caulfield12

Definitely depressing when you start looking up the Sox top tier prospects and read over their minor league numbers so far this season....brutal. Courtney Hawkins might be on an even worse trajectory, after starting off his career with such promise (ala Jared Mitchell).

Shades of Jim Parque near the end...will never forget that four homer game by Mike Cameron.

I've been hearing that "relax" line ever since the 2000 rotation started to fall apart in the second half of that season...obviously, you don't idiotically run out and overpay, but you need to be more proactive this year (perhaps more than any other) because it has been 4 years since our last competitive team and everyone who followed the team through 2003/2006/2008/2010/2012 knows how critical starting pitching can be in the 2nd half. They were VERY fortunate to have Latos fall into their laps at the last minute for a bargain basement price, or the situation would be close to dire. Counting on Latos with those peripherals to recreate Loaiza's 2003 or Contreras' Aug, 2005 - May 2006 isn't particularly wise, either. At any rate, I don't think anyone in that front office is feeling a false sense of security about the starting pitching right now, or resting on their laurels. In the end, the ONE season we should have been able to RELAX was 2005 the final week, but not after having the --IT scared out of us the three prior weeks by the hard-charging Indians.

But you can't have a repeat of 2003 (and Lip mentioned 1996, which I don't remember as clearly) where you lose 85% of the starts from the fifth starter. Kenny Rogers for the Twins (relatively cheap signing) was single the biggest difference in that 2003 season. Nightmares will result from reading the list of all the guys who had a shot to start in the fifth spot and failed in epic fashion, as well as in 2010 and 2012. At least we did manage to win the one Gonzalez start, but we've already given away four games in the Danks spot in the rotation. Just an incredibly reasonable expectation of 1-3 in those games puts the Sox record at 17-6, for example.

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Apr 28, 2016 -> 08:55 PM) Does Danks have a son? If so, does he want to start bringing him to the clubhouse? The Sox can easily fix this situation if the right pieces fall into place... Seriously though, Danks looks like toast. I highly doubt they will flat out release him at this point, but something needs to be done. Maybe they can call on a phantom injury and see what some combo of Gonzalez, Johnson, Beck, or Carroll can do in the meantime. Sox really need a traditional long man out of the pen to help the 5th spot out. I really don't see Danks being able to win more than 5 games if he stays in the rotation all year. Maybe we should (at least temporarily) keep anyone affiliated with the country music industry/Nashville away from the White Sox...one thing that LaRoche and Danks both share in common.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Apr 28, 2016 -> 08:41 PM) On 2 days rest? Nah When did Gonzalez previously pitch for Charlotte? I meant starting Danks in the game against TOR Gonzalez gave up 5 runs in and then holding Gonzalez for this start against BALT. It doesn't really matter, because Danks would have been massacred by the Jays and we might have been swept by their reawakened offense. As it stands right now, we just woke up a zombie-like Orioles team. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. They tried to get ahead of it by pitching Gonzalez against a team that he'd been relatively successful against in his career, and that Danks had been destroyed by.

Yeah, and I'm sure part of that also must have been related to the passing of Robertson's father. Hopefully, long-term, it brings the team closer together. Talk about bad timing for Danks, though...the Orioles only had scored 5 runs in the their 4 games (1.25 per game). We woke them up and pushed them back to a 3 RPG average, haha. Oh well. If it forces the White Sox to finally make a move instead of sacrificing every fifth game, that's the best outcome to hope for. Tmrw we have a "no name" pitcher with pedestrian stats. Historically, that has meant the White Sox would struggle against him. Let's see if anything has changed. UP NEXT White Sox: LHP Carlos Rodon (1-2) is to make his fifth start on Friday. He pitched a scoreless inning in his only other appearance at Camden Yards on April 29 last year. Orioles: RHP Mike Wright (1-2) has a 6.23 ERA in three starts and 17 1/3 innings this season.

QUOTE (SoxSteve @ Apr 28, 2016 -> 08:20 PM) True but last year in Atlanta he hit 39 doubles and 379 OBP. Not bad At some point, they'll have to do something if Garcia's OPS is still in the low 700's. The last thing they're going to do is overpay in early May for Nick Markakis when he'll come back down to earth and they'll eventually have to send money the other way to clear an open spot for a player who will be part of their long-term future in the new ballpark. Having watched hundreds of veteran players come into Chicago at least 2-3 years (others more like 3-5 years) past their prime career seasons, I've come to expect realistically expect disappointment rather than over-performance since that's been the case 85-90% of the time since I started following the White Sox in 1979. Every once in a while, you can catch lightning in a bottle, but it's pretty darned rare that it's sustainable. For example, Markakis being 4/5 tonight with 3 RBI's and now 11 doubles on the season. Somehow, someway...that wouldn't be happening on the White Sox when they're in first place and sporting the best record in baseball.

Seems like the White Sox would have been better off throwing a motivated Miguel Gonzalez against his former team, but that would still have meant sacrificing one of the Blue Jays games and maybe that series doesn't end up as more than one win. In retrospect, it's hard to imagine Erik Johnson doing MUCH worse...or Beck. Then again, maybe not.

Markakis is a fine "complementary" player at this point in his career. The only question with him is how highly motivated the Braves are to get rid of that contract, as they've done with Bourn and Swisher already. There's something like 3 years and $30-32 million remaining. As far as making statistical comparisons, you're much better off looking at his last two seasons in Baltimore than one month in the NL East. While he has always maintained very high OBP rates, his power has fallen off precipitously, and his formerly Gold Glove level defense has degraded to well below average. What that's worth to the White Sox, I'm not sure. They would probably be more interested if his contract was expiring after next season...fwiw.

Sonny Gray is available for the entire White Sox farm system, basically...A's are going to get a king's ransom if they auction him off to the highest bidder.

I thought Danks was pitching on Friday? Hmmm...well, this is a game that our "win expectation" is probably about 25% despite the winning streak. I guess the worst thing to happen is burning through the bullpen, but, as mentioned, there might be a rainout or two for recovery.

Well, the Reds have Hamilton and the Royals have Gore/Dyson, but I'm not sure if the tradeoff would be worth it since Hamilton simply can't get on base often enough. Hamilton, Jackson and Eaton with Melky DHing against RHP would be the best possible defensive alignment. Three CFers in one outfield. But you're giving up a lot of power potential at USCF, the obvious downside. You can get away with a Pods when you're receiving decent power numbers from nearly every other position on the diamond (Dye, Thome/Rowand, Konerko, Crede, Iguchi, Uribe, Everett/Thomas, etc.) Not sure what the cost would be at this point, the Reds might be reaching the point where they're willing to cut bait but they have a rebuilding season, so there's nothing to lose by giving him at least 3-4 more months this season to turn things around.

You can look at the "slump" in White Sox fielding or general level of play in the last couple of months in 2012. Or Dayan Viciedo from 2012 to 2013...let's just say that one excellent player (Omar Vizquel in 2010 impacting Alexei) can change the mindset of the entire team, and the opposite....guys like Viciedo, DeAza and Ramirez spreading their more boneheaded mistakes like a virus to the point where the entire team became lackadaisical, Rios too, at times. Rios could play near great defense when he was motivated...and, at other times, he could drift into apathy if the team's record wasn't competitive or he was mired in a slump offensively. Obviously, it wasn't just a Hispanic issue, because last year you had Eaton, Gillaspie and Flowers, to name a few...all struggling at different points. Carlos Sanchez, by and large, was our best defender. Abreu, Avi and Melky, not so much. Once again, though...I think some of the credit has to go to Renteria and/or changing personnel from past years and moving on into the future.

And that's where this whole idea falls apart, regardless of whether he could actually come up and make an instant impact offensively, which is clearly arguable. Let's say they asked for, let's say, Petricka and Jordan Stephens. Now maybe the White Sox bullpen chemistry wouldn't be affected in a major way, but it would still be a risk, because then Webb or Kahnle would be taking Jake's place and Stephens could be a sleeper who suddenly puts it all together and rises. Fwiw, I thought about Putnam, but he was already on the Cubs before, or Jennings...but Petricka sounds about as realistic as any in terms of an ask.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 28, 2016 -> 02:00 PM) Great news here: Jeff Nuich ‏@JeffNuich 5h5 hours ago .@CSNChicago posted its HIGHEST-RATED #WhiteSox game in OVER TWO YEARS last night; peak = 115K Chicago mrkt homes. To put it into perspective, the Cubs averaged 49,000 two years ago and the White Sox 37,000. Last year, the White Sox were around 26,270 per game, so that's an incredible jump of 438% over last year and 311% over two seasons ago. Obviously, it's only ONE game, but it's a nice trend to set in April during a weeknight. Of course, this year the Bulls and Blackhawks were out of it early, that's another factor, one could argue. Then the Cubs jumped up 122% last year to a 3.32 ratings share (112,317 average, although still down from 4.19 in 2009, note that doesn't include WGN/ABC for 24 games). According to Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily’s semi-annual look at regional sports network ratings across the 29 U.S.-based MLB teams, using Nielsen data, the playoff-bound, 97-win Cubs had the second-biggest ratings increase in baseball at a whopping 122 percent with a 3.31 rating for their 83 games on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. That is the equivalent of 112,317 market TV households watching per game, according to a CSN Chicago news release, which credited the Cubs with a 3.32 average. Speaking of room to grow, the White Sox were the lowest-rated team in baseball with a 0.82 average TV rating. Their 29 percent decrease from last season was the fifth-worst in baseball. Only two other teams finished with an average rating below one point: The Oakland Athletics (0.91) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (0.95). The Dodgers are still having distribution problems in the Los Angeles market. Thanks to a lot of buzz about their offseason moves, the Sox actually had the eighth-biggest attendance increase in baseball at 1,051 fans per game. But their per-game average of 21,947 was the fifth-worst in baseball, according to ESPN and Baseball Reference information. http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/jon-greenb...ox-lowest-rated The opposite ratings trend happened on the South Side this season. Despite finishing the 2014 campaign with its lowest paid attendance total in 15 years, Sox ratings on CSN Chicago increased 4 percent to a 1.15 average rating, or just more than 37,000 area households tuning in per game. That placed third-lowest in baseball, according to Sports Business Journal, ahead of only the Los Angeles Dodgers on the new (and sparsely carried) SportsNet L.A. and the Houston Astros on Comcast SportsNet Houston. Overall, 12 MLB teams showed annual increases in ratings, while 16 showed decreases — the most since 2008, according to SBJ. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/201...-on-csn-chicago

Lots of "freebies" on Frebis Night....the minor league marketing people have to figure out a way to work that one in. Or they could give away frisbees autographed by Shingo Takatsu. Or "freebase" cocaine off those frisbees, if that's the pronunciation.

Well, one thing's for sure, when he came up in critical situations later in the game against the Indians, MacAllister was throwing all gas at him...nothing offspeed he could wheel on and pull. The major test will be if the typical Korean "slider speed" bat can handle fastballs, especially up in the strikezone.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 28, 2016 -> 08:42 AM) I am not sure where someone would look at the Vogelbach numbers and say he needed MORE time at each level. Only AA, and that's debatable, certainly, because he spent so much time at the lower levels that it's understandable he was finally jumped forward this year. If he was drafted by the White Sox, he definitely would have been at Kannapolis in his second year and pushed to the Carolina League in his third year...

QUOTE (vandy125 @ Apr 28, 2016 -> 08:36 AM) Just saw him put one over the scoreboard a couple of days ago. That being said, I can't imagine him trying to roam LF. That would seem like a disaster. Well, yeah. If I was Epstein and Company, he'd be traded, so would Schwarber as soon as he'd re-established most of his value. They do need a LFer still, and Baez, Soler, McKinney and Almora will all get cracks at it. Let the best man win, as they say. Almora probably needs to be playing CF to take advantage of his defensive ability, so it's possible if Almora hits adequately you move Fowler to LF as well, but that probably won't be happening in the middle of this season.

He has 1,557 minor league AB's. Avisail Garcia has over 2,000 in roughly five minor league seasons. Worth noting is they had roughly the same number of AB's (215) in AA... Vogelbach has had a pretty normal progression for a high school kid. Took him two years to get out of short-season ball (Northwest League and AZ), whereas the very top high school prospects almost always move in one year. At any rate, the #20 prospect for the Cubs is probably not on the Top 20 list that Hahn and Company have compiled. And the Cubs aren't just going to give him away simply because he doesn't have a place to play in their organization, as much as it would be nice if the world worked that way for blocked players. Looking at their careers, it's easy to argue Avisail needed more time in the minors, and the same can be said for Vogelbach, but at least his numbers offensively partially justify the quicker promotion/s. With Avi, it was more based on raw tools and projection/s, rather than actual results.

861 vs. 729 career MILB OPS, Vogelbach vs. Garcia (693 MLB)...pretty appreciable difference Trayce Thompson at 748 (845 MLB) for comparison, 699 with LAD

Moustakas has 7 homers and Perez and Hosmer are both hitting pretty well. The offensive issues for the Royals are mostly Cain and Kendrys Morales right now. And yeah, basically flipping Soria for Madson hasn't worked well at all. Would have been much better off keeping him, but he had the opportunity to return to closing work (like in Philly and Toronto) with the A's so hard to blame him when he was the 3rd or 4th option in KC after Davis, Herrera and kind of split the 7th with Hochevar when he returned.

He's normally around 89 to 90 MPH for his fastball. Farmer and DJ mentioned he was having issues in the dugout as early as the 3rd or 4th inning. Guess he also dealt with back problems in the spring. At any rate, his fastball velocity being on a downward trend the last 2-3 seasons has been noted by quite a few scouts. “I put the ball exactly where I wanted it and he (Navarro) put a good swing on it,” said an atypically sour Estrada after the game. The 32-year-old right-hander was seen favouring his shoulder in between innings and he conceded after the game it “didn’t feel very good” but refused to elaborate. toronto star

Who the heck is Brad Brach? Brach's Candy fortune? Guess we'll find out soon enough if the Orioles are leading. By the way, this is the high water mark for the White Sox record-wise since late September, 2012. At one point that month we were 15 games over .500. Then you have to go back to 2010 and 2008.