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Oh I don't know what to think of JR at this point. I gave him the benefit of the doubt before thinking he might 've had moral issues contributing to the way the youngsters are recruited and used by people who might not have their best interests at heart . But it is what it is If the Sox don't draft these kids others will It's just a matter of who gets paid after a contract is signed. In some cases we don't know how much of that money the kid himself will get especially as a minor. Will his parents use it all up ? Will some coyote get a big piece? Is at least some of it put in a trust for the kid until they reach a certain age ? Are guys like Wilder the rule or the exception ? JR knows enough about baseball to know the any kid you draft and sign, be it the college draft or IFA that it's a crap shoot . So I don't buy that he needs proof because a kid doesn't pan out. It's also money given free to each team . I don't know if the league mandates what can or cannot be done with that money. Obviously they can spend it on the players or trade it away but it must all be gone by the next signing period or the league gets it back , isn't that true ? Signing Robert was not very risk adverse. It was a huge investment and perhaps the odds of it working out were better or equal to a Top 5 pick in the College Draft but not $40M worth of better. JR surely knows that the Robert signing carried a lot of risk too. It's not JR's money (but the Robert signing was his money) it's money from MLB so there is no reason to be risk adverse . You either spend it ,trade it, or give it back . Either way it's gone. If he was going to be risk adverse surely it would've been with Robert because $50M of mostly his own money and the penalty that came with spending that much was extremely risky. Even though Robert wasn't 16 it still carried risk. Maybe Robert knowing Abreu meant something to JR but that doesn't lessen how risky that was compared to signing a few 16 yrs olds for $1 or $2 M once in a while with money MLB gives you .

I swear I'll turn this car around if you don't settle down. And no more "Are we there yets" out of you !

Just transferring stuff from the Major League catch all thread on him to here.

Yea he was good with that. I tried to google more about the kid and see if he had any connection to Luis Robert but too much came up in Spanish and only one mentioned Robert in the article but not as knowing him, I just assume they knew each other since they are the same age and likely played at the same levels before Robert signed with the Sox.

You'd be preaching to the choir with a lecture in that regard. I harp on that and their whole approach to IFA with regularity.

Double negative. It's better to say you believe he has sources to be more clear to all.

Pretty sure the answer is yes. They no longer have penalties and likely have their full allotment of IFA money when Colas becomes available. Might even be a good time for them to increase that amount by seeking trades that get them more money like the kind that they have been doing trading their IFA money for players. Now that would be shocking. But he fits their mold . Sox like to draft the older guys more than 16 yr. olds . If we see any trades that increase the Sox IFA money you can guess that Colas is their target. We are just not sure at this time at which signing period he will be eligible. Could be as early as this July .

He's roughly the same age as Robert and it's likely they knew each other playing at the same levels in Cuba.

I'll be the 1st to say the White Sox sign him.

I wouldn't be too happy either coming off a career year and entering my last year to get a decent contract if i was relegated to a back up either. But even he has to realize that his career before this year and his pitch framing are the reasons why he isn't in a great position to be unhappy about playing second fiddle to Grandal. He'll either be traded or have to prove himself getting less PA's and catching less. Either way he still has to prove himself as more than the one year wonder to be relevant as a FA.

Especially when you only have one year of bad data and 1 year of good data with a only few months at AAA and the bad data was when he was at a lower level when he was hurt.The tools are great but they don't always translate well if you are not aware that you are playing a game within a game with the pitcher. Our new poster talks about his baseball IQ . If he adjusts quickly and becomes very good earlier than Eloy then I will believe he can play that game within a game and the baseball IQ is high. If not and he struggles like Moncada did. It might just take longer and Moncada just took too many pitches. That won't be Roberts problem and his learning curve will improve with more experience and if that high baseball IQ is real.

If that's what they meant then they should have worded it my way :P. Ray Ray responded to it in a post the same way I thought of it. No one consistent HITS good breaking stuff well. You need to recognize it and realize when it's going to be a ball and take it. You learn to do this when ahead in the count and knowing baseball to meaning recognize the count at all times and the men on base and pitchers tendencies. Good hitting is not just physical tools its also a chess game with the pitchesrand you better learn when you have the advantage and when to adjust when they change their approach to you.

J feel like this is my post after writing almost the same thing 2 weeks ago when I hardly saw anyone mention Pence as an option. Concerns about his fielding might be legit though because he really was almost exclusively a DH with the Rangers. I'd like to think I am responsible for the increase in Pence posts.

That's the 1st thing that popped in my head too. Who the heck hits "good breaking pitches"? More than likely the best you can do on good breaking pitches is take them and hope they are out of the zone like with someone like Keuchel. It would make more sense if they worded it "his ability to TAKE good breaking pitches" instead of "hit" them.

This is the 1st time I heard about him working on a new swing. I assumed it was because of the thumb injuries that sapped his productivity or caused hit to alter his swing to protect the thumb. But hey if he worked on launch angle that's a plus for him and the organization which in turn leads me to think they could talk to Mazara about the same thing.

I think it's hard for most fans to look at the big picture. They focus on a few bad things and don't relate it to the good things . Sometimes they go hand in hand. Hes get fooled plenty of times or guesses wrong like a lot of hitters but sacrifices the all or nothing approach that many hitters take into every AB for just making enough contact to drive in runs. It's sometimes why I don't understand those who say RBI's are meaningless because they are a product of how often you bat with men on base. Plenty of good hitters in baseball come up with men on base but Abreu has consistently driven them in throughout his career. That is very valuable and shows the kids how to take an unselfish approach at the plate.

A lot of good hitters chase sliders. We see it mostly from guys that like to hit rather than walk and RH'ers that like to get hits to right field so outside pitches from RH pitchers are doubly tempting. Also guys that can't recognize the spin differences between a FB and a slider or don't expect a slider in a FB count. Eloy has long levers so he likes to extend his arms and drive the ball to right and CF. He rarely pulls his HR's because he lets the ball get deeper when he swings and is not yet adept at pulling his arms in and getting out in front of a pitch. I had a feeling Semien was going to be good because I saw him hit a HR on an inside pitch maybe 6 inches or more inside where he shortened his arms and pulled it far to LF early in his Sox career. I think I remember Hawk marveling at how he even kept the ball fair. Hawk also called that "hitting with alligator arms" in case some people didn't know what that meant .when instead of extending your arms you pull you them in toward your body but can still generate bat speed and power. I have no idea if this comp is accurate because I don't remember how Dave Winfield hit but just their height and long lever approach to hitting seems the same. I have no idea how good Winfield was at pulling the ball but I'm reasonably sure he would go up the middle and oppo a decent amount. Eloy could learn to pull too but now going oppo and to CF suits him but adjusting to pull more can pay huge dividends . Abreu chases balls a lot because he is the consummate team player. He does anything he can to drive in runs. When defenses give him a huge hole between 1st and second he just reaches out to poke pitches into right. Not sure Abreu can change his approach at this point . There might be even more runs for him to drive in this year and he has proved he knows how to do that because despite swinging at those sliders he also hit very well with RISP. With runners on Abreu is fairly sure a pitcher will not want to walk him so on better pitches to hit he hits better. If you see any kind of better walk percentage from him it won't be "considerable" . If there is any improvement it'll likely come when the bases are empty.

I like posts like this , very fair take. Easy to see Robert will be abused with sliders until he proves he can lay off them just like Jimenez, Also would love to see a couple of relatively healthy years for him . Plus side is the speed ,fielding ,bat speed , power , mistake hitter . Recognizes hanging stuff and jumps all over it and then we marvel at the sound from his bat .

Patrick Kane !! You know Chicago Blackhawks superstar for many many years and likely HOFer. Also is the max value of his contract , $88M for 8 years.

I think when you talk about Zobrist it's difficult to use 2018 numbers simply because of his age. You just cant ignore his 2019 despite the marital problem because he is in his late 30's and any bad year can be the end. Leury has been remarkably consistent the last 3 years against LH pitching always batting higher than .300 and decent OBP. I'm sure you can look up his stats easily from 2017-2019. I'll take his 10 yr. age difference and consistency over Zobrist despite the lack of power and walks. His BA carries his OBP.

Maybe so but Zobrist is toast.

I suppose if it is measuring fielding skill and luck then I don't have too much use for it . Just like with much else in life you make your own luck. Some hitters just have a knack for hitting them where they aint'. Maybe there isn't too many of those type of hitters any more. Perhaps the Gwynn's, Carew's and Brett's are relics of the past and few today can beat the numbers machines that say where to play to take hits away , It's why walks are almost as important as hits now. It's why the 3 outcome players are the norm now and make baseball boring. It might also be why everyone loves Madrigal so much , such a unique player . People see a throw back to simpler times perhaps. Make contact, put the ball in play ,hustle ,field your position well. An actual living fossil and reminiscent of an era of the Go Go Sox of Fox ,Aparicio, and Rivera.

I never do understand why HR's aren't counted in BABIP. Do they just omit HR's from the whole stat ? Seems to me HR's are balls in play since they are fair balls and count as a hit. If a ball is hit above a HR line but a fielder robs the HR it counts against BABIP right ? I guess in play technically means in the field of play where a fielder can make a play on a ball. At least make a separate stat that includes HR's like BAoFB ( batting average on fair balls).

Did you notice the 3rd (Abreu, Moncada) Sox player on that exit velocity list? Another guy with a high walk rate. None other than Zack Collins.

Oh come on now. Read it again. hahaha 6th tool is baseball IQ.