bmags

That list is mostly terrible. Yermin Mercedes?

I don’t even know what this is but no.

BA mock has Vaughn to Sox.

Bummer

Dom Smith level. (I’m just joking, law being so high on Vaughn was made me “rate” Vaughn as a higher choice this week)

Guess this means JRod is stateside along with that curaçao player. Getz seems to prefer getting guys stateside sooner. Seems like we should double our AZL squads personally.

Saying things like “dee Gordon with more pop” is a good example of how comps are terrible. Dee Gordon with more pop is not Dee Gordon.

Sigh

That would be fun to get Pache.

It’s weird how other organizations that aren’t the white Sox are capable of fitting it in!

This is so dumb.

Gotta be Manny I hope. Covey really could pair well with an opener.

Sweet. Cease is going to dominate. Jimenez is just getting started. Nova will still be terrible but still other things are going to be nice.

haven't listened.

everybody wang chung tonight.

I would not trade Nick Madrigal for Alex Colome.

The best baseball organizations are not waiting for players to ask for basic information, they are proactively creating plans to get better. Yes, some are more receptive. In this case, a player who was receptive was bad at it, but didn't know it or what it was, and the sox didn't care he didn't know about it or else would have made it a point of his plan. Or as you call it, "player development".

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-willson-contreras-20190402-story.html White Sox player development relies on hoping players overhear tips from organizations that aren't bad at it:

Organizations should be able to afford to work on maximizing skills even if they are short term. But if you don't value framing then you are basically removing flowers as an example of a developed catcher by the white sox. The worst framing catcher is better now at framing than the worst framing catcher in 2009. That saves runs regardless of the fact that he is still the worst. The sox should strive for more than "better than we used to be, but still worse than the rest of the league".

It is a teachable skill. That doesn't mean they are good at teaching it. After all, Castillo learned it, then got here and got way worse. It's almost like they aren't really focused on it! I am not responding to the second argument because that isn't my argument, but your argument around Omar Narvaez was quite literally players either have it or they don't, and mine was that if you could take him from worst defensive catcher to less bad it was very valuable. Not make him worst defensive catcher to best, just degrees of improvement. So it's cool you refined your point to agree with me.

Mike Montgomery

He'll go by Torque.

I wouldn't really apply macro trend pieces to the micro level. Nobody is suggesting a swing change with Vaughn, but yes, Vandy is a wonderful program, who on average probably gives their players the tools that will offer the best chance to improve in college and get drafted. They improve players odds but plenty of players will get drafted out of programs that are terrible for the pros like Virginia.

I would really like Walston.

When we are discussing Flowers value we are talking about framing almost exclusively. Considering they didn't value it as seen by their replacements for the next several years, and that framing only started to come up around in popular blogs as of 2013, I think it's likely that this is just something that he picked up on and happened to be good at. He wasn't good at blocking, he wasn't particularly good at throwing runners out, he was very good at framing. In 2015, Flowers last year with the white sox: Framing Runs: 19.2 (3rd) Blocking Runs: -2.8 (107th) Throwing Runs: -.6 (98th) FRAA_ADJ: 15.1 (8th best in majors) In 2017, two years later with braves: Framing Runs: 32 (1st) Blocking runs: -.8 (90th) Throwing Runs: -1.1 (102nd) FRAA_ADJ: 30.1 (3rd) Let's check out Welington Castillo 2017 Framing Runs: 6.8 (18th) Blocking Runs: 1.3 (16th) Throwing Runs: 3.2 (3rd) FRAA_ADJ: 12.4 (9th) 2019 Framing Runs: -3.5 (81st out of 85) Blocking Runs: -1 (73rd) Throwing Runs: 0 (69th) FRAA_ADJ: -4.7 (82nd out of 85) Omar Narvaez 2018 FRAA_ADJ: -15.7 (117th out of 117th) Omar Narvaez 2017 FRAA_ADJ: -2.1 (71st out of 85)