caulfield12

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 05:51 PM) That's what some people say but it is there for a reason. Boggs was cut because he sucked in the spring. Plenty of people think Jordan Danks has shown his worth because of his spring. That, and the fact they could put Boggs at Charlotte to fix to try to fix things at that level while still keeping Cleto. Arguably, spring training did matter, in the sense that Cleto throwing so well (96-98 MPH already) opened a lot of eyes and they knew they couldn't pass him through waivers without losing him.

Dakari Johnson was REALLY good....calmed and poised, in place of Cauley-Stein last game. I think it was Carlesimo who said Randle was forcing things over and over again, putting the ball on the floor and getting stripped or turning it over, Johnson stayed within himself when KY got down. Not a HUGE loss like one of the Harrisons or Randle would be.

Wilson Betemit's a different situation. He was a busted prospect from another organization, and he wasn't sitting with a guaranteed $4-5 million contract. And Beckham was a legit Top 20-30 prospect in the majors at one point, compared to Semien being on the outside of the Top 100. Semien wasn't even in/on most organizational Top 10 lists before 2013. Two years ago, Tyler Saladino was Marcus Semien.

They're not going to just dump or completely bench DeAza and Beckham. Hahn will wait until/unless he can get a reasonable return, if possible.

So we have to change the thread, Boggs released but back on minor league deal...he gets hot, my thread title is still POSSIBLE, but Boggs is now behind Jones/Lindstrom/Webb/Belisario and probably Cleto as well. That said, a LOT of things can change in the span of 2+ months. Just like we're seeing with the first round draft pick decision.

Or Matt Bullard.

What is the reason for Rodon's struggles with velocity? Mechanics? Soreness/injury? I hope there aren't any steroids rumors with him...that's always one issue that will be conjectured, whenever a pitcher has a mysterious/unexplainable velocity drop.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 11:46 AM) If you want "weak hitting catchers in their early to mid 30's who can probably give you a couple years while you look for a better option" there are again going to be several available as FA's next offseason. Kurt Suzuki, Russell Martin, HGeovannyH,Ryan Doumit, with some other veterans like John Buck, AJ, Olivo, David Ross who could fill in some time if needed. And that's not counting trade options. Is Doumit back to catching again? He was always used more as a LF/DH with the Twins, but now that Mauer's playing the field and Kubel's back...just haven't been following the Twins as much. And is Olivo still on a major league roster?

Finnegan should be closing in on the Top 10.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 09:42 AM) It's true but you have to look at some of the guys that were drafted in my opinion. Semien can hit. Johnson can hit. Anderson is drawing rave reviews from prospect guys and scouts. Look at some guys that aren't so good: Walker, Thompson, Hawkins, Mitchell. They were all raw toolsy types. It appears that the Sox organization as a whole has difficulty developing these types of players but there is a chance that these guys would not have developed anyway and there's still time as well. One of the biggest problems was JR's reluctance to spend on the draft. Kenny believes in drafting high upside toolsy players that have a chance to be stars in baseball. JR didn't want to pay the appropriate bonus $$ to secure these players. The outcome of that predicament is drafting the Keenyn Walker and Trayce Thompson's of the world. And Fields, and Borchard, and Brian Anderson, etc. It's not about taking toolsy players, it's finding the right ones (see Trout, that everyone missed on). Or signing Puig/Cespedes/Soler/Despaigne, etc. It seems the Twins have done a better job of that than the Sox, although it's not like Span, Revere or Hicks has set the world on fire yet. We'll see with Buxton. He's supposed to be the "once in a generation" type of talent in that organization, the best since Mauer. Of course, the Twins have had the opposite problem developing pitching.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 07:30 AM) Basketball is much different than baseball and humans 7 feet 6 inches tall wind up with physical problems often. Cuba isn't trying to develop players to sign multi-million dollar contracts in the US. Besides if it was so abusive and Cubans age faster, how do you explain El Duque and Contreras, who both pitched until they were about 40 and some insiders swear 50 years old? I'm talking players like Pods, Jose Reyes, Chone Figgins...Roberto Alomar also comes to mind. Not pitchers. They are developing players to win international tournaments and the Olympics.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 08:50 AM) Yes they can, if he handles the position defensively and we get quality production out of 2B, 3B and LF, which we haven't in a while. Anyway, if he hits 190 again, a marginal upgrade won't be hard to find....just no reason to use resources for a mediocre player at this point. But then you're assuming that Eaton, Garcia and Abreu are all as good as advertised. That we can find a competent replacement for Dunn. That Semien will hit the ground running and/or Alexei Ramirez will still be around, because replacing him won't be easy either, especially defensively. Plug in Carlos Sanchez, Keppinger (unlikely), or Leury Garcia at SS and you're going to be getting a bottom 10-20% MLB offensive player in 2014 or 2015. Bigger than the offense, though...is the skills that Hanigan SUPPOSEDLY has in terms of handling the pitching staff, particularly a group of mostly youngsters (Price is a veteran in a way, but not in terms of age).

In MLB, there's no such thing as "runaway" spending...Paul Sullivan (tribune.com) http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-pr...,0,517316.story http://www.bringmethenews.com/2014/03/17/twins-ticket-sales/ Despite hosting the All-Star game, Twins might have fewer tickets sold this year than in their final Metrodome season in 2009.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 07:18 AM) Do you have any links showing the abuse 13 year old baseball players take in Cuba? Well, since most are written in Spanish...Bjorkman would probably have some insight. And someone writing a negative article about baseball factories in Latin America isn't exactly going to receive a warm reception from the folks down there. I'll give you an example from basketball, though. The Chinese national team/government absolutely killed Yao Ming.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 07:06 AM) He has been a back up most of his career. Hit under .200 last year and is 33 years old. I think he would fall under short term at best upgrade that Hahn wasn't interested in this past offseason. Maybe they're making the mistake of touting every Friedman move these days as genius. Obviously, they themselves have been about as bad with catchers recently as the White Sox with 3B or developing hitters in the minors. However, that's one position where a more veteran leader really could have helped the White Sox...as well as buying more time for youngsters to develop or simply finding the right "younger" franchise type of catcher Hahn surely is looking to build around. The White Sox rotation is basically in place to win, if not now, at least in 2015. The White Sox can't afford to have the worst catcher in baseball again that season if they realistically hope to compete.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball...nsin-final-four Great story on the relationship between Bo Ryan and his father...and how his father passed away without seeing his son get to the Final Four. I especially liked the baseball anecdote thrown in there. Classic coaching/motivational move. As for lottery picks, I would rather have Payne than Harris, but I don't think either's going nearly that high.

The catcher It's very possible that the most important catcher to change teams this winter wasn't Brian McCann or A.J. Pierzynski. It might very well have been Hanigan -- picked up from the Reds in a three-team deal that included the Diamondbacks, then locked up to a three-year, $10.75-million contract. "They've been looking for a catcher forever," said one scout. "And this guy might be the best catcher they've ever had." Hanigan's selling points: Big-time defensive skills across the board. A lifetime 40-percent caught-stealing rate. A .786 career OPS against left-handed pitching. More career walks than strikeouts. And a reputation as a superior leader of staffs. "Getting a guy like that, that's huge," says Maddon. "I mean, why is he huge? Talk to him, for like five minutes. And then watch him play, for like one inning. And you know the impact this guy can have on your team, because he's skillfully good, and then he's just totally dripping with intangibles that you want out of a catcher." Jayson Stark with ESPN.com uses Hanigan as one of his primary reasons for the Rays to reach the World Series and win it all. Is he being grossly overrated, based on the comments of one or two scouts? Did the White Sox simply pass...not have the right talent match to make the deal...are we missing something here? Just curious what everyone thinks, since his name didn't come up very much as an option...of course, he wasn't a FA, but as a back-up catcher a lot of teams were after, I suppose. Mostly, we talked about McCann and Saltalamacchia. And his contract is MORE than affordable, it's less than we're paying Keppinger.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 12:57 AM) Rasmus is basically De Aza with 7-10 more homers. I wouldn't load the truck for that. Ideally we'd like more power in LF anyway Rasmus hit 22 homers in only 118 games. Projected out over 162 games or 600ish AB's, that's 30+. Not to mention that he would be a "plus" defender there, or push Eaton out of CF to LF. (That's not such a huge issue unless Eaton's arm is not back to 100%).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 05:28 AM) Kids in warm weather in the USA play all year as opposed to those in cold weather climates who don't play half the year. It doesn't make them an old 31. They're not pushed from the age of 14-16 like those kids in the "baseball factories" in Latin America. And those kids play all day long, after pretty much being forced to drop out of school. It is their job, and the future of their family, at stake.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseba...on-ticket-sales Reds owner blames media for lower ticket sales....maybe our marketing dept. should try this one? http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseba...ith-knee-injury Surprise, surprise, Carlos Quentin to begin the season on the DL with knee injury

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 12:12 AM) I just hope Semien takes the job. Any idea on Beckhams value if any? Probably the equivalent of another Leury Garcia, a Top 8-12 prospect in another organization....especially like the Rangers, that are desperate for a competent veteran 2B for half the season.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 09:23 PM) Random thought: if UK loses tomorrow there's a chance this ff has 0 lottery picks, that's kind of crazy. Maybe McGary after next year. Napier will get drafted, but nowhere near the lottery.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 10:03 AM) Players love Alford. He has always been a player's coach, for better or for worse. For some reason, he never was able to relax at Iowa, and I guess it goes back to the expectations of the 2001-02 team with Recker/Reggie Evans and falling into a 5-13 Big 10 record after being Top 10 in January that year. Then Pierce. Then Northwestern State. Tyler Smith leaving for Tennessee and former Iowa assistant Bruce Pearl didn't help much. For that matter, I think the attrition rate of players transferring or getting kicked out of the program must have been 55-60% when he was at Iowa. That was one of the biggest knocks. He never seemed to do those "fun" things like he did at SW Missouri State, like having a wiffle ball tournament in the gym instead of practicing, free throw shooting contests against him...he's brought that same feeling to UCLA, at least for now. If I had a $1.00 for every personalized "Steve Alford is an arrogant bastard/SOB/d--k" from people living in Iowa City, I'd be well on my way to my first million at this point. I think he just felt Iowa was beneath him, and that Indiana pride and the arrogance never set well with anyone. It's okay for him to have that kind of swagger in SoCal, as long as you back it up with on-court results. I'm sure he grew a lot out of the Iowa situation, because he has done a much better job at New Mexico (minus the NCAA tourney wipeouts until this year with UCLA) and his one year in Westwood.

Great game...two crazy calls at the end. Guess I didn't jinx the B10 yet. Bo Ryan deserves this coaching achievement...have always watched with admiration and secretly wished Iowa could have developed a program like Wisconsin now has.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 08:49 PM) Jackson always runs that play at the buzzer. He's hit maybe one his whole career Just like his dad. Should have gone to Kaminsky or Dekker.