caulfield12

Jones makes a nice play in CF...sliding catch. Yet another flyout to Jones. Kopech settling down now and in cruise control mode. Third ball hit hard to warning track, Jones yet again. 60 pitches, fast inning finally, pitching to contact. Flyout to Basto. Grounder to 1B, unassisted 13 consecutive retired, make that 14. Five k's. 70 pitches through five. Must be his lowest pitch count to this point (through 5) of the year. Keon Barnum also sent down. Clifton the #8 Cubs' prospect, hard to say how he's doing as the Barons' lineup is so anemic. 12th round pick, signed for only $375k. 6th inning 1-3 putout, 15 in a row. Pop up to Bueno at third. 16 in a row retired Nice changeup to get second strike. Finally a base hit through 2b. First hit for the Smokies. Kopech throws over to first at 100, pissed he gave up first hit, reminiscent of Sale. 7 k's now, 86 pitches. Will have a very short leash to start seventh or be pulled...doubt Barons will score. Would be first time all season he pitched into 7th. Nash barely missed going yard.

Did they release Hawkins? Every Barons hitter at 698 ops or below except for Hunter Jones.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ May 19, 2017 -> 02:00 PM) ? You quote that a starter is at 92 pitches in the 4th inning but shocked he is taken out? haha No, just that he only gave up two runs and managed to throw that many pitches with five walks. No MLB manager would allow four consecutive innings with that many pitches piling up.

That would be hilarious if they signed him ahead of time in another time zone. Strike three called. Two k's. Routine fly to CF. 5-3 groundout to Bueno, Trey's replacement. 36 pitches through 2. Fly out and strike 3 swinging, blocked. 3 k's. Leads SL in k's. Kopech also leads Southern League BAA at .149. 4 k's. 51 pitches. Apparently every single meal Kopech eats is especially pre-prepared in a box with only healthy foods. Announcer claims he is much more mature and organized, alluding to last year and social media stuff.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ May 19, 2017 -> 05:52 PM) Yeah, just having some fun with you. I like that you've been posting detailed updates in the games threads. So how's the weather in China this morning? Compared to Chicago, much hotter and very humid where I live, which is Wuhan, a city larger than a Chicago you've never heard of. In fact, we have two skyscrapers going up at 95 and 86 stories to rival Willits and Hancock. Kopech' best average fastball velocity game has been 97 so far. 0-2 count and should have been strike three turns into a walk on four consecutive balls to lead off hitter. Wild pitch, runner to second. Batter K's swinging, Baez steals 3rd. Catcher couldn't hold onto ball, but Kopech not really paying attention. Infield in. Another walk. Umpire is squeezing him based on pitch trax. Interestingly, threw 2-2 changeup to cleanup guy. Fielder's choice, couldn't turn DP. 1-0 Fly out to RF. Run scores without benefit of a hit.

The Trey M. Era over before it started. Demoted to WS. That was supposedly one of their scouting coups. Nash and Bueno moved to BIRM to shore up that putrid offense. 13-28.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ May 19, 2017 -> 05:29 PM) Caulfield, where are you with the in depth reports? I'm dyin over here. Just woke up Sat a.m. here in China...will try to follow Kopech. I think we can forget McCarthy/Hudson track with Dunning for the time being. Advanced A is a huge jump, followed by even bigger one to AA.

Jared Kushner personally calling Lockheed Martin to "make a great deal" on a weapons package for the Saudis http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/jar...rtin/index.html Can't be any potential kickbacks there. Just doing it out of the goodness of his heart, like similar situations in the construction industry. Free land for a Trump resort in Riyadh? I guess nobody cares that most of the 9/11 bombers were using Saudi passports. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and utility diplomat, Jared Kushner, shocked a high-level Saudi delegation earlier this month when he personally called Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson and asked if she would cut the price of a sophisticated missile detection system, according to a source with knowledge of the call. .... While calling the head of a major defense company and simply asking for a lower price is widely considered an unorthodox negotiation tactic, Kushner's hands-on approach has drawn comparisons to when then-President-elect Trump criticized the stealthy F-35 fighter jet for being too expensive and Hewson gave her "personal commitment" to cut the cost of the program in February. And the details of how the call took place also provide a window into Kushner's role during negotiations with the Saudis and the range of his influence on matters of foreign policy as a whole.

Butler threw 92 pitches in 3+ innings. Five walks but still an ERA of 2.00, yeah yeah SSS. Wow. Montgomery already on in the 4th.

Does anyone NOT believe the Miller speech on Islam in Saudi Arabia will not set off political fireworks around the globe? Donald Trump’s first foreign trip as president doesn’t start until Friday, but it’s already suffered a few setbacks. He's supposed to stop in Israel during his four-country, nine-day trip. But already his plan to visit and give a speech atop the ancient mountaintop fortress of Masada has been scrapped. Why? Because he won't be allowed to land his helicopter on the site, Newsweek reported. SEE ALSO: Trump plans to do a live Twitter forum in Saudi Arabia. But really. The UNESCO World Heritage site can be damaged so landings are banned. Trump was set to take a cable car to the top, as visiting U.S. presidents before him have done, like George W. Bush in 2008 and Bill Clinton in 1998, according to the Jerusalem Post. But Trump doesn't do cable cars apparently, so the Masada visit is canceled and instead he's speaking at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, according to Newsweek. Yahoo.com/finance The other excuse from WH, it's "too hot"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/blog...licans/?ref=yfp Watching the downfall of a Generation of Washington Republicans. I think Kasich has to be one of the front runners again for this reason...will throw out Will Hurd from Texas as another name that's growing in national stature. Nikki Haley might be too damaged by the end of all this.

The Indians had two full teardowns, after 2001. That was defensible. But they never recovered from the loss to the Red Sox in 2007, and then watching that team get torn apart when most of them were still in their primes. People absolutely hate that ownership group. And then their homegrown superstar saw his career go off the rails, in Grady Sizemore. Sabathia, Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee were dealt. Then the 2008-09 recession hit Cleveland especially hard.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 19, 2017 -> 07:02 AM) This is pretty important after years of the recovery debates. https://www.economy.com/dismal/analysis/dat...-It-Used-to-Be/ If you broke it down into Rust Belt, Deep South and Appalachia....you'd still see some huge anomalous areas that don't fit with the coastal trends quite so well.

That will never happen. We're not going to "assassinate" Kim Jong Eun. If anything, we would confer with China and they would execute a military coup with as little bloodshed as possible and replace him with someone from inside their military before they could figure out a more concrete, long-term plan. War is MUCH MUCH more likely the way things are setting up over Iran and Iraq than North Korea...especially with anything possible during this planned foreign trip and Trump always going off his prepared remarks/speeches and "riffing" on the topic of the day.

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp#elem...s=1495227482698 For the record, the White Sox are 9th in MLB ERA, and that's throwing sacrificial guys like Dylan Covey and Pelfrey out there 40% of the time. 3.98. Who's just ahead of us?, the Cubs at 3.91. It's also with their "best" pitcher in Jose Quintana battling inconsistency with a mid 4's ERA. Pitching has not been the problem.

Tied for 10th with the Braves for worst record, percentage points behind (or ahead, depending on your perspective). One game out of worst record (TOR/KC) in the AL and 3 1/2 games ahead of worst record in the majors (SD, 15-27).

Yeah, not really upset. Jennings sucks, so there's that. But Kahnle, Anderson, Davidson and Avi Garcia had pretty decent games. Covey at least covered six innings this time around. Melky is back to a sub 600 OPS. Frazier at 658 (almost back above .200 at 198) and Anderson at 669. From a rebuild standpoint, it's pretty close to a perfect game. Did anyone really expect Jennings to keep it a tie game? The bullpen probably needed the rest anyway.

The White Sox are scrappy, at least. The managing has been less than stellar, but we've been right there in most of these games and demonstrating the ability to battle back late despite relatively anemic overall offensive numbers. This was predictable for anyone who has seen Dyson scoring the winning run late for the Royals against the Sox the last five years...only thing missing was stealing 2nd and 3rd.

No, sending to Giolito won't help much because he already has a relationship with McCatty from Washington...unless that breaks down for some reason.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 18, 2017 -> 10:12 PM) Davidson is going to stick in the same way as Holmberg; teams will need specialists. They'll make carriers out of it. Air conditioners in Indiana? Passenger pigeons? Ball carriers?

How has Davidson looked defensively at 1B? Theoretically, if you could pencil in Davidson and Avi, that makes a huge difference. Abreu. Anderson. Moncada. That only leaves catcher (Collins), 3B (Saladino/Sanchez/Delmonico for now), RF and CF to fill. That's a lot more manageable than trying to find 6-7 position players. Don't think Yolmer Sanchez will be able to hold 3B due to arm, but it's a possibility. You still have the draft, MAYBE a huge signing this weekend, Otani, Basabe, Adolfo and lots of trades to come.

Engel deserves some playing time in the second half of the year if he continues his ascent hitting-wise. He fits the mold of scrappy/solid defense...likely placeholder. Would rather watch him than Tilson, in all honestly. LF Avi (Delmonico/Davidson) CF Leury/Engel/Tilson RF W.Garcia (Delmonico?) Doesn't seem like Rymer Liriano's coming around. Also, don't see any sense in giving Raburn at-bats unless they were trying to showcase him for a deadline or August trade.

Leury increasing his OPS in the most interesting way this game. Boog Powell's son? Wow...Hawk must be going on and on about the concession site at Camden Yards.

Wonder what our record would be if we still had Sale and Eaton (for the first 30+ games before the injury)... First place? Also wonder if Rodon would have been treated any differently by the medical/training staff if the Sox were "actually trying to compete" from Opening Day.

Leury, Sanchez, Avi (962) and Abreu are the only hitters worth a dang... Davidson all the way down to .218 but a still respectable 745 OPS (well, the defense at 3rd is another matter entirely). Doubt anyone could have predicted THAT particular development in the offseason. Anderson batting average all the way up to .242 now, but OBP...well, you can't win them all.