Balta1701

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 03:45 PM) I'm not trying to convince anybody, it's merely my opinion. I do believe that Phegley is for real. There are times you will see it. Take Magglio Ordonez for example. He was 2 years young, but he went from a .260/.330/.460 line to a .330/.365/.475 line. The Sox AAA team at that point was in Nashville, so I have no idea how that stadium played, but it's an example of a guy who busted out. No, I don't believe Phegley's max OPS is .700. I believe he can be anywhere from a .650 OPS guy to a .900 OPS guy; a guy who hits for average, a guy who hits for power, a guy who does both, or a guy who really doesn't do a lot of either. He might just be seeing the ball really well this year - I don't know. But when you consider all the other prospects in the system, and consider that Phegley was thought of as a good hitter coming out of college, it is entirely possible that he just needed to get healthy and into the swing of things to start producing. He was pushed through the system quickly even with those health problems, and he looks like a good player right now. Also consider that catchers do take a little while longer to develop into hitters. I can keep going on, but I really like Phegley moving forward, and I think I would have rated him 2nd behind Johnson if I could do it over. I could totally understand someone rating Phegley that high. My issue with doing so on my list is the injury thing. It'll take 2, 3 years of him putting up an .850+ OPS and playing 140 games a year before I stop worrying that his body will break down if they're not careful. I'd like to think he's legit also, but when I look at his stats with my brain filter, I see a guy with great numbers at a high level...for 1 year, and a guy who has spent years getting to that point.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 02:52 PM) And the belief by every scout in the game that, while pitching and defense wins championships, you always take a superstar position player who will play 154-162 games vs. an elite starting pitcher who will affect only 32 or so. I'm not quite sure that's the belief of every scout. I think there's a whole lot of people who think you build from pitching first.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 02:28 PM) Exactly. Then we have a situation where everyone feels they need to arm themselves, and all hell breaks lose. everything's great. Or so I keep being told.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 01:59 PM) GZ's life is super f***ed. He'll have to leave the country if he's not convicted. The man will truly never be free. That in itself supports two tragedies already. He's not f***ed. He's already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from people who believe he's a hero.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 10:58 AM) If Rose was hitting his jumpshot it would have been a lot more interesting because Lebron would have had to pick something (like he had to against Jason Terry the next round). I still think the real trick was spacing. The Heat had zero respect for the Bulls ability to score if Rose couldn't get to the basket. That's why I liked the Hamilton signing so much, I thought having a guy who could hit a mid-range jumper was exactly the solution to what the Heat threw at them. D'Oh. If the combination of Butler, Deng, Dunleavy, and maybe Snell/Hinrich can be more effective on jump shots from mid-range and 3 than Korver, Brewer, and Bogans were, then that's a whole different series...not just for those guys, but for Rose as well because it takes away the collapse. That was the one mismatch the Heat gave to the Bulls and the Bulls could not exploit it. If the Bulls could have exploited it, then the Heat can't give it to them, and they open up the floor.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 10:48 AM) Uh, yeah, because when he got by him the Heat defense collapsed and Rose got his shot blocked. One time he even passed out to Brewer for an open three, but he tried to force things too often. The point is that Lebron didn't guard him 1 on 1. It was a team effort and if the Bulls had better outside shooting, they could have taken advantage of it. Would you like me to post the videos for you? When Lebron was put on Rose it did a couple things. Lebron was quick enough to stay with Rose longer than most of the other guys. Doesn't have to be the whole way to the hoop, just for an extra step or two. Lebron's size also mean that Rose was facing up against a ton of size. Rose couldn't move him off of him easily. So, Lebron's size made it so that Rose couldn't overpower him or shoot over him, and since he could stay with him an extra step or so and prevent Rose's usual strength and jumping advantages from turning into a shot, it fed him right into the help defense in the lane. Lebron on Rose set it up for the team to have an easier job shutting him down with the help defense. It didn't shut him down on its own, but when they threw that at him, it took away every scoring option other than "ditch to the outside". No other team has a physical freak like that to throw at Rose, so Rose was used to either being able to blow by defenders before the help got there or overpower defenders with his strength and leaping. The physical specimens the Heat had on their roster, Lebron in particular, were key to disrupting what worked for the rest of the year for him.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 10:45 AM) Braulio is a guy to watch for sure. I had him at 25. Webb was on FS's "Next Wave" article in the offseason, where we looked at the "next" 25 or so guys in the system, some of whom were breakout candidates, Webb included. Ortiz hit 32 for me, but I'm the guy who kept the guys stuck on the bottom of my list who I think some franchise might say "screw it we'll give him a shot and see what happens" like Mitchell and Saladino. That bumped him down just a tad. He'll probably leap-frog them with a decent finish to the year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 10:43 AM) Any day now. I'll take post July 20. Crain might have moved already had he not gotten hurt. No one else is forcing teams to break down the door for them.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 10:37 AM) Just so it's clear, we are talking about the same Justin Morneau who has put up splits of .259/.320/.404/.724 over his previous 1211 PAs and is one more blow to the head away from retiring, correct? Morneau blows. His swing has gotten incredibly long and slow. I'd stay away from that one. The .902 OPS he put up against LH Pitching last year is what caught my eye as a platoonable option.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 10:13 AM) Morneau also intrigues me. If that guy can return to 75% of his old form- he can provide a nice offensive punch for this lineup. I really don't think he can. I do think he could be a reasonably good contributor and a really solid platoon partner if you had a RH hitter playing some first/DHing also. I screwed this up last time I floated it but if the Sox were willing to try something like Flowers at 1b or could come up with a better RH hitting option then it could work.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 10:12 AM) No, LeBron's freakish size and athleticism gives Rose a lot of problems. Rose already testified to this. You searching youtube for one or 2 instances in which Rose got by LeBron means nothing. Overall, LeBron is Rose's daddy. He's right though, the way to beat that is on the wings. If Lebron drops onto Rose, then anything Miami has remotely resembling size gets pushed into the lane. If you have guys on the outside who can move a little bit with the ball and make a shot, then Lebron taking Rose on the drive becomes a solid scoring opportunity. Rose can pass the ball out of that to someone on the outside with a lot of space to maneuver. In the 2011 playoff series, the guy who should have been able to take advantage was Korver but his shooting was a disaster. That left guys like Bogans and Brewer as the guy the Heat left open on the outside, and they were ok with that.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 09:24 AM) Would rather play Colvin than Danks/Tekotte and see if they can catch lightning in a bottle. OTOH, Danks can play CF, and if DeAza's traded or not offered arbitration...they would need someone capable of playing above average defense at that position, rather than one of the corners (if Rios is traded or Viciedo moved to 1B). Danks is also a year younger.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 08:16 PM) Detroit was screwed up because it was a hipster paradise? Only hipsters are stupid enough to believe in stable, well-paying jobs.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 08:10 PM) If the Heat win again next year, wouldn't that lessen the chance of Lebron moving on? He couldn't leave a team going for 4 in a row could he? Seriously, with him, who the heck knows.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 08:20 AM) Rockies just sent down Colvin yesterday. Don't know what happened to him. Looks like he forgot how to hit, looks terrible. Must be taking the opposite of PED's -- whatever that is. Last year he was very good. This is the same Tyler Colvin the Cubs gave up on years ago right?

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 06:33 PM) You can tell it was philosophy change. Starting from the 04-05 season, Duncan and Parker's top MPG was around 34 minutes per game, and Manu tops at around 30-31 a game, but usually under 30 per game. There are also notorious about sitting out their stars and throwing the game away. At that point Duncan was only 28, Parker 22, and Manu was 27. Granted, Pops never played Parker and Manu high minutes to begin with. So yes, over the past decade or so, the Spurs have been very careful in preserving their player's health. Thibs has been burned for playing his players too much, even in garbage time situation, while Pops has been fined for sitting his players, total opposite styles. Worth noting is that it took until Pops's star was quite a bit older and until he'd been coaching a long time and won titles, basically guaranteeting his jobs safety, until he started doing that.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 05:44 PM) The idea of a rotating DH has actually intrigued me. It allows you to play matchups better, get guys rest while keeping guys active, keeps everyone fresh in the field, and whatever other advantages you have. I do actually believe this is for real too because he was a good hitter all his life. Let Phegley, Flowers, and a lefty who can catch and play other positions (someone like Ryan Doumit, but not Ryan Doumit, because he's a terrible catcher) be the primary catchers. Then you can use 2 catchers in your lineup and still have an emergency catcher on the bench. Of course, one problem with this setup is that it presumes Dunn can be nearly a full time 1b for the full year next year...that's iffy also. That said, it'd be an interesting concept to try, although I really don't want to spend 2 roster spots on backup catchers and it seems like the managers have zero interest in using their backup catcher as a DH.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 05:19 PM) Eh, how do you define good? Outside of the lottery, Butler and Taj are your only good picks late. We'll obviously see what Snell and Teague turn into, but Butler, Taj, Noah, Gray, Gordon, Deng, Duhon, Hinrich have all made contributions, and that's skipping the #1 pick. About the only guy from that list who hasn't out-performed their draft slot is Gordon because he was a high pick. The busts are Johnson and obviously Thomas. That list also really doesn't reflect reality, since the Bulls traded for Deng, traded away Seraphim to the Wizards to clear cap space for the 2010 free agent fest, traded away the rights to Bonner, etc. And I said "Last decade" for a reason, the people making the choices changed right around then.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 04:39 PM) I will just say that, for all the non-excitement that they create, the Spurs seem to be the team the Bulls are modeling themselves after. What they need to do is, rather than extending late 20s picks that you've developed who will come off the bench for 2-3 years before finally getting a chance to start, trade it for an asset that you need and value highly and plug it into your lineup. Imagining the Spurs right now with Kawhi Leonard is silly, and they got it because they traded a former 26th pick for him. The Bulls need to find creativity like that. Perhaps that player is Butler in a year or two. Perhaps it's Teague, maybe they can get something out of Gibson still. Maybe they don't. One thing worth thinking about, the Bulls have a surprisingly good record out of their draft picks over the last decade, not even counting Rose. They have one notable, awful bust of a trade, and one middle-of-the-first round guy who didn't pan out to much, but they have pulled off a lot of value out of the late lottery, latter part of the first round, and the 2nd round.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 04:43 PM) So they got D. Lee and Aramis out of that to go along with Zambrano and a few dominating years from Prior. To be fair...the Pirates did pretty much help them out on that one. Something tells me the Pirates won't be doing that in the next couple seasons.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 04:40 PM) They have Rizzo, who has been a bit streaky this year, and a sub-600 OPS version of Castro with bad work habits, laziness, a lack of power and a bit overweight. But he was such a good prospect!

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 04:31 PM) Ultimate nutpunch to end 2013: winning the season series vs. Detroit after last year's collaspe I can live with playing spoiler.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 04:22 PM) This coming year, it's unlikely they win, though Indiana and San Antonio damn near did it. In the future, with Wade piling up miles and injuries, Bosh becoming more of a wuss and Boozer's awful ass off the roster, the odds start going up even with no moves. Plus we don't even know where Lebron is going to be playing after next year... And if that's the case, it makes a ton of sense to stay competitive this year and see what you can do while holding chips that you can cash in for 2014 and the year or two after. Mirotic, of course, being the chip I'm really interested to see.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 04:19 PM) Actually, I'll back off the retirement comment because he's still better than 90 percent of the guys out there. I would like someone in the organization to tell him to engage his partner more, stop the silly silences, etc. Hawk is at that dangerous point (eg. Chris Berman) of being a self parody. That's not good. I get all of that. I have no problem with people who believe such things. I have a problem with anyone who would react to a documentary about Hawk being aired by saying "why, that guy sucks, I hate him".

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 04:07 PM) What is it with this "favorites" stuff? Who gives a s*** that the Heat would be favored. What are you doing to put yourself in better position to beat the Heat is what's it about. The Bulls, as is, or as they have been under Thibs, cannot beat the Heat. Rose being hurt is irrelevant. Asking Rose to take this cast and beat LeBron/Wade/Bosh is as silly as asking Patrick Ewing to beat Michael/Scottie with John Starks and Charles Smith. We got stars changing teams every 15 minutes. Teams making moves to get better every 15 minutes. And yet the Bulls, who only sport one star, are over the cap and/or just too timid to make a move. That's the exact same bloody question. You just admitted that it's not reasonable to expect the Bulls to beat the heat given any move they could make and it would be a major upset if they did so, but they should be making moves because you say so! Every single line of logic winds up saying "Trade off everyone, tank, and either hope for Lebron signing there or hitting the next Lebron in the draft 5 years from now".