NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 26, 2013 -> 09:57 AM) I do a lot for this site. Now I don't. Oh come on, don't pull the "I'm taking my ball and going home" thing. People are just giving you a hard time because your posts have been so dour, and a little over-reactionary.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 08:14 PM) Sacks Packed with Semien starting out well again tonight, 2/2. Anyone think Taylor Thompson has a little Keith Foulke "stealth closer" candidate in him? I realize Foulke was originally a starter with the Giants' organization, but they thought enough of TT to send him to the AFL and he's put up some pretty impressive numbers, although not possessing the gaudy radar gun readings. I've yet to see any radar gun readings on Thompson. Where have you seen any numbers on him? What were the numbers?

I don't know a ton about Gunter, other than he was an NDFA, and a side-armer. But man, his K numbers were huge at Bristol last year... made a brief appearance for B-Ham... and was racking up the K's this year too. All with decent control. I wonder what the story there is, seems like an odd release candidate.

QUOTE (MnSoxFan @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 04:36 PM) Kanny also release Michael Gunter, a RP That explains some odd tweets from him, wasn't sure what they meant, didn't want to ask. Thanks.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 03:49 PM) As if we didn't know this already, Hawk is clueless. This is absolutely ridiculous, he doesn't even make any sense. You need to hear it, but for those that want a short summary... Some notes: Hawk saw the movie Moneyball but didn't read the book. Baseball is all about defense. Sabermetrics isn't ready yet and won't be for 40-50 years. Sabermetrics doesn't address defense, bunting, speed. TWTW is the most important stat. The Will To Win. Leadership is the most important thing, aka Peavy throwing 120 pitches or Konerko's leadership, not stats. Again, he emphasizes THE WILL TO WIN. That trumps all. The only thing that counts is a W. Wins are the most important stat for a pitcher. Gotta have the W. Pitching and defense is how you win. In case this hasn't been mentioned, TWTW is how you win baseball games. ********** He never addressed any good counter argument made, just kept spewing nonsense. Ugh. These arguments about metric analysis vs skill scouting are great, except when the extremists who think one way or the other is the ONLY way jump in. Sounds like Hawk took one extreme. Did the other guy at least leave some doors open?

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 02:58 PM) I think it's: Snodgress, Beck, Riezno, Castro. I don't believe there is much room for debate either. I think Beck's early numbers and reports push him in front of Riezno. I think you could make an argument for putting them in almost any order, which makes a great debate. Beck has been doing great, especially going directly to High A. But, his peripherals aren't wowwing anyone, and I've now seen a couple scouting types say they didn't see overwhelming stuff. Rienzo has been real good when on and has a very live arm, but we'll see how he does starting this year, and if he can maintain control and get by on 2.5 pitches. Castro is the least flashy, but the closest to ready, has the best variety of pitches he can throw for strikes, and I think he's better than the core results indicate. I don't see any of those four being clearly in front or behind - right now. But they could move around and gap ahead or behind a lot depending on how the rest of this season goes.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 02:49 PM) Kanny says Ruben Sierra Jr and Storm Throne joining team. No word on anyone coming off W-S roster, they may not have been at full capacity anyway. OK, got the full picture now: --Bill Rice released --Adam Heisler to W-S --Storm Throne and Ruben Sierra Jr to Kanny Throne is an interesting guy, big power arm with little refinement. But if he's there and not in rookie ball, they likely think he fixed some things in Arizona. Heisler is a speedy leadoff type. OF in W-S is now Hawkins, Haddow and Heisler - 3H. Sierra looks like a backup OF who played last year in the Frontier League.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 02:43 PM) OF Adam Heisler to Winston-Salem, per his own Twitter feed. Could mean an OF coming down from W-S to Kanny... Hawkins? Trying to find out from the teams. Could also be Rice going down, or could be a non-OF, or some other set of moves. Kanny says Ruben Sierra Jr and Storm Throne joining team. No word on anyone coming off W-S roster, they may not have been at full capacity anyway.

OF Adam Heisler to Winston-Salem, per his own Twitter feed. Could mean an OF coming down from W-S to Kanny... Hawkins? Trying to find out from the teams. Could also be Rice going down, or could be a non-OF, or some other set of moves.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 02:11 PM) You'd put Castro ahead of Rienzo? Castro just seems like a flop right now. I don't agree. He's looking better each game, let's see how he does in the next few. I'd go Snodgress, Castro, Beck, Rienzo right now. But those guys are all pretty close right now in my view, the list could change a lot as the season goes on.

QUOTE (MnSoxFan @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 08:19 AM) Last I could find, Anderson was released by Dodgers in 2012 and signed by Rockies. Cannot find him on any of their active rosters from A ball on up. That is also where we traded one of our relievers from AAA, he was originally a NDFA, started with a K but I cannot think of his name. Good stats but probably not great stuff. Cannot find him either on any Rockie roster. If you mean Brandon Kloess, he's the guy we traded to get Tekotte from SD.

Chris Beck gave up his first runs of the season. QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 11:24 AM) Hawkins 0-2, 2 K's, error. How long? How long must we sing this song? Demoting him to Kanny isn't going to fix him. He needs to go back to Instructionals in AZ, or be taken aside and given some personal, mechanical attention. Daily. For a while.

I'll be there - first game of the year. Missed Opening Day for the first time in a decade. Making up for it. Go Sox?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 05:35 PM) Courtney Hawkins not in the starting line-up two consecutive days. Have they sent him to Kanny or extended spring? On a side note, kind of sad to see Freddy Garcia pitching in AAA...wonder why he's still hanging on. Guess an athlete at that age hasn't figured what else to do with his life and future, so you keep playing until you don't have that option anymore. Mental break for Courtney, per the Dash directly.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 11:44 AM) I don't care if Dunn plays to be honest but he needs to be moved to the 9th. Maybe that will take some pressure off. He can hit his solo shots and strike out from there. He has done absolutely diddly squat from the 4/5 hole. I think he hit like a 2-run against Seattle and a double for an RBI but he's been pretty useless. Still doesn't make sense to me, at this point. If we think Dunn is permanently this bad, then the season is lost anyway, so who cares where he hits? If on the other hand he can figure it out, being in a different slot won't likely matter, and you've then got a weaker middle of the order. And there is no point in abandoning ship this early. A month or two from now, if he's still scuffling, then all options are on the table - bench, lower in order, trade with money outbound, whatever. But doing it now buys you nothing, and potentially screws the team.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 11:15 AM) Ventura has to start yanking guys who play like crap. Starting with Dunn and Tekotte. I see this over and over again, and at this point (at least with Dunn) that makes no sense. Who replaces Dunn? Seth Loman? By the time Loman figures out major league pitching (if he ever does), you're in June at least. Replacing Dunn isn't a good idea, at this point. You work with him to find the 2012 Dunn if you can. If you get to Memorial Day or June and the team is obviously buried, then yeah, you can start doing stuff like that, maybe.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 10:55 AM) They got a year older. It happens all the time, when you think a team's core has another year left in them they fool you. I was talking fundamentals. Fielding errors, bad fielding judgement, mental mistakes, poor situational decisions, that sort of thing. That does not fall off a cliff in a year across a team. The age thing might be in play for things like Dunn or Keppinger not hitting, particularly Dunn. It is unlikely it is what is causing the fundamental mistakes. These guys didn't all become senile going from 30 to 31 or the like.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 10:42 AM) The hitting almost has to get better. The fundamentals though, they've been so incredibly bad that I wonder if that's just who this team is this year; a team that forgot to practice anything in the spring and will miss the cutoff man 9 times out of 10 the whole year. The defense, and some fundamental hitting/baserunning stuff, does conern me too. And getting that fixed falls on the coaching staff. It seems very hard for me to believe that this is "who this team is this year", considering most of the team is the same as last year. The mistakes in the field have been heavily made by the same cast of characters from 2012. What changed?

-7 run differential. Starting pitching doing very well, bullpen is mostly fine, though the lefty specialist crowd scares me, particularly Thornton. Only a few games back, and it is late April. Detroit isn't looking that great. The Royals are an artifact of offense, their pitching is going to suck. Let's all calm the hell down. There are a few specific problems to focus on here - and it isn't Flowers (who is doing OK), Ventura (who we don't see enough decisions from yet to form any useful opinion this year), the Front Office (who did quite well with the constraints they were working within this offseason), or a lack of Santiago starting (since Axelrod has done damn well so far). 1. Lineup is well below .200 w/ RISP - and worst in baseball. 2. Dunn and Keppinger are, so far, terrible at the plate 3. Team is playing bad defense, which is surprising given they were among the best last year Those are the three reasons that are responsible for like 80-90% of the suckage. Blame? #1 and #2 might fall on Manto et al, #3 maybe on RV... but really, 1 and 3 are probably a bad luck factor as much as anything else. There is a good chance these things reverse themselves, even if nothing is changed. Also, Beckham (who was hitting!) comes back, and Danks comes back. Basically, let's see what happens in May. See where we stand on Memorial Day. If the team is still seriously bad like this, then it is time to trade off parts for prospects. And by the way, yes, I know it is frustrating as hell. We all feel it.

I think Sanchez has a shot to be a starter, but I'd call it 50/50. And I'll be surprised if at least one of the Hawkins/Thompson/Walker/Mitchell doesn't turn into a starter, maybe even two of them. It is also way, way early on Hawkins at this point - nothing to panic about yet. I'll also continue to plug Semien, who I think could be something. QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 07:58 PM) Someone mentioned sending him to instructional ball, and I think that's a great idea. Maybe it's a situation where they wanted to try and see if his way would work, and now that it's not, they'll start the teaching process? That was me. I would rather do that than demote him to Kanny, which I don't think will accomplish much in his case.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 04:13 PM) I assume once Barnum and Grabe are in Kanny, Ravelo will be pushed back to third and maybe have Grabe at second, his natural position, if Johnson gets a promotion. Maybe... but the thing is, there is no actual prospect at 3B that is blocking Ravelo. He was playing a lot of 1B in Arizona, and is now full time there... I am starting to doubt he's moving back. I hope he can/does.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Apr 18, 2013 -> 06:12 PM) Never stated whether I was for it or against it. In any case, you exposed your obvious lefist allegiance by calling all who voted against it idiots or whatever word you used. Not only do I think this type of discourse hinders your argument, but it is the exact reason this country can never get anything done. Hahah, "leftist allegiance", that's a good one. Ask some of the regulars here who are actual liberals what they think of that. Anyway, let me give you a list here: --Restrictions on certain types of guns and/or ammunition --Connecting federal or state databases for gun purchase to mental health information --Placing armed guards or the like at schools and other locations --Federal or state registries of gun owners, weapons owned --Mandatory firearms training --Changes to waiting periods --Changes to criminal backgrounds and who can buy guns That is a list of some of the other popular areas of discussion as to where changes might be made, more or less restrictive, in terms of gun control. In each and all of those, there are reasons for going one way or the other. Some people may not like the reasons, but, each of those has good and bad points. As for background checks, we already require that - at standard gun shops and businesses that sell guns. Now, one might argue I suppose that no background checks should be done at all - I don't agree, but that is one argument that can be made. Here is where there simply is no argument to be made: if we are already doing background checks at brick and mortar stores, why is closing the loopholes for gun shows and internet sales a problem? Not even the NRA can come up with a reason they are against the closing of the loophole. Literally, they have not given a reason. They just don't want it. Won't say why. I understand your point, that compromise is important - that goes without saying. But there are some issues where there isn't even an argument being made on one side, it is simply a political lobby trying to show what it can do to look tough. Without a reason. That, just as much as a lack of ability to compromise, is what causes problems in our government.

This is a fun topic, so, here are my positional prospect charts for the org as of today. Kind of off the top of my head... CATCHER 1. Phegley 2. K Smith 3. Ayala 4. Barraza 5. Blanke 6. Marjama FIRST BASE 1. Barnum 2. Wilkins 3. Loman 4. Ravelo 5. Black SECOND BASE / SHORTSTOP (hard to segregate them the way the org is using some of them right now) 1. Sanchez (2B, SS) 2. Semien (SS) 3. DeMichele (2B) 4. Saladino (2B, SS) 5. Micah Johnson (2B) THIRD BASE 1. Morel* (Not really a prospect anymore, but he's in the system) 2. Grabe ...and a whole lot of filler - yikes OUTFIELD 1. Hawkins 2. Thompson 3. Walker 4. Mitchell 5. Coats 6t. Haddow 6t. Short 7. Shoemaker 8. Earley STARTING PITCHERS 1. E Johnson 2. Beck 3. Castro 4. Snodgress 5. Rienzo 6. Jaye 7. Leyer 8. Brennan 9. Molina 10. Hansen 12. Olacio 12. Bassitt 13. Marin 14. McCully RELIEVERS 1. Omogrosso 2. Heath 3. Marinez 4. Webb 5. Petricka 6. Vance 7. Taylor Thompson 8. Remenowsky 9. Hardin 10. Gunter 11. Buch 12. Winiarski 13. Kibby 14. Kussmaul 15. Salvador Sanchez 16. Dvorsky 17. Isler 18. Ortiz So, looking at those lists, a few things stick out. The system is super-thin at 3B, and almost as bad at 1B. Outfield is a strong suit. I think the middle infield group is better than often given credit for, I think that is a decent group, though it drops off a cliff after those first 5. As far as pitching goes, the think that sticks out to me is... I'm a lot more interested in the guys at A and A+, overall (with a couple exceptions), then the ones at AA and AAA. I like the lower level arms. Also, I am not yet including the handful of expensive Int'l signings from last year, until we get some reports out of the DSL.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 10:40 AM) Grabe seemed to have an injury setback towards the end of spring training, he is almost fully healthy and is likely to be sent to Kanny or even WS in early to mid May. Apparently, he was having a great spring and even played a few games in the AAA group during camp. I was wondering if it was that, or that they planned to move Ravelo back to 3B. Apparently it is the former. Looking forward to seeing him in Kanny.

Here's a question to consider... with Mitchell in AA... the starting OF was Thompson, Walker and Short. Will it become a 4 OF rotation? Or will maybe Short head for Charlotte? Or start using the DH, and sit either Dan Black or Andy Wilkins?