Rex Hudler

I wouldn't sweat it....... he is not a 30 SB guy in the bigs, so he will run more selectively then. At times, this Barons team has really struggled hitting, so running aggressively was necessary just to try and create runs.

He has played mostly LF. He can play CF defensively, but his arm would likely keep him from playing it in the Majors........ yes, yes and yes....... good in all of those areas! PLAYER AVG SLG OBP G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI SF SH HP BB IB SO SB CS DP Spidale, Michael .306 .434 .393 126 484 87 148 210 27 7 7 47 5 10 12 61 1 72 26 15 4

JimH I may be off here, but I really have my doubts that Davis and Burke will be your 1-2 next year. My guess is Burke is your flex guy again and that a more traditional catcher will be signed. Not necessarily a top name guy, but a vet who could serve as insurance should Davis not be good enough. I am not sure Hankins is good enough defensively (based totally on hearsay), but I like Hank and hope he indeed gets a shot, but I am not sure it is going to happen with the CWS.

Let's examine how pathetic Jose has really been. Let's quantify it, shall we?? I think this tells the whole story..... Okay..... so the html table didn't work.... Jose has hit .150 (23-153) since the All-Star Break. He is 27-178 since June. He has a whopping OBP of .216 and a slugging % of .340 since the All-Star break.

Heard on the broadcast last night that the Barons are 0 - the season when trailing after 7 innings..... 0-53, I believe.

Ditto

Let's not forget that Reynolds played 12 years in the big leagues. You may not like him and that is fine. They all say dumb things from time to time, and I have my list of color analysts I don't like........ but to call him an idiot makes it sound like you think you can do better or know more. Reynolds is on a national network's top baseball show for a reason. He is no idiot. He knows baseball better than any of us here. He has experienced baseball on a level none of us have. He has more contacts in the game than any of us. That, my friend, does not an idiot make.

Sorry dbaho, they are not idiots....... you have no clue what you are talking about......... and OBVIOUSLY just missed my whole point........

Just three hits for the Warthogs....... Whisler doesn't get out of the 1st inning.... Warthogs drop one to Indians, series tied 1-1......

Barons picked the wrong time to start sucking......... they haven't won once since clinching (8 in a row)...... Barons have left 20 runners on base the last two nights...... Aaron McNeal has left at least 10 himself...... McNeal has two rbi since August 16. He is 6 for his last 66, yet is still in the lineup. Barons down two games to none........

ChiSoxFan, I am going to use your quote here....... I don't know how old you are so this rant may or may not be directed at you.............. but it is directed to all of you young spoiled brats that don't have a clue about ESPN......... ESPN is the best thing for sports! You guys have no clue what life is like without ESPN, without BBTN, without Sportscenter, without MLB being on TV on some station almost every night....... without the Internet. ESPN is only 25 years old and when it started, people thought it was the dumbest idea in the world. Everybody said there is no way it would work. ESPN made it work. They brought sports into millions of households that only got info on games in the paper the next day or a 5-second blip on the local news. Without ESPN, there is no FoxSports Networks..... the face of sports and TV is 15 years behind what it is now...... Chris Berman and the nicknames many of you hate so much, made sports fun. It allowed you to learn the players. The personalities made you identify with sports, made them more enjoyable...... Those who take it for granted and weren't there for the beginning need to learn and accept the purpose of ESPN. It is to entertain and provide news. It is NOT to provide the most in-depth analysis on every single team. There is no way Gammons or Reynolds can know every little thing about every player. They use the information that is at their disposal. When you are talking about programming on a national scale it will be more general. Sometimes it will even be wrong. Sometimes it will be a bit outdated. SO WHAT! ALL things on a national scale are like that. Local broadcasters are ALWAYS better with information about the home team. Personally I think it is good to listen to a different perspective on occasion. I say long live Gammons, Reynolds, Kruk, etc....... They do an absolutely fabulous job of providing a combination of entertainment and information. If you have to evaluate every single word they say then first off get a life and second DON'T WATCH! Whether you like them or not, there is NO WAY in hell those guys are idiots. Not one of us here could do that job, so just chill, sit back and be entertained!

grounded out to SS

Well since you asked.......... Fields hit .307 after 8-1. He hit .352 after 8-11. Surprisingly, you were off on the strikeouts. His overall strikeout rate was 28.9% of AB's. After August 1 it was 28.1% and after August 11, during his hot streak, it was still 27.3%. I was surprised by those numbers as well. I didn't calculate his walk rate, but from scanning his day-by-day it actually looked worse in August. I guess he was getting too many pitches to swing at.

No, he is just a little rusty on 6 or 7 days rest....... not his normal 4

I'll also add, that I would be worried a bit about Sweeney if his halves were flip-flopped....... but I'd call what he did this year "player development" - which is the point. Gotta run, going to listen to BMac and the boys at Mobile. Let's hope they haven't forgotten how to win.

Whoever is that critical of that kid should be taken out back and shot for their ignorance. Pure and simple. I think you did. LOL And for the record, Fields had 18 BB and 74 K in 66 games (256 AB). And that does not yet worry me. Repeat that strikeout rate next year and we may be talking Borchard again, but you gota give a guy some rope to learn.

You are kidding, right?? Next year a make or break year? C'mon man. The kid was in high school a year ago just hit .283 with 32 extra base hits and 66 RBI while only striking out only 65 times in HIGH A. He played in 132 games and got 515 AB's and that is a failure? Would you have been happy if he it .305 in low A? You gotta get past the first month or two and realize the kid is allowed a learning curve. For one I think he did quite well for his first full season of professional baseball. It looks like he held up well physically too, which is not as automatic as some think. You guys gotta stop believing the ST hype. The fact someone called him a God is laughable. He is a 19 yr old that played well. He may be a great player someday soon, but he is no ARod. He never was going to shoot up to the Majors in one year. I think it is an absolute joke if someone was disappointed in what Sweeney brought to the table this year.

Welcome to soxtalk, where debates are good and tough skin is a good thing to have.......... I'm not going to get into a point for point argument with you here, but you are way off on both the AAA promotions and McCarthy. From your arguments, it seems obvious to me that you know little about how minor league systems work as a whole (hang around, you'll soak a lot in). Sending Lopez and Rodriguez to AAA was harmless. There is a MAJOR difference between promoting a guy in the middle of the season to the Majors, watching him get rocked and jettisoning him back to the minors hours later and allowing a kid to toss a game or two at the end of the season at a higher minor league level at the end of a season. At worst it would give thme an idea that they still have work to do to get to that level. At best it can give them the confidence that they can compete and make them work even harder in the offseason. There is no way they are going to, nor should they shut McCarthy down in the middle of the season. NO team does that. He has the whole offseason to rest. A few more innings now aren't going to hurt him a bit and AA experience can only help. I'm sorry to put it this way, but shutting him down is so far out of LF that it is inconceivable to me. He's strong and rolling along. I hope you will stick around and continue to offer input. Like I said before, I agreed with much of what you said.

Honestly, I wasn't even concerned with his list..... I haven't processed all of that info yet to try and rank them. But off the top of my head, #7 seems high for Lopez and I don't see Gray being in the top 10.

And another article on McCarthy in today's Birmingham News..... No need to register. McCarthy's Fast Climb to Fame

I'll talk it when they go back to the one class system........... or when I move back to Indiana and have a clue what is going on. LOL

Thanks man.... It is late in the season and I am a bit irritable with things coming to an end. Birmingham's season could be over as soon as Friday (don't see that happening) so then I will have tons of free time. What the hell is a guy supposed to do? Get a girlfriend? lol So bear with me if I seem a bit short or assumptive for a while.

Because it would be a lot cheaper than paying millions to players who flop?? I know it is not realistic, and the idea was meant to be half in jest....... but it is not a bad idea if you really examine it.

In my mind, he was just managing stupidly. Bringing Diaz back makes no sense to me, managing for this year or next. Garland, I can understand after looking back and realizing he got bumped from his normal start day by Garcia.

a couple of things...... 1. His whole rant on the promotion of Rodriguez and Lopez to AAA. That is VERY simple to explain. Charlotte needed players for the final week of the season and they weren't going to upset their playoff rosters in Birmingham and Winston. So they took a few players from Kannapolis and used them as fill-ins. Lopez had two appearances and Rodriguez one. So what. It's not like they plan to start those guys in AAA next season. All he had to do is ask. 2. He criticizes the promotion of McCarthy to AA. If he wasn't pitching in AA, he would be in Winston. They aren't going to shut down a pitcher in the middle of a great season and a pennant race, just because his innings might be a bit high. Does this guy know McCarthy? Does he know what his pitch counts usually are? Blind criticism like that is just stupid. 3. Saying Sweeney had "fallen on his face" is ridiculous. Sweeney is a 19 year old kid who struggled adapting to a higher level. He made the necessary adjustments and ended up with a nice season. Anyone who thought Sweeney was going to bust out hitting .320 with 25 HR and 100 RBI making that jump is naive. Say he struggled early, but came on late. The fact Sweeney struggled early on has no bearing on the state of the farm system. Some of what he said made sense. Hence my "half an idiot" comment. That help?