MnSoxFan

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ May 16, 2005 -> 10:04 PM) Not to poo-poo on it but he's 23 and in low A ball. But with that said, its hard to complain when one of our draftees puts up very good numbers. Will be interesting to see if he moves up anytime soon. Also his first full season in the minors, and his first in full season league. So I would not pooh pooh this guy yet.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ May 16, 2005 -> 02:37 AM) Gio's back. Hopefully we'll see him with the Warthogs very soon. Gio walked 3 or so batters in relief of Liotta. It was not a good outing.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Apr 24, 2005 -> 01:27 PM) Hey, I've got you by several years, my friend. Heh, that you do, that you do.

QUOTE(bulokis @ Apr 24, 2005 -> 01:33 AM) http://minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/st...biraax_monaax_1 Honel getting rocked big time 9 ER. Hope he can turn it around, still rooting for him dont know why. Gio with another good start, 10 Ks, 3 BBs in 6 IP, 1 ER, they won in extra innings 3-1 on Hansen 2 run homer. Collaro with 3 run homer, and Valido with another nice game to spark Haeger and W-S to win.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Apr 23, 2005 -> 10:30 PM) Thanks for the mention danman...... But I am just an old codger in this thread. Tom is doing a great job keeping everyone up on the day to day. I'll continue to contribute, but perhaps in a mostly editorial sense, rather than the daily game updates. There's plenty of room on the bus. Glad you hopped on, Tom. Old does not even describe your age Rex!!!

QUOTE(hogsmom @ Apr 18, 2005 -> 10:59 AM) Wyatt pitching for Lynchburg now. He won the game in Sunday against the Hogs. He pitched, but he did not get the win.

Liotta has a 1-0 lead for Kanny in 7th, he has pitched a full 7 innings, allowed 4 hits, 2 walks and Struck out 9. Josh Hanson has his 3rd homer for only run. Flores throwing a shutout, 0-0 after 5 I think for Win-Sal. Adkins getting hit hard, 4 runs in 4 innings with 9 hits allowed. The 'bust' Joe Borchard under .200 now. Charlotte down 4-0 after 4. Barons 0-0 after 1. Tracey on the mound. Not sure what is up, been top of 2nd for a while, yet it says 70 degrees and clear. Who is running that ballpark??? Sounds like there have been some problems there.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Apr 16, 2005 -> 12:16 AM) Just guessing but Allen was having back problems last year and he may not have gotten fully healthy. I don't think the Sox would have given up on him this soon otherwise. I don't have anything to back this up, strictly a hunch. Signed RHP Robert Person. Released RHPs Wyatt Allen, Brian Bowles, Mike Crudale, Jose Espinal, Ken Ray and Mitch Wylie, 3Bs Andrew Davie and Kevin Moore, OFs J.D. Foust, Michael Moore, Jake Whitesides and Scott Martin, LHPs Sean Kramer, Justin Roelle, Dustin Matthews and Teuris Olivares, Cs Santiago Narciandi, Chad Oxendine and Kenny Riley and 2B Tom Nicholson. Placed C Matt Deuchler on voluntarily retired list.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Apr 13, 2005 -> 10:26 PM) Gio's got 9 K's and only given up one hit after 5 IP... http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/mil...gboafx_kanafx_1 W-S Wins their afternoon game today 6-2 http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/mil...myrafx_wswafx_1 Nice, a 6 inning 1 hitter with 0 walks and 10 Ks. Real nice.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Apr 12, 2005 -> 08:04 PM) Oh good lord. Guy is just unreasonable. I'm not a pollyanna, but sheeesh, guy must live a depressing existence to always have that attitude. I'm sure the other guy will also tell me that Austin Jackson is a sure-in at Ga Tech and that he is going to play both Hoops(colleg) and baseball(pro) despite being a 1st rounder this June... You got that right, been waiting for the guy to scream at me for posting that about Austin Jackson. Ya know, at times Ryan is a great poster, but he loves to be right. Not as bad as Hoopsguru was, but dang, all I ask is to be a bit more positive. I just try to get along with him. But sometimes I want to just choke him. Hah

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Apr 12, 2005 -> 12:09 AM) I think it was the booze........ I went back and looked and the innings pitched I reported was actually the number of hits each one allowed. So either the boxscores were initially messed up or I was. So rehab did not help much eh Rex

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Apr 11, 2005 -> 06:12 PM) Hansen is a veteran at that level. Didn't beat Lucy out. They spread out the catchers and mix the prospects with the veterans. Reports I got on Lucy is that he was good defensively, but yeah, he struggled behind the plate. If Lucy isn't with a full-season league, it's because he was beaten out by Francisco Hernandez, not Josh Hansen. BTW, early-round position-player college picks skipping Kanny after a starting out at Great Falls seems to be a common path the Sox have taken with prospects lately (regardless of success or playing no more than a few games due to injury), so I tend to believe the BA roster that has Lucy listed at Winston-Salem(although it's on the DL, and I hadn't seen anything about that previously)... Well, maybe 'beat out' was not the correct phrase, but Hansen is far from a veteran of that level. One year in Rookie ball does not make one a veteran of Low A ball. But I get your jist. Now go argue with Ryan Christie

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Apr 8, 2005 -> 10:58 PM) Looks like Rookie ball or extended ST... He wasn't on any of the rosters. Looks like Josh Hanson beat him out for Kanny

QUOTE(SouthSide2004 @ Apr 8, 2005 -> 07:41 AM) Pretty good read. Looks like Brice is having trouble cracking the Warthogs outfield. If returning to Class A is salt in the wounds of veterans Normand Martel and Leo Daigle, Manager Chris Cron of the Winston-Salem Warthogs is hoping to use that salt as seasoning for his otherwise young ballclub. Martel, 26, and Daigle, 25, will be in the middle of the order when the Warthogs open their 2005 Carolina League season tonight at Kinston. Martel will most likely start his fifth professional season playing left field and batting third. Daigle is expected to begin his eighth professional season at first base or designated hitter and batting fourth. Both spent most of spring training with Class AA Birmingham before they were assigned to Winston-Salem only days before the club broke camp. "Martel and Daigle kind of got shortchanged out of spring training," Cron said. "They were at a different level with two or three days left with spring training, but that's the business, and that's the part of it they have no control over, and they're going to have to live with it. "When that time comes they need an outfielder or an infielder, and they're playing well, then they can move on. But if they're holding a grudge or saying 'Why me?' or 'Why this or that?' then they're only really hurting themselves. "They're not that type of players or individuals and they're going to come out here and do everything they can to do their job and be successful." The Warthogs will return home Monday to open their 50th season at Ernie Shore Field against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. How long the Warthogs will continue to play at Ernie Shore is an open question, given efforts by owner Bill Prim, and others, to have a new ballpark built downtown. President Guy Schuman of the Warthogs declined to say if the team is any closer to moving from Ernie Shore Field. "Get back to me in a few months," Schuman said. Being assigned to Winston-Salem for the third season was tough on Martel, who hit .301 last season in 282 at-bats for Birmingham. Daigle landed with the Chicago White Sox after being released by the Detroit Tigers and last season batted.292 with 18 homers and 90 RBIs for Kannapolis of the Class A South Atlantic League. "We need them to be the backbone of our team, with the young kids improving as the season progresses," Cron said. Wes Whisler, a left-hander who turned 22 yesterday, will start for the Warthogs, and will be followed in the rotation by left-hander Daniel Haigwood, right-hander Rafael Flores, left-hander Ryan Rodriguez and right-hander Gary Bakker. Whisler, a second-round draft pick last season, spent most of the season at Kannapolis but arrived in Winston-Salem in time to go 2-1 with a 3.38 earned-run average in 27 innings. Cron said he probably will bat center fielder Ricardo Nanita first, shortstop Robert Valido second, Martel third, Daigle fourth, first baseman/DH Travis Hinton fifth, third baseman Micah Schnurstein sixth, right fielder Thomas Collaro seventh, catcher Gustavo Molina eighth and second baseman Chris Amador ninth. Nanita, Martel, Molina and Amador spent at least part of last season with Winston-Salem. Valido is 19, Schnurstein, Flores and Rodriguez are 20, Amador and Haigwood are 21, Collaro and Bakker are 22, Molina and Nanita are 23, and Hinton is 24. "I'm fairly comfortable with the offensive and defensive side of things," Cron said. "The pitching staff is always a question mark. Every year you want that to be a big strong part of your team. It looks like it could be, there's no doubt. But with the age and the experience, you don't know. "You look at the fact that almost all these guys pitched at Kannapolis or lower at some point last year. Experience means a lot at any level, and they need to gain that as the season progresses." Cron said that the White Sox are becoming more and more excited about the play of Valido, a fourth-round draft pick in 2003 who hit .252 last season with 28 stolen bases for Kannapolis. "He's some kind of player," Cron said. "He's got all the intangibles that are just off the charts. "Yes he can play. He can run very well. He's very, very athletic. The things that are very, very difficult to teach, he already brings, like the instincts on always looking to take an extra base. "He does things that will make you go 'Wow.' He's got some kind of instincts." I guess Brian Miller is not going to be a starter anymore???

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 5, 2005 -> 01:43 PM) Will the Sox still hold onto the kid? Any chance he could be released to send a message? Wonder if Morse or Ulacia will show up on roids again this year. I would not doubt that is why Ulacia is out to start the season.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Apr 6, 2005 -> 01:06 AM) No love for Brice, Andy Gonzalez, or Adam Ricks. I'm not a big fan of A Gon myself, but Tom Collaro? Ricks I guess gets a rough beat being a rookie last season, but Tom Collaro was a rookie too. Brice has the age knock, we'll see. Collaro was not a rookie, was his 3rd or 4th year in our system, but he was in rookie league.

QUOTE(BHAMBARONS @ Feb 26, 2005 -> 05:35 AM) Just looking for a little info on the free agents on this list. Have we resigned any of these guys. Thanks Tom Bell, Maldonado, Smith and Torres are all in other orgs. I believe Ray resigned with us.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Jan 23, 2005 -> 06:58 AM) Why? Why would he want to re-sign when he has spent the past two years at Class A after having reached AA in another organization. Does someone have to smack him in the face to make him realize there is no plan for him? Is he going to be an org player, and eventually be coach, who knows?

Becker resigned with org.

Signed 1Bs Brian Becker and Leo Daigle and RHP Ken Ray. Reinstated RHP Joe Winkelsas from inactive list.

Jim, that should catch you up.

Nov 4th Sox Tap Dominican Pipeline CHICAGO—At this time a year ago, not even the White Sox knew what they had with Francisco Hernandez. But the switch-hitting catcher emerged as one of the organization's top prospects, and there is another promising player following him from the Dominican Republic. Salvador Sanchez, a 6-foot-4 outfielder, hit .326-4-37 in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League. He will be in Arizona with the Sox for minor league spring training, though it's not clear if he'll open with a full-season club or stay in extended spring. "He's got a chance to be a special guy," farm director David Wilder said. "He's a righthanded hitter who is going to grow. He's got a chance to hit with some power." The Sox have not traditionally found much talent coming out of the Dominican pipeline. But with shortstop Pedro Lopez, lefthanders Arnie Munoz and Fabio Castro and the 18-year-old Hernandez, it appears they have a wave of talent on the way. Hernandez won't be in the big leagues any time soon, but those who saw him play at Rookie-level Bristol say he could be an intriguing player when he gets there. The White Sox knew Hernandez was strong defensively, in part because of his plus arm and soft hands, but he proved to be a difficult out. He started the season hitting eighth and finished it in the No. 3 hole, and he hit well from both sides of the plate. Hernandez is not big (5-foot-9, 160 pounds) but should fill out and gain strength. He batted .326, second-best in the Appalachian League, hit five homers and drove in 30 runs in 181 at-bats this season. "You're talking about a guy at a position where there are not many guys with this type of talent," Wilder said. "He has a lot going for him. He's got a chance to hit and a plus-plus arm. He's got the ability to be a guy who can shut down the running game." CHI-LITES • Because he threw 172 innings between three levels this season, the Sox changed their minds about sending righthander Brandon McCarthy to the Arizona Fall League. They want him to rest instead and be as strong as possible entering spring training. • Lefthander Corwin Malone, once rated as the organization's top pitching prospect, continues to rehabilitate from Tommy John surgery. He was able to do bullpen work in instructional league and should be healthy for spring training. The 24-year-old has lost most of the last two seasons.

Here is Nov 18th article Another Step Back For Borchard CHICAGO—Joe Borchard was compared to Mark McGwire when the White Sox drafted him. It now appears he may not even be the second coming of Julio Zuleta. Borchard, 26, suffered an embarrassing setback in his bid to earn a regular spot with the Sox. After hitting .174 over 201 at-bats as a replacement for Magglio Ordonez this season, he was released by Mazatlan of the Mexican Pacific League. The Sox were excited about his winter assignment because Mexico is dominated by breaking ball pitchers. But Borchard struggled where journeymen like Zuleta and Jayson Bass often dominate. Borchard is known for his power potential. He hit nine homers for the White Sox this year, including a 504-foot bomb onto the right-field concourse at U.S. Cellular Field off Phillies righthander Brett Myers. But an inability to make consistent contact has caused him to spend parts of the last three seasons at Triple-A Charlotte. Borchard struck out 57 times in 201 at-bats with the White Sox this summer. His numbers were even worse in Mexico. He batted .140 with Mazatlan, with 21 strikeouts and two walks in 50 at-bats. It's unclear what the next move is with Borchard. The White Sox have taken many different approaches since giving him a $5.3 million bonus after picking the former Stanford quarterback 12th overall in the 2000 draft. Because he had shuttled between the football and baseball fields at Stanford, the White Sox initially gave Borchard a year-round dose of baseball. The early returns were promising, but the team backed off after he stalled at Charlotte. He took last winter off to get married, rest and clear his head. Borchard was hitting .266 with 16 homers in 82 games at Charlotte when the Sox called him up on July 10. He got his longest look ever and the results weren't encouraging. Borchard appears headed for a fourth season with Charlotte. He's positioned behind another switch-hitting outfielder, Carl Everett, who is guaranteed $4 million even though he does not have a clear role for 2005. CHI-LITES • Lefthanded-hitting first baseman/outfielder Casey Rogowski, who is coming off a strong season at high Class A Winston-Salem, was making a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League. He was hitting .327-1-6 through 55 at-bats. • Righthander Enemencio Pacheco, who was bothered by injuries this season after a big 2003 at Double-A Birmingham, was re-signed.

Getting Closers CHICAGO—Three seasons have passed since the White Sox had a closer who saved 20 games. They had three minor leaguers go beyond that level last season, including righthander Dwayne Pollok, who tied for the minor league lead with 38. This could be a good sign for the future of the Sox bullpen. Neither Pollok, nor fellow righties Jeff Bajenaru and Ehren Wasserman were highly regarded coming into professional baseball. But they have put themselves on the radar screen. "We're just going to keep pushing them and pushing them," farm director Dave Wilder said. "They'll show you how far they can go." Bajenaru, who was an All-America closer at Oklahoma, earned a promotion to Chicago after combining for 22 saves and holding hitters to a .161 average at Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. The 26-year-old is expected to compete for a spot in the 2005 bullpen. Pollok and Wasserman, both 24, had even less fanfare than Bajenaru. Pollok pitched four seasons for Texas A&M without having an impact. Area scout Keith Staab convinced then-scouting director Doug Laumann to take Pollok in the 27th round of the 2003 draft. He's improved his above-average command while gaining velocity in his two pro seasons. Wilder describes him as "a sinkerballer who's fearless." Pollok spent all of 2004 at high Class A Winston-Salem. His fastball was occasionally clocked at 90 mph, but the key to his success was pounding the strike zone with his sinker. He's walked only 1.4 per nine innings as a pro. His slider is a developing pitch that could round out his arsenal. Wasserman wasn't drafted after finishing his senior season at Samford in 2003, but stood out at a White Sox tryout camp in Birmingham and signed in time to impress with Rookie-level Bristol. He was given a chance to close for low Class A Kannapolis in 2004 and nailed down 31 saves overall, including one with Winston-Salem. CHI-LITES • The White Sox' failed attempt to sign Omar Vizquel could be good for the farm system. They would have lost a second-round draft pick as compensation, and shortstop prospect Wilson Valdez has a better chance to make the 2005 team without Vizquel on the roster. • The Sox set their 40-man roster by adding righthanders Kris Honel, Matt Smith and Sean Tracey; lefthander Paulino Reynoso; shortstop Pedro Lopez; and first baseman/outfielder Casey Rogowski. They lost second baseman Ruddy Yan on waivers to the Rangers

Broken ankle or broken leg if I remember correctly. He was starting to come around too. Tough season for him.