SoxAce

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 01:13 PM) He made some comments recently about how he would've been an NFL star if he went that route. I think he was asked if he could help the Browns. He played 1 or 2 years in high school I guess. Yea I believe he was an all state/city WR in high school. He's bulked up more since then, and his athleticism is just too ridiculous to not see it translate. A 6'8 270 (which many say he's really listed) pound man can handle the NFL. The question would be.. can he catch the damn ball consistently as a WR/TE. (and even block, though he's a pretty physical dude) If he really put in the time, I think he could actually be pretty good (though I highly doubt if he will ever be the star, or even the best at his position, like he is in basketball) On some of the terrible teams though.. he would probably be their (or one of) best player(s).

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 01:08 PM) Also rios in the 9 hole? yes he had a bad stint with us but i have a feeling hes gonna turn it around and were gonna see him planted firmly into the 5 or 6 hole. Not to mention Ozzie has already said (and i fully agree) that he will not have a 10-15 million dollar player batting 9th in his lineup. I expect Rios between 5-7 in the batting order, depending on performance.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 12:57 PM) A lot of people are going to take what JR said he wrong way. He's not saying we're not going to make any moves, he's just saying we already made our biggest commitment to Peavy. Rios as well. Which I'm sure most sox fans will like to forget about the crap job he did when he was acquired (basically like a FA.. since it was for nothing) and look forward to the next season "back to normal" Rios.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 12:41 PM) I know musical taste is subjective but the bands are getting progressively worse IMO,there had better be some major rock talent coming up... I'm sure we will see the RHCP, the Beatles, etc.. of the world smoothly round out the list. And if Linkin Park is up there.. I don't care what any of you bastards say cuz I love them.

He'd already be the Cleveland Browns best player sadly.

QUOTE (Felix @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 07:16 AM) Oh god... Green Day. I'm all sorts of sad right now that Soxtalk members apparently enjoy Green Day more than Talking Heads (and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and Queens of the Stone Age and just about everyone else on this list) Green Day is terrible. I actually forgot about them when making my list.. but luckally I hate that band anyways.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 12:20 PM) I'm going to have to disagree with that. Mitchell is just more polished and I can't say Trayce has a better skill-set, although he does have more power potential. Both have sick upsides, but both also have a lot to work on that puts the odds of them reaching that ceiling at much lower levels and it is why they both were outside of the top 10. I would say both have the pure potential of a top 10 or so pick though. Well you once said yourself out there in Cali that people were raving about the kid. In fact.. many scouts on writeups said if he would have improved his overall skill set, he probably would had been a top 10 pick in 3-4 years anyways. QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 03:07 PM) A lot of people are talking about Thompson and saying he has more upside than our #1 pick.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 02:40 AM) That's only if I'm around. There's really no point to the chat without me. Nah.. we'd get by. Then again.. I haven't been an active member the last couple of years like the original clan/prime (man I still miss Nuke, hi8is, etc..) days back in 2004-05 like I used to be so I shouldn't talk. OT: Speaking of which (old times), maybe I should bring back the Ben Davis fan club. I still got the PM's of the original members for a good laugh. And yes qwerty, tmar, supersteve, willie etc.. were club members back then. Good competition with aboz and the Buehrle fan club actually.

Bud to tighten playoff schedule I guess no more 3 man rotations for NYY.

QUOTE (wsgdf_2 @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 10:22 PM) Where have you read that? I don't consider him that low on the list. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to see him as high as he is. Who do you think he should be in front of? I'll put it to you this way. Trayce Thompson's upside is just ridiculous. Whether he figures it out.. remains to be seen and even if he does figure out some tools, he might not figure out all of them. He was a first round pick talent (top 10 some scouts had him projected) that just happened to slip cause of signability issues (he was fully commited to UCLA). Hell I remember Seiler just raving about him. I'll quote a couple scouts and an actual poster here who kinda said this. He was one of the most "interesting" picks in the last decade. He could be the next Dave Winfield reincarnated. (some say Maybin as far a 5 plus tools) or could be another Mike Stanton (OF). One compared him with Everett Williams. Another.. One more.. Hell even futuresox wrote up a nice report a while back.. There's no secret that he was the most improved High Schooler comming out, and is still getting better as a baseball player. How good can he get.. remains to be seen. Supposedly.. might have been Laumann's favorite pick in that draft. There was alot of talk in Cali (I believe Jason said it a while back) that he was a steal with his upside/potential. Even if he never makes it.. you make that kind of pick everytime. (same as Nevin Griffith) I just hope we are very patient with him. I believe it was Callis (or someone.. can't remember) that said he's the type of guy that might not break out till 2012. As far as your other question.. I'm not sure which is why I said the list was flawed as I have no idea where KG was taking into account (performance/upside/tools) but if it's more the latter, Trayce's name will and should be up there, but his performance will probably not make him a top 5-10 prospect at this time unless it's just pure potential/projection.

QUOTE (wsgdf_2 @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 10:15 PM) From the chat: Eliu (Chicago): Jared Mitchell, what's his upside? Kevin Goldstein: Crazy high. Ooohhh... makes me giddy. Trayce is actually higher (again IF he figures it all out).. which could potentially make you wet.

I don't care if he only plays 10 games from now, that is still a very nice honor. Still though.. 9 games.. and no nagging injuries yet.. good sign for Brown. QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 04:40 PM) Ronnie Brown placed on injured reserve. Do they stick with the wildcat? I'm sure they'll be just fine with Pat White. Though they better block better as he isn't as strong if they run the ball like Ronnie was. Though Carl can probably comment on that alot better than I could. Doesn't hurt though to have an actual QB/WR in college manning it though.

I saw this a day or so ago but didn't bother to post it cause it has some serious flaws with the rankings. Now I'm not sure if BP (who I don't mind at all reading actually) was just going by pure potential, or actual overall rankings, but in either case having Jared at #2 but only having Trayce 8th (or 3.0) (who many have said has the bigger upside if he figures it all out) Not to mention Holmberg and the ridiculous Nathan Jones that low? (there are others but just naming a couple examples) C'mon. Now if it's based on just performance (which I'm probably banking it does) than Trayce still might be a bit too high even with the ungodly upside. But.. it's all moot then.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 05:00 PM) Here's my problem with his K's...I can't figure out how it'd be mathematically possible for him to continue hitting at a solid average while striking out 150+ times. In the minors, when he was on fire, and now in the AFL, he's been putting up BABIP values of >.400. Now, I know all the other caveats that go into that about how hard you're hitting the ball, how much bat control you have, etc., but bear with me here. Even the great players can't sustain those type of numbers once they get to the big leagues. Mauer pushed .373 this year with that stat, and his career mark is around .350. If you look at the guys in MLB who struck out 150 times+ last year, which is the pace D2 makes in the minors, you have 2 types of guys. You have Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, Mark Reynolds...guys who don't give you a great batting average but you don't care because they're hitting 40 home runs. The other guys with 150 k's however, are guys like BJ Upton, Brandon Inge, Mike Cameron. These are guys who are playing because they give some performance with the bat, but they're out there either in the hopes that they'll develop (Upton) or because they have very good gloves. They wind up hitting below .250. Because they're not hitting the ball out of the ballpark, they're not putting the ball in play enough to put up a solid batting average with that number of strikeouts. If Danks stays on the 150k/year pace and is a 15-20 HR guy at best, then he's going to wind up hitting somewhere in the neighborhood of .250/.260 for his career. Against major league pitching, you just can't sustain that number of strikeouts and a really good batting average unless a lot of your hits are leaving the park. Good post and for the most part I agree. It will probably come down to pure potential with Jordan. Scouts have long said this guy has 30+ power potential but so far hasn't fulfilled it. Now I'm sure hitting in the cell will greatly help him (or even the bandbox in AAA like it did Chris Getz) and we all know that he is a very good defensive OF already. We can only hope that he can be a Granderson/Sizemore lite type player that will K 150 times, but still average a good walk rate and good power potential. Who knows though.. he could be traded before ST hits.

Now I really regret forgetting about Pearl Jam (and god dammit the Beastie Boys should be a band. ) I guess hopefully if Knight makes a "fav rap acts list" thread we can wait that out then. As long as the RHCP make the top 10 in this list, all is forgiven in the world.

QUOTE (Fantl916 @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 04:36 PM) This is exactly how i took Konerko to the Angles. We have heard numerous Konerko-to-the-Angles before Those god damn Angles do make alot of sense. I mean they just merit adjusting at times.. with them being all angle-like about it. Sometimes it pisses me off how off those angles are at times myself.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 04:05 PM) Rios has been striking out in about 17-20% of his at-bats since he came up (including his rookie year). Danks has been striking out at 25%. Rios struck out 109 times last season in 630 PA's; at the pace he's been on this year, D2 would K about 150 times in a full season. Alex Rios never had the same plate discipline as Jordan does though. Hell this year, which was Jordan's worst overall (bummed wrist or not) in AA, he still walked 37 times in 284 abs. Alex Rios in AA walked 39 times in 514 abs. I don't care if Jordan strikes out 150 times (which BTW K's are very overrated in baseball even if Riccardi [who lost his job now] doesn't think so when he bashed Adam Dunn) as long as he continues to have good discipline at the plate averaging a good walk rate and hitting at a solid average, he will be fine. Now if he's striking out and averaging Joe Borchard/Brian Anderson type walk rate/numbers.. then there's a problem. I will agree though that it would help if he did put the ball in play more. I will give him the benefit of the doubt that his wrist and hamstring issues did more harm than good in the second part of the year when he was doing very well prior in AA. BTW, what's up with Retherford? Is the work load catching up to him (I believe he's had one of the most PAs comming in to the AFL) or is it just bad luck?

Tracy.. probably the biggest no brainer to win that award for the NL. Scioscia you can more or less have an argument (Gardy probably did more with less talent, even though they needed our help) but you can't mess with the mental boost he gave that Angels team with all the crap they had to deal with.

Peo Javelinas so far has 3 hits. Jordan Danks has 2 of them.

Well wish we woulda done this 2 years ago, but I always liked Blanco's defense, arm and game calling. It'll be interesting to see how he handles the bat here in the more superior league, even as a part time player. Ramon Castro didn't exactly do too well when he came here compared to his Mets days. IF Flowers is traded/org. wants him to get a bit more time in AAA, then I would not mind Blanco at all, especially defensively (hopefully he's at least serviceable with the bat as a backup player).

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 17, 2009 -> 09:59 AM) I was thinking the same thing. They are going to sign triplet 12 year deals. I'm serious, that's a serious guess! Supposedly Duncan Keith will get the long contract and Kane/Toews will probably get shorter contracts, more or less in their prime years to be free agents again similar to Hossa/Lidstrom. http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/news/story?id=4664001

Wow.. I was stunned to see the Kings were an above .500 team (now at .500 after the loss) entering that game. I don't know if they are that bad, but the Bulls made them look that way.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 17, 2009 -> 04:22 PM) If the Bulls could possibly freaking get Ellis for Kirk I'd scream with glee. Agreed. Anything that gets Kirk Hinrich (and that contract) out of here is always a plus in my eyes.

QUOTE (Felix @ Nov 17, 2009 -> 04:15 PM) Rise Against is above Talking Heads AND David Bowie? This makes me feel bad about having Bowie on the outside looking in, barely. I guess I'll consider that payback for the Soundgarden over Pearl Jam ordeal. See it evens out

Just got the response myself.. It is f***ing ridiculous. Now I'm praying this deal goes through making that moron look like even more of a douche.