sircaffey

Scout's Honor Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting Insightful reads.

If it gets me to the World Series game, then that's that. The experience alone would be priceless.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 4, 2009 -> 05:24 PM) LOL, is this serious? 3B, yeah, probably easier than SS, but 2B is arguably the easiest spot on the infield. At 2B you can get away with a weak arm and slow reflects if you have decent athleticism and range. Oh yeah, 3B isn't known as the hot corner because Joe Crede played there. There are only a hand full of great defensive 3B in the past several years. If you don't have fantastic quickness and reflexes, 3B is very tough. SS gets the nod as the toughest and most important though because you need to be extremely smart, be the leader, have a LOT of range, and a strong arm. And like I have said several times, if you aren't baseball retarded or a mental midget, if you have the tools Beckham has, making the transition from SS to 3B, SS to 2B, 3B to SS, 3B to 2B should really be no big deal. I'm not saying we should shift him around the infield, but if we could get a vet 3B to help us with the playoff push and move Beckham to 2B, that'd help us out a lot more. I gotta agree with WC on this one. The switch from SS to 2B is much more of a technical switch. Beckham's footwork around the bag would be attrotious to start of with. Sure, he has the range and instincts to play the position, but learning the footwork takes a lot of time. Not to mention you risk injury putting an inexperienced player at 2B without the correct skills to avoid runners. I'd rather keep him at 3B for this season, at the very least.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 07:22 PM) Secondly, why are we batting our hottest hitter at 8 or 9??? Are we "protecting" him?? This is complete nonsense. For those of you old enough to remember, we "protected" the Big Hurt back in 1990 by having him spend a meaningless 4 months in the minors even though he hit .400 in spring training and tore the cover off the ball. Gordon Beckham is not Frank Thomas, and won't come near to being the hitter Frank was.

The testing is strong enough that anyone juicing will be caught. There is off-season testing as well. If he's not on the list from 2003, we'll likely never know what he did in years past. But he's clean now, and he's a freak so he obviously doesn't need any serious PEDs.

Talent win for the Bucs. Performance remains to be seen.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 21, 2009 -> 11:05 AM) Because, they have more hitters than quality pitchers. Young was the odd man out in the offseason. So they'll move their starting 3B and 3 hitter for a decent middle reliever? Sounds a bit, how you say, dumb to me.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 17, 2009 -> 11:02 AM) Why not? Wouldnt their cost go down due to the market? We should def offer Dotel arb. Not necessarily. I wouldn't even consider offering arbitration to Thome or Dye. Dotel, is questionable. Seeing what happened last season, not many clubs are going to risk offering arbitration. Many more players are going to be willing to accept arbitration this offseason than normal. If its a choice between trading Dotel or keeping him and offering arbitration, I'd trade him. He'll bring back a good prospect, and we'll save ~$3 mil this season. Not to mention if you offer Dotel arbitration and he accepts, you get no picks. It's not worth the risk.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 13, 2009 -> 03:28 PM) Over the last three years -- Peavy ERA's at home = 2.72, on the road = 3.73. Coming to the Cell that road ERA indicates his home ERA with the Sox would be around 4.00 (just my guess). Also, the AL has superior offenses and is much tougher to pitch in. I honestly think he have a over-3.50 ERA. The only thing that indicates is that he's more comfortable pitching at home, like most of the league. Home/Road ERA's fluctuate a ton from player to player. I hate that argument. Peavy's stuff and ability to pitch translates to any stadium against any competition, period.

C - Joe Mauer 1B - Albert Pujols SS - Hanley Ramirez 3B - David Wright OF - Grady Sizemore SP - Tim Lincecum SP - Johan Santana SP - Zach Greinke SP - Cole Hamels SP - Justin Verlander

Yep. Pretty much a waste of money. Maybe Charlotte can draw a handful more of fans now.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 07:08 PM) The only reason Id be against it, would be teams would be discouraged to draft the talented tough to sign guys in the later rounds because they wouldn't be able to give them first round money to not go to college. I think you can rest assured that there will never be a system like the NBA has for the entire MLB draft. It's too different and far too deeper to do something like that. I do, however, think we'll see some boundaries put into place for the 1st round at the very least. That's really the only problem the MLB Draft has. After that, let teams use their money as to how they see fit.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 10:45 PM) There's no reason why Morgan shouldn't be a part of their future plans. He's very solid defensively, and he's done nothing but hit at the MLB level. There really doesn't seem to be much of a difference between him or Hernandez, except Hernandez is still a ways away and Morgan has proven to be able to hit MLB pitching. If they got rid of Morgan because they have Hernandez, it just shows how incompetent they really are. If they were smart, they would have chose to go into next year with Morgan in LF, McCutchen in CF, and McLouth in RF. I'm sorry, but you don't trade your best player and the fan favorite in Pittsburgh for a mediocre pitcher and 2 guys with upside but aren't near MLB ready. Thats a huge slap in the face to the fans. Nyjer Morgan is not a starting OF. Yes, he's good defensively, but he's already nearly 29 years old, has 1 career HR, and is not a great base stealer. Hernandez's ceiling is MUCH higher. Also, Morgan's not going anywhere right now most likely, but he's certainly not going to be with them for when they are ready to compete in 3-4 years. Would the Pirates be able to compete with that OF next season? No. What really is the point in spending the $4.5 million next season and $6.5 mil the next season when he will allow them to win 74 games instead of 70? Instead, the wise move is to invest that money into Latin America and the draft, which they're doing. The Pirates don't have a large payroll, and that $11 million that they would pay McLouth to finish a few games closer to 4th place would be better served to be invested in their system. McLouth is not Mickey Mantle. The fans aren't showing up just to see him play. They'll gravitate to an exciting young player like McCutchen, and McLouth will soon be forgotten.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 07:57 PM) The thing I don't get, why even want Hernandez as a return? You got two CF's in your lineup already with McCutchen and Morgan, and Tabata is the future in RF, and Hernandez doesn't hit for power. I guess he could be trade bait, but that seems like a bad move, IMO. If only it were that easy... The Pirates are not in a position to start choosing prospects based on position. They are in a position to take the best players they can get, period. Then you figure out who is in your long-term plans when these prospects start panning or not panning out. They are overhauling a franchise, not fine-tuning. If it was a choice between Hernandez or a less talented infielder, they made the right choice. Nyjer Morgan is not part of their future plans, and shouldn't be. You need 2 CFs to cover the OF ground at PNC as LF is HUGE. One of the reason McLouth was kept in CF is because LF is the harder position to play in that stadium. Hernandez would make a very nice LF at PNC if he pans out. A 1-2 of Hernandez and McCutchen would be a fantastic duo if all goes well.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 4, 2009 -> 01:18 PM) #4 and #7 prospect plus a guy like Morton, who I'd probably put in a similar mold of Broadway/Marquez/Egbert isn't that big of a haul for one of the better offensive Cfers in the game. One whose in his prime and signed to an affordable deal. I do agree with whomever posted it that the Sox are holding onto Poreda as bait to get a front line starter, not a position player. I figure they'll draft an outfielder early and than focus on more pitching as the club seems to have quite a few middle of the order impact bats in the system. While I agree it's a not a spectacular package, Morton's not similar to those 3. His stuff is much better, and has had success in the upper levels. Morton's the best player in the package, imo.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 4, 2009 -> 09:59 AM) McLouth wasn't the greatest player, but he was the Pirates best player, and they traded him for practically nothing. And now their replacing him with a rookie who has a career .285 BA in the minors and doesn't hit for much power, and will likely have a bad K:BB ratio in the majors. The Pirates are still a joke of an organization. How does your obsession with minor league stats project that? McCutchen has hit .291 w/ an 89:122 BB:K ratio as a 20-22 year old at AAA. That looks pretty good to me. The trade for McLouth might not have been optimal value, but the promotion of McCutchen was the right move. He's ready.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 09:57 PM) i wonder if Pittsburgh is willing to depart with Freddy Sanchez for the right price? Pittsburgh would love to trade Sanchez. He has an $8 mil option for 2010 that automatically vests with 635 PA or 600 PA + All-Star appearance this season (which he's likely to get). Jack Wilson, Sanchez, and Adam LaRoche are all players the Pirates would love to trade. They are putting an incredible emphasis on the draft and Latin America. They just opened a $4 mil academy in the DR, are looking to sign the best Latin American prospect (a 16 year old SS) in the neighborhood of $3 mil, and have the 4th overall pick in the draft. Any payroll outside of Doumit and Maholm can probably be had.

McClouth's contract: 09:$2M, 10:$4.5M, 11:$6.5M, 12:$10.65M club option ($1.25M buyout) Pretty nice. I really like this trade for the Braves.

Tejada covers as much ground at SS as Jeter. He's not a SS. There are better 3B option out there, instead of buying high on Tejada after 1 hot month.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 31, 2009 -> 07:56 AM) Oswalt's contract is not nearly as ugly. And he pitches in a park that is much more friendly to hitters than Peavy does. I don't know if I would say that. They will both make $15 million in '10 and $16 million in '11. Peavy will make $1 mil more in '12. Then in '13, you have Peavy's option that we can assume will be forced to be picked up at $22 million. Add in that Oswalt makes $6 mil more in '09, so the difference in remaining salary in 2009 is actually pretty large. Given the savings from this season, that extra season at $22 mil looks a bit more friendly when compared with Oswalt's contract. Peavy will turn 32 during his final season (Oswalt will turn 32 this season). Which by that time, $22 mil most likely be fair market value for a SP of that quality (if the economy is not somewhat recovered by then, god help us). He does not have a full no-trade clause either for 2013 meaning, you hold a hell of a trading chip. This is all predicated upon what provisions are changed in his contract due to the trade, but as it stands right now, they have similar contracts and given their ages, I much prefer Peavy's contract.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 12, 2009 -> 06:23 PM) Anderson? Yes, vs LHP. A Sweeney/Anderson platoon would easily have been the most productive situation in CF.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 12, 2009 -> 06:45 PM) Wise put up a higher OPS than Sweeney last year. And if Sweeney was on the Sox right now, he'd be hurt. Sweeney, talented...Wise, talentless. You may not like Sweeney, whatever, but he's a hell of a better option that the trash the Sox have trotted out in CF this year. That's not debatable.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 12, 2009 -> 06:31 PM) .254 batting average, .666 OPS this season for Sweeney. .289/.313/.408 vs RHP (.307/.369/.429 in '08)...Sweeney would have made a solid compliment with Brian Anderson. Instead we had to suffer through the Wise era and now the Podsednik era. It's pathetic.

No, perhaps, and yes.

Who cares if he badmouthed this organization? We have a manager who runs his mouth all the time and an arrogant, stubborn GM. It's not a coincidence that a number of players have done it recently. I almost side with the players. I'd prefer they don't say anything, but I don't hold it against them when they do.