NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 08:23 PM) I hope he's promoted to Great Falls by the time I get to see them next month. Very rarely do they move a player from Bristol to GF in-season. That's a long trip to put someone on, for essentially no change in level of competition. The Sox use the two rookie teams for different purposes, but the leagues themselves aren't vastly different, so it doesn't buy you anything. QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 09:13 PM) I stand by my prediction that Michael Earley will make it to the majors before the trio of Thompson, Walker and Mitchell, although Thompson's stock is trending up in past weeks. Really? I mean, I do think Earley is a guy worth keeping an eye on. Probably in the 30-40 range on a top prospect list. But you think he's in the majors before Thompson? I'd say Earley's chances of seeing the majors at all are pretty slim.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 06:31 PM) Ryan Sweeney was in Winston-Salem to start his first full season out of high school and he's from f***ing Iowa. The tiny stint for the playoffs last year is irrelevant so Sweeney fills your requirements. Heads will now hate you forever.

Sox do have a couple guys in the minors who look like real possibilities for future closing, Webb most prominently. I like Vance a lot too. And I agree that with the team doing as it is, having a proven closer like Reed (still can't figure why someone said UNproven earlier) isn't overly valuable FOR NOW. But I do believe that 2014 is still in play - this is not a club that is going to, or needs to, do a complete teardown and 4 year plan. So, if you are trading 2-3 bullpen guys already, you'd better get a really good value in return for Reed. Webb and Jones, plus some one remaining vet (Lindstrom maybe), plus flotsam... doesn't make for a spectacular bullpen, probably.

Here is the interview. Discuss.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Jun 19, 2013 -> 08:58 AM) Please elaborate, sounds interesting. Can't elaborate too far, but enough people witnessed it that I can give you a really basic overview. Long story short, someone inside the Sox organization was posting here... posted some interesting things about various people involved in this whole scouting/recruiting scandal... s*** hit the fan... made the local papers and stuff... we removed the posts and all trace of the poster, who is now disappeared.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 18, 2013 -> 04:31 PM) Tim Anderson confirmed to FutureSox on twitter that he is indeed starting in Kannapolis. Yes I know. I'm the one that asked him.

According to Tim Hayes, a sports reporter in the Bristol area, Tim Anderson is indeed playing at Bristol, but not for long. Apparently a planned, short time there. Barnum I didn't know about, that's interesting.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 18, 2013 -> 10:33 AM) I was referring to Erik Johnson with the second part. Someone earlier in the thread questioning his velocity and putting him exclusively in the high 80's. Ah, thanks.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 18, 2013 -> 10:17 AM) I can't remember who said Webb was throwing nearly 100.... It was someone who watched a game and was told the Birmingham readings were 3-4 MPH too low on the radar gun. From everything we read, he's consistently 91-92-93. Touching mid 90's. I simply refuse to believe at that size he's in Dylan Axelrod territory in terms of velocity. I've seen reliable reports putting him upper 90's pretty consistently. Not sure where you've read low 90's consistently.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 18, 2013 -> 09:04 AM) He's got one great tool when looking at his numbers. His errors scare me. Well hold on now, he's also hitting and getting on base at very good clips. Even shows a little power. He's not a one-tool guy. We'll see how the hit and power tools develop, but I wouldn't dismiss them yet either.

QUOTE (jthunder93 @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 11:50 PM) I think so. Is the best way to follow them the Gametracker/Audio? I'm a bit annoyed that I miss the opener. I work from 8-5:30ish PST (11-8:30ish EST) that day. Might catch the tail end. Also, is there a season preview yet? FS will post season previews for both rookie affiliates sometime before first games. GF just posted their roster announcement yesterday, haven't seen Bristol announce yet.

I think people are a little over-excited about Micah Johnson. He's definitely going to jump up the rankings, maybe even the back end of the Top 10. But Top 5? Not yet, anyway. On the Johnson debate, if the games were played at Tennesee (who the Barons play regularly), make sure to add 3-4 ticks to the gun. That's just one example I know of, but some of the guns at these parks are off. EJ is low 90's typically, can run to mid-90's.

The shorter swing and turning on inside pitches must be a recent adjustment, based on videos I saw from earlier this season. If he is indeed shortening up, that is a good step for him. Just need to really focus on pitch recognition now.

Shryock signed. And then there were 7.

Add OF Jacob Morris to Great Falls.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 01:18 PM) I'm still quite bullish on Trayce. He has to be the system's number 2 prospect behind Johnson. And an Iso OBP of .122, which is quite nice. K/PA rate for the year at 23.2%, which is an improvement for him too.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 02:55 PM) are they big on mid-season promotions though? I don't really remember that. Playoffs, yes. Start of season, yes. Midseason? In the minors? They do it some, at their all star breaks. Also tends to coincide with draft picks coming into the system, which sometimes pushes some guys around.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 01:12 PM) What makes you so optimistic about Engel? QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 01:29 PM) He won't be a tougher sign than Rodriguez, but Engel is a toolsy outfielder, ranked pretty high on the BA draft board(~150). He was perceived as a 4 or 5th round talent. So it depends if he fell due to signability issue or his draft stock just fell. He's not as easy a sign as others around him of course, but... he had a weak showing in the Cape Code League, and followed that with a weak spring, which resulted in his draft stock falling. Toolsy yes, but still had enough struggles that no one wanted to use a Top 10 pick on him. This isn't a high school kid either, he's got one year of eligibility left. I don't have any specific knowledge, just a general impression (a guess really) that slightly over slot would get it done. I could of course be wrong.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 01:03 PM) There might be other signings from rounds 11-40 that signed for over slot, we just don't know yet. But the signing of Matt Ball probably took away the $100K we have left after the Michalczewski signing. Which makes the signing of Rodriguez impossible. We can still sign Engel if we want to go up to 5% over pool limit, and pay the 75% tax (assuming the rest of the round 11-40 signings only signed for $100K or less). I get the impression Engel won't be a super-tough sign, slot or slightly over might do it. But I agree that Rodriguez is probably off the board, now that I have a better understanding of the math.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 12:54 PM) Yes OK, based on your post above this... if we have 100k of overage available, that means they most they could offer any pick without penalty is 200k... right? If that is the case, probably right that it isn't enough for Rodriguez, but I am sure they will try. If Freudenberg signed below slot, maybe they can add some money to the pool. I wonder if this Wolfie Tash guy is someone they have as a backup plan for throwing extra money at, if they can't get Octavio.

Bristol and Great Falls rosters not fully posted yet, but starting to get some assignment information trickling in (draft picks and returnees). So far looks like: BRISTOL LHP Jordan Guerrero RHP Matt Ball LHP Andre Wheeler INF Tim Anderson INF Audry Santana RHP Charlie Sharrer INF Toby Thomas OF Nolan Earley GREAT FALLS RHP Brad Goldberg LHP Jeff McKenzie C Dillon Haupt C Trey Wimmer --Tyler Danish is talking going east, but not sure if he means Bristol or Kanny. --Sammy Ayala likely back to Bristol, given that the two drafted catchers are going to GF. --Barnum will go wherever Hayes doesn't, I'd assume, but we don't know either yet... but given Barnum's youth, he's likely ticketed for Bristol, with Hayes to GF, if I had to guess. That's all I got right now.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 9, 2013 -> 11:50 AM) How did the scheme unravel again? Was it silveiro that started the questions? Part of it unraveled right here on SoxTalk, for those who remember.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 11:52 AM) But they can't help it get any better, only worse. Why? Are you saying the amount of overhead you noted is the remaining pool (assuming Freudenberg is slot) TOTAL underneath the pool limit?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 10:39 AM) Chris Freudenberg is the only top 10 guy left with his number not known, and his slot value is $154k. There isn't much more to be saved. At this point it is all about building a relationship with Rodriguez and hoping it pays off in three years. And the other picks, 11-40, need to be paid too. There is variance as to how much they are paid, which impacts the pool amount. So I wouldn't say that is known yet.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 09:57 AM) We are now only just under $100k to the good after getting the Trey Michalczewski number. That is going to make Rodriguez about impossible unless we save a ton of money with Chris Freudenberg and the team is willing to go over its number a bit. We don't yet know the other signing numbers yet though, they could save bits and pieces along the way still to add to that flexibility.