Princess Dye

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 2, 2014 -> 08:56 AM) Opening day 3-hole hitter on the bench. He's ill.

QUOTE (Kevtrem @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 03:25 PM) So, Gillaspie batting third and Lindstrom closing games struck me at least somewhat surprising form yesterday. Granted I know its Opening Day and well probably see many lineups, but I can't help but to think about Hahn's impact here. Matt Davidson is the third basemen of the future (technically could be of the present as well), Hahn has made that quite clear. All the beat reports indicate that Nate Jones, Daniel Webb, and now even Maikel Cleto have the potential to be closers. Arbitration statuses of both Jones and Davidson clearly play a role, but I'm thinking more than that. I would say that most believe that Davidson will get significant playing time this year, and I subscribe to this thought process. I believe Gillaspie will be given every opportunity to succeed in the White Sox lineup by batting third, with Eaton getting on and Abreu as protection. I think Hahn is fluffing Gillaspie, if he is competent he should have at least 30-40 RBI by the deadling, in hopes of an overpay and vacating the third baseman duties. I see the same situation with Matt Lindstrom. We saw in the offseason, people overpay for saves. If Lindstrom succeeds in the closer role, his stock skyrockets and the Sox continue collecting young players at the deadline. It may be wishful thinking, but if the Sox do intend to trade Gillaspie and Lindstrom at their peaks of value (using generic stats), we could have another very productive deadline. Alexei and Beckham could be on the move with the middle infielder depth in the Sox system. Thoughts? Gillaspie manning the position well could also lead to them considering Davidson at other positions too. Everything is probably in play, as Davidson might be good enough to deem not hurting us at 1B or dh (but maybe hurting us at third)

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 03:05 PM) He burned about every single bridge he had to the White Sox. I dont envision him ever coming back. Surely he could come back for events or ceremonial things -- but you mean..just..not as an employee ..ever again, right?

ambassador 2 cuba

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 07:34 PM) And if Dunn could learn not to strike out... Not really a fair comparison though because the insane level of problems ADA had last year were not present in '12 or '11

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 07:26 PM) God I hope so. I don't want De Aza anywhere near this team. If the mental mistakes are behind him...and he's more comfortable in LF...then suddenly you have a guy whose OPS and decent speed is welcome on this team. 2-something WAR players sadly are hard to come by for CWS.

Go Birmingham! uh oh hope they dont..actually win

.338 OBP .501 SLG 30% k-rate LH Centerfielder Good-Year-Dunn!

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 02:30 PM) I wonder how he hit .370 in AAA to be honest. He just doesn't seem like he has a clue at the plate. The age is something to keep in mind -- and the fact that he's been young at every level he's played in. What you should be excited about is that the .370 in AAA and the Sox '13 performance are recent signs of change. He's young enough still where that matters.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 09:32 AM) If you can hit, it doesn't matter how bad you field. Ask Miguel Cabrera. Well that then brings up whether we're talking MVP Caliber as in 'what you have to do to win it from the voters' or 'what you have to do to earn it' also the example youre issuing is a few-times-per-lifetime hitter. a 1b type guy has to be unreal-good to be mvp-earning-caliber

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 04:20 PM) FWIW, Abreu is projected by most to be an All-Star/MVP-caliber player, at worst to be Paul Konerko Lite. 'projected by most'? ...i think it's more like...people believe his ceiling is super high. But there is a ton of mystery with him to say the least. He's careful at the plate which costs him bat speed youd find with other all-star 1B stars. There is no shame in that but i'm expecting all-star or near all-star.......as MVP caliber, considering his position & defense as well, is quite the high expectation.

I mean, if you're a Rienzo guy, fine - i understand the logic. let a young guy try and/or crash burn but i have to think they basically saw their '13 test run with him as - 'this guy will be relieving for us more likely than anything else.' unless something changes, he's kind of in that bad-world of starter-versatility without much excellence at any one thing. I am rooting for him but it kind of brings into question if even relief at MLB-level is ...a long career for him.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 02:51 PM) Why are the Sox so high on Paulino? Baffles me. teams that dont have many good players then tend to like players more that have some idea of what a baseball is and/or have played before. surely the wealth of sox starter options isnt blindingly full to you

Flowers is here because of his all-around ok-ness in the various catching categories. And he'll catch a ton because of that. Despite Nieto's switch hitting, i'd expect him to ride the pine a ton. Flowers' catching actually earned him this place in the organization(as well as the total lack of other catchers of course). Flowers' catching was impressive enough to make Phegley a (sort of) early cut. It now appears that the only guy Phegley was earnestly competing against, if at all, was Flowers. Judging from the Baseball Prospectus piece (in the comments section) with Joshua Kusnick, where he reveals how early-in-the-works it was to put Nieto on the team. And also based on how important it (apparently) was to the white sox to have a left-hitting catcher on the team.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 09:25 AM) I just want to point this out, something to think about... Adrian Nieto last year, age 23, 6th MiLB year, High A: .282/.371/.446, 11 HR, 18.3% K/PA Kevan Smith last year, age 24, 3rd MiLB year, High A: .286/.370/.484, 12 HR, 14.9% K/PA Offensively, I am not convinced Nieto is any better than Smith at this point. In fact I'm fairly sure I'd take Smith's bat over Nieto. Defensively, Smith was considered raw, but also has improved and there are positive reports about his pitcher handling. His CS% in 2012 (2013 I can't find) was 33%, and he had 14 PB in 92 games. Nieto is considered better defensively overall, and the pitchers seem to like him in camp (which is big), but.... His CS% in 2012 (I can't find 2013 data) was 32%. He had 14 PB in 85 games. Numbers aren't the full story of course, especially with catchers. But looking at the body of work, I am not sure Nieto is any better as a total package than Kevan Smith would be. Similar hit and OBP results, Smith more power, Smith better contact rate, similar CS% numbers, and defensively I think Nieto may be at best only slightly better. And Nieto has had 3 more years to develop. Why are people convinced Nieto is ready for the majors and Smith isn't? If your plan is to develop a Gregg Zaun or something along those lines (and yes guys like that definitely matter) then you want to take a shot on an already-defense-first-guy to develop that bat to be decent. . enough .. to be a Gregg Zaun type guy. I doubt you want to invest tons of time into making a flawed defensive catcher into a Gregg Zaun type. I also have been intrigued by Kevan Smith but in addition to the slight age difference lets remember Nieto has the switch-hitting. Nieto may not be outstanding but he ticks a lot of boxes for you. Which is worthwhile when you are investing time in a guy.

It's possible they just believe he's a defensive catcher and cheap, so as far as the bat...can just see how it progresses without wild expectations. It's a year when one can afford to do this, and since we arent planning on winning the WS anyway--- you can send Nieto in '15 if need be and hope he didnt get his progress derailed in any way. No point in spending on a veteran when Flowers is about to catch a ton of games for us

There's some obsession with outcome here. Ok fine, Reed can become Mariano Rivera #2 but it doesnt change that we're doing the right things lately. I am fine with good thought process. Give me good thought process and if there are blips along the way, i'll gladly take it. Good thought process is - build up relievers to have more perceived value than they're worth, send them to a better team when you are in a valley-year, and get a better high-ceiling prospect that is cheap for years on end. Davidson can have impact while you are getting better as a team, whereas the thing Reed does well is only of some impact when you Already Are better as a team. What kind of haul was the Mexicutioner worth before his injuries? They never pulled that trigger. Kept being Bad With Good Closer. So outcomes can work either way. We can guess endlessly. It's a nowhere debate. I do like our line of thinking though. That has obviously changed, and for the better.

Correct. I think with all the dissection and analyzing of these guys, we lose track of how young Davidson is. He was of worth because of ceiling and mystery. If you never go get guys like that, and/or you never have a yankee payroll, then i dont know what other avenues you have. Draft well and thats it.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 01:50 PM) On the other side, Hahn has take a lot of risk out of his acquisitions by acquiring guys that are major league ready as they have at least ML level floors. He traded Peavy and received a ML ready talent in Garcia two lottery tickets in Montas a guy that projects as at least a high leverage reliever, and glove first SS and a third guy that has a chance to be a bullpen guy. He dumped almost $20M of Rios' deal for a super UT player. Not a great return, but it freed up money for Abreu. He turned a back end of the rotation starter and a guy that was going to be moved off the 40 man roster into a cost controlled lead off hitter that was a top 100 prospect before his injury last season. He turned a soon to be expensive closer into another top 100 prospect. He ran one of the best drafts in baseball last season as the Sox pulled in several guys (Engel, May, Mitchell, and Goldberg) who already showing good potential and the ability to move fast through the system. He signed the best power prospect in the international July 2 class. It would have been nice to grab Tanaka, but you can't financially hamstring the franchise to take a chance on a guy that has never played in the majors. I can not think of any really poor moves Hahn has made. He is setting up this team to produce its own talent, and when they are close to competing he has left the team the financial flexibility to fill in any gaps at that time. Great post. One nitpick..is Reed really 'soon to be expensive' ? I suppose in the sense that any closer could be seen as that, but with 'expensive' i think of $-figures that prevent you from doing a bunch of other stuff to great degree

Maybe this is in another thread, but this article is a nice wrap up about what's been going on with the White Sox...and puts it in a Sox-recent-history perspective. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-most-in...cago-white-sox/ Kind of poses the thought of Abreu as the expected success guy, Eaton as the solid guy, A-Garcia as the boom or bust, Davidson as the maybe-maybe-not. I guess due to his positional fit.

QUOTE (BrentVigs @ Mar 20, 2014 -> 10:27 AM) He will not be the starting catcher come May 1st. What is the thing that will happen on May 1st.

The thing with Nieto is things are so dismal at this position ...that they might just be liking him defensively enough to feel he can be here as purely a defensive catcher. And any offense from the left side is gravy

Perfect time to take a look at a young guy. We dont need to win right now. Improve the organization by sacrificing a roster spot. When you disabuse yourself of the notion that you need to be great this year...............you can do these things and grow long term. And put pressure on Nats to dump him to us for something near-worthless.

Southside Sox kind of talked about a growing discomfort with Phegley's basics behind the plate. The arm is good but the rest lacks.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 01:33 PM) He may look like Cabrera, but he sure as hell doesn't hit like him. Not fitting the bill on this puts him in company shared by, oh, all but 2 or 3 people in the history of Earth