scenario

I'd start them at Winston-Salem and promote them to Birmingham at mid-season if they've earned it. If they play well at both levels, and the organization wants to play it aggressive... then have them start the following year at Charlotte. IMO, starting them at AA and assuming they can move up to AAA in 2009 is way too aggressive.

I think both Danks and Beckham will start in Winston-Salem next year. If they do well... promote them. I don't see the need to start them against AA pitching after only 10-12 games of professional experience this year. If they struggled then you have to consider demoting them and deal with the confidence issues that come with that. Let them earn their way up. If they do it quickly... great.

From the Carolina League notebook this week... Winston-Salem Warthogs (Chicago White Sox) WEEK IN REVIEW: The Warthogs continue to make a strong push for the final playoff spot in the Southern Division, residing in second, only two games behind Myrtle Beach, with a 37-25 record. Winston-Salem concluded a seven-game road trip by defeating Salem, 3-2, Aug. 20, for a 6-1 week. The Warthogs won five straight during the span, and had 10 wins in their last 11 outings. With a 66-65 mark at week's end, Winston-Salem rose above the .500 mark on the season for the first time since April 21. The team is currently in the midst of a seven-game homestand, the last one in the 53-year history of Ernie Shore Field. WHO'S HOT: Anthony Carter has been tough to score on over the last two starts. In the span of 14 innings, Carter has not allowed a run. On Aug. 20, he tossed six shutout innings, surrendering only three hits and fanning a season-high five batters in a 3-2 triumph at Salem, to improve to 6-4. ... SS Greg Paiml concluded the week with a 10-game hitting streak. Paiml was 18-for-43 during the stretch with seven RBIs. WHO'S NOT: 2B Dale Mollenhauer has only a single to show for 13 plate appearances over his last six games. A REASON FOR WINNING: Winston-Salem is in the playoff hunt because the club is doing just about everything the right way. Prior to an off-day Aug. 24, the Warthogs played 34 consecutive days, dating to July 21, and went 22-12 during that stretch. With a 1-0 win in 10 innings over Myrtle Beach on Aug. 22, Winston-Salem was 10-2 in extra-inning contests, and 27-15 in one-run decisions. Both marks rank as the best in the Carolina League.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 25, 2008 -> 09:45 AM) Question for the minor league guys. Several people have mentioned wanting to see them in AA next year (I would too) while some have said that might be pushing it. So my question is, playing ball at big-time D1 schools, what does that equate to on the minor league side if you had to make a comparison? IMO? A-ball... somewhere between low-A and high-A depending on the development of the player. If you think of it in terms of age... most guys in A-ball are around 21-22... Which puts them at about the same development level (age-wise) as college players who get drafted.

Crede ended up going 2 for 4 on Sunday in Charlotte.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Aug 24, 2008 -> 04:19 PM) This dude on XM Radio is ripping the White Sox. Saying they stole the game on a hideous job by the umpires. Yeah. And... So, this xm radio moron just prefers teams that just roll over and take it? Send him an application to the Cubs fan club.

W-S shortstop Greg Paiml has an 11 game hitting streak going and is batting .419 over the last 10 games. Coincidentally he went on a big hot streak at the end of the year in Great Falls last year too.

8/23... Warthogs beat Myrtle Beach 10-4. Kinston lost to Wilmington. Winston-Salem extends its wild-card lead to 3.5 games with 8 games left in the season. In fact, they've closed to within 2 games of 1st place Myrtle Beach!!! CJ Retherford is now 6th in batting average (.295) and 6th in homeruns (16) in the Carolina League.

Charlotte beat Norfolk 9-5 Owens 3-4 with a walk Fields 1-2 (a double) and 3 walks Eldred and Bourgeois with homeruns. Eldred 2-4 with 4 RBIs. Barons lost to Jacksonville 3-2 Six shutout innings for McCulloch A rare blown save and loss for Jon Link 2 hits for both Mercedes and Hudson. A hit and an RBI for Negron. Winston-Salem won 10-4 Shelby, Sanchez, Gaines, and Hernandez with 3-hits each. Ely wasn't particularly sharp, but got his 6th win in his last 7 starts. Shelby had 2 double. Sanchez hit a 3-run homerun. Warthogs have won 10 out of their last 11 games... And extended their wildcard lead to 3.5 games with 8 games left in the season. Kannapolis beat Greenville 8-2 Danks 2-4. He hit his first professional homerun tonight... a grand slam. Gallagher 1-3 with a double, a walk, and 2 RBIs. 3 Kanny pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts and only 2 walks. Great Falls beat Missoula 3-1 Yet another excellent start for Dexter Carter... 6 innings; 1 run on 4 hits; 8 K's; 1 BB... lowering his season ERA to 2.70 Tyler Kuhn 2-3 to raise his average to .364 (2nd in the Pioneer League) Jesus Avila 2-2 with an RBI. Great Falls 1.5 games out of 1st place with 13 games remaining, including 4 games against 1st place Billings. Bristol lost to Bluefield 2-0 Bluefield's pitching dominated us tonight... holding us to 2 hits while striking out 8 and walking nobody.

Just saw that Chris Carter has been on a power binge recently... Currently 3rd in MiLB in homeruns with 36.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 23, 2008 -> 10:01 AM) So, Cole Armstrong has filled in nicely for Donny Lucy at Charlotte. Hitting near .300, has good defensive skills. Any chance he is the backup C next year? Hall is on an option next year I believe. Would seem to make sense, but the fact that he's left-handed might work against him. I'd guess that the Sox would like AJ's backup to be right-handed to give them more situation flexibility. May not be a big issue, but...

8/22... Warthogs win an 11th inning walkoff... their 9th win in their last 10 games. Kinston loses in extra innings. W-S goes up 2.5 games in the wild card race with 9 games to go.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Aug 22, 2008 -> 09:34 PM) Speaking of Negron...a direct quote from him at his b'day party last night (Puerto Rican accent implied)... "It doesn't matter who the starting pitcher is, it doesn't matter what team, it doesn't matter what city, we're going to destroy them. We're going to win it all." I like it! Also, I find it fascinating that Birmingham, Winston-Salem, and Kannapolis ALL had walk-off wins tonight. Can't recall that happening too often.

Winston-Salem won 1-0 in 11 innings. Sergio Miranda hit a single in the bottom of the 11th for the walk-off win.

Indianapolis @ Charlotte Egbert pitching Crede is in the lineup. Charlotte lost 3-2 The Knights were held to 4 hits. Josh Fields 1-2. David Cook 1-3 with a 2-run homerun. Cole Armstrong 1-3 with a double, raising his BA to .298. Huntsville @ Birmingham Harrell pitching Birmingham won 3-2 Brandon Allen 2-3 with a homerun... a walkoff. Myrtle Beach @ Winston-Salem Long pitching Winston-Salem won 1-0 Long, Dubee, and Zaleski combined on an 11-inning 3-hit shutout with 10 Ks and 3 BBs. Augusta @ Kannapolis Shirek pitching Shirek walked the bases loaded in the first inning and got out of it without giving up any runs. Kannapolis won 3-2 Morel 2-3 with a double and a homerun. Danks and Beckham each with a hit. Beckham's hit in the bottom of the 9th won the game. Missoula @ Great Falls Hudson pitching Great Falls lost 4-2 despite a very impressive start for Daniel Hudson 6 innings; 1 run on 3 hits; 8 Ks; 1 BB Bristol @ Bluefield Panigua pitching Bristol won 5-1 Silverio made 2 errors tonight... giving him 25 on the year. But he went 3-4 raising his average to .239 and drove in a run.

A W-S win and a Kinston loss last night puts the Warthogs/Wallbangers/Dash 1.5 games up in the wild card race with 10 games to go!!!

Here's a contrarian view from David Gassko of The Hardball Times. Here's a key paragraph from the article/analysis... Seems like Verducci is wrong. Verducci writes: The bottom line: a dramatic increase in innings on a young pitcher elevates the risk of injury or a setback to their development. But the evidence points to the opposite. Pitchers who see a large increase in workload are more likely to continue to be successful than those who don’t. It’s important to remember that correlation does not mean causation—just because throwing a lot more innings than a pitcher ever has before is correlated with future success does not mean that managers should be riding their young pitchers hard—but it does imply that Verducci’s argument is incorrect, and there is absolutely no reason that we should expect these YAE candidates to do worse because they’ve overworked.

QUOTE (False Alarm @ Aug 22, 2008 -> 12:24 AM) i dunno man. paiml. retherford. kendall and greene at bristol. think i've seen someone talk about how lucky we are to be stacked with talent like mollenhauer in our middle infield. i mean, peeps enjoy the minors in different ways so it's all good talking about these types of guys. they've just gotten more attention than i'd expect. I'm probably one of the guilty parties in talking about these guys. Mostly because I love minor league baseball and end up posting about what guys are doing. I'm not trying to give fringe players more respect than they deserve. Just trying to make sure guys get attention for good performances... Because who really knows who will pop out of the system? Nobody would have given Mark Buehrle a chance to make it to MLB based on where he was drafted... etc. etc. Outside of the obvious choices... top draft picks... you end up turning over lots of rocks to find a gem in the minors. (And alot of the obvious picks don't turn out to be much... which is what makes developing minor league players such a crapshoot.) BTW - Out of the guys you mentioned above, the one I would suggest could turn out to be really interesting would be Retherford. The kid is a player and worthy of more attention than he is getting.

QUOTE (False Alarm @ Aug 21, 2008 -> 10:52 PM) seems to be a lotta love on the board lately for oldish fringe guys who have very little chance to make it and almost no chance to be MLB regulars. Like... who? QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 21, 2008 -> 11:09 PM) I've seen Cook play, albeit it was before he ever came on, and he wasn't anyone that stood out athletically. That said many guys have late developments and turn into solid bench players but thats about all I could see Cook turning into (and there is nothing to be ashamed of in that, imo). 100% agree. I don't expect him to be a star. My original point was about potentially bringing him up to see what we have in him rather than simply kicking him to the Rule 5 draft curb. Seems to be a reasonable thing to do when a guy has been reasonably successful in a team's system. And he has been very successful his last two years in the system... in a relatively normal year-to-year progression too. (no lateral moves. only one repeat year).

QUOTE (danman31 @ Aug 21, 2008 -> 08:40 PM) To be fair to Beckham and Kanny, they faced Bumgarner who went top 10 a year ago and is torching the SAL. Yeah. Bumgarner was dominant tonight. 6 1/3 innings; 0 runs on 6 hits; 10 K's; 0 BBs.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 21, 2008 -> 09:04 PM) When you take Cook outside of the friendly Charlotte ballpark, he has a .380 slugging percentage in 121 triple a at bats on the road. He still has a .270/.366/.430/.796 in triple a which isn't bad, but at age 27 with no major league experience you have to do better than that to get a shot at the big leagues. Oh come on... He just got promoted to AAA after the first half of the minor league season ended. Then at Charlotte he's had a phenomenal June... a bad July... and a good August. At Birmingham, he KILLED the ball. (no charlotte park factors involved): .313 BA; .467 OBP; .577 SLG; 1.044 OPS Stats in 2007 (most of the year in W-S and a short year-ending stint at Birmingham): .282; .388; .531; .919 So, the track record is positive... and regarding his age... he is younger than Jerry Owens.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 21, 2008 -> 09:00 PM) I hope they do call up a 3rd catcher, as that would allow Ozzie to pr late in the game. I have no clue who would be the 3rd catcher (Armstrong?). Armstrong and Phillips have both done well for Charlotte. How do you pick? One lefty... one righty. Armstrong is on the 40-man. Phillips has MLB experience. Not sure what the team feels is most important.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 21, 2008 -> 05:37 PM) No, but people that have seen him realize that he's not a prospect. Have you seen him? The one time I saw him on NESN, he looked very bad. Soooo... the one time you saw him he sucked, eh? I guess we should just ignore the fact he's had over a .900 OPS two years in a row then. (Sorry... not vicious sarcasm... just mild.) JPN knows a fair bit about him since he has season tickets to the Barons games. I'm sure he'll chime in on the subject soon.

If DeWaine Wise is out for any period of time due to his abductor injury... which is very possible... Who might the Sox call up to replace him? Conventional thinking says Owens. But I can picture Cook getting a September callup and getting a little playing time too... If for no other reason than they have to either add him to the 40-man roster or potentially lose him in the Rule 5 draft this fall. And if they add him to the 40-man roster, why not call him up and give the big league coaches an opportunity to help make a decision on him?

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 21, 2008 -> 01:35 PM) It was our pathetic record against the NL last year mostly that sunk us for good. Yep. 4-14 vs the NL; 1-7 against Seattle; 1-7 against Boston. 66-62 against the rest of MLB.