caulfield12

SO the very, very early surprises of ST. Josh Kroeger keeps hitting and ends up stealing an outfield spot...only 36 games to go on that one. Miller, who most assumed would get no more than 3 hits per month, gets 3 in one ST game. Flowers has been a non-factor. Lillibridge, who seems to have the best combination of speed, defensive ability and versatility, impresses. Nix, who everyone says could win a Gold Glove at 2B, comes charging out of the gate and actually looks like a hitter (so far) too. It looks like it will be a very interesting competition among Richard, Marquez, Poreda, Nunez, Jimenez, Carrasco, Egbert and Broadway for the final spot in the rotation (if Colon/Contreras start on DL) and the last spot or two in the bullpen. I think they really like Nunez...nice to see him come into the game in the 9th and shut the Rockies out, seems like our young pitchers have come into that situation in the past springs many times and given up the lead.

Let's also hope his statement about Aardsma and Sisco essentially failing due to the lack of a secondary pitcher (and the ability to learn one or be taught one) doesn't also end up applying to Aaron Poreda. Pretty strong comments about how pitchers failing in Chicago just don't have what it takes to pitch anywhere effectively...and some interesting comments on Van Benschoten.

Let's say the average MLB catcher gives you .250-.260, 12-15 homers and 60-65 RBI's. If Flowers could double the home run numbers and put up 80-100 RBI's on a consistent basis, that's still a huge asset. As mentioned, as long as he can call a good game and has a good repoire with the pitching staff, then he's a huge asset...just like a Mike Piazza. Very few teams besides the Twins get good offensive numbers from that position. It's just the first game though. Not getting over and blocking pitches with your body/chest instead of trying to backhand them is a habit that needs to be taught and reinforced until it becomes natural...just like getting down on one knee to block a grounder for an infielder or running into the ball instead of being caught flat-footed or backing up on a flyball when there's a runner on base for an outfielder. Just comes down to good minor league coaching/teaching/instruction. Ozzie has already annointed Flowers as the starter if something were to happen to AJ. We all know Stewart, Lucy, Armstrong and Corky Miller aren't the long-term solution there. I know someone else was already saying Flowers and Marquez were overhyped. Well, look at the Cubs. Jerome Walton, Dwight Smith, Corey Patterson, Bobby Hill, Angel Guzman, Rich Hill, Gary Scott, Kevin Orie, Mark Prior (well, that's a different case), Felix Pie, Brooks Kieschnick, Kyle Lohse, Sisco, Matt Murton, Brant Brown, every team has prospects that stumble and don't become what they're supposed to be.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Feb 25, 2009 -> 02:15 PM) I cant see any city putting up the financing to build a stadium right now, or in the near future. Teams are locked in where they are and are going to have to make due with their current financial situations. KC - The team has lasted this long in that market and recently had renovations, dont see them going anywhere. Detroit - Probably the team in the most trouble because of their payroll obligations and increasing unemployment rate in the area, Detroit will probably see a shift from spending like a large market team to more of a small to mid market team over the next 10 years. Cleveland - The team is in pretty good financial condition and the population of the city will hold steady at least. Minnesota - Almost folded once, but a new stadium will cease any specualtion about that possibility and the team will continue to operate with its financial constraints. Pittsburgh is a team that could be in trouble, low attendance, small market size, and a lack of results hurts the team, though it has a storied history and a newer stadium to keep it anchored. Florida - The team is in the process of building a new stadium and ownership will be obligated to keep the team in the area for a period of time after the stadium is completed so that the city can recoup some of the money that was invested. Going nowhere. TB - Last season a WS run, this season contenders in the East that will likely fade in the second half of the season. Last years success will cause an attendance bump, but with no financing available the team will look at re-locating but have few options available (Charlotte, OKC?) I lived in KC for 10 years. If the team is at least .500 or competitive, you can guarantee 22-25,000 in attendance. But that has only happened in 2003 for the first 4 months, before that, you'd have to go back to the early 90's for the last really good Royals teams. They had a good foundation with Damon/Dye/Beltran/Sweeney but the pitching never got them over the hump. A couple of other teams that bear watching are SD (if they were still in Jack Murphy and with Moores' financial problems/divorce) and Cincinnati. Pittsburgh and Cincy are fairly similar, cities that have been or will be hard hit by the economy...mid-size markets...difficulty competing with the Cubs, Cardinals and Astros to a lesser extent. Milwaukee, I think they're stronger because of the ownership group...but, then again, wasn't most of the Selig money from car dealerships? Still, SD/Pitt/Cincy/Milwaukee all share one thing in common, "newer" stadiums. As far as a team in OKC, I doubt that will ever happen. They've been too closely tied to the Rangers for a long time in terms of their fan base. It would be like Omaha having a major league team, although I realize OKC is quite a bit bigger and has done well during the "oil boom" compared to many other states...well, until recently, which is another "bust" period for oil it seems. That inconsistent economy just isn't a stable one for a MLB team.

I guess the game thread is closed...first day's thoughts: 1) Flowers is really going to have to work on both throwing mechanics and blocking pitches 2) Nix and Josh Kroeger were the most impressive from a hitting perspective 3) Owens is still getting some bad reads out in CF 4) Who is Willie Anderson (pitcher)? I thought he played for the Spurs and UGA. 5) Brad Salmon is done, stick a form in him. 6) Wasserman and Russell didn't do anything to distinguish themselves...(John) Adam Russell (sorry DJ!) has a quickly diminishing star 7) Richard pitched well, Dotel was his normal unpredictable self and all over the place

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Feb 25, 2009 -> 07:35 PM) To throw more fuel on the fire, BP ranked Carter as a 5-star prospect. Gio and Cunningham are 3-star. I usually side with BA over BP...or always. They probably have Viciedo as a 3 star prospect as well, and arbitrarily picked that number after never having seen him play. At the very least, I think BA took into consideration the words and reports from scouts who were at his tryout, if not doing more extensive reporting. I'm sure those rated five star, on average, have better MLB careers...however, if you studied it thoroughly, it doesn't mean much to me at all. Rauch and Borchard were also five star prospects.

I went to mlb.com and renewed my Gameday Audio early for $14.95 (one of the best bargains still in the world today)...it said at the site that it would automatically renew around March 1st, but I wanted to try to hear the first four games before the normal ST post-time arrived on the 1st. When u click on GameDay audio, you get the renewal page today, so I just went ahead and did that so I could wake up at 3 AM Thailand time (how that's for dedication?) and listen to the first game of the year.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Feb 25, 2009 -> 09:31 AM) Of all the players we gave up, Carter may be the best in terms of talent. However, in terms of value to the Sox, it's between Cortes and Cunningham. If Cunningham was as good or better than Rowand or Chris B. Young, you'd have a good point. The problem is that we need a natural defensive CFer and a leadoff hitter. I think Jordan Danks might end up being a better fit for that position, or even Brian Anderson still, than Aaron Cunningham. The problem with Brian is that he will never, ever be a leadoff hitter, so he'd have to be the #8 or #9 guy. It will also be interesting to see who has the better career in the majors, Ryan Sweeney or Aaron Cunningham.

Which puts all the pressure on Owens/Wise and then Lillibridge/Nix/Getz...along with the back-up catcher race. Haven't seen many mentions of Jimenez or Nunez taking the final spot in the pen. That's a possibility as well.

Disagree. I think if Cortes becomes a 1-2-3 level starter (doubtful, some said the same thing when we gave up Gio, twice), that's a much more valuable commodity than a LF/DH/1B. We already potentially have four of those on our team in Viciedo, Flowers, Brandon Allen and Josh Fields. If Faustino De Los Santos hadn't gotten hurt, we might be tied for the most on the BA list with on the ChiSox or other teams...and Ryan Sweeney might turn out to a decent little ballplayer as well, although he wasn't the best fit for USCF. When Carter or Allen start producing like Pujols or Howard at the big league level, that's when we can rue giving away a certain player. Personally, I'd take the bet that we get better overall production from the combination of Flowers and Viciedo than the numbers Chris Carter puts up over his career.

Thanks Milkman, lol. I always like to do the Jor. Danks to give you a rise. It reminds me of when brothers are playing on college baseball or football teams and have similar names on the back of their jerseys to differentiate them. I won't abbreviate Freida Pinto, though, in the movies thread. She deserves her full name for now, despite her C+ dress choice from John Galliano. Too bad she wasn't alive in the 70's, she could have gotten a nice promotional deal going with Ford. And good thing her name wasn't Gremlin or Pacer.

Yes and no, the Yankees/Mets/Red Sox can compensate for a lack of scouting talent (but I don't think that's the case) by the money everyone knows they can throw at a player. However, if you look over the last 2-3 years, the number of organizations signing international players to $500+ signing bonuses has really diversified. With the Internet and video scouting, the playing field has been evened a bit, because the majority of teams are in bidding wars for players instead of being the first one in on the ground floor and hiding that player and signing him b4 anyone else finds out about him. That's just getting more and more difficult in this day and time. Heck, there are blogs out there and video on the Cuban players now, imagine something like that 10-15 years ago...things have changed so dramatically. I agree with the point about those marquee franchise (Mets, Dodgers, Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, maybe the Angels to a lesser extent now) needing to do well in order to "subsidize" the bottom 10 teams in the league. Then there's the case studies of the A's, Twins and Rays....and even Milwaukee was able to put together a very competitive club, spend money on Sabathia...and make him legit offer to come back. We know it can be done, which should offer some encouragement to fans of smaller market teams.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 24, 2009 -> 04:22 PM) Yes, but we can acquire and develop even more talent if we trade those older players when they actually have some value. Yes, but, how many people ditched all their stocks and sold their houses before the last two busts? There's the sentimental attachment (which KW is certainly anything BUT) of course, but things shifted too quickly for many teams to know what even hit them. How much would those 3 Yankees Free Agents get today on the market? Kyle Farnsworth? K-Rod? Fuentes? Carlos Lee will make $68 million the next four years, not to mention those deals for Soriano and Dempster that are looking more and more dubious. Or the contract for Kyle Lohse that was perfect timing for him. Fukudome? Rowand? Torii Hunter? Maybe we've been lucky sometimes (like the Garland deal for Erstad getting nixed by Disney), but KW has done a solid job managing, converting and re-energizing our roster IMO. We'll probably never know the particulars of the Dye/Bailey trade, but I am sure KW would have pulled the trigger had it been on the table, especially knowing what we now do about the heightened importance of cheap/affordable players. Thome was never going to be easily tradeable. And if you trade Konerko after 2006 or let him walk after 2005, you would have been eaten alive by the fanbase for being cheap. On the other hand, we have a number of players like Quentin, Ramirez, Danks, Floyd, Beckham, Viciedo, Poreda, Flowers, Josh Fields, Getz, Clayton Richard, Jord. Danks, Lillibridge and Shelby that will be exactly what we need in this type of economy. Contreras and Konerko are the only two even remotely "questionable" contracts that KW has delivered, and I can certainly understand his logic and the reasoning behind each move, even with Contreras, who was simply a horse for two seasons and could be the Comeback Pitcher of the Year (or he could go down in a heap again). Obviously KW made every possible effort to trade both Dye and Jenks, who were probably the two most desired commodities at the beginning of the off-season. Before that, I guess if you were a fortune teller, you could have traded Joe Crede after 2006...but Fields wasn't ready yet. You also have to have replacements in the minor leagues b4 you go and trade 3B in their primes that are still in their arbitration years.

Louisville and Buffalo used to have the best AAA attendance numbers every year. Indianapolis is a big MAYBE. I am sure Buffalo will be screwed over the next 10 years, but how is Louisville doing? You always think of that area as being all UK/UL (like the Portland area's taste for college sports) and thoroughbred racing/farms. Chattanooga is obviously too small, Birmingham or Knoxville. That leaves you with the original too choices of Charlotte and Nashville in that region.

That power should be replaced by Fields, Viciedo, Flowers and Allen...not to mention "plus" power up the middle of the diamond with Beckham and Ramirez. Then a couple of nice athletes in Shelby and Danks. If there's any huge long-term concern, it's defensively, and the LH power (which right now is only Allen). However, if the economic troubles continue, it's not difficult to imagine not having to spend very much to acquire it. The days of a Thome-like contract for a DH are long gone now.

1) Immense poverty/very weak educational system...no opportunities even w/ a college degree 2) Beisbol is king of the island, MLB players are like gods there 3) Athletic ability/instincts 4) Sports are not fragmented like US, where youth are also steered into golf, tennis, soccer, basketball, football, etc. 5) Relative "cheapness" of game...just need a field, can improvise to make a glove and ball, sticks as bats, etc. 6) Year-round weather and games 365 days a year, not seasonal like US 7) Satellite tv and Internet, everyone around the world can follow MLB

Certainly, you'd have to believe it would be easier to trade Dye and then Konerko over Thome...but hopefully we'll just keep things intact one more season. Konerko's right, seemingly we've been saying that every year, year after year. The only major offensive changeover was losing Magglio, C-Lee (anyone want his contract how, $68 million for four years), Thomas (essentially) and Valentin... Then we'll have the changeover with Dye/Thome/Konerko, too. Kind of the end of an era of White Sox baseball, but an exciting time too.

Well, yes, in the overall scheme of things...it still probably wouldn't come close to adding up to Borchard or Viciedo's bonuses. Let's say it was $3 million, $4, maybe even $5 million total. We sunk half of that money into Mike MacDougal. Or Uribe. Of course, the bigger damage is the institutional/organizational damage getting things re-established again in the DR. The two scouts we fired were Dominican, and then there's all the problems with our academy as well, and Denio Gonzalez. You have to go back to Magglio and Carlos Lee to find homegrown, high-impact players....and neither of them were Dominican. Who is the best we've had since those guys that we didn't acquire via trade? Jesus Pena? I'm joking, but that might even be the answer. Now we've brought a ton of Hispanic players in from other organizations (Loaiza, D'Angelo Jimenez, Julio Ramirez, Jose Paniagua, E, Sierra, Jimenez this year, Pablo Ozuna, Miguel Olivo, Damaso Marte, L.Vizcaino, Contreras, El Duque, Ramirez, Viciedo, etc.), but Carlos Martinez is/was one of our brighter prospects from the DR. Other than that, there's only been who...De Los Santos recently? Gio Gonzalez (I know he's not Domican, just trying to think of any Hispanic players we've developed)? Lorenzo Barcelo, but he was part of the White Flag trade to SFG.

Maybe it's also reminiscent of Bourne because of the European sets... The irony is that everyone complained that the new James Bond (QOS) was too much like Bourne and not humorous or romantic enough. I tend to agree, because it's hard for this most recent bond to stand up in comparison to Casino Royale. Having Eva Green witty repartee and banter back and forth with Craig (especially the train scene) just added something that Olga Kurylenko, despite her near supermodel status....didn't. Which was enjoyable action AND dialogue and a hint of sex/fun without straying too much from the main storyline from too pretty talented actors. I think what distinguishes the Bourne movies from say Seagal or National Treasure or DaVinci Code is that they're written for people with some intelligence...that like to think while they're watching a movie, instead of being spoon fed. Watching him stay one step of David Straithairn in the last movie was enjoyable, in and of itself. So maybe Bourne is like a modern-day, intellectualized Rambo/First Blood.

Brian Anderson was hit in the side by a Jenks fastball, but early reports are that he's fine. Expext him to be hunting "honeys" tonight. 11:43 AM Feb 21st from txt thanks for that great insight, Cowley

It seems the amount skimmed is pretty limited...well, in the overall scheme of things. Something like $200,000, most of it from the bonuses to Juan Silverio and OF Rafael Reyes. I'm sure $50K plus changed hands with Reyes, too. That's $100,000 right there between two players. Other players that I've heard or logically deduced were Anderson Gomes and Paulo Orlando...any Latin American player that received $100,000 or more in a signing bonus would draw a red flag I guess over the past 3-4 years. We lost the money to essentially pay one or two high round draft picks. I don't the organization was decimated like it could have been, and KW has recovered pretty nicely. I think it's safe to say that the new emphasis on the minor league talent side might be directly related to the whole Wilder situation, and the realization that none of his prospects were ever going to pan out, that they were essentially fool's gold. Seems that most of the problems were in 2005-2006-2007, so more recent...probably related to his Club Burn leaking cash like a sieve. Must have been pretty desperate to hatch that idea, or think he could run a successful club of that nature while also being the GM of a team like the Boston Red Sox.

I guess that brings up an interesting question. The teams who have built (or had built for them these days) new stadiums and then moved to a new city? Key Arena in Seattle comes to mind right away in the NBA...not sure if there are any relevant MLB comparisons. The Expos' stadium was about 30 years old when they moved to DC. Seattle had a team for one year in 1969 and then had to wait nearly a decade for a new stadium (Kingdome). Milwaukee also lost its team for four years before the Brewers came in 1970. Then again, we haven't seen economic times like these since the 1930's, I just thought it was an interesting idea for a topic. Las Vegas; Norfolk, Va.; Monterrey, Mexico; Portland, Ore.; and Northern Virginia (those were the five other areas, along with DC, bidding on a team five years ago)....we've been talking a lot about Portland in this thread, obviously Northern VA has to be out with both the Orioles and Nationals. That leaves Norfolk (AAA city for a long time), Mexico and Portland. I can't see how shipping or ship-building will increase in this economy, so strike Norfolk probably, and Las Vegas is in the depths of a real estate bust, so cross them out too. There have always been doubts about Vegas' viability for MLB for a number of other reasons besides the economy.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123543721679054667.html Another article on the perfect storm of problems converging on AZ.

QUOTE (scenario @ Feb 23, 2009 -> 12:28 PM) I really don't know how deep the rabbit-hole goes. I would assume it would have to go deeper than 3 players to get the FBI involved. But I have no idea. Well, the Rafael Reyes kid is obviously part of the subplot. I tried thebaseballcube's scouting index, but neither Victor Mateo (I think he must have played in 97-98 in GCL) or Domingo Toribio is listed (the two fired DR scouts). The only logical thing to do would be to look at the organizational bios for the minor leaguers at the back of the media guide and you should be able to find every player scouted/signed by those two or Deny Gonzalez, who, if memory serves me correct, played briefly with the Pirates in the 80's or early 90's. His name was Denio then.

Here is the concept of what was going on (and no, this is not something that happens throughout the industry - and the Chicago White Sox did not "find this out and report it to MLB." It was found out by MLB & reported to the White Sox through arrests & warrants). Dave Wilder and his staff were in control of California (most of the Western part of the USA), and all Latin American operations (including Cuba, etc.). Wilder signed many (MANY!) latin-americans to rather large contracts (+ $100,000) who had no representation in the latin-countries. Now - for anyone who knows and understands latin scouting - there are almost ZERO players without latin representation (meaning - players in these countries are in academies run by agents from these countries who then sell players off to MLB teams to put in their own academies). Now - when a player has no representation - there is generally a reason, i.e., they're terrible. Now - what happened was this: Wilder would find these players and sign them for a large amount of money (as mentioned above) and then take their money as their "agent." Now - he had to get permission to pass these players off & what he was doing was supplying these players with fake birth cerficates taking as many as 5 years off their age & also supplying them with HGH & steroids (even as they were in MiLB). He was then taking this money and putting it into an off-shore account, taking the maximum amount possible at any given time and washing it through a business he opened up in Arizona that rehabs houses. "cheat" southsidesox.com Scenario, besides Juan Silverio, Anderson Gomes and Paulo Orlando, do we have any other players signed in the last 3-5 years (specifically from the Dominican, but theoretically all of Latin America) that are possibly part of this scandal? Bonus skimming Denio "Deny" Gonzalez, a former major-league player, had been the White Sox's director of field operations in the Dominican for nine years until the club declined to renew his contract after the 2007 season, he said. He also oversaw the White Sox's baseball academy located in Boca Chica, east of the capital, Santo Domingo. Recently, Gonzalez said he had "done nothing wrong" and that his departure from the White Sox was a result of the team "going in a different direction." But multiple baseball sources familiar with Gonzalez's dismissal said it was prompted by the MLB investigation. Gonzalez said he has met with MLB investigators, who requested all his documents from the academy. He told the Tribune he had heard about bonus skimming, but not in the Sox organization. The practice, he said, started after the bonuses paid to Dominican prospects began escalating: They have jumped from an average of $15,000 in 1998 to nearly $110,000 in 2008, according to MLB figures. "With [my] guys, there weren't problems," Gonzalez said. "The more recent guys, who they signed for large amounts of money, it appears that is where the problems are." One of those players who did sign for a large sum was Rafael Reyes, a 16-year-old outfielder who got a $525,000 bonus from the White Sox in 2007. Former White Sox scout Victor Mateo, who was fired along with Wilder and fellow scout Domingo Toribio, has told ESPN that Reyes' uncle gave him $50,000 as a gift after the signing. Mateo told ESPN he passed $45,000 of that on to Wilder. Another big-money signing was 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Juan Silverio—Wilder and Mateo signed him for $600,000 in the summer of 2007. The Silverio and Reyes signings were among at least five with which MLB investigators found problems, MLB sources said. Those sources said up to $200,000 was skimmed from the bonuses of Sox prospects. from Nation World