NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Aug 26, 2015 -> 09:22 AM) Anyone listening to 560 this morning in Chicago? I only heard the end of it but it sounded as though Amy Jacobson seemed to blame Donald Trump and his attempt to call out the media bias for this. I don't think I want to see the footage. I despise Trump, but the bolded is just idiotic if that's really what they said.

Recap Posted. Includes a brief scouting report from an ESPN analyst of Yosmer Solórzano.

QUOTE (LDF @ Aug 25, 2015 -> 10:16 AM) really nice write up. 1 question, does any think that Dayan Viciedo can rebuild his value. ???? Viciedo? Where did that question come from? QUOTE (Dunt @ Aug 25, 2015 -> 10:38 AM) Are we thinking Delmonico or Davidson has more of a shot to actually play 3rd at the majors? Delmonico seems to be having a really nice season and he's still a little young for his level. Davidson has improved his D, but his 30%+ K rate in a 3rd trip through AAA tells me he'll be a disaster in the majors offensively. Delmonico is still a year or two off if ever, and his defense is a question. His hitting hasn't been spectacular either, and I don't think his chances of being a starting 3B are very good. Though I wouldn't write him off.

Hopefully you read the pitching version of this from Will, in that seperate thread. This one is covering the hitters, with lots of GIFs and embedded video to peruse, along with some scouting tidbits and other great information. What do you think? Who do you like among these hitters and why?

Recap posted Delmonico with the rare triple double. BHAM and WS lineups end up upside down, with the biggest prospects being quiet while role players jumped in.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 24, 2015 -> 02:40 PM) 10-4, Yikes! I am asking if u believe in God; the guy who is sitting up on the throne in heaven. The religious version of God who is up there looking down on everybody and created everything. Not just a spirit but God, the big guy in charge of us all. QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Aug 24, 2015 -> 02:43 PM) While the poll could certainly be worded better or have more options, I highly doubt "a lot" of the No votes are from people who do believe in God. I doubt even one is. The part both of you I think are missing as key here, is he said "God/Creation", not just "God". Two seperate questions. Most people don't believe in Creationism in the Biblical sense as being literal truth. But most people certainly do believe in God(s) in some form.

You may have seen some of the videos, but here is the nitty gritty - Will's scouting reports on the key pitchers he saw in Birmingham. Video, reports from scouts, and analysis all found therein. Montas, Jaye and more are in there. It takes a lot to do these trips, and Will did excellent work, so be sure to give this a read. It's exclusive stuff you won't get anywhere else.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Aug 24, 2015 -> 09:38 AM) Moved all of my retirement account out of the markets Friday. Not sure how much sense that makes. You know what they say about people who try to pick bottoms.

Anderson has, by multiple reliable accounts, improved his defense substantially this year. I feel fairly confident now that he'll stick at short.

Recap posted Haha, Kanny ended Savannah's huge winning streak with a tie. The recap also has a quick look at the current playoff status for all the affiliates, so take a look at that.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 24, 2015 -> 02:09 AM) I've heard Obama talk about God. So far seven of nine do not believe in God. That's pretty crazy. What if we get 17 people to vote and 15 don't believe? I can't help myself here... 1. Asking "do you believe in God/creation" as a yes/no is like asking "do you believe Tyler Saladino is an OK/MVP player?". You're getting a lot of "no" votes from people who do believe in God in some form because you've asked what might be the worst poll question I have ever seen. 2. No poll on this site, even if every reasonably active member voted, is going to have enough veracity to tell you anything about the mainstream population. For multiple reasons.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Aug 23, 2015 -> 07:51 PM) The Kanny roster this year had been largely uninspiring, but I think that's going to change next year. As it looks like now, Zangari, Zavala, Adolfo, Cruz, Rodriguez and Lassiter on the hitting side, and Solorzano, Comito, Stephens and Erwin on the pitching side should be on that team. While I agree that KAN should be a fun team to watch next year, I really, really doubt Adolfo opens the season there. More likely he's in GTF, probably for the full year but maybe comes up later.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Aug 23, 2015 -> 05:10 PM) Nieto (never going to be able to hit enough), Guerra (he stinks), and Carrol (beck/drabek can do his job) are all guys I would have no problem leaving off of the roster. Drabek should definitely be kept Drabek? I'd take Carroll, Beck, Jaye and probably half a dozen other 40-man decision fringe guys over Drabek, who's stuff is garbage.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 21, 2015 -> 01:57 PM) Zach Thompson is a guy no one talks about, but he's kind of interesting. 5th round pick signed for slot who was young for a college draftee (taken at age 20), fastball touches mid-90s, had a good slider at draft time and CB+CU that were works in progress. Dude is 6'7". He's in full season ball this year at 21 (started in early June, was in extended before then) so he's age appropriate and even a little younger than league average. Numbers so far aren't great, but his last three starts he's allowed just 2 ER and struck out better than a batter per inning (though also walked quite a few). Induces a fair number of ground ball outs, probably due to that tall frame and downward plane. Gives up very few XBH - in 54 IP this year (12 starts), zero HR, 8 2B and 2 3B. So they aren't hitting the ball hard against him. Has reverse splits this year, so maybe that change-up is improving. Also interesting is he's much better with the bases empty than with men on, so he may be struggled from the stretch. Probably a reliever profile, but he could become a guy next year. He'll be 22 and probably in Winston-Salem. Seems like a guy with the kind of stuff that Bautista and Perdew could mold into something. They call me the jinx.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 21, 2015 -> 02:05 PM) Montas probably needs to get in shape. He looks like Colon. Anderson. He takes a healthy cut and seems to use a big bat. He looks like a modern free swinger. Doesn't choke up at all with two strikes like all hitters today. Is he a power hitter? Anderson has significant raw power, but it hasn't translated much in games yet. Tons of bat speed and strong hands, but the power doesn't play up to potential, yet.

Zach Thompson is a guy no one talks about, but he's kind of interesting. 5th round pick signed for slot who was young for a college draftee (taken at age 20), fastball touches mid-90s, had a good slider at draft time and CB+CU that were works in progress. Dude is 6'7". He's in full season ball this year at 21 (started in early June, was in extended before then) so he's age appropriate and even a little younger than league average. Numbers so far aren't great, but his last three starts he's allowed just 2 ER and struck out better than a batter per inning (though also walked quite a few). Induces a fair number of ground ball outs, probably due to that tall frame and downward plane. Gives up very few XBH - in 54 IP this year (12 starts), zero HR, 8 2B and 2 3B. So they aren't hitting the ball hard against him. Has reverse splits this year, so maybe that change-up is improving. Also interesting is he's much better with the bases empty than with men on, so he may be struggled from the stretch. Probably a reliever profile, but he could become a guy next year. He'll be 22 and probably in Winston-Salem. Seems like a guy with the kind of stuff that Bautista and Perdew could mold into something.

Will, one of our writers at FutureSox, caught three games live down in Birmingham (AA) this past weekend. He's already posted an interview article. Analysis articles coming soon. But meanwhile, he's posted really good videos of some key prospects he saw, including: Tim Anderson (current #2 in the system) Frankie Montas (#3) Jacob May (#11) Myles Jaye (#17) Nick Delmonico (#29) Danny Hayes Peter Tago Kyle Hansen Raul Fernandez Mark Blackmar And remember, you can subscribe to the YT channel too, and get an email whenever new videos go up. These are exclusive content, and for many of these players, video is hard or impossible to come by anywhere else. After watching some or all of them, what sticks out to you? Any surprises in seeing them in action?

We need to make that Killer Z's thing stick.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 21, 2015 -> 09:59 AM) Watched the great highlights that futuresox posted to youtube of Tim Anderson. Great stuff! Just have to hope he learns to lay off the breaking pitch in the dirt, as there were a lot of swings and misses in the 5 minute video. With that said, it would be great for the Sox to give him the full year in AAA next season. Will put together some really nice videos. People should definitely check those out on the YT channel. Also, he'll be using some of them in analysis pieces coming soon on the blog.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 19, 2015 -> 08:10 PM) So, just finished an article on this spill for the outreach page I write for. My opinion now is that this spill is not a scandal, but instead the real scandal is what is legal. The spill reports constantly say ~3 million gallons of contaminated water spilled but there is no context for that number. Is 3 million gallons a lot? Well, this particular mine reportedly is leaking about 200+ gallons per minute, which translates to 3 million gallons leaked in a period of under 2 weeks. However, this is not the only mine at this site, there are something in the range of 5-7 mines on this site all of which are leaking substantially ever since the water treatment site at the last operational mine shut down in 1996. The largest 2 flow rates are at 300 gallons per minute. If you total up the leak rate from all the mines, a 3 million gallon spill represents the amount leaked into Cement Creek from this one site in about 2-3 days. Cement Creek feeds into the Animas River, the Animas has a flow rate about 3x that of Cement Creek. So, when this burst happened, it was a sudden flow of 2-3 days worth of what flows into that river normally. That will still do damage to the ecosystem in the river, but it's not a major loss. Downstream it entered the San Juan River system and the pulse of dissolved solids in the San Juan River was not even the largest pulse of dissolved solids in the last month. Large rain events across the basin cause larger pulses into that river system and into lake Powell to than this spill. Cement Creek, also, is on average more contaminated than this mine effluent. I found measurements from Cement Creek showing that it typically had a pH of about 4.1 all the way back in 1997; the lowest pH measured in the Animus after this spill was about 4.5, and other contaminants like copper follow the same pattern - even more concentrated in the normal Cement Creek than in the Animas after this flood. Basically, this flood was a sudden release of 2-3 days worth of what has reached this river every single day since the mid-1990s from these abandoned mines. Interesting (and sad) stuff. Thanks Brian.

The BHAM radio guy (Curt Bloom) said that the home run Tim Anderson hit was off a 98 mph fastball. I don't think we need to worry about Anderson's bat speed.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Aug 19, 2015 -> 02:51 PM) Really excited to see Heidenreich in AA. He's already pitched 140+ innings in AA, didn't do well. Hopefully he finds it this time. He really should have been at AA to begin the season.

The most interesting thing to me, in here, is Delmonico on the whole thing with the Brewers. I mean, he pretty directly says he couldn't be reached because he didn't want to be reached by them.

Our Will Siskel was in Birmingham over the weekend. He'll have a few posts from that trip, and already has some videos up on our YT channel. But first, here are the five interviews he did. There's some really good stuff in here. A very confident Anderson, a very detailed Tago, and Danish taking the long view among them. You can really get a good feel here for the perspectives of the players. After reading them, what are your thoughts on these five?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 18, 2015 -> 01:49 PM) So those with kids.....how have you handled the airport situation? We're flying to Orlando (I found super cheap flights...$288 total for 3 of us). And we're renting a car. Doesn't look like a need to use the car seat on the plane (my son's just over 40lbs), but he will need his car seat for the rental car. Do you guys check the car seat? Carry it on? Gate check it? Or just rent one and not deal with the hassle? I see online a lot of people don't check the car seat at the front desk because of the risk of damage or the risk of it not showing up. I'm thinking I'll gate check it, but I've never gate checked anything before. Do you pick it up right after you get off the plane? Or does it show up at the baggage carousel? I'm entering into a new world here... If the kid is young enough that they are stroller age, I recommend buying a Go Go Baby car seat roller. It is a set of small wheels attached to a plate and luggage-like handle, that you strap to the car seat, essentially turning it into a stroller. When you get to security, just lower the telescoping handle and throw it on the conveyer just like a roller bag. Then gate check it. The kid can roll around in it, or you can roll it like luggage.