chitownsportsfan

enjoy! sb nation scouting writeup of tonight's game: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2014/8/13/6...-his-home-debut

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 09:39 PM) Extremely exciting. Not only are they all putting up terrific numbers but all of them have ridiculously good arms. Good times. thanks to the knowledge of posters here i'm bragging on BTF about the Sox in a Cubs thread here: http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/newsst...verted_rebuildi

QUOTE (QuickJones81 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 08:49 PM) Rodon, Montas, Adams, and Danish are exciting. We haven't had a collection of pitching talent like this in the system at once since 2000-01. Hopefully this group fairs better. And to think, not too long ago Erik Johnson was our prized pitching gem. Yep, the Sox IMO need to ID two out of those 4 that they think are going to contribute the most (my pick as of now would be Danish and Rodon) and then dangle the other two for MLB ready or established position players. If they head into 2016 with this is young core of starting pitching: Sale Q Rodon Danish Noesi They could really afford to trade from depth and bring in more good young position players. Looks like they are going to add another top 10 pick next year as well. It's painful to go through this as a fan that hasn't really experienced it but as far as rebuilds go I think this one is looking pretty promising early.

good night for the farm it seems. Montas is back so quickly I thought he was done for the year with a knee problem?

thanks caulfield how are you following the game?

LOL Hahn fighting for his job? Are you kidding me? Did you see the bottom 1/3 MLB talent and perhaps worst in MLB farm he inherrited? Both are now middle of the road after 15 month on the job. Give it time people nobody expected anything this year other than a rebuild and quite a few more losses. That they stuck around .500 well into July speaks volumes about what Hahn has done. You're not going to give him credit for Rodon? Well two other teams were stupid enough to pass on the best arm in the draft so gee maybe we should give him credit for not over thinking it and doing the right thing. What exactly should he have done if you want him fired? Please tell me all the genius moves that would have taken this team from 68 wins to 95 without going into Yankees/Dodgers payroll.

QUOTE (Iguchicago @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 06:34 PM) I'm sure Deadspin is gonna have a field day with his comments. I'm tired of Hawk embarrassing the Sox it's time to move on. Stone is excellent and Hawk drags him down. I've defended hawk for years, that time is over.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 06:26 PM) They would never get rid of it, because of the safety issue, but definitely needs to be rewritten or something because I cannot wait until it happens in the World Series this year and screws a team over. Luckily all it screwed over was Q's ERA, and he's getting paid anyways the next few year. It got the Sox closer to a top 5 draft pick.

missed the game, Sale was lights out it looks like. What did Gordon do?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 02:28 PM) http://deadspin.com/chris-sale-flexes-his-...dium=socialflow That's awesome I posted after I heard him say "repudiate" that I thought he was doing a word a day thing. Now there is no doubt. Sale is just an all around amazing guy, glad he's a Sox.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 11:36 AM) He is one of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history, in a era that had all offensive numbers distorted by cheaters. He played 15 years in Chicago, and gave a lot to this City. If anything his time here is being downplayed by those who don't appreciate what he did here as one of the best hitters in franchise history. It's hard to appreciate the good times when over the last two he's been worth -2.6 WAR. That's worse than De Aza, worse than Flowers, worse than Beckham and worse than pretty much every player in MLB. I appreciate Paul Konerko's career. I don't appreciate that he wanted to go out "on his terms" and cost Chicago both development time for a youngster and a few games in the standings.

Just got back from the game, left in the 8th as it was boring as f*** and wanted to do something else with the rest of the afternoon besides get stuck in a traffic jam on the way home. I had a great seat just slightly to the 1B side of home plate and close, Row 20 total, not just that section. Was probably 80 feet from home plate. Body language of the Sox pregame seemed normal to me I was hanging out by the dugout although one thing I notice when I watch the Sox in person is they don't have a lot of guys that like to get the "extra work" in before the games. The mariners guys seemed to be a little more active pregame but who knows, this is just a small sliver into their routines take it fwiw. The ball De Aza lost in the sun is 100% Jordan Danks fault. Danks failed to take charge on an earlier play that Viciedo almost lost. Danks is a natural CF and if he's not going to safe runs with the glove he has no business in Chicago. Again, just my observation but from home plate it surely looked like off the bat Jordan could have made the play. The f***ing music at Safeco is intolerable. My goodness not a moment's peace. It's actually even worse than most other stadiums including the Cell and NYS. Citi Field and Baltimore I remember as pretty bad too. Watched Cano turn a couple double plays effortlessly. His footwork around the bag is a thing of beauty. I will give Gordon credit he made an amazing play ranging to his right to save a run. I think most 2B maybe knock that ball down but I don't think many throw him out. Great reactions from Gordon. Too bad he can't hit a lick. DFA please. Jose looked awful his first 3 times up. Missed the single. Nobody around me thought De Aza would be called out. How in the world did they over turn that? Was it clear in HD or something? Sox only come to Seattle one time a year, it's a shame. At least the weather was nice today. Otherwise a very boring game, Danks pitched OK but the M's lineup sucks.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 04:54 PM) His agent is Scott Boras. You can absolutely bet that Rick is going to do everything he can to maximize Rodon's team control. It makes no sense whatsoever to call him up this year. Dumb thread. Well they can massage his time next year to avoid super 2 but in general I agree there isn't any reason to start the clock unless he's absolutely dominating and you want to develop him more at the MLB level.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 02:49 PM) If defense isn't such a huge factor why is Rondon on this list when he is a .224/.307/.291 career hitter? I'm being a smart ass of course, but I tend to agree there isn't that much difference between Johnson and Sanchez and actually personally value Sanchez more. Sanchez has been across the board better than Johnson this year in Charlotte. Comparing their 2014 in Charlotte Sanchez: .302/.358/.423, 16 of 19 on SB's Johnson: .291/.335/.388, 20 of 32 of SB's (counting Birmingham SB/CS #'s as well) This is a relatively small sample size, but I think people are unfairly judging Sanchez off his awful 2013 which was completely the Sox fault in rushing him up to Charlotte at age 21. These are pretty much my thoughts. I expect him to maintain a fairly high OBP in MLB based on what he's done in MilB. He taken his walks with an acceptable level of strikeouts. That will translate imo. From what I've read Rondon is a special defensive SS, talking Andreton Simmons level. You don't have to hit much over your weight to have value if that's the case.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 01:52 PM) Johnson has 75/80 speed. Sanchez has no plus tools. From what I understand, their hit tools are very similar, as are their power tools. If Johnson is a guy who shows he can get on base 35-40% of the time, he will steal 50 bases a year. He is a guy you make room for. Sanchez might hit .300, but it will be an empty .300. There will be no power or speed to speak of. Micah is going to get the bat knocked out of his hands. His absolute best case IMO is decent defensive 2B that hits 270/330/380 and steals 40 bags. That's a 2 WAR player. Sanchez's upside is higher IMO. I'm just skeptical of guys whose best tool is speed. Speed is great, but you gotta get on base first and catch the ball when you get to it. Throw in the fact that Sanchez is a year younger and it's even clearer imo. I'm not really knocking the rankings but some of the scouting logic that goes into them seems outdated imo. Getting on base is a tool and so is locking down a defensive position.

Might head down to Safeco this weekend. Sucks that Sale isn't going to pitch this series.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:47 AM) I wonder if Beckham just naturally sucks or if he's uncoachable. You never hear any rumors about Beckham. So is it a matter of lack of hitting ability, the fact he just can't see a baseball and drive a baseball, or is it that he won't listen to hitting coaches? A lot of first round picks flop, but you have to wonder about Beckham. Personally I've never liked his batting stance and the way he cocks his bat when going for a pitch. It's really sad but without the hype, he's really no better than Chris Getz. He's a mental midget with a very long swing. He built his hype on spraying the ball into the RF gap but once the league figured out how early he had to gear up to hit fastballs he started seeing a steady diet of inside heat followed by junk. Instead of trying to shorten his swing (see Gillaspie, Conor) Beckham has doubled down on this approach (looking for power I think) and it hasn't worked at all. His swing is just too long for MLB. If he learns 3B a bit he'd be a good utility guy but his years as a starter are over.

Not much of a prospect guy but what exactly separates Micah at 4 from Sanchez at 9? If anything I'd reverse the order. Sanchez is younger, can actually handle 2B now, and might project as a SS. Micah seems like a guy without a position to me. If he can't handle 2B, with that bat, his options are 3B and CF and I don't think he's going to supplant Conor or Eaton anytime soon. We'll see.

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:16 PM) 3 innings, 2 hits ( one broken bat single), 1 walk, 3 k, 0 runs Sweet, he's dominating in high A. He's on the Chris Sale path! JK, a bit. He's averaging over a K/IP that's good news. Stuff is certainly there.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 03:28 PM) I am 99.9999% sure both of these cannot be true. In general, don't trust players' that have a defense driven WAR, the confidence interval on those stats is much lower than offensive numbers. For example we can pretty much nail down exactly how many runs above average Jose Abreu has been worth and then use that to predict his future performance in that category, but Heyward's numbers in the outfield this year? Some of that is just random noise. Guys get hot defensively as well and it doesn't correlate year to year nearly as closely as offensive production. bWAR really loves Adam Eaton based partially their defensive runs above average metric, they have him as a top 12 player this year in MLB. I don't think anyone really believes that. Excellent player, top 50, maybe even top 40 no doubt, but not that good. We can also quibble with the positional adjustments (at this point I think you can make an argument that there are more guys than ever (or at least a long time) that can play good defense but can't hit a lick) but in general it's a no brainer that a CF putting up a 950 OPS (Trout) is probably more valuable than a 1B putting up a 1000 OPS, besides the baserunning and relative defensive adjustments.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 09:18 PM) Which is only true if you ignore the fact that he's quite poor on defense and has gotten worse every single year of his career. I'd very much appreciate the value of a solid defensive 2b if the White Sox had one. They do not. Gordon Beckham is a weak fielder. 3 years ago he was a solid 2b and he has gotten worse every year. He commits a lot of errors and does not have good range. Yea his range is awful. Literally the only tool he brings is a strong arm on the pivot. That's it. IF he could hit AT ALL (talking 270/320/400) you can easily pencil him in as a long term starter. Problem is he can't hit at all.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 10:04 PM) Do people still think Leury Garcia is worthy of a roster spot for next year? .182/.216/.236. You just can't carry that from someone who's not a pitcher. Eh, for the 25th man you need a guy that can play multiple positions. It's unfortunate he's had to play as much as he has due to injuries. If an upgrade is there to be made make it, otherwise bigger fish to fry.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 07:46 PM) Avi doubles.. 2-3, batting .556 now Avi is pretty much what Viciedo was supposed to be. A guy that can spray the ball all over and hit 280-300 in MLB while developing power. Tragically, Viciedo hasn't even hit 270, let alone developed any real power. In like 300 MLB PA Avi has a 287 average. He might never take a lot of walks or hit more than 25 HR a year, but he will hit for average and that is valuable in today's craptastic offensive environment.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 08:04 PM) My guess is Hahn is still trying to see if any team will take Beckham, ADA, Viciedo, or Dunn on waivers. Hell, give it up. Just accept the salary as a sunk cost and start getting these youngsters some MLB playing time. The upside is you save a couple million but it's not even worth it imo.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 08:23 PM) Avi with a hit. Phegley with a 2 run double. Wilkins walks in his 2nd AB. Sanchez and Semien both had hits their 1st AB's. We need to get some of these guys up to the big league club.. These guys have been hitting the s*** out of the ball I'm a big fan of what Hahn has done since he too over but for the life of me I cannot fathom why Gordon, Dunn and one of Viciedo/De Aza haven't been DFAd. Marcus and Sanchez have nothing left to prove at Charlotte, especially Marcus. Wilkins should be called up as well I don't care what his prospect status is he's creaming the ball might as well see if he can translate it to the MLB.