witesoxfan

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 14, 2014 -> 04:11 PM) Oh man, I didn't even realize he wasn't in our system anymore. We signed him when he was like 16 or something. I guess in 2013 with the Reds High-A and AA, he hit .287 with 19 HR and 31 2B. He walked 11 times in 534 plate appearances.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 14, 2014 -> 03:49 PM) I'm fine with him going to High-A. That's not a terribly huge jump. But they better leave him in High-A the rest of the season (barring playoff experiences). Jumping up again to AA in a couple months may be too large a task. Not saying you in particular, but I do find it funny that you mentioned it's not a particularly big jump from low A to high A (and I agree), yet people wanted Hawkins demoted to Kannapolis last year while he was going through his struggles because they felt his assignment was too aggressive yet Kannapolis would have suddenly fixed everything.

America

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 14, 2014 -> 03:22 PM) what is it is a Donkey named zoom fast are you drunk

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 14, 2014 -> 03:01 PM) Actually, I do believe that Spoelstra has become one of the best coaches in the NBA. I don't think he's a slouch, but off the top of my head, I'm taking Pop, Rivers, Carlisle, and Thibs over him in a heartbeat, and if I got down to really looking at it, there could certainly be others I'd take as well. My point being that simply because he doesn't have a finals appearance doesn't mean that Thibs isn't a top coach. You can have the best jockey in the world, but if he's riding a donkey, he's not winning the Kentucky Derby.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 14, 2014 -> 02:05 PM) Homer much? He doesn't have even one NBA Finals appearance. Do you really believe Erik Spoelstra is one of the best coaches in the NBA, or do you think that perhaps because he has the greatest player of the generation, plus a plethora of other talented players, that he's maybe just a guy in the right place at the right time?

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 14, 2014 -> 01:36 PM) I personally wanted to believe Semien was great thanks to his clutch hits. It's partly from being jaded for so many years with the lousy hitting of Beckham. I wouldn't lose any sleep if Semien is sent down or stinks. In fact, I kind of expect him to also be a bust. Compared to Beckham though, yes, I'd rather Semien take all Gordo's at bats. He's very fortunate as to where he was drafted. If Luke Hochevar hadn't gotten hurt he also would never have had trouble finding a job. High draft picks. It's like a top quarterback pick in the draft. It takes a while for teams to finally kick him out of football for good even if he's rotten. I mean, Dick Allen, tell me why anybody would pay Beckham more than 3-4 million a year down the road? His defense? Fine it's pretty good, but as they say, you can always find a second baseman somewhere. Even now in his 80 at bats he has six RBIs and is hitting .240 with a lousy on base percentage. He's average at best so I guess yes he'll always have a job. Luke Hochever was phenomenal as a reliever last year prior to getting hurt. Look at his numbers.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 14, 2014 -> 11:28 AM) If he goes unclaimed and then signs afterwards, the other team just pays the minimum, and we pick up the rest, correct? Yes. There is literally no need for him or any team to offer him more than the prorated major league minimum contract, and then he just chooses where he wants to sign.

The thing is, he won't be claimed (I have no problem saying there is a 0.001% chance of him being claimed). At that point, Keppinger has the option to decline a minor league assignment based on his tenure in the league. If he actually accepts the MiLB assignment (I'd say less than a 1% chance of happening), I believe his contract is still valid and is paid out like normal. Either way, yes, the Sox eat a little more than $7.5 mill (unless he doesn't sign anywhere, in which case it's $8.5 mill). And that's still only half of Adam Dunn's salary.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 14, 2014 -> 11:11 AM) Then might I suggest never drafting a high school pitcher because they will likely get hurt. Then you should never draft a pitcher. But you should also never draft a hitter because most of them are likely to flame out and disappoint. Obviously, you should take all things into consideration - injury risk based both on your interpretation and the nature of the position, the upside of the player, and his current talent level. If at the end, the best pick you can make is a high school pitcher, then make that pick.

That is crazy. I never thought they'd eat that much, but it shows how thoroughly unimpressed they were with Keppinger as a player and that, when they feel it's a mistake, they aren't afraid to eat a little money. It also shows how useless is really is to the MLB team with the depth they have.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 14, 2014 -> 10:48 AM) Drafting Turner/Gordon, we could lead all of MILB in middle infield prospects. Yay! Good.

I honestly didn't know who Nelvin Fuentes was. He was a minor league free agent who I had absolutely no expectations for. Seems the Sox like him, which means I'll be paying more attention to him moving forward.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 13, 2014 -> 12:37 PM) Ouch. Did he tell you guys that he could pitch, or was he the short straw He said he could pitch. He walked 4 straight and like 8 in a game before we finally pulled him. He blamed it on the wind, but it was plenty windy last night and I only walked 2 guys in 14 innings and I hated myself for those.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ May 13, 2014 -> 02:54 PM) Finally, left guard-turned-fullback Max Copeland had talked to a couple teams and was weighing his options. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/10/50158...l#storylink=cpy Max is fun. We should look at him. Let's share a look at him, shall we?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2014 -> 02:34 PM) Andrews said he used to do the surgery on 3 or 4 HS kids a year. Now he does 3 or 4 a week. He's 72 years old and still ticking. You'd think at some point in time he has to retire, don't you?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 13, 2014 -> 01:15 PM) Is there anyone who still believes Ventura is going to be the one who leads the White Sox to their next playoff appearance? Absolutely.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 13, 2014 -> 07:53 AM) Dan and I actually agree here. That's kinda rare. It's all 3 of us, which is crazy.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ May 12, 2014 -> 10:27 PM) The Fernandez situation is sad, but almost predictable, imo. In watching his highlights recently, it appeared that his slider was a very stressful pitch and that he threw it a lot. Haven't found the stats as to the percentages of what he was throwing, but he was falling off the mound every time. I know very, very little about pitching mechanics, but I figured this wasn't a good thing. Almost posted about it a couple days ago - I guess I would have looked smart. But this sucks, and is bad for the game, obviously. Something (many things) needs to change about the way these kids are being brought along. In the meantime, more changeups, less sliders, Mr. Sale please. The guy with the best changeup of this generation has had his career derailed by shoulder injuries. Just wanted to point it out.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 13, 2014 -> 12:02 PM) Do your pitchers usually NOT throw complete games? That's true, but we did have a guy who absolutely sucked who we had to pull from games a few times last year. Plus a lot of times you have two pitchers start games. It sounds way sweeter saying 2 complete games though. I feel like Wilbur Wood.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 13, 2014 -> 11:55 AM) I don't give up two picks, especially when you aren't a good team. You can talk about all the close games but that is the NFL these days. I don't think the Bills are a bad team and they did a lot despite having their QB done for the entire year but Watkins is not going to be one of the 3 or 4 best wideouts in the game. You are losing valuable depth, not to mention potential star power. The value of that potential first round pick is pretty darn high given the Bills recent history. You are still giving up a 2nd round pick at the very, very, very minimum, and likely the 1st, because you have to move up to #5 or #6 to get Evans. The Bucs weren't moving because Evans was the guy they wanted. Yes it's a high cost, but again, wideout was the absolute biggest need on the team. If everything blows up and a new regime is brought in with the new ownership, they have plenty of talent to recoup the cost of that pick. It's a win now move for a team that has talent to win now. People are just upset with it because the Bills went 6-10 last year instead of 8-8 or 10-6 which, as I pointed out, they could have easily done last year.

2 complete games [pitching], 7-8 with 6 runs scored, and we won a game for the first time as a team. Dialed in.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 13, 2014 -> 11:02 AM) You gave up another first round pick. That is a bad idea for a wideout, especially since most rookie wideouts don't make significant impacts. This reaks of being a bad move that the Bills will regret. They need him to be an absolute stud for it not to be a bad deal, imo. He is an absolute stud and a total game breaker. He's like a bigger, stronger version of Percy Harvin. The numbers might not show right away, but he's an instant impact kind of guy.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 13, 2014 -> 11:03 AM) Dez also wasn't a top 5 pick, nor were some of the other guys listed. Watkins is not in the same mold as a Megatron. I'd rather take my chances on a Mike Evans and have next years first. The Bills had the 9th pick!

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ May 13, 2014 -> 10:27 AM) Another reason I'm not big on the Watkins trade is that it's proven you can get really good WR in later rounds. Just look at some of the best WR in football. A lot of them were taken in 2nd and later rounds. Brandon Marshall Alshon Jeffery Jordy Nelson James Jones Greg Jennings Pierre Garcon TY Hilton Eric Decker Of those receivers, and countless others, which of them were ready to be #1 receivers in year 1? And which of them did you know were going to eventually become #1 receivers? People remember DeSean Jackson and Jordy Nelson, but they fail to recall Donnie Avery, Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly, James Hardy, Jerome Simpson, and Limas Sweed. Who could have figured that at draft time?