Dick Allen

BP has Anderson #22 on their top 50 midseason prospects. Montas made the just missed list.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 09:59 AM) But the Vice President stated it's the window in both those articles getting back to my point that he seems indecisive if it's a rebuild or a compete now situation. If they felt that their prospects were still a couple years away from making them a competitive organization, then it was really stupid to burn 2 picks this year on guys that probably wont be here when they are competing. What was the point of rushing Rodon up to the majors if he didnt have decent control or a third pitch? 3 year window with these players. Melky, LaRoche, Alexei, even before the season started, you had to figure in 3 years, all these guys would be ex-White Sox. The 3 year probably only included Micah and Rodon as contributing prospects. Maybe Sanchez. They know they have to start producing their own talent. I think the 3 year window was a term to buy them time to do just that. We will see, but it is apparent they aren't blowing the entire thing up.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 08:56 AM) Justin Verlander, who the Tigers extended two years before his deal expired and who is still owed at least $112M over four seasons after this one, looks like he might be completely toast. He has a 6.75 ERA, a 7.05 FIP, and a 1.2 K/BB. In his one quality start of four appearances this season, he allowed 6 hits and 5 walks in six innings with 3 K's. He's their John Danks.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 09:31 AM) Your quote is almost entirely what they quoted in the MLBTR piece and it still doesn't answer many of the questions I proposed. Why is there a 3 year plan starting this year when theyve been downright awful for 2 seasons now? Why is it only 3 years when their core is locked up for more? Why on Earth are they still holding out believing they can compete this year? It is pretty hard to plan a baseball team for 10 years from now. In 2 or 3 years, they probably felt they would have a better handle on their prospects. I wouldn't take this 3 year plan as their window for trying to win. I think they probably thought it was their window before they really started producing prospects who could contribute. Not counting Rodon and now Fulmer, most of their guys are a couple of years away from being players you could count on, if not more.

Big Papi made a rare start at 1B yesterday. His first in Fenway since 2005. It also was the first time the Red Sox went an entire game without a putout from their 1B (over 17,000 games). There were just 2 ground ball outs. One was at the Big Papi who flipped to the pitcher covering, the other was a bunt attempt with batter interference.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 5, 2015 -> 03:06 PM) One good thing about Abreu being so tall is that when the infielders don't pay any attention to each other and all call for the ball, Abreu can just catch the thing and everyone else will just bounce off of him. On that play the infield fly rule was in effect. Sometime I would like to see the Sox drop one in that situation to see if the runners know the rule or take off.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jul 4, 2015 -> 09:25 PM) Let's just hope that the front office is not going to delude themselves into thinking that they still have a realistic chance for this year's playoffs. It's not impossible, but a bad bet. They need to get something to prepare for next season. If they really want Shark, they can always try to sign him in the offseason. I'd rather see them try to fill another hole. They still have the comp pick, so if teams offer crap, they have leverage.

Keenyn Walker is hitting .118. Wow.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 4, 2015 -> 04:01 PM) Avi jumped like a little kid after he found out he caught it lol I was at the game and we were commenting he reacted like a Little Leaguer would have reacted, and how awesome that was.

Adam Jones 1-30 lifetime vs. Danks.

Addison Russell had a couple of,dropped pop ups today. White Sox material.

How many people here have ever hired someone who turned out to be crappy at their job? Or managed someone who turned out to be bad enough he or she needed to be fired? Did you ever consider their failure was grounds for you to lose your job? In some cases it is, but in sports, many seem to think it ALWAYS is.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 3, 2015 -> 10:50 AM) Check again... http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/3...eduardo-escobar Escobar and Semien are both outperforming Ramirez....in the meantime, we have no SS next season. You do realize that war is a cumulative stat over a season, right? Are you taking all of his time as an Angel and comparing to his White Sox career? Are you willing to state for the record the Angels would be better off with John Danks than Hector Santiago, as I see you moved the bar again....? And are u also saying he pitched just as well for the White Sox as the Angels this season? Sigh. I went with innings with Santiago. He was a 1.2 WAR in 140 innings with the White Sox, and a 0.9 in about 94 this year. A cumulative stat would mean that is pretty equal. I have no doubt Escobar and Semien are outperforming Alexei. But since you are all about the advanced stats, why not take a look at Fangraphs. If you are using last year's stats for Escobar, shouldn't you use them for Alexei? The A's bringing in Ron Washington just shows Semien isn't anywhere near what he needs to be defensively. I know you love Santiago, but advanced stats, and that's what you claim the White Sox never use, and only enlightened people use, will show you Santiago is not an All Star. Besides, if these guys were as great as you claim, how in the world would you constantly rip Buddy Bell? Semien has been a negative WAR player the last 2 months. He actually had a higher walk rate with the White Sox last year. You should expect most rookies to improve a little bit. Other than Phegley, a catcher who cannot catch the ball, but is hitting decently in a very small sample size, these guys aren't doing anything more than they would have done if they hadn't been traded. Their performances aren't head and shoulders better than they were with the White Sox.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 10:14 PM) And what did Escobar do last season? You've solved the whole mess with one stat...we can just trade Danks and get Santiago back from Stoneman, who's very old and might not be thinking soundly. Could be senile. Santiago is 11th in the majors in ERA...Danks is 11th on the White Sox roster probably. Whip of 1.13, war of 2.1 and top 30 for k/ip in the entire major leagues. He's also 11th in the majors in batting average against. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/so...ing/order/false There's not a single pitcher on that list ahead of Santiago that it wouldn't require half of our minor league system to acquire. Scherzer, Liriano, Keuchel, Cueto, Archer, Greinke, Felix Hernandez, Sonny Gray, Chris Sale and Shelby Miller. Yeah, Danks belongs on that same list, lmao. Marcus Semien 11th out of 23 qualified SS. A bit younger and cheaper. They thought enough of him to bring in Ron Washington to work with him. Alexei, well....he should be thankful for Jimmy Rollins. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos.../qualified/true Finally, Eduardo Escobar has a 696 slg percentage in a non hitter friendly park, yet you focus only on his on base percentage. Weird. 721 ops and 1.1 war last season is something the White Sox would die to have about now. You also forgot to mention that you're not correcting for Semien's ops at O.com vs. USCF...as obviously those stadiums are identical for offense. "0%." Amazimg Esconar has a .696 sluggling pct when his OPS is .670. Santiago has an fWAR of 0.9 right in line with the 1.2 fWAR he pit up with the Sox, and which would make him 5th compared to White Sox starters. And if last years stats are what was important, why are you ripping Alexei?

QUOTE (reiks12 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 07:39 PM) I never met a hardcore cardinals fan that knew anything about the baseball world. They know everything g about the cardinals and their minor league affiliates but nothing about any other team. The group I talked to this week didnt know who Miguel Cabrera played for I don't know about a typical Cardinals fan's baseball acumen, but I do know they have some impressive fans. I was in St. Louis in May and was going to a bar Leonard Zelg reccommended. The Ballpark Village was between our hotel and the bar, so we stopped in. It was a Thursday afternoon in May and the place was packed to watch a Cardinals road game. When they got a hit everyone cheered like they were at the park. The Cards lost and the place cleared out almost immediately after the game, but I don't think that happens in Chicago on either side of town. For a playoff game or a key game in September, yeah maybe, but not for a Thursday afternoon game in May interleague game vs. Cleveland.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 08:12 PM) Sale is one of our best pitchers Top 5 on the staff.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 07:18 PM) How many position players have improved in the 2012-2015 time frame? Throwing out all the guys who are older (Dunn, LaRoche, Cabrera, Bonifacio, Soto, Keppinger, DeAza, Ramirez, etc.) You have Viciedo and Eaton for sure who showed the ability to be contributors and play soundly on both sides of the ball...before falling off mentally/focus/concentration-wise. Avi, comparing his past efforts with this season? Beckham's probably not a fair example, but what about Flowers and Gillaspie? Either we're scouting and bringing in players who don't improve (or get exposed by scouting and dont/cant readjust) ot there's a flaw somewhere in development at the major or minor league levels, or both. Matt Davidson also comes to mind here. Eduardo Escobar, Semien and Phegley have become more valuable contributors than they were for us...the complement to that. Hector Santiago is a 50/50 All-Star with the Angels. Is Vince Coleman the worst baserunning coach in the league, or the players are the worst at following his advice/instructions? Just a case of being great at something (Ted Williams and hitting) doesn't make it easier for you to coach that same skill in others with lesser talent/ability? Most players of Ventura's ability (or above) haven't been great managers, with Joe Torre being one of the main exceptions. And, since all veterans essentially "are what they are...only they will get worse or fall off a cliff eventually" shouldn't we do more to find players on the other side of that curve? Escobar has a .281 OBP with Minnesota, and Semien's OPS which was .673 with the White Sox is all the way up to .701 with 25 errors. John Danks xFIP. 4.53 Hector Santiago xFIP 4.46

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 01:53 PM) So let me ask this question then...is it not the manager's primary role to have his team prepared to play every night? Let me ask this....how do you know they aren't as prepared as another human being can make them. Can't you prepare someone about as well as can be prepared, and they still screw up? I have used this before, but have you gone to a restaurant and ordered a sandwich or something using specific instructions (like for me, no mayo) and when you unwrap the sandwich, see it wasn't prepared using your instructions? If I said please no mayo, and it is loaded with mayo, is that because I didn't manage the situation correctly to begin with? Hawk actually went off a little on Alexei the other night with 0 out and a guy on second, making no attempt toward RF. He kept saying Steverson spends batting practice telling guys to get the runner over. At some point, you have to look at the professionals getting paid millions of dollars, many make more in 6 months than most people make in a lifetime, and determine they have to execute. I think it is pretty damning that it is even considered you have to actually teach players the most basic fundamentals after they reach the major leagues.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 01:14 PM) Let me ask this then.... When is the last time we signed or traded for someone and trade evaluators commented "he has the ability to be a Gold Glove-level defender"? Rondon? Trayce Thompson...? When's the last time we've taken an average or below average fielder and he became close to great? Robin Ventura? Rondon

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 07:01 AM) Love it. Go Braves! Buehrle got a win, and Cotts was untouched in 2/3 of an inning. I think those are the only 4 currently active for the World Champions. I would guess BMac had a nice day on the Twitter recuperating from surgery.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 09:02 AM) Flowers sat for three straight games from June 16-18. It seemed to me like the Sox were going to switch and have Soto be the everyday catcher. Maybe that was the wake up call Flowers needed. Since June 19 .346/.433/.808, 4 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K The Sox catchers have gotten a lot of grief this year and their wRC+ and fWARs leave something to be desired, but they have provided 11 HRs and 32 RBIs through 76 games. Flowers is streaky. The catching position is so thin these days, and with offense dropping off, probably only going to get thinner. Teams are going to want their catchers who can hit to play a different position to keep them healthier and fresher and their bats in line up.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 09:49 AM) I just hate how everyone is acting like they have a clue as to whether or not RV is even a good or bad manager. We know he isn't great tactically, but you know who is even worse? Mike Matheny, and his team has the best record in baseball. So that tells you how much difference that makes. Beyond tactics, none of us know anything. You're all clamoring to fire RV because you want someone to blame, period. You have NOTHING to suggest that he's responsible for the failure of the team. The guy you're blaming for instilling poor fundamentals is the same guy you praised for instilling great fundamentals like two years ago. If he's fired, it will be a meaningless move that panders to the pitchfork mob. If that satisfies you, whatever, but it doesn't actually have anything to do with the team. This message board should be better than that. But the Brewers fired their manager, and the Marlins fired their manager, and the Red Sox fired their pitching coach, and everything got a lot better. Oh wait. The thing is, one person could not do the damage some think Robin Ventura does to the White Sox without RH, KW, or JR noticing. The old" you can't fire all the players" line admits changing the manager isn't fixing the problem if the players are all still there. Maybe Robin resigns after the season, but the White Sox, and IMO rightfully so, aren't going to pin this failure all on him, fire him and hang him out in public for all the pitchforks.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 09:30 AM) I would assume that the penalties are going to carry over to the international draft? That is going to be interesting. With so many teams over, they aren't going to vote for penalties. I would assume there will be none.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 12:28 AM) Recently read an article about common traits of millionaires. The author argued that the most important individual trait was decisiveness (not stubbornness). The article also argued that decisive "leaders" are very hesitant to change that decision (once made) and don't waver or waffle or reverse their decision until they've patiently and carefully weighed every possible factor that went into the original decision. If the front office is 100% behind Robin Ventura, then they should give him a contract extension and shut up the media and the blogosphere. From what little glimpses we've had from KW/Hahn on this topic, it seems to be the exact opposite of decisiveness. Didn't they give Robin Ventura a contract extension a year or so ago? Funny thing is, I am pretty sure KW is a millionaire, RH is a millionaire, JR is a millionaire if not billionaire, and RV is a millionaire. So apparently they have the traits you are looking for.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 1, 2015 -> 05:35 PM) Hey, the Search Engine worked!! Watching Olbermann today, and on his low light segment, he showed de Aza mis-playing a fly ball in a Boston uniform. I had forgotten how bad he was/is. I saw that at the gym. That made Avi look smooth. I don't know what it was with DeAza. At one time he was at least average in CF, but when it came out he was more comfortable in LF, he became pretty bad with the glove everywhere.