scenario

From Cowley's article... "That means it's time to close the book on the Brian Anderson era and trade the former first-round pick -- not only for the Sox' sake by clearing the pending logjam, but more important, for Anderson's sake." I absolutely do not understand the logic of people who say 'we have to trade Brian for his own good'... and that is more important than the team.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 3, 2009 -> 11:30 AM) 1.) It's been more than a few games. Everytime Nix has had a shot at some playing time, he's produced offensively and defensively. Reality.... a grand total of 3 games ago, (on the morning of June 30th... only 3 days ago) he had season batting average of .219. QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 3, 2009 -> 11:30 AM) 2.) Nix would have been the starting 2B out of ST if not for his injury. He was raking during ST. Perspective. Nix only had 13 at-bats during spring training. Meanwhile, Getz had 75 at-bats and hit .333 with a .390 OBP. That was the 3rd best batting average on the team during spring training.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 3, 2009 -> 06:07 AM) I'm pretty sure they could have figured that out in extended Spring Training. June 20th article... Bristol pitching coach Curt Hasler and manager Ryan Newman haven't seen a lot of this team this week because of drenching rains which have allowed the squad just two full workouts. But they've seen enough of Griffith to make him the Opening Night starter on Tuesday against visiting Greeneville. "An electric arm," Hasler said of Griffith. "We're looking for a lot of good things out of him this year," Newman said. Griffith doesn't have any statistical goals, but he sounds like someone who doesn't plan to make his second Appalachian League stint a long one. "I just want to improve and put as many zeroes as I can on the scoreboard," he said. "If I do that, everything else will take care of itself." And if Griffith lives up to his goal, the Tri-Cities might be in his rear view mirror for a second time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My point is that it doesn't sound like he's being moved because he's struggling or because they want to give someone else in Bristol his rotation spot.

Amazing how fan perceptions change when a guy has a few good (or bad) games.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 05:18 PM) Interesting promotion. Griffith was really struggling. Maybe the Sox decided to push him and let someone else take a rotation spot in Bristol. He's only pitched 9 innings. Not sure that qualifies as 'struggling'. I read an article recently where the Bristol coaches were very impressed with the way he's throwing... said Griffith has an 'electric' arm. I think that, coming off his surgery/rehab, he was only supposed to be in Bristol long enough to make sure he was healthy before going to Kanny.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 12:09 PM) I'd be willing to bet he's actually between 39 - 41 years old. Yeah, yeah, yeah.... Everybody over 30 looks ancient to an 18 year old.

Tomorrow is July 2, which means teams are free to sign 16-year-old international prospects to contracts. Here's a list of the top 25 ranked by expected signing bonuses. Not sure which, if any, the Sox may have interest in. 1. Miguel Sano, SS, Dominican Republic 2. Wagner Mateo, CF, Dominican Republic 3. Gary Sanchez, C, Dominican Republic 4. Guillermo Pimentel, CF, Dominican Republic 5. Jose Vincio, SS, Dominican Republic 6. Luis Sardinas, SS, Venezuela 7. Cheslor Cuthbert, 3B, Nicaragua 8. Juan Urbina, LHP, Venezuela 9. Daniel Sanchez, RHP, Venezuela 10. Jose Pena, RHP, Dominican Republic 11. Edgar Ferreira, LHP, Dominican Republic 12. Jochi Ogando, RHP, Dominican Republic 13. Jacob Beltre, C, Dominican Republic 14. Victor Payano, LHP, Dominican Republic 15. Jurickson Profar, RHP/SS, Curacao 16. Luis Jolly, CF, Dominican Republic 17. Johendi Jiminian, RHP, Dominican Republic 18. Santo Aybar, SS, Dominican Republic 19. Leonardo Perdomo, RHP, Dominican Republic 20. Rosel Herrera, SS, Dominican Republic 21. Wilfredo Solano, SS, Venezuela 22. Santiago Nesi, C, Venezuela 23. Jorge Polanco, SS, Dominican Republic 24. Jairo Kelly, SS, Dominican Republic 25. Humberto Valor, SS, Venezuela

Adam Russell quietly doing his job and starting to put together a nice season. Probably what's impressed me the most is how he's kept the walks down this year. Big improvement.

Double-play, please.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 08:02 PM) I'll never understand why more teams don't just budget 2-3 million dollars for above slot picks +1

QUOTE (Cali @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 03:38 PM) I still don't actually know what Clayton throws besides a fastball. I've seen a ball that goes slower than his fastball, but Im not convinced it's any kind of breaking ball, perhaps just a slower fastball... You're thinking of his slider. Looks like his fastball but has downward movement. It's probably his best pitch. Besides that he has a changeup and curve. The curve drops down to about 77-78 mph and makes his fastball much more effective, but he's had spotty command of it at the big league level, so he's not throwing it alot. He seems like a bright kid. Let's hope he's learning alot about cutters and changeups from MB and Danks.

Looking good. Keep up the great work JPN!

Was just looking at some old posts (circa 2007... thank you for pointing them out Tony) that are priceless... Including some that were absolutely brutal slams of Gavin and suggested dumping him in favor of Charlie Haeger, etc. LOL. That's gotta make some sort of top 10 list.

Who woulda thunk that Allen would go 0-6 on a night when Charlotte got 19 hits?

Charlotte @ Buffalo Knights score 5 in the top of the 10th to take a 12-7 lead Barons lost to Mobile 6-5 Winston-Salem lost to Potomac 6-2 Kannapolis has the night off Great Falls @ home against Missoula Voyagers up 6-1 in the 5th Bristol lost to Elizabethton 11-5 Upchurch got rocked

Kudos to JD who passed Bill Melton for 7th all-time on the Sox homerun list.

QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 03:56 PM) When did he get signed!!? Announced today on whitesox.com On Saturday, the White Sox announced another future backstop standout had entered the organization. Josh Phegley was one of six selections the team announced it had come to terms with from the 2009 First-Year Player Draft. Right-handed pitchers Matthew Heidenreich (fourth round), Kyle Bellamy (fifth round) and Jimmy Ballinger (11th round) joined Phegley, the 38th overall pick from Indiana University, infielder Jared McDonald (21st round) and first baseman Leighton Pangilinan (40th round) on that list.

Regarding the earlier questions about the David Cook... the interest in him is pretty simple IMO. He's hit pretty well the last few years and he can play CF. Given the problems the Sox have had with people who could do both of those things simultaneously, it seems logical that his name would pop up on the radar. He absolutely destroyed Southern League pitching last year. Killed it. Best overall offensive player in the league. This year he started out horribly, but since he has looked much better. He currently leads the Southern League in homeruns (15) and RBIs (51) in 225 at-bats and his OBP on the season is up to .362. So, he may be nothing more than a AAAA type of player... true... but who knows? Given the fact that we continually gave shots to Owens and now to Wise, why not try a guy who's got pop in his bat... and Cook has serious power. And he's younger than Owens. Seems like somebody ought to give him a look.

We got more than a happy meal back for Corky? LOL. Somebody deserves an attaboy for that.

It's smart to position Richard as a starter, whether it's to keep him or to trade him (50-50 odds at this point). Lefty starters have alot of value in MLB (above market norms for pitchers). Stick him in the pen the rest of the year and you kill his trade value. Get a few more starts like we saw from him earlier this year (around the time of the Peavy rumors) and he has MUCH more value.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Jun 22, 2009 -> 08:08 PM) Is it possible for someone to re-edit the first post and list all our draft picks and than bold their names when signed? Check out the Draft-Tracker on the new FutureSox.com site.

The last time we worked to get Pods voted in turned out to be a pretty good year. Maybe we should try that again.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jun 22, 2009 -> 05:11 PM) Looks like they're gonna wait to the last minute to post the rosters for Bristol and Great Falls. Like usual... seems it always comes down to the last day.

The only other game tonight is Birmingham @ Mississippi. W-S and Kanny have a couple of days off due to their respective league all-star games. But tomorrow both Bristol and Great Falls play their first games of the season!

Charlotte leading Buffalo 7-5 in the top of the 9th. Another very good start for Egbert: 6 innings; 1 run on 5 hits; 5 K's and 0 BB's. Brandon Allen stays hot... going 3-5 with a homerun and 3 RBI's. Omogrosso with another tough outing from the pen, only lasts 2/3 of an inning... gives up 2 runs on 3 hits before being replaced.