BearSox

Nice, Obama is taking 3,000 secret service agents with him to Egypt... According to wiki, there's only 4,400 sworn secret service agents. I don't know, but 3,000 seems a bit excessive. I just don't get it. Doesn't a president usually bring maybe 50-75 agents with him on a trip like this? He's bringing his own small army down there with him. And those 3,000 aren't including all the military personal that usually comes with him. Maybe he's planning on doing a surprise take over of Egypt?

bump... I want to hear more opinions about the idea of trying to trade for Rolen.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 08:09 PM) I think just Michael Young is a great comp. In his prime, Young was a .315, 20 HR, 100 RBI and 15 SB. That is about what Beckham hopefully can produce in a couple years. Young has hit 20 HR twice, and driven in over 100 once. Plus, he's never stolen more than 13 bags in a year. However, he's been around .315 or higher most of his career, outside of his first couple seasons and last year.

I gotta say, not impressed with what the Pirates got back from a statistical standpoint. Morton seems like he could be solid. Hernandez could be a decent guy but hits for little power and doesn't walk. Locke is meh. If we wanted McLouth, we could have easily gotten him. I'd venture to say that Poreda would be a better haul alone then all three of Morton, Hernandez, and Locke.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 06:09 PM) Andrew McCutchen is their future. They are also high on Brandon Moss. And hopefully Walker and Alverez etc.. when theyre ready/everything goes right. Thoroughly unimpressed with what I saw from Moss when the Pirates came to town. Also, for such a top prospect, McCuthcen has put up very "meh" numbers in the minors. I'll wait until I see him play in the bigs to make more of a judgment though.

Good trade for both teams. McLouth was the best pure hitter I saw on the Pirates when they came into town, but he isn't anything special. He should consistently hit a solid .260-.270 with a .350-.360 OBP, around 20 homers, and 90+ driven in, and around 20 SB. Pretty good, but not jaw dropping. I think he's best suited for the 5 spot in a lineup. Not the teams best hitter, but a good run producer. The Braves didn't give up any of their top guys, did they?

QUOTE (Cali @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 07:52 PM) I'm sorry, but Beckham has "it". What ever "it" is, Gordon has it. He's just a gamer f*** all this "it's too soon" crap, he's ready.... Some guys can just hit, doesn't matter what level or who they're facing. It's looking more and more like Beckham might be one of those guys. For Beckham, if everything pans out with him, I'm predicting something of a cross between Kinsler and Michael Young. The power and speed of Kinsler with the pure hitting ability of Young. That's a stud of a baseball player right there.

I'll say Whisler...

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 07:13 PM) Why wouldn't you buy it? Because you're a rebel? It's practically a universal consensus. I'm not saying roids weren't a factor, i just thing a crap motion and Dusty Baker didn't help. It's not a universal consensus. I, and many other people still think he had pretty near perfect mechanics. And I don't believe the workload Dusty Baker gave him didn't ruin him either. He was a work horse in high school and college, and he was still young when Dusty used him as much as he did. I believe the whole movement saying it's poor mechanics that ruined his career started because he got all these injuries so people began to over analyze his mechanics and look for anything in his mechanics that didn't look perfect and read too deep into it. No pitcher has perfect mechanics. You can look at most pitchers mechanics, and say "Oh that's adding unneeded stress on their elbow", but that very pitcher could have been injury free for the past 10 years. If he was all natural, I'd say he'd have limited injuries and still be an ace for the Cubs. However, I think he was just another product of steroids who fizzled out because he got off the juice.

That's just stupid. He's still throwing plenty of balls, still walking hitters, but he's been getting away with it cause he's a 40 year old vet facing guys who are in AAA for a reason. If he has a really good outing, fine. But if not, there's no reason to keep him on the MLB roster. I once said maybe we should try and have him move to the pen, but after thinking about it, that ain't gonna work either. We'd have to start warming him up 2-3 innings before we actually need to put him in. Plus, he's the type of pitcher who usually got stronger after the first couple innings. If we plan on moving Richard back to the pen and giving Contreras his spot, that's just f***ing stupid.

No use to even keep Miller in the organization. You keep him in the organization, and there's still a chance he'll return, like Jerry Owens.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 06:54 PM) All of Prior's detractors pointed to his mechanics coming out of college. There's strong evidence that they contributed to his shoulder problems that and colliding with Marcus Giles. The connection is obvious and it ain't roids. Prior's mechanics were as close to perfect as you can get. I ain't buying that stuff about the inverted W and so on. Look at Prior's injury history. It's not one thing. Its his elbow, its his shoulder, its his hamstring, its his obliques, its his back, etc. Also, it's never the same thing with the elbow or shoulder. One year it's elbow tendenitis, the next it's inflamation, and so on. He's been injured all over and have had a bunch of freak injuries. That's a big time indicator that he was a steroid user. Plus, there's his tremendous drop in velocity between the years of when the MLB started enforcing doping penalties. And if you say that's because of his arm surgeries, how do you explain the severe body mass change in Prior. If you look at pictures of him from 04 and look at him now, his lower body is simply not the same size and is a lot smaller. I'm sorry, but this guy was a definite PED user, IMO.

Hopefully we send him back down after that game. He really hasn't shown anything in Charlotte except that hitters in AAA are in AAA for a reason.

Call him a b****, kick him in the balls, and run like hell!!!

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 06:48 PM) Yep. Actually posted that in the AL Central thread if I can find it. Though I gotta say.. Prior was really something special till Dusty Baker f***ed up his career. EDIT: Found it. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...69983&st=15 Prior was a PED user no doubt. When he had to get off the juice, that's what f***ed up his career, IMO.

I've been reading more and more about this guy, and I really like him. If he's there at 23, I really want him now. He's a baseball guy and loves the game, is a potential 5 tool player (maybe 4 1/2 depending on how much power he develops), and he might even be a switch hitter. I just wonder if he will stick with switch hitting once he enters pro-ball, or decide to stay as a righty... I suppose it depends on which team drafts him and what their scouting department thinks.

I think there's a good chance he'll go in the top 15. He's been really impressing with the bat lately, and he's really an advanced hitter for someone coming out of high school. With his 40 homer potential, his ability to switch hit, and possibly staying at the hot corner, he's just a really sexy pick right now.

Florida probably has the most HS talent this year, and I read Schuster really impressed at the Florida HS all-star weekend. I really like the idea of drafting him in the middle rounds, and trying to refine his mechanics.

Looks like he's fallen into the 3rd round range, if not farther. He'd be a great pickup at 102 for us and a very similar pick to our usual pitching picks in the past 2 years. Someone with really good stuff, but needs refining.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 04:15 PM) Anyone think we might target Oliver from Okl St with our first pick to fill the void of potentially trading Poreda and/or Richard? Boras client, so I doubt it.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 05:56 PM) As I'll quote a scout, he has a good chance to be "The modern-day Griffey/A-Rod with the bat at catcher" (IRC, some teams look at him as a shortstop as well) He has that kind of talent. I'll say this. no high schooler has ever been this talked about since those two that's for sure. The only recent guy that was even a scratch of this much of being hyped about was Mauer. And Mauer was over shadowed by Prior that year as well. IIRC, a lot of people flamed the Twins and called them idiots for going with Mauer over Prior.

Bailey might have fallen out of the first 2 rounds completely, and maybe even the 3rd. If we could get him in the 4th, and pay him above slot to sign with us and not go to college, that'd be awesome.

There's been some increased talk about him being better off at pitcher, but I still like him as an OF.

He seems like a guy we might be targeting at either 23 or 38. Great arm, but has some inconsistencies/mechanical flaws and needs refining, similar to Poreda, Hudson, and Carter. Kyle Heckathorn is in the same boat, and I'm gonna do his draft report today.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 03:34 PM) A combo of Michael Bourn and Corey Patterson seems like a very bad baseball player. Bad comparison. He's been compared to Michael Bourn, but he isn't as fast but has a lot more pop. That sounds a lot more like Corey Patterson. He's a very high risk, but potentially a very high reward. Pretty much a boom or bust player, as I don't see much middle ground with him. I thought about Granderson as his comparison, but Granderson was lot more polished when he was coming out of college.