caulfield12

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.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 09:56 PM) Great post. I'm not a big fan of Lindstrom and/or Nate, but both arguably are better than the hacks remaining in our bullpen. Downs, Bella, even Webb, who I also am not a big fan of. I haven't seen a ton of Putnam in games I've watched. Losing A. Garcia's bat is a killer because of the reason you mentioned. Also Eaton was out a while meaning we had to play yet another player who isn't big-league caliber for a while. Still, I'd think a big market team like Chicago could build a better roster. This is our second year finishing last. Wonder how many years we are going to be cellar-dwellers in this 'rebuild.' The Sox can't call it a 'retool' anymore. Not when you're finishing dead last. If the payroll continues to be low, they'll still be profitable...but it's going to be a vicious circle in terms of losing more and more season ticket holders, sponsors falling to the wayside/advertising rate declines for broadcasts. The Royals, Pirates and Blue Jays have gone through nearly 20 year stretches without making the playoffs, for example. Of course, the White Sox would survive, but it would be very bleak...like the mid to late 80's and late 90's. Thankfully, we have two superstars and potentially another to build around in Rodon. Putnam has been one of the more pleasant surprises this entire season, along with Noesi (compared to expectations), Abreu (if you can call him a surprise) and Alexei's play the first 2 months. As far as the article fathom linked to, they mentioned adding veteran bullpen pieces, but that's exactly what Hahn did do this offseason. We brought in Belisario and Downs, and kept Lindstrom. And of course Nate Jones went down to injury. One of the things that KW was most criticized for was overspending on Dotel and Linebrink before 2008 when middle reliever values were at a peak, fwiw. We're not going to be winning more than 75-80 games with Addison Reed anyway, but a 7/11 save conversion rate just won't cut it, even if one of those was caused by lapses behind him defensively. When I looked up the stat of total blown saves, we're right in the middle of the major leagues, after starting out terribly the first 2-3 weeks. That said, there obviously haven't been as many opportunities to blow saves when you've lost 7 in a row on the road, 8 consecutive to AL Central opponents, and every single Saturday game this season. (Of course, traditionally, the Fireworks night games on Saturdays were the most well-attended in the last 20-30 years, and it's going to get to the point where fans don't want to even go to those games except because of the nice summer weather or fireworks show, expecting/dreading/predicting another Sox loss). Of course, down there in Kansas City, if they don't make the playoffs and inevitably lose Shields, where they just had the optimism/confidence at an all-time high in the middle of that Tigers' 4 game series, it's going to be hard to recover that enthusiasm again anytime soon....with Butler also halfway out the door, there's just not enough offense unless Perez becomes a legit 25 homer guy or Moustakas returns to the form of two seasons ago.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 09:18 PM) Best HR/AB ratio in the NL is...... good luck guessing Mesoraco, Corey Dickerson and Olt (even though his OPS is under 600)

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 08:59 PM) Once Tampa starts trading their players, they're going to be in good position for a top 1 or 2 pick. The Cubs will likely be in the same range if they trade a few of their starting pitchers. Padres are likely another top 5 worst record. Outside of that, it's up for grabs. What are some of the rumors about the returns they're looking for Arrieta, Golden Domer/Prince Valiant and Hammel? http://sports.yahoo.com/news/rays-bp-again...56316--mlb.html Maybe the Rays or Sox will sign her for the back of their rotation as a publicity stunt?

Looking at those two lists, it's intriguing that Matuella is projected as the 2nd pick and didn't even make the other list. Hmmm...

a | Alex Bregman | 2B | 20 | SO | LSU a | Beau Burrows | P | 17 | HS | Texas A&M a | Brendan Rodgers | SS | 17 | HS | Florida State a | C.J. Hinojosa | SS | 19 | SO | Texas a | Cody Poteet | P | 19 | SO | UCLA a | D.J. Stewart | OF | 20 | SO | Florida State a | Daz Cameron | OF | 17 | HS | a | Devon Roedahl | P | 17 | HS | a | Jahmai Jones | SS | 17 | HS | a | James Kaprelian | P | 20 | SO | UCLA a | Joe McCarthy | OF | 20 | J2 | Virginia a | John Aiello | SS | 17 | HS | Wake Forest a | Josh Naylor | OF | 17 | HS | a | Kyle Molnar | P | 17 | HS | UCLA a | Nathan Kirby | P | 20 | SO | Virginia a | Nick Shumpert | SS | 17 | HS | Kentucky a | Nolan Kingham | P | 17 | HS | a | Riley Ferrell | P | 20 | SO | TCU a | Ryan Burr | P | 20 | SO | Arizona State a | Ryan Johnson | OF | 17 | HS | TCU a | Skye Bolt | OF | 20 | SO | North Carolina a | Stephen Kolek | P | 17 | HS | a | Steven Duggar | OF | 20 | SO | Clemson a | Thomas Szapucki | P | 18 | HS | Florida Here's another list from http://www.mlbprospectguide.com/p/2015-and...-prospects.html Not in order. Forgot about Tyler's brother. How he does his older brother does in the next 12 months in pro ball will have a lot of bearing on his brother's draft spot, one would think. And Skye Bolt's the coolest name ever for an outfielder, other than maybe Toe Nash.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 08:42 PM) Kirby is a LHP, so it will clearly be him. You know if KW was still running things, it would be Cameron's son as the top target. Does he also play football and basketball? Check. "Football" mentality...another check.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 08:27 PM) It's a very tough call this year with regards to resurrecting Tank Commander Axelrod and TRTR. I really want to see Abreu, Eaton, Sale and Quintana perform well. I also don't want to think of the attendance being even worse next season with another horrific season this year. With that said, everyone besides the 4 players I just mentioned should be on the trade market. I don't see the Sox being able to string together another 25-5 record like in 2010, as they just don't have the starting pitching depth. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Alexei and Dayan. They're both in terrible slumps over the course of the last 70-100 at-bats. They will surely go on hot streaks again, where they will show tantalizing promise (Dayan) but will that be enough to keep Rick Hahn from pulling the trigger? Changing the attitude in the clubhouse is another big issue...with Dunn, Konerko and DeAza on the way out, who will emerge? Abreu is a quiet, "by example" type of guy like Konerko. Sale's a pitcher. So it has to be Eaton and maybe Beckham if he survives this season in Chicago. It would be dumb to release/DFA Alejandro right now, but if we can't get ANYTHING in July or August for him, I'd hope that Hahn would send a message like they did with Keppinger and free up playing time for ANYONE else.

Who are the Top 3-5 prospects for next year's draft? Any college bats who are reminiscent of Kris Bryant, minus the elevated K rate?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 08:20 PM) Guerra the new closer? They can keep going with Belisario. They might as well just go with Petricka and prep him for next year. Maybe Nate Jones will be back, although we can't count on that. The idea of "selling high" on Belisario is also going out the window (too bad he couldn't have stayed in his 8th inning role, where he was doing so well) and, as predicted, Putnam's starting to come back down to earth as well. Or they can give the job to Webb and convert Petricka back to starting. Except we now know Webb isn't close to ready for that responsibility. And nearly anything would be better than Belisario closing and Noesi/Carroll in the 5th spot.

And you have to give a lot of credit to Showalter for PHing Davis there. The guy was hitting about .160 for the last month, and the guy he replaced (Delmon Young) was 3 for 4 on the night.

Well, that's 8 consecutive road losses. We have no closer (and Petricka's next in line, why not?), no catcher, no better options in LF and RF, no LH power in the minors to replace Dunn and we MIGHT be able to replace Alexei Ramirez with Carlos Sanchez, but it will still be a huge downgrade. If it wasn't for Abreu and Eaton (glimpses), this season would be unbearable.

Wow, Marquez was the one that scored it. Layun has been sort of disappointing so far this World Cup, right? (Game here in China is Brazil/Cameroon, so can't see it). By the way, was anyone else impressed with how dynamic Deandre Yedlen looked coming off the bench and blowing by all those tired defenders...?

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 03:07 PM) I like the Drabek idea a lot. I'm tired of reclamation projects but Drabek's stuff combined with Cooper's eye is intriguing. Drabek does have sick movement. Plus, his father pitched for the White Sox.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 09:05 AM) IIRC, wasn't Richard pretty bad out of the pen when he was with us? In 2008, he was much more effective as a reliever, but not very many innings in that role. http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/...clayton-richard

The Raid 2 (A-)....awesome movie, the last 30 minutes (and it's a 2:30+ hour movie) has one of the best knife fights you'll ever see. Gareth Evans directed. The first movie was grittier and more memorable, this one is flashier, higher budget and comes at you with probably 1 hour and 15 minutes of almost non-stop fighting sequences and Tarantino-esque and beyond violence. The Fault in our Stars...B (more of a fan of the novel, but the film was pretty faithful to the source material...definitely a tear-jerker for the last 1/4th of the movie) Neighbors...B+

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 12:50 AM) We'd selected Trout over Mitchell in 2009 like myself and many others where hoping. Your turn. What would your FutureSox wish be if you could have one wish granted? There are no limits. Let the comedy ensue. Indirectly related, we had the prospects (equivalent of Maybin and Miller) at the time to rope in Cabrera. Or that we held onto Gio Gonzalez the second time around (in other words, never traded for Swisher). And/or the chance to go back and sign Puig or Cespedes.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 22, 2014 -> 08:10 PM) Towers really got screwed at the end. The owner was in the middle of a divorce and was forced to sell the team because of it. Towers was forced to work with absurdly low payrolls Moores, right?

20 years since the last time the Twins swept the White Sox in a four game series. 1994. Amazingly, it never happened from 2001-2004, 2006, 2009-10. Burton warming up for Minnesota. Suzuki with 8 hits this series.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 22, 2014 -> 02:43 PM) Josh Byrnes was fired as GM in San Diego today. Rumor has it that they'd like to bring Kevin Towers back to SD. Fleecing him for Grandal shouldn't be too hard. Why would a GM in that position be easier to take advantage of...? If anything, he's going to swing for the fences and be more willing to sit on all of the players on his roster, since he doesn't have the pressure a GM fighting to keep his job would have to deal with.

Glen Perkins has never gone four consecutive games. Jared Burton or Fien would probably be their closing options.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 22, 2014 -> 02:07 PM) Padres fired GM Josh Byrnes Interesting. They must be planning to trade Quentin (if any takers), Street (for sure), Headley, Seth Smith, Gyorko, etc.

Odds of a .467 team losing 12 consecutive Saturdays? About 1.5 times in 10,000. Would probably increase to 2 times in 10,000 if you readjust for a lower winning percentage assuming we lose again today.