Ozzie Ball

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 09:28 AM) No Wilkins for 3 games now. I wonder what is up with him.....? He's injured.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 12, 2010 -> 04:16 PM) Apparently Grimes signed a letter of intent for GT. Don't all top prospects do that as a backup plan and leverage in contract negotiations?

Randall Thorpe with 2 more hits. He's made a pretty nice start in Great Falls. Not much power but fantastic walk rate and he's making more contact than I was expecting.

Ben Badler on some of the lesser known relief prospects to watch (subscriber content): http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/pros...10/2610458.html

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 09:38 AM) Andy Wilkins continues to rake... He went 3/4 with a 2B, HR, RBI, and a BB. AVG up to .341 with .431 OBP, and an outstanding .992 OPS. This dude is out performing the competition by a lot. 16 BB to 12 K is nice. I like Wilkins a lot but I would like to see him at Low-A. His numbers in rookie ball, while very impressive, don't mean a lot because he really should be blowing that level of competition away.

QUOTE (scenario @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 05:04 AM) What? 2 players who are 3 years apart at the same level in the minors are 'comparable'? They sure can be. Just because a player is playing a level at a younger age than another prospect it doesn't automatically make them better, often it will be the case, but it certainly isn't automatic. QUOTE (scenario @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 05:04 AM) Despite the younger guy hitting almost 60 points higher in average? Batting average is not a good predictor of future results. When I'm looking at a prospect I don't take it into consideration at all. QUOTE (scenario @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 05:04 AM) And despite Gilmore having a projectable body type likely to grow into power, where Theriot was never expected to or would with his body type? Gilmore certainly has more power potential than Theriot, but right now he has almost zero in-game power. His ISO isn't just bad, it's terrible for a player of his position. The power could develop, but we've been waiting several years and it's not like he's 18 anymore, he turns 22 in 20 days. QUOTE (scenario @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 05:04 AM) THIS is a great example of the problem with using advanced stats on players in the low minors. The numbers create the image of a logical argument which makes absolutely no sense. What advanced stats? Like I said I would never have used the comparison myself, but until Gilmore develops in-game power (if it ever happens), his offensive game is not too dissimilar to Theriots.

QUOTE (scenario @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 04:36 AM) Ryan Theriot is 5'11", 175 lbs. Was a 3rd round pick of the Cubs. He was 24 years old when he was in high A ball. Where he batted .273 with a .709 OPS Jon Gilmore is 6'3". 195 lbs. Drafted in the 1st round by the Braves. Is 21 years old in high A ball. And is batting .337 with a .794 OPS. In what bizarre parallel universe are these two players remotely similar? Both are decent contact hitters that don't hit for power or walk. I'd never have used a Theriot comp for Gilmore, but it's not that far-fetched.

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 04:18 AM) Teahen with a 3:0 BB/SO ratio. It's up to the sox when they feel he's good to go. Bellamy still adjusting to AA. Blanke with a .942 OPS now in GF. Crawford Simmons was amazing tonight. Problem is.. he is in the KC affiliate and he dominated our Bristol affiliate. That KC system has just had a ridiculous year.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 03:02 AM) Good for him. He has pitched well so far. Most impressive debut of the 2010 guys for me so far and by a good margin.

Charlotte Zaleski Birmingham Lowe Winston-Salem OFF Kannapolis Hopps Great Falls GM1 Upchurch Great Falls GM2 Bristol Petricka

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Aug 1, 2010 -> 08:04 AM) Ehh... 5.0 IP 9 H 4 R 3 ER 3 BB 6 K That was tonight. You can't be great every time out.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 05:32 PM) This post is full of win. Assuming one of them isn't season 3.

Crossing my fingers for it being Prince Fielder.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 03:44 PM) He can also flip Jackson to Washington straight up for Dunn. However, then you have a HUGE hole at the 5th starting spot. Honestly, I would much rather keep Jackson and go get a different bat. Jackson has playoff experience and is proven in the A.L. I think KW is worried about relying on Hudson during the playoff stretch which makes sense. I think Jackson will succeed with us. He's proven what? That he's an extremely mediocre A.L. pitcher? Yeah, I'll pass on that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 10:18 PM) Yeah, but tossing in $11 million to do it...uck. I don't necessarily like the return they received, but in theory I love what they did by throwing money in with Oswalt in order to receive a higher return. Just look at how that has worked for the Indians with the Santana/Blake swap (side note: how amazing is Carlos Santana). In situations like this you have to trust your scouting department, and if they're telling you to do whatever is necessary in order to get Happ/Villar/Gose, then you do it. For the record I don't like the return, and I particularly don't like Happ, but that's what you get from second rate organizations.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 03:42 AM) That could be very true, but either way, I can see Mauer leaving the catcher position soon, and the Twins just traded their best replacement for a B+ reliever who might get a high arbitration number next year. Really? He's 27 and a physical beast. Unless he starts to get really banged up I don't see any reason to expect him to move from behind the plate within the next 5 or 6 years.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 03:22 AM) Yeah, he's definitely not their best anymore. Last year maybe. Hicks and Gibson are definitely ahead of him. The Miguel Sano reports from the GCL have have been off the charts plus Ben Revere's having a good year (for the type of player he is) and Oswaldo Arcia is having a great year. You could argue for any of those guys ahead of Ramos, though I'd probably have him 4th behind Gibson/Hicks/Sano (in that order).

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 03:27 AM) He didn't have a position with the Twins, but isn't he viewed as a catcher by most teams? Yeah but from the Twins perspective dealing him makes a lot of sense because he's not going to be playing C for them, and I don't think his bat will play that well elsewhere (on the field), hence not having a position.

Not sure I'd call Wilson Ramos their best prospect, 3rd or 4th best perhaps, plus he doesn't have a position with Mauer locked up at C and I don't think his bat will play that well at 1B/DH.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 08:10 PM) The third prospect is such a non-prospect that his name is mispelled half the time, including the BP prospect handbook. Villar? Yeah, those 19 year old switch hitting, plus to plus-plus defensive shortstops are a b****. Good thing the Sox don't have any in their system.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 03:41 AM) Suspended game from previous night That'll be it, thanks.

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 02:13 AM) Home Run for Blackwood!! Nice. I see Petricka only pitched 1.2 innings, do you know if that was planned or if he picked up an injury?

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 07:18 PM) Do you know how they calculated it or where the information can be found? It most statistical prediction models you don't 70% of the data to predict the outcome. Granted the more data you have the more accurrate the prediction will be. However, if you need to get 70% of the data prediction models are useless as if you have 70% of the data the season is basically over and there is no value in prediction. Full article To those who aren't interested in all the methodology, I recommend at least scrolling down to the bottom to see the general sample sizes needed for each stat.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 02:57 PM) rant/ People need to stop using the "small sample size" defense. The last I looked nobody has done a power analysis to determine what the proper sample size needs to be to predict the outcome of a 162 game schedule. Until that's determined you have no idea what the adequate sample size need to be. People continue to use statistical analysis without regard for the reliability or validity of any of the processes. This is one of the problems with all of Bill James stats. He bases them off things he thinks makes sense, but has never done and will never do reliability studies on them. I've e-mailed him and asked him those questions and he replied once about 10 years ago. His respose was "they seem to make sense to me." He doesn't respond to any statistical analysis questions anymore. I know I've stated this before but it bothers me when people use statistical analysis for their discussions when they really don't know how to use the terms. /rant. Pizza Cutter did a study on how big of a sample size is needed in order for the numbers to hold any predictive value. It worked out that you need a 550 PA sample size for a >.70 correlation with ISO. Two months is not going to tell you a lot.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 06:52 PM) You're one of only two people here I can think of that refuses to acknowledge that Keith Law has some sort of vendetta (or might have one) against anything related to the White Sox. I too refuse to acknowledge it. Law is full of snark and fans of basically every team feel that he's anti their team.