Hudson handles Winston Salem well.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 14, 2009 -> 07:44 PM) In the rookie year for all those guys or after they've had some time to develop? In the rookie year. It would be freaking stupid to go with a ton of rookies if the team tanks this year because you'd be asking for attendance to plummet. I mean stupid. If the Sox suck, they'll need to trade there guys, give the kids a look, evaluate, and than utilize some of this kids, trade some of those kids for other assets (proven or unproven) and find a way to make a splash to attract fans and essentially show Sox fans that they plan on contending, therefor, ticket sales might be saved. I'm not saying the Sox will do it, but it will be essential for them to do just that. And I personally think getting another outfielder isn't that bad of an idea since the Sox have zero in the words of upper echelon starting pitching prospects and might need to use some of those propsects to get us a top flight pitching prospect, especially since I'd much rather see the club spend decent money on a free agent bat or two than a free agent pitcher because spending money on bats is typically a far far better investment option.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 14, 2009 -> 06:46 PM) Historically the Sox don't spend free agent money, especially when they believe they can fill positions internally for minimum wage. I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of Getz, Beckham, Ramirez infield with the winner of Viciedo and Fields in left. And all I'm saying is that is a ballclub that will be pretty poor.

QUOTE (scenario @ May 14, 2009 -> 07:14 PM) Kanny beat Lakewood 4-1 Nathan Jones picks up the win in relief. Check out these numbers for Kannapolis pitchers today... 17 strikeouts and ZERO walks. (Sauer 8, O'Neil 1, Jones 5, and Remenowsky 3.) I have my fingers crossed and I'm knocking on wood as I say this, but Nathan Jones looks like he's starting to figure out where the strikezone is... and that could be a very interesting and good thing. On the season, he has 21 K's vs. 6 BBs in 14.2 innings. Also, Steven Sauer has 26 K's and 1BB on the season. Nice ratio. If Jones finds command, we have a guy that will be filthy at the major league level.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ May 14, 2009 -> 06:33 PM) OK, makes sense to me. I know you're not a huge fan, but I think after Thome goes, Dunn would be perfect for the Sox. Just drop him in at DH for the next 5 years and watch him put up consistent numbers. Perfect under a few conditions. They get rid of other unproductive high strikeout batters. Ie, Josh Fields and Brett Lillibridge. I just don't believe a team can be that sucessful if it has a lineup that consistently strikes out because you will have trouble executing and getting big runs and ultimately winning close games. I'm certain you'll have plenty of blow-out wins if those high strikeout guys hit for power, but as a whole, I don't think its the right makeup to be a world series caliber team. Not certain if the stats back me up, but my personal belief is that. Now if you have a couple very highly productive strikeout batters, you can get a way with it, but if those high strikeout guys are all low average players, than I think you run a risk of having a very one-dimensional inconsistent offense. Basically put, Dunn would fit in great, if the rest of the middle of the order was pretty productive. I tend to think a Bobby Abreu in his prime would be a better fit for the Sox than Dunn, but I don't know if thats a good comparison cause Abreu in his prime was pretty f***ing good. I should also say that I'd probably prefer Jermaine Dye as a whole to Adam Dunn as I believe Dye is a far more complete offensive player. I also assume we are referring to both of these guys as DH's going forward since Dunn is actually worse defensively than Dye (and Dye is pretty awful out there given his lack of range).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 14, 2009 -> 06:31 PM) Depends on the country. So in the NBA are you only subject to drug testing in season or do you have a seperate bylaws that the playres have to follow or something? Cause if I were a player I'd just state that I did it in a country that was legal. I assume the NBA players are only subject to the drug testing policy during the season, unless they have been caught a few times already?

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ May 14, 2009 -> 06:28 PM) I hate that there's no tone to writing, so I'm not trying to be a dick here, but why would you take a better BA over Thome's stats? It's a weird mix of sample sizes, but hey, I'm making the argument I'll take the liberty... Last year overall Adam Dunn's BA was .236, nine points higher than Thome's now, but look at his stats and there's no way you wouldn't take Dunn's production over Holidays .240 this year. To me BA is an incomplete stat, not a bad one or a wrong one, just incomplete. I want to know when you come up did you make an out and if you didn't what did you do? http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dunnad01.shtml http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hollima01.shtml I'm not comparing Dunn to this years Holliday, rather Dunn to Hollidays' career road OPS. If I'm comparing practically anyone to this years Holliday, I'm taking the other person and that includes players that I'm not particularly big fans of, ie current modern day Thome and Dunn (at the same time I wouldn't have had a problem if the Sox picked up Dunn for the right price this off-season and with the right offensive strategy in mind in Chicago). Obviously I wouldn't take a guy with an empty .279 average over a guy who hit .240 with 40 HR's. I still wouldn't be happy with the guy who hit .240 and would probably try to find a more complete ball player (but I would admit he's a solid ball-player). For example, Jim Thome on his career, f***ing oustanding offensive player.

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ May 14, 2009 -> 06:22 PM) Adam Dunn = Not valuable. Yep. I'm wasting my time here. The point is Holliday still makes outs at a greater rate and has less power ALL of his career, from start to his prime, in hitting in places not in Colorado than a 38 year old Jim Thome. .270 single hitters aren't that valuable either. Just look at Neifi Perez, Alex Sanchez or Delmon Young. The OPS he was posting wasn't exactly empty. It was pretty close to an .800 OPS. Never did I utter he's a star or anything but I'd take that production from a solid defensive outfielder over the production Thome has given the SOX THIS YEAR. Would I take Hollidays production this year over Thomes, f*** no, but I would pick a s***load of other players over Jim Thome. And yes, Adam Dunn isn't that productive. For the right price he can be solid, but if I'm building a ball club, he doesn't fit into my philosphy unless I'm in serious need of a power hitter. If I already have plenty of power hitters, I'll say thanks but no thanks. Stat people vastly underrate the importance of batting average.

Noah might be smoking the ganja in one of those pictures. Stupid question, but is Weed legal in Europe? Only thing I guess I want to make sure of is that Joakim dosen't be an idiot and get caught and fail his NBA drug tests.

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ May 14, 2009 -> 03:06 PM) Jim Thome currently has .352 OBP and .477 SLG for a .830 OPS and you want him ran out of town. So how is it Holliday's lesser numbers aren't "bad." Ultra :rolly Yes, you ignore a nice stat called batting average, where Holliday's road average is over 50points higher than Thome's. I don't give a f*** how you want to tell me statistically it doesn't matter, but when you hit .227 you are not valuable. End of story. Holliday got on base .05 points less and the OPS was higher for Thome but I'll take the higher average any day of the week.