caulfield12

Looks like the Marlins are going with either Rodon or Jackson. Pure guesswork of course. BY CLARK SPENCER CSPENCER@MIAMIHERALD.COM The last time the Marlins had the second overall pick in the draft, they selected a high school pitcher from Texas who later won the deciding game of the World Series. His name was Josh Beckett. They will be No. 2 on the list again Thursday for the June draft, baseball’s annual gold dig for the nation’s top amateur talent. Who the Marlins end up taking remains a mystery, in part because of the uncertainty over which player the Houston Astros intend to pluck with the top pick. “They’re playing it close to the vest, and I understand that,” said Stan Meek, the Marlins’ vice president of scouting. “But it won’t really effect what we do. We’ll put our board together regardless of what they do.” Meek said the Marlins have narrowed their short list to four players. Indications are those four are: pitchers Carlos Rodon, Brady Aiken and Tyler Kolek, and catcher/outfielder Alex Jackson. Though the Marlins usually tend to favor pitching when drafting, they might be more inclined to go with Jackson — assuming the Astros don’t snatch him first — given their relative lack of skilled hitters in the minors. Jackson, a California prep star, is considered the best bat in this year’s crop. Jackson, who packs serious home run punch, could also be viewed as a safeguard if the Marlins and Giancarlo Stanton are unable to agree on an extension and his career doesn’t continue in Miami. If not Jackson, the Marlins could continue stockpiling arms by drafting yet another pitcher. Most draft analysts have Rodon, Aiken and Kolek ranked high on their lists, and the Marlins probably wouldn’t be disappointed with any of them. “Obviously, at No. 2, you’ve got to get a standout guy,” Meek said. Rodon, being the only collegian (North Carolina State) of the group, is probably closer to reaching the majors than the other two. But Meek downplayed that aspect as a major factor. Meek said he has scouted the top candidates multiple times, and that finding a consensus hasn’t been easy. “I think all of us probably feel there’s not one particular guy that stands out above the rest,” Meek said. “But there’s a lot of good players up there.” Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/04/4158...l#storylink=cpy

In my opinion, they’re making step after step after step that are PR nightmares,” de Castro told the Sun-Times. “At the same time, they’ve lost 35 games this year, 288 games in the last three years, and no one’s listening or watching. “We’ve lost a lot of money on the Cubs, and we’ve stood behind their rebuild for years,” de Castro continued. “And we offered to continue to lose a lot of money in the future, but not the kind of money that CBS is going to lose. It’s just an amazingly layered deal. I can’t figure it out. I’ve been around the broadcast business a really long time, and it makes no sense. “It would be irresponsible, financially, to pay that kind of money.” The station exercised an opt-out provision in the contract last fall over declining ratings and revenue losses during a rebuilding process that resulted in a three-year franchise-record 288 losses in 2011-13. That move followed the Cubs’ decision to opt out of their WGN-TV deal to seek better long-term regional TV rights fees and left the Cubs on WGN radio through this season. suntimes.com There's a shot across the bow of Ricketts and Epstein if ever there was one.

Might want to have a refresher course on those rundown plays again. Abreu looks really shaky out there.

Sorry...here's the exact information June 5 6 p.m. - Draft preview show on MLB Network and MLB.com 7 p.m. - Live Draft (Round 1, Comp. A, Round 2, Comp. B) on MLB Network and MLB.com June 6 12:30 p.m. - Draft preview show on MLB.com 1 p.m. - Live Draft (Rounds 3-10) on MLB.com June 7 1 p.m. - Live Draft (Rounds 11-40) on MLB.com

Why wouldn't it be surprising to me (at all) if Aiken doesn't have a huge impact at the major league level? He would be the 4th pitcher on my list at the moment.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 11:21 PM) Industry consensus right now seems to be that the top 3 rated players are Aiken, Rodon and Jackson. I guess the chances of the Sox taking the latter if the former 2 are gone are about the same as Leury Garcia hitting a home run to straightaway centre at Dodgers Stadium. Not top three ranked. Top three in terms of the needs and financial resources of those first 3 teams picking, especially the Marlins. But even the Astros have been known to go for underslot as well, like the Correa pick. And the Astros are doing a ton of posturing with Nolan Ryan, Porter, Luhnow, etc., if they're not taking Kolek. Maybe it's just PR to fend off the idea from their fans they didn't give the local kid a shot with the Stros.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 10:32 PM) <!--quoteo(post=2991089:date=Jun 4, 2014 -> 08:22 PM:name=Balta1701)-->QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 08:22 PM) <!--quotec-->Do people really think the Texas Rangers, if given the choice between using money and using prospects, would have chosen to use a better prospect in that deal? No, but had we been willing to pay his remaining salary his market would have been bigger. It's really not that difficult of a concept, most teams aren't flush with cash come the trade deadline. Ignoring all historical reality that the White Sox have never included significant money (over $5 million) to get a better prospect back.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 11:08 PM) Get me Gillaspie, Reetz, or Weaver with that 2nd pick. Do the Sox just have 1 pick tomorrow? I'm not sure how many rounds they do on the first day. 3

Belisario never threw 97 MPH before the last couple of nights. Interesting, the motivation an athlete has to beat the team that gave up on him in no uncertain terms.

Need the DP ball badly here. Putnam's the guy to do it.

Need the DP ball badly here. Putnam's the guy to do it.

Decision time for Ventura. Could Garcia have made that play? Just says deflected online.

Danks getting more Buehrle-like by the day. Well, results are more important than MPH any day of the week, unless it's Erik Johnson. Danks now at 104 pitches and counting.

By the way, is there anyone in the majors now with a lower OPS than DeAza with over 175 AB's?

First time all season Eaton in the 240's and Viciedo in the 260's. Big time scuffling going on with our offense, other than Abreu and Beckham, who's forgotten how to field.

In that scenario, the White Sox would probably wind up with a potential Nolan Ryan clone in Tyler Kolek, a country boy from outside of Houston whose fastball was clocked at 102 mph this season. John Hart, the Braves' advisor who is an analyst for MLB Network, says Kolek has more potential to dominate than anyone in the Draft. As a high school power pitcher, he'd bring potential for both career-changing injuries -- think Kerry Wood -- and stalled development. He's listed at 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, but he's hardly a big lug. Kolek, like Ryan, was raised with a strong work ethic and has become a workout fanatic. And unlike a young Ryan, he's received high-level coaching that has given him a good idea where his pitches will go. "This is just not some big, crude kid who is heaving the ball in there," Hart said. "This is a guy who has athleticism. Look, he throws 100 mph. He's going to pitch with a plus-fastball, [but] he's got a late, hard breaking ball. He's got a feel for a nice delivery, clean delivery, easy arm, quick arm. The sky is the limit when you're talking about Kolek." One other thing to keep in mind about the White Sox. They believe in Don Cooper, Kirk Champion, Curt Hasler, J.R. Perdew and their other pitching coaches. They've historically kept pitchers healthy and aren't afraid to rush them. Kolek could contribute as soon as 2016. From phil rogers' article right now at mlb.com http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/phil-r...p;vkey=news_mlb First time in 49 years both teams have picks in the Top 4.

Humanely...funny, especially since my class is watching "Of Mice and Men" today. And it was Noesi, not Nieto. By the way, the Tigers are losing again, 6-2 to the white hot Blue Jays. That would be 4-11 over their last 15 games (they were 27-13, which was their best start since 1984 or 87 or whatever the year was that Hernandez won MVP and Cy Young). Not quite panic city like in St. Louis, because of the lack of divisional competition, but getting nearer to full meltdown time, especially Nathan. Just recalled top SS Eugenio Suarez from AA to take the place of Romine/Worth as well.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 07:27 PM) Someone said it best the other day. The idea of trading Reed for a near-ready offensive player was great. However, the scouting of that player might be where the trouble lies. KW and Hahn have traded a lot of big league talent over the last 5 years with very little to how for it. It's hard to imagine getting less production that what they have received from trading Quentin, Swisher, Santos, Rios, Vazquez and Reed. Doubled with not getting anything back from Jenks, Crede, Gavin Floyd and Jesse Crain. At least we still have Flowers, who is more or less holding his own this season. He's not killing us, like in 2013. And didn't we also trade Hernandez from the Padres to help us get Liriano? If Liriano pitches for us in 2012 like he did with the Pirates in 2013 and carries us to the playoffs over the Tigers, that move looks really good in retrospect.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 07:35 PM) If you want a decent return, part of the matter is not including guys who are pretty much useless. Kanekoa (No Relation to Mark) Texeira, or Swisher?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 11:31 AM) I like how in one forum we're saying Leury Garcia, who is in the big leagues at age 23, is a poor return for Rios, and in another forum we're impressed at how well Eduardo Escobar is doing for the Twins. When Leury puts up an OPS of over 650 for 130+ at-bats and isn't more notable for what he did pitching in a game than anything else he's accomplished, you can get back to us on that one.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 12:00 PM) That was great. Ventura #10 overall 1988 Thomas #7 overall 1989 Guillen - Intl FA Johnson acquired via trade from the Cardinals for Jose DeLeon who was received for the White Sox to return rule V pick Bobby Bonilla Cora - acquired via trade from Padres Kark - #14 overall 1982 McDowell - #5 overall 1987 Fernandez - #4 overall 1990 Alvarez - Intl FA Hernandez #16 overall 1986 It took a decade of sucking to build that core. Despite all the complaints about the new stadium, the timing was right in terms of where the team was positioned talent-wise going into the early 90's. Couldn't have been more the opposite in Minnesota, for example.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 02:56 PM) http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/beane-a...wn-terms-052914 We traded 1 prospect for Quentin, who, himself, was a prospect. Early, williams traded off top prospects. Later, he just acquired too many mediocre players and our drafting wasn't good. I like Oak's philosophy - it's like we overreacted with "tools" after we drafted that stiff Broadway. Williams has always liked hard throwers...Koch, MacDougal and the like. I prefer Oak's approach. Ks are good, but you don't need to throw 96 to get them. I would take Nola...but only because I have a heavy distrust, perhaps bias, of drafting HS pitchers early. If there were a really top hitter, I'd take him first. Let's also remember that applied more to bullpen arms, with the irony being that Koch's arm was shot after so many appearances with the A's and Blue Jays...and was straight as an arrow at 93-94. And an overreaction to not having a flame-throwing traditional closer in Keith Foulke. It's what also led to the acquisition of guys like Aardsma, MacDougal, Sisco and Masset, who we must have read 25 quotes was a flamethrower coming up with the Rangers and then with the White Sox was sitting at 90-94 most of the time...and of course we later heard he was throwing that speed in order to control his stuff and get more movement/Don Cooper's influence, etc. Which led back to the "must get veterans, not projects" acquisitions of Dotel and Linebrink before 2008. I always found it amusing the best of all the lefty relievers that we auditioned at that time...and there were maybe 12-15 of them, ended up being traded rather quickly to the Red Sox, where he started a very long and fruitful loogy career. Javier Lopez.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 05:38 PM) While true...that's not really endearing yourself very well to the locals. I don't see how that's possible... Is this immediately and from here on out? That being said...I think it sucks....especially during the winter for Bulls games! Maybe he means the net revenue (after losses were subtracted due to the White Sox and Cubs) were only $250,000? If that includes both the baseball teams, it's not boding well for either team getting large media rights deals going forward unless things turn around relatively quickly and product demand increases correspondingly. It's definitely going to force the Bulls and Sox to be bundled together ... using that leverage of co-ownership.

The White Sox were wise to get out from under the Rios contract. That said, Leury Garcia's not every going to be a major contributor. It's nice to "spin" every trade in a positive fashion, or try to connect all the dots together (we didn't really need Davidson this year because of Conor's performance, acquiring Molina actually saved us money on the "bad" Santos deal, around $8.25 million that we could allocate to Abreu's signing bonus or other bad contracts like Keppinger/Dunn/Paulino/Downs, etc.) You can go around and around and around in circles. The pursuit of Tanaka is always going to stand as evidence that the money's there....when/if they want to spend it. And you'd have a real interesting argument about how much he would have helped THIS season, and what the cost to the team eventually would be if he breaks down in say, 2016-2018, when they're supposed to be right in the epicenter of their competitive window. With all the TJ surgeries this year, I'm still not convinced that giving Tanaka $175 million would be the best long-term move for the White Sox, despite his being one of the top five pitchers in baseball the first 2 months of the season.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 10:28 AM) Remember when the Sox ruined Chris Sale by using him in the bullpen in 2011? It was idiotic, but that contract extension made up for it.