caulfield12

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.

Didn't Cabrera say the problem wasn't calling the scorer but contacting someone in the White Sox FO to take up the case for him? That sounds a lot better than for a player actually trying to call the press box to me...still, glad we've moved on from a financial standpoint and we can't help but be excited about Getz, Ramirez, Lillibridge and Beckham.

Guess the Big 10 wasn't so horrible this year, after all. Dare we say (knock on wood) it, but Lillibridge seems to be waking up a bit offensively. Maybe his game the other day (2 doubles) will get him kick-started and carry over into the regular season. I think there was another play in the last ten minutes that the error was ruled on?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/11/white-sox-sign.html Reaction to the Linebrink deal at the time...funny to look at now. People were really aggravated we were missing out on M. Cabrera, Hunter, Rowand, Fukudome...all of our targets.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/wh...T-sox29.article Decent article by Cowley starring two of his favorites, Thome and Konerko... Q: Carl Everett said after he left that the club was missing an in-your-face leader. That perception is still out there. How accurate is it? JERMAINE DYE: ''OK, I see I'm not included in this ... OK.'' PK: ''Well, if 'Truth-asaurus' said it, it's gospel.'' JT: ''Here's the thing: There's 'rah-rah' leaders, there are leaders in performance, there are leaders in seniority. I think the misconception on what makes a good leader is, 'Oh, he might not say a whole lot, so he's not a legitimate leader.' Sometimes you don't have to be vocal and 'rah-rah.' You can pull a kid aside and kind of throw him in the right direction. You don't have to call a meeting and be like, 'You need to do this, you need to do that.' That's what makes a good team, when you have everyone working together. When guys aren't afraid to ask a veteran a question.'' PK: ''You have some

I don't understand entirely why we had to give him 4 years...? I think 3 would have been plenty. Two should have been fine, like Dotel. Sure, 3-4 seasons ago he was definitely the best/most-reliable set up guy in the big leagues along with Scott Shields. But I think Linebrink had a very "down" 2007 season, and there were lots of concerns about overuse/abuse and innings and appearances taking their toll on him. Plus he was going to the much tougher AL. His velocity was also well below normal in 2007. One of the riskiest moves KW has ever made for a "non-star" player, yet an integral part of the team nonetheless. We definitely couldn't have won without him last year...there's no arguing that. Someone like Russell, MacDougal or Wasserman just weren't capable of taking on that role. Really, Dotel wasn't either...not consistently. If he pitches like he did in the first half of 2008 for at least two more seasons, then the contract was still a very good deal. I just can't imagine that happening, nor can I imagine him going through 3 consecutive injury/pain-free seasons at this point in his career. Speaking of injuries, what's the latest with Mark Mulder? Has anyone heard anything about him recently?

One of the most experienced scouts working the Cactus League raves about hard-throwing Cuban left-hander Aroldis Chapman, whom he watched in Mexico City. He called him "one of the best I've ever seen," citing Chapman's makeup and ability to speak English as major assets. Phil Rogers Any word on Bell, their Olympic star who was hit (I think in the face?) by a thrown ball and isn't yet able to play? Is it a story similar to Juan Encarnacion of the Cardinals/Tigers? Hopefully not...