CaliSoxFanViaSWside

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 31, 2014 -> 06:13 AM) Well, I should modify my statement. You can show you completely suck in Spring Training, but you can't show you're awesome. Every professional player has a good couple of weeks. There's no way to know whether those couple of weeks are sustainable, though. Thus, Boggs can pitch his way out of a job, but Semien shouldn't be able to play his way onto the team unless he's completely proven his mettle in his development process. He hasn't yet. Soon. I think you can show you're awesome. Puig last year in ST was a monster and was sent down, Then when he was brought back up he was still a monster. I'm sure there are plenty of other examples of rookies kicking butt in spring going on to having good years and careers though I'm sure there are even more who kicked ass in ST and went on to have nothing careers.

QUOTE (ChrisLikesBaseball @ Mar 31, 2014 -> 06:17 AM) It's here! It's Opening Day! I'll be in section 128, cheering on the boys! I'm confused . This isn't the game thread is it cuz I don't see no Sox vs Twins and the starting pitchers ? And if it isn't where is it ? Someone needs to make a good one.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 09:52 AM) I'm excited for Semien and Davidson to be up here and starting for good as well. I expect them to be a little better than people think(like around the wild card races until the last month of the season) but even if they aren't, there's a lot of young talent to watch and follow this year. Davidson got sent down did he not ?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 05:11 PM) They should alternate between 2b and SS, giving them both a chance to work at the various positions and potentially give us replacements who can cover the full middle infield. This isn't as hard of a problem as you're making it out to be. Worst case scenario they can't really cut it and occasionally back up Alexei there. Alexei is now one of the elder statesmen. How long do you think he'll be around ? Alexei is 10 yrs. older than some of these guys.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 04:13 PM) Micah is starting at AA, he only spent a month or so there last year. Sanchez, Semien, and Davidson all have room to play in AAA for now, you could even add Leury in possibly as a utility guy as well. Micah at AA for a month last year and the AA playoffs and gets named the MVP of the playoffs. Would be so cool if he was legit. I'm really excited about him.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 04:26 PM) Never, ever put stock in ST numbers That's what some people say but it is there for a reason. Boggs was cut because he sucked in the spring. Plenty of people think Jordan Danks has shown his worth because of his spring.

I'm tired of projections and predictions. LET THE GAMES BEGIN !

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 04:13 PM) Micah is starting at AA, he only spent a month or so there last year. Sanchez, Semien, and Davidson all have room to play in AAA for now, you could even add Leury in possibly as a utility guy as well. But since Micah is in AA and Davidson entrenched at 3rd that leaves SS and 2nd base at AAA between Semien and Sanchez which is why I asked who's the better SS ? Which one would be playing out of position ? I don't think either one is a natural SS . I guess best case scenario is both make it to The Show ,Semien as the starter at 2nd since he has more pop and Sanchez as the versatile backup since he's a singles hitter so you play Sanchez at SS in AAA. But there's only so long you can let the incumbents show their worth and if Beckham hasnt shown much in all this time chance are he isn't going to. Other GM's know Hahn is rebuilding for a quick turnaround. He doesn't have time to always let guys like Beckham prove they're worth a decent prospect. Dunn and Konerko are gone next year if not sooner. Decisions have to be made fairly quickly on Beckham, De Aza, Gillaspie and Viciedo. Beckham has maybe to the trade deadline to show big improvement to net us anything of value. The next candidate needs time to show he can hack it at this level too. The more that happens the longer the rebuild takes.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 03:02 PM) Well, that's by your definition. If a player can come up and play ball better than a guy that's had five years to put it together but hasnt , that's not emotional at all. Its about a young guy getting a chance and ends up playing better ball than his predecessor so the team stays with the young guy. Speaking of emotions. If Semien plays well, sticking with Beckham despite Semien playing well and despite Beckham having five seasons to prove himself is an emotional attachment to Beckham. Now were both just full of "emotions" now aren't we... This is a very tough call. On one hand Balta is right. What Semien did last year at the ML level screams for more AAA time. However what he did in spring training is screaming I'm ready now. Which situation do you think is more indicative of the truth ? Marcus played at 3 levels last year , then the AZ. Fall League. If his AFL performance is any indication he was worn out by then. In ST he hit well and took his walks , easily leading the Sox with 9 when the next closest guy had only 5. If you want to argue Beckham was rushed and somehow it hurt his development ,go for it ,but at some point the talent has to show. One case does not apply to another case. I've argued in the past about maximaizing what you get in trades for guys like Beckham , Gillaspie, De Aza, Viciedo when rebuilding but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and get nothing close to what you had hoped to and just be happy you have someone who can step right in. Finally depth at 2nd base with Carlos Sanchez and Micah Johnson means even if Marcus gets sent down where will all these guys play ? Who's the better SS Semien or Sanchez ? Does it make sense to get sent down and play out of position ? Bottom line if Semien is ready then play him . At least 2nd base will be one position out of the way during the rebuild and Sanchez and Micah are good problems to have.

Basically Nieto was in the right place at the right time .That's pretty much all the analysis it needs. What it means to his future is at least he should qualify for the MLB pension and health benefits a lot sooner than he might've thought.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 12:39 PM) Yea, I was probably a little overzealous with my wording. All I was saying is: 1) Quintana is a #2 2) The front office replaced Buehrle with 2 outstanding lefthanded starters 3) We should rejoice in both #1 and #2 As close as I could get with the smiley's to rejoicing.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 01:10 PM) Sure, we all know the reason he's there is primarily the Rule V thing. I said that in the article too. But that point has been beaten into submission, so I wanted to look at the two players as compared in a vacuum, just to make an illustration. Also yeah, hard for anyone not to do better than what was there last year. But Phegley may have beaten that this year too, and Gimenez probably would. My biggest concern though, is this reversed development curve idea the Sox are trying for with Nieto has a high likelihood of backfiring in terms of his development. If they think he's a real potential future starter, that is. I don't think you ever mentioned that besides the Rule V thing is the fact Phegley and Smith are righties and the Sox think Nieto is a better lefthanded hitter than righthanded. If all else is equal (besides the Rule V ) the fact we lack lefthanders counts for something.

Nieto with only 22 PA's this spring, less than any position player going north.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 12:08 PM) Rotation set: https://twitter.com/DanHayesCSN/status/448536475328454657 Hmm. Sale, Paulino, Quintana, Johnson, Danks. Save you all the click.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Mar 23, 2014 -> 05:52 PM) I'm agreeing. Holding out tiny hope that he'll be tradeable for SOMEthing, and dreaming of a Dempster-like classy move that I know is the longest of shots. The nonstop ugliness could conceivably drive him into thinking that $45M or so was a big enough theft, and that he'd done enough damage to the franchise already, but certainly not expecting it. Thats what I'm hoping for since when he's in the lineup he'll be batting 4th when he should be like 6th or 7th. I hate seeing him kill rallies more than anything.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 04:43 PM) Then again, with Foulke, Takatsu, Hector Santiago, Tom Gordon (used curve to set up FB)...or Mr. Grilli with the Pirates last season, almost anything is possible. For the record, I'm not stating Putnam is/will be/should be the closer. Veal definitely didn't win over Ventura today if he was on the bubble, although Purcey's also a possibility. If Cleto can keep throwing strikes he should be the closer. Big if ,but would be great to have him save a decent amount by the trade deadline and see what you can get for him. Jones can set up.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 08:44 AM) I think it helps that Nieto hits left-handed as well. That and keeping him away from Jizzo are the keys.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 10:00 AM) Closer to 80% or more in our division. Which means it will likely be 70-75% overall. Cleveland starting zero lefties, Detroit only Smyley, who's never pitched 100 MLB innings, and only 76 last year, Minnie only has Diamond who is only their 6th, and completely blew last year, and KC with 2, Vargas and Chen, who may or may not be good enough to hang all year, and possibly Duffy, eventually. Sox may wind up facing the highest % of righty starters in all of baseball. And this is why it would be really dumb, imo, to split ADA and Tank's time based on pitchers handedness. Unless your goal is to put his value in the Andruw Jones/Vernon Wells neighborhood. Just get ADA his AB's as a 4th OF for all positions, and in LF when/if Tank DH's. I'll be ticked if ADA is in OD lineup. This is also the reason, prior to the Eaton trade, that I thought Choo would be a great fit. And why I was pushing for Elsbury but Eaton might turn out to be a mini version of those guys at a very good price so it's OK. I am really rooting hard for Gillaspie to rake against righties. I know many view him as the placeholder for Davidson but imagine the position the Sox would be in if he hit. 280 with 20 bombs and 75 RBI's . I don't think it's that farfetched. Also if Viciedo hits we'd be in a far better position to trade him and his iron glove for another LH bat though for what position I have no idea. But the fact remains we still need more LH hitters since most of our lefties everyone wants gone.

http://www.thecatbirdseatblog.com/ New Sox blog with a number of writers who have done Sox blogs in the past. Should be a lot of content for those who love reading Sox related stuff .

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 23, 2014 -> 12:37 PM) Our Trout is a bootleg version by comparison then. Typical White Sox.Are you here just to alienate people ? You're definitely not a Sox fan. You seem so miserable ,like you have all the answers and you can't comprehend why the Sox don't do things your way.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Mar 23, 2014 -> 12:34 PM) I just saw that Addison Reed was lights out in his first appearance for Arizona. Meanwhile, Davidson gets sent down because he can't beat out Conor Gillespie. That's rather shortsighted. Davidson had just as good a spring as Conor but we do need some lefthanded hitters and Davidson is young and has to work on his defense. No sense starting his arbitration clock now. The Sox have to create some tradeable assets. Gillaspie could become one of those. He's a patient hitter with a nice swing and some pop.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 23, 2014 -> 09:14 AM) Garcia does not have Mike Trout potential. He's an interesting prospect, and we've had so few position players like him in recent years that I can understand the excitement, but he is nowhere near Mike Trout. Excuse me do you have to take it so literally ? Give it a rest . I know talents like Trout come along very rarely but he's big and fast and an outfielder with big upside. He's the cloest thing we have to Trout so he is OUR Trout.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 22, 2014 -> 01:46 PM) I like Abreu and Sale much more than any players in the Cubs franchise. I like Eaton and Semien slightly more than I like Castro and Rizzo. I like Bryant, Baez, and Soler much more than I like Anderson, Hawkins, and Thompson. I think the Cubs have more high ceiling talent in the low to mid minors, but I think we have more talent in the upper minors and at the ML level, which is why I think our window is as close or closer. You didn't mention Avisail . But of course you have to mention him weather you like him or not . And I know you don't . You have to admit he has a s***load of upside.He's big strong and fast . He is the our Mike Trout. He has that much potential. Yeah,yeah yeah... O swing schmo swing. Trying not to be dismissive of your concerns since you make every effort to be fair in your arguments. But geez if you're gonna point out every potential flaw in every prospects repetoire it gets tedious . Will he ever realize that huge potential ? I don't know but it will be fun and frustrating watching.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 20, 2014 -> 09:21 PM) Damn. Our defense is looking lousy again? Still debating whether or not to get mlb.com. I don't think I could stand watching a season where we are owned by those Central Division teams again. If we can hold our own with those Central bums I might buy. Greg if you can afford it no problem get it. There's Abreu, Eaton, Eric Johnson, Avisail Garcia, maybe even Semien and Davidson to watch develop. How could you not want to see Sale pitch ? Spring training is no place to judge defense. The ground is hard and the skies are high in Az. Semien is playing great and since Gordon is sort of injured Semien just might make opening day. Chances are less for Davidson because the Sox might not want to start his arbitration clock just yet and Gillaspie just might develop into a tradeable asset. But Davidson has also had a very nice spring after a slow start. Besides you're a Sox fan. Forget the bad stuff , forget about wins and losses during a rebuild. Look for and revel in the promise of youth and the exuberance of youth when they have walk off wins and come from behind wins. There will always be b****ing and whining about stuff . Look for the silver linings and you will be fine.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 03:01 PM) Thread should be changed to "Hector Gimenez is your 2014 starting catcher" Leg cramp. nothing serious.