NorthSideSox72

So, FutureSox did something new this year - we posted a daily recap of the day's MiLB games (nearly) every day. We had a handful of people involved, though most recently it's been Rob and Daniel, who have done excellent work. With the full season affiliates completing their seasons, the recaps are basically done for the year. We would love to hear your thoughts on these recaps. Did you find them useful? How often did you read them? Is there anything we can do to enhance them or make them better, for next year? The readers in this forum are among our core reader base, so your thoughts are important to us. Let's hear your feedback!

The White Sox are not in a bad place 3B-wise right now. Gillaspie has turned into an above average 3B offensively, and his defense is approaching respectable. Davidson has another year to figure it out in Charlotte. Semien can play 3B and is a nice foil for Gillaspie. Michalczewski is a couple years away, but making his way up. As positions go, depth-wise, 3B is not the worst spot in the system right now. That would be Catcher. Someone mentioned Basto earlier... his bat suddenly got decent this year, which I was not expecting. His glove is awful at 3B and SS, so I'm sure they want to see if he can play elsewhere.

Recap posted

FutureSox write-up on the trade, painting a picture of Sanburn for those curious.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 06:57 PM) If anyone noticed, it looks like RHP Storm Throne has been released. He is not on any White Sox minor league roster. QUOTE (Señor Ding-Dong @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 09:42 PM) Apparently he retired. He's still an all-name first ballot hall of famer. This all went down months ago. He apparently was upset after a game early this season (he wasn't pitching well), and he just kinda Stormed off the premises saying he was done. Never came back. They kept him on the Restricted List for a while, but they may have eventually just released him.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 30, 2014 -> 05:00 PM) Two too many in my world. This is seriously one of the most ridiculous things I've seen posted in this forum. How is having three 1B/DH types with a shot at the majors... a BAD thing? Heck, you'd love to have 4 or 5 or 6, one for each affiliate if you could. Why on EARTH is that bad?

FutureSox quick write-up of the trade.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 04:53 PM) On what planet has Hahn indicated Micah is the de facto starting 2B next year? He has a total of like 450 PA above A ball and he is 22/35 Sb wise in AA/AAA. He's often compared (ludicrously IMO) to Billy Hamilton. Forget for a second that Hamilton is a once a decade type player just compare the SB numbers in MiLB: Hamilton in combined AA/AAA was 126 of 157 for a 81% success rate at extreme volume. Micah: 22/35 or 63%. Not even break even, not much volume either. I don't pretend to know first hand but every report on Micah lists "poor defense at 2B" as a problem as well. His profile screams "more dev time, maybe a lot more". I'm not sure who the starting 2B will be on openeing day '15 but I will buy a Micah BR sponsorship to anyone that wants to bet on it. Not sure anyone said that. What has been said is, he's a second baseman. And what's been clear is, the org likes him. If you read the article, you'll see that the question of whether or not he's ready for MLB is in fact one of the two key open questions.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 02:37 PM) Thanks. I thought that he finally started to hit a little at AA. Isn't there some precedent for some minor league players to start hitting better at higher levels because they face better pitchers, who are at least around the plate a little more? A+, not AA. But Balta pretty much covers what response I'd have.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 12:39 PM) The issue is that "polish" and "low ceiling" tend to go hand-in-hand. Pray, indulge the following generalization: Player P and Player R have similar numbers, but they produce them in different ways. P has an advanced, polished approach to the game -- he works counts, he plays fundamental defense, etc. R, on the other hand, is extremely raw -- he's a free swinger who makes flashy plays but botches the routine from time to time. P succeeds through optimization, R succeeds through raw talent. Though they've been successful so far, they both hit a wall at AA and begin to struggle. Both being similarly humble, they each turn to their coaches for answers. R, now forced to learn the skills that were never necessary before, finds success after figuring out how to be more selective at the plate and committing himself to a healthy amount of extra reps on defense. P, however, has little left to learn. His coaches desperately try to tweak his swing mechanics and send him to a sports psychologist to teach him to meditate before games, but the only result is frustration and streakiness. Because there's simply nothing left for P to improve, he has reached his peak; P has risen as far as his talent can take him. Typically, "ceiling" is what happens if a player is able to put it all together; to become a master at all the skills required to play baseball. The trouble, of course, is that mastering those skills is far from automatic, hence high bust rates on intriguing athletes that are "risky." While the "safe" ones have little to figure out, they are also risky in the sense that it is incredibly difficult to predict how far their talent can take them. Since they have less to learn, they have a much smaller margin for error. Unless they are drafted as near ML ready, they necessarily have a lower ceiling. I think that the only guys that are both "safe" and have similar ceilings as the "risky" guys are the really obvious, really rare generational talent guys. Those are ones that have the game figured out but have tons of room to mature physically. Nice write-up, and all good points. But I do think it is important to seperate the two concepts - ceiling and polish. They are a matrix. One can be high or low on either scale. If you don't allow for that, you box yourself in.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 02:31 PM) How much of a prospect and how close is Rondon? If he keeps hitting isn't he supposed to be G.G. caliber at short? He's one of the best defensive shortstops in minor league baseball, let alone the White Sox. But he's still quite young, and there are major questions about whether or not his bat will play. He's multiple years from the majors and may not make it at all (in fact, odds are, he won't in any big way). He's a legit prospect on defense alone, but it's way early to project him as a major leaguer.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 12:43 PM) Why don't you want Semien at 2B? If one of them has to move, Micah profiles much better in the OF because of his superior speed and inferior glovework. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 12:45 PM) Micah also profiles much worse in the OF because of a weaker throwing arm and already having surgery on his arm, making long throws turn him into even more of an injury risk. Micah is the one guy the White Sox org clearly said "He's a 2b". Micah hasn't played anywhere else at all. He's not moving. I agree with Balta. Micah in the OF doesn't make much sense other than speed, and the org has said repeatedly he's a 2B. Semien has a stronger arm, doesn't have multiple instances of surgery on his throwing arm, has already played some OF, has played good defense at multiple positions, and also by the way has some speed (though obviusly not at Micah's level). For you guys arguing these topics, did you read the piece I pinned in the other thread? Any thoughts on the take-aways?

Recap posted - sorry for the delay.

Anything to hear less of him is good. Just a terrible announcer. Vascillating between inane stories with no relation to the game, losing track of what is going on, denying the existence of anything he'd prefer not to learn, long silences that put people to sleep... I really hope the guy just retires.

This topic has been discussed in multiple threads in multiple forums - the crowd of skill infield players ready for 2015, and what to do with them. Here's a deep look at the players involved, some safe assumptions and conclusions, and scenarios of likely outcomes. Thoughts from the crowd?

QUOTE (oldsox @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 08:17 AM) Farm system depth is very important if your team is a perennial playoff team, just from the standpoint of trading chips. Plus, it's nice to see the minor league teams be successful. On the latter, it's a nice side bonus, nothing more. On the former, as I noted, if you are pumping the right talent into the organization, you will have plenty of talent in the minors for that purpose. But this still goes back to the same things I said earlier. Having high ceiling talent in A ball is one thing... have close to MLB-ready talent is another, both in value to your team AND in trade. That should be the goal - to create a line of talent knocking at the MLB club's door. If they can get there faster, all the better. And you can still trade them even in the majors, so again, having the talent in the minors for trade chips really isn't helpful in and of itself. Now of course, if the high school player available has a higher ceiling and more likely value later, then you take that player. But saying that, all things equal, high school talent is better, just doesn't make sense to me.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Aug 28, 2014 -> 10:28 AM) The farm system is still a work in progress and while there has been massive improvements, since they lack a lot of high end prospecs (With the exception of Rodon, amd maybe Anderson) and quality depth in the system. I dont think or believe that DJ Stewart sloves that problem, because he is more of a finished product and lacks that high ceiling that the Sox desperately need in their system. This philosophy is strange to me. I follow and write about the Sox farm system, and even for me, I do not care one iota how much talent depth is in the farm system at any given moment. What I care about is how effectively the organization can get MLB-ready talent staged up for a job. While those things obviously tend to align, you have to make sure your goal is about getting the talent there, not having a farm system that looks good. There is a subtle but important difference there. If DJ Stewart is that much more polished, that isn't a bad thing, it is a good thing. It only becomes a bad thing if his ceiling is notably lower than others they could draft.

Wow, a little surprised here. He has to be added to the 40, which makes it 40 now. And I think (this part I'm not sure of) he needs to stay on there or risk being claimed on waivers. In either case he'd need to be on there to be protected at Rule V time in December. Here is FutureSox's profile on Chris. Even better, Bassitt actually wrote an article for us, back in January. Here is that link.

wite answered for me. Moving Micah is appealing only on the very surface. When you dig deeper, it really doesn't anymore.

I wish people would leave the move-Micah-to-the-OF thing alone. The ONLY reason it is brought up is because of his speed. He's never played there, and has a hard enough time with the glove at 2B, and you want him to change positions? His arm isn't great either. Plus with his elbow issues, as we've discussed before, they are likely caused by poor throwing mechanics. So he's a greater injury risk in the OF than at 2B. Just doesn't make sense to do it. Semien, on the other hand, COULD be a corner OF. He's got a good arm, enough speed, he's played there a bit this year, and they want to get his bat in the lineup.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 28, 2014 -> 06:34 AM) If anything, the complaint should be too many middle/utility infielders in 1-2 above average tools but not the overall package....Leury Garcia, Saladino, Semien, Sanchez, Micah Johnson...and clearly not enough high impact bats. Every organization has 2-3 AAAA/filler guys like Wilkins and Brad Eldred and Dan Black who wouldn't last more than a week or two in the big leagues before getting exposed. I wouldn't put Wilkins and Black in the same category.

QUOTE (Señor Ding-Dong @ Aug 27, 2014 -> 03:50 PM) He's not really a prospect, but another guy that fits that bill is Dan Black. Yeah, I was talking about guys with some significantly non-zero shot at the majors. Black was looking maybe like a fringe guy last year, but at this point he's off the radar. I like him and I hope he finds a way, but it is an extreme long shot at this point.

What makes you think they are making a bunch of 1B/DH types? If anything, the system had a lack of that depth just a year ago. Let's look at the 1B/DH guys in the system that even remotely qualify as worth noting: --Andy Wilkins, who has been a 1B for a long time. He was a 3B, and is supposedly a good defensive 1B. He's a fringe prospect. --Rangel Ravelo has a serious bat, also a 3B convert and therefore likely to get pretty good at 1B defensively. --Keon Barnum has been a 1B/DH power guy all along and has serious raw power. And that's it. Who are you talking about?

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 27, 2014 -> 11:50 AM) I'm game for Zaleski, but I also wouldn't mind Bassit comin up from AA...Give em a day to be with Coop and kinda give the org a better idea where they should start him next year. If he does well I'd start him in AAA, if not, give him some time in AA. Bassitt has been assigned to the AFL, and if they put him on the 40, he'd have to clear waivers to get back off, I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong on that). So that means you are "popping" his 40 man status early, and keeping him there through the Rule V draft in December, because he'd almost assuredly get claimed. Seems like maybe not a good idea. He's also not pitched above AA.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 27, 2014 -> 10:06 AM) Does his start date line up? Last pitched Monday, so yes, quite well. I should clarify, the player DOES need to be on the 40 man. But the 40 has 39 on it right now, he can be added, then immediately assigned outright to Charlotte. So he'd be off the 40 by 9/1 roster expansion day. And I doubt he's much of a claim risk. He's also a Chicago area native (Arlington Heights).