R.J.

Brooklyn sounds weird but if you just call her Brook it all makes more sense. Congratulations to Burls, hope she's a lefty!

I DON'T READ STUFF BEFORE I POST.

We're not going to get anything as useful as whoever's out there at number 20. If Oakland comes to us with a sign and trade I'd be more interested. I think Cabrera is just going to have to accept that he isn't worth what he's asking and sign an incentive laden deal for a year.

Forget that, make them sign him. They aren't going to part with a prospect worth anything. Why do we need to do Cabrera any favors? Let Toronto or Oakland give him a contract, take the pick and draft smart.

This is such a useless story. I don't even blame it on the Tribune/White Sox relationship, this is just completely worthless reporting.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 26, 2009 -> 05:43 AM) I know someone else was already saying Flowers and Marquez were overhyped. Well, look at the Cubs. Jerome Walton, Dwight Smith, Corey Patterson, Bobby Hill, Angel Guzman, Rich Hill, Gary Scott, Kevin Orie, Mark Prior (well, that's a different case), Felix Pie, Brooks Kieschnick, Kyle Lohse, Sisco, Matt Murton, Brant Brown, every team has prospects that stumble and don't become what they're supposed to be. Every team is going to tell you that their prospects are future stars, and that they believe in them, and that they're going to be wonderful. Not the Cubs. Not the Sox. Everyone. The thing is, they don't always believe that. They can't. They're not dumb - they have eyes like you and me. They can evaluate talent. But it's valuable to go to the papers and say "this kid is going to be a starter." It's a poker face. Kenny Williams once called Joe Borchard "untouchable" after everyone else in the world knew what he was: a failed prospect. Nobody believes Flowers will stick at catcher - or OK, Flowers can stick at catcher, you can play him there, but you're going to have a terrible defensive catcher. That's all I'm saying. It's possible the Sox just don't think having a poor defensive catcher will hurt them in the standings. But the kid is a first baseman. This isn't some high schooler who you're trying out at a position. He's 23 years old - that's young but not young enough. He doesn't have a catcher's body. He doesn't have the instincts. All the scouting reports on him say he's just not going to stick there. It happens to a ton of guys like him - catcher is the most difficult position on the field. So again, this isn't based on today. It's just looking at what is going to become a decision for us in the future. You have a bad defensive catcher - can his bat play at first base, where he won't hurt you on defense? I appreciate your optimism here guys but let's call a spade a spade on this. At some point you just bite the bullet.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Feb 25, 2009 -> 10:34 PM) then why would they say hes the future c? we need someone after aj They say that because he has a ton more value as a catcher with 30 homer power than as a first baseman with 30 homer power. Teams and general managers are more likely to try and sell prospects and acquisitions like Flowers to the fan base and public at large to build good feelings about the team and build the inferred value of the farm system. Flowers is a good hitter but he'd be an awful full time starting major league catcher. The Braves knew this. I think so did Kenny. He's a first baseman. They're lying about Jeff Marquez too.

Don't think I'm basing this purely off of today, but Tyler Flowers is pretty clearly a future first baseman.

uh

Imagine how much better we could have been in 2008 if we had some fast guy who bunted all the time.

I picture Erik King from "Dexter" as a good KW.

That Quentin to Seattle deal is ludicrous. The value of players like Silva and Washburn is negative. They're expensive rotation options that are not very good. If they were free agents in this market they would be out of work - instead they're guaranteed an insane amount of money.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 28, 2009 -> 05:52 PM) I see something similar to Mark Reynolds' 2008 Yuck

This will be a really interesting year for Fields. His 3B defense was always pretty suspect, enough that he was sent off to left field. It wasn't for more than a couple of games, but the fact that they even tried it says a lot with how displeased they were with his glove there. He had a nice rookie start and flashed his tremendous power until the world figured him out. Throw the kid some heat and he's lost. This year tells us if he's a good enough hitter to make an adjustment (hit a fastball) or a Quad-A player that can't hack it. I don't even really like his upside (.260, 30 HR, 4:1 K:BB ratio). Wonder what we could have gotten back if we traded him at peak value.

Adam Dunn at $5 million will be a steal for someone.

Yeah, six high upside guys. I mean, that's good, but then we start to stretch when we evaluate others. Just keep things in perspective is all. The talent thins out pretty soon thereafter (in comparison to uhh, about 17-18 other baseball clubs). We don't have a top 10 farm system, but we have a better system than we have for a while and it seems like we've made a commitment to getting better. That's something to pin your hats on. I'm just telling you what the prospect community is all saying, and you'll be glad to know that it's all a science so volatile that we could go up or down 10 spots in a year anyway.

20th sounds about right. We don't have a ton of high upside guys. Maybe 5 or 6.

Matt Harrington, a RHP who was a top prospect coming out of high school, passed on an offer of $4 million after being drafted 7th overall by the Colorado Rockies in the 2000 MLB draft. His agent asked for $4.95 million, giving him 25% more than the Josh Hamilton (the number 1 pick in 1999). Harrington turned down the deal, sat out the season and was re-drafted in 2001 in the second round by the San Diego Padres. This time Harrington was advised by Scott Boras, who had pledged to get him something close to the $4.95 million he was seeking a year earlier. The Padres initial offer was for $1.2 million and when it was rejected they never revisited negotiations. Harrington would be drafted three more times but was never offered more than slot money and never signed. He played indy ball for the Fort Worth Cats, lost signigicant velocity on his fastball, and finally signed a minor league deal with the Cubs (with no signing bonus) in 2006. He didn't make the club, was released, and is back in Indy ball making (ahem) a fraction of the $4 million he turned down.

I don't buy the Marlins, still having Ramirez and Uggla, but COME ON BLUE JAYS!! PONY UP THE DOUGH!!

White Sox 2009: 50 Cents

Of course he's thrilled, we're the only team in baseball that believes he can make it as a major league starter.

Oh my god get Broadway out of here now, I don't care if Jones hits .120 And from seeing him swing the bat last year that's a very real possibility.

This trade would have made a lot of sense a few months ago, but pretty much none now. It would close one hole and open another. The lack of MLB ready pitching depth on this team could very quickly destroy it if injury strikes, or if some guys end up being bad at baseball (Marquez).

Ahahaha this can't happen.

Injury, fluke year, or not, it would be a stubborn mistake to put this guy in your rotation next year. He completely lost it in his first taste of AAA pitching. He got beat up in the AFL. If the Sox think he can spend half a season there and then move up to the big leagues then god bless them. If they think they can ignore that season and promote this guy then they have no idea what they're doing. It's fine to be optimistic and look at all these stats and scouting reports and think that Marquez might work as a #4 starter. Forgive me if that doesn't excite me. You can't insert a pitcher into your starting rotation as a reward for having his worst professional season to date.