caulfield12

Arrieta has been a pretty savvy acquisition as well, FWIW.

Trevor Cahill's another idea floating around, if they can get the DBacks to eat nearly all of his salary, and, once again, Cooper has a fix on what's causing him problems. All depends on the money. It would have to be those veteran pitchers that signed 1-3 year deals and whose teams are looking to cut them loose and save money, going with younger players...the Nolascos and Phil Hughes (the Twins won't deal with us, surely), Haren or Beckett (if Billingsley comes back for the Dodgers) or Maholm, Scott Feldman with the Astros, etc. Kazmir and Tim Hudson certainly aren't going anywhere. Cliff Lee's probably on the market again (and don't even look at his contract)...maybe anyone in the Phillies' rotation if the right offer is out there on the table (remember all the pressure Amaro's got to be feeling with the "accidental trade" rumors connected with Domingo Santana also going to the Astros?) Clay Buchholz? The always rumored but probably no pitching coach in the world can fix Edinson Volquez. Because Hanson and Paulino certainly haven't worked out...albeit very low-risk maneuvers.

FWIW, the June Free Agent draft is no longer close to Boras' pet issue. It's the QO/compensation picks system and especially fighting back against the type of deals the Astros are offering to pre-MLB service time like Springer/Singleton/Grossman/Dominguez and also the Pirates with Gregory Polanco.

Domonic Brown from the Phillies has been brought up. Having a simply horrendous year, the Phillies are firmly facing the rebuilding idea in the face, so they might want to hold onto him STILL, like the Royals did with Alex Gordon. They're going to be looking to deal guys like Utley/Rollins that have value NOW to the contenders. But a Brown for Viciedo deal has lots of risk for both sides, which is why it would be interesting. However, dealing Viciedo simply because he's in the first big slump of the season and might be coming out of it seems foolhardy unless there's someone scouting Brown hard that has a really clear idea of what his issues are exactly compared to last season, and believes they have a quick fix and not something that would need to wait until the off-season to reconstruct. Obviously, Dayan's hitting more doubles than homers (compared to his rookie season), but he's also walking a lot more and the homers SHOULD come with the summer months in bunches.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Jun 11, 2014 -> 10:32 AM) Jim Callis ‏@jimcallisMLB 13m That order, but I bet all 3. @FantasyRundown: Of Sands, Steele, and Cease...rank them in terms of most likely signed by @Cubs? @MLBDraft I know those are the big three, not sure who the other two tough signs are. Didn't follow their draft that closely. to join a trio of college aces -- St. Louis right-hander James Norwood (seventh), Oregon lefty Tommy Thorpe (eighth) and Arizona righty James Farris (ninth). Norwood's very highly-regarded by a lot of respected baseball people. You can understand why many ranked the Cubs and White Sox at B+, but for totally different reasons/strategies. So, in total, there are six pitchers to track pretty closely with that particular draft class.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 11, 2014 -> 07:30 AM) -0.1 WAR. Alex Rios also put up a -1.1 WAR when he was 30. And all you asked me to do was find one guy who could put up a 2-5 WAR for whom the Sox could trade for using Leury Garcia. I have responded. I win. Except Rios wasn't terrible two seasons in a row. And it has nothing to do with Leury Garcia's value, it's ONLY about money for Upton/Kemp/Joe Mauer, etc. Because we could obviously have Mauer if we assumed the rest of that contract as well. Rios had a 798 and 744 OPS in 2008 and then in 2009 with the Blue Jays. It wasn't until after he joined the White Sox in 2009 that he was really terrible (.530 OPS). Nobody in baseball would assume BJ Upton's contract today, any more than they would Adam Dunn's for the remainder of the season. KW was willing to take that risk on Rios' talent. Different situations. Plus, the Braves value Upton's presence for the value it provides to Justin.

How many of those five young "tough/questionable sign" arms can the Cubs realistically bring into the fold? 2? 3?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 10, 2014 -> 09:21 AM) I am excited to see it. Not sure if I'll be able to in the theaters though. You're becoming the Simon Cowell of SoxTalk critics, haha.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 11, 2014 -> 09:24 AM) It would be great if the mascot didn't require a roster spot so we could rotate our 3 s***ty outfielders in and out while also being able to plug Danks and his nice D to save us from those first 3 ' s terrible defense Are you including Eaton in that list or I'm assuming you mean Sierra when he starts...? Sierra has actually been a lot better recently than he showed his first 7-10 days with the White Sox. Of course, he's not playing as much now, so it's a bit harder to see. He does have a high-quality arm, although his instincts aren't exactly Clemente-esque in RF.

Guess it depends on how much they value keeping Sierra... I could see it if Hahn really believed that releasing DeAza and playing Jordan Danks everyday would keep them in the Wild Card/division race, but that's pretty far-fetched to fathom for any Sox fans who have watched Danks for seemingly a decade.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 11, 2014 -> 09:05 AM) Apparently the White Sox are signing/have signed, a Speed Skating Olympic medalist? NBC 6 Sports @NBC6Sports · Jun 9 Per his parents, U.S. Olympic speed skater & silver medalist @eddyalvarez90 is expected to sign with the @whitesox tomorrow Video of the contract signing. http://instagram.com/p/pEempGqM8v/# http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=2...lb&sid=milb 5'9" switch-hitting shortstop. Most interestingly, the son of Cuban parents. "The sense of balance you need to take these turns at incredible angles that we do, it actually helps my swing and my load and how I need balance," Alvarez explained. "I kind of have an Ichiro swing. I load up on the back leg and unleash it. Just reaction in general, too. Stealing a base corresponds with the 500-meter start and that gun. So there are a lot of similarities in a way." "He was a good athlete, obviously," said former St. Thomas coach Manny Mantrana, who managed Nick (his older brother played for the Dodgers in their farm system all the way to AA, 13 years older) recruited Eddy and has moved on to the University of Texas, Pan American. "I think he would have been ready defensively right away as a freshman. He was very quick in the field and had a good, accurate throwing arm. Hitting-wise, he could slap balls around, hit some line drives and could steal a base, too. "But defensively, he would have been great. I think he chose the wrong sport, and I always kid him about that." ..... Feeling down after failing to qualify (for the 2010 Olympics) and with knee injuries also a concern, Alvarez turned once more to baseball in 2011, getting another chance at the college game, this time at Salt Lake Community College, not far from where he'd trained on the ice in the past. Alvarez became a switch-hitter and was one of the more impressive bats on a Bruins team that was ranked the No. 1 nationally among junior colleges before falling in the Western District championship. The 5-foot-9 shortstop owned a .311/.390/.478 slash line and led the Scenic West Athletic Conference with 16 doubles to go with two homers, four triples, 46 RBIs and seven steals in 63 games. He earned a spot on the all-conference team along with a nomination as a Junior College All-American. Scouts turned up to see if Alvarez was back on the diamond for good. His answer? Not yet. "They were wondering when I was going to come back, so I did tell them after the [sochi] Games," he said. "But it was a great experience. I got to step away from this sport, grow up a little bit, try to get my mind right." Although he certainly had performed well at Salt Lake, his knees were still not 100 percent and doctors later discovered several tears in both. Alvarez underwent major knee surgery in March 2012, following failed plasma injections, and was able to return to speedskating on the national level by the following fall. A little more than a year later, he officially became an Olympian. Alvarez finished second in the 500m and 1,500m races and third in the 1,000m at last month's Olympic Trials, good enough for second overall and a well-deserved spot on the eight-skater (five men, three women) U.S. Short Track team.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 11, 2014 -> 08:37 AM) I just would love it so much more if he was dynamic CFer. If you look at some of the putrid offensive numbers for corner OFers these days (see the Boston Red Sox)...then anything much above 750-775 OPS is closing in on dynamic. Of course, it would be nice to have the sitution the Pirates have with essentially three CFer's playing all the outfield positions in Polanco, McCutcheon and Marte. That's probably the best young outfield in baseball, with the Marlins (Stanton, Ozuna and Yelich a close 2nd). And with all the injuries suffered in CF (comparatively), it's okay for Hawkins to be on a corner. All things considered, we have some possibilities now with Semien, Micah Johnson and even perhaps Anderson being looked at for outfield play in the next couple of seasons...largely due to the failures of Mitchell/Thompson/Walker and DeAza/Danks as well as Garcia's injury and Gillaspie's hot hitting.

http://www.littleleague.org/series/2006div...est/jacefry.htm Jace Fry was a hero of the 2006 Little League World Series, playing for Beaverton/Murray Hill.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jun 11, 2014 -> 06:46 AM) BA confirm Spencer Adams' signing at 1,282,000 Also Brett Austin (450,000) - slightly below slot (485,400) Zach Thompson (363,400) - at slot Louie Lechich (40,000) - nice saving there, slot is 272,100 Jake Peter (203,800) - at slot So there's an extra $267,540 to be used for either Rodon or the 13/14th round pitcher.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jun 11, 2014 -> 07:02 AM) Bo Jackson-esque Except that had a bit more of a rainbow arc than a Bo Jackson toss.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 10, 2014 -> 09:06 PM) Scholarship plan should be available to all draftees. I think most teams would only extend it in cases where it really makes a critical difference between signing and not signing a contract, like the Univ. of Missouri commit (pitcher) with the previous TJ surgery from the 13th or 14th round. I doubt they would really care about MOST of the high school draft picks past round 10...I don't mean care at all, but just from a profit/loss standpoint, that's a lot of additional payments that are going to have to come from somewhere in the organization's budget.

A more dynamic Domonic Brown is what we have to hope for with Hawkins...probably a late bloomer. Patience.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 10, 2014 -> 08:10 PM) Leyer with a dominating start. 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K Season numbers not too pretty though. Pretty terrible IP/H and BB/K numbers until today. Maybe something just clicked and he can build upon it going forward. If nothing else, having both MILB Leyer's pitching in A ball in the same organization and both Rodon/Rondon will be confusing to track/follow.

Anderson's up over .300 now. Two more K's for Hawkins, at .249 at the moment. Anyone notice how bad former high 1st round draft pick Bubba Starling's doing? Another high school hitting prospect the Royals seem to have missed on, to go along with Moustakas.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 10, 2014 -> 01:40 PM) Former Cy Young winner Bob Welch dead at 57.........way too young. He was awesome with the A's Also the last MLB pitcher to win 25+ games...27 to be exact.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 10, 2014 -> 05:56 PM) But they lost 14-2 and gave up 20 hits. Well, that's because Leesman sucks and is just filler...along with most of the remaining pieces of that bullpen.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 10, 2014 -> 08:00 PM) Has there ever been a pitcher in the MLB or the minors who has ever been a full time starting pitcher AND a position player on his days off? I know Mike Hampton and Micah Owings and Carlos Zambrano had pinch-hit before, but did anyone play full time as both a pitcher and a hitter? Dontrelle Willis is another name that comes to mind in this category. Brooks Kieschnick did it with the Brewers in 2003 and 2004, but he was a reliever and a bench player with spot starts.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jun 10, 2014 -> 07:27 PM) Is he gonna pitch or hit professionally? I would bet on pitching, since it's the White Sox and we've had some previous examples like Brian Anderson, Jason Dellaero, Sergio Santos, Brooks Kieschnick, etc. Those were position players who switched, but this kid has mostly been known for his work as an infielder, and "dabbled" with pitching, right? One of the things the Tigers' broadcasting crew said that Don Cooper keyed on with Noesi was his "fast arm action" and that he felt they could work with him, despite that disastrous appearance for the Rangers against the Sox (7 runs). So I'm just guessing...but there must be something about his arm action/mechanics/repeatability they really liked when they scouted him. We have more than enough infielders at the moment, anyway. Picked up by the Chicago White Sox a month later and signed to a minor league deal, Kieschnick then radically changed his career approach. Up to this point, Kieschnick had pitched in exactly two minor league games in his career—both token relief appearances in blowout games, one in 1999 and one in 2001. Nevertheless, in the 2002 season Kieschnick switched his primary focus to pitching, hoping to better his chances of making a major league roster as a pitcher who was also a versatile utility player. He ended up spending the entire 2002 season in the minor leagues with the triple-A Charlotte Knights, appearing in 25 games as a relief pitcher, 1 as an outfielder and over 40 as either a pinch-hitter or DH.[2][15] He finished the season batting .275 with 13 home huns in just 189 at bats; as a pitcher, he was 0-1 with a 2.59 ERA in just over 31 innings pitched. He was then signed by the Milwaukee Brewers before the 2003 season...and played the most versatile super utility role of all for 2 seasons, both pitching and hitting.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jun 10, 2014 -> 09:52 AM) I wish I had the mental capacity to figure out what your point is here. I'm not saying you don't have a point, just that I'm just a little sad thatt my brain does not possess the processing power necessary to find it. I'll restate it simply. Rios (with the Rangers) and Garcia (with the White Sox) were essentially the same player, OPS-wise. Because Rios had 16/17 steals, and is a better defender (although we saw a TON of lapses out of him in 2013, although not quite like 2009/2011)...that trade was significant enough in and of itself to shift the balance in the standings so that the White Sox finished with the 3rd pick overall and took Rodon, while the Cubs finished at 66-96. To summarize, if Rios wasn't traded, the argument goes...we would have won 66 or 67 games (a 3-4 game improvement) over 63-99 and ended up with Kyle Schwarber as the #4 draft pick instead of Rodon at 3.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 10, 2014 -> 09:36 AM) I don't mean to pile on, but man, that is a ridiculous argument. And even though Alex Rios had a worse OPS than Avisail Garcia, it still means a 3-4 swing in the standings over just 48 games, since the Cubs won 66? Wow. If Rios is so great that he can make up that much of a difference in the standings in 7 weeks, then why would they have traded him in the first place?