Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 28, 2017 -> 01:17 PM) Good post, miracle. You could be right. We shall see. Lol...

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 28, 2017 -> 06:37 AM) On pace for 3.7 fWAR....but correcting for recent trend could give you 4-4.50 #16-21 at current fWAR at 1.8 4.01 fip, 4.21 xfip 3. Archer 13. Vargas 14. Shark (big contract) 18. Nova? 20. Q 21. Darvish The good news is the AL wild card race is wide open, so I don't envision Archer & Darvish being made available unless those teams really fall apart. I don't think those other pitchers really impact Q's market. Quintana is a legit TOR starter and cost-controlled, providing a much different short-term & long-term value proposition than those other three guys. Gray is really the only comparable player I can think of and he comes with one less year of control and hasn't shown the durability Quintana has. Having said that, even with both guys available this should still be a seller's market. I still think one of the Yankees or Astros ultimately lands him and that most of us will happy with the package. He just needs to keep pitching well and the market will be there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 27, 2017 -> 03:51 PM) He hasn't taken a swing yet in North American baseball. 2020 would have him debut at 20. That seems pretty quick to me, but then again, if he is as good as has been advertised, that might be possible. My guess would be more like 2022 or so. Which is exactly why he can't be the centerpiece to a Quintana trade. Yes, you want multiple waves of talent in a rebuild, but it's absolutely critical to have that first wave or two be filled with boatloads of talent so you actually have a quality foundation to build around. You don't trade your most valuable trade asset for a guy 5+ years when you still have significant positional gaps in the top half of your system. We desperately to need a few more high ceiling bats that can be paired with Moncada, Robert, Collins, Burger, etc. in the next 2 to 3 years.

QUOTE (GermanSock @ Jun 27, 2017 -> 04:21 AM) A lot of talk is about position players and rightfully so but don't the white Sox also need another SP prospect? They have giolito, kopech and lopez but each of them has a risk because of the command. If one of them has to move to the pen who will become the rest of the rotation? They can certainly sign a free agent when it is time but I still think they need at least one more high level prospect because a lot of the other pitching prespects are relievers. At the end of the day, if we want a high quality rotation we'll need to develop two TOR guys to pair with Rodon. I have full confidence Kopech will be one of those guys in due time. His results have been ridiculous once you account for his age and how little development time he really has. I think he's the guy who ultimately sits atop our rotation. If that happens, you only need of Giolito, Lopez, & Hansen working out as #2 type starter. We should have plenty of guys to fill the #4 & #5 spots. Outside of the names already mentioned, Adams & Geurrero have really taken steps forward this year and should arrive sometime in 2018. Dunning shouldn't be far behind them the way he's going and Stephens could be right there too if he can manage to stay healthy. While there is plenty of talent already in the system, we'll no doubt continue to add more at the trade deadline. Despite a greater organizational need, we won't be adding just positional prospects at the deadline.

It's basically impossible to rank a rebuild this early into the process, but right now I'd say everything is on track as it stands today. Pitching wise we're in a great spot IMO. I know the Charlotte guys have dissapointed, but I still have faith in Lopez & Giolito becoming quality starters. The Birmingham staff has been excellent, with Kopech flashing legit TOR potential and Adams, Guerrero, & Stephens all looking like guys who could be in the major league mix as soon as next year. Add in Rodon and we'll have plenty of options to try out in 2018. And by 2019 the next wave of guys in Dunning, Hansen, & Flores should hit. Even if a couple guys completely flame out and a few more need to move to the bullpen, we've got enough prospect depth to get through it. The position player side is the challenge, but from an overall organization perspective we're looking better. The major league roster actually has multiple young contrubitors in Avi, Leury, Sanchez, & Davidson who may or may not work out, but are least giving us some optimism at the moment. Anderson has been a train-wreck this year plain and simple, but I still think he'll up a good, not great major league SS. At AAA we have one of the most exciting positional prospects in all of baseball in Moncada. He will be a superstar, even if it takes a couple seasons to get there. Delmonico is another interesting bat in AAA that will be perfect to try out in a rebuild. In terms of near major league ready bats (AA and above), there isn't much there other than guys like Wilson Garcia & Engel. That's the weak spot of the organization and hopefully can be addressed at the trade deadline. Having said all that, we're getting much deeper at the lower levels of the system. Our A ball teams next year could feasibly have OFs built around Robert, Adolfo, Basabe, Call, Fisher, Booker, Gonzalez, & Dedelow. Those first two guys have legit superstar potential and Adolfo may be the most improved prospect in the organization (check out his June splits if you don't believe me). We should also have some high-upside infielders like Burger, Sheets, Reyes, Curbelo, & Nunez plus some other interesting guys in Cruz & a few of the 2016 draft picks. Even our catching depth at the low levels has improved significantly (despite the likely promotion of Collins) with Zavala hitting well, the addition of Skoug, and hopefully the full season arrival of Carlos Perez. The focus for our front office remains asset collection. This trade deadline is huge for us. Hahn has to execute at least three major trades IMO. Robertson will no doubt be one of those. Hopefully the demand for Quintana will be there despite the slow start. And I'd really like to see at least one of the big 2017 surprises moved (Kahnle, Avi, Leury) if value can be extracted. Getting one blue chipper and a few more top 100 prospects would be huge. On top of that, Hahn must dump Frazier and some of the other rentals for some low level lottery tickets (I'd target recent LatAm signings). A successful trade deadline will not only improve our prospect depth, but should also assist with our tanking efforts. The #3 pick in the 2018 draft should be attainable and getting it would be huge for our rebuilding efforts. That's probably our best chance to acquire another future star to pair with Moncada & Robert, whatever headliner we get for Q, and hopefully a major free agent down the road. So so far so good, even if everything hasn't worked perfectly as planned.

QUOTE (Scoots @ Jun 26, 2017 -> 09:41 PM) I don't think draft positioning is meaningless, but I do think it is way overhyped. http://cdn.fangraphs.com/blogs/wp-content/...013/01/war4.gif This is a couple years old, but should tell you that draft position is definitely not overhyped.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jun 26, 2017 -> 09:04 PM) The one real benefit to the Sox finishing with the 8-12 versus a top 5 pick was that tradable assets being so good that the Sox hung around .500 until the deadline. That ship has basically sailed at this point - Frazier, Melky, Gonzalez, and Holland have no value. Definitely, I'd be more than ok if guys over-performed and we lost some draft position as a result. But to say draft position is meaningless is just plain stupid and shows a complete lack of reasoning.

Collins' BABIP is still really low. Given the power numbers, I'm going to assume he's been the victim of some bad luck. Like I've said numerous times, this season was all about defense for him and that's been a success. I'll worry about his bat next season once his defense is in a good spot.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 26, 2017 -> 07:42 PM) Wtf is going on with Charlotte, especially their pitching? The ERAs are sickening I mean, the defense has been terrible. That's not going to help. Either is starting half your games at BB&T Ballpark. Obviously the big three have underperformed (especially Fulmer), but their ERAs were always going to be a bit inflated given the circumstances. I still have full confidence in both Lopez & Giolito based on my expectations coming into the season.

Holy s***, I'm literally one of two posters in the game thread. And that includes guests too.

Frazier bomb! Keep building that trade value bud!

QUOTE (Scoots @ Jun 26, 2017 -> 06:51 PM) Goes to show that prospects are lottery tickets. Your comments sum up why I believe this whole people wanting the Sox to lose to get better draft positioning is stupid. Sorry if you're one of them, but some of the best players have come from very low rounds in the draft...look at Buehrle. It's not stupid. Look at the data. Guys drafted at the very top of the draft greatly outproduce their lower 1st round counterparts on average. The same applies to 1st round picks vs 2nd round picks & below. And logically this makes complete sense. You can't draft the best players in the draft if they're gone by the time it's your selection. It's really that simple. And that doesn't even factor in the benefit of having a bigger bonus pool that comes with better draft positioning. There isn't really argument to be bad here. All else being equal, you want the best draft position possible. I can't believe I actually had to type that last sentence out, but it really seems like a subset of posters don't get this.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jun 26, 2017 -> 04:51 PM) Austin Meadows, a guy Soxtalk wanted badly in trade rumors over the winter, just tore his hamstring and will miss a month or so. He's had a mediocre at best season in AAA and his stock has certainly slipped a bit. It has been a tough season for Pirates prospects as Glasnow has been a disaster, Meadows has under performed and is now injured, Newman has put up a .633 OPS in AA, Keller has been solid but also dealt with injuries... Which is why I always laugh when GMs overvalue their prospects. More often than not even good prospects bust, so you can't be afraid to trade from a prospect surplus when you have a window. Rizzo will eventually address his pen. Just a matter of when. Clearly he'd like to avoid trading any more prospects and his best chance of that happening is by waiting and hoping the market becomes saturated with quality relievers. Whether it ultimately pays off, being patient is the right call for Rizzo IMO.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jun 24, 2017 -> 05:33 PM) Now that Fisher is up w Astros, I doubt they will trade him unless he struggles. So far he is doing well. If he is hitting well and they trade him, the rest of the package probably lessens. I think he was sent back down a few days ago.

QUOTE (maxjusttyped @ Jun 24, 2017 -> 04:27 PM) Kahnle is one of the best relievers on the planet and I hope he's playing for a different team ~35 days from now. Someone will pay up.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 24, 2017 -> 04:21 PM) Yeah, it's only ever been the words. No imprint. What do you mean no imprint?

Why are there so many 22+ year olds on the AZL White Sox roster? You would think there would be more LatAm guys that are like 19 to 20. Maybe the roster is not final and few guys get promoted from the DSL.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jun 24, 2017 -> 02:25 PM) Why are all your posts so angry. I was wondering the same thing.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 24, 2017 -> 02:18 PM) Didn't they have like a little homage to the Catch with a little imprint of Wise on the padding? I think that's been gone for several seasons now.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 24, 2017 -> 02:15 PM) Are you serious they covered up the catch area with adverts? f*** JR. ?

God that Shields trade is a disaster. I hope to god they cut him after this year assuming things don't magically improve.

Tucker is the guy I really want from the Astros, but would people take the following deal: Martes, Perez, Fisher, & Alvarez. Fisher was crushing the ball in AAA and is major league ready. He's really grown on me this year and could be Melky's immediate replacement. Perez is a very interesting SP prospect that has pitched very well in the Carolina League this year. Alvarez is a 1B but has huge helium due to his ridiculous numbers in low A (1.126 OPS). And Martes would be a great buy-low candidate if the Astros are willing to move him.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 24, 2017 -> 11:37 AM) I mean this in the nicest possible way, but you don't understand how arbitration works. A $12-$14 million arbitration price would indicate that he is worth anywhere from $20-$24 million. Avisail Garcia is not worth $20-$24 million. The biggest contract I could see Garcia earning on the free agent market right now is something around 5/$80 or 5/$90, and that is a huge commitment to a guy who has had half of a good season. More likely it would be 3/$48 plus team options for 4 and 5 at around $18-20 million a year. Don't waste your time, sin city sox is just trolling you. That's what he does and will continue do until the mods take action.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jun 24, 2017 -> 06:59 AM) Gets me every time. He clearly doesn't know what that word means.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 23, 2017 -> 06:29 PM) Rodon's run due to another Knights defensive miscue. Fastball at 94 Rodon looking awesome so far. About ready to get called up.