CaliSoxFanViaSWside

TJ House pitched a perfect 3rd inning for the Sox.

After 2 innings Rangers up 2-0 . Giolito started giving up 2 runs 1 earned ( Gillaspie missed a throw to 1st) 2 hits and 2 walks in 2 innings.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 11:58 AM) Has he appeared in the IF at all yet? Don't think so and I have my doubts that he will since he did have the back injury last year.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 10:58 AM) That is not my perception. Here is what Future Sox had to say about Engel's tools: "The reason he's been a Top 30 prospect for a couple years now is almost entirely about his tools. Engel has true plus-plus speed, a strong arm and elite athleticism. He's gotten body comps to Mike Trout, and he's got enough strength that some scouts see latent power potential he's yet to tap into." Here is MLB Pipeline's evaluation of Cordell: His scouting grades according to mlbpipeline (as of 2017) were: Hit 45 Power 55 Run 60 Arm 55 Field 55. Engel's arm is certainly at least 55 Of course, the big question is whether, or not, Adam will ever make consistent contact. Again, I concur that Cordell appears to be much further along with his hitting. Hit: 40/50 Raw Power: 55/55 Game Power: 30/45 Run: 60/60 Fielding: 50/55 Throw: 55/55 Those are Cordell's as listed in the opening post. They seem pretty equal if you look at the tools list but Engel has never shown much power throughout his minor league career and Cordell has. Speed looks equal in scouting reports but have to give edge to Engel since we have witnessed it. Arm we have also witnessed it with Engel and to me its average. Probably not fair to give Cordell an edge there just based on scouting. As you mentioned the problem with Engel is his hit tool even going back to college when he had a terrible junior year. He also hasn't displayed much patience at the plate either. That one Az. Fall league in 2015 where he was named MVP seems to be an aberration. Defense alone can only get you so far. They are difficult to compare since we have seen Engel at the MLB level and not Cordell and the shine on Cordell now could easily blur once we see him at the same level. Jim Margalus formerly of SSS now Sox Machine has a recent article on Cordell and it's very fair. https://www.soxmachine.com/2018/02/28/white...dells-unknowns/

The Garfien podcast talks about 3rd base . Yolmer vs. Moustatkas . Good podcast as usual especially the trivia about who has started the most at 3rd base since Crede. Start thinking about that now before you listen. It's not a pretty picture which just goes to show finding a 3rd baseman is not as easy as some as you suggest. https://www.art19.com/shows/white-sox-podca...6d-650454a2c03a

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 09:56 AM) Honestly I think he would love Engel to learn how how to hit at even a league average rate. With a young pitching staff, the defense is huge. We saw it yesterday with Carson Fulmer getting flamed for a big inning after Delmonico filleted one in LF. Past that, I think they want the best bat in the line up. I put them in a dead heat mostly because Cordell is viewed as having more tools and he is younger than Engel so those tools put him above Engel and but the Engel defense out there means a lot . Based on ceiling , age, power, arm Cordell has batter tools than Engel

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 07:47 AM) It was the trying him at 3b that really intrigued me. We get into some "where will they play" discussions, but look at the playoff teams last year. More starting players than positions, but they found them all playing time. If Cordell can show to be passable at 4 positions (3 OF, 1 3b), that really gives him a boost as a regular MLB player. Excited to see him develop, he's much bigger than I pictured. I think if we could force Hahn into telling us his druthers on which CF candidate, currently on the 40 or near major league ready, he hopes lives up to his potential Engel and Cordell would be in a dead heat.

QUOTE (flavum @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 09:02 AM) 30 Clubs in 30 Days day for the Sox. 6pm. Which is why the morning Hot Stove Show had a white sox slant to it. They talked to Hawk, Joel Sherman had some comments on the the Burger injury ( called him Brugman but later corrected himself) and injuries to Rodon and Burdi making the point I've been making about injuries derailing the best laid plans and how the Cubs and Astros made it look too easy. Also talked about Harold Baines and his chances for the HOF . Had the cubs Sox game highlights pretty early in the show and talked about Kopech dating the reality show girl and appearing on that show. Also with the Hawk talk was a clip of Lauren Shehadi (MLB network reporter/anchorwoman) saying she had a crush on Hawk from when Hawk was in the studio I don't know when.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 26, 2018 -> 08:41 PM) Pretty powerful article about sox prospect Mikey Duarte who lost his sister in that Vegas shooting. No idea he nearly died himself in our affiliate (athletic rarely opens articles to the public, so this is a special occurrence here for all to read) https://theathletic.com/254267/2018/02/26/w...vegas-shooting/ Don't know if it's a different article but there is also one on whitesox.com . Very sad and Duarte was very honest about how he dealt with it ,(alcohol and more alcohol). . The ticket to the concert was originally his but he gave it to his sister. Have to feel for the guy .

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 08:12 AM) But he's still in the pool of players you could acquire to be 3b. Just saying from your original statement you said the Soxx had 2 2 WAR 3rd basemen . You never said who they were but I'd assume Frazier and Yolmer. I'd agree on Frazier not on Yolmer. I'm sure there are quite a few guys who can get 1-1.50 WAR based on defense alone but if you don't hit enough at a position that traditionally require it then you probably are a reserve or more suited to another position. Sure it's great to have both hence the whole interest in Arenado , Rendon , Machado but you could actually get both from Moose if injuries played a part in a bad year defensively since we already know he has been a 4 WAR player in the recent past and at 29 he's not too old to regain his previous form. I'd assume if the Sox could get him discounted and are sure he's healthy they inquire about him. Not expecting it for reasons already stated but my point is I think he's a more realistic option of getting 2.5 -4.5 WAR at 3rd base than expecting the other options to pan out . Risk , money and length of window of contention are more favorable with him. A 2.5-4.5 WAR guy at a discount just makes more sense than a $200M guy with a long crippling contract if you want the window of contention to last longer..Yolmer would be a great late inning defensive replacement and also to play third when Moose is at DH .

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 07:40 AM) https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=...=&players=0 Nunez across two teams had a fWAR of 2.2, but also was not a part of qualified batters in the list above. Only 5 teams in the MLB last year accumulated 2 WAR at 3B. Where is this from, you just said 19 teams had a 2 WAR 3b? Even if they played off 3b for a portion, someone else could not be such a net negative that it drags all those teams down. Maybe it's like saying Yolmer was a 2 WAR 3rd baseman but he wasn't at 3rd base all the time accumulating that WAR so wasn't really a 2 WAR 3rd baseman but a 2 WAR player. He played 52 games at 3rd and 92 at all other positions.

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Feb 27, 2018 -> 05:04 PM) He will hit 30 homers if he plays 130 games. Those guys serve a purpose, especially on a team that’ll be lucky to win 80 games. Like someone else said, he’s young. Why not give him a shot? He'll get his shot again this year I would imagine. Sox are always looking for power. He's got that just needs some other parts of his game to improve especially walk rate. He did also walk today.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 27, 2018 -> 01:44 PM) Hector Santiago really cruising through the Cubs on paper. 3 IP 0H 0BB 3K. Any idea how velcocity and stuff looked? His 1st outing he hit 93 . Would imagine he probably hit that today but probably more in the 91-92 range. Just guessing. Delmonico went 3 for 3 with a double .

QUOTE (Lillian @ Feb 26, 2018 -> 02:45 PM) I'm going to go "out on a limb" here and predict that the Sox will sign Moustakas, and that it will be 5 years. If they were seriously considering it, before this injury to Burger, it now seems very likely. It just makes too much sense, and shouldn't completely rule out trying to sign Machado, though I don't see the Sox winning that bidding war. Even though you and I pretty much started the whole Moose discussion in another thread on the 2nd page now and I advocated it for multiple reasons I really do understand that the Sox signing him is not likely to happen. I think Hahn wants another good draft in a year that's supposed to have a lot of talent ( going by what others have said and my memory). There's also the draft pick and slot money we lose .Having Boras as his agent doesn't help although Moose and Boras seem to be in quite the pickle at the moment , quickly running out of options. A longer term contract seems impossible for him now and a shorter term one runs him smack dab into the Machado, Donaldson, Arenado Rendon sweepstakes. There is probably a contract in Hahn's mind where he would consider Moose but I think it would have to be 3 or 4 years at close to 9/10M AAV which leaves Boras/Moose a huge decision to make. To us 9/10M a year sounds fantastic but to them it might be insulting. Only way they accept that offer is if Moose says yes against the advice of Boras. $30-40M is still a hell of a lot of money when you are looking at the dilemma they are facing now.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 26, 2018 -> 10:01 PM) I'm the DIII version of burger, have the exact type build and looked the same damn way on the field. "tight muscles" is a good way to describe it. I think he trained the wrong way this offseason. Easy to say in retrospect but he would have been better served not bulking up and just getting lean. I'm sure his legs where tight here in the 2nd week of workouts. Hopefully the Sox can monitor these guys' workloads, especially the under 23 set, and try and prevent these type of injuries in the future. I'm just wondering if Burger is bigger than last year or if he came into spring training out of shape or carrying extra weight . With Avi and Abreu slimming down the last 2 years seems like that is the way to go for larger athletes in baseball.

It's difficult not to be influenced by Moncada's slow start to his career while at the same time seeing Eloy raking in the mnors. It kind of skews my perspective. I hope they are both so good that you can ask who has had a better career in 15 years.

QUOTE (Tony @ Feb 25, 2018 -> 01:51 PM) And to take it one step further, you’d be patching the tire with the limited amount of supplies left you have in your tool box. You could wait to fix it when you have more options available to you, or you could try and fix it now and hope to get lucky and it works. It just is not nessesary right now I do love the analogy . Kudos to Balta. Or you can also look at it this way: You can use the cheap stuff in the tool box that will plug the hole just fine but maybe not for as long as you would like and use the more expensive stuff you pick up later to plug the big holes that may be more of a detriment to your tire (pitching) . I really do expect starting and relief pitching to be bigger holes. The starting staff will be very young and like we have seen in Rodon maybe injuries pop up. It's just inevitable one of Kopech, Giolito, Lopez Hansen Dunning Fulmer Cease get a major elbow or shoulder problem. It already happened to Burdi. And even if only one gets an injury we still have to anticipate some of them won't live up to expectations. Some will be mediocre, some bad, some useless, some may take longer to find their groove than others. I know Balta has great hopes for the 2020 team but predicting world Series champions is like predicting earthquakes. Yea the Cubs and Astros have made it seem easy to our fan base but we might not get so lucky. Sure hope we do that's for sure but I don't expect smooth sailing.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 23, 2018 -> 07:07 AM) Come on, you can’t be seriously telling me it’s about money when almost every post in this entire thread you say you prefer a “left handed, middle of the order, power bat”. I mean goddamn, don’t try and change your position to make it look like you are hoping the Sox are financially more responsible when they will have a bottom of the barrel payroll when it is time to spend on Machado You are being needlessly harsh bringing up Grady Sizemore. The whole argument from Lillian and others is that a long term high AAV contract will hurt future payroll considerations if the Sox want sustainable success and Moustakas may be a good fit in that 3rd base may be a harder hole to fill than others and also is a LH power bat which we also are in need of. He may also come discounted. Anyone who doesn't think a mega contract hurts roster construction and crippled other moves hasn't been paying attention. W all know the move is risky (not a crippling risk) but so are all the arguments I see thinking the Sox won't need to add a starting pitcher or a top bullpen arm or 2 and everything we need will come from the system or we can afford a mega contract. The rebuild has a slim to none chance of building a WS winner in the next 8 years or so because that's just how things go. The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

There's this for those expecting tanking for picks to work https://thejunkballdaily.com/2018/01/29/tan...eball-worth-it/

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 09:25 AM) It would be a win-later move to act now and get a multiyear deal done for someone at low prices in later years of the deal. Provided the guy is not old. Moustakas may not be that guy though. I dont know that anyone who's left is. Not only is there Machado , Donaldson next year but Arenado and Anthony Rendon the following year. No one ever brings up Rendon but I remember wanting the Sox to trade for him years ago and he is very good .

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 09:14 AM) I'm with Jack Parkman. If you only followed baseball media rumors in a vacuum without knowing team moves you would think the White Sox this winter were aggressively trying to upgrade their position players and pitching. If you only followed the white sox transaction log you would think the white sox have no interest in big moves this year and are just going to let players find themselves. I am not going to get tricked by the former. Hahn isn't going to say "we are not signing anyone even if it makes sense", why would he, he could also be establishing a good relationship with an agent by fomenting rumors for Moustakas, but everything the sox have done this offseason has not indicated they are going to take a bigger player like this. This is where I am . I think the Sox want one more good draft and to get a longer look at the boys on the bubble at the ML level. Also see how Burger, Rutherford, Robert basically the whole minor league system goes this year. There's just too much evaluating left to do before making moves.

Farquhar sounds like a future pitching coach.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 08:26 AM) The problem is, guys if they are as great as we hope, start to become more expensive in a couple of seasons, and they have to keep an eye out for that. Exactly. Since the Sox keep talking about sustaining success future payroll has to be a consideration and 1 guy making $30+ AAV is going to become a problem. The Sox aren't the Yanks, Dodgers .Red Sox etc. Even the most optimistic of us regarding the rebuild have to know there are going to be injuries, failed prospects and a very young group of starting pitchers who will be inconsistent or never as good as we might hope. One elite starting pitcher an elite position player and one elite reliever will add a ton of money to payroll . Look at how the Cubs signed Lester, Heyward and then Chapman . The Yankees just picked up a decent chunk of Stanton's contract and traded for Kahnle and Robertson . Astros traded for Verlander and put $100M into signing Reddick and Gurriel . There's no such thing as too much talent and if it can come at a discount now (Boras be damned) it should be a consideration. Maybe waiting till the last minute and trading or supplementing the roster when its more apparent where the holes are is the way to go but there will be a premium in trades and FA money to pay when you wait .

QUOTE (KnightsOnMintSt @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 07:11 AM) I am on the side that I would like the White Sox to sign Moustakas. He fills a need, and I feel like if you can get him around 5yr 80mil, the Sox should hop on that. I also dont think a Moustakas signing means that we're out on Machado. We could easily move Moose to 1st or DH, or even slide Machado over to SS, if we were to sign him. White Sox have a lot of money and a lot of options. If Moose could get anyone to give him 5/80 he'd jump on that now. I think he's been seeing some Jay Bruce type contracts offer . Bruce signed for 3 yrs/$39M. Look at what Todd Frazier signed for 2/17M and everybody loves Todd Frazier's attitude. Most of the teams that needed a 3rd basemen heard his early asking price and moved on to other options. Boras usually ends up finding one taker but this time he's going to have a rough go of it. The longer Moose waits the worse the offers are going to get. Right now I'd be surprised if he lands anything beyond 4/50.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 08:38 PM) The crazy thing is imagining a contract 3x the biggest the Sox have ever offered before, and well over doubling the $100 million mark. I know, Abreu, Albert Belle, Luis Robert, Dunn, Robertson, etc. Guess it’s like Doubting Thomas here, we have to actually see it first to believe it. We usually give that money to our own guys, like Buehrle/Konerko/Danks/Ordonez. It really feels like the best route to signing one of the biggest names is them coming off an injury (see Dye, Thome, Quentin, Eaton) and signing at a discount (which probably means they won’t want the long term deal). There are a lot of sub topics that come up when talking about Moose. There's Donaldson 's age when he becomes a free agent. There's the potential cost and issue of a really big name free agent . Can the Sox really afford that kind of contract? Hell in the past we talked about an Adam Dunn type contract crippling them financially. There's does Moose really fit the window of contention and is he even a good enough player now and in the future even being one of the younger free agents. The saber guys don't like him and the more traditional of us see a pretty useful guy filling a glaring position of need There's those who look at lineup construction, handedness, brings World Series experience , HR's , batting average , OPS and slugging vs. OBP and defense , WAR. There's how to proceed in the market that MAY be throwing you some bones vs. the reality of actually getting free agents that will command great attention and dollars. As for me I anticipate some holes will be very difficult to fill and the money put to best use is NOT to sign someone to a mega deal. Love Yolmer's defense and versatility but he'd have to shock us all with a big uptick in power for me to like him at 3B. I've argued in the past about Moose in the other threads but it's not like I think he's a great fit just think he's pluggigng a few holes positionally and in the lineup where I anticipate problems going forward. If you think the competition will be fierce for Machado, Donaldson Arenado Harper etc just wait til you try to get top notch relief help where not only are you dealing with the super rich clubs but now have to deal with everyone in contention and the fast rising cost of elite relievers.