caulfield12

Clayton pitched well this ST with the exception of two particularly bad starts where he gave up 7 and 5 runs. Obviously Cooper and Ozzie are happy with him, and the only concern is making sure he gets ahead of hitters and keeps the ball down...which is true of any pitcher in the big leagues, whether he's a rookie or Cliff Lee, who has one of the worst ST ERA's in all of the Cactus League. When do we start the Geoff Jenkins in CF rumors? Of course, he has no ability whatsoever to play that position.

Because Hudson as a CFer is far from a sure thing defensively, and extensive playing time there at his age was/is likely to end up in a trip to the disabled list and reduced effectiveness. Point 2, Hudson's primary position, 2B, is/was manned by Getz and we also have Ramirez, Betemit, Beckham, Nix and Lillibrdidge that could all man the position much more cheaply. Beckham, certainly, or possibly Getz, would be seen as the long-term answer there. You can make an argument they should have signed Hudson for one year to play second and kept Getz in the minors, but I don't think Hudson would have signed for the money he did to play CF...not to mention that going to a tougher league and it seems he wanted to stay on the West Coast, too.

Well, if it is Wise/Anderson/Ramirez at the top of the order (or AJ), we're going to be 3rd from the bottom in the majors in OBP from those two spots, not 3rd from last in AL). The only reason I can think of going with Wise is 1) Owens is arguably worse, 2) Ozzie is more comfortable with Wise than BA, for whatever reasons (his perseverance over a long minor league career, his "big" hits last year or the playoffs against TB), 3) Ozzie feels that Wise gets more out of his ability and hustles more than BA. It's hard to make the case from a baseball-only perspective, as BA would win that argument hands-down in terms of pure logic. The hard part is we're going to have a lot of "MEHHHHH" days if Wise is adequate but around .300-.325 OBP but not horrible enough that Ozzie or KW make another move (giving BA more ab's, Getz to leadoff, trade or adding a player off the waiver wire)...it's the "limbo" thing that has us scared, and even though it will cost us games, I'm sure a significant number will be ready to sacrifice them (providing MIN and CLE don't run away) if they knew a better long-term solution would be in the offing by the end of May, either BA playing everyday until the trading deadline or an acquisition from outside the organization, even Jim Edmonds worth be worth thinking about despite his sitting out all the spring).

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 30, 2009 -> 10:40 PM) We should save this post. I think you have identified why, on paper, we really may suck this season. Defense and speed are important. Our left side of the infield may be horrific. AJP isn't getting any younger. Up the middle, wow. We are a big question mark at best. This might be the long season we've dreaded for a while. Hope a lot of guys step up. It's still going to come down to pitching. Bonderman, Willis, Mauer and Hafner are either injured or ineffective, that gives us a huge leg up...if we would have just come out of ST w

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 30, 2009 -> 03:34 PM) That's all I heard to until this thread. If it's just for opening day, and they are still platooning, then I don't have a problem with it. This is like Alexei starting in CF last year on Opening Day against CLE. It doesn't mean very much in the overall scheme of things. Just because Wise is starting ONE game (I guess against Meche or Greinke) doesn't mean that he will be in there against lefties, that would be suicidal for the line-up. The problem is that teams will have us over a barrel if the platoon doesn't work and it becomes obvious it's costing us games both offensively and defensively. It would have been easy to sign someone like CoCo Crisp for fairly reasonable money and this nightmare wouldn't exist AND continue like a bad soap opera. I do think at least the first series it will be Wise, because the Royals' rotation, if I'm not mistaken, is comprised of all righties (Greinke, Meche, Bannister, Davies, Hochevar, etc.)

Is anyone concerned at all about Dye? For all the b****ing, moaning and complaining about Mr. Lillibridge, Dye is hitting 107 points lower than he is... Anyone hear the velocities for Contreras and Colon today? Pitch count? It doesn't show at the MLB boxscore...just batters faced. I am on wireless internet at Bangkok Airport, will be in Japan/Toyko this morning (31st), still land at O'Hare the same day.

That's because all white players are "grindy/lunch pail (or pale, literally)" right?? Just kidding...

Although I would never refer to Valentin as flashy or really dynamic or spectacular at SS, either. He was very solid, and all the metrics showed that he had a lot more range than Clayton, who was (like Cabrera) reputedly a Gold Glove infielder. The problem is that the lack of arm strength and average to below-average range prevented Clayton from making many plays that Valentin DID make, but these plays of course didn't show up as errors but as infield singles or perhaps a Fielder's Choice instead of putouts. And there were quite a few double plays that the likes or Valentin or Uribe and now Ramirez could complete that a Cabrera or Royce Clayton couldn't. You can't look strictly at errors as the be all-end all measure of a good SS, that's for sure...or total chances, total chances/IP, there are hundreds of barometers, but none of them individually are indicative of performance in isolation.

I think Jose Valentin would qualify as a "wild man" as well...he scared lots of grandmothers sitting in box seats down the first base line back in the day, and routinely put up 30+ error seasons, eventually causing KW to pull the trigger on the Royce Clayton/Myette move.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,6651533.story Speaking of contracts, new article on Mike MacDougal...

Miller has one of the best arms in baseball, but one of the worst offensive track-records in history, too. I'd go with Lucy, Stanford kid, great story of rehabilitation and perseverance for everyone, homegrown prospect. I wouldn't mind Williams making it over Richard even, but I think it will be MacDougal and Clayton for those two spots, Marquez and Broadway to minors.

Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Lee and Paul Konerko might all be examples for failed 3B who were converted....from what I saw of Viciedo this spring, he was 50X better than any of those 3. Fields, someone mentioned earlier, it's also a problem of letting balls play him (like Betemit in ST), backing up instead of charging, getting the wrong bounces...just instincts, which is partly innate and partly learned...not sure if it's 50/50 with experience/practice and God-given ability.

They said Lillibridge really deked the runner on that home run, making him think it was a double play ball and completely stopping him in his tracks...once again, I think that's the kind of thing that everyone who knows baseball notices (but doesn't make the box score) and momentum is certainly undoubtedly in his favor to make the team, with Nix and Kroeger both out of the running. By the way, Kroeger was born in Davenport, Iowa, so with Sweeney and now Gilmore, we're getting a disproportionate share of native Iowans on the White Sox these days. Good to see.

Link definitely, but Santeliz and Rodriguez both have a chance to be special. Link is a pitcher we talked about a lot in the offseason and he's been totally off the radar screen (more than Egbert and Broadway), seemingly from the very beginning of ST. Plus, it'd be nice to see our 2nd Venezuelan pitcher (after Garcia) make the big league team.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 29, 2009 -> 03:49 PM) Viciedo has to be viewed as 3B/LF/1B/DH That sets him up for a whole different trajectory than Alexei who could have fit in at any of 2B/CF/SS And all that is even with age aside. I don't think we can rule out RF. His limited mobility won't affect him as much because not as many balls are hit in that direction (compared to LF) and he has the best arm of anyone in our system in terms of tools. Perhaps this is the assumption because of moving Quentin over from LF, but if Carlos continues to progress in left and Viciedo gets some PT in RF in the regular season and winter ball/AFL, there's no reason to discount the possibility.

Getz with a seeing-eye single up the middle off former White Sox lefty Schoenweis (he off the steroids list) for two RBI's to blow the game wide open, now 9-3. Jerry Owens also had an RBI single (first hit of game), but too little, too late. MacDougal continuing to make a bid to make the team in his second inning this game, after getting hit on the foot by a pitch while batting.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Mar 29, 2009 -> 04:49 PM) Check his minor league stats out. They're a much better indicator of his ability than a few AB in ST are. 2008 (AAA, MLB): 36 BB, 123 K, about 1 BB for every 3.4 K 2007 (AA, AAA): 40 BB, 119 K, about 1 BB for every 3 K 2006 (A, A+): 87 BB, 104 K, about 1 BB for every 1.2 K 2005 (A-): 14 BB, 35 K, about 1 BB for every 2.5 K 177/381=2.15 I think 3-1 isn't beyond the realm of possibility, at worst, 4-1 for the last player on the bench. We can live with it because of all the other skills he brings to the table. Seems like he was trying too hard to impress his teammates and justify the trade in the first 2-3 weeks of ST.

Betemit is a mid 600 OPS hitters against LHP....and around 800 against RHP. Many have argued here that, like Valentin, he should simply give up switch-hitting.

Ben Davis was one of THE best prospects in baseball when he was coming up w/ the Padres. I think he was either the 1/2 draft pick overall in the first round. Looking back, he's probably best remembered for bunting to break up a no-hitter. Andy Gonzalez was in our Top 10 list, but we could probably find a number of other Francisco Hernandezes and Silverio's on that list in the last 10 years....like Broadway, Russell, Ring, Dellaero, McCulloch, etc. Terrero was a top prospect, but he was a "suspect" by the time he reached Chicago. I think Ozzie is smart enough (replying to earlier comment) to stick with Anderson and/or Wise when they are hot and balance it as he did last year with all of our players...like Carasco coming out of the pen, mixing and matching and maximizing their contributions.

Well, I think he's definitely playing more effectively than he was, despite that 23 or 22/1 K-BB ratio. Who gave up all those runs? Is Danks still in there?

Getz is really starting to win me over. He's always hustling and igniting things out there. Hopefully he can get off to a good/quick start. I would hate for him to struggle early and feel the "Beckham" talk in April.

Yes, but so were Julio Ramirez and Kenny Williams, or Jimmy Hurst, going back a bit longer. Seems that with the exception of Sosa and Mike Cameron, we've struggled to produce five tool outfielders...although you could make an argument that Rowand, Ordonez and Lee weren't too bad! Lillibridge on fire! :-)

Better to set the bar low early and slowly sneak up on people...haha.

Since we're talking "fake prospects" and we're playing the D-Backs, I'll add Luis Terrero to the list. Did they send Kroeger down? It would be nice to see him get some PT against his former team, good storyline. Go Sooners!

Well, compared to Owens/Wasserman/Gonzalez in 2007, this is like heaven to have all these legitimate prospects. I think Lillibridge will end up surprising some people...the White Sox seem to have more faith in him than the Braves ever did, that has worked miracles in the last decade with players other organizations have given up on. We'll see if it can happen again this time. We're just going to have to live with Fields' strikeouts. Not much different than Crede's weak flares to RF or K's.