29andPoplar

The White Sox have an academy in the Dominican Republic. My understanding is they're throwing more and more resources at it but am not certain exactly what that means. I will try to find out. I also know they have signed a few guys in this international signing period but it was none of the big bonus guys. De Los Santos is a product of their Dominican scouting and as I have mentioned on this site before half the Bristol roster is as well. However the point as you basically stated is the organization and the fans want to see results, they don't much care if they sign 15 guys for big bonuses if none turn out to be good players. Also of note the Royals are getting very aggressive in Latin America and are also opening an academy there. The Twins are highly aggressive in Australia and in fact they are one of 2-3 teams that have basically cornered the market there. Look for the White Sox to do more and more in the Pacific Rim. They have two DSL teams in the Dominican which is a good sign but as to exactly what that means, I do not know and plan to find out.

Very true. Hey you guys have done interviews and I'm trying to line some up. I need a service that will record a phone call that I can then upload to the web.

Interesting post and thank you for doing all that digging. There are two sides to it as you've identified. It is easy to say "throw money at it" and hope the guy you throw money at pans out bigtime. More often than not as you've identified these kids don't pan out for whatever reason. However I will state that the White Sox need, in my opinion, to take more risks and be more aggressive. That includes dealing with an agent they hate (from time to time anyways), and identifying and signing int'l talent. Williams has gone on record as saying the Sox need to inject the system with more potential high impact players. Guillen has stated they need to sign 10-12 players on the int'l market and play the odds vs. just spending a bundle on one guy. Here is the key though on the int'l market, it's not just a matter of throwing the most $$ at these 16 yr. old Dominican and Venezuelan kids. It's a matter of the scouts developing positive relationships with the right contacts, the families of these prospects, their coaches. Believe it, this is a major factor in the Latin American market. I'm not sure what (how many) scouts the Sox have down there but I aim to find out. You won't sign everybody but you need to compete aggressively and I'm not convinced they're going to the wall in this area. As for the draft, we can comment on past results but things just got a big shake up and I believe there will be more fallout this winter (some new scouts being brought in) so unfortunately we are in a wait and see mode for 2008 and beyond. On this Boras thing. Boras Corp. is highly aggressive in landing these kids for representation. They cannot shut off this avenue of talent. But as someone here identified Reinsdorf is tight with the commissioner and roughly 24-25 teams held to slot bonuses, 5-6 didn't. The White Sox are one of the 24-25 and frankly I don't see that changing. If that's the case then they need to do better in the int'l market or they need to target players from other organizations as Williams has been doing. No matter what, there is not an easy answer.

And those people will read your post and not understand it's them you're talking about. Ain't that always the way.

All I want is the team to be better, and win. I don't believe in the Guillen conspiracy theories because I've seen first hand how much he works with young players and tries to help them. And I like when guys are in the lineup because they are more productive and don't care if they're 25 or 35. I like working in (good) young players and also believe part of having a good team is a deep bench with solid players who can fill in, usually veterans. Not to specifically single out Grudzelanek but he would be one such player. Richar shows promise but he's not setting the world on fire. From what I've seen I'm not ready to annoint him the starting 2B for a 2008 team that plans to compete, I would like to see a capable Plan B in place.

Personally I would like both. Richar getting a good chance to play with a veteran to back him up and be a key bat off the bench. A guy who can hit like Grudzelanek (not necessarily him but his profile) would look nice but I don't know if they can devote a roster spot to someone who is solely a 2B. No more Cintron though, they need to do better than him.

Poreda is still in Great Falls for two reasons, one he's settling in and getting comfortable and working well with the pitching coach. Two, Great Falls is a competitive team this year with a chance of going to the Pioneer League playoffs. These types of things are important in the realm of relationships between the White Sox and local ownership. Great Falls is largely a community owned franchise so it's more important they have a competitive team. More wins = more excitement for the franchise = better attendance = all sorts of positive after effects.

I was reading that during his career Myers has held lefties to a .216 average. Granted it's been higher the last two seasons. Also, it was nothing physical causing the problems. Supposedly release point issues combined with the most effective place to plant his left leg on the pitching rubber. Those things can be fixed, the Yankees this year didn't have the patience to deal with it. It's a good chance to take a look at this guy to see if he can help.

Pro rated major league minimum for the rest of 2007 with no buyout. Practically a free look see.

These statements by Guillen kind of go along with what he said a few months ago. He said he wants to play more regulars in spring training. The general idea was the team might gel quicker and get off to a better start. Basically my feeling is they plan to run a tougher camp in some ways.

This actually piqued my curiousity so I did a little digging. On the White Sox staff, the manager and all the coaches played for the White Sox at one time, with two exceptions, Cooper and Shines. (need to check on this for sure). In the minor leagues I looked at all five farm teams and the only "field" personnel listed are the manager, pitching coach, and hitting coach. As a result there are 18 such personnel. Charlotte: Manager Marc Bombard (no), Pitching Coach Juan Nieves (no), Hitting Coach Tack Wilson (no) B'Ham: Mgr. Rafael Santana (no), Pitching Coach Rich Dotson (yes), Hitting Coach Richie Hebner (no) W-S: Mgr. Tim Blackwell (no), Pitching Coach JR Perdew (no), Hitting Coach Wes Clements (no) Kannapolis: Mgr. Chris Jones (no), Pitching Coach Larry Owens (no), Hitting Coach Andy Tomberlin (no) Great Falls: Mgr. Chris Cron (yes), Hitting Coach Rob Sasser (no)*, Pitching Coach Curt Hasler (no)* Bristol: Mgr. Bob Thigpen (yes), Hitting Coach Jerry Hairston (yes), Pitching Coach Roberto Espinoza (no) * the asterisk for Rob Sasser and Curt Hasler means although they did not play in a major league regular season game for the White Sox, both were players in the White Sox farm system at one time.

First part: Believe whatever you want. I brought him up because he is a highly respected baseball guy who's learned from some of the best, I'm glad he's in the White Sox organization and I know what type of positive changes he is trying to make. These are things I'm aware of from being out on back fields and interacting with baseball people in Arizona. If you have a problem with my semantics and find them misleading that's ok by me. Second part: True enough, the White Sox employ a lot of former White Sox players. Also true enough, a lot of other clubs hire their ex players too. Also true enough, there are many many many more non White Sox ex players employed throughout the organization than there are guys who played for the franchise.

Who knows. Personally it means very little to me what Hawk praises. The between-the-lines criticisms are far more insightful.

Not to argue semantics but where exactly did I say anything about big and close? I did say he was a top protogee, maybe I should spell it out better, Regier is a guy who worked in the Atlanta org., the Milwaukee org, and the Red Sox org. Regier has said Schuerholz and Bill Lajoie have been big influences on him, he learned a lot from each. If I intimated that Regier sat in Schuerholz's office every day and listened in on his phone calls I certainly did not mean to imply that. Worked with him, influenced by him, yes. Lajoie and Schuerholz know each other very well and both were big influences on Regier. Again not to argue here but not everything is in that book you own. As for the last statement I'm not sure what difference it makes if someone has played for the White Sox or not. Good baseball people are good baseball people no matter where they're from.

Thank you. Geez, I'm sorry I posted the article but hopefully those who had a sarcasm build up feel better now.

Articles and books don't tell everything. The point is, philosophically he picked up a lot from Schuerholz, he is highly respected and has made some positive changes already. In a brief conversation I had with him this spring he credited Schuerholz as being a big influence. Many of these baseball people are more interconnected than any article or book would indicate.

I presume it's a team option for 2008 and if so this is not a big deal.

Sorry about this, I was making a post about Alan Regier (Sox farm director guy) in another thread, linking him with Schuerholz and Bill Lajoie and also BTW the Red Sox org. and the thread got archived I think, so anyways: http://heraldargus.com/hanews/archives/ha/...y.php?id=383098

I should have left it at that but this also needs to be addressed. Buehrle will be 30 in 2009, Garland 29 and Vazquez 32 going on 33. 30, 29, and 32 aren't prime?

I recall a post from you saying 2008 and 2009 would be bad which is why I mentioned it, but it really doesn't matter. The second statement, "right now" are the key words in your post. Things change, it's baseball. Players will come and go. Most if not all teams fortunes will go up and down. So many things happen. They can be criticized for this year and rightfully. However this is the first really bad year in quite a while. People don't want to hear it but there needs to be a bigger picture view. They have said constantly and I do mean constantly they plan to compete in 2008 and when they are rebuilding they will let us know. I have no reason to disbelieve what they're saying. They disagree with you who thinks rebuilding should come right now, and you will just have to get over that as many have pointed out to you. No offense but you will change nothing by posting it again and again on the boards, believe me the brass does not rely on this board for their strategy planning and anyone who says they know more than baseball lifers isn't thinking clearly. It is an up and down game from year to year. Baseball history shows this over and over. As a fan, what you want to hear is "we are going to try to win". From my view anyways. What I don't want to hear is "the kids can play but we will be awful for a few years". I get a kick out of people on this and other boards who are trying to shoehorn prospects into the 2008 starting lineup when those prospects haven't even mastered AAA, among other issues. You can expect some significant changes and you are not just hearing that from Williams and Guillen but you are also hearing it publically from Buehrle and Dye. Believe me they have more money than you think for next year and I will be just as annoyed as you if I don't see changes to scouting and aggressive pursuit of the right types of players and a hunger on this team.

The guy in your avatar, one of his top protogees is running the White Sox player development area as of this year. That is Alan Regier, who also spent considerable time learning from Bill Lajoie one of the most respected baseball people alive.

At that time if you'd asked just about every knowledgeable baseball exec, publication, scout, whoever, they take Reed over lots of guys including Granderson. It worked out great for Detroit and those things happen. There is no evidence whatsoever the White Sox were unaware of Granderson but my recollection is Curtis was a gangly kid who showed potential but nothing like he shows now. I think there's even a guy on this board who played with or against him who said the same thing. I'm not defending the White Sox amateur scouting because clearly it needs improvement, they have identified it as a front burner issue and have taken some definitive action already. Not to say whatever they do will be the cure all because who knows and as many here have said amateur scouting is an inexact science. I mean, any of the people on this board can come up with examples all night of guys certain teams passed on and ask "why". Not that it matters but for the record another Chicago team, the Cubs, passed on Granderson a few times too. Not a rationalization but it's a fair point nonetheless.

The main Sox area scout for this area is Nathan Durst so I guess he is the guy to ask. Granderson went 80th overall to Detroit. Detroit had two picks before Granderson, both were busts. White Sox had two picks before #80. First pick was Royce Ring and second pick was Jeremy Reed. Royce Ring was far from a great pick but he has reached the majors and was a key piece in a 2004 trade. As for Reed, his story is well known. Detroit had two players turn out from that draft, Granderson and Zumaya.

Baseball is funny sometimes. I know you've already written off the next two seasons but I would suggest waiting it out and see what happens.

Article on the White Sox site, Guillen stating he wants starting pitchers to pitch in spring games vs. B games to get them more ready for April. I can vouch for what he says about scouts at the B games and the back fields ... sometimes a couple dozen are in attendance. http://whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?y...sp&c_id=cws