caulfield12

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.

Knowing Hahn's propensity for risk aversion, he's going to go for the proven veteran (KW/Ventura preference too), like a Markakis/Bruce/Kemp/CarGo, depending on the financial analysis working out. Yadiel Hernandez would be a nice piece to add, but from everything you read, his upside is somewhere between Leonys Martin and Rusney Castillo. From watching what Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales went through in 2014, it just seems nearly impossible for him to be impacting the major league roster before August or September, and that's with him signing relatively soon. Remembering back to 2012, the first player we had a shot at was Orlando Hudson, who was dumped by his team at the time. It feels like we're going to look for a similar bounceback candidate where we have little to no financial investment, like an Allen Craig, Pablo Sandoval or Josh Hamilton situation. Carl Crawford would be another example.

Knowing Hahn's propensity for risk aversion, he's going to go for the proven veteran (KW/Ventura preference too), like a Markakis/Bruce/Kemp/CarGo, depending on the financial analysis working out. Yadiel Hernandez would be a nice piece to add, but from everything you read, his upside is somewhere between Leonys Martin and Rusney Castillo. From watching what Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales went through in 2014, it just seems nearly impossible for him to be impacting the major league roster before August or September, and that's with him signing relatively soon. Remembering back to 2012, the first player we had a shot at was Orlando Hudson, who was dumped by his team at the time. It feels like we're going to look for a similar bounceback candidate where we have little to no financial investment, like an Allen Craig, Pablo Sandoval or Josh Hamilton situation. Carl Crawford would be another example.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/i...-need-a-big-bat The bench of Saladino/Sands/Sanchez seems extremely thin for the moment...Sands is the obvious one who eventually needs to be replaced, as Saladino has to back-up the entire infield and is fine as a PRer as well as a defensive sub. Avila will replace Sanchez. Then the "big bat" comment for the 1,000,000 time...and the usual suspects in CarGo, Bruce, Kemp, etc. How long can Rollins, Avi, Navarro and Jackson last as nearly everyday players? Then the other obvious issue, poor Mr. Danks. Schoenfield notes that Turner/Johnson probably won't be much better. Didn't realize the 1906 White Sox "Hitless Wonders" put up a .230 BA and only 6 or 7 homers the entire SEASON. Just wow...talk about "dead ball" era. The 2000 or 2006 offense could beat those numbers in one game.

"I think they are legitimate and will be contenders all year." - @JimBowden_ESPN on White Sox pic.twitter.com/QVMQnBYGmG With Brantley back, Cleveland's dangerous again. Now, if they can only figure out what to do with Trevor Bauer...as long as they have Tomlin and Cody Anderson in that rotation, it's suspect on the back end, and Kluber still hasn't quite found that magic touch he had in 2014. And Gomes will take at least one-half season to get back his timing from missing most of last year due to injury.

While that's logical enough for the White Sox, what's the incentive for the Cubs to help the Sox? And there's still the question of what prospects we could package outside of the Top 3 that would attract not only the Cubs but other teams around MLB? http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...itting/2016/ALL He's essentially a lesser version of Kyle Schwarber, but those minor league numbers are impressive. If I'm the Cubs, I might be tempted to get the most that I can for Schwarber next year (via trade, after proving he's recovered) and then plug Vogelbach into LF instead. Granted, they are going to have to figure out where they want to play Bryant, Baez, Almora, McKinney, Soler...at least three of those players SHOULD be traded to shore up other areas of weakness. I'd agree that your option is much more palatable than Shuck, Fields, Davidson, Ishikawa, etc. http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...itting/2016/ALL There's also a chance for an unknown like Coats or even Nicky Delmonico in BIRM. He's been on an absolute tear recently.

That guy is huge. Another former Cub blocked by Rizzo. Is a DH/1B worth Adams? He only has one homer this season (so far)...and a .777 OPS for his career. Considering the league change, I don't think the White Sox would be willing to give up Adams unless it's going to be a significant upgrade over Garcia. Of course, Avi's lifetime OPS isn't even over 700 (.693), so one can argue about how valuable an upgrade he would be. With how well the Sox are playing right now, they're unlikely to do anything to change up the roster chemistry on the offensive side unless they start to fall backwards to the .500 mark.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 27, 2016 -> 09:27 PM) Q's velocity is as good as it's ever been and he's walking even less guys than last year when he dramatically cut his walk rate. This guy is basically a top 10 SP in MLB over the past three years nobody knows about it other than sox fans and some saber nerds. Thank you Yankees for having such a 40 man roster crunch and being cheap as f*** for letting him go. It's amazing how good he looks when he has a defense behind him that can actually make plays. That's the crazy thing about scouting. Guys like Quintana, Eaton (and Hector Santiago, for that matter), Abreu....now Latos. Have to be in the right place at the right time (see availability of Carlos Rodon) as well. Despite everything almost everything going wrong in 2014 and 2015, the White Sox are/were still just one hitter (Puig) or pitcher (Kenta Maeda) away from being one of the best teams in baseball. Damn Dodgers! We hit the jackpot with Ramirez/Abreu/Contreras and were lucky enough to not end up overbidding on Soler, Rusney Castillo and Y. Tomas.

Michael Brantley's back with the Indians... Michael Fulmer called up by the Tigers. Also, with the way Justin Upton's struggling with the Tigers, we just MIGHT want to find a DH who has a successful track record hitting in the AL. Jose Berrios got hit pretty hard by the Indians in his debut. But Byung Ho Park very quietly with 5 homers for the Twins (yet another DH candidate we had a shot at).

The really encouraging thing with Quintana is that he's pitching a lot more like the 2012 version when he first came up. More fearless, more confident in his fastball (sneaky fast because of that delivery) and he's worked on that curveball enough where it's keeping hitters off his combination of higher velocity pitches that are all within a 5-7 MPH velocity range. Before, he had a harder time putting hitters away when he got to two strikes...and it ALWAYS seemed that he struggled to close out innings with 2 outs AND/OR other line-ups would catch up to him in the middle innings (of course, that's typical of all but the very best pitchers, who get stronger as the game goes on). We know that Latos is eventually going to return to earth...the BA with RISP will pick up as well as the BABIP. Hopefully the K's will come back too, as he's at half his 2010-2014 K average per 9 but roughly around the same walk rate (2.7). That said, despite the offensive issues...the team's playing with so much confidence defensively and in their bullpen that it's having a positive influence on nearly every aspect of the game.

Also, as many writers have started to pick up on...."pitch framing" can quickly be turned from an advantage to a disadvantage in the sense that umpires (who are very sensitive about being "tricked" by catchers into calling strikes that should have been balls on pitch trax) have started to really notice and study these numbers, and so many of the more famous ones (it started with Russell Martin, then Cervelli in PITT) are actually getting hosed in an effort to correct or over-correct for this particular statistic. It's all balancing out and no longer the "difference maker" it might have been considered 2-3 years ago because EVERYONE is aware by now, especially the umps.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Apr 27, 2016 -> 04:27 PM) Isn't the shoulder problem, for which Eaton had the surgery, the reason he didn't have the same arm last year? It was his left shoulder, October last year...he and Aaron Hicks might have futures pitching, especially Hicks.

Nobody's running away with that AL West. Houston isn't going to deal Rasmus, because he's one of the main reasons they're not further buried and he's on a one-year deal so they will wait until the last minute possible in July. They're not going to dump Gomez unless they're 100% convinced he's done, and that's not a risk the White Sox can afford to take with some of his character issues (when things aren't going well for him). Plus, they already traded a pretty nice looking prospect in Domingo Santana to the Brewers...although there will be the typical interest circling around Tucker and Marisnick to a lesser extent if things don't right themselves in the month of May.

Unless the Braves are going to eat $12-15 million, the White Sox aren't going to be interested in Markakis...not with three years remaining on that contract. Freeman's a non-starter financially, from the standpoint of making him or Abreu the full-time DH and also that Atlanta needs SOME continuity going into their new stadium...plus, the return wouldn't be what they wanted, it would be another salary dump, so they will hold onto him and hope his numbers will rebound (see Matt Kemp/Ethier/CarGo, etc.) This probably is going to be another year where the contracts added are unusual situations (Middlebrooks forcing Youkilis out in Boston, Liriano wearing out his welcome in MN, Myers in Hou, Orlando Hudson in 2012) where their teams are willing or forced in the Youk situation to make personnel moves and the White Sox are willing to take on salary (more than giving up premier prospects). Or the more dubious Manny Ramirez acquisition in 2010. Luckily, there's the LaRoche cleared money to cushion the blow there. Wil Myers is an interesting name, depending on the price. Of course, the Padres would prefer to move Kemp's contract.

There was a really good article on John Farrell (can't find the link now) and how he needs an analytics/game-management bench coach, and how these "second managers" often don't necessarily have the requisite set of skills to be the head guy, but are often actually utilized for "managers in waiting/training" like Lovullo in Boston. With the White Sox, you'd have to at least partially attribute the return to 2012 style of play (defensively) to Rich Renteria. To me, the biggest one is Jackson/Eaton and then Melky at least being passable, which is 10X better than Avi last year (minus robbing a home run in July against the Yankees and a number of good throws). The most pleasantly surprising thing has been his arm strength and accuracy, which we rarely saw in CF for some reason. Frazier's clearly better, Rollins/Saladino a slight upgrade over Alexei last year, Lawrie's been better than expected (although still perhaps a notch below Sanchez, still much better than Micah, who pulled down overall positional numbers), Abreu's been mostly a non-issue (Sands has gotten more attention)....then we can argue pitch framing and Flowers vs. the veterans we have now, but at least both those guys tend to be stronger leaders, which is what we've been lacking in that clubhouse (of course, it's harder to be a leader if you're not playing well or hurt).