danman31

You can't compare Reed and Webb as prospects. Reed profiled much better in the minors. Webb has one plus pitch right now.

DLS, former Sox prospect. The history of foreign Sox prospects juicing continues. This doesn't necessarily mean he was juicing with them, but it's certainly interesting.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Jun 1, 2013 -> 02:56 PM) Thanks for the link NorthSide. I think this aspect of the farm is so interesting because all you can get on these guys is what they signed for and a little blurb that makes them seem like they have really high potential. Conversely, this part of the farm can be equally frustrating because of that lack of information. I like digging for the gems, but I usually wait until they graduate from the DSL and make it to the US.

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ Jun 2, 2013 -> 01:04 PM) Last year, prior to the draft, had to be the worst state of the system. Back in the mid 2000s there were decent prospects here and there, but last year was abysmal. I think that's right. However, the performances of the prospects this year is as bad as I can remember.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ May 30, 2013 -> 09:22 PM) He might get a September call up just out of courtesy, but he has provided ZERO evidence he is a big-league player. That's the part that makes it a tough question though. That's a fairly reasonable possibility.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 30, 2013 -> 09:15 PM) Buddy Bell said Hawkins is going back to Winston-Salem, probably early next week. It wasn't really a question of what will happen, but rather what should happen? He was an abysmal high-A hitter before the time off.

I hate to merge three good topics of conversation into one spot, but I want to see what our community is thinking on these guys. To start I don't think Mitchell will ever play in the bigs, Walker needs to go down and Hawkins should return in Kanny.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 30, 2013 -> 08:38 AM) Miguel Gonzalez hasn't been a starting catcher since 2010. Sample size, guys. He's not even among the top 5 catching prospects in the organization at this point. There is an outside chance he earns his way back to a starting role, i.e. if he continues to hit AND Phegley is promoted AND there isn't a Flowers/Phegley in Charlotte AND Smith isn't good enough to get promoted to AA yet AND Blanke is kept back. That's a lot of ifs. DeMichele has been improving of late. He was .170/.257/.239 (26 K in 88 AB) in April, .240/.322/.385 (23 K in 104 AB) so far in May, .262/.354/.405 (7 K in 42 AB) in last 10, .381/.434/.619 (1 K in 21 AB) in last 5. So, if the Sox feel he's got it going, and he keeps hitting better, he may indeed head for B-Ham in June or July (allowing Micah to move up). Gonzalez is still a top 5 catching prospect in the system because there aren't five catching prospects in the system. Phegley is No. 1 and you can make a strong argument that Gonzalez is 2. Smith isn't putting up the numbers to make up for his age. Gonzalez is outhitting Blanke at the same level while being two years younger. The other catchers are Bryce Mosier and Jose Barraza who are too young and unproven to consider yet. Mosier hit sub .700 OPS in rookie ball last year and Barraza is going to miss this season with an injury. I'm not saying Gonzalez is great, but to say he's not top 5 is baseless and incorrect. As for DeMichele, none of those numbers support the thought of promoting him. I'd maybe consider having Micah skip to AA though. Anyone else?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 28, 2013 -> 10:40 PM) Why Vance? Know he was a starter last season, and pretty sure he's from UConn. What would make him a standout reliever? Age appropriate K/9 above 9 at AA while maintaining a decent walk rate.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ May 21, 2013 -> 11:31 AM) I wouldn't read too much into the AFL invite. Nevin Griffin and Brandon Kloess were invited as well in recently. They weren't highly touted guys by any mean. Griffith was a second round pick that had Tommy John. He had big upside once upon a time. My list: Webb Petricka Vance Salvador Sanchez (seriously 18 K against 0 BB) Don't care after that

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ May 28, 2013 -> 10:19 PM) I know complaining about the officiating when the Heat are playing is cool but Miami has had some bad calls go against them too. Just bad calls all around per usual. Yeah, no conspiracy except in Indiana's favor tonight. The refs missed bad calls that were very important both ways. Neither of Lebron's offensive fouls were good calls.

Champions League anyone? Entertaining final today, even if there were a few dull periods. Munich goes down as one of the best teams in recent memory. I'd love to see them play Barca of 2-3 years ago. Speaking of Barca, they're reportedly landing Neymar. Neymar and Messi on the same team? Wow. Two of the top five attackers in the world.

QUOTE (TRU @ May 24, 2013 -> 07:42 PM) Ide be leaning more towards PS4 if they can give me an online experience that XBOX does.. but I really do hate that playstation controller and much prefer 2 bumpers and 2 triggers over 4 bumpers so close together on PS I like the PS controller because I prefer the even sticks. The staggered ones on the xbox are strange. I will agree the xbox has better controllers. Still, both controllers are getting changed and the online systems and interfaces are different as well. I think most people will probably buy the same of what they did this gen, but a couple factors might force a few percent to switch.

QUOTE (TRU @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:07 PM) The worst part is Playstation is such an inferior system in terms of online presentation, options, the controller, presentation.. but I reallllly dont want to have to do anything with Kinect. I don't think you can say that currently since both systems are getting major revamps in each of the categories you mentioned.

I finally got around to reading this. Great stuff in there. Webb is definitely one to get excited about. That kind of velocity with what seems like decent control is big league stuff.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 15, 2013 -> 11:42 AM) Leyer struggled with control again, he's a hard guy to figure out. Not sure what's hard to figure out about Leyer. He's not that good. QUOTE (fathom @ May 15, 2013 -> 08:25 PM) Impressive: 1- E. Johnson 2- Phegley 3- M. Johnson 4- Beck 5- Jaye Beck doesn't belong in that impressive list. He has 23 K to 16 BB. No one expected him to get back to form by now and he did skip a level, but a low ERA and groundball rate aren't enough with that awful K rate. His ERA should be heading north of 4 shortly.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 15, 2013 -> 11:09 PM) Well, nobody will ever take Russell Westbrook for granted again. The Thunder are awful without him. Kevin Durant was awful without him.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 12, 2013 -> 05:44 PM) 2nd round, teams 3rd pick. LOL you bring up an irrelevant point, but still post pad by correcting the round. The point remains you don't take a first round pick that dropped velocity. Beck isn't working out all that well right now anyway. He's not striking anyone out to think his success will project well in the higher levels.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 12, 2013 -> 05:44 PM) Yeah, I don't think so. But I agree that the Warriors have a nice little core. I would have to think Lee going down and Harrison Barnes being thrust into a bigger role will payoff big time in the long run for GS. Klay is so streaky and his shot selection sucks. He needs to develop the rest of his game to truly be a standout player. For now he's just a great shooter.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ May 12, 2013 -> 05:11 PM) GS got two big breaks down the stretch with out of bounds calls and then they run a Jarrett Jack iso for the win? Ok... OT blowout. It's amazing how much confidence Harrison Barnes is playing with. Klay Thompson is overrated, but Barnes seems to be coming in under the radar. Either way three very nice young offensive pieces.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ May 12, 2013 -> 07:51 AM) Absolutely, most exciting draft pick I could remember in years, I remember he was the NCAA's MOP in baseball and then I saw him a few times with Kanny. That was pre-injury when he was flying. Mitchell was well received, but Sale was absolutely the most exciting pick the Sox have made since I've followed the draft. Turned out pretty well, too. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 12, 2013 -> 09:22 AM) It didn't stop us from drafting Beck. In the third round though.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 10, 2013 -> 10:35 AM) Did you spell your name with a K because you knew you were going to be a strikeout pitcher? It's a shame that this was the first reply because nothing can match that. None of the other questions are worth asking in comparison.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 10, 2013 -> 07:56 PM) I agree. Both T's were stupid. Reminds me of crap I hated from Detroit back in the day. That was my reaction. The Heat are the heavily favored defending champs with the best player in the league. The Bulls were that team in the 90s and I always went nuts when teams went thug against them. Now the Bulls are going thug and I don't like it. At least the rest of the half was good basketball.

Bulls playing like assholes tonight.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ May 10, 2013 -> 06:54 PM) The Bulls just are never healthy this time of year. God must hate us. I'm starting to think Thibs works them too hard and it's not coincidence. WTF was Noah doing on that T? Andersen didn't do anything wrong.