Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 29, 2017 -> 07:53 AM) I appreciate your viewpoint, and disagree. The progressive movement has never been more unified than it is right now. A common enemy makes us stronger, and all but guarantees that we will win. It may get worse - a lot worse - before it gets better, but I believe it will if we all stand and do our part. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." The problem is that Trump isn't the enemy for half this country. He's doing all the god awful things his campaign promised he would do. Those of us whose moral code is built around acceptance & tolerance may be up in arms over what is effectively a Muslim ban, but I can promise you there are millions of uneducated hillbillies & straight-up racists who view this as a huge win for our country. How can we overcome this when we're effectively outnumbered?

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 28, 2017 -> 11:24 PM) I hear you. I get it. But here's what's great about this fight: Everything we're fighting now has always been there. It never went away. We closed the curtains, and swept it under the rug, but it has always, always been there. Now, with the rise of Trumpism, the curtains have been flung open, and there's NOTHING hidden anymore. We see half of America for what it is, and what it has always been. The beauty of that is that now we can kill it - or at least have the weight of the free world come crashing down on top of it. I truly don't think these policies stay in place. I don't think Trump succeeds. He's mobilizing an army to stand up against him in a way I've never seen or read about in books. There's potential that our generation gets to be the one that smashes fascist authoritarianism once and for all, and that, to me, is exciting. (Plus, having this mindset helps me fight harder without getting heartbroken, overwhelmed or exhausted) Dude, there is nothing good about this, nothing at all. I get your Mr. Activist around here, but your general line of thinking is absolute insanity to me.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ Jan 28, 2017 -> 09:10 PM) Are there any freebies in terms of items to be autographed? I bought a ball just in case. Will they know to sign a ball with a pen instead of a marker? They gave out free photos for Bo Jackson, but that was a unique situation. And yes, these guys know when to use a pen vs. a marker, no worry there.

QUOTE (Con te Giolito @ Jan 28, 2017 -> 08:33 PM) I'm kinda with you in that I think the Sale return in general was light, but the whole panel basically agreed Moncada was the most talented prospect in baseball. That leaves the explanation for Benintendi's ranking as "the guy still on Boston". You're ignoring floor, and Benintendi's floor is much higher than Moncada's. Nothing wrong these rankings IMO.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 28, 2017 -> 07:56 PM) Benintendi or Torres #1? Benintendi #1.

QUOTE (reiks12 @ Jan 28, 2017 -> 05:27 PM) Give us Vlad Jr

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 28, 2017 -> 02:28 PM) Post 42 in this thread said SSS mentioned when the time is right the Sox will spend big .What the Sox idea of spending big means is any ones guess. QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jan 28, 2017 -> 02:41 PM) I don't take that as "we will go out and sign the best free agent fit (Machado to play 3B for example). More long the lines I've spreading out a hood portion of money around the team's young kids. The ones who have succeeded anyway. That was my post and Hahn's comment was specifically about filling holes in free agency.

Did anyone here attend one of the Rick Hahn Town Halls? If so, was there anything worth sharing? Wasn't able to make it, but am dying to here if there any interesting things insights.

According to larry over at SSS, Hahn said that the organization will spend big when the time is right and hinted at the crazy 2018/19 free agent class. So basically they're targeting 2019 or probably the more realistically 2020 to be legit contenders.

FWIW, Callis has Moncada ranked #1.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 04:55 PM) If his short stint at the MLB level ruined him then Fulmer was never going to make it anyway. He's a not in the top 100 anymore but he's still likely a top 150 prospect, his stock is definitely down but he's not a lost cause yet. 100% agree. No doubt his stock is down, but the kid is only 23 years old. Way too early to write him off.

QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 02:34 PM) Would you take just Meadows and Newman and maybe a lesser pitcher. I think I would, need some hitting prospects. Probably, as long as the pitching prospect was halfway decent.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 11:49 AM) Yes. Are you looking for Moncada's rank? He was.....#17. LOL Wow, that's wild to me that Moncada didn't move up at all after the year he had.

This is a great list, probably the best one since FutureSox started publishing them. I'm obviously no expert, but I found very few of the rankings even slightly questionable. Great job as always!

Does anyone have access to Law's list from last year?

QUOTE (Con te Giolito @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 11:36 AM) What does he say about Kopech? Because I doubt anyone else will have him ahead of Reyes or as high as #7. IMO, it says Law overreacts to small AFL samples. He's not the only one guilty of that, but I see several prospects that are probably ranked a bit too high because of a handful of AFL games.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 11:28 AM) When it comes down to it, Law is a great evaluator. At the same time, he's very bent on himself. Looking back at these rankings in 2020, when these players start showing their true value, I think the actual rank is less important to some writers than where they were against the consensus of writers. This type of thinking, in theory, would make Law dive in on guys and write guys off but it's also a natural hedge. If Moncada becomes a very good player Law can still say, "I had him as the #17 best prospect, that's a very good player, That's a 3 WAR player, etc." If Moncada is a total bust than Law can say, "I didn't see him as highly as everyone else." or "I was the low guy on Moncada." I could be and probably am wrong, but given the insight Law has given us into his person, I wouldn't be surprised if he viewed these rankings as more of a pissing contest than a meritocratic process. That being said, to have an arm with one appearance above A ball like Mitch Keller in front of Yoan Moncada...I just can't get behind that. Great post raBBit.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 11:28 AM) Please, people aren't questioning his rankings. They are reflexively dismissing anything that doesn't rank sox prospects high enough as being biased. That isn't interesting debate it's just whining. You could use these to learn more about prospects strengths and weaknesses and decide yourself what you think is more important, or you could just get mad about output. And output (in terms of list rankings) won't matter, ultimately when these guys arrive next year. Would I now rank Moncada lower than Kopech because of this list? Hell no. I know Crawford is good defensively but no way in hell I'd take a 1-for-1 swap for Moncada. But it's good to know that Moncada is not finished developing. He may very well come up and struggle some more, he has a contact issue that will be up to him to correct. The good news is he already walks and could very well have some big power seasons where he identifies what pitches to drive. And that is more than most others in top 20 can do. I've never once accused Law of being biased against the White Sox. I do think ranking Moncada 17th is absolutely ridiculous and the direct result of overreacting to a measly 20 major league at-bats (whether he admits it or not). That doesn't make me mad, it just makes me question his abilities as a prospect expert. I'll be interested to see where other publications rank Moncada, because I'm fairly certain Law will be the clear outlier here.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 10:57 AM) This is nonsense. He does't put Moncada at #17 so people will talk about it. He thinks Moncada is the 17th best prospect in baseball. You people are nuts. Why is that nonsense? How do you think his job performance is evaluated exactly? Do you think someone at ESPN does a post-audit on his rankings every few years? Of course not, they simply look at how much traffic he drives to ESPN Insider. I'm not suggesting that's his reasoning for the Moncada ranking, but let's not pretend there isn't an obvious incentive here to stir up interest in his articles. ESPN has numerous shows where dumb viewpoints are the underlying hook. Why do you think Skip Bayless lasted as long as he did? Also, it's real annoying when the ranking Nazi's come out and accuse people of being "butt hurt" for questioning a specific player's ranking. First, this is a message board and we're meant to discuss things like rankings here. Second, we don't have to accept whatever a professional writer puts on their website as gospel. The amount of policing on what could be good, quality debate by certain posters is getting out of control here.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 08:31 AM) Jimenez? Lopez? Maybe Lopez is no longer eligible because of the 44 IP, you need 50 to lose rookie status, but also there's a number of days on the active roster clause too for rookies. Would have to check. Lopez could work too. The point here is we'd have a ton of pitching depth to trade from. And major league ready arms are typically a hot commodity. While a team like the Cubs may not want to empty the top-end of their farm system for Quintana, a one for one trade may be incredibly attractive to them. This example just highlights why it's crazy to focus too much on need when dealing someone like Q. Get the most talent possible and address needs later with some level of reason.

QUOTE (fredmanrique @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 08:27 AM) Have a feeling hahn has been passing on a package with glasnow and newman but not keller up to this point. If that's the case, then he should definitely pass. Newman is not an acceptable second piece unless Meadows is the headliner.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 08:24 AM) 20 at-bats in the majors (coming out of AA) with 12 k's moved him down that much? That's nuts. It's so f***ing ridiculous. Dude has plus, plus tools across the board and absolutely raked in the minors in his first season since defecting from Cuba. How would 20 at-bats change when he should have never been called up change his prospect status?

I'm really starting to warm up to the idea of a Quintana for Glasnow/Keller/Newman trade. If they were to include Craig as a 4th piece, I'd probably take the deal. Obviously I'm willing to wait things out a bit longer for a legit positional headliner, but the offer mentioned previously would be a ton of talent to pass up. Keller is really shooting up the charts and I'm a huge fan of Newman. I think if the Sox believe Glasnow really is an elite starting pitching prospect, I'm struggling to see how the trade deadline could ever result in that much more talent. I know at some point we need to address the positional side of things, but I think we can eventually do some prospect for prospect trades for bats. A great example would be the Cubs. They have several positional guys who are blocked for the foreseeable future and could definitely use a young, major league starter. Something built around Glasnow & Jimenez could work for both sides. And the great news is we'd pretty much be set up the middle if you believe in Anderson (SS), Newman (2B), Moncada (CF), & Collins ©. That would leave us with only corner spots to fill via free agency or by leveraging our pitching depth.

I take it Lopez wasn't eligible? Also, if you were looking for a reason to like a Glasnow/Keller/Newman package, these rankings probably did it for you. All three ranked in the top 23.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jan 26, 2017 -> 05:22 PM) I think there is another possibility in the way the rebuild has gone. I do think it is interesting that the two "problem childs" were traded but not one other trade was made. But competing next year is not realistic. So maybe the front office felt they should do the rebuild over two seasons so that the roster was not a disaster going into sales of 2017 tickets. Then the team can still promote ticket sales for 2017 with guys like Abreu, Anderson and Q. Then do another sell-off in July with the hope that 1 or 2 of the young players already acquired will be ML ready. Then finish the sell off next winter and promote 2018 with Anderson and the young stars that have emerged. You are overthinking this. The Sox are 100% committed to a rebuild right now, they simply haven't had their prices met on most of their players. They wouldn't pass on quality offers to con some extra ticket sales out of their customer base.