Rex Hudler

Let's look back at the Minor League career of another highly touted prospect... This player was drafted in 1997 and played short-season ball. Nice debut 1998 - Sent to Low A and had a solid year. Hit .285 with 11 HR and 65 RBI in 134 games. 1999 - Started in High A and played half the season. Promoted to AA for a short stop on the way to AAA. Even got a few games in the Bigs as a Sept. callup. He hit roughly .330 with 18 HR and 81 RBI. He was anointed a big time prospect. He was the Big Club's #1 prospect and was voted the top prospect in each of the three Minor Leagues he played in that year. 2000 - Supposed to be his breakout year... He goes back to AAA and flopped. He hit .243 with 16 HR and 66 RBI. Definitely much worse than expectations. 2001 - Sent back to AAA and raised his average to .281 but his power #'s dropped to 12 HR and 52 RBI. At this point he was considered a major disappointment and many questioned whether he would ever make it. 2002 - He was given the opportunity to start with the Big Club and had a solid year, after a slow start. The Big Club remained patient and it proved worthwhile. He hit over .280 and had over 20 Hr and 100 RBI. He was finally starting to realize the potential. 2003 - The potential is finally realized and he is having a monster year. He will be playing in the All-Star Game in a few weeks at Comiskey and is finally realized everyone's expectations that they had for him for several years. It doesn't exactly parallel Joe B's situation, but does show that patience can be rewarded. I'll let you guys guess who it is.

I won't argue with you on the merit of the argument, but when you are talking about one guy who is on the 40-man and one that is not, it isn't so black and white. Does Gload do any better if he is up with the Sox and NOT playing every day?? By the way, is his name Russ or Ross?

this is why I love ya, CK! Guy is too chicken sjit to face the Sox, he takes on the Brewers instead Like he had the choice.....

The Sox picked up Mike Riviera from San Diego for that very reason. He is a AAA guy with some Major League time. He has hit very well since reporting to Charlotte.

Yep 9 IP 5 H 1 ER 2 BB 9 K

Let me know... I am not big on paying for autographs, but I wouldn't rule anything out. I prefer to make creative trades. LOL

Tex, if he ever shows up and you could get me an autographed baseball, I could come up with a pretty solid trade with you.

I say we bring in Koch to close it out. What do you guys think?

Damn, look what talking about my slow ass started. LOL And for clarification, I knew how to run the based, I just didn't have the speed to do so. Unfortunately, at strange times, I didn't want to acknowledge my lack of speed, therefore running into easy outs and driving coaches nuts.

Thanks man. I may have to change it from time to time to reflect other players I liked. The Topps 1975 set happens to be my all-time favorite too. Love the colors.

Buehrle did EXACTLY what you need out of a pitcher. Your team gives you runs in the top half of the inning, YOU go out and shut them down quickly in the bottom half to hold that momentum. My friends, I believe the Mark Buehrle we all knew is back.

Nope, but Borchard is on the 40-man and was given $5.3 million. Gload was a roster-fill pick up. May not be fair, but that's the way baseball works, my friend. I won't say Gload will never get a chance, but his odds are long. And even longer for him to get a chance and stay in the Big Leagues (as more than a 5th OF) for more than a year.

I don't think anyone will argue that he is a good AAA hitter.

Someone else just did that as well. They negotiated it down one game rather than appealing. That was the first time I have ever heard that happen. Weird

I was a pretty bad base runner in HS. When they timed us in the 60 in the pre-season, they used a sundial to time me. Didn't take long for them to make me a pitcher full-time.

Yeah, and as soon as he starts blowing saves his nickname will be FLUSH, instead of Flash.

Neal Cotts will hopefully keep this deal from reaching Todd Ritchie status. Losing Joe Valentine doesn't help matters, however. Perhaps Koch can be moved for something decent in return (even if before next season) and in 2-3 years Cotts can make us forget all about Billy.

He has certainly filled in well for the Barons so far. He is not overly impressive on first look, but his results have been good to day. Time will tell, I guess.

Reserves and pitchers are usually named a day or two after the starters are named. The starting pitcher announcement usually follows another day or so later. A lot depends on how they work the rotation and when Loaiza is scheduled to make his last start before the game. With two off days between now and then, your guess is as good as mine when that will be.

They want to trade him for three Major League ready players, whether prospects or 1st or 2nd year Major Leaguers. They want guys they can plug into the starting lineup next year. I'll be interesting to see what they end up getting for him.

The Rangers would like to move Palmiero and I don't think it would cost that much to get him. But I also don't think he fills the needs of the Sox right now.

Yep, been in rehab.

Nice debut for Anderson.... Great Falls hitters are holding their own quite nicely. Interesting outfield possibilities with Anderson, Nanita and King. GREAT FALLS 12 AT OGDEN 5 YTD YTD GREAT FALLS AB R H BI AVG OGDEN AB R H BI AVG A.Gray 2B 6 2 2 0 .364 J.Milons LF 4 0 0 0 .217 R.Nanita RF 3 0 2 2 .480 C.Hu SS 4 1 1 0 .240 B.Anderson CF 4 1 1 2 .250 R.Carter RF 4 1 2 0 .448 C.Kelly DH 4 2 1 0 .261 L.Castillo 3B 4 1 1 2 .233 M.Schnurstei 3B 4 2 1 1 .308 X.Paul CF 3 1 1 0 .231 D.Cook LF 4 2 2 1 .500 D.Cardona DH 4 1 1 1 .364 B.Bounds 1B 4 1 1 4 .261 M.Lynch CAT 2 0 0 1 .077 C.Lee CAT 0 0 0 0 .286 M.Ludwig 1B 3 0 1 0 .308 M.Deuchler PH 1 0 0 0 .250 J.Gonzalez 2B 3 0 0 0 .211 M.Deuchler CAT 4 0 1 1 .250 M.Megrew PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 C.Haggerty SS 3 2 1 0 .467 G.Alvarez PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 T.Jacquez PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 M.Carvajal PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 S.Tracey PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 B.Dumesnil PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 M.Nachreiner PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 J.Russ PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 TOTALS 37 12 12 11 TOTALS 31 5 7 4 GREAT FALLS 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 2 4-12 12 2 OGDEN 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0- 5 7 2 E--A.Gray 2, C.Hu, X.Paul. DP--GREAT FALLS 2, OGDEN 0. LOB--GREAT FALLS 7, OGDEN 9. 2B--A.Gray (4), R.Nanita (3), B.Bounds (4), R.Carter (4), L.Castillo (2). SB--R.Nanita (2), B.Anderson (1), C.Hu (1). CS-- X.Paul, J.Gonzalez. HBP--C.Haggerty, J.Milons. SF--B.Bounds. SH-- C.Haggerty, X.Paul. YTD IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA GREAT FALLS T.Jacquez 2.0 1 2 2 2 2 0 6.75 S.Tracey (W,1-1) 4.0 3 2 2 5 1 0 6.43 M.Nachreiner 1.0 2 1 0 0 2 0 23.14 J.Russ (S,1) 2.0 1 0 0 1 0 0 6.35 OGDEN M.Megrew 4.0 5 4 2 1 4 0 4.50 G.Alvarez (L,1-1) 2.1 3 2 2 2 4 0 11.12 M.Carvajal 1.2 3 5 4 2 1 0 16.88 B.Dumesnil 1.0 1 1 1 1 3 0 10.80 HB--J.Russ, M.Megrew. WP--T.Jacquez 2, M.Carvajal 2. BALKS--M.Megrew. PB--M.Lynch. SO--A.Gray, B.Anderson 2, C.Kelly, M.Schnurstei, D.Cook 2, B.Bounds, M.Deuchler 2, C.Haggerty 2, R.Carter, L.Castillo, D.Cardona, M.Lynch, J.Gonzalez. BB--R.Nanita 2, B.Anderson, C.Kelly, M.Schnurstei, D.Cook, C.Hu, R.Carter, L.Castillo, X.Paul, M.Lynch 2, M.Ludwig, J.Gonzalez. T--3:13. A--2554

You talking Tom Jacquez that started for Great Falls?

Let's try this again........ I never said you have your best leadoff hitter batting 9th. You have a leadoff-type hitter who has a solid OBP batting 9th to help set the table. The Sox have not shown they have a great leadoff hitter all year, so why not bump Jiminez up and try something different? Runs are often created from the bottom of the order up. If we were talking Rickey Henderson followed by Willie Randolph, I wouldn't touch the 1-2 combination.