caulfield12

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 22, 2014 -> 09:01 AM) If the Sox and Cubs switched prospects, there is no doubt the Cubs current prospects would be more highly thought of here. I hope Hahn wasn't being serious about taking a lower bonus guy with the 3rd pick just to have additional money for lower picks. The one nice thing you get with being awful is the chance to perhaps draft a future star. If you aren't taking the best player on your board with the 3rd pick of the draft, it makes no sense to me. Let's say it's Kolek from Texas. The fact is that we have a lot more leverage to offer him less money than someone like Appel (the situation with the Pirates/Astros). A collegiate junior already has had more wear and tear on his arm, and there's a lot of risk for regression (see Chris Beck, for example). If you go to university/junior college, you're going to have to wait 2-3 more years for that big payday, rather than one. And high school pitchers who are dominant tend to be riskier and peak early (the ones throwing 100 MPH already)...so they're more likely to want to take the money when it's there than bear the risk of a significant injury over the next 2-3 collegiate/jc seasons. You can definitely make an argument that Kolek could be the best player (certainly pitcher) on the board but that he would cost us less to sign than Rodon, Beede, etc. Then, that money saved could be reallocated to the type of kids like Addison Reed, Trayce Thompson, Beck, Jacob May, Danish, etc., that will improve the team's minor league depth tremendously down the line...

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 22, 2014 -> 08:05 AM) You're buying into the hype machine that MLB has started to create. An MLB draft pick isn't worthless, but it damn near is to a franchise that pulls in the revenue the Sox do. It is a great cover to give a fan base for not to spending money in free agency. There's something incongruous to targeting prospects in trades that are well past the midpoint in their development while in the same breath talking up the value of keeping draft picks. Not at all. You want your incoming "waves" of talent to be staggered, so that you can mix in 2-3 rookies/prospects with the 25-30 year old veteran core, supplemented by 2-3 veteran leaders. Otherwise, you're like the Royals and having to make desperate moves like the James Shields trade in order to compete in just a 2-3 year window before having to tear everything apart and start all over again. In the end, we've been rather successful the last 20 years in not bottoming out...at least until 2013. 2007 was a false bottom, and they were right to stay the course because of the 2008 and what should/could have been playoff seasons in 2010 and 2012.

QUOTE (StillMissOzzie @ Mar 22, 2014 -> 12:37 AM) I certainly understand the Sox not dropping any serious coin for a catcher if the assumption is that they will not contend in 2014. I still wish that this process did not include doubling Flowers' salary for his terrific 2013 season. But - what if it is June 1 and it turns out that Flowers' 2013 season was not just injury-plagued, but essentially his true average? I see a sea of green seats if the C spot is still a black hole and this issue does not get addressed. SMO Is that like the G-spot? The empty seats will be there regardless...even if we'd signed McCann...if the team is below .500. It wouldn't matter if we went to a lab with Agent Coulson and plotted the reincarnation of Pudge Fisk and Pudge Rodriguez, with a pinch of Johnny Bench thrown in for good measure.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 11:22 PM) The only return to be in any way disappointed over was Leury Garcia for Alex Rios, with Rios probably being a 3+ WAR player these days, but that was due to it being done on waivers after the trade deadline. It's likely the market just wasn't there for him because of his 2009 and 2011, although there were rumours of Hahn overplaying his hand and asking for Profar/high Pirates prospects. Either way, he more than made up for it with the Eaton and Davidson trades, Eaton in particular could be an enormous steal. Other GM's knew he wasn't in our long-term plans, and he certainly has a number of negatives attached to him...his sometimes surly relationship with fans, his "aloofness" on the field especially when things aren't going well, the 2009 and 2011 seasons, the fact that we still had to give them $1 million, etc. It turned out a lot better than it looked like after 2011, when we had around $35 million or so still due on his contract. Or just look at the situation with Nelson Cruz, how long it took him to find a job and the lower salary he's receiving. It's easy to say we should have gotten the Pirates or Cardinals or whatever team to accept our Rios deal...but we often never know exactly what was offered, so while it's nice to argue that Hahn turned down, say, Tabata or Carlos Martinez or Wong, it's all conjecture.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/2...;nclick_check=1 It was a bittersweet ending to a long day, waiting for this game to start, waiting to see who they play next. Waiting for the Tar Heels, who have three guys among their top seven who stand 6-9 or taller. “I believe in these guys,” Hoiberg said of his team. “We’ve got a heck of a task in front of us. We’ve got three guys that can dunk, and they’ve got all 15 of them. “We’ll definitely have to be at our best.” With the Cyclones’ most reliable inside scoring threat watching, his right ankle in a cast. Drawing a parellel to nearly the same thing happening to Chris Babb last (sprained, in that case, not broken, foot) year against OSU

QUOTE (scs787 @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 09:04 PM) It was Mercer, but I gotta go with Stone Cold Stephen F. Austin now...just cuz I know who I'm cheering for against UCLA. Same conference as Northwestern State...Alford hopefully is already reliving some past nightmares from 2006. Surely Shaka Smart is...not fouling deliberately in that situation.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 10:10 PM) You bolded the line in my quote that is the answer. They can buy young prospects, they cannot buy MLB breakout candidates. They got the guys they wanted. No one, anywhere, at all think the Sox lost any of the trades they made. Try to find one. I'm not sure that Eaton will end up better than Santiago, but they had no other choice...and this assumes that Quintana was always in their long-term plans for a contract extension and they weren't willing to part with him. Wait. They should have signed Erwin Santana and then bartered him at midseason for Eaton! DOH!!!

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 10:12 PM) I think you're forgetting how young Hawkins is. 2015 is his age 21 season. He's much more likely to get a cup of coffee in 2016 and really have a shot to stick in 2017. He could be there permanently for the first time in 2018 and still not be behind compared to average. Yes, I know all of that. We've been saying it about Trayce Thompson for 2-3 years and he's never really turned the corner to get to the other side. He could "make" the major leagues somehow...eventually...in the same way that Jared Mitchell might end up getting AB's if we lose or trade Jordan Danks, but not as anything resembling a real or true impact player.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 09:36 PM) Adam Eaton was the 48th ranked prospect last year, Davidson is the 78th ranked prospect this year, and Garcia was the 74th ranked prospect in 2012 (He would have ranked higher the next year had he not "graduated'). You act as though these "lesser" prospects are all, well, "lesser prospect", when in reality they are really good prospects. What did you expect them to get in return? Yes, they shortened the rebuild process, but it's still on going, this isn't a team that's a SP a way from contending. Let these youngsters get their feet wet this year, see where they are with guys like Beck and Bassit next year and if they feel they need a SP they'll have money to do so. You can't deny that they're at the very least moving in the right direction. All prospects not in the Top 25 are likely busts.

We could have traded our entire farm system for Buxton and Sano and we'd be a lot worse off than we are now with Eaton/Garcia/Abreu/Davidson/Hawkins... Some posters here constantly want to put all of our eggs in one basket with "swing and miss" free agents like Greinke, Pujols or Josh Hamilton just to pacify the fans. Or they want to turn around and do the opposite, which is take our one true superstar and turn him into 3-5 lottery tickets...the kind of trade that goes against you 8 or 9 times out of 10.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 01:50 PM) On the other side, Hahn has take a lot of risk out of his acquisitions by acquiring guys that are major league ready as they have at least ML level floors. He traded Peavy and received a ML ready talent in Garcia two lottery tickets in Montas a guy that projects as at least a high leverage reliever, and glove first SS and a third guy that has a chance to be a bullpen guy. He dumped almost $20M of Rios' deal for a super UT player. Not a great return, but it freed up money for Abreu. He turned a back end of the rotation starter and a guy that was going to be moved off the 40 man roster into a cost controlled lead off hitter that was a top 100 prospect before his injury last season. He turned a soon to be expensive closer into another top 100 prospect. He ran one of the best drafts in baseball last season as the Sox pulled in several guys (Engel, May, Mitchell, and Goldberg) who already showing good potential and the ability to move fast through the system. He signed the best power prospect in the international July 2 class. It would have been nice to grab Tanaka, but you can't financially hamstring the franchise to take a chance on a guy that has never played in the majors. I can not think of any really poor moves Hahn has made. He is setting up this team to produce its own talent, and when they are close to competing he has left the team the financial flexibility to fill in any gaps at that time. Santiago's going to be a lot better than Paulino/Rienzo/Surkamp, etc. I wouldn't define him as a 5 starter or Clayton Richard quite yet with his K/IP strikeout ability.

Iowa State was pulling away, then NC Central pulled to one down before Kane had a three point play and Hogue was left unattended on a putback. Looks like Kane was shaken up (hit his chin on someone's head?) but played through it near the end of the half.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 08:33 PM) "Extremely exciting" -- not just exciting, but extremely exciting. Just curious, what year are you talking about? Mid 2015, being very aggressive. I think Hawkins either explodes this season and we see him in 2015 or early 2016 or we never hear from again except from Buddy Bell testimonials/SoxFest/offseason puff pieces. Everything clicks and he becomes a star or he strikes out 175 times and never gets past Birmingham.

Don't do something stupid. Haha. 4 point play for SFA.....riding a 28 game winning streak, haven't lost a game since late November. And just survived a 24-3 run against them by VCU. Four missed free throws and a 3 point shot with a crazy foul...hit the free throw with 3.6 seconds remaining to tie. Amazing game, probably the best one of the tourney so far. Lumberjacks now have a two point lead coming down to the final seconds of OT. Haymon and Parker showing up huge. VCU barely misses a three at the end, just blew a 10 point lead late. Goodness gracious.

QUOTE (beautox @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 07:54 PM) Really well written piece. Eventually Beckham will be traded for scraps and hopefully Ramirez gets moved to the likes of the pirates or reds during the trade deadline and Sanchez and Semien take over the middle infield while Anderson and Johnson continue to develop. I have faith Hahn will address the catching situation this trade deadline or next offseason. I think we spend a lot of money going after the likes of Rasmus in the offseason. If Hawkins' season mirrors the 2nd half of 2013, then you can definitely see them throwing in the towel and buying an outfielder on the open market. But an outfield of Hawkins, Garcia and Eaton would be extremely exciting. Not quite ready to trust Rasmus yet. Would like to see him have a repeat of his 2012 success...and with that comes one of those $100+ million contracts that the White Sox have never given away, but contemplated with Tanaka (to go with the $68 million for Abreu). He didn't play under the media glare, in the heat of a pennant race last year. Would like to see how he handles the pressure of dealing with increased expectations and not flying under the radar.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 08:46 AM) Didn't they crush Wisconsin on the road too? Iowa had a heartbreaking loss in Madison where McCaffrey flipped out with an ugly technical and they of course choked away at the end...had the lead in the final minute in Iowa City and lost that one too. Not sure about OSU.

24-3 run (13-0)/swing due to VCU's press. Finally broken by 2 free throws. Running SFA off the floor. VCU hasn't been getting a whole lot of attention from the national press this year, but it will turn up again now that the NCAA's are here. Now with the Marquette and BC jobs open, Smart's name will inevitably be mentioned over and over again as the courtship ritual repeats itself...Jim Calhoun, Hoffman from Mercer, Hoiberg, Greg Marshall, Amaker, Mark Few, etc.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 03:31 PM) Hasn't walked once this spring. Would be interesting to look at the Texas high school kid, that throws around 100 Kolek. Hasn't allowed a hit yet this season, at least when that article was written. Hope he's not related to Colt Griffin or David Clyde. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-p...-170058989.html It's going to be an interesting debate. They're going to have to do their due diligence and make sure there's not a hint of steroid use or unusual physical growth, but this kid is huge and the comps to Clemens are natural. That said, there's always the Kris Honel/Jason Stumm argument against high school pitchers. The White Sox typically have taken the more polished, major league ready collegiate pitcher. This might be the first time they deviate from that pattern (or taking toolsy/KW-esque outfielders).

QUOTE (zenryan @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 06:58 PM) Mercer only because my friend played there about 10 years ago now and he's jealous that this team has surpassed what his team did back then. I've only been to Macon once, to see Andruw Jones play for the Braves in 1994 when he was a teenager. Also famous for Sherman's March to the Sea. Wow...what a show Cotton and the Friars are putting on!! The announcers saying Tokoto would have won the last two NBA dunk titles, haha. Stephen F. Austin threatening to knock off another Cinderella in VCU/Shaka Smart. Final thought, how good would Iowa or Iowa State have been with Marcus Paige and/or Harrison Barnes? Sigh.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 11:34 AM) If an 80 speed rating doesn't describe a burner, I'm not sure what does. That's Callis' take. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y20...=mm_mlb_players Hamilton's one of the fastest ever. Micah may well be the better hitter. I'm just going on everything I've read about him...and from those who have seen him play in person. Their argument is that 75% of his basestealing success has based upon technique, which will be exploited as he gets to the upper levels of the minors or the majors leagues as they start to "game plan" against him. I would just estimate he's going to end up a 25-35 steals type of guy at the next level, which means his defense has to improve or he's going to hit with 725+ OPS pop to really be a difference maker if he can't stick at 2B. The real question with Semien, Sanchez and Johnson is whether any of them are going to be legit everyday players. They all project to be better than Leury Garcia, but you don't have a surefire major league All-Star unless you could combine the attributes of all four of those guys. Johnson had a breakout start to 2013 by stealing bases at a mind-blowing rate. His unusual basestealing technique, which involves a walking leadoff, helped him steal 61 bases in 80 attempts in 77 games with Kannapolis in the first half of 2013. Lost in the hysteria around those numbers was the fact that he also hit .342 with a .419 on-base percentage and 34 extra base hits. It's impossible to nitpick the actual production, but he was 22 in Low-A. His July promotion to High-A Winston-Salem set him on a better track in terms of playing at an age appropriate level. Johnson's stolen bases are more a product of his ability to read pitchers and get good jumps than having top line speed. Johnson has good speed, but not the staggering plus-plus speed that typically goes with gaudy stolen base numbers. The key to his future will be his defense. He had 21 errors with the Intimidators, which isn't necessarily a red flag but something to watch as he progresses through the minors. http://www.chicagonow.com/future-sox/micah-johnson/

I would feel a lot better if Courtney Hawkins was back again as a legit prospect. We can survive without him making it, but it's the same kind of blow (if he flops) that Borchard was. It's not only one player failing...if you look at the Borchard situation, depriving the offense of a legit LH bat led to the eventual trade for Jim Thome (partially) and then later on down the line to Adam Dunn. Or letting Thome go, and the decision to go with Kotsay/Jones, which then led to 2010 and the signing of Dunn. Whatever happens, we have to be right as rain with that #3 pick this June, like we were with Chris Sale and not Beckham. It is worth noting that Santiago was drafted in the 30th round, Reed in the 3rd, Peavy was a salary dump for the Padres and Quintana cost us only a waiver claim...and those three guys turned into Eaton/Davidson/Garcia, a nice ROI, to go along with Abreu and Sale. Finally, it would be nice if the Viciedo of 2012 or the last few months of 2013 showed up.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 08:20 AM) That has absolutely zero bearing on seeding and rightfully so. See 2013 Kentucky. Pretty much completely different comparison here. The Cardinals were the #3 team in the USA Today Coaches preseason poll and picked to win American conference by the media and the coaches. The Cardinals returned 7 of 9 players from a team that won the 2013 NCAA Championship and both Big East regular season and tournament championships.[1] The team is lead by captains, All-American Russ Smith, 2013 Final Four MOP Luke Hancock and Montrezl Harrell.[2] [3]

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 08:10 AM) But a 22 year old who is in his 3rd stint in the majors. He's not pitching like a stud, so you don't pay that kind of price, imo. Boras client; near arb eligibile. That's certainly not who I would look for for Semien or Johnson - their value figures to go up a lot this season anyway. Pitching is always worth more than middle infielders...unless those MI's are 1) Gold Glovers, 2) capable of putting up 20+ homers or 3) going to steal 70-100 bases. Let's just put it this way. Billy Hamilton is ranked what, 64th, as a top prospect? Micah Johnson doesn't have nearly that type of burst, and it's likely his SB numbers will fall quite a bit from here on out. Nobody has ever characterized him as a burner. In fact, Avisail Garcia supposedly is just as fast to 1B. And the jury's far from back in about how well he profiles defensively at 2B or LF/CF.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 07:48 AM) Usually there's a couple lower seeds that I really root for but this year I'm just all in on the Shockers. It's strange, but yeah, they're a 1 seed but most don't even think they'll make Sweet 16 , predicting Kentucky will knock them out (assuming UK survives KState), and if they make it there, are predicting Louisville, Duke or Michigan will knock them off.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 07:59 AM) For their ranking, sure. But the seeding is based on RPI, SOS and wins against top 100 teams. OSU was a clear favorite to get upset (which I picked) but the resume is what gave them the seeding. You have to disconnect ranking from seeding. Lou was a top 5 RANKED team seeded 4th in a region based on that math. Yeah, I get that. Ohio State was seeded where they ended up in the polls. Louisville got screwed, pretty inexplicably. Many had (and still do have) them winning the whole thing again. If they want to punish the conference fine, but to seed a team that won the preceding national championship at #4 is ludicrous with how they've played the last month.