caulfield12

At least half of Farmer's and Harrelson's broadcasts are name-dropping the same set of about 50-75 names from the past, at least I sometimes throw a little variety into it to spice it up.

Schwarber really had a great offensive season, he averaged more than one homer in less than every ten AB's, with three stops along the way. http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...tching/2014/ALL Tyler Kolek didn't do anything particularly impressive, giving up quite a few hits and walks, as expected. And didn't even average a 9 K/IP ratio in just 22 innings (18, with 13 BB's). http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...itting/2014/ALL Nick Gordon, Twins, failed to put up a 700+ OPS in the Appy League. http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...tching/2014/ALL Aaron Nola put up a very solid half season after being drafted by the Phils I haven't been following all the other players, but I read where the Royals were considering promoting Brandon Finnegan (LHP, TCU) to the majors this September. http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...tching/2014/ALL Kyle Freeland/Evansville also got off to a very nice start with the Rockies. http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...itting/2014/ALL Finally, Alex Jackson held his own in AZL play, but didn't dominate offensively like some expected/predicted.

Dunn 106 homers in 1841 career White Sox at-bats= 1 in 17.38 Viciedo 63 homers in 1608 career at-bats= 1 in 25.52 Extrapolated over a full season of 600 AB's, Dunn would hit (on average) 34.5 homers, Viciedo 23.5. Now if you want to argue about Dunn making $6.25 million next year and Viciedo earning $4.75 million...then it's an interesting argument.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 12:48 AM) The top 5 home run hitters since 2012 Chris Davis 110 Miguel Cabrera 107 Edwin Encarnacion 106 Adam Dunn 97 Giancarlo Stanton 96 If you can be one of Earth's best home run hitters and have an above average on-base percentage, you are a valuable baseball hitter. To think otherwise is weird. What is his OPS over that time frame, compared to the field of all major leaguers? And if you include 2011 as well? You could probably take Dayan Viciedo's 58 homers over almost 3 years and that, alone, would look good...unless you start taking into consideration his defense and low walk rate, then it doesn't look quite so good. What about salary dollars PER home run? That changes the equation dramatically as well.

But Danks believes they have a strong foundation -- Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Abreu, Eaton, Garcia, Carlos Sanchez, Marcus Semien, Dayan Viciedo, Carlos Rodon and several young arms in the bullpen -- to build on and aren’t far away from being a competitive team for a long time. csnchicago.com/Dan Hayes

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 09:55 PM) That's fine but you're literally name-dropping Cubs prospects for no reason. Fine, then there are still arguments to be made that Russell OR Schwarber (especially the former) might end up being better players than Baez or Soler. It's hard to argue against Bryant RIGHT NOW, but it's not simply three players in the discussion, it's at least 4 and possibly 5 (although Schwarber probably can't be in that conversation unless he can catch, as opposed to playing 1B/LF/RF).

http://nesn.com/2014/09/white-sox-announce...run-call-video/ Is this Stone? I can't get it to download.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 09:52 PM) Your obsession with Cubs' prospects is unparalleled. I like to study all of the teams' systems, but the Cubs or Astros are more entertaining for differing reasons.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 09:47 PM) Tallest midget contest, my friend. Tallest midget contest. They've definitely won the "media war" the last 6 weeks. Whatever that's worth. Not that it's a surprise at all...with the writers having had to wait 2-3 years to finally see these guys. Meanwhile, the White Sox (wisely) decided not to bring up Rodon, just as the Cubs have apparently decided with Bryant, who also has Boras as his agent. Honestly, I'd say the Bears, D-Rose and Baez/Soler have won the media war, moreso than the Cubs as a team.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 09:43 PM) Ugh. Have the Cubs passed the Sox as best team in the city? Yikes. Certainly the most entertaining/exciting right now. You've got Hendricks and Wada, Arrieta showing ace stuff, Rondon, then the three new dynamic players in Alcantara, Baez and Soler. On the other hand, Rizzo and Castro are out, but they've been playing much better baseball overall the last 2-3 weeks. We've basically got Sale/Abreu, Eaton and Avisail...and those who get excited about Semien/Sanchez at-bats. And watching Alexei play defense.

Then you've still got Russell, Almora, Schwarber, McKinney and Vogelbach.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 09:28 PM) I thought they were going to a 6 man rotation for the last month. I'm not sure the point of wheeling Danks out there anymore. They really needed to dump him in July. Now, just let him rest. Cue discussion regarding the merits of stretching out the shoulder capsule and building up strength/stamina versus the seeming diminishing returns of running him out there every fifth day the last 5-6 weeks.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 08:43 PM) HE SUCKS! WHY DIDN'T WE TRADE HIM? They could have just DFA'ed him or done one of those "for a player or compensation to be named later" to a contending or even semi-contending team...just to get them off the roster and open up tryouts for 2015.

Wouldn't be surprising at all if we finish in the bottom 3-4 in Runs Scored/Runs Allowed by the end of this season. Right now at -81. Houston, Texas, Arizona and Colorado are the only teams worse at the moment...we've passed Boston in this dubious stat.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/co...rue/order/false Danks currently at 93rd out of 96 qualified in ERA. Only ahead of Buchholz, Colby Lewis, and....you guessed it, Edwin Jackson.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 08:17 PM) Not really sure why Lindstrom's getting innings right now. Still shocked they didn't unload him for a bag of baseballs on 8/31. Danks ERA up to 5.12. It would be great if they can unload him this offseason and pay maybe half his remaining salary. Not dumping Belisario or Lindstrom makes no sense at all. Guerra should always be pitching in the 8th to show he if he can still get it done (or not). Also, Gillaspie has REALLY been fading down the stretch.

Soler with five doubles already (Baez with five as well in an 3+ weeks of AB's) and Hendricks cruising. Brewers are in real danger of missing out on the playoffs.

Viciedo with a late-season hot streak to put himself firmly into the 2015 conversation...or, at the very least, building up some helpful trade value.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 06:26 PM) Make him the BP pitcher, that should give the SOx a lot of confidence heading into the games. See Barry Zito or Tim Lincecum, although I have ZERO confidence Danks will throw a no-hitter at any point the rest of his career.

QUOTE (LDF @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 06:34 PM) 1. Tomas for sure. 2. Lester. all depending on the salary. wouldn't cost a pick. 3. Hanley Ramirez - I don't know why, but I like him. 4. mid level rp. Lester will cost you $150 million, maybe $175. Too pricey, and, as always noted these days, huge contracts for pitchers near 30 or over are almost always a recipe for disaster (see Justin Verlander or Tanaka). Hanley Ramirez can't play everyday SS. If he could, then you'd obviously trade Ramirez/Danks...giving you some more payroll flexibility. The problem is that Ramirez will never stay healthy playing SS everyday. He could perhaps share SS/3B and DH duties. But, once again, do you invest $100 million plus in a player at his age, with his recent injury history? Probably too big of a risk. And he's more of a 3B than a SS at this point in his career, although he can play both fairly adequately. We need a competent lefty setup guy and a better closer. Maybe out of Petricka/Webb/Guerra/Putnam/Bassit you get two useful pitchers in 2015, but there's just way too many question marks to not make big changes. You already know going into 2015 that Belisario and Lindstrom are out and so is Nate Jones...and that Petricka's not quite ready to be a closer, and might never be unless he can hone his offspeed stuff and get more movement and better command with his fastball, especially when he's behind in the count. As far as Tomas goes, if Rusney Castillo got $72.5 million, then you're talking that number or higher for Tomas, perhaps approaching $85-90 million. That's fine if Abreu/Ramirez/Viciedo give the go-ahead.

Crazy stat of the day. Mickey Lolich...54 ten or more strikeout games Justin Verlander...28, but none yet this year

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 05:28 PM) While all the while, if he continues to struggle, we'll hear more and more how he was a Hendry guy. Funny how we didn't hear that when he was being hyped a month ago. In all fairness, they were giving Hendry a lot of credit at the time...almost going out of their way to do it with Castro and Baez. The Cubs' FO is lucky that Hendricks, Wada and Soler are doing well, or there would be a lot more attention focused on Javier's struggles and the fact that his OPS is currently well below "bad" Gordon Beckham territory despite all the power.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 05:23 PM) As long as he doesn't get paid like a frontline starter, that's fine, he doesn't need to be. At some point the rotation is going to feature Sale, Rodon, and Q. If Rodon is the beast we all hope he is they don't need Maeda to be a legit frontline starter. I've read a lot on Maeda and I like him as well. Reminds me of Iwakuma who quietly has been one of the better starters in the league since coming over. He's not gonna be as hyped as Darvish and Tanaka, so I don't think he's gonna be paid like an ace. I'm guessing he gets somewhere in the 12M range annually.....Which is probably around what a guy like Masterson gets as well. I also do tend to agree with SS2k5 though. Unless they trade Danks we probably role with the rotation he brought up.....If they do trade Danks somehow I'd be all about Maeda. Sale-Q-Maeda-Rodon-Noesi would be sexy. There's really a HUGE dropoff from the top three to the next tier. In the end, that's going to push up Maeda's asking price, since he's the biggest unknown and perhaps the pitcher most likely to make a big impact of all the remaining possibilities out there on the market...as the pitcher always has the advantage until batters can adjust.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 05:23 PM) As long as he doesn't get paid like a frontline starter, that's fine, he doesn't need to be. At some point the rotation is going to feature Sale, Rodon, and Q. If Rodon is the beast we all hope he is they don't need Maeda to be a legit frontline starter. I've read a lot on Maeda and I like him as well. Reminds me of Iwakuma who quietly has been one of the better starters in the league since coming over. He's not gonna be as hyped as Darvish and Tanaka, so I don't think he's gonna be paid like an ace. I'm guessing he gets somewhere in the 12M range annually.....Which is probably around what a guy like Masterson gets as well. Masterson's going to be lucky to get $10 million per year at this point...if it's a long-term deal. Too risky for both sides, probably. He'll be advised to sign a one year deal with some type of mutual option and try to rebuild his value, like Erwin Santana's attempting this year. (Backfired for Morales and Drew). As far as Shields goes, he's likely to end up between $85-125 million, so yeah, probably not in the plans...since signing him virtually precludes any improvements via free agency at C, LF, DH and with the bullpen.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 05:09 PM) I will say again, I don't see the Sox spending big dollars on a frontline pitcher unless someone gets dealt in a massive deal. I think they will be content to set up. Sale-Q-Rodon-Danks-Noesi Basically, the only way to pull that off is to clear the salaries of Danks and Ramirez. Maybe if they packaged them together and expected almost nothing in return, but the Sox are unlikely to make that move unless they're 100% sure Semien or Sanchez can play SS on an everyday basis.