beautox

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 23, 2014 -> 12:35 PM) You went off the rails here. The system graduated around a third of it's top 25 prospects, without any new blood from the June draft, the July Int'l signings, or any trades. Of course it feels more empty - IT IS. Yeah, Beck and Thompson disappointing are also factors - but then there are guys like Micah, Danish and (to an extent) Hawkins doing well, and some pop-up guys like Montas and Ravelo. Semien hasn't been much of a disappointment at all, he's done OK and barely had a chance yet - and he was never a T100 type guy, for most people. EJ is the biggest disappointment, and he's a puzzle to me. They are still very much developing though. If this system was 30th (or 29th) in baseball a couple years ago, and got up to say 20-25 range going into this season, it should be no surprise it fell back now. Did it fall back to the very bottom? Hard to say, probably not though. But if you want to talk about Buddy Bell's job, you have to compare apples to apples. See where it stands in January this coming offseason. A lot of the new LatAm development in the past year or two will take another year or two to really come to fruition. I agree, the sox system coming into this season was some where between 19-23rd overall depending on who you read and what you value but regardless this system has graduated a ton of its top talent and the majority of the remaining top 100ish guys (Davidson and Anderson) haven't gotten off to great starts. On the flip side Hawkins appears to have taken last year in stride and could conceivably wind up around 50ish going into the 100 list next year if he keeps it up. In addition to that we have a few more positives in our system: Ravelo attempting to establish himself as a real prospect at 1B, the growth of Danish and Montas. Fangraphs had a nice piece on why prospects like Semien don't usually get rated as top 100 'specs a while ago but i can't seem to find it: essentially saying that because their performance and ascension is cross level and are often looked at as major league ready, combined with good but not great tools they tend to be underrated and understated in top 100 lists. As for his performance its not a "easy fix" per se but his problem as discussed in the other forum is essentially just being a rookie hitter, his plate discipline is + he works himself into great counts but then he leaves the bat on his shoulder when he should (and can) make contact with pitches that are strikes. After this draft and trade deadline it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see the sox system in the 10-15 range, possibly as high as 8.

Get at it Belisario!

To make room for Calhoun on their 25-man roster the Angels have sent pitcher Hector Santiago down to AAA

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ May 22, 2014 -> 08:35 AM) I hate that mlb.tv is going to black me out of this game. Just Hola on your browser and switch it to England and then back after it verifies you.

I'm firmly in the Marcus as our future camp but at this stage he isn't getting the ABs to progress his development and as Eminor has said he does need to work on leveraging his ability to go deep in the count more, even if it is against washouts and AAAA pitchers.

Conor back up the middle

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ May 21, 2014 -> 04:45 PM) Two months ago most people here wanted Alexei gone no matter the return. Trading your good players for prospects is what Andrew Friedman has done to keep his team relevant. It really depends on the return that is offered, I didn't want Ramirez traded in the offseason because that seemed to be selling low given his power aberration last season. I still don't feel that you can get appropriate value for him in a deal do to the depth that most contending teams have at SS and the lack of financial flexibility of the rest. The value of a SS in deal is mostly a question mark, the two big name SS's that have been traded in the last fiver years were largely salary dumps (both by the Marlins). For Hanley the Marlins got a ML ready SP and a throw in RH pitcher. The Reyes deal was a part of a monster deal. To trade Alexei you would need to get a top 50 prospect back and another pretty good prospect plus a couple lower level guys. My ideal trade would be to get Joc Pederson back from the Dodgers and let them move Hanley to 3B again. I wanted Alexei traded last deadline, this offseason and now even more so. This is an outlier in his career and he is 32 and will be 33 at the start of next season owed 10m for '15 and another 10m for his option(1m buy out) he is on pace for a 5WAR season which is great but this year is the definition of a career year. Lets say that he is his normal Alexei self in '15 and a -.5 to -1WAR decline in '16 that still have a ton of value but we have options (Semien, Sanchez and Garcia) that can do it for league min and need to be given a chance to show if they're major league capable or not. In addition to that the sox have real organizational needs that can be addressed with a trade. To trade Alexei to the yankees I believe you would need to get something like this back JR Murphy, Dellin Betances, Gregory Byrd and Manny Banuelos and I imagine we would have to send another piece as well possibly Flowers. I would stay away from Gary Sanchez as I believe he is another over hyped Yankee prospect that is going to bust in a similar fashion as Jesus Montero.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ May 21, 2014 -> 12:59 PM) No, my point to Greg last year was that the Sox were so bad, one 5-6 WAR player wasn't going to get the Sox into the playoffs, and in fact would have cost the Sox about 2-3 draft positions. This year, a 5-6 WAR player might actually make the difference in getting into the playoffs, but aside from that, Dunn's biggest value is his trade value. So far this year, Seattle has a .597 OPS from the DH position, .664 for the Yankees, .775 for Oakland and .785 for Baltimore. I think people are underestimating what one of these teams might give up to get Dunn. Exactly, with so much parity across the AL especially in the east; Dunn's services will be highly sought after during the trade deadline. I would expect to get a couple of B level prospects back. Outside of BOS, DET, TOR nearly every team in the hunt for the post season could use and upgrade at DH.

1 Micah Johnson 2 Courtney Hawkins 3 Matt Davidson 4 Tim Anderson 5 Tyler Danish 6 Trey Michalczewski 7 Carlos Sanchez 8 Chris Beck 9 Rangel Ravelo 10 Trayce Thompson

Tyler with two gift balls in that AB

Sale can't get back soon enough

nice swing by Conor

If we land Rodon with #3 I wouldn't mind picking up his switch hitting battery mate Brett Austin(.323 /.393/.466) with our 3rd round pick, and if Casey Gillaspie falls to #44 that would make me very happy.

thats not far from me at all and I usually attend Simpsons trivia there once a month so you can count me in.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ May 15, 2014 -> 09:06 PM) So has the year been pretty much worst case scenario for our minor leaguers or is it just me? I'd like to preface this by saying, yes, I know it's early and I know the world isn't over in May.... - Sanchez has 0 pop - Davidson can't even make contact - Mitchell is a lost cause - Things are looking grim for Thompson, this was supposed to be the year - Beck can't get anybody to swing and miss - Anderson can't hit - Barnum is beginning to look like a lost cause - While better, Hawkins isn't exactly looking great - May looks terrible So besides Johnson and Danish are there any silver linings I'm not aware of to give us hope? I know our system isn't very good and I wasn't expecting big things, but things really don't look good until we infuse more talent into the minor leagues. Hahn did a good job of getting young talent for the big league club this year, but he needs to get more talent in the minor leagues as soon as possible. There really isn't much besides a utility INF, maybe a 5th starter, and hopefully Davidson coming in the next 2 or 3 years. That's not good.... power has never been Sanchez's game and further more he is only 21 years old and he switch hits; so you can expect what natural power he does have, will take even longer to develop because of this. I think as other posters have alluded too, Davidson's problems come from the fact he had a huge let down not making the cut, now thats on him to get over that and persevere. Mitchell has been a lost cause for quite some time Thompson can still turn it around but I agree, it needs to happen soon he is still below the average age at AA but this is his third time through the southern league. I'm hoping he puts it together and makes a run to AAA to finish the year. I agree with you about Beck You've got to give Anderson, May, Barnum and Hawkins time, there are going to be some peaks and valleys with them as they continue their development. You also left out some bright spots: Rangel Ravelo looking like he might develop into a very solid 1B prospect and Trey Michalczewski looking like a great young switch hitting 3B prospect. Lastly Cleuluis Rondon possibly developing a average hit tool to go with his sterling defense and Saladino having a reemergence as a potential future utility man at AAA.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 15, 2014 -> 12:39 PM) Yes, as I stated in another post in this thread, I agree. That said, he's the vastly better side of a 3B platoon, batting left at 3B is a huge bonus and if he continues to rake against RHP he should be a big part of the future at 3B. He'll turn 27 in July so the next 3-5 years will be his prime and the Sox are going to have a very cheap, good player on their hands hopefully. I've been saying this going back to last year if Conor can develop against LHP respectably, he has the opportunity to develop into a left handed version of Michael Cuddyer and could be a 1.5-3WAR(PEAK) player. At the very least he has a great role on this team going forward on the bench heading into next year.

Impressive power for tank!

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 9, 2014 -> 12:26 AM) If Law really does have Gillaspie going that late, then that would be awesome if he slipped even further and we were able to do Aiken/Rodon, Reetz, and Gillaspie. I'd be rock hard for that. That would be living the dream. Casey being an advanced college bat should be able to move quickly through the system with only Ravelo ahead of him and Reetz adds a great looking back stop in a system sorely lacking anything outside of second tier back up catchers.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ May 8, 2014 -> 02:25 PM) Doubtful to me that the Sox are considering Semien or Sanchez to be building blocks. Semien is looking at utility role unless pro-career-long K problems get snipped. I disagree, Semien's K problem is about as good of a K problem as you can have; Its systemic from the fact that he doesn't swing enough, which to me is a hell of a lot easier to correct than someone who consistently expands their zone. Semien's swinging strike % is 9.5 and his zone contact % is 82.9 lastly his zone swing percentage 59.4%. TL:DR Marcus swings at strikes in the zone 60% while making contact on said strikes nearly 83%, Simply put he has a very good eye and needs to become more aggressive on strikes in the zone while maintaing his discipline at balls out of the zone to correct his problem. The good news is Semien is getting deep into counts the bad news (see: inexperienced) he is making the wrong decision late in counts that are leading to his prolific K rate. The Sox have the potential for a very good cheap infield and its possible if Davidson gets back on track at the minor league level they move him and leave Semien at 3B he has 20/25-20/25 (across three levels last year he hit 21HR and stole 26 bases) potential which would be well above average for that position. In Carlos Sanchez is see Everth Cabrera as a realistic comp or Erik Aybar if his power continues to develop, his glove has always been highly regarded at 2B and I think he could be average to slightly above at SS where his bat would play even better considering his low .ISO. Lastly Micah Johnson still has a bit of work to do against left handed pitching in terms of driving the ball, but its nice to dream on the idea that maybe he can develop into a Kenny Lofton type of player at the keystone.

I like the excerpt about Despaigne at the bottom of the article. Honestly Despaigne will be 28 in mid June, I doubt he breaks 100 million but i could see a bump up in AAV from Abreu's contract with less years. Here is hoping that the sox land him if he chooses to defect. Having Abreu with his relationship and the rest of the cubans on this team could continue to be a huge selling point. Even more so if we're able to trade for Grandal and we pick up Rodon at #3 in a few weeks.

get that trade value up!

thata boy gordon.

well s***

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 30, 2014 -> 11:39 PM) Johnson and Ravelo are putting up some insane numbers for Birmingham. Been fun to follow them the last 2-3 weeks. Its a shame that Johnson likely won't be moving up to AAA for a while until the major league roster sorts itself out. As for Ravelo if he keeps raking he is going to force their hand and supplant Wilkins in a minute.

QUOTE (Baron @ Apr 30, 2014 -> 01:37 PM) Hey so....when does De Aza get shipped out of here Hopefully once he triple slash resembles what he has done over his last 10 games .242/.350/.424 - .774 his BABIP during this stretch is still only .250 for his career it normally sits at .326; 76 point difference.