bighurt4life

QUOTE (DirtySox @ May 23, 2010 -> 09:01 AM) It's hard to not get your hopes up with some of the projectable young bats that will be available at 13. It's unfortunate that college pitcher is all I've been hearing so far. Unfortunately our team usually operates in the 'win-now' mode and looks for top picks that can contribute quickly which i don't think is the way to build a successful organization. Forward thinking is the way to go where you build your system help down the road, if you do that successfully for several years in a row then you constantly have major league prospects ready to step in when you need them instead of constantly playing catch up and drafting finished products with lower ceilings instead of high talent prospects. Several teams around the majors do this very well like the Braves, Red Sox, Yankees and the rival team from up north who will remain nameless. It seems like the Braves have a big time prospect getting called up just about every year or so, like Tommy Hanson last year, Heyward this year, Saltalamacchia, etc... It just takes a few years of drafting for this strategy to pay off, that entails a level of patience that I'm not sure KW possesses. What's cheaper, spending 7-8 mil a year on your draft for a dozen or so talented players or spending 10+ million a season on one free agent signing of a guy in his late 20's or early 30's, this is just one player, not a whole crop of talent. I know there's a level of risk involved in drafting this way, but if you have a scouting department worth their salt, the law of averages will allow you to get enough good players to make it worth it.

Don't forget about Dexter Carter and Aaron Poreda who were two of the three main components of the Peavy trade. Carter has been getting lit up in high a and Poreda has been moved exclusively to relief in AAA and though he has a low ERA his peripherals are very poor, especially his bb ratio of almost 9/9. So basically we gave up a mid rotation starter in Richard for Jake Peavy, i'll make that trade any day of the week. I doubt that Carter will ever make it to the bigs and who knows what's going to happen with Poreda. His calling card out of college was a big time sinker that he could control very well but he's seemingly forgot how to do that. He'll be in the majors probably this season but i just don't see him doing a whole lot at this stage.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...chraaa_bufaaa_1 Charlotte B-Ham rained out http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...myrafa_wswafa_1 Winston Salem http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...kanafx_ashafx_1 Kannapolis

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 16, 2010 -> 06:08 PM) Morel, 2-3. AVG up to .308. Do work Brent! I will go on the record as saying that Brent will be a more than adequate replacement for Tehean in 2012. His defense is absolutely stunning, i watched him in a couple of spring training games and he didn't do anything but make pick after pick while showing a strong, accurate arm. I also think that his offense will be more than adequate, he'll hit for average with some pop, probably around 15-20hr's and lots of doubles to go along with good speed for a 3B. His power numbers will be deflated this year at B-Ham but don't let that fool you, he can hit it out of the park regularly. One of my favorite prospects right now.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 15, 2010 -> 07:05 PM) He's had to prove himself every step along the way, and his promotion would give hope to all players who scouts don't grade highly but who just play the game and get everything out of their talent/ability. That's exactly what CJ has done in his minor league career. He's just mashed the ball everywhere he's gone and a lot of those doubles last year at Birmingham are going to turn into HR's in Charlotte. Honestly, he is one of the few guys in our system that I just don't worry about breaking out of his current slump. He's just too damn scrappy and honestly, he's just too good of a ballplayer.

I've always backed Ozzie because he brought us our WS title, but lets get honest, that was almost 5 years ago now and this team hasn't really done s*** since then and i feel like we have some definite talent on the roster. The tipping point for me was reading a poll of about 100 mlb players in ESPN mag. OZ was voted as the manager that they would least like to play for in the entire league, 30% voted for him, he finished behind Pinella who got 29% of the vote. 1/3 of players would play for 29 other managers before OZ, including Lou f***ing Pinella! And this isn't just a Cubs thing, i just think that Lou is an asshole. So if 1/3 of the team would rather play for someone else (rather, anyone else) then how hard are they going to play for the guy, how much of their focus is this going to take away. Baseball is a hard enough game without that type of a distraction. I think that OZ and Walk need to go at this point, I'm done justifying and rationalizing for them.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 14, 2010 -> 12:57 PM) Trout was one of the guys I really liked. That said, I had zero problem with the Mitchell pick and I think a lot of scouts were drooling over Mitchell late last year in his pro debut. No one could have expected his injury. I agree for the most part. I wasn't too high on him when we picked him but having kept track of him in kanny then seeing his blinding athleticism in televised spring training games this year i've become more and more a fan of his. The injury is really too bad because i felt like he was on the verge of really putting it all together in birmingham this year. He showed off some impressive ability in his spring training work.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 12, 2010 -> 09:39 PM) Before we get too excited about Short, lets all remember Jeremy Reed his .400 too, and he could take a walk.... Don't care, anytime someone is hitting 400 after 150 ab's it's pretty amazing.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ May 12, 2010 -> 07:38 PM) Well if you are hitting at such a high avg. he isnt getting much chance to walk. How much is he striking out? 26K but over 150 ab's so his k rate is about 17% which isn't bad at all, still like to see more bb's though.

Charlotte B-Ham W-S Kanny off today

QUOTE (CSF @ May 2, 2010 -> 01:26 PM) Hudson's line: 7 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K's. That'll work. This is exactly why i wasn't worried about him after a couple bad starts. Some posters here were acting like the sky was falling but failed to realize that baseball at times is a game of pure luck. Someone can smash a line drive but get unlucky and hit it right at someone, or a pitcher can throw a great pitch and the batter gets lucky and runs into it, it happens all the time, the only way to account for all the luck in baseball is by just waiting for everything to even out over time. The BABIP against him was horrific the first few games, that was bound to regress to the mean as were the high number of HR's against him etc... It just takes a little patience sometimes, he didn't forget how to pitch over the winter.

That kid's got more pop in his bat than I do!

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 29, 2010 -> 05:11 PM) Your agenda wouldn't be anymore clearer then if you just came out and said "I live to suck off the Twins." Ha. That made me laugh. Also, i'm not too worried about Gibson just yet, I'll have to see him get at least one major league hitter out before i start shaking in my boots.

QUOTE (goblue5699 @ May 2, 2010 -> 12:23 AM) Dodgers OF prospect Andrew Lambo was suspended 50 games for PEDs. I only mention it because I remember a few guys on here saying how much they liked his game. I recall that as well, i'm curious what he was taking as he has put up some impressive power numbers in the past. update, article on ESPN speculates on what it was, looks like it wasn't a PED

I was reading a writeup by John Sickels about the '10 draft pitching class and saw this written about our former draft pick. for the rest of you draft-niks and prospect watchers here's the page with the full write up plus some others to be found. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2010/4/22/1...r-the#storyjump

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 30, 2010 -> 05:35 PM) Good simple format Dan. I like it. +1 They should all look like this.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 01:29 PM) Aardsma would be on our roster. Masset would be long man, in Carrasco's underrated role, and spot starter. Cooper could keep working w/ him. I would start Uribe as much as Ozzie plays Vizquel, who's 10+ years older and washed up. Swisher would be DH or sharing time in the OF with Andruw Jones. Matsui/Damon could also be signed with all the money we're using on Rios. I think he had a pretty good year overall last year, you disgree? Willie Harris could be doing better than Pierre for a fraction of the cost. So could Ryan Sweeney. Swisher wouldn't really have much of a role on this team, i'd much rather have Jones in the OF or DH than Swish. Willie Harris has been in the league long enough that it's evident to everyone in baseball that he is not a starter. He can be effective in short spurts and as a bench player, Pierre is just having a slow start, look at his career BA of 300 if you want an idea of the kind of production we can expect from him. Matsui or Damon don't bring anything to the table that Rios isn't doing for us, except that neither of them can field anymore and they're both much older. The grass is not ALWAYS greener.

QUOTE (Dizzy Sox @ Apr 29, 2010 -> 07:29 PM) Wow, 7 SB against Carlos Santana (1 CS). I guess he really is a Victor Martinez clone. exactly what i was thinking, they came off of different pitchers too.

Links?

Gilmore is obviously making lots of contact, i wonder if he just has a swing that isn't conducive letting him use his raw power or if he's just getting unlucky. My money says that he has a swing that is geared for contact rather than power as he's never really hit for much pop at any level so far.

Frank Thomas

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 06:25 PM) And btw, I think Trayce Thompson ends up a top-25 prospect in all of baseball, he is definitely our top prospect since Borchard in terms of ceiling (granted Borch never reached it). I'm really trying to temper my enthusiasm for him at this point because he's so young in his career but it is really hard not to be excited about him in watching the level of improvement that he's shown so far. A couple days ago i was on a reputable scouting website that did a write up on him talking about his fast start, i don't remember the exact wording that they used but they said something to the effect that "super talented high round picks like him usually spend their offseason in one of two ways, either enjoying their signing bonus or working. It's obvious that Trayce spent his winter working." They also mentioned how the Sox organization was impressed with his work ethic during minor league camp.

Gilmore still hitting well 64 ab's into the season. .375/.400/.469/.869 line. Obviously he won't sustain that ridiculous avg, but, there's a chance that this is his breakout season. I have my fingers crossed with him, maybe as his avg goes down some of those doubles start turning into HR's.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 08:33 PM) This. Unless he's hitting like .450 by June (or a 1.000+ OPS), he's got a good one year ticket to stay in Kanny the whole year. I'm not opposed to giving him 100ab's at W-S provided he 1. keeps mashing at Kanny 2. cuts his k rate and 3. shows that he could use the challenge (this is a much more subjective measure here and totally up to the team's coaches and the Sox brain trust.) I'd hate to see him crushing the ball at Kanny all season and get bored, when you get bored you stop growing, learning, and getting better. That being said I don't think that there are too many people in and out the organization who at the beginning of the season wouldn't have been ecstatic if you told them that he'd have 3 HR's and 2B's through his first 25 ab this year, myself included.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Apr 21, 2010 -> 01:12 PM) It really would be something if he continues to hit well and forces a callup to High-A this season. I know 1 thing for sure, Thompson/Mitchell would be fun to watch progress next season. It's always fun to watch a prospect really work hard and improve from one year to the next. Thompson looked like crap last year in Bristol, he had terrible contact rates, a K % around 33 i think and no power numbers to boot. Now all of a sudden he's really swinging the bat well. I suppose the scouts know what they're doing sometimes (although it's too early to crown him the next big thing just yet)