scenario

Richard with the start for the Sox... Broadway is pitching tonight for Charlotte. Poreda is pitching for the Barons. Should set up an interesting conversation for later.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Aug 19, 2008 -> 03:26 PM) awesum analysis. thanx man... You're very welcome. I live to serve. And to argue occasionally.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Aug 19, 2008 -> 02:30 PM) I say Richard goes 5+ gives up 4 and the Sox win 6-5! How is Seattle hitting vs lefties this year? Ibanez, Beltre, and Lopez have hit lefties better. Ichiro and most of the others hit righties better. But Ibanez and Beltre have feasted on lefties... those are the guys I would be most concerned about. (For example: Beltre hasn't done squat against righties this year (.666 OPS), but has a .927 vs. lefties.)

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 19, 2008 -> 12:28 PM) I feel like we've done well against knuckle ballers. Let's bring up Charlie Haeger to start against him. (I'm kidding.) But that would be interesting. I wonder when the last time was that two knuckleballers started against each other in a game.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 19, 2008 -> 11:29 AM) IN THE MINORS. You have to put that caveat in when you make statements like that. In their very short MLB careers, Broadway has been the better starter. So... the fact that Broadway was having trouble getting AAA hitters out... gave up 23 homeruns in 138 innings, and was getting absolutely brutalized by left-handers in the minors this year means nothing... And the fact that Richard has an ERA that is half of Broadways, has struck out over four times as many guys as he's walked... and has given up only 5 homeruns all year means nothing. It's the 13 innings that Richard has had in the majors vs. the 5 inning outing that Broadway had last week that determine everything. Sample...size....error....

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 19, 2008 -> 12:08 PM) I feel like we should stick with Lance who showed us some good things, rather than going back to Clayton so quickly. Does anyone else find this one odd? Not really. Broadway having one decent 5-inning performance does not change the fact that Richard has been a MUCH better pitcher all year.

You'd think in 20+ years of high draft choices they might be able to field a decent team once in a while.

QUOTE (MurcieOne @ Aug 19, 2008 -> 11:47 AM) Wallbangers opens up pandoras box.... i love it LOL. Yeah, gotta figure a year with the Wallbangers might be good preparation to play for Ozzie someday. Dash? Sounds more like a Twins farm team.

QUOTE (kevo880 @ Aug 18, 2008 -> 08:37 PM) That wasn't former sox farmhand De Los Santos that pitched tonight against Kanny was it? Nope. Fautino plays for the Stockon Ports in the California League. And he's been on the DL since April. (BTW - there are over 20 players in MiLB right now with the last name 'De Los Santos'.)

QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Aug 18, 2008 -> 08:43 PM) Any chance they just called him up to Winston Salem Nah... not likely.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 18, 2008 -> 06:27 PM) (Beckham not in the line up for some reason) Trying to give Oney Guillen more at-bats.

QUOTE (Jimmywins1 @ Aug 18, 2008 -> 10:06 AM) If he's facing Seattle, I'd be fine with him pitching, I see the Mariners all the time(i live in seattle), and about half of their players are from AAA anyway, they swing at s***ty pitches, the only guys that'd worry me are Ichiro and Ibanez, Beltre only hit's when you leave something over the middle of the plate, so I wouldn't be too afraid of him. A team like Seattle would probably actually be the best case scenario for him to make his debut, you can talk about his confidence being hurt if he sucks it up, imagine how high it would get if he dominated a major league team. Same logic applies for why we should start Richard... who has been outpitching Poreda all year.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Aug 18, 2008 -> 10:16 AM) I want Poreda up with the big league club out of the pen when rosters expand, but for the next start Id go with Egbert or Whisler. I would have expected Egbert since he's been pitching really well the last 3 months. But he started a game last night... so, he's out of the picture for tomorrow anyway. Edit: And I just noticed that Charlotte is playing a day game today (Monday) and Whisler is pitching. The game is in the 2nd inning already. So... he's out too.

I'm a little concerned about expectations. Realistically, this is a very talented 21 year old kid who hasn't had as good of a year in the minors as Clayton Richard. He has a 3.44 ERA and .254 BAA in double-A ball. He's given up more walks and twice as many homeruns in less innings than Richard did when he was pitching for the Barons earlier this year. Poreda doesn't even have the lowest starter ERA on his current team. (Justin Cassel does.) I'm with Coop. Poreda may be our future, but I'm not sure if that future is now. I'd hate to see him come up, get slapped around and screw up his confidence.

8/18/08. The Warthogs have won five in a row and are now just 1.5 games behind Kinston (Indians' farmclub) in the wild card race. It's their longest winning streak of the season. They are now 32-24 in the second half. One of the keys to their second half success has been the resurgence of John Ely. After starting the season with a 3-11 mark through mid-July, Ely has allowed only four earned runs and has 26 strikeouts over his last 28 innings. He was won his last 5 starts. W-S has 14 games remaining, including 4 at home vs. Kinston. Should be an interesting couple of weeks.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Aug 17, 2008 -> 10:01 PM) Jerry Owens is listed at 6'3" 195. His SLG at AAA this season? .316 If Danks turns out to have Owens-type power, that would be pretty sad. I'm not suggesting he'll be a banger... But given that he had over a .500 slugging percentage in college, I think he should have decent ability to drive the ball. I'd be very happy if he turned out to be an above average doubles hitter.

I just did a quick scan of CFs in MLB... As far as I can tell, if Danks were playing for the Sox, at 6'5" he'd be the tallest CF in baseball. In fact, my quick survey only turned up 3 starting CF's over 6'2": Josh Hamilton (6'4") Hunter Pence (6'4") BJ Upton (6'3") (Jordan is 1" taller than Ryan Sweeney and approximately the same weight.) I'm not trying to imply anything by these comparisons, I just find them interesting.

Projection-wise Danks is very interesting. 6'5" - 210 lbs...? Wow. Off hand I can't think of too many CFs that big.

Boone Logan came in and laid an egg in relief of Egbert. 2/3 of an inning; 3 runs on 1 hit; 4 walks; and no K's... And got tagged with the loss as Charlotte lost 4-3. Yikes.

I really like this Kannapolis squad right now. Adding Beckham was huge of course, but with other players added over the last month, that is a really nice lineup. Add Danks as of Tuesday and the people of Kannapolis are going to have fun watching this team the next couple of weeks.

Heckuva play by Crosby.

Gio will walk people... if our guys are patient enough not to go fishing after his offspeed stuff. IMO, that will be the key to the game. His curveball last time out was sick. He had Tampa players swinging at pitches that bounced off the plate.

I'm not sure I understand the logic of the "unless we sweep, we must not be good" posts. The Angels and Tampa Bay, the teams with the two best records in the AL, didn't sweep the A's in either of their recent series. But if we don't sweep them... on the road...that's some sort of statement about us, eh? If we don't sweep them, we suck... if other good teams don't sweep them that's different. Yeah... whatever.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Aug 17, 2008 -> 10:18 AM) He definitely improved his stock, but let's remember the sick numbers Owens put up in AA two years ago. Actually, it was three years ago (2005) Owens put up... .336 BA; .393 OBP; .406 SLG. (His only minor league season batting over .300.) Compare to Negron this year... .296 BA; .382 OBP; .406 Think about it... next year, Owens will be 28. Negron will be 26. Assuming neither is going to bump anyone on the current big league roster, who would you have play CF for Charlotte? At 28 years old, how long will Owens continue to offer value as a 'prospect'? And since 2009 will be Owens 4th year on the 40-man roster, he will be out of options and have to clear waivers unless he comes north with the Sox. I think the combination of these factors (Owens age, options, and having a younger comparable player competing for the same job) could result in Owens opportunity with the Sox ending. Just thought it was interesting and worth sharing.

Worth being aware of... Miguel Negron's batting average is now up to .296 and his OBP is .382 And he's walked 8 more times than he's struck out this year. Possible that this former 1st round draft pick could bump Jerry Owens off the minor league depth chart next year? They both play CF. They both lead off. They're both left handed. Negron has more power than Owens (who has basically none). Owens has 12 homeruns in 6 years. Negron has 7 already this year. And Negron is 1 1/2 years younger than Owens.