caulfield12

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jun 9, 2013 -> 11:50 AM) Over Christmas on WGN they aired the lost episodes of the Bozo show, and I don't know if anyone else saw that, but there was a skit in there which was so long & painful that it actually reminded me of Arnie Munoz vs. the Expos. Because of your post I've now had to remember that game twice this year. Ugh. I was hoping that would be forgotten for good. Aka the Juan Uribe .400 O-Meter Game...and blown bunt at the end (usual White Sox baseball).

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 9, 2013 -> 12:24 PM) Nice to see Alejandro really heating up. 2nd highest number of HR's from the lead-off spot, which seems to be a bone of contention with the coaching staff whether that's actually a positive change in his approach. Dunn getting another muted smattering of boos from the home crowd.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/so...type/expanded-2 Santiago averaging 9.82 K's/9, 52 K's in 47 2/3. Would be 8th in the majors if he was qualified. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/so...type/expanded-2 Three Tigers (Darvish, Sanchez, Scherzer, Verlander, and our favorite Cubs/ND product ahead of him, as well as Dempster/AJ Burnett) Pacing ahead of Harvey, Shelby Miller and Felix Hernandez.

A's playing their final game in a stretch of 17 consecutive... Flowers can't hold on to strike three on the foul tip. A bit high with the pitch count, 21, of course, he had 3 k's in there...striking out a batter per inning, 3.28 ERA as of the moment.

Donaldson has already doubled his walk total for all of last season. 8th in the AL with 42 RBI's, 6th in hitting with RISP at 367.

As noted by many, we could definitely use a potential impact bat at 3B in the pipeline, even if he's 3 1/2-4-5 years from the majors as a high schooler.

New father Nick Swisher 0 for his last 26. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Indians have lost 6 straight, 4-14 in their last 18 (were 9 games over .500), and about to play the Rangers for 3. Today, they're getting shut out through 4 by a AAAA call-up in LHP Jose Alvarez (going for Sanchez), who's not considered a top prospect. Leyland claims that Drew Smyly has been his best pitcher the last month but not stretched out enough to take a spot start. AL Central might be over for all intents and purposes the 2nd week of June. We'll see. Victor Martinez hitting .328 over the last 3 weeks...much more dangerous. With Peralta, Cabrera/Fielder, then Hunter and Austin Jackson when the get him back from the DL...it doesn't matter how bad Alex Avila and Valverde are, at least until the playoffs. Dirks and Kelly have been serviceable, and a lot of scouts still expect Avisail Garcia to become an All-Star someday based on his physical tools and size.

Is Cannes Palm 'd Or winner "porn" made for men because the two lead actresses are beautiful (you'll remember one as the villain/assassin from the latest Mission Impossible in Dubai) and not lesbians in real life, and the director's not a woman or lesbian woman like the writer of the story the movie is based upon? http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/06/08/is-b...or-art-or-porn/ Interesting arguments. A lot of similar arguments are arising over Young & Beautiful/aka Jeune Et Jolie (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/young_and_beautiful_2013/), which has received 11 positive reviews and only 1 negative and debuted at Cannes as well. Because the actress was/is underage, and/or being portrayed in the film as 17...and she's Victoria's Secret model beautiful (Marine Vacth).

Dodgers/Braves the FREE MLB.COM Game of the Day at 3:10 p.m. CST. Just had another double. 2/4. 12 for 27, .444.

If the judge really knew the actual salaries for MLB scouts (especially in Latin America) as well as minor league coaching staff, they might not exactly call it a "dream" scenario. That's part of the reason those individuals got involved in the skimming in the first place. At any rate, wasn't it Paulo Orlando or Anderson Gomes who were the two Brazilian players who all of a sudden started netting more attention from Phil Rogers in his columns at that time...as well as Juan Silverio? I'm pretty sure it wasn't Andre Rienzo.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 9, 2013 -> 11:11 AM) Check out Nate Jones' FIP and then tell me why Ventura shouldn't use him. Well, either that or looking at our AAA roster at the moment.

Keeping in mind Morel, Hudson and Youkilis up a 600 OPS average and weren't stellar defensively....that platoon situation isn't one of our Top 5 problems at the moment.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Jun 8, 2013 -> 05:24 PM) Where is this kid from? El Paso, Texas. Other side of the border from Juarez, Mexico.

"Once we got through the three rounds and got the two athletes (Anderson and May) it was like, we're not going to switch up and take a pitcher because he's a pitcher, but if there was a tie or if it was close, we tended to go ahead and get some arms involved," Laumann said. "I think six of our seven picks, after we took May, ended up being pitchers." Of the six Day 2 pitchers, only right-hander Thaddius Lowry was drafted straight from high school. The rest were all college starters or relievers who the White Sox could sign for some immediate help in restoring some arms to a barren system. Chicago broke up its second-day pitching spree with high school shortstop Trey Michalczewski, who could switch over to the hot corner at the next level. The White Sox targeted more pitching early on Day 3, nabbing another high school starter in Bonita Vista right-hander Matt Ball from California and UNC-Charlotte starter Tyler Bernette, who was initially drafted by the Red Sox out of high school in the ninth round in 2010. Laumann said the war room could hardly even notice that it was the first-year general manager Rick Hahn calling the shots and not executive vice president Kenny Williams. The mentality remained the same, and the war room only got more comfortable with Laumann in his sixth year with the organization. "I'd like to think that they feel like we have an idea that with our experience level and some of the things we've done recently, they're willing to go ahead and have the freedom to do what we want to do," Laumann said. "There is more of a level of confidence with myself, my staff and everybody else involved. If you want to put it out there on this guy, go ahead and do it." http://www.chisox.com

 Another 2014 OU commit goes in 7th round w/ the #213 pick. Incoming Freshman, Trey Michalczewski ; 3B from Jenks, picked by the White Sox. slot $ = $ 173,600. by SoonerJoe on Jun 8, 2013 | 6:44 AM reply

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Three hundred sixty-seven days ago, Tim Anderson was playing shortstop for the Dodge City A's of the collegiate summer Jayhawk Baseball League and planning the visits he and his family would make to four-year colleges. He did not watch the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft. He didn't need to. He'd received no interest from professional teams during high school or his freshman season at East Central (Miss.) Community College and he knew his future as a pro ballplayer, if he had any at all, was a long way off. Thursday night, he was emerging from the first-base dugout at MLB Network's Studio 42, his hands shaking with excitement as he missed a button on his brand-new White Sox jersey after Chicago took him 17th overall. The selection made him the second-ever junior college shortstop taken in the first round of the MLB draft (and the first since 1978, when the Expos took Glen Franklin ninth). A year ago, if someone had come up to him after the game and told him what was in store for him, how would he have responded? "I would've said, man, [you're out of your] mind," Anderson, 19, says with a laugh. He looked utterly overcome all evening, as he struggled to remember when asked who had come to the draft to support him and forgot within seconds of hanging up the phone with White Sox officials whom he had just spoken with. "I don't know," he admits. "I'm too excited to remember anything just now!" He even cried a little -- the first time his parents said they had seen their even-keeled son lose his cool since childhood. And his family felt the same way -- he spent the evening with a splotch of makeup on his shirt collar from where his mother had hugged him too hard after his name was called, and his father announced after bragging about him that he hadn't talked that much in a year. Their emotions are understandable, especially considering the path Anderson took to professional baseball. He played little league, but dropped baseball until his junior year of high school after suffering two knee injuries playing basketball, his other love. (Anderson sent video of himself dunking to scouts to demonstrate his athleticism.) Even then, he couldn't focus on baseball full-time because his Hillcrest High School basketball team kept making the playoffs and delaying the start of his spring season. He decided to choose one sport for junior college, and went to the only school that offered him a scholarship. After a freshman year in which he hit .360 and went 30 for 30 on stolen base attempts, albeit against low-level competition, he realized he had a shot to extend his career beyond a four-year college and redoubled his efforts. He broke out this year, leading all junior colleges with a .495 batting average, slugging .879 and stealing 41 bases. Suddenly there were scouts at every game to watch the All-America refine his play. His parents credit East Central coach Neal Holliman with Anderson's dramatic improvements, but he deflects the praise. "There's no magic wand that we waved over him," says Holliman. "It's just a matter of a kid that's willing to work, that got reps, that got over into one sport and did it over and over and over and just continued to develop." So his parents, brothers, sisters, sister-in-law and girlfriend were happy to pile into a van and make the 16-hour drive from Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday, watch the draft on Thursday and head back on Friday. They briefly considered not accepting MLB's invitation to attend the draft because they were concerned Anderson might be the last player left sitting in the dugout, but calls from scouts convinced them he had a good chance to go early. He did, but it was the team that took him that had Anderson surprised. "It shocked me, to be honest," Anderson says of being drafted by the White Sox, a club he never met with or worked out for. "I really didn't know." Chicago, which sent several evaluators to watch Anderson in person, including executive vice president Kenny Williams and assistant general manager Buddy Bell, had been hoping he would get to them, though. "He was our target," says White Sox scouting director Doug Laumann. "He elevated himself and his stock throughout the season and as it got closer we started to get a little nervous that maybe he wouldn't be the guy, but he's the guy we wanted." The team recognizes that there is some ground for Anderson to make up in terms of experience, but considers him extremely polished given how little he has played. More importantly, Laumann says, he has the things they can't teach. "His instincts for the game were just off-the-charts," he says. "He didn't need to look at base coaches in order to find out if the ball behind him was bobbled." His timing is impeccable, as well: "They called my advisor," Anderson says, "And he texted me and said, Smile." And he did, just as commissioner Bud Selig called his name. Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/.../#ixzz2VgtcPqWw Seems to be a lot of conflicting stories about his high school injuries. Some reports said two broken legs, yet others are talking about a knee injury he suffered his senior year in high school, related to basketball. Hard to pin down exactly what happened and what the actual injuries were. "but that's against junior college competition. He's only 19 (he turns 20 June 23), and he split time in high school between baseball and basketball. A knee injury in the latter sport prevented him from making the high school team until his junior year, but he proved to be a quick study, first in left field before moving to shortstop." southsidesox.com/jim margaulus Another article stated he suffered a knee injury his senior season. Then there were some stories saying he had two broken legs, which seems less likely than ACL/MCL/PCL injuries, or cartilage damage. By Tony Tsoukalas The Meridian Star Published: Friday, March 1, 2013 at 3:30 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, March 1, 2013 at 12:30 a.m. Four years ago, Tim Anderson was a basketball player with two bum knees. Now, he’s the leading force behind the East Central Community College baseball team, batting .639 in the Warriors’ first nine games. The 6-foot-1 shortstop out of Hillcrest High School came into Tuesday’s game against Pensacola State leading the nation in batting average as well as home runs (five). Anderson also has five doubles and three triples to go along with 12 RBIs and is rated the top junior college shortstop in the nation by Baseball America. Right now, incoming fastballs might look like beach balls to the streaking shortstop, but Anderson’s path to success has not always been so clear. During his sophomore season at Hillcrest, Anderson injured both of his knees playing basketball, keeping him out of sports for the remainder of the year. “The knee injury was tough,” Anderson said. “I told my dad, I thought I was going to give up on sports after my second knee injury. I got tired of being injured, and I just got down on myself.” Anderson did not play high school baseball until his junior year. Coming in late, due to the basketball season ending, he was given a spot in left field for the struggling Patriots. After hitting .333 on the season, former Hillcrest baseball coach Todd Agee promised Anderson a spot in the infield (at shortstop). That promise had to be delayed, as Anderson was busy leading the Patriots to a Class 6A state championship in basketball as a point guard. It was Anderson who delivered the go-ahead assist to Perrin Buford in Hillcrest’s 54-50 semifinal win against Carver-Montgomery. Anderson returned to Agee later in the spring and did not disappoint, batting .420 in his senior season.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/2013...7?p=1&tc=pg A couple of interesting points came to light on Mr. Anderson. He overcame broken legs twice in his high school basketball career. And Tim wasn't individually brought in for a workout by the White Sox (maybe try to tamper down concerns that showing too much attention as he rose as a prospect through the year would end up with him getting selected before 17th?) He had worked out for the Cardinals and Dbacks, and many thought the Tigers were poised to take him at 20th.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 8, 2013 -> 11:15 PM) In 9 games hitting .344, 4 HR, 4 2B, 13 RBI, 1 BB, 11 K, .900+ SLG (!!!), 1.300+ OPS (!!!) He is still striking out a ton, 32%, but that's actually LOWER than the 50% he was at before his injury. I looked again. It should be 8 games, including a DH. 11/30 (.367), 4 2B, 3B, 4 HR's, 12 RBI's, 1 BB, 11 K's. Has played every game June 2nd through 8th, including the DH on the 3rd.

The nurturing of Yasiel Puig's power June, 7, 2013 JUN 7 11:15 PM PT By Mark Saxon | ESPNLosAngeles.com LOS ANGELES -- This Yasiel Puig experience has been so surreal, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly has taken to daydreaming about Puig's next exploit as he sits there on the bench or stands at the railing. Often, the dream plays out right in front of him a few seconds later. He guessed Puig was going to hit a grand slam Thursday right before Puig hit a grand slam. OK, that one didn't happen. But Puig did hit a crucial home run to tie the score in the sixth inning to set up the Dodgers' winning rally in the 10th inning to beat the Atlanta Braves 2-1. Timing is everything for the Dodgers' young slugger. He has yet to allow a pinnacle moment to pass without doing something dramatic. "It's just crazy stuff," Mattingly said. "Nothing really surprises us anymore." Friday was the kind of game the pre-Puig Dodgers seemed to lose every night. They'd struggle to score and keep it close with good pitching. Then, it seemed, they would stand around waiting for somebody to beat them. Puig seems to have eradicated that mindset. "I think he gives us the energy that we were missing, you know?" said veteran catcher Ramon Hernandez. "[Carl] Crawford is hurt, [Matt] Kemp is hurt, Hanley [Ramirez] is barely playing. He's someone who plays every day with that energy, has fun, and passes that all the way around the field." It might look as if Puig is going it alone, but that's far from the case. He played all of 52 minor league games before getting here (contrast that with Mike Trout's 286 games in the minors), so the Dodgers are aware he's going to need guidance. He has two team-appointed handlers, including a language teacher. Adrian Gonzalez has been mentoring him since he arrived. But the key conversations have been in the batting cage. He has been working closely with hitting coach Mark McGwire since the earliest days of spring training. You can see Big Mac's impact on Puig's swing. He has shown power practically from foul pole to foul pole, allowing him to be a far better hitter than if he were looking for pitches in particular zones and trying to pull them. Thus far, Puig has homered to right field twice, left field once and center field once. There aren't many baseball players who are as big as Puig, at 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, but McGwire was one of them. "Obviously, Mac's a power guy. He understands the swing, where guys are cutting it off," Mattingly said. "I know he worked with [Puig] on wanting to stay through it, use the center of the field and keep the bat going. Those are things I know they worked on in spring." So far, so good. Puig has a 1.105 slugging percentage. There are two statistical anomalies from Puig's performance Friday. The Dodgers are hopeful his career path will follow one more closely than the other. The last player to hit four home runs in his first five games before Puig was the New York Mets' Mike Jacobs in 2005. The last player whose first four career home runs were a solo shot, two-run shot, three-run shot and grand slam was Frank Howard. Jacobs is playing at Triple-A for the Reno Aces. Howard, who started as a Dodger, hit 382 career home runs, won a rookie of the year award and played in four All-Star games. When you combine freak talent with meticulous preparation, crazy things can happen.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 8, 2013 -> 10:25 PM) What are Hawkins post injury numbers? 13 for 37 (.351), 5 2B's, 3B, 4 hr's, 14 rbi's, 12 K's, 1 walk.... Has upped his OPS all the way up to 886.

2 for 4 (so far) with two singles, the 2nd on an infield single where he ill-advisedly dove into 1B in Nick Punto fashion and almost killed himself. First player in MLB history with 4 homers and 10 RBI's in his first 5 games. Currently 10/23 for a .435 average. Still flexing his left shoulder, doesn't look quite 100%...almost moving right hand, shoulder and fingers around after that headfirst dive/crash into the bag.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,2266617.story

Phil Rogers is lazy....too, then. Because he's not exactly got his ear down on the train tracks checking with credible sources when he makes his weekly crazy trade recommendations that are not based in reality. Sort of a shot against both the Cubs and White Sox, but the White Sox didn't want to take the risk (arguably) and the Cubs were also investing in Soler and that LHP we'll never hear of again that they grossly overpaid. The full package: You probably know Mike Brito as the guy in the chapeau holding the radar gun at Dodger Stadium. It seems he has been doing that as long as Vin Scully has been calling games. But Brito always has been much more than an extra on baseball broadcasts. He's a legendary international scout — the guy who discovered Fernando Valenzuela. He has re-established his brand by playing a major role in the pursuit of Yasiel Puig, the Cuban outfielder who is an overnight sensation after a dramatic first week with the Dodgers. Brito scouted Puig at tournaments with Cuba's junior national team and encouraged his bosses to ignore criticisms that he was out of shape and had attitude problems. He told MLB.com this spring, "You don't have to be a genius to see the talent with a guy like this.'' Everyone's seeing it, including a lot of teams that wish they had been more aggressive in pursuing him. Agent Jaime Torres worked to interest the Cubs and White Sox but neither Chicago team came close to matching the seven-year, $42 million deal that the Dodgers offered. www.chicagotribune.com/sports

Mets were 0 for 19 with RISP in that loss. OUCH.

Hawkins finished 3/4 with a K. Now all the way up to .229. That's the best development this season...along with Danks looking better (still won't believe he's back until he shuts down some Top 3-5 offensive teams like the Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, etc.)