ptatc

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 12:54 PM) Finally, something to change the subject around here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/t...cago-white-sox/ QUOTE The Chicago White Sox system continues to be one of the weakest in the Majors. The front office and ownership cannot fault anyone but themselves for failing to invest in the amateur draft or the international market. On the plus side, the organization has lucked into a few interesting prospects like Addison Reed and Dylan Axelrod. Chicago doesn’t have a true No. 1 prospect, although Reed has value as a potential high-leverage reliever who is close to MLB ready – and the recently acquired Nestor Molina has a higher ceiling than most of the existing players in the Sox system. 10. Hector Santiago, LHPBORN: Dec. 16, 1987 EXPERIENCE: 5 seasons ACQUIRED: 2006 30th round – Florida community college 2010-11 TOP 10 RANKING: Off SCOUTING REPORT: It’s amazing the difference a pitch can make. Santiago added a rarely used screwball to his arsenal for the 2011 season and it gave him a much-needed, reliable off-speed pitch. He moved into the starting rotation for the first time in his career and flourished. His fastball sits in the low-to-mid 90s and he also features an occasional slider. YEAR IN REVIEW: Santiago began the season back in high-A for the third straight season but he convinced the minor league staff that a change needed to be made after eight starts. He then made another 15 starts at double-A and received a call to the Majors where he appeared in two games and allowed just one hit in 5.1 innings. YEAR AHEAD: Santiago will probably head to triple-A for a bit but could challenge for a spot in the starting rotation in injuries occur in spring training. He’s a nice insurance policy for 2012 and he could use the time in triple-A to improve his slider. CAREER OUTLOOK: The right-hander has the potential to develop into a No. 4 starter at the big league level – possibly as high as a No. 3 if he learns to rely on his breaking ball a little more. who writes or researches this? Looks like He Who Must Not Be Named wrote this. The organization couldn't possibly have drafted or developed well, it must have been luck.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 01:46 PM) How about "Lots of tools and highly producing"? Those don't usually happen unless you draft really high or until they are in pro ball for a few years and have learned the producing part.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 10:17 AM) http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/baltimo...partment-121611 Feel sorry for the guys who used to travel to Chicago, Seattle etc. and now will travel to Macon Ga, Oceola Fla and Huntsville Ala. etc. It will save the big club alot of money.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 09:45 AM) http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/t...cago-white-sox/ It's amazing to me that this article frequently refers to the typical White sox prospect as "lots of tools but no now production" whereas a few years ago everyone complained about the sox having too many "good producing but low ceiling" players. No matter which way you go people will complain about them.

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Dec 15, 2011 -> 02:14 PM) I'm okay with that... I like pre-White Sox winning WS tickets... Walk up to window, 30mins before game.. yes, I'll take section 132, row 25 please! I enjoyed the days in the late 80's when my buddy and I were the only fans in RF cheering for Ivan Calderon (RIP). The two man wave got us on the big screen quite frequently.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 09:49 PM) If the writers aren't going to vote roiders into the hall then how the hell can they not strip Braun of the mvp? It'll only happen if they re-open the vote. I can't imagine baseball taking an award away even if he does deserve it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 09:29 AM) The right way to look at Dunn, Rios, and Peavy right now is "Sunk costs". We're going to spend $20 million on Jake Peavy this season, $14 mil a year on Adam Dunn for the next 3 years, and $12 million a year on Rios for that period. They're unlikely to produce that kind of value, but they're also unlikely to produce zero value again. If they continue to produce zero value, they're going to wind up on the bench after the 2012 season. If they produce better than zero value, then at least the team is getting something out of them. And if they happen to produce well enough to live up to their contracts, they might reach the magic place where their contract becomes "Moveable" on its own. If that happens, jump at it. I disagree about Dunn. I think he will produce enough to be worth 14 million. The other two not so much.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 09:03 AM) Thanks. I knew that he had been injured, but I wasn't aware that it may be a career ending injury. I still can't figure that one out. It shouldn't be an injury that would end his career. The only thing that I can think of is that there was damage to a nerve, probably the common fibular nerve as it is superficial and vulnerable during fractures. In this case nerves take up to 18 months after the decompression to regenerate. There is no guarantee that it will heal all the way so would be the concern. This nerve is the one that controls the muscles which raise the foot. It would be very difficult to run if you can't lift your foot.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Dec 12, 2011 -> 10:28 PM) Very disappointing. Can only hope it leads to further calls for testing that has a chance to keep up with the cheating. Still can't trust our beloved game, sadly. The blood testing along with HGH will go a long way towards doing this. Much more difficult to cheat a blood test.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 11, 2011 -> 09:25 PM) Whose body produces test:epitest at 4:1 rate? I don't think that is physiologically possible. That's why when Braun tested that high it's pretty much guaranteed to be from outside his body.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 11, 2011 -> 04:52 PM) Yeah, that's a solid confirmation of a manufactured, non-body-produced testosterone being present in the system. They really went all out to confirm that this was nothing natural if they're throwing mass specs at the tests. Excatly. I they can tell you it's a non-natural substance, that means not only was the T/E ratio too high but it's from a substance they know. It's almost impossible to have a false positive when you can identify the substance. The ratio can be questioned not the substance.

QUOTE (Soxnfins2256 @ Dec 11, 2011 -> 01:08 PM) I'm not all about the punishing. Besides, when someone has a major injury, they usually give you a steroid, or some other substance, to help it heal quicker. A good buddy of mine completely blew out his knee in football (ACL, MCL, everything), and they gave him a steroid for faster healing. It's what they do. The physician's prescribe a steriod such as prednisone for inflammation after injuries for chronic inflammation. If they gave him an anabolic steriod, it is illegal and a federal offense. He should sue them.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 11, 2011 -> 11:54 AM) Source: Braun tested positive for a prohibited substance, not a performance-enhancing drug. More coming on FOXSports.com -- Ken Rosenthal So gonna go with GUY at the GNC told me excuse? I wonder if it was amphetamines. I think that is the only substance other than the steriod group that is a 50 game suspension.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 10, 2011 -> 09:22 PM) Here's an NFL Mr. Irrelevant winning $5.4 million earleir this year suing a supplement company for a tainted product. That's more than he'd likely ever make in his NFL career. That's one I hadn't seen. I've only seen that supplements were tainted with masking agents and minors things not methyltestosterone. That blatant lying about what's helping someone and endangering their health, not just accidentily tainting a substance. This company claimed to be clean where others don't make that promise.

QUOTE (Tex @ Dec 8, 2011 -> 09:51 PM) I think I stand by my belief that the LPGA gas the strictest standards. I also choose to not debate SS on whether we consider the LPGA a major sport, I will concede that point. But I will say I believe it is legit enough for this comparison. The LPGA does have an advantage when it comes to defining the criteria for getting in the HOF. The major sports aren't individual sports so you can't go by just wins. If that was thew case there would only be Yankees in the HOF. If you want to go to individual sports how about track and field. Here are the criteria: World record holder; American record holder; World champion; Olympic champion; World or American leader in event(s) for three or more years; Winner of four or more USA national open championships; and/or You really have to be the elite to be in this group.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 10, 2011 -> 09:17 PM) Interesting...so there is no way the T/E ratio could be as high as 4 to 1 unless he was taking it on a consistent basis? No it's more the type of substance to get it that high. A "tainted" supplement will not raise it that high. It's like the female Olympic swimmer who tried to blame her birth control pills on the elevated ratio. It would do it but she would have had to take 500 of the pills to do it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 10, 2011 -> 09:11 PM) Really, there doesn't need to be, not when the league has put forwards a list of approved, legal, and clean substances, and in a world where you know you're going to be tested. If you're going to take something that isn't on MLB's approved list, then keep a sample of it. You're making $400k a year, buy a locker, put a date on them, lock up the last pill in every bottle, and if you ever test positive, you've got a major lawsuit against that supplement maker. If you're not willing to do that, then stick to the large list of officially approved supplements. And if you test positive, you're juicing. You cannot sue the makers of supplements for something like this because the FDA does not regulate them. They do not need to list all of the ingredients. Remember when Jim Miller from the Bears tested positive in this scenario? He tried to sue the company but as long as he wasn't poisoned or something, they didn't do anything wrong.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 10, 2011 -> 08:27 PM) But there needs to be a different process for these instances where there was an honest mistake made as opposed to someone who was consistently taking some kind of designer PED. There is a safe guard for this. The only time a test is positive is when the T/E ratio is more than 4 to 1. You are not going to get that from a tainted supplement. The only way it is possible that he is innocent is that he was taking something that someone gave him on a reular basis but he didn't know what it was. I find that highly unlikely. They were able to find it during the test which means if it was a designer PED, it's one that is known.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 10, 2011 -> 06:52 PM) Just have to laugh at anybody moronic enough at this point to take PEDs. So f***in dumb. There are many of them. However, with the HGH and blood testing it should get rid of most of the rest of them. There will still be the designers ones out there but only a few will have access to them.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 8, 2011 -> 07:49 PM) It's a lot easier to think of Hudson in the rotation. Gio's been gone for a long time now. Do you think KW will ever deal with Rizzo?

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Dec 8, 2011 -> 06:21 PM) I tend to agree with you. But it may well have limited their ability to discuss contract extensions previous to free agency which could have wrapped him up at a more manageable salary. In the end, it's on KW for creating a team situation which requires a rebuild, no matter what aspect of the team you blame most. The GM ultimately has the most control over a team's destiny, aside from the players themselves. That said, my complaints are retrospective. I have no problem with the club's decision not to retain Buehrle at that rate, I just wish it wasn't so because I heart him. I don't understand why so many people keep saying this. Of course it is on him. He is the GM. I think last year he had a good plan. He signed Dunn who was very consistent until last year. Rios had a pretty good year the previous year. The only problem with the plan for last year that I had was no proven closer. It wwas a good plan but didn't work. Either way it's always on him as he is the GM.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 8, 2011 -> 02:02 PM) Phil Rogers' column says it all. This is on Kenny for bringing in stiffs Rios, Dunn and the injured Peavy. I disagree. I don't think the Sox would give him a 4 year deal especially at that kind of money, at his age even without the other contracts. I wouldn't.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Dec 8, 2011 -> 01:20 PM) I'm a little surprised (disappointed actually) at the Buehrle hate around here when he didn't even turn down a non-existent Cards or Sox offer. The Sox didn't offer him anything because buehrle had an offer from the Marlins and said "match it and I'll stay." I don't blame either party. MB has the right to take the money and the Sox have the right to say for that many years and that much money it's not worth it.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Dec 8, 2011 -> 11:02 AM) I voted "Other" because it's the Hall Of Very Good. And it's by far the most strict of a Hall of Fames of the major sports.