scenario

Crosby has proved (and left no doubt) that he can't hit major league pitching. Getz has outstanding plate discipline (more walks than strikeouts in his minor league career). And I checked his splits year by year and he hits lefties just as well as righties (a little better actually... sort of unusual for a lefty hitter). Meanwhile, Crosby is a career .222 hitter against lefties. So, I'm with YASNY... I'd take my chances with Getz first. In fact, I think he could be a good leadoff hitter for us. Speed, contact, and ability to take a walk... I think he might surprise people next year (in a good way that is). Another little interesting fact I found while browsing through his splits... he had 25 bunt base hits (in 37 at-bats) in the minors. Not a big deal, but gotta like that speed.

QUOTE (flavum @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 02:36 PM) Actually, Beckham is not listed on the Saguaros roster. Should have looked there first. I won't speculate the reason, but it does explain why he hasn't played this week. edit: Ok, I will speculate...probably when Jeff Marquez was added, the Sox had to drop one of their players. Maybe they felt Beckham had enough AB's and it was a good idea to drop him off the roster. Good thinking. Makes sense to me.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Nov 21, 2008 -> 07:47 PM) His OPS is better than league average and he's 4-5 years younger than most of his competition in the Eastern Leauge He just turned 20. That means he is 2-3 years younger than most of the other real prospects... not 4-5 years. Most 24-25 year olds still in AA are not prospects.

Fernando Martinez must have some unbelievable tools. Either that or the best damn agent in the world. He's a 6'1" 190 pound 19-year old who played in AA this year... here's his 2008 stat line: 352 at-bats... .287 BA, .340 OBP, .772 OPS, 19 doubles, 4 triples, 8 homeruns... 73 strikeouts, 27 walks, and a whopping 6 stolen bases. OK... unfair to use only one years numbers... let's go back a year to 2007.... also in AA... 236 at-bats... .271 BA, .336 OBP, .713 OPS, 11 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homeruns... 51 Ks, 20 walks, and 3 stolen bases. Soooooooo.... Somebody explain the excitement to me. Please. Yeah, he's playing ahead of his age... but based on his production, maybe he shouldn't be. Anyway, what is his claim to fame? Power? Speed? Plate discipline? Right now the numbers suggest none of the above. And 6'1" 190 pounds does not suggest a huge amount of projection based on his filling out. Does it? (If those height and weight numbers are correct, he is pretty 'filled out' already.) I'm willing to be sold, but anyone suggesting that we send Javy and Jenks to NY because we're supposed to get this guy back as the centerpiece of the deal better have a reaaallly good explanation how he makes us a better team in 2009... if ever.

I had the SCORE on all afternoon... from Murphy's show until about 6pm and never once heard them mention anything about Dye or Tampa. The only WhiteSox news they reported at all was the Viciedo signing. So... help me out... were there any reputable baseball reporters talking about this today? If so... who and when?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 21, 2008 -> 11:27 AM) Why would we want Furcal if scouts are saying Beckham will be our regular 2b by June? I can see Roberts, because the term is shorter, but not Furcal. I would hope this would free us up to acquire either an ace pitcher or a CF with speed.... Otherwise, I don't really see the point of this... If we acquired Furcal, I'm guessing Alexei might move to CF.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 21, 2008 -> 10:54 AM) If you trade for Dye, you should get parts back that you know the Orioles want for Brian Roberts. He's so obviously the best fit for this organization. I like the thinking. If the Sox moved Dye for quality young pitching, it opens up possibilities (and money) for another deal that could yield a quality leadoff hitter. Maybe Roberts. But I can't help but think we may be the 'mystery team' making a play for Furcal too... and that moving Dye might be the key to securing the funds to make that possible.

If a Dye deal went down, I just have a gut feeling that Jeff Niemann might be part of the deal. Former 1st round pick... MLB ready... hard curveball that acts like a slider... tall guy who needs a little tweaking on his delivery... looks like he may be falling off the Rays depth chart... Several of the ear marks of a Kenny pick.

Phil Rogers calls Brandon Allen "Ryan Howard lite". He dramatically improved his plate discipline in 2008. Hopefully that trend continues. Because he still has a way to go. But his strikeouts were down and his BA and OBP went up pretty nicely. Also, he significantly improved his conditioning and showed up in great physical shape this year. Hopefully another sign of maturing that continues to pay off going forward.

One of the things you have to keep in mind when evaluating the equivalent "league level". That would be more significant if we were picking up a league average player. When you dip down into any level of league (A, AA. or AAA) and pick up one of the top players... that is significant. The odds are pretty good that player will help out someday, the only question is when.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 08:56 PM) Just saying David is a good ballplayer, he'll do well in the majors, just obviously not with the Sox. Who knows? It's not a given that another team will pick him up. There were quite a few good position prospects last year that didn't get picked in the draft. Teams seem to prefer pitchers in the draft unless they have specific needs the player will fit. I think there's a pretty good shot Cook slips through the draft and we sign him to a minor league free agent contract.

QUOTE (R.J. @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 05:43 PM) Now it's time for me to learn how to pronounce his name. Lil Help? If it's a standard Spanish pronunciation it would sound like die-on vee-cee-ay-do

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 04:39 PM) Anyone have any info on Santeliz? He seems kind of a darkhorse to be added, and his #'s don't look all that great. I'd guess he has a pretty live arm? This from Phil Rogers earlier this year... Venezuelan righthander Clevelan Santeliz heads the ranks of WhiteSox sleepers looking to surprise. His slider had been his best pitch until late last season, when his fastball jumped from the low 90s to the mid-90s, touching 96 mph at times. He impressed White Sox coaches in instructional league and then compiled a 1.54 ERA in 19 appearances for Magallanes in the Venezuelan League. He'll pitch as a 21-year-old this season, most likely opening in the bullpen at high Class A Winston-Salem. White Sox minor league pitching coordinator Kirk Champion compares Santeliz to Diamondbacks reliever Juan Cruz. "When he can stay under control, he can be impressive out there," Champion said. "He's tall, thin, and we know he'll mature. We need to see consistency from him over the course of a summer."

According to Phil Rogers (in his recent chat about Sox prospects on baseballamerica.com)... If Viciedo had been signed before prospect rankings came out, Phil would have rated him the #2 prospect in the Sox system behind only Beckham.

QUOTE (flavum @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 06:29 PM) Mesa won the division with the win. They must not play tie breakers out there. Turns out it was the 7th game between the two teams and they were 3-3 going into it. So, yesterday was the tie breaker.

Sags facing former Sox prospect Daniel Cortes in the season finale today.

QUOTE (Jeremy @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 05:14 PM) But everyone looks for different things in their players. There's the objective and the subjective. The claim that Everett was a crux in that World Series when he probably wasn't one of the top 15 contributors fails on an objective level. If people want to adore him because he made some contributions during a great season that's perfectly fine with me. Not one of the top 15 contributors eh? He drove in 87 runs... which made him the #2 run producer on the club... ahead of Jermaine Dye. He was one of only three guys on the team with over 80 RBIs. He was 3rd on the team in home runs with 23. So where's your objectivity? Absolutely everything you've said about him so far has been subjective. Please explain how the facts above fail on an objective level.

I think it's always different when you don't live in a place. Hell... I was down there for a week and I felt like I was in paradise. Alot different when you have to live there year round I suppose. Especially during the hot months.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 06:40 PM) I am waiting for the day they actually have the Winter Meetings somewhere-like here- where they actually have winter. Next year.... Indianapolis. So they'll have winter. Of course, that doesn't help you out much since you're in Montana.

Mets pitching prospect Eddie Kunz would fit right into their current big league bullpen. He came in with a 4-3 lead in the 8th and gave up a grand slam. And the Sags ended up losing 7-4.

Maybe they're saving him for the playoffs. Actually this is a huge game today. One of these two teams (Sags vs. Mesa) is going to be in the championship game on Saturday. They have identical records and after today, only play one more game. Link to mlb.com gameday for today's game.

QUOTE (R.J. @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 12:06 PM) I've never been to spring training, but I'm getting the impression that this is an upgrade for people looking to build a vacation around spring training? Are there things besides baseball games to see or do in the Glendale/Phoenix area? Absolutely. It's like going to any other big city. Lots to do. And it's not very far from 'the valley' (Phoenix area) to some pretty scenic mountain and lake areas too. So... pretty much whatever you like to do, you could probably find there.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 10:28 AM) The Mariners screwed this one up like they've screwed everything up the last couple of years. Cora would make a great manager. I believe Seattle's new GM is going to implement a sabermetric approach... So, the two guys they were most serious about were coaches from Oakland and Boston... guys already indoctrinated to that approach.

Looks like the value of Felix Pie as a trading chip just went down in KC. Rotoworld is reporting the Royals just acquired Coco Crisp.

The Cubs would prefer Abreu or Ibanez, but aren't sure they want to pay for them.