NorthSideSox72

End of season update... Ravelo missed the last couple weeks of the season with a minor injury, and was re-activated right at the end. As discussed previously, he's moved to 1B, and has continued to show he can hit. Rangel finished the season with a .312/.393/.455 line (.848 OPS), 40 BB vs 46 K in 347 PA. The strong contact rate is still there, he draws walks, and hits for average. The power still isn't there, though according to multiple reports he's shown glimpses of it in BP, and some of his HR at least were not cheapies. He's also put on some muscle it appears. The question at this point remains the same: can he develop the power he needs to be a legit 1B prospect? Everything else appears to be there, and it is impressive regardless of position that he has hit for the kind of average and made the level of contact he has as a 20-21 year old in High A. Ravelo is likely in AA B-Ham next season, trying to add that power.

End of 2013... Remenowsky finished the regular season with B-Ham, who are now in the playoffs (though Dan isn't likely to see a ton of time in those, and he's on the DL again anyway). Back in AA, his numbers were not up to his previous levels: 3.94 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, .259 AvgA. The control is still very solid, but the other numbers are all not what he's shown capable of in previous AA seasons. Dan is going to turn 28 at the beginning of 2014's season. He's gone up to AAA a few times now, didn't perform well, and went back down to AA. Most discouraging though, in his last AA stint, he only pitched about once every 4-5 days, which would seem to indicate he wasn't used as a key reliever. At this point, barring him coming back next year and suddenly regaining his old form, he's an org guy. Hopefully he DOES find that old form, but that doesn't often happen at this point in development. If Dan is back in the org in 2014, he'll be at AA or maybe AAA, as a middle reliever.

End of season update... Brennan did indeed miss the rest of the season, and will likely miss part of next as well, after his surgery. Best case is he's back for Opening Day, but that seems a stretch. The missed development time is a real blow, since he's got a live arm but is very raw and needs repetition to be successful. He's still on the radar prospect-wise, but we'll have to see if he can get in a full season next year. Repeating at Kanny seems the most likely outcome for him in 2014, then perhaps W-S if he looks sharp enough.

End of season update... Mark ended up missing about 6 weeks' time due to that broken hand from the HBP. And for a fringe guy already old for his level, that is a bad thing. On his return, he scuffled a bit at first, then went on a mini-tear in his last 7 games, going .391/.461/.522. His final season line on the season at W-S was .272/.376/.391, 75 K vs 44 BB in 357 PA. The K rate (21%) was pretty close to his usual numbers, though slightly higher. His walk rate was nearly identical. Average and slugging dropped. Haddow's already-narrow window is closing, as he'll be 26 next season, and likely in AA, where he'll be 1-2 years older than you'd like to see for that level. A breakout year could still, maybe, put him on the edge of the radar, especially since he does bring strong defense to the table. But he's just not hitting enough, or for enough power, to be a serious corner OF prospect. Given the time he missed, I am surprised Haddow or Earley weren't sent to AFL, instead of Jared Mitchell.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 10, 2013 -> 01:01 PM) I think it depends on the player you were talking about. All walks are not created equal. If it's a slow guy where it's going to take 3 hits to score him, or a really, really poor baserunner, a walk isn't worth as much as it is if the guy is Rickey Henderson JR. A walk also isn't worth as much if you don't have good hitters behind him, but that is the job of the scouts, GM, organization to make sure they do. So that would be on them and not the player IMO. While I agree that not all walks are created equal, the scary thing to me about his statement was he wanted to look at run totals for a given prospect in the minors as an indication of future major league value. That, to me, is highly flawed, in part for some of the reasons you mentioned.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 10, 2013 -> 12:42 PM) I have some video on Vance from last Saturday but he has no AAP thread so I don't know where to post it. Well start one then, dammit! Seriously though, if not that, then post the link to it here. Is it embedded in one of the FS articles?

QUOTE (ptatc @ Sep 10, 2013 -> 12:48 PM) I was going to post the same thing. I guess if you've been around long enough the pendulum swings all the way to the other side. I guess the underlying theme is that whether you pick the "baseball" guy or the "athlete" you need to pick the right ones or develop them properly. Maybe it's the development piece. I think this nails it. You go for both, whichever presents the best value at that pick, whichever it may be. But the development piece needs to succeed either way, and for hitters, that has been a failure for years now. Caveat; I think you may see a few hitters make impacts in the next year or two. Maybe. I talked to a scout a few weeks ago down in NC, and he said something that was alarming to me. We were discussing various prospects, and I asked about one guy who had consistently high OBP numbers and walks... scout says yeah, but how many runs did he score? I said, I really don't know off hand. He said, well, if he doesn't score runs, he doesn't help me. There is a flaw in that logic, from my perspective. Multiple flaws, really. I fear some of the pro scouts (not the ones who look for draft picks, the ones who analyze the current minor leaguers) may have an old school mindset, one set in the idea of generating runs. That is ultimately what you want in the majors of course, but I don't think looking at minor leaguers through that lens is the right approach. Just my opinion.

From a selfish season ticket holder perspective, good to see some April/May series people want to attend; Cubs, BOS. Also, continuing to play the Cubs during the week, which makes good business sense for the team. The season still goes too damn long IMO, and causes potential weather problems. Playing the NL West in IL play - not sure if that will be good or bad next year. How strong will that division be?

By the way, I know this may stir the pot a bit, but... a guy like Winiarski is one of the reasons why I am not a fan of the favor-drafting late in the process. Once in a while, a guy pops from the lower rounds. I don't like the idea of wasting draft picks.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Sep 10, 2013 -> 11:21 AM) Cody Winiarski has really finished the season strong. Does he have the stuff to be a back-end bullpen guy? He's at the age (24) where they'll likely give him a shot this time next year if he continues to progress. Would love to see any up-to-date scouting info or opinions anyone has on CW, and also Kevin Vance, who had been rolling along nicely until the last couple of weeks of the season. I'll see what I can find as well. Winiarski has really come out of nowhere. Contrary to what Phil Rogers reported, he does NOT have to be protected in the 40 man roster this offseason, since he was a 2011 draft pick and is fully protected until after 2014. I don't have any hard data on his stuff. I talked with a scout about Vance. He basically said... mixed reports. Some scouts saw him and thought he had real, late inning reliever in the majors potential. Others saw more pedestrian stuff. So, apparently some inconsistency there, but at least flashes of dominance.

After sweeping Helena to end the regular season, the same Helena team pounded Great Falls 16-5. GF hadn't given up more than 12 runs in a game all season.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 9, 2013 -> 07:58 PM) Looks like Trayce left the game with some sort of injury Hit the wall catching a drive. Supposedly shook it off at first, so probably isn't bad, but we'll see.

I tend to agree with Balta on this - the pitching the Sox have going into 2014, and a few pitching prospects coming up, tell me a 3-4 year rebuild is not the way to go. If they can make one Big Splash (maybe Abreu for 1B, or some free agent), and improve at a couple spots in the lineup even a little... I think this team performs much differently next year. The defense is bizarre, after being so good last year, and I'd bet on it improving. There are young guys like Avisail Garcia and Marcus Semien that can provide some improvement and energy. That's before any offseason trades or signings. This isn't even to mention the fundamental aspect of the Sox fan base - unlike the Cubs fan base, they won't show up in droves for a horrific team. A long term rebuild is not workable for the Sox. The biggest issue is obviously finding the hitters. And this team does have significant money to play with.

Is it really that hard for people to talk about this without calling people "idiotic" and the like?

QUOTE (Leonard of Berwyn @ Sep 7, 2013 -> 10:55 PM) Alex Liddi was a third base prospect with the Seattle Mariners. He was traded to the Orioles earlier this year. He was recently designated for assignment. He is younger and would be an improvement over Brent Morel. He did very well playing for Italy in the World Baseball Classic. Melky Mesa was a centerfield prospect that the Yankees recently gave up on and released. He would be worth a chance instead of Jared Mitchell at this point. I think he meant Jhan Marniez.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 9, 2013 -> 08:32 AM) Is Mitchell out of options or something like that? i.e. Where the team has to make a decision on releasing him by the end of training camp next year? If that's the case I could see them trying as many shots in the dark as possible to see if they can get something out of him. I don't believe so - when would the options have started? He hasn't seen the majors. He does need to be on the 40, since he was drafted in 2009. But he's not a minor league FA for at least a couple more years. As long as he's on the 40, they can do what they want to with him. Even if he's not, I'm not convinced anyone would pick him up at this point.

I certainly am not suggesting they release him - I think he needs another shot in 2014. But the AFL berth is confusing to me. Seems to me, his best bets would either be taking the offseason off to get his head straight... or putting him in Fall Instructs to work on things. The AFL idea is just bizarre.

Birmingham is in Tennessee, up 2 games to none in the 5 game series. Arroyo on the mound, 5:15CT. Great Falls plays their last regular season game, Haselden against Helena, 8:05CT. Their playoffs start Monday. Scores

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Sep 6, 2013 -> 01:17 PM) Flowers has performed better on every level outside AAA. A level where Phegley had an insane spike in numbers right at the time a lot of people were giving up on him. Outside of the stats, Flowers has a slow bat, but is swing his much smoother. Phegley probably has a better arm. I don't think much of either player, but I'd put my money on Flowers having a better career. You have to look at the entire picture - and with Phegley, that means digging a lot deeper than those numbers. Josh didn't get a full season of baseball in until 2012. He was assigned aggresively out of the draft, but still held his own. Then the health issues came up. Those issues, from ITP, by the way, are about a serious (sometimes deadly) chemical imbalance in his blood (which, to me, makes it highly unlikely he'd go injecting a bunch of stuff). Suddenly in 2012 he was at AAA after having very little development time - and he still, again, held his own, though not spectacularly. His spike in 2013 was not as out of the blue as people think it was. He was drafted as bat-heavy, supplemental 1st rounder.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Sep 6, 2013 -> 10:43 AM) A hurt Flowers is still better than Phegley at every part of the game, including pitch calling. They both suck, but Flowers still has more potential IMO. He's also already been caught while Phegley hasn't. *wink wink* Is any part of this post based on some fact? The hint about Phegley being enhanced for example - any reason to believe that, at all? As for how they perform, I think it is still way too early to make that sort of judgment on Phegley, and maybe even on Flowers too.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 6, 2013 -> 09:21 AM) Do you have a code reader SS? I just got to googling the issue with my Escape and people claim that unplugging the battery does not fully erase the error code (the car has to go completely dead without electricity, and i've always had my radio stations saved so I know that hasn't happened). I'm not sure it works that way. Modern audio equipment in cars likely has stateful memory and doesn't require power to maintain that.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Sep 6, 2013 -> 09:47 AM) Did he blow you or something? Why come to the defense of such a s***ty player? I never said he's faking an injury right now. He's just using it as an excuse for his past s***tiness. I said he hasn't been very good. Who's defending him? And your second line is hilarious. Using it as an excuse, faking it, whatever... your obsession with the guy is just weird.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Sep 5, 2013 -> 05:23 PM) There's been just 30 worse players than him among players with as many plate appearances. Only one catcher has had a worse OPS (I'm shocked there is one). Sure, he's no Jeff Keppinger, but I'm shocked someone is trying to rationalize his performance. If he was hurting as bad as he says he was, he would and should have said something to Herm. Either way he's at fault. This new excuse certainly sounds like a last grasp to stay in the major leagues. "Great backup"? Do you even remember last year? Dude was f***ing awful for a good chunk of the season and was very lucky to have a roster spot coming back after the all-star break. He somehow had a nice second half and conned the front office in thinking he could become a starter, a decision that would prove to be disastrous if we weren't so awful elsewhere. His prospect rankings are meaningless, but you know that. He is not deserving of a second shot, and certainly not from the Sox where if we are gonna take a chance on someone, it's Phegley. And maybe you should stop coming blindly to the defense of a horrible MLBer. He's had his chances. More than enough of one. It's time to move on. This seems clear to just about everybody else. Did Flowers sleep with your girlfriend or something? I've never seen a poster so determined to eviscerate a player as you with Tyler. It's downright bizarre. I mean, he hasn't been very good. No one is arguing otherwise. But now you think he's faking an injury? Bizarro.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Sep 5, 2013 -> 07:41 PM) Why isn't Jacobs playing? That's a good question, with Michael Earley and Cody Puckett being run out there. Both of whom can hit, but neither of whom is a prospect at the level of Jacobs. QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Sep 5, 2013 -> 09:48 PM) He will be 25 already next year. Since he has dominated AA, start him off in Charlotte ? I'd say so, probably.

Bassitt was pretty fantastic, against a vaunted Tennessee Smokies lineup. Great Falls scored 9 runs in 1 inning. Their lineup is pretty prolific.