BearSox

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 02:50 PM) Based on your own opinion and only your own. You've been hugging Smoak's junk for months now. And so have many other people. I have seen both, I have compared both, and Smoak is the much better natural hitter and the ball jumps off his bat much more. Beckham has more of a mechanical type of swing and the ball doesn't jump off his bat like Smoak's.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 02:46 PM) After looking at Beckham and Smoak's Junior year stats, its hard to really pass on Beckham. http://secsports.com/new/sports/bbc/08stats/lgplyrs.htm Bekham has a higher average, higher slugging, identical obp and plays a more premium defensive position. You gotta take college stats with a grain of salt. Beckham might have had close to identical stats, but there is no doubt that Smoak is the better hitter of the two.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 02:46 PM) From what I have read, he is a serviceable SS, but nothing special. Well, a team could stick him at SS like the Rangers do with Michael Young, but they are both 2B and not SS.

Oh yeah, it was nice hearing Chris Singleton talk about Ramirez having the inside track to being our SS next season. He's probably the only guy at ESPN who knows who the hell Ramirez is and/or ever seen him play.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 02:40 PM) assuming he progresses, what is his time line to the big leagues? 2010? 2011? Best case scenario, mid-season or september call up in 09, with everyday action coming in 2010. But more likely he'll get his first big league taste in 2010 with 2011 being when he gets the starting job at 2B. By the way, I do not see Beckham playing at any spot but 2B or the OF. He doesn't have the range nor the arm, IMO, to stick at SS.

He is far from the most talented player available, but he is hard nosed and is very baseball smart. His swing isn't the prettiest, but he's got some skill with the bat.

Toronto with the first real big surprise with David Cooper at 17.

If we draft Jordan Danks in the 3rd round, I call his AAP page.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 02:33 PM) Well I didnt think they had the foreshadowing of picking a SS in the next draft with their number 1 pick and signing Alexei Ramirez in the offseason. No, you can't, but a lot of people here were pissed about the deal at the time when we made it, and now thar Richar is pretty much burried on the depth chart now, that trade was useless.

Also, this shows that the Richar trade was useless, we sure could use Cunningham in our system right now.

With Smoak still on the board, I disapprove. I like Beckham, but he isn't that game-changing prospect we need, like Smoak is. Beckham is that scrappy type of player who will undoubtedly be a 2B in the future. While that's not bad, I expect better at 8. If Smoak was gone, fine, but Smoak should have been the pick. In the future, I see Beckham as a good fielding 2B who will pretty much be a Michael Young type hitter except with more pop and less average.

12:59... time to fire up the TV, plop myself on the couch, and hopefully not wanting to throw my remote through the tv by pick no. 9.

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 11:48 AM) If Posey is asking for $12 mil, the Sox should not take him. That's a ludicrous demand. Well, the newest rumor is that he really want to go to either Boston or the Yankees, and to ensure he drops down that far, he is demanding 12 million from any team drafting him. I doubt if he does go to the Yankees or Boston that he would actually get 12 million and this is mainly a bluff so he can go to the team he wants. The thing is, by asking for 12 million, teams are less likely to call his bluff as no one is stupid enough to spend 12 million on a player who's never played in the MLB before.

Here's my final mock before the draft. Didn't have time to do the supp. round, oh well. Some bold predictions in here. 01. Tampa Bay Rays: SS Tim Beckham, Georgia HS Already official, isn't it? Well, Tampa shys away from Posey's contract demands and goes with the athletic players they like. 02. Pittsburgh Pirates: 3B Pedro Alvarez, Vanderbilt Obvious here. Pirates are in love with Alvarez 03. Kansas City Royals: 1B Eric Hosmer, Florida HS Posey's contract demands are so crazy, it makes Hosmer's demands look good. KC takes the power hitting prospect they have been lacking. 04. Baltimore Orioles: LHSP Brian Matusz, San Diego Baltimore goes the safer route and take Matusz. Crow was a thought here, but the contract scared them away. 05. San Francisco Giants: 1B Justin Smoak, South Carolina Posey would be a good pick here, but it is rumored he is demanding 12 million if he is drafted by any other team besides New York or Boston. 06. Florida Marlins: C Kyle Skipworth, California HS They have loved him for a while now and the pick makes sense. 07. Cincinnati Reds: MI Gordon Beckham, Georgia Pretty much official that Beckham will be the pick here. Can advance quickly and be ready to help as soon as next season. 08. Chicago White Sox: 1B/3B Brett Wallace, Arizona St. With Smoak and Beckham gone, the White Sox no. 3 target Wallace is the pick. 09. Washington Nationals: RHSP Aaron Crow, Missouri Drops because of contract concerns, but the arm is just too good for Washington to pass up. 10. Houston Astros: RHP Ethan Martin, Georgia HS I could see Yonder here, but with the Astros farm, they need help everywhere, and they get the best prep pitcher. 11. Texas Rangers: RHP Andrew Cashner, TCU Texas needs pitching, pitching, and more pitching every year it seems. They go with the flamethrower Cashner who can help out in the short-run as a SU guy and perhaps evetually become a starter. 12. Oakland Athletics: 1B Yonder Alonso, Miami Perfect Beane type of hitter: is smart, patient and knows how to take the walk. Might only be a 1B/DH for them, but they can't pass up the bat. 13. St. Louis Cardinals: RHSP Tim Melville, Missouri HS St. Louis goes with arguably the best prep pitcher from their home state. 14. Minnesota Twins: 2B/OF Jemile Weeks, Miami Twins always shock everyone, and they arguably reach on Weeks with their first pick this year. Very underrated prospect, IMO, who I think will turn out to be better than his brother. 15. Los Angeles Dodgers: OF Aaron Hicks, California HS LA gets their man and future CF right from their own backyard. Ideal pick for them. 16. Milwaukee Brewers: RHRP Josh Fields, Georgia Man, Milwaukee needs help in the pen. Fields can advance quickly and could be their closer as soon as next year. 17. Toronto Blue Jays: C/UT Brett Lawre, Canada HS Toronto goes with home-state guy who is loaded with potential and has a good bat, but doesn't quite have a position yet. Could play C, 3B, or the OF. 18. New York Mets: OF/1B Ike Davis, Arizona St. With the first of their 2 first rounders, they go with the lefty swinging Davis, who provides them with a relatively safe pick who should progess quickly to either replace Delgado or move to the OF. 19. Chicago Cubs: SS Casey Kelly, Florida HS The Cubs love their athletes, and this year is no exception. Kelly is a ridiculously talented player who could be a future NFL QB if he wanted. However, as long as he is picked in the first, and is picked to play SS, no team should have trouble signing him. 20. Seattle Mariners: RHSP Tanner Scheppers, Fresno St. Rumors have been flying that the Mariners really like Scheppers and are willing to give him a big contract here. High risk, but high reward. 21. Detroit Tigers: RHSP Gerrit Cole, California HS Detroit loves over-slotting and this year they do it again. Cole's stuff is electric, but there are concerns about his delivery. Like Scheppers, this is a high risk, high reward pick. 22. New York Mets: LHRP Daniel Schlereth, Arizona It looks like the Mets want to stay safe and continue the college theme. Schlereth has been driving up draft boards and give the Mets a possible replacement for Wagner in a few years, and should provide New York with a good SU duo with Smith in the short run. 23. San Diego Padres: SS/OF Anthony Hewitt, Conneticut HS San Diego needs hitters and they've had their eye on the incredibly athletic Hewitt for a while. 24. Philadelphia Phillies: OF Zach Collier, California HS Typical Phillie pick here, as they love their athletes. The Phillies would gladly take Collier here, the guy once predicted to go in the top 15. 25. Colorado Rockies: RHSP Shooter Hunt, Tulane Rockers are reported in love with Jake Odorizzi here, but the college starter Shooter Hunt might to tempting to pass up. He has fallen due to his fairly average pitching late in the season, but they love the potential. 26. Arizona Diamondbacks: RHP Ryan Perry, Arizona Arizona doesn't have quite a lot of needs in their system, but you can never have too many live arms. Perry can either be a dominant future closer for them, or he can be moved to the rotation. 27. Minnesota Twins: LHSP Christian Friedrich, Eastern Kentucky Minnesota loves pitching, and one of the top college pitchers falling to them here would be ideal for them after taking Weeks. Friedrich might not be great, but he's a good solid pitcher who knows how to pitch, the type Minnesota seems to be full of. 28. New York Yankees: C Buster Posey, Florida St. It looks like Posey wants to drop so he can go to either the Yanks or BoSox, and it works. He uses his 12 million dollar signing bonus to scare off teams, and I don't see many teams willing to call him on his bluff, no matter how good of a prospect he is. The Yankees love the fact that he fall here right for the picking, and snag him up before the Red Sox do. 29. Cleveland Indians: 3B Connor Gillespie, Wichita St. Cleveland is in the market for a college bat, and Gillespie is the best available. He is an all-around solid hitter, and should progess safely. 30. Boston Red Sox: 3B/SS Reese Havens, South Carolina The Red Sox get their target back from a few years ago this year. Havens is a solid lefty bat who would provide them with a replacement for Lowell in a few years.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 06:46 AM) No way he does that. That would be political suicide for Obama. If he did it at all, which I doubt he would, he'd do it at the very end of his Presidency. And as young as Obama is, with the future he might have, I think its highly unlikely he does it even then. you just wait and see.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 04:00 PM) Totally. Hannity was on FOX yesterday blabbing about how McCain needs to connect with 'true conservatives' like him. No Hannity, he should not pander to wacko neo-cons like you. The neo-con big spending Republican needs to die out. For most republicans, it's like pick your poisen between McCain and Obama. I'm pretty sure most republicans will still vote for McCain over Obama if McCain doesn't pander over to the right. However, the republicans really need to exploit Obama's lack of experience, his prior relationships with trinity church (and Wright and Pfleger), and just the fact no one really knows him. I'd also target his crazy ass wife as well.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 04:03 PM) Obama business partner and prominent fundraiser, Tony Rezko, found guilty http://cbs2chicago.com/local/rezko.trial.v...t.2.740375.html he'll get pardoned as soon as Obama's in office.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 07:39 AM) Thome, Konerko, and Swisher aren't all going to hit .200 for the season either, so that kinda negates any pitching regression. I really want to say that too, but after last season, I don't know.

I personally don't see the pitching lasting... Danks has been very surprising, and I have faith in him keeping it up, and Javy is Javy. However, Buehrle has had his struggles that I don't see ending soon, and Contreras is an old man who might struggle in the second half. Floyd, I'm up and down about. So, if the pitching goes, I think the team goes with it, unless we finally start getting some offensive production from 2 of Konerko/Thome/Swisher.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 01:39 AM) Well, he did own at the Cape last summer, only Crow did better. If he does well there again and has a good season next year (doesn't even have to be dominant), he'll be a first rounder. Missouri is beginning to earn a reputation of developing pitchers so I think his issues might be different than a good pitching coach. He is projectable, but right now he has velocity and one plus pitch. His fastball is freaking terrible right now. He needs to gain weight, but he sure as hell is trying from what I hear. He is on a 5,000 calorie diet or something stupid (2k being typical for most people, 3k for athletes) and can't add to his frame. Hey, same as me

QUOTE (JFields27 @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 01:15 AM) ESPN 2

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 12:08 AM) Ruth also swung a 40+ ounce bat against inferior pitching. I guarantee you that if Ruth was playing in today's game, he'd lead the league with 100+ homers every year. While you might consider the pitching back then as "inferior", now a days you don't have to worry about bean ball at your head (with no helmet I might add). Plus, now a-days, a hitter can focus on mainly the middle-outer part of the plate, as umps don't call the inside strike anymore. Also, I should add that the strike-zone now a days is extremely smaller then it was back in the early 1900's. Plus, the fact that Ruth would hit more homeruns in a year than most organizations would in a year is pretty telling as to how good Ruth actually was. And his ability to swing a 46 ounce bat is unbelievable. How anyone can get as much bat speed as he did with such a big bat is amazing.

If it was just normal bleachers out in CF, that ball would have traveled well over 500 feet, IMO. However, there is the fan-deck in Center (or whatever you call it), and Thome winded up with one hell of a high 464 foot home run.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 09:15 PM) Update about Crow: from my source (i love saying this sorry I feel so journalistical but I actually do have one with Crow). the teams on him the hardest are Baltimore, Washington, Houston and the Royals still. So could get interesting... I don't see him going to KC, and hopefully if he's there at 8, we'd take him before Houston and Washington. However, I could see Baltimore changing their mind last minute and going with Crow instead of Matusz. Also, reportedly Posey's asking price is 12 million!!! So, based on this info, I feel Beckham will be the pick at no. 1 overall.

hopefully today was the day Thome and PK broke out of their slumps. Both Thome and Konerko have been putting much better swings on the ball so far in the past week than they have all season, IMO, and hopefully the hits will start falling for them. Both Thome and Konerko are so much better hitters than what their stats have been so far this season.