Jake

QUOTE (Hawk09 @ Jun 25, 2012 -> 09:17 AM) Sox struggle vs lefties anyway,and Liriano is hot. The Sox offense has been shut down 4 times in the last 7 games. Jake is coming off of a 125 pitch outing. This is gonna be a tough game. Greg?

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jun 25, 2012 -> 09:09 AM) If Youk's not ready for tonight, maybe we'll start EE again. I'm actually very interested in how he handles the bench now, particularly who backs up at the hot corner

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 25, 2012 -> 08:15 AM) He might have a bullpen future as well...but everything in his repertoire needs polish. The only way that's going to happen for him is to get a decent number of innings. He's a guy who falls into that old saying of "You can't teach velocity". The kid throws a 92 mph 2-seamer. Even if he can't locate it well, there's some value in that which might be able to be developed, which is why we were able to trade him for a very useful part. Not even so much a useful part, a useful part that will almost be free $$-wise

First step in appreciation is learning to spell his first name

I was hoping for "Fountain of Youk"

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 10:14 PM) 1 - Not on this planet. His fastball has movement, but it also has movement out of the ballpark. His changeup is mediocre and his slider is fringy. 2 - This is true. 3 - This is not true. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...Zachary-Stewart I think Stewart is a product of draft pick bias. Because he was a 3rd round pick, teams feel obligated to give him a chance even though he had pedestrian numbers in the minors. If Stewart was drafted in the 10th round I sincerely doubt he would have ever sniffed the majors. For the record, these are the words of the BoSox GM

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 08:54 PM) Quintana is so Buehrle it is crazy. Everytime I see him pitch he reminds me more and more of Mark. The only difference right now is Quintana actually pitches over mistakes. Mark had a tendency to float a few pitches after something bad happened He is like Buehrle but IMO has better raw stuff. It is difficult to pitch with more cunning, guile, and command than Buehrle though.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 09:36 PM) Jeff Marquez when he was acquired had some of the same projections attached to him...I saw a lot more of Marquez and less of Jon Garland over the last two years. This is not a bad comparison, both needed some last minute fine tuning to really make it. The only real difference is in the details, Stewart has been kind of jerked around between relief pitching and starting pitching. He dropped his once 93+ four seamer in favor of the starter-ish sinker and never found it consistently once moved to the pen (which IMO is hard to do). There is a bit more reason to think he'll turn it around than Jeff Marquez (or hindsight is simply too clear), but it's a similar idea and really a very similar trade overall. Hopefully we make out as well as the Yankees did when we had to sell of Swisher for nothing.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 09:25 PM) no kidding, I'm sure the 5 year old is not crying because of sabremetrics,.. I heard he was crying because Lilli was not part of a CF platoon since ADA can't hit lefties

"We believe he can develop into a good major league starter," Cherington said. "We want to get him back in that role. He's a big, physical, strong kid with three solid pitches. Throws strikes, has had a good minor league track record. He's a guy that looks like a major league starter but just needs a little more time at Triple A to fine-tune things. We're excited and he'll be a big part of our pitching depth going forward." This is what I'd say about Zach if I believed about Zach what I do and wanted to make it look like I won a trade that I was fleeced in.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 09:15 PM) 1. Quintana 2. Axelrod 2A. Beck 3. Castro 4. Molina 5. Santiago 6. Rienzo 7. Petricka 8. Olacio 9. Stewart 10. Jaye/Webb (one of those two kids we got for Frasor, can't remember) This seems like some odd mixture of our top pitching prospects and the organizational pitching depth chart.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 09:09 PM) Look, I like your optimism Jake, but I really don't feel I'm of the meatballish leanings that you are referring to because I see a player that has gotten blown the f*** up this season despite his "good" sinker you think he has. I know you play ball, Jake. You should know how to call it out. I'm not about to go to Vegas and place a bet on Zach Stewart making his way to being a fixture at the MLB level, but I see a young-ish player that has had his development pretty well botched switching from relief to starter to relief to starter and having his repertoire pay for it. My main point is that his failure at the MLB level is not necessarily indicative of a career of failing at the MLB level. Because of the flashes you see and the fact that he hasn't had much time spent as a sinkerballer or as a starter (and only half a season of being both sinker thrower and reliever), there may be some untapped potential that may show up yet. I feel like everyone has to know that but refuse to say it. My stance always has been that he should been a starting pitcher in AAA and could have been tossed to the wolves if that didn't work out. Same with Hector Santiago. They're inconsistent, which is probably the most common problem for pitchers but likewise the most commonly corrected one. That said, I think we're deep in Stewart types that are a tweak or a little bit of experience away from being serviceable MLB pitchers/starters. The irritating thing about Stewart and also Santiago is that I believe they were not ready for the MLB level and not put in a good position to succeed by the White Sox, even if them being there was best for the MLB club (I'm not convinced Brian Bruney couldn't have given us the same production)

The reason Stewart helped this deal is because he's not a value-less player, despite the meatballish opinions that are so popular on here. He is young and has a good sinker. If he keeps it down and is consistent, he'll be an innings eater. We don't have that many guys in our system that could be a mid-to-back of rotation starter with perhaps some minor tweaking and experience. I'm happy to move him for Youkilis, but he was a better piece than I would have considered ideal.

QUOTE (IamPabloOzuna @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 07:19 PM) Agreed. I'm lucky enough to know the man personally. Kaplan might be a Cubs homer, but he's also one of the nicest human beings on the planet. Being a little obnoxious is just part of his shtick. All these people that constantly hate on him would be kicking themselves if they ever actually got to know the guy. It honestly bugs the hell out of me because there are plenty of people who deserve that kind of public perception, and Kap is most certainly not one of them. I hope no one thought I was trying to say anything about the quality of human being. I just don't enjoy the way he does the baseball part of his job. He has a very "average fan" kind of shtick, which can be okay at times but for teams I follow closely it doesn't do anything for me.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 05:58 PM) More of the same, unfortunately. Lots of guys are going to move ahead of him, if there's no turnaround soon. Apparently KW was still pimping him on the radio earlier today, saying he has the highest upside in the system.

Kaplan is a Cubs nuthugger and doesn't know much about baseball. I do enjoy his commentary on other Chicago sports though.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:57 PM) Carl Everett, AJ, Jenks, Rios, Javy, Swisher, O-Cabrera, Manny...we've had a mixed record in that area taking players with "bad reputations" and incorporating them into our clubhouse. Griffey, Jr., had a reputation for being next to impossible to deal with and he was great for our clubhouse and as a teammate, if not so good on the field. what?

Don't forget that this is a guy who didn't get along with his manager. Bobby V is an ass, but Youk is no saint. Hopefully a change of scenery will benefit him.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:34 PM) Lillibridge will now go on to be a legend for the Red Sox. I assume he gets released when one of those guys gets off the DL

A Youk injury would leave us unfathomably light at 3B though. Escy will just play more OF

QUOTE (daggins @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:19 PM) So with Lilli out, is there room for Dan Johnson now? No. We'll keep Hudson I think. QUOTE (MAX @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:20 PM) and they don't bunt there. I don't get it. I don't really like bunting in front of Dunn all that much since he never puts it in play.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:11 PM) Could be Jordan Dunks. That would be terrible. And of course Hudson is going to stay on the roster if we trade Escobar or Lilli. He's nice depth especially if Youk gets hurt which is surprisingly likely.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Jun 24, 2012 -> 04:00 PM) If Danks doesn't bat here, we clearly have no interest in winning. Your only replacement is a guy who just got traded.

Hudson is going to stay on our bench.

Give them Lilli and Stewart and call it a day