caulfield12

QUOTE (balfanman @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 11:49 AM) How about Bryce Harper, what was his progression? http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...?P=bryce-harper He was in Hagerstown (SAL) for 258 at-bats in the year after he was drafted. The SAL is a much easier league than the Carolina League. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...p?P=Ken-Griffey Okay, lol, I found ONE. And he played at Bellingham (short season) and wasn't promoted to A and then High A the year he was drafted.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 11:33 AM) Stop making things up. Who has said that? And no one has answered because it's a totally irrelevant question. Kershaw was a pitcher. It's irrelevant that the White Sox are the only team in the last decade, that has taken a high school player, a position prospect...and we're not even talking a TOP TEN pick, but a mid first rounder and pushed him to High A in the same season he was drafted and also placed him in High A to start the following season? How is that irrelevant? They're treating him in a way that no player has ever been treated before, and we should be 100% surprised by the results? There has to be SOME reason why NO OTHER TEAM has ever taken this same approach.

Rios and Crain will obviously get us more now. Lindstrom because of his salary being so low, and Thornton will be one of those typical salary dumps where we get back a negligible return. Peavy, the injury makes it a good debate about holding on to him. Ramirez, it could go either way. If Dunn stays hot another month, he could make things very interesting, so could Konerko.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 10:02 AM) WOW. this guy. This is the same guy that thinks demotion would not help Hawkins, two weeks ago, and the talent level between low A and high A is pretty much similar. This is also the guy who suggest to promote Hawkins to Double A 2 weeks ago. Caufield, as a poster, how about you stick to what you really believe in, stop flip flopping positions every week. And for the love of God, spare us from your irrelevant player comparisons. The same reason all those calling for Josh Phegley will never get their wish. It's called THINGS CHANGE SOMETIMES IN BASEBALL AND YOU HAVE TO ADAPT. The Courtney Hawkins hitting .229 and with all the confidence in the world and looking like he'd put the worst behind him and the CURRENT Courtney Hawkins who is 3/47 or whatever with almost 30 K's are not the same ballplayer. He's just totally lost now. Based on his results in 2012, and the slow start, he deserved one prolonged slump to get out of it. Two, with his K ratio, something HAS to be done or the organization just has no clue how to help position players when they struggle. If people didn't change their viewpoints, then Balta would still be touting Morel as the 3B of the future, wouldn't he? At some point, you have to draw a different conclusion.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 10:19 AM) Never!!!! And yet STILL, nobody answered the question. What other position prospect, drafted in let's say the last decade out of high school, was pushed to High A that same year he was drafted and then started out the following season in High A??? Why can nobody answer that question, if it happens so frequently?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 10:18 AM) I would say that it's by far the smallest jump. A+ to AA is the biggest, followed by AA to AAA (young, hard throwers to slower, breaking stuff), and then rookie to A ball. Really, other than rookie to rookie, which you really don't see, I think A- to A+ really is the smallest. 80-85% of the best pitching prospects in baseball are usually found in AA. Yes, the AAA/AAAA pitchers have better command, major league experience many of them, but not the pure stuff a lot of the AA pitchers throw.

QUOTE (QuickJones81 @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 10:47 AM) Let's not forget that Hawkins came out of the gates like a stud last year too. His overall OPS was 800, but he only struck out 56 times in 219 at-bats. This year, it's 83 in only 156, 53% of his total.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 09:29 AM) Honestly, who cares? And again, Mike Trout has nothing to do with Courtney Hawkins. Hawkins was promoted after having a great debut in Kanny, on a team that wasn't going to the playoffs, to W-S, a team that was going to the playoffs. They did not push him. They used it as a way to get him more at bats. The difference in pitching from A to High-A is negligible. And his performance in those 10 games or so suggested that he was not overmatched. Having start the year in Kanny would have been fine, just as starting in W-S was also fine. Every player is different, you do what you think you should with everyone individually. What the Angels did with the "god-like" Mike Trout doesn't matter. Nor does it matter what any other team did with . Could not disagree more, except for the jump between High A and AA. That's the biggest, this, the second.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 09:02 AM) Why are you making these completely arbitrary comparisons? Who cares about Mike Trout. No one except you is comparing him to him. There was never the idea that he was going to make the majors as quickly as him. Stop making things up. No, I'm using that as an example. You're missing the point. Not even the Los Angeles Angels pushed the god-like Mike Trout into High A the season he was drafted, and then to start the subsequent season thereafter. Can you name a team that has done that with a position player drafted out of high school in recent memory? It's almost unprecedented. Depending on how his career goes, it's going to be a move that is dissected over and over again.

Here's the thing. Go back to 2005. Which team, had they won a trophy in their sport, would have a bigger, more excited parade? If it happened anytime soon, it would be the Cubs, quite obviously. The White Sox parade was far bigger than anything that's ever happened with the Blackhawks in terms of a citywide reaction. Anyone going to games in 2006 would probably disagree with some of those rankings as well. Obviously right now, it's Bears/Blackhawks/Bulls (with a healthy Rose)/Cubs/Illinois/White Sox.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 07:12 AM) Really, you'll wait until a guy is 21 to throw in the towel on him? How patient of you. If he's striking out at a 55-60% clip TWO YEARS FROM NOW, that might be a pretty strong indication he's not ever going to figure things out. When's the last Sox position prospect who hit below .200 for 3 consecutive seasons and then suddenly turned things around? Now if he makes gradual progress, like Thompson, there will hope. But this idea of him being a special talent who could make it to the majors as quickly as someone like Mike Trout (2000 Midwest League) is rapidly disappearing. That should be a pretty strong indication (if you look at Trout's history) that they pushed him too hard. The fact that Mike Trout was at least playing in the far inferior Midwest League through the All-Star Break of his 2nd season...before he was promoted based on merit. When's the last time a non-pitching prospect from a high school background was pushed into High A ball the year he was drafted as well as to begin the following season? Can you name one?

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 02:09 AM) Is there really a correct answer? Some players can be coached and it brings short term success. Basically after that they return to their norm. That's kind of the point of the whole debate between Balta and Dick Allen. The truth lies somewhere in-between. There are always some players who seem to be progressing and then mysteriously regress, too. Gordon Beckham would be a perfect example. Some would blame it on make-up/character/stubbornness. Some on attitude. Some on the coaching staff. Some on those around Gordon who "enabled" him throughout university and into the first round. Some on the scouts who missed mechanical flaws that would be exposed at higher levels. Some on the inability to make adjustments. Many many issues.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 02:17 AM) So it's easy to make Ramirez the fall guy since he hasn't been playing well. I watched the replay from behind the SS view. That ball was suppose to get closer to the ground as it bounced. After the 2nd hop it took flight. It also looked liked he was on the OF grass. Was he really playing that deep? My problem is not with the bad hop. It's with the "ole/laissez faire" style of not getting in front of the ball...that way, the worse thing that happens if you block it is that one run scores there, not two. Just lazy footwork and not getting in front of the ball enough, playing it to the side.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 05:15 AM) Is AJ better than Flowers? Yes. Does Flowers seem like a bust? Yes. Would having AJ on the team this year take the Sox from 10.5 games under .500 to 4 games over .500? What the hell is wrong with you? One guy, no matter who it is, wouldn't have made much of a difference to this team. Holding on to AJ would have cost about $7 or $8 million, and the Sox might be a couple games better. Then he would have been traded at the deadline...for next to nothing. The Sox don't need to look to the past and wish they had kept AJ. They need to look to the future and figure out what to do about the catcher spot. The Dodgers have Puig, Kemp (DL), Kershaw, Greinke, Ryu, Carl Crawford, Hanley Ramirez, Andre Ethier and Adrian Gonzalez and they're still 9 games under .500, and that's after winning 3 in a row. Being 3-7 games under .500 would only give us a draft pick at 12 or 13 instead of 6 or 7. Revenues produced would still be almost identical.

The Dodgers returned to the international market with a vengeance last year, signing Cuban outfielder Yasiel Puig for $42 million and committing $62 million to acquiring South Korean left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu. Both of those players have paid big dividends for the Dodgers this year, and they did again Monday in the Dodgers' 3-1 win over the Giants. Now the team figures to be in the forefront of a bidding war for another international player. The Dodgers were one of several teams scouting Cuban right-hander Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez in Tijuana last week. Gonzalez, 26, defected from Cuba earlier this year and established residency in Mexico. In last week's showcase, he pitched three innings for a low-level Mexican team. Because of his age and experience in the Cuban league, Gonzalez is a free agent and can sign with any team without his contract counting against the international signing cap instituted by Major League Baseball a year ago. Unlike Puig, Gonzalez is a fairly well-known commodity. He pitched for the Cuban national team in international competitions like the 2010 World University Games, the Baseball World Cup in 2009 and 2011 and the 2011 Pan-Am Games. Gonzalez must be cleared by the U.S. Department of the Treasury before he can sign with a big-league team. However, that paperwork could be completed soon, and there are some talent evaluators who believe Gonzalez will be ready to pitch at the major league level by the end of this season. Meanwhile, Puig and Ryu continue to show that they were wise investments. Puig went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs in his first meeting with the Giants, while Ryu threw 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball in a no-decision. www.yahoo.com/sports Should we be in on this kid or just give up and assume the Dodgers, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, Giants, Phillies, Rangers, etc., will sign him? After all, there's no reason not to want to acquire talent, in any form. As we all know, if you have too much pitching talent, it can be traded for help on the offensive side...and, we should be trusting Don Cooper with a pitching project more than we should be spending similar amounts on raw position prospects until we can start trusting our minor league system to refine them into "diamonds." Right now, we can't seem to figure out what to do with our uncut diamonds. Theoretically, we still might have a need (in the minds of the front office) to balance the rotation back to three lefties and two righties...and it's doubtful Axelrod is in the long-term plans, so that still means we're one short EVEN IF Erik Johnson can make a successful debut with the Sox in August/September and then on into ST and the 2014 regular reason. That is, unless we decide to hold onto Peavy, but Jake could also be traded in the off-season, too. Lots of different options. Finally, he's represented by Jaime Torres, the same agent we've worked so comfortably with in the past on the Cuban players. While Ben Cherington was the only GM that was in attendance for Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez's audition yesterday, the Red Sox aren't the only team with interest in the Cuban right-hander. The Dodgers sent three of their top scouts to Tijuana on Thursday to find out if they might have another exciting Cuban import to join Yasiel Puig, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. Agent Jaime Torres declined to say how many clubs sent representatives to the Tijuana showcase but said there was "a great turnout." Meanwhile, Gonzalez is scheduled to put on another display for teams next Friday where he could pitch five innings, tweets Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. Here's more from around baseball. mlbtraderumors/latimes.com

All three hits were off sliders. After the Padres' series, the prevailing theory was to go down and away with sliders...in the dirt or off the plate, Marquis and Huston Street were particularly effective with that approach. A weakness? Only 3 walks in 76 AB's, it's seemingly Vladimir Guerrero all over again in terms of approach. The homer was another opposite field job off Bumgarner, who had been awesome recently against the Dodgers. Giants' announcing team was in shock they (the reliever, Campos) even threw a strike to Puig and didn't walk him intentionally if he didn't first fish for something out of the strike zone. Puig also had a very nice diving catch against Buster Posey. http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2013/6/25/4462...catch-viva-puig Highlight package of the homer, 2 singles and running catch with Vin Scully

Home run #7 for Puig. Wonder how many he gets before the All-Star Break? If nothing else, he'll PROBABLY be in the Home Run Derby. Still hitting .434....scratch that, 442. 3/4, most likely what will prove to be the GW-RBI. Driven in both runs to single handedly put the Dodgers ahead of the All-Star Game manager and Gigantes. "Don't let that cape trip you on your way to first, young man." Charlie Steiner

QUOTE (farmteam @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 09:39 PM) I don't think he presented it as a scapegoat so much as an issue that has to be dealt with either prior to or simultaneously a discussion on gun control. But how? I say this as someone, like Tex, who has been teaching high school and university students the last decade. The difference is that I've lived mostly in countries without any handguns allowed legally, vs. the USA. (Then again, I did live in Colombia for one year, lol).

Reminds me of the very first comments about the Alexei Ramirez signing, comparing him to Ramon Santiago or a typical utility infielder.

What next, Mark Buehrle would be leading us to the playoffs, since the Blue Jays are now running off that streak and even Josh Johnson finally won a game and Reyes is almost back?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 09:07 PM) Oh yeah, I'm sure I'm being reactionary but he has a far better chance than Hawkins of making the majors. I'm ready to give up on Mitchell at this point, but it's going to take at least until 2015 before being willing to throw in the towel on Hawkins.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 09:02 PM) He's up there with Johnson as a prospect as far as I'm concerned. He (Thompson) has to be...nobody else has more raw (overall) potential in the system, other than Hawkins. Some might argue Barnum, Tim Anderson or Micah, but it's one of those five, as far as position players go.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 07:41 PM) And I'm saying if you think he booted the ball yesterday because of spring training, something you have no proof of your claim, I think that's crazy. What's your intuition telling you, then? Is it Ventura being too lax with players who consistently are making mental/physical errors and demonstrating a lack of concentration/focus that's almost inexplicable? The other coaches are simply not doing their jobs, like Parent? Bad luck?

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/source-sequel...-222525362.html Looks like Brad Pitt gets his sequel. Greg, The End is a song by The Doors, lol.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 08:03 PM) Hopefully just a blip. I'm sure it's easy to give up some at-bats coming off a long layoff against the best pitchers you've ever seen And just the ramp up in competition from Mississippi JUCO baseball to the full-season low minors. Not comparable.