NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 7, 2015 -> 09:34 PM) Visual evidence: More at the link: http://liveuptownnow.com/charlotte-life/ev...ew-bbt-ballpark I cannot wait to see a game there, the stadium is by all accounts just beautiful with that skyline. White Sox have been putting on a new stadium in their org once a year the last three years - Winston-Salem (which is now partially owned by the White Sox, by the way) got one in 2012 that is really quite nice for an A ball team, Birmingham in 2013 (supposed to be fantastic), and now Charlotte in 2014.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 02:56 AM) Kanny is just kind of a "blah" mid 90's cookie-cutter minor league stadium. I was there once and have not one single memory sticking out in my mind about the facility. Hickory was THE team in the SAL that did really well in attendance (and they with the Sox then) in that era...along with Charleston (SC) after they built a new park. Most would argue 65-75% of minor league attendance is related to promotions and the niceties of the stadium/s (especially in the lower minors). Obviously the horrendous records of the Charlotte team recently didn't have much of an impact...3-5 years down the line, of course, the presence of top prospects and competitiveness of the team will return to being more of a factor. There has been movement with local government to have a new stadium for Kanny in their downtown area. Just preliminary stuff, no money for it yet. The player facilities in that stadium are pretty bad. The clubhouse, locker room and coach/mgr office space are all in what is basically a morton shed behind the left field fence, not connected to anything else. The bullpens are in pretty bad shape too. The concourse and buildings for the fans are OK, nothing special but just fine. Seating same.

There is a very in-depth 2014 MiLB attendance report available out there now, which is like 150 pages long. But some highlights for Sox clubs... --Charlotte Knights led all of minor league baseball in attendance, both total and per game --Birmingham Barons led the Southern League in attendance. Even more amazing, their attendance actually went up in the 2nd year of their new stadium, and they had the 6th largest per-game jump in baseball --Winston-Salem Dash continue to draw well, they were 2nd in the Carolina League --Kannapolis Intimidators continue to be middle-ground in the SAL attendance-wise, which is actually pretty good considering their stadium is not very new and they compete with nearby Charlotte --Great Falls is on the lower end of the Pioneer League, in fact they had their lowest attendace since the 60's. Another older stadium. --AZL Sox are non-rev and do not track attendance Here is the full report. Some cool historical info too. Overall, that's a pretty darn good performance, with the three highest level teams all drawing quite well, and another managing to be average-ish in an older stadium and a tough market. New stadiums help.

Raines should be in. Another guy who I think doesn't get nearly enough love is Alan Trammell.

Ah, I see you edited your post - now I think I see what you are getting at. BABIP was used because I am not there in the DR watching them all play. It is the best tool I have at my disposal. And a .500+ BABIP, for over a hundred PA, is an insane number. Like Flowers in April type number. That, combined with the high K rate (which is related of course), suggests a high probability that the core results are not reliable.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 6, 2015 -> 12:00 PM) It seems you are downplaying the younger guys successes and hyping Black's. The numbers probably don't mean anything to anyone, but I don't understand why Black's numbers should carry any more meaning. The Domincan Winter League isn't exactly the major leagues. I would think higher babips should be expected, maybe not what Nieto put up, but without watching the games, to assume he was lucky rather than dominant I think is a rather big assumption. I guess I don't see that in the article. Nieto and Garcia are discussed more in-depth, as they are more key to the team. Black's stats were better than just about everyone in that league, so stat-wise, of course his numbers are "hyped" in the article. It also points out that while Nieto and Garcia are major leaguers, Black is just trying to get a gig in AAA. I'd say that makes it clear that Nieto and Garcia are more key. The article makes pretty clear, I think, the difference between the numbers, and what they mean for each player.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 6, 2015 -> 10:14 AM) What I don't understand about the article is Nieto's success is pooh poohed by a high babip. Leury's sucess is pooh poohed by his performance as a part time player in over his head, and 27 year old Dan Black who has more professional plate appearances than either has a performance that may mean something. IMO, it should be the opposite. thanks, Dick. Not sure I understand what you are getting at. Leury's BABIP isn't much higher than his average, so it wasn't particularly relevant to bring up. Nieto's was super-high and worth noting. Black, as noted in the article, is going for a AAA job. All three are shooting for something, just different things. What am I missing here?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 6, 2015 -> 09:44 AM) Thanks, it's easy to lose track of these. Quick fix: Rienzo was traded to Miami, not LAA. Oh that's right, Snodgress went to LAA. Thanks for pointing that out.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 6, 2015 -> 07:24 AM) 2007: 38,088 (OD) 2008: 38,082 (non-OD) 2009: 37,449 (OD) 2010: 38,935 (OD) 2011: 38,579 (non-OD) 2012: 38,676 (non-OD) 2013: 39,012 (OD) 2014: 37,422 (OD) I would say there is zero attendance correlation between the home opener being Opening Day or not. The park gets packed either way (maybe not a sellout, but welcome to White Sox baseball) It's still much higher attendance than the Cubs series, which are nowhere near as exciting as they were ten years ago IMO. To each their own though. Those are all considered sellouts. Anything 37k and up. And the number never gets higher than about 39k. People may not know, but the attendance figure is never going to actually reach the capacity of the park, due to a number of factors. True of every team, every game.

The Sox have a bunch of players in the winter leagues. In the Dominican, among them are two players who are vying for an Opening Day roster spot (since the bench has been a hot topic lately). Here is our article on how they've been doing in the DR. We'll push out reviews for Venezuela and Mexico and in the coming days. Australia and Puerto Rico will be in February.

To be clear, as SS2K5 pointed out, there are a LOT more people there than that short list indicates. Also bear in mind that many LatAm prospects are playing with winter league teams right now, and their playoffs are starting, so they are likely not in AZ for that reason.

Welcome aboard! Great to see so much new blood lately.

Better than the Saladino alternative I was thinking would happen, and I think it hints at the strong likelihood of Johnson winning the 2B job. The means a bench of: --Backup C --Bonifacio --4th OF (right now Viciedo) --??? The ??? can be just about anyone, now that Bonifacio is there, because he can cover basically any position AND can PR. So his presence actually adds flexibility to the rest of the bench. You could go Sanchez or Saladino, or you could even have another OF, an extra pitcher, or heck even Davidson or Wilkins (though I think those are unlikely). Hard not to like the move.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 09:18 AM) I would think that Andy Wilkins or Raul Fernandez will be DFA to make room unless a trade is coming. Maybe, but given the presence of Bonifacio, Sanchez and Saladino on there, I would think L Garcia is a more likely candidate in this case. Wilkins is a real possibility too, but I bet he'd get claimed and that leaves the Sox with Dan Black as their emergency 1B/DH (not a great position to be in). LGarcia is the one least valuable to the team and he's unlikely to be claimed.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 08:53 AM) Who gets lopped off the roster? QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 08:50 AM) My feeling on Leury is the same as it was months ago - I'd be shocked if he's even in the organization come April. And if he is he's in Charlotte. I don't think he was ever going to get serious consideration for a MLB job in 2015 with the Sox, barring unforseen injuries. Sanchez and probably even Saladino were more likely options, and both still may be that. DFA for now, trade later probably.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 08:29 AM) Leury now probably goes to AAA where he really belonged in 2014. I still have hope for him as a versatile bench piece. He can't hit, but he doesn't have to hit much with all the other things he brings to the table. My feeling on Leury is the same as it was months ago - I'd be shocked if he's even in the organization come April. And if he is he's in Charlotte. I don't think he was ever going to get serious consideration for a MLB job in 2015 with the Sox, barring unforseen injuries. Sanchez and probably even Saladino were more likely options, and both still may be that.

Kevan Smith is our latest player guest-writer on FutureSox. He's actually going to be writing a pair of posts for us. This first one is about an aspect of minor league life that is very important to players, but I doubt many of you have given it much thought - living arrangements, and more specifically host families. Give it a read. We're working with Kevan on a second piece on a different topic, to come out in the coming weeks.

He is still quite young. In fact, he could repeat A+ yet again and STILL be on the young side for the level. Keep that in mind. Also, the key to me is, he fixed a LOT of things in 2014. Not all of them, but the fact that he made that many adjustments at that age is impressive, and makes it more likely in my view that he can continue improvements. I also disagree to a certain degree about a complete inability to recognize pitches. In the article I wrote in a similar vein in April for FutureSox, I found multiple videos (including one I took) where you could see him hitch to respond to offspeed and still mash. I think that particular part of Nathaniel's analysis was too strident towards the negative. He's still a T10 guy for me, though no longer T5, in this system.

78-0. Wow.

Here's an early Christmas/Hannukkah/Festivus present for everyone - we've gone through and updated all our prospect profiles, and added a bunch of new ones. We now have detailed profiles of 41 current White Sox prospects with basic info, scouting info, back stories, accolades and rankings, awards, videos and interview links when available. Take a look at all of them here, and bookmark the page to come back to it. Enjoy.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 19, 2014 -> 05:54 PM) I am making a quick judgement. I usually am the positive one with giving players a chance but he wasn't just bad he had no chance ar the plate. I would rather give someone else a chance, Black or anyone. Wilkins at bats would not help anyone. 1. While I don't think Wilkins is a major league starter, I also think you can't go by a single September call-up to make a real call. 2. I think people are misunderstanding what minor league backup depth is. No one is getting a really good bat to be a 1B/DH in the minors waiting for an injury. If they are good enough, they have a job elsewhere. So this isn't a question of whether or not Wilkins is good, or Black is good. It is a question of who you think is better that would be willing to just sit in Charlotte all year on the 10% chance someone gets hurt. Because that guy is one of two things - a legitimate prospect (who is expensive to acquire and who you are now blocking), or an Andy Wilkins or Dan Black kinda guy.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Dec 19, 2014 -> 09:39 AM) I'd swap Wilkins for AAA bullpen man, no room for him here QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 19, 2014 -> 09:40 AM) You still need depth. If LaRoche goes down, he provides at least some sort of upside to the position. I wouldn't be surprised if one of Wilkins or Black gets traded in a minor league deal before April. But neither are getting you a major leaguer. Wilkins might get an interesting minors arm, but not VERY interesting.

Jacobs won't effect Wilkins. Jacobs is ticketed probably for AA, possibly A+.

In defense of bmags, I think he was trying for a discussion not about predicting who would actually be there, but who COULD be there from WITHIN the organization today. To highlight strengths and weaknesses.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 18, 2014 -> 10:17 PM) I've been pretty clear I like him more than Flowers but I don't think either is a starter on a contender He's just so awful defensively at catcher, aside from a strong arm. And the org had obviously soured on him, with repeated issues coming up about his game prep and attitude. I'd rather have Flowers.