witesoxfan

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 11:39 AM) That is, if you believe he really injured himself. I believe he was embarrassed and faked the injury. That's what I saw too. He was angry with how poorly he was playing, and was faking the injuries. Just seems to me if his back was in real pain, he would have stopped almost immediately. I don't care how gutsy and tough you are, you are always told that if you are suffering from back pain, you stop immediately.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 11:30 AM) Mark Simon ‏@msimonespn 1h Lowest hard-hit rate among MLB starters Chris Sale 8.8% Garrett Richards 9.5% Cole Hamels 9.6% Doug Fister 10.2% Cobb & Wacha 10.3% Well he's all arms and legs, his fastball averages 93 and can touch 96, his slider averages 80 (a 13 MPH difference!), and his changeup comes in at 84. He's also using his changeup a lot more this year too - the fastball usage has remained the same from last year at 51.4%, but the slider and changeup have swapped places - slider usage last year was 29.6% with the changeup at 19%, while the slider is at 18.1% this year and the change at 30.6%. The result? K/9 has increased, BB/9 has decreased, he's generating more infield flies, the line drive rate is down, and as a result, the decrease in home runs allowed, despite allowing more fly balls, seems like organic growth and not an outlier.

Frankly, if the fastball is a 60-70, and the slider is indeed a 70-80, that changeup really only has to be a 40-50 for him to be a top of the rotation starter, and if he can improve it to above average, he can be among the best starters in the league.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 10:20 AM) More seriously, what would you say if the Phils asked for Starlin Castro back for him? That clears some money to offset whats being taken on in Hamels's deal and clears SS for Russell if the team has confidence in him. QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 10:21 AM) Not those two. I was thinking Baez+Almora+two small guys and pick up all but about $20m of the contract would be a mutually beneficial situation. Baez and Castro would have to clear Colorado and Arizona though. There's no chance in hell that would happen. Maybe it's something you look to discuss in the offseason, but right now that's as near of an impossibility as anything else you can imagine.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 09:52 AM) If I were the Cubs, I'd strongly consider throwing a couple of those big position prospects their way and trying to get a deal done. It's time for them to take a step forward and they've got the depth to do it without wavering from their course. And if it doesn't work out, they could trade him at any point over the next few years assuming he's healthy. Yes, I agree, they should trade Addison Russell and Kris Bryant for Cole Hamels.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 09:56 AM) General thoughts right now. Too high: Spencer Adams- Top 5 is a stretch for me for a high schooler in front of guys putting up some gaudy minor league stats. Francellis Montas- We only have ten starts to go by when it comes to being impressed. Matt Davidson- With so many guys having great seasons I wouldn't have been surprised to see him at ten or lower Micker Adolfo- Maybe not too high, maybe not too low but right now he's a crap shoot prospect who hasn't done anything in limited time. Cleulius Rondon- He will never make the majors with his current bat. He makes way too many errors as well for supposedly being a plus glove. I know MiL errors don't matter much but when it's you're one tool you better be Rey Ordonez. Too low: Tyler Danish- the second best pitching prospect in my mind with how he's dominated every level at his age aside from a 10 inning adjustment. Carlos Sanchez- Seems like a very high floor player. Hope we see him again soon. Trey Michalczewski- . I think he's a top 10 prospect now Kevin Smith- A catcher destroying the ball and can be up by next year? Sign me up. Nice to see Jace Fry in there as well. Really think he's going to be a good one for us. -Adams was a first round talent that fell, and we judged him as such. And, even if it's the AZL, he's putting up gaudy minor league numbers too - a K/BB of 20, K/9 of 12.6, and HR/9 of 0.9 are incredible. He's given up hits but that means very, very little to me personally in the AZL due to how inexperienced those fielders are. -Adolfo has hit for very good power as a 17 year old and at this point, that's what we wanted to see. Reports are that he has incredible measurables and you want to see that right way. As he improves and refines his swing, his consistency should improve as well. -By all accounts, Rondon's glove IS that good. He's also hit .252/.320/.360/.680 at A+ as a 20 year old, which to me is really encouraging. Rondon's a guy that's really only going to have to hit about .250 to have really positive value at the MLB level. -Regarding Trey, I'm really excited about him too, but his overall line is still just .273/.352/.439/.790 with a 3 K/BB and a 27.8% K rate. There is a lot of improvement needed there, but it has been an encouraging season thus far. I will follow up and say that I won't disagree if you feel that Danish is the #2 pitching prospect. Regarding the pitching prospects, it seems to me we have: 1. Rodon 2a. Adams 2b. Montas 2c. Danish 3. Everybody else

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 09:41 AM) Baseballs have a standardized weight. A weight difference would be a scandal I'm an idiot. Still, it would be interesting to see if there is any difference in the composition of the ball.

I think the biggest point of contention, by far, on this list is going to be Davidson. I think he'll remain right around this area for the next list too (depending on who the Sox bring in and ship out), but a lot of that depends on how he handles the end of the season, any fall instructs, and then any possible winter leagues as well.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 08:47 AM) I think you are going to see Jose's HR rate drop a bit as teams are starting to stop pitching to him. I also think his HR rate is really spectacular because I don't think the drop in HRs around the league is all fewer juicers. MLB knows that these guys have way more than enough money to stay a step or more ahead of testing. I really think they have deadened the ball a little bit which will give the appearance of a cleaner (PED-wise) game, even if there are many players still juicing, which we would have to be dumber than what some think of Robin's managing not to believe. Andre Rienzo appearances aside, the ball is not jumping anywhere near it used to. I think Hawk was on to something when he used to say the ball was wound like a superball. It could be interesting to tear apart a ball from 2000 compared to a ball from today just to see how much of a difference there is in how it's wound. Or, if you don't want the mess, to weigh them to see the differences there.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 08:42 AM) Supposedly the Cubs put in the line waiver claim on Cole Hamels... It's a good move. Nothing likely to come from it.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 11:49 PM) Nobody wants him. As far as Viciedo, I despise him, except for the occasions he makes contact and bashes one. Occasionally he really truly makes contact and sends it flying. I wonder why hitting coaches can make no progress with him. He must have some talent, considering the magestic bombs he hits once every couple weeks. Talent. He has never really appeared to see the ball well out of the pitchers hand, and a lot of times when he does, his hand/eye coordination is too poor to do anything with it and he ends up rolling over it, fouling it back, or popping it up. You could give me the 3 best coaches in the world, but I'm still not gonna hit .050 at the MLB level.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 07:10 AM) Someone is getting too excited about Rodon's start....guess it's more compelling than the big league team for the moment. That's not a thing. He's one of the best pitching prospects in the game right now.

I think he means in projectability and assuredness of making it in the majors, not talking about the ceiling. I don't disagree with that assessment. Semien has a major league approach at the plate and he's shown good power too. If nothing else, I could see Semien turning into a .230/.300/.400 type of player, which is a starter at the MLB level at 2B or, at the very least, a very valuable super utility player. I personally see him projecting better than that.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 03:38 PM) Full T25 goes up tomorrow morning. I'll update the thread and OP then. That will also have a list of the guys who received votes but fell short of the list (there are a lot of those this year for some reason). That reason is because the system is a lot deeper than it's been in the past.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 04:01 PM) Dunn has hit like a pitcher this series, as he went 0 for the series and is also now 0 for his last 15. Well, he is a pitcher, so it makes sense.

OMG SCORELESS INNING BY A RELIEVER

QUOTE (peavy44 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 03:32 PM) I never tho Robin was a good player he is one worst managers in all of baseball. You never thought Robin was a good player. Well, that settles that.

QUOTE (peavy44 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 03:13 PM) This team sucks when u lose 2 out of 3 to rangers padres astros d backs u know u suck when u win 2 of 3 against mariners tigers (twice) dodgers giants and 3 of 4 against blue jays twins (in minnesota) u know u good QUOTE (peavy44 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 03:16 PM) We should be 4-2 on this homestand and instead rick hahn did nothing at the trade deadline Do tell...which 4 should they have won?

HI EVERYBODY

QUOTE (QuickJones81 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 02:11 PM) In my eyes I take initial perceived talent, then offset by track record to date. This is where young guys get the benefit of the doubt. With less data, projections can still point you towards a high ceiling. Inevitably with time, and info, the ceiling naturally comes down, unless they are that ultra rare player who lives up to their hype. Think of how good Trayce's ceiling looked a few years ago. Now, with time, and more info you'd be hard pressed to find someone as high on him as they were back then. My take on Semien after seeing limited time in the majors is that he lacks the consistency at the plate to start everyday. He still in my mind could make a fantastic utility guy who could have his off days blend into the background, yet put together enough memorable moments to justify keeping him on the big league roster. I don't think our assessments would be far off, except that I think Semien can still provide value when he's not producing due to his ability to draw a walk. It just seems that once he gets comfortable at a level, he really takes well to it. He's has struggles with his average this year, but there's enough evidence to suggest that it may not be low because he's a bad hitter but because he's been unlucky.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 02:04 PM) A year ago I would have agreed with you. I think he is pegged correctly. I don't agree. If anything, he's moved up for me. He's getting very unlucky on balls in play - .238 BABIP in AAA right now where he's been .290-.320 for his career - and even still, he's actually increased his power production overall (ISO of .216 in AAA right now) while he has also improved his BB percentage. With normal luck, he could legitimately be hitting something like .270/.370/.500 right now. I hope he gets an extended look at 2B at some time soon, as I think he could be a very good 2B moving forward.

That looks like someone getting the wind knocked out of them. It was admittedly small, but it didn't look like anything was bent awkwardly nor did anything really snapped.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 12:29 PM) They said he wasnt throwing his hardest, he said he has 10 MPH left in that arm . To actually get into serious points about Adam Dunn pitching, FanGraphs showed that he didn't have a consistent release point. He probably felt that he has better control at 81/82 and he doesn't want to hurt anybody in a 15-0 game. It's all in fun, throw the ball, throw a couple breaking balls for s***s and giggles, let them hit the ball, find a way to 3 outs, and move on to the next day.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 12:13 PM) That's to the extreme, but if he has Romo's ability to evade within the pocket, that extra time for an NFL receiver opens up a lot of windows. I think he'll love the CLE tight end, forgot his name/won't look it up. I'm a Manziel apologist after last year, but I hadn't realized until this offseason how much ESPN had blown up his off-field news items. It will be good to get football back and all that crap can turn off. Seriously, "21 YEAR OLD KID LIKES TO PARTY AND GET DRUNK, IS HE SATAN REINCARNATED?"

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 11:52 AM) You are way, way, way too low on Marcus Semien. I agree, but it also depends on how we're laying this out. Like, if it's ceiling, I think you can say both Hawkins and Anderson have the talent to be superstars, but the likelihood either gets there is slim. However, I think the odds of Hawkins reaching starter capabilities is far worse than that of Tim Anderson. Personally, I'd probably drop Davidson down to starter and Semien up to star/above average, though I think those two should be separated.