Jake

Don't misread our rankings for a dislike of Johnson - I'd say all of the voters are very enthusiastic and excited about Micah. There are just some giant caveats to his rise. The things I think about: -Stolen bases: great. He does not have elite speed, though. He will not steal 70 bases in the MLB. He is a good base stealer and he should remain a threat, but there are probably several guys in the system that are faster than him. This tool will necessarily be overrated. He's not Billy Hamilton and people like Jim Callis are emphatic about this. -Errors. We all know about this. He might be a left fielder. -Age. This has been touched on as well. He's a bit old for the levels he is playing in. However, this is why he's been moving up. You may see him in AA at some point, though I'm unsure of how they can make a spot for him. On the negative side. So you see a guy whose floor is pretty damn low. He might be a poor hitting left fielder whose speed is overrated. He could end up being a poor man's AAA Scott Podsednik. He might be a young Chone Figgins. Time will tell.

Carmelo + Thibodeau = ?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 10:39 PM) Of the 4 guys you mentioned, I don't think any of them have a truly high ceiling. I'm not a huge fan of Wacha. Well, we can put Carlos Martinez or Trevor Rosenthal in there if you prefer. I agree that Wong doesn't have a high ceiling, but is a pretty sure bet to be a rather productive player. I think Adams has a pretty high ceiling, at least from a pure offensive standpoint. Piscotty needs to grow into his power potential to realize his true ceiling.

Trayce has rallied from poor play enough times that I'm not sure what he would have to do for me to rule him out as a prospect

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 08:56 PM) He's got to get it going, as he's now 1 for his last 24. He and Trayce are on the wrong drugs right now

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 10:25 PM) No way do you make a trade with the Cards without getting Taveras in return. Would never make sense for them. He's the one guy they NEED on their big league team next year. Everyone else is fair game and there is plenty of talent in the "everyone else" group swing a deal.

They said on the radio that they told him to get the f*** off the logo and he was apologetic. I just don't see the reason to give this butthole the star treatment. He has no connection to Chicago.

If Thibs really loves Lu, so you defer to his judgment?

I would trade Sale for Matt Adams, Kolten Wong, Michael Wacha, and Stephen Piscotty. We get three guys you can pretty much plug right in, they get an ace without really shaking up the big league club's plans. Our pitching will still be great and Wacha can walk right in and be a potential ace as well.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 03:45 PM) Starters are more valuable than bullpen pitchers. But the key issue isn't really if pen-Axe plus starter-Santiago is more effective than starter-Axe plus pen-Santiago. The issue is that Santiago is the pitcher who has a real career in front of him. He's a good starter. he needs to be developed. I don't care if Axe sucks in the pen. Winning games this year isn't important. I like Axe, but he's 5th starter fodder. There's nothing to develop. Santiago in rotation and Axe in pen or Axe in AAA or Axe in Tokyo is still better than Axe in rotation and Santiago in pen. Santiago has always struggled to find consistency in the pen, has admitted that he had to quit throwing his screwball entirely because he can't find his release on it in a bullpen warmup, and he can't get lefties out. It should have been a no-brainer from the get-go

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/chicago...vailable-071013 More at link

I'm starting to hate Puig so much that I will actively avoid the innings he would play in the A-S game

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 03:35 PM) Who the f*** cares that Bieber was near the Cup. #BecauseItsTheCup

I'm rooting for T-Mobile. I'd love to have a carrier that rewards me for buying phones off-contract

I still think Pence makes more sense for us, but there's some chance SF pays handsomely to keep him there. He'd be a nice, marketable face to have around here and he may be overlooked by some of the other people vying for OFers

Hahn has long been the Boras whisperer in the White Sox org. I don't think we'd go into next year with 3 FAs and 0 new young guys in the lineup.

It's pretty clear that in most instances, Rose hasn't been able to bring out the best in his supporting cast. This doesn't mean Derrick sucks, but this isn't a situation like a prime Steve Nash where guys that suck kept having career years because the PG ran the show so well.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 02:58 PM) WTF

Weird to think the 2-3-4 could disappear by a few weeks from now

Nobody gives a s*** if Puig doesn't make it. Seriously. It will be a non-issue.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 02:41 PM) Nick Cafardo ‏@nickcafardo 10m The Red Sox are looking everywhere for relief. Interested in White Sox trio Addison Reed, Matt Thornton and Matt Lindstrom. Okay, then I'l say with a straight face: Jackie Bradley. Gimme

LOL it'd be a shame if the best player won the All-Star vote, eh?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 01:36 PM) Not really. He was nearly Rookie of the Year for the Rockies his first season and then had a season like Viciedo is having now... But I wouldn't call it the scrap heap, I would just say we sold Aaron Miles at his highest possible value. John Danks was scrap heap? A Top 10 draft pick at that age....don't think so. John Danks was a near-MLB ready prospect, the original subject of conversation.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 01:29 PM) I think a lot of teams will hesitate on him because of his injury history and that'll hurt the length a little bit. I'd probably be willing to push 5/$75, but I can't be sure someone won't gamble Jose Reyes money on him. Might well depend on whether there's an org doing anything deliberately stupid this offseason like the Marlins were then. I don't think I'd want to give him 5 years. Would that be the longest term contract we've given a FA ever? Was Belle's that long (I know he opted out before it got that far)