caulfield12

Feels like the Dodgers series all over again. Poor Hector. As much as we've downplayed the need for a closer and how easily replaceable they are, it hasn't proven to be the case this year. That said, we didn't foresee losing Jones and Lindstrom, either.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:26 AM) Well it certainly isn't Warren Newsome or Don Wakamatsu. I think you mean Warren "The Deacon" Newson...

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:49 AM) These were definitely the right calls, although the more I see the Italy foul it looks less and less expulsion worthy, I realize he was given the red card more his intentions than the actual hit but it makes the ref and overall fifa look bad that he gave the play a red and nothing came of the Suarez debacle later in the game. Clearly, none of the refs saw it...you almost think with his reputation now, they'll have a camera soon that focuses JUST on him for the entirety of the game, and then report something to the officials down on the field that might have been missed (like in the crowd/scrum on a corner kick), somewhat like the baseball replay system.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:29 AM) This is the second time I've seen you refer to Ravelo's health being an issue. Where are you getting this? He's had two short stints with minor injuries, missing a few days once, and once a few weeks. How is that a health "issue"? Anyway, let's be more direct - the question is about Ravelo's home run power very specifically. He gets tons of XBH, more usually than most Sox prospects. His Iso SLG this year is .151, which is pretty good but not great... but the good news is, he already has 5 HR after hitting 4 all of last year, and he can hit the ball a long, long way when he gets a little loft on it. He's a line drive hitter by nature, so really he doesn't lack power in the tool sense - he lacks home runs. At 22 in AA, he's on pace for about 10 HR, so progress is there and I think there's a good chance it develops much further. For that matter, if he keeps hitting .300 and getting on base .400 and keeps up his typical 40-double on a full-season pace, that alone might get him there even with only 10-15 HR a year. Can we honestly imagine Ravelo at 1B/DH, Gillaspie at 3B....god knows who in the middle infield, then Eaton and maybe Micah Johnson or Marcus Semien in LF? That's a recipe for another 99 loss team. In 2012, Ravelo only played in 76 games. In 2013, 101. By my count, that's around 85 games or so he's missed out in terms of his development over those two minor league seasons. In 2012, he was a mid-season all-star for Kanny, so that means he missed significant time in the 2nd half. This is also his first season in three where he's been healthy for almost the entire year, at least up til this point.

Don't see a problem with either call. As for Liverpool and Uruguay, they've got a real mess on their hands.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:24 AM) How about everyone stick to sports and back off of the personal attacking? I'm assuming you mean other posters and not Scott Boras?

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:15 AM) Baseball America just ran 10 hitters who might be better than you think at #4 was Ranglo Ravelo. Did they really spell his name like the movie "Rango"? That would have been hilarious, in an article featuring someone few prospect experts outside of Soxland even know about...and his name is/was misspelled. "Might be better than you think?" Nobody even thought he was a bad hitter, ever, just that he wasn't going to hit for enough power to play a corner infield position and that he had problems staying healthy for an entire season.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:16 AM) I thought my Felipe "Soggy Burrito" Paulino would have garnered more hatred, but I threw it out there in a gamethread during a Felipe Paulino start, so no one was paying attention. El Canon/The Cannon thing isn't really catching on, either.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:14 AM) Yeah, a this point, I don't make this move. Pre-season, before he had a bad start, I probably would have. Why would we have traded for him then when we already had four outfielders, and DeAza seemed superfluous at the time?

I'd definitely put it in the top quintile of TUC's pantheon of humor attempts this season. Ronald Taco Belisario doesn't work, because that was Jorge/George Bell's nickname. Although maybe they could start a promotion with Chicagoland Taco Bells to give out two free tacos for each blown save...or for successfully converting saves...whichever one costs the least in terms of redemptions. Ring the Belisario is quite lame, since we already had Takatsu's Gong, which was awesome although vaguely racist. Hell's Belisario? Jelly Belisario? Yellow Belisario? (something having to do with the Civil War, when awols/runaway soldiers were termed "yellow bellied" cowards) Ronald Belisario Dancer Goggles DUIsario

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 06:30 PM) Sssh And an OPS of 639 on the season. Which is still 119 points behind that noted slugger Gordon Beckham.

Gillaspie with a nice job of beating the shift there.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 06:15 PM) As bad as some say Beckham has been, there are only 2 players taken after him in the first 112 picks of that draft with a higher career WAR, Lawrie and Kimbrel, and only one picked before him, Posey. And if you were Scott Boras selling that information (as his agent), it's still not going to get us a premium pitching prospect back in trade. DeAza, fwiw, 20 for his last 50. Nevertheless, he's continuing the trend of Alejandro being Alejandro. Don't see Hahn getting bowled over with any trade offers because of his lackluster numbers overall. Can't quite get that knockout punch in. With Quintana out there, you sort of expensive a crooked number following some defensive lapses, or a bullpen breakdown, or some combination of both.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 04:54 PM) They continue to use him but he most likely will not be top 100 next year. He strikes out at a 35%+ clip besides hitting below .200. He is over his head in AAA so far. On the other hand, with power at a premium, and guys like Mike Trout K'ing in the top 10...30-35% is becoming more the new "normal" than 20-25%. He does have a 650 OPS now, which is a huge improvement from where he was a month ago...and is on a pace for around 20-25 homers in a five month season. Nobody's arguing he's that great for the moment, but he's still one of our top hitting/power prospects, especially at the upper two levels of the minors.

DeAza. SIGH. What's new? Nothing like taking the bat out of Beckham's hands on one of the few times in his career you actually want him at the plate. That's 19 infield hits already for Adam Jones. You'd expect that more from Eaton.

MUST DEFEND SOX SYSTEM RANKING AT ALL COSTS!!! Intruder alert, intruder alert! You're more likely to get him to rank the White Sox 30th just to make you more upset. In reality, there's no way to "prove" anyone wrong online unless you just take their rankings and systematically look at them 3-5 and even 7-10 years down the line and find out how far it's off. Even the experts are wrong 30-50% of the time. With the proliferation of these online "experts/bloggers/professionals" who probably haven't even seen half of the major leaguers play, let alone the majority of prospects, it's all to be taken with a massive grain of salt. The last time the White Sox system was #1, we ended up with almost nothing to show for it in terms of major league results, other than Garland, Buehrle (who wasn't even that highly-rated, naturally) and having the pieces in Reed/Olivo/Morse to make the Garcia deal.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 02:39 PM) I hope they don't. Semien came up struggled and now he is struggling worse in AAA. Bringing him up in April may have resulted in a lost season. Bring up Micah and Sanchez in September so they get as much time as possible in AAA. At this point in late June, neither one is even playing the same position on a consistent basis. Both have been bounced around although the last week Johnson has been moved to 2nd. But that bumped Sanchez to 3rd and Davidson to the bench. Which makes ZERO sense unless it's only once per week...you don't take a Top 100 prospect at a position where power is at a premium (and you're in the bottom 1/3rd of organizations still) and sit him for players who are more likely to become utility infielders or 4th/5th outfielders.

Or Danks already "peaked" again over his last 5-6 starts...his peripherals have merely caught up with him and we're stuck with the 4.5-5.25 ERA version for the next couple of seasons. There's that very real possibility. Usually, a Danks quality start has 3 runs given up since 2008...of course, there's times when he's given up 0-2 runs, but a lot more of the 6 IP/3 ER variety because of his high pitch counts.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 07:22 AM) Newsflash, those do show up statistically. How? He has a very good opportunity to throw out a runner from short LF and holds onto it instead, worried more about Mauer tagging from 2B to get to 3rd. I'm 99% sure that ended up being the winning run in that game, actually. So who is making the determination that his defensive rating will suffer or not based on that play? Or bunting at the end of a game the other night...for another example. There are literally 100-125 examples that everyone who posts in the game threads in the last season and one half can recall from him specifically.

Here's another one, RC/27. 18. Abreu 37. Dunn 79. Ramirez 108. Eaton 139. Viciedo 146. De Aza 167. LAST If you trade De Aza, you're just going to get salary relief, MAYBE. Viciedo at least gets you back SOMETHING, like an Ackley or Smoak or Domonic Brown, another team's change of scenery candidate.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 06:54 AM) If the Sox don't get another outfielder via trade, I'd keep De Aza over Viciedo. Reasons being: 1) De Aza has demonstrated he can be a better than league-average player with 3 straight 2+ WAR seasons. Even this year with a horrendous hitting start (fueled by a lot of bad luck), he sits at 0.0 WAR. 2) Viciedo is rocking a career WAR of 0.2, and his WAR for this season is -0.3, because when he doesn't hit, he's a liability. And his hitting is getting worse every year. 3) I don't think it's optimal to sell De Aza at this point. The horrendous hitting start means his numbers probably won't look as they usually do by the trading deadline. I think it's worth giving him one more year (again, assuming the other choice is Viciedo and not a new outfielder acquired via trade) and hoping his numbers look more like they usually do and trading him then. The arguments against this would be a) he'll earn more than Viciedo and b) it's not like he's going to bring in a haul next year anyway even with regular numbers, but I'd still do it. 90% of the things we hate about DeAza aren't showing up statistically...brain cramps in the outfield, throws that are mysteriously not made, defensive misplays that are not ruled as errors, base-running issues, etc. He's just not a fundamentally-attuned player...for example, bunting at the end of game the other night. Giving DeAza one more year at age 31 just means we have another declining veteran player whose example we don't want the youngsters to emulate. How many times when we need to advance a runner does Alejandro seem like he's giving himself up or trying to either pull the ball or go with it depending on the circumstances? How many times have we referred to him as "smart" or "heady," like an AJ or Jose Valentin out on the field? At best, DeAza is a 4th outfielder on a really good team moving forward, and plays only against RHP. At worst...well, we've seen it for the first half of this season. He's also no longer as much of a threat as he used to be on the basepaths. We might end up dumping both DeAza and Viciedo. There's no doubt with the lack of power in the major leagues today that Dayan will get at least 2 more chances with other organizations to fulfill his promise, if not three. For DeAza, he's much closer to the 4th/5th outfielder or AAAA player than a contributor or part of a contending future White Sox team.

Eaton needs to be a 750ish OPS guy to have the type of major impact we need in the leadoff spot. He's at 703 this season, and 705 for his entire major league career. However, in five minor league seasons, he was at 949. We're not going to get a 900 type of player, but we expected 750-825. Adam needs to be more of a threat on the basepaths as well as cleaning up some of his throws in the outfield...sometimes he hesitates or peers in for a step before throwing, and his throws have been pretty inconsistent, but the main positives he brings are his speed/hustle/attitude, not his arm. Plus, we desperately need a leader on this team (among the position players), and Eaton's the best candidate since Abreu's the "strong and silent follow my example" type, much like Konerko.

THREE UP SS Tim Anderson, White Sox: When the ChiSox drafted the 20-year-old Anderson with the 17th overall pick in last summer's draft, everyone knew he was toolsy but raw. There figured to be some developmental bumps in the road as he turned those tools into baseball skills, but instead he is hitting .303/.332/.480 with 16 doubles, seven triples, five home runs and 10 stolen bases in his first 61 High Class-A games. Anderson's power has played better than expected and his defense at short has made huge strides. The only concern is that he's a total hacker (61/7 K/BB), but otherwise Anderson appears to be more advanced than initially believed. from cbssports.com

Right now, we have to assume that our rebuilding core is Sale, Abreu, Quintana, Eaton and Avisail. (And Rodon). Along with those names, we're probably stuck with Danks...and Petricka, Nate Jones and Daniel Webb would undoubtedly still be part of the bullpen picture, along with Nieto in AA/AAA. One must logically assume Konerko, Dunn, Scott Downs and DeAza are all gone. Finally, Leury Garcia, Sierra and Javy Guerra, not sure anyone really cares one way or the other whether they're in the minors or majors.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 08:11 PM) This is simply a game of chicken right now. Boras is likely asking for every possible dollar above slot that doesn't require the loss of a draft pick, while the Sox are probably offering slot exactly. At some point, Boras will blink and Rodon will end up with slot or just above because they really don't have any leverage here, as going back to school would be an incredibly stupid decision. Like Wite said, the odds are 99.9% he signs. Then again, if the White Sox were to lose another 4-5 in a row...it wouldn't put more pressure on the White Sox necessarily, but they (Boras/Rodon) would have that leverage of the fact that if he doesn't sign, it's going to be crushing news for an already depressed fanbase looking for some signs of hope (for the future) in the 2nd half.