scenario

Guillen to work as Fox studio analyst during Series That should be interesting. Edit: And now the link has disappeared... strange

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 21, 2009 -> 02:54 PM) CJ already with a base hit an RBI. En fuego. In the 6th, he picked up another hit and RBI. 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs so far on the day.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Oct 21, 2009 -> 03:25 PM) Defense: I'm going by the most accurate readily available defensive metric, UZR. Not sure that single-year UZR provides information that is precise enough for valid comparisons of player skills or to make future projections. For example, in 2009... Paul Konerko = 1.9; Mark Texeira = -1.1 Scotty Pods in CF = .7; Torii Hunter = -4.4 Chris Getz = -2.8; Orlando Hudson = -3.8; Brian Roberts = -4.1 Ryan Theriot = 5.8; Adam Everett = 2.3 (Theriot, who can't carry Everett's jockstrap defensively, was also ranked ahead of Furcal) Nick Swisher = 2.9 in right field; Alex Rios = -2.3; Nick Markakis = -5.5 AJ ahead of Joe Mauer, Dioner Navarro, and Yadier Molina... Etc., etc....

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Oct 21, 2009 -> 09:02 AM) No argument here, i'm the biggest Nix guy on the board. No... You're the 2nd biggest Nix guy on the board behind Ozzie Ball.... who I'm beginning to think must be a blood relative of Jayson's.

QUOTE (son of a rude @ Oct 20, 2009 -> 02:28 PM) He can pitch? Yep. Not that they want him to do that in the future... but he pitched some in college. And he had one relief appearance last year for Winston-Salem. Here's an article about CJ while he was at ASU that talks about his background... Retherford's roles help ASU The Arizona Republic, May. 31, 2006 Is there a position on the diamond that Arizona State University junior C.J. Retherford can't play? Retherford has played third base, second base, catcher and pitcher this season. He played some outfield at South Mountain Community College and was shortstop for one season at Hamilton High. Retherford was a standout pitcher at Hamilton, going 21-2 his final two seasons, and was the winner in the Class 5A championship game. But Retherford also could hit, which is why Hamilton coach Mike Woods played him at third base and shortstop when he wasn't pitching. Retherford was a two-way player at South Mountain, where he hit .329 in two seasons and was 15-7 on the mound with a 3.14 ERA. At ASU, he hit .287 during the regular season. However, Retherford has made only two pitching appearances. "I'll do whatever (ASU) asks me to do," Retherford said. "If they want me to pitch, I'll pitch. If not, I won't. I have no problem with that. I kind of got off to a shaky start this season, but I kind of like playing a lot of different positions. It gives you more opportunities to play."

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 19, 2009 -> 04:37 PM) Viciedo 0-4 2 k's. CJ went deep and walked once. Actually it was JorDanks that went deep... pinch-hitting for CJ.

Here's an excerpt from a BA article written by Phil Rogers on October 19th, 2009... Following two down seasons dealing with an injured shoulder, the 24-year-old righthander re-established himself as a prospect by going a combined 12-4, 3.27 between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. But he didn't stop there. Harrell followed up on his success by throwing 10 scoreless innings for Team USA in the World Cup, including four against Cuba. He allowed only two hits in his 10 innings. "Real impressive," said Kirk Champion, the White Sox's minor league pitching coordinator who also served as Team USA's pitching coach. "He really embraced the whole experience, and it showed." Harrell has three effective pitches, the best of which is his sinker. He gets a lot of ground balls—his groundout-to-air out ratio this year was 2.3-to-1—which is no small thing for a team based at U.S. Cellular Field, one of the better home run hitter's parks in the majors.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Oct 19, 2009 -> 11:28 AM) I'll second that notion. Sunshine 325 days a year and 100 degrees for 5-6 months gets really old. March is the only month I truly enjoy out here. If it's cloudy for 2-3 days in a row...I rejoice! Yeah, yeah, yeah... Another sh*tty day in paradise. I feel for you.

According to an October 2nd Baseball America article, Morel was selected the top fielding 3B in the Carolina League in 2009.

QUOTE (1977 sox fan @ Oct 16, 2009 -> 07:23 PM) do we have anyboby playing in the mexican league ? Only one guy. Jesus Avila (second baseman who played for Great Falls this year) is playing for Mochis.

We're scheduled to face Strasburg on Thursday.

Currently a balmy 101 degrees in Phoenix. LOL. Sounds pretty good to me right now after a week of wet 40 degree weather in northern Illinois.

CJ with a 2-out RBI single in his first at-bat Saturday.

I find it interesting that the D-Backs have Brandon Allen playing in the AFL.

Santos pitched two innings on Friday... 0 runs on 2 hits, with 3 K's and 0 BB's Keep it going Sergio.

QUOTE (son of a rude @ Oct 15, 2009 -> 05:57 PM) It seems like a lot of these pitchers are pretty outmatched. It's typically a hitter's league. That's what made Tommy Hanson's performance so impressive last year. (He won the league MVP... first time a pitcher has ever won it in the AFL.)

Jav's up 12-7 in the 6th inning. Viciedo 2-3 plus a walk so far. Rasner in pitching the 6th, but not faring well. First 3 guys got hits (a single and two doubles). His fastball is averaging 90-91 and he's struggling to get it over the plate so far. He has also thrown an 82mph changeup and a 80mph slider so far. Edit... Just gave up another double, then threw a wild pitch... yikes. Keep matches away from him today. Rasner yanked after giving up 4 runs in 1/3 of an inning. Not good for the ol' ERA...

Until guys hit High-A ball or even AA-ball.... Tools >>>>>>>>>>> Stats So I don't put much stock in rookie league numbers, especially for comparison purposes. What's the old quote? “Some people use statistics like a drunken man uses lamp-posts . . . for support rather than illumination”... or something like that. Stats in the low minors should illuminate potential opportunities and problems... Not be used for more than that. Especially not to support arguments comparing the potential of two rookie-league players.

Upchurch did show some regression statistically this year... But if you compare the first 7 games he pitched in pro ball (last season) to Holmberg's first 7 games in pro ball (this season)... Upchurch was better. So, was it a matter of regression for Upchurch or just the challenges of a 19 year old right out of high school going through his first full professional season? (rather than a draft-year short season). I think, IMO, that it's likely the latter, and we could see something similar happen to Holmberg next year. Anyway... I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not sure their stuff/ability is much different, or that the statistics from both pitchers this year are really very useful to illustrate a difference. So I ranked Upchurch ahead of Holmberg because IMO they're similar players but Upchurch has one more year of professional experience/development. But I'm willing to be influenced to change that opinion.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 12, 2009 -> 11:19 AM) I'll flat out say that Rodriguez and Holmberg are both two times that prospects that Upchurch is. Both have bigger and better arms and a lot more upside. UpChurch has potential but he's so freaking raw and he's not as good as the other two guys mentioned. It is difficult though because Rodriguez has flaws and Holmberg is very very raw. Upchurch happens to be a favorite of a guy or two on the panel though and that can sway things. I'm with KHP on this. I'm not sure I see much if any difference in the projectability of Upchurch and Holmberg. Is there something we're missing?

Cassell pounding the strikezone. First 17 pitches... 15 strikes... 2 balls. Nice ratio.

Santos pitched another inning. First batter got a soft single to left... The baserunner was erased when the next batter grounded into a DP. Final batter grounded out. Decent outing. It'll be very interesting to see how he does as a reliever at this level.

Gave up 2 hits but got out of the inning. Got outs on a groundout, a liner to left, and a strikeout. Threw mostly 4-seam fastballs averaging 95-96 mph. Threw one at 97 mph. Threw around 4 changeups in the inning... one for a strike. Changeups averaged 85-86 mph. Threw 2 curveballs... one for a ball, the second struck out the final batter he faced in the 8th inning. The first was 84 mph, the second was 86. I would love to see if we could get him to drop his speed on the changeup to get a little more spread between that and his fastball.

Sergio Santos in to pitch the 8th! First pitch... 96 mph!! Four 4-seam fastballs, a changeup and a curve to the first batter who ended up grounding out. All the fastballs were over the plate. The curve and change missed (both were balls).

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 02:45 PM) Viciedo picks up an RBI on a first inning SF Now, we're down 17-4 in the 7th. The only 'good' news is that it wasn't WhiteSox pitchers that were getting abused.