scenario

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Nov 5, 2008 -> 04:52 PM) I hope you're right. I thought he looked a lot like El Caballo in LF. I did some research on him right after we traded for him. Basically what the reports (which were pretty consistent) said about his defense was... - He had a strong arm, but struggled with accuracy. His arm had been rated average to above average, but the ratings actually improved after he had TJ surgery. - One of the negatives was foot-speed... which is why he was moved to a corner after being considered for CF early in his career. - And the reports suggested that he ran excellent routes... good enough that he might eventually be considered a GG candidate at a corner position. However, earlier this year (July 2008) SI came out with one that suggested he projected to be only an average outfielder. (But I imagine anyone scouting him this year would only give him average at best.) So... what Carlos Quentin will we see this year? Dunno. The majority of the evidence suggests however that he should be stronger defensively than we saw in '08. (btw - my earlier note on him should have only been one plus... not a plus plus.)

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Nov 5, 2008 -> 04:06 PM) No that is certainly possible. It seems like there are a lot of defenders of his outfield play last season though around here, and that is a myth because quite frankly he was mediocre in left field last year defensively. You're looking at 2008 only. First year back after shoulder surgery and playing a new position should not translate into lack of skills.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Nov 5, 2008 -> 03:46 PM) I am aware of that, I said all year that watching him play LF made me hope that he was just having trouble adjusting after spending years playing RF because he really didn't look good in the field this year. Scouts evaluated Q as a plus+ defender when he played right field. I think what we saw last year was: 1) a little bit of rust from time off due to injury; 2) the after effect of his injury probably causing him to be a little more tentative, 3) and the impact of adjusting to a new position.

Thanks to all. I would have liked to skip this one... because now I am officially 'old'. When I went to the AFL games in Arizona last week, I got my official welcome to the 50-club (even though it was a few days before my birthday). I went up to buy a ticket and the person at the window asked me, "Are you eligible for a senior discount?" If I said yes, it would have dropped my ticket price from $6 to $4. I said NO! I figured my dignity and pride are worth at least $2. And besides... it made no sense to me. I don't look a day over 49.

Very sad. What a tremendous talent. I went several years after college not wanting to read more than was absolutely necessary for work. His books are what drew me back in to regular reading. For that I owe him. 'A Case of Need' is a little known classic. Definitely worth the time.

Any analysis that suggests Dye is a worse right-fielder than Maggs is fatally flawed IMO.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 5, 2008 -> 10:02 AM) Through 8/10/2006, Vazquez was 11-6 with a 5.13 ERA.... Cherry pick all you want, but his record is clear. I'm not going to try and argue too hard. I was disappointed in the way he finished this year too. I just don't think it's a good idea to get rid of a healthy veteran starter whose career ERA is well below league average unless you have somebody to replace him. Btw... I liked how you said "cherry pick all you want" and then you quoted his ERA on a specific date from mid-season 2006 to make a point. (Not picking on you. Just friendly abuse.)

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 5, 2008 -> 08:14 AM) His stretch run has been stated before. What about earlier in the year when he was getting lit up but getting wins? It all evened out. The overall body of work was 11-12 with a 4.84 ERA for a team that won 90 games. He wasn't good. Certainly not $11.5 million a year good. Evened out?? Shirley you must be joking. Vazquez had a grand total of 1 game where he gave up more than 4 runs and got the win. One game. All season. And he only had 3 wins all season in games where he gave up more than 3 runs. Meanwhile he got 5 losses and 3 no decisions in games where he gave up 3 runs or less. Not.even.

Link (quote below is at the bottom of the linked page) Defense is difficult to quantify, but the plus-minus system devised by James colleague John Dewan, owner of Baseball Info Solutions, is a respected metric. According to Dewan, baseball’s worst-fielding players at each position over the last three seasons are as follows: 1B – Mike Jacobs; 2B – Jeff Kent; 3B – Edwin Encarnacion; SS – Derek Jeter; LF – Pat Burrell; CF – Nate McLouth; RF – Jermaine Dye; P – Daniel Cabrera.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Nov 4, 2008 -> 08:47 PM) No, it goes Liriano-Blackburn-Perkins-Slowey. Nah... It's Liriano, Baker, Blackburn, Slowey, with Perkins last. In fact, the Twins skipped Perkins a couple of times late in the year.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Nov 4, 2008 -> 08:25 PM) What did I rewrite? Javy has sucked when the Sox have been in contention. Both seasons. Simply.not.true. Go back and look at the game logs. In late 2006, Javy pitched EXTREMELY well. His late season losses had nothing to do with pitching poorly. The Sox simply could not score runs because several key hitters disappeared the last two months. Again... in 2008, Javy pitched extremely well in several games where he got losses or no decisions because of lack of offensive support. Want dates? - Toronto on May 5th - Angels on May 15th - Tampa on May 31st - Oakland on July 3rd - Texas on July 21st - Toronto on September 9th In his 3 regular season games against Tampa this year, he pitched well enough to win all of them. But in the 2 games he lost, the Sox scored a total of 3 runs. The two games he pitched against Toronto and lost... he pitched well enough to win both of those. But the Sox scored a TOTAL of 1 run in those two games. He beat the Twins in two of his 3 regular season starts against them. The game he won against Cleveland on September 3rd was HUGE, because they were hot and Javy kept us from getting swept. So... you have to look at what happened in the games rather than using W-L or what happened this September to put a label on his term with the Sox.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Nov 4, 2008 -> 07:05 PM) Come on now, he beat KC twice, beat Oakland, beat Cleveland, lost to Detroit and beat them once, lost to Tampa Bay, and lost to Boston, and lost to Toronto. He beat the teams he should beat, and lost to playoff teams, hardly an ace Crap. Look at his season game log. He pitched alot of good games this season. Amazing how some fans want to re-write history and trash him because he had a bad end to the year.

Good article.

How about we sign Ryan Dempster and then trade Javy to the Cubs to help them fill the gap created by losing Dempster. A double win?

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Nov 4, 2008 -> 05:07 PM) As I said earlier, when comments like those come out, I read into it as the organization trying to sell the fans on these young players. I agree. Suggesting that the Sox are using this to try and trade Poreda is reading way too much into it, IMO.

Some Beckham pics...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 4, 2008 -> 08:15 AM) So out of curiousity, I know that the old story goes that you really can't throw both a curve and a slider. Does anyone know if the cutter is compatable with the slider? Any chance of Poreda picking up the cutter to go with his pitches? If I had to choose a repertoire for Poreda, it would be fastball, slider, and change. Period. I wouldn't even mess around with other pitches. Keep it simple. (Besides, guys who have 97+mph fastballs don't need much more than a good changeup to get people out.) Learn to command all three of those three pitches and he'll be very effective as a starter. One or two and he's a reliever.

Bell: Poreda could be in majors in '09 Notes from Buddy Bell's teleconference today... "Poreda is further along than Beckham for the big leagues, there's no doubt about that," Bell said. "Poreda has a real good chance to be in the big leagues at some point next year." The 6-foot-6 left-hander, who turned 22 on Oct. 1, finished a combined 2008 season at Class A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham with an 8-9 record and 3.13 ERA over 27 total starts. He fanned 118, walked 40 and yielded just 148 hits over 161 innings. While pitching for the Peoria Saguaros during Arizona Fall League action, Poreda has made seven scoreless relief appearances and has struck out 11 in seven innings. Working in the rotation as the team's fifth starter or out of the bullpen as a second lefty-hander appear as Spring Training possibilities for Poreda at the next level, depending on how his secondary stuff develops, or he could make an impact later in the season. "It's not quite as good as it's going to be," said Bell of Poreda's secondary pitches, falling behind his high-octane fastball. "But with the coaching situation involving [White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper] and Ozzie's patience with young guys, he could develop those secondary pitches in the big leagues. "At the very worst, he has a chance to make the bullpen. He just has a great arm." He also has comments about Beckham and Danks in the article.

Carlos Torres pics...

Thanks. I loved going out there. Definitely going to do that again. I've got some more pics I'll be putting up the next few days too... including Carlos Torres, Cole Armstrong, Beckham, and a few good ballpark scenery pics.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 04:54 PM) but these are Buddy Bell hires, and he really isn't hiring for potential replacements for the big league team. Candidates to replace big league coaches typically come from within the system. Chambliss could be a prime candidate to replace Greg Walker... or he could move up if Cora moves on to a managerial job.

When I read the article, my first thought... Chambliss could be in line to replace one of the Sox coaches in a year.

Sweeping changes in White Sox's minor league system The revamping of the White Sox's farm system involves the hiring of former major league slugger Chris Chambliss and re-hiring of former hitting coach Gary Ward. The system-wide changes, which started last summer, were announced Monday by Buddy Bell, the director of minor league instruction. Chambliss, 59, takes over as manager at Triple-A Charlotte, replacing Marc Bombard. Chambliss, a 16-year major-league veteran, served last season as hitting coach at Triple-A Richmond. Chambliss managed in the Detroit system nearly 20 years ago and was a major league hitting coach for the New York Yankees, Mets and Cincinnati. Chambliss interviewed for the Arizona managerial job that went to Bob Brenly after the 2000 season. Ward, the Sox's hitting coach for two years before he was replaced by Greg Walker, will join Chambliss' staff in a similar capacity. Ever Magallanes left the Los Angeles Angels' organization to join the White Sox as their Double-A manager at Birmingham. Magallanes, 42, was the Arizona League manager of the year in 2006, directed Class-A Cedar Rapids to the 2007 Midwest League title and managed at Class-A Rancho Cuamonga of the California League last summer. Magallanes replaces Carlos Subero, who is now the Class-A manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Inland Empire affiliate in the California League. The new managers at the Class-A levels are Joe McEwing (Winston-Salem) and Ernie Young (Kannapolis). Ryan Newman left the Detroit organization to become the manager at Advanced Rookie-Bristol. McEwing was the Sox's hitting coach at Charlotte last year. Former Cincinnati second baseman Ron Oester joins the Sox’s organization as its infield instructor. Oester takes over for Manny Trillo, who will become the organization’s bunting/base running coordinator. Former Bristol manager Bobby Thigpen takes over as pitching coach at Winston-Salem. Hitting coaches Greg Briley (Winston-Salem) and Omedo Saenz (Advanced Rookie-Great Falls) are joining the Sox’s organization for the first time. Saenz will assist manager Chris Cron, who steered Great Falls to the 2008 Pioneer League title. Bombard, Subero and Winston-Salem manager Tim Blackwell were informed two months ago that they wouldn't be retained. Kannapolis manager Chris Jones was released in July.

The only way I see us possibly trading Javy is if: a.) we sign Derek Lowe; or b.) make a trade for another starter. I understand people's frustration with Javy, but KW is not going to go into spring training with only 3 veteran starters. And outside of Lowe, the free agent class of starting pitchers sucks. If Javy was available, he'd be at the top of the list right behind Lowe.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 09:44 AM) I haven't seen enough of him to judge his mechanics, but I do like my hardthrowers to have a large/thick base underneath them. I'm not talking about a Bartolo Colon look, but Poreda just looks strong. It gives me a better feeling about potential durability. Yeah, I'm disappointed I didn't get to see him pitch. But size-wise... Poreda definitely fits the profile of a power guy. Think "1 inch taller and a few pounds heavier than Matt Thornton". If Richard moves into the #5 slot in the spring, Poreda could possibly step into the pen next year. Not sure if that's what the Sox have planned for him. But I could see it happening.