beautox

Micah Johnson 2/3 with a BB, 2 SB (second and third) and 2 CS

Late to the party but I really like the direction the sox went with this draft. The sox have some interesting prospects up the middle right now but anderson tops them all and Danish excites me a lot, quirky delivery but the sox seem to let them roll with their mechanics until it becomes an issue, developing a change will be huge for this kid, that and maybe a cut fast ball.

Do I personally think that Gillaspie is a core building block? no. Do I see the potential in him to be a 2-2.5WAR player? yes. Is that something to get excited about? IMHO yes the sox haven't had a lot of recent success in developing bats in the minors recently and the fact that they got him for a song is huge. As for the comment about other organizations not discarding talent thats laughable i'll give you three examples ranging from good to amazing, 1.) Matt Thornton 2.) Joakim Soria 3.) Josh Hamilton. Guys getting released or picked up off the rule 5 draft and having an impact all of a sudden happen all the time, Jack Cust comes to mind as well.

Love that Gillaspie and Rios seem like the only ones that have a f***ing clue at the plate lately.

lol @ De Aza

what a s*** show...

Scott Barry has a bit of an interesting plate tonight. So far he isn't calling the high or low strike.

that should've been a 2B by Soriano but luckily because hes Soriano its simply a single

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 26, 2013 -> 12:50 AM) It's like the Royals. The only position player they've produced in the last 20+ years was Bo Jackson, and that's basically saying God developed him, not KC. If/when there is actual production from our minor league position players, then I'll start to have some more confidence in them. When I say Hector Santiago is Johan Santana Lite, that's scoffed at. Of course, most of the people who follow the minors closely tend to get attached to their prospects and start seeing them through rose-colored glasses. It's human nature. Heck, maybe everyone does it...I know that I do it sometimes with Santiago and Viciedo, where in the process of defending them, you become unrealistic in assessing what their true abilities are...so I'd be glad to be wrong about any of the position players in our system, in the end. But, like Thomas from the Bible, they'll have to prove it to me before I will accept it on faith. We're comparing all these guys how might not even make it with major league starters/veterans who have had long careers....Lowrie, Mark Ellis, James Shields (who is an ace on many teams, or at least a strong #2 guy), Chone Figgins, Eric Young, Jr., etc. Our entire minor league system hasn't produced that level of impact in the last six or seven years (looking at position players again). Sure, we can compare Mitchell to Carl Crawford, and Hawkins to one of about 10-15 budding superstars, but that doesn't mean anything to opposing scouts and GM's. You said the comparison of Thompson to Brian Anderson was insulting, yet Anderson had a lot more hype and expectations placed on him when he was drafted than Trayce has ever had... I didn't scoff at that notion at all, Santiago compares very favorably to both Santana and Liriano when you sit down and actually look at it As far as a wait and see approach again i think thats very fair but personally i just want a quick book mark to refer to what their potential could be, wether they reach that will come in time. Sox have been very good at developing pitching, maybe the tide will turn with the likes of Semien, Johnson and Thompson. I'm sure everyone on this board realizes that if you can get one major league regular from a draft class you're doing well.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 25, 2013 -> 09:51 PM) I really don't know where you get some of this stuff, caufield. Semien has been mentioned in national pubs as being just outside the top 100 or 150 prospects. He may or may not be a starter, that is still very debatable, but ..."let alone I utility guy in the bigs"? He may never make it, but I don't get your idea that he's not even a likely utility guy. Again with Thompson... Are you just trying to look cool by talking guys down? Worst of BA offensively? Again, possible, but come on now, there is a ton of time between now and 2014. Webb hasn't pitched more than a few games above A+, that's why he's not likely to be in Chicago this year, not roster space. If they think he's ready, which he's probably not, he will be up when they need him. EJ's change has become his best pitch. I think his ceiling is a #2 at this point, but #3 is more likely. His FB is 92-93 ish, scrapes higher. Has the SL and CB as well, and has 2 fastballs. Hard to give a comp, better to say he's got good fastballs with control, strong CH, two other pitches and very good mound presence. Micah is fast, but more importantly, is a smart base runner. But his key is all about OBP. This is a guy who could have been a top 5 rounds kick before an injury at IU. His defense needs work, but flashes brilliance. As long as he can keep up the OBP, and to lesser extents steals and AVG, he will get moved up and challenged. Yeah I too have seen Semien mentioned in a across a number of different sources lately; Sox obviously like him a lot to have drafted him twice. I really like his discipline and I realize where the barons play tends to sap power and power is often the last tool to develop. I see the sox have had him splitting time between SS and 2B. Having said all that he is only 22 and if he progress at a normal rate he will be 24 when it might be time to call him up giving him a year and a half at AAA. Personally based off his draft position and his minor league performance to date, Mark Ellis strikes me as a comp and if he can develop into a top of the order hitter playing an average SS that would be a huge windfall for his organization. Sox have long needed competent hitters to work the count similar to Gillaspie. Aside from a 100mph fastball what else does Webb feature? Based off what you're saying with regards to EJ that sounds like James Shields to me, if his change up is that good and he tends to stick around 92-93mph with his fastballs. QUOTE (Jake @ May 25, 2013 -> 10:34 PM) I still think Chone Figgins is a good comp for Micah Johnson Thank you, jack pot scenario we get two comptent top of the order MI in Semien and Johnson that play to their comps on the south side.

Great pitching by Jake, great job Conor. Sox have the pitching in the rotation to make a run at this, they need to find some solutions after Reed and Crain and apparently Santiago

a couple of things, is Webb on the fast track? I see he pitched 2 innings down at AA if our pen continues to struggle whats a realistic ETA? Everything I've seen and read with regards to E. Johnson says he will be a #3 with a solid 4 pitch mix and mid 90s fastball, does anyone see more than that from him? what would be some real comps for him? for May Trayce Thompson .296/.436/.423 - .859 OPS in 19 games with 16BB/19SO, is he finally turning those tools into skills and if continues to improve at this pace does he finish out the year at AAA with a cup of coffee in Chicago? What are some player ceiling comps for Sieman and Micah Johnson? Lowrie and Eric Young Jr.?

My frustration with this situation as a sox fan is we've seen this organization make a similar mistake in the past with McCarthy back and forth between the rotation and the pen. Santiago is even more talented than Brandon ever was and if we're building for the future he needs to get stretched out in a similar fashion to Sale. Its also frustrating watching the sox front office this past offseason not move Floyd before he became a sunk cost and seeing what we had in both Dylan and Hector. I think the sox should evolve past conventional wisdom, if what they have going forward is four incredibly talented left handed starters than so be it, stick Peavy in the middle and move on. Looking at what we have in our four left handers its incredibly exciting: John Danks will hopefully return to his 3WAR pitching ways, personally I think we are just about to see Danks pull his best Frank Viola impression going forward. With Sale we haven't even fully begun to see what this kid's future is. Quintana could very well become our version of CJ Wilson or Jon Lester. Some interesting things to consider, Quintana at age 24 has had a better K/9 then both of the aforementioned 6.79 vs 5.63 and 6.50 respectively, along with BB/9, AVG and WHIP. That leaves Santiago and when you compare him to both Johan Santana and Fransico Liriano you begin to get excited about what he could very well develop into and understand the frustration of some sox fans about what this kids potential is and how the organization views and utilizes him. The rotations future could become the envy of AL very quickly going into next season Danks will only be 28 and is locked up till 2016 (14:$14.25M, 15:$14.25M, 16:$14.25M), Sale will be 25 and is locked up with options till '19 (14:$3.5M, 15:$6M, 16:$9.15M, 17:$12M, 18:$12.5M club option ($1M buyout), 19:$13.5M club option), Quintana will also be 25 and is under control till '18 if i'm not mistaken due to when he was brought up last year in may. Santiago will be 26 and under control till '17. Sox need to lock up Quintana and Santiago asap to something similar to Matt Moore[5 years/$14M (2012-16), plus 2017-19 options] or Madison Bumgarner[5 years/$35M (2013-17), plus 2018-19 options]

Nice work JD

Danks looking really good, appears to have nearly everything working for him except exceptional FB command

lol PK

Great outing by Hector, this kid is our future don't f*** him around like McCarthy.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:03 PM) Well, as "bad" as Santiago has been pitching, his WHIP is still nearly 0.10 better than Verlander this season. So if we can afford to send pitchers to the minors who look better (ERA, too) statistically than Justin Verlander, more power to them. It's only natural there was going to be some carryover effect in the control department...sigh. Miguel Cabrera only has 50 RBI's so far. Looks like he'll get a shot at a couple of more. Pouring it on against CLE now. Agreed, Santiago is a asset to this organization for both today and tomorrow. They need to let him settle in get his major league lumps and get stretched out regardless of the out come of this season. Sale, Santiago and Quintana could very well be the definition of a legit 1,2 and 3.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 21, 2013 -> 10:26 PM) The bullpen problems are being terribly overstated ITT agreed, Jones and Lindstrom need to work through their problems and if not and we get back in the thick of it over the next week and a half we will pick up something in the not too distant future.

lol kepp

I take it Gillaspie is sitting because of LHP?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ May 18, 2013 -> 05:15 PM) What's the deal with Dunn being taken out? I don't have agame feed Back Spasms

Konerko chugging in his cement boots

Come on Hector no walks

Viciedo with some wheels!