caulfield12

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 11, 2013 -> 03:48 PM) Johnson is still in A ball - he isn't going, unless he's promoted between now and then. Semien is an obvious choice. Ravelo maybe, to see what they have there. Walker perhaps. It isn't about "deserving" anyway - it is about the reasons you send someone. Those reasons include: specific development needs, or being a marginal prospect and they want to challenge them, or lost development time during the season. And it is pretty early to even guess who falls into those categories by September. Has anyone seen something in Ravelo that would cause them to believe he could hit at least 10-15 homers as he progresses...? I can see "specific" development needs, but it's pretty much a waste of time if those players don't project as anything more than bench players in the major leagues...unless there was someone they knew internally had fatal flaws but could be marketed because of their success in Arizona, sort of like when that league spring-boarded Tyler Flowers into consideration as a trade/acquisition target. Coming into this year, I guess Kevan Smith would have been another name that would be in that mix...between the Winston-Salem and Birmingham teams. Saladino, although one would think that ship is close to sailing. I only added Johnson because of his level university experience vs. high school player...making him more likely to be selected for the AFL than someone as raw as Hawkins. We're to the halfway point of the respective minor league seasons, so it's not too early to at least speculate on.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jun 11, 2013 -> 03:25 PM) Even though it's coming from Buddy Bell, I don't think that's the right approach. A guy like Keenyn Walker is the perfect example. His average dipped from .280 at Kanny to .240 in WS after the promotion last year, and he only played 37 games at WS to finish off the season. He should absolutely be starting the year at WS and continue to work on his swing, and prove he can handle Advance A hitting before promotion. As a result, he's barely hitting above .200 this year, and as it looks now, it's a long shot for him to make it to the majors. Walker not being at Winston-Salem to start the year...you're right, especially with his history of playing football and not being 100% dedicated to baseball as his only sport. Just because a player has certain physical tools or attributes doesn't mean they should ALL be pushed like they're coming from the same cookie cutter mold. In fact, you could argue that some Sox minor leaguers would build up a lot more value to other organizations (as trade candidates) were they not pushed so hard in our system, oftentimes leading to either failure or struggles that diminish their luster.

They're going to have a difficult finding 3 position players that really deserve to play in Arizona. Micah Johnson would be the obvious choice right now, and it would benefit Walker or Thompson as well. Carlos Sanchez, maybe. Perhaps DeMichele or Semien, whichever they feel has the highest upside. You'd love to have one guy in the AFL every season that you felt had a shot at being an MLB All-Star someday.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 11, 2013 -> 02:10 PM) If Courtney wants hit .350 for a couple months, I'm happy to promote. Otherwise, I don't see it happening. At his age and given his start to the season, you want him to thoroughly dominate that level before promoting again. It won't matter to the Sox if he hits .300 or .350. Probably, they view him as a .270 or .280 hitter at the major league level anyway...unless he's in that elite group of 3-5 players in the game who can hit 30-45 homers and also hit .300. It's 1) how comfortable he looks and 2) gaining more and more experience. As he said in the blogger call, he's going from playing just 2 games a week and not even having played baseball throughout his entire lifetime growing up...to playing a 110 game schedule now (minus the month missed due to injury) + playoffs + AFL. They're not going to send him to Arizona if he's still striking out 50% of the time, because he would be torn to pieces by other teams' elite pitchig prospects...but they also want to see him against the best competition, so they can identify the flaws and address them as quickly as possible.

Morse and Napoli are ideas, we have to put SOMEONE there with some offensive ability next year. Adam Lind or Carlos Pena would be a couple of more options, stacked up behind Morales. As for any type of outfield alignment with Jordan Danks getting regular playing time, PASS. There has to be a better solution, SOMEWHERE/SOMEHOW.

By Kevin Kauffman, part of a chicagonow.com article The other sort of optimistic, or at least fantasy thinking tact some White Sox fans have been taking is that the White Sox should have a fire sale and start over. There is a couple things wrong with this thinking. First, which players are attractive to other teams? Alex Rios might get some interest, but he has a bit of a burdensome contract so maybe not. I can’t imagine anyone taking on Adam Dunn and I highly doubt he will move on waivers either. And don’t expect the White Sox to outright release him. I don’t think Reinsdorf is cheap, but I also don’t think he will be willing to eat the remaining two years of Dunn’s contract. I’ve seen a few comments that Alexei Ramirez might be moved, but his one home run and downturn on defense isn’t going to get much in return. A few pitchers could be attractive, but that would thin the already skimpy staff. Before the injury, Peavy was mentioned, but missing up to six weeks really seems to hurt his “help right now” appeal. The overall strategy of “trade the underachievers for prospects” doesn’t seem that plausible. Actually calling the White Sox players underachievers is being kind; they simply aren’t very good. Getting much in return for bad players doesn’t usually happen. So what are the White Sox to do? I think exploring the trade market isn’t a bad idea, knowing full well there won’t be much coming back. Next, and here is where it gets complicated, the White Sox need to give up the strategy that Kenny Williams espoused during his tenure; the rebuild on the fly while trying to compete model. It can be successful (2005!) but it doesn’t build a sustained success. The next time the White Sox make back to back post seasons will be the first time (yes, 1994 they finished first, but no playoffs that year, thanks Bud!) The White Sox need to rebuild and I think it needs to go beyond just players. Honestly, thus far the Rick Hahn regime hasn’t shown much. Hiring Buddy Bell inspires no confidence in me. A long baseball pedigree with a lot of bad teams doesn’t seem to be evidence that he knows how to rebuild a farm system, let alone create a championship at the top level.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 11, 2013 -> 01:37 PM) According to Buddy Bell they want their players challenged and don't really care as much about statistics because of it. And by and large, that has worked with the pitchers. The problem is when the players have mechanical flaws in their approaches but are still succeeding at the minor league level (Borchard, Brian Anderson, Josh Fields, maybe even Beckham, although we know how good he was in 2009) and those flaws aren't addressed until they've seemingly become ingrained or it's too late. Maybe trying to tear down and deconstruct a swing when a hitter's been at least psychologically perceiving himself to be successful is too much for most guys to handle (it's not like every hitter can be so cerebral as Paul Konerko, or Quentin...or someone like Tiger Woods in golf, who completely alter their swing approaches from time to time to adjust to the competition). You might even be able to put Viciedo in this category with his struggles against RHP at the major league level. We've seen players like Alex Rios come out of bad mechanics at the big league level, but usually those players have already enjoyed success for 3-5 years, not just a half season or so.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 11, 2013 -> 01:33 PM) Didn't know they got divorced. Agreed. That's bs Sounds just like a former Speaker of the....or former Sen. Edwards. Definitely not going to elicit much sympathy with such cold moves as that from anyone.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 11, 2013 -> 09:49 AM) The only way he should get a promotion is for playoff experience at a higher level if his High A team doesn't make it, and either Birmingham or Charlotte does make it (Barons have already clinched a playoff spot..) Yep, with Hawkins, it's all about getting experience and building upon success. One step forward, a step back...but seems to have recovered nicely. Maybe it took some real struggles for him to appreciate how easily the game came to him last year. Whether he "deserves" to be promoted from a statistical standpoint, that's arguably not one of the top 3-5 considerations for the Sox like it is fans who follow prospects from a distance and try to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. They will definitely try to get him some at-bats for Birmingham (if he continues hitting like this from here on out) and then hopefully carrying that momentum into the AFL season, if he's still 100% healthy and not too banged up.

Maybe if some of these prospects like Rienzo start making it to the big leagues and getting paid, that will change. Like Yao Ming in the NBA, Ichiro (Asian market) in baseball, just need one to break through and many others will follow in their footsteps. We're already starting to get more and more of an influx of South Korean players.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/review-laden-...-092446914.html The Laden "Man of Steel" Doesn't Soar

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 11, 2013 -> 05:56 AM) Can Puig close? He can do everything else. I'm sure if he was a pitcher, he could throw in the mid 90's, going off the claim that Viciedo threw 88-91 from scouting reports.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/brazil-...-players-030113 Would be a really cool internship/sports management project to get involved in helping the White Sox or Rays (they've expressed the most interest, so far) starting a Brazilian Baseball Academy. Would have to be able to speak Portuguese or find a fluent translator, of course.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 11, 2013 -> 12:37 AM) So Adam Dunn has a game like that. That proves something. Are all of his prior problems f***ing mental? If he can have one game like that, can't he turn into the young version of Dunn again? Seriously. How did he do it??? It was surely inspiration from reading all the negative comments at soxtalk and wsi about him...

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jun 10, 2013 -> 10:57 PM) They bailed Dylan out tonight. The Blue Jays are the bane of his existence. 3 in row! Need to find a Batman still of Tom Hardy.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 10, 2013 -> 10:46 PM) Trayce Thompson 2/3, 11th SB. He has been hitting .281 since May 1st. God, it is so weird seeing Otano hitting 3rd for our DSL Sox. He is 16-years-old! But normal in the Dominican and Venezuela.

They must have meant 3 homer games....

Dunn with a halfway decent 37 RBI's on the season. Would be incredible if he somehow ended up with more RBI's this year than in 2012. How much time does Jordan Danks have left on the roster?

Stop scoring!!!! We don't want Addison to have a 4 or 5 run lead again. Is Dunn going to get back to .200 again this season?? 3/3 tonight, and still only .177. Well, I guess we should be happy we weren't forced to bench him for the next 1 1/2 years. YET.

3/4. Another liner. 16/32. Still at .500. Looks like the Dodgers might blow this game. Had bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th, 3-1 lead, and failed to score (another controversial call at first on a DP ball). D-Backs have scored to pull to within 3-2, bases loaded, against Brandon League with only one out. 4-3 lead for Arizona. Infield single up the middle by Bloomquist, Punto knocked it down but couldn't get an out and the runners were going on the pitch so two scored. League getting booed out of the stadium...they definitely could use a different closer.

White Sox are so much better when failing at sac bunts...and just hitting away.

QUOTE (Noonskadoodle @ Jun 10, 2013 -> 10:22 PM) Or that's a reason TO trade Alexei if we are out of it completely by the deadline. Some team is gonna be interested in him. & IDK about nobody else making that play. Beck has some serious range at 2nd. Haven't seen him play much SS in the bigs, but I think he has a shot at those balls up the middle ala Alexei. I'm guessing 90% of this board is going to disagree. Second base range and arm are two entirely different things that don't translate as well playing SS...unless the move is SS to 2B. And Gordon can't go equally as well peripherally in either direction, so that would be exacerbated at SS.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 10, 2013 -> 10:20 PM) They're not going to groom him for that position, it sounds like. As I said in the Cubs thread, I think they'll use him (with Vogelbach) in a package to get a big time pitcher. I would think if they try to market him as a corner infielder and he makes 30+ errors at that position, he's going to end up worth about as much as Dayan Viciedo. Well, maybe not as low as Dayan stands today, but definitely diminished in value. Unless he can hit like Miggy Cabrera...

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jun 10, 2013 -> 12:39 PM) Morel at AAA this year: .277/.375/.440/.815 Do you really believe he'd put up at least a 700 OPS in Chicago?

There's ONE reason NOT to trade Alexei Ramirez. Nobody in our organization makes that play, besides him.