NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Aug 6, 2013 -> 08:32 PM) Any chance the infield is Semien Alexei and Bacon next year? Bacon back to third? Semien at third? Seems far-fetched and also powerless. Powerless? Semien is on track for over 20 HR. He isn't going to be a 30 HR guy, but 20 HR is not "powerless".

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 01:18 AM) Why? I'd rather move Beckham, let one of the many prospects we have fill his role and find a real SS. I want a real glove at SS. It's beyond important for a team that's going to be driven by pitching. Semien and Sanchez have both played all three skill infield positions in the last year or two, probably by design for exactly this potential scenario. Better to have Semien play 3rd (if Alexei and Beckham are still on the team), then to move one of those guys, IMO.

I don't see how there can be any doubt that, all other things equal, a taller (and longer reach) 1B is better than shorter with less reach. More lateral space to get throws while still on the bag. But all else is never equal. And if you are talking about someone whose reach might be a few inches different, I think the overall impact of that is very small. Probably within measurement error type small. So I woudn't be concerned about, unless you are talking about a midget versus a giant.

Recchia promoted to the Dash. Sierra to the DL. I'd guess a starter goes to Kanny from one of the rookie affiliates as well, but no word on that yet. Also possible a starter from AA goes to AAA. Either that or Arroyo is out for more than one start. Seems unlikely they'd have Beck do just one start at AA, but you never know.

Beck to AA, per a Sox source.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Aug 5, 2013 -> 09:59 AM) Are you even reading the article? He says that even if he can only hit .240 or .250 he will still be a valuable asset as a bench player. He doesn't state that it's his ceiling. In fact the article states if he keeps maxing out his tools, he's a major league regular.

Also, this has been bugging me... His name is SNODGRESS. With an E. Not an A.

Mike Recchia, discussed earlier, is indeed 24 in A-ball. Indy signing. But... he's got a low-mid 90's FB (touches 95), three other pitches for strikes consistently, slider with movement good enough to be remarked on by two different people I've seen. He's got more K's than innings, and his walk rate his very low, making his K:BB somewhere in the vicinity of 7:1. Holding batters under .200 AVG. This in his first year of affiliated ball. I wouldn't go saying he's a T25 guy or anything, but at the very least, he's a guy worth keeping an eye on. He's a prospect. Might be a serious steal from indy ball. And I'd guess he gets promoted soon.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Aug 4, 2013 -> 02:02 PM) Since I've been shooting my mouth off about Hawkins, I'll list my Top 15: 1. Garcia 2. Semien 3. E Johnson 4. M Johnson 5. Rienzo 6. Jacobs 7. Danish 8. C Sanchez 9. Wilkins 10. Snodgrass 11. Webb 12. McCray 13. Ravelo 14. Petricka 15. Beck 16. Anderson No Hawkins, no Trayce, no Barnum. I hope they all prove me wrong. That is an interesting list. McCray at 12? What makes you think McCray is that good? What do you know about his stuff that I don't? Without even touching on some of the others, I'd say you are at an extreme towards performance in raw numbers when evaluating prospects. This ignores what just about everyone else looks at, especially in the lower levels of the minors. You have to take those raw numbers, especially for the younger guys, with a HUGE grain of salt. Being in the minors is not an audition of finished products. It is a development process. QUOTE (Heads22 @ Aug 4, 2013 -> 10:37 PM) There is absolutely no way Garcia is not #1. There's at least one way he isn't - my way. He's 2nd for me.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 2, 2013 -> 04:18 PM) What?? Semien is a way better prospect than Sanchez. Even if he's a lesser defensive player, his offensive game is much more complete and his ceiling is much higher than Sanchez's because he actually has some power. I don't know how this is even debatable. Also, I'm a big fan of Sanchez, picked him as my sleeper prospect prior to last year, but his 2012 season was inflated by an unsustainable BABIP. Always feels odd to be on two sides of the same argument. I've ranked Semien higher than others the past few lists, but now, I have to defend that I think he's only just past Sanchez at this point. A year younger and a level higher is very significant. Defense is significant too. I don't think you can say - yet - that Semien is a "way better" prospect that Sanchez. Might be true a year from now (or heck, one of them may be MLB'ers by then, or even both), but right now, I think Semien's ascent in the past month or so has just put him over the top. Barely. Just my opinion of course.

QUOTE (flavum @ Aug 2, 2013 -> 02:31 PM) I noticed his home/road splits as well. The Charlotte schedule for his time there will be 13 home/19 road. It would be nice if he could develop into a 3B considering Beckham, Johnson, Sanchez, and Anderson are in the system. In our interview with Marcus, he talked about getting to like playing 3B, which is a recent thing. I'd guess they are adding that position to his repertoire intentionally, to see if he can play there. Gives them more flexibility this offseason.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Aug 2, 2013 -> 02:04 PM) He was 5th in OPS in the Carolina League last year while playing shortstop. Wrongly, all the attention was diverted to Carlos Sanchez,- a year younger, perhaps a slicker fielder- a singles hitter whose batting average was driven by an unsustainable BABIP. Sanchez' ceiling seems to me to be the 2012-2013 crappy version of Alexei Ramirez. Wrongly? Come on now, he gave all kinds of reasons to be optimistic, and he wasn't just "a year younger". He was a year younger, at a higher level, where he was THE youngest player in all of AAA going into this year. And yes, he is probably a better defender. At this point Semien is on par with Sanchez prospect-wise and maybe a little better, but your dismissive idea about Sanchez' "attention" last year is nonsense.

QUOTE (beautox @ Aug 2, 2013 -> 01:21 PM) I don't agree with that, a number of posters here we're following him closely in late May, myself included, I would say that is where his "buzz" began. He wasnt really sky-rocketing like he is now, until July. He's been on the radar for sure before then - I had him at #11 when we started compiling our mid-season lists in late June. So it depends on your definition of "buzz".

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 2, 2013 -> 11:51 AM) Sorry, I must have just skimmed it and missed the part where you mentioned 'upgrades' No biggie, just wanted people to understand. Lots of people are posting hypothetical rosters with additions, so I could see how it may be confusing that I went the other way, to show what the baseline looked like.

To clarify, as fathom said, I was NOT saying that lineup I posted was a contender. I said that lineup with 2 significant upgrades could be decent. And as Jake pointed out, returns on any trade in the offseason MIGHT have an effect too. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 2, 2013 -> 12:09 AM) Johnson 3rd in the rotation based on what? Santiago not even assured of a spot? Really? We all like Erik Johnson just fine, but it would be incredibly difficult to spin an argument he's as good a prospect as McCarthy/Hudson/Gio (or even Clayton Richard), and those guys all had their struggles in the beginning. Will just have to wait and see how patient they actually are if someone like Johnson just gets hammered around in early April...if they will be patient with him to let him develop or get back into "contending" mode based on their position in the standings. 1. I didn't put those starters in any particular order, should have clarified. 2. Santiago has a ton of talent and is just as likely to start as Johnson, in my view. But he's less consistent, and I am guessing (just my guess) that they may trade one of him or Quintana. And in that case, I'd prefer they trade Santiago. The whole purpose of showing that roster, if you had read my post, was what was there PRIOR to any acquisitions. it is a baseline, then you improve it from there, as noted.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Aug 1, 2013 -> 05:11 PM) Michael Earley back to AA from AAA. Hm. Makes sense, but... are they not going to put a new INF in Birmingham, with Semien promoted?

On the Barnum play... I don't think the glove to the face was the issue. He basically got clothes-lined, and his head hit the ground real hard. That's what the video looks like to me, the head to ground impact was the issue. And he didn't get up for a while after that.

If the Sox can dump Rios, either in August or in the offseason... maybe Lindstrom too, maybe Alexei, for argument's sake... your roster would look something like the below, if you look ONLY at players under contract or already in-house: C: Phegley 1B: Wilkins 2B: Beckham SS: Semien or Sanchez 3B: Gillaspie OF: Viciedo OF: Garcia OF: De Aza DH: Dunn Bench... C: Flowers INF: Sanchez or Semien, maybe, or someone else cheap OF: JorDanks or whomever ??: ? Rotation... Sale Quintana Johnson Danks Rienzo or Santiago Bullpen... Reed (CL) Jones Webb Castro Axelrod Veal Santiago or Rienzo Lots of big question marks there, but also a very young roster with some very nice talent, and... only about $45M plus arb salaries to deal with. That might make it $55M. The opening day payroll this season was something like $104M. The team gets an extra $25M in TV money. Even if they decide to cut payroll a bit, despite the new money, they've probably still got $30M-$40M to play with to add to the above roster. I absolutely would not write off contending next year. That is a pretty damn good rotation (though lefty-heavy), that is a bullpen with some untested but talented arms, and even the lineup has young talent. But if you use that $30-$40M to get above average hitters (hopefully with some power) for a couple positions (and you could do it at almost ALL those positions, though 1B and 3B stick out)... you can make a decent lineup there. Just saying, I don't consider 2014 a full-on write-off... yet. Have to see how the offseason goes.

I'd guess that Chris Curley will go to AA to take that roster spot. Outside chance they go with Micah, but I kinda doubt it.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Aug 1, 2013 -> 03:40 PM) So is Semien hurt or getting called up to Charlotte? See the various Semien threads - he was promoted.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 1, 2013 -> 02:21 PM) .297/.344/.501/.845 - Ross Gload at 25 years old at AAA. And he did have a major league career, even starting at a few stops along the way. Gload also spent a bunch of years blocked and didn't get fully out of the minors until he was 30. In Wilkins' case, in 2014, there will be no one (currently under contract) in the 1B slot (dunn at DH) ahead of him, and the league is starving for young 1B players (which was decidedly not the case in the mid 2000's. Just saying, not quite the same thing. Though there are some similarities there.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 1, 2013 -> 01:23 PM) This is NOT real. I edited the post to be more clear. Thank you. I saw it go out over Twitter and some responses I saw made me think at least some people thought it was real. And I figured there was a chance that Hawk was hamming it up for them. But still seemed unlikely. How sad is it that I thought there was a small chance he actually said those things? Not sure if that is bad for me, or bad for Hawk.

I know Hawk is old-timey and all, but... can that be for real? I mean, did he really, actually say those things, or is this some sort of comedy?

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Aug 1, 2013 -> 12:11 PM) It seems like you are making lists for what someone has done, instead of projecting what they are capable of doing David Cook Syndrome. Mind you, I liked David and did always wonder why he wasn't given a longer look... but evaluating prospects is, as Jake said, a balance between talent and performance. A raw guy like Hawkins, you have to know he's got a long way to go to translate his tools into skills. No one anticipated he'd have THIS much trouble, but, you can't just look at performance, especially at the lower levels, and even more so with raw talent out of high school.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 1, 2013 -> 10:42 AM) Where will he play? 3B over Morel? Or will he be at 2B? I am excited to see him play with Sanchez He and Carlos will be the middle infield I'm sure, but it is hard to say which plays where. They may switch back and forth some, at least at first, to see who seems more comfortable at each position.