Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 18, 2014 -> 08:16 PM) Come the end of this season, I believe Anderson and Rodon will be ranked in the top 100, with Montas being the next closest. I've said this before, but Johnson/Davidson have to be two of the worst performing top 100 prospects this season. Micah Johnson has a decent chance of being a top 100 guy IMO.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 16, 2014 -> 08:02 PM)

Getting a legit starting catcher is probably our #1 offseason priority.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 14, 2014 -> 07:28 PM) De Aza was pretty close to awful most of last year, and Hahn gave him another contract this year and has kept him on the team even though he has no business in MLB. Not the biggest deal, I agree, but he is in the category of bad Hahn moves. Not as ridiculous as Paulino or Cleto or Boggs or as costly as Davidson/Reed, but Mr. Hahn is not yet qualified for Sainthood. You really need to get over the loss of Reed, he's a reliever and not an elite one by any means. I was never a huge Davidson fan, but I even I would never pass up on making that trade.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 13, 2014 -> 10:16 AM) But he has three years as an elite college pitcher, which should be given much more weight than a high school arm. Honest question, but had we selected Aiken with our first pick would he not be our #1 prospect? Adams was a borderline 1st round talent, he should definitely be our top 10 and I'd have him around #8.

f*** this s***.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 12, 2014 -> 09:22 PM) Dayan is now officially having a worse year than De Aza, per WAR Then it's decided, De Aza > Viciedo, as WAR is the end all be all.

Could use an old-fashioned triple play right about now.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 12, 2014 -> 09:15 PM) Viciedo's average now down 63 points over the last month. This is one awful outfield the Sox have. His BABIP in June is .077. Honestly, he hasn't looked good, but he's also been extremely unlucky these past few weeks.

That half inning may have lasted less than 2 minutes. Holy f*** this is frustrating to watch.

Tank is more than f***ing due. Hopefully he transfer that adrenaline from that nice catch into an XBH here.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 12, 2014 -> 05:28 PM) IMO he's fielded very well for us and he's looked pretty good at the dish at times, too. Before ADA heated up, he deserved a shot to take his place IMO, Sierra has looked awful defensively. Not sure what defensive metrics would say, but simply from the eye test he's looked pretty bad so far.

Wow, nice play Beckham. Hope some other teams' scouts were watching!

Outside of an unlucky batting average (.185 BABIP), Semien has picked up right where he left off at AAA with a .850 OPS & 144 wRC+ coming into tonight game. He'll be a regular with the big league club again before the season is over.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 12, 2014 -> 12:59 PM) Excellent point but teams like the Yankees will probably overpay based on desperation at the deadline. If he is traded max levarage will be in July, not the off season. I agree, 2B is not a position teams typically pay a premium to fill. That said, there should definitely be less supply of quality 2B available next month than in the offseason and hopefully a few teams in need of one right now. Get two teams bidding for him, say the Blue Jays & Yankees, and maybe you can get something of decent value. If so, you take that offer immediately and put Semien at 2B the rest of the season. Banking on a transformed Gordon Beckham at $6M+ next year does not seem like great use of resources when we have three cheaper & promising alternatives in AAA.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 9, 2014 -> 11:44 PM) E3 couldn't be more boring if it tried. Hopefully tomorrow improves. Microsoft had a decent conference, although no crazy surprises. Sony's conference seemed pretty lackluster. Nintendo has a chance to gain some momentum, but I remain skeptical they'll pull off something special.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 8, 2014 -> 01:56 PM) Anderson Homer. There's really no question that Anderson is our #2 prospect after Rodon and by quite a bit of margin. Both guys should finish in the top 50 prospects at a minimum and both have top 10 overall potential (probably not this year, but possibly after 2015). The overall system is still pretty week, but the top 10 to 15 guys make up a pretty good group of prospects and eventually the Latin American signings will start having a presence over here. System is definitely on the up-swing but it still has ways to go until becomes top 10 worthy.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 7, 2014 -> 12:06 AM) Mario Kart is fun, but that's not a system seller for me and the only time I play is it when someone else has it. I wouldn't buy that on my own. I'm getting old for the 40+ hour games myself. Watch Dogs has that much content if you do all the side stuff, which I insist on doing. I simply can't do that many of those games a year. It's just that Mario whatever or Zelda doesn't really interest me regardless of game length. That's fine that they don't interest you, but to say they are "baby games" and that they only target kids is absurd. I just beat Portal 2 on Friday, an all around awesome game. Before that I put 50+ hours into GTA V, which is one of my favorite games of all time. I love mature games when they are well done, like the Uncharted series, but sometimes I want to play something that's about pure gameplay. The new Mario Kart is amazing in short bursts and looks more next gen than anything I've seen on Xbox One or PS4 so far. Super Mario 3D World, while nowhere near as good as the Galaxy games, is still a tons of fun and the fact I can play it with my wife is a bonus. Hell, I just started Wind Waker HD yesterday and it's crazy now good that game really is, unfortunately it doesn't have the "cool" factor a lot people in our demographic base their purchasing decisions on. The point I'm trying to make is that Nintendo games don't have be mutually exclusive with more mature games. They both offer different experiences that are enjoyable on their own merits. I personally think that if most people got over the "kiddy" image concern, most hardcore gamers would find plenty of Nintendo titles they'd love.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 6, 2014 -> 10:01 PM) Not really. If he is being honest with the staff, they would be able to find something. Maybe it's just a learning year for him. Any theories on what could be causing the velocity decease if not injury?

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Jun 6, 2014 -> 01:45 PM) That's the very essence of "prospect". Part of it is what have you proven already, but the other major part is what do you have the potential to produce? Its the very reason guys like Hawkins and Trayce Thompson can rocket up and down prospect lists. Its the reason that guys like Micah Johnson, Sanchez, and Beck can stagnate no matter how high their batting average's appear or how low their ERA's drop. You can see a clear distinction between folks on here who view production at the minor league level over potential, and vice versa. Its fun seeing the difference in thought processes. But saying others are crazy with their lists because of a different view isn't fair. Adams has the potential to be a #1 starter, and we haven't legitimately gotten our hands on many of those over the years. Usually we are drafting in the middle of the draft, and end up with guys that produced in college and have the potential as #2-#3 type starters, or completely raw athletes in the OF. This is exciting as hell. Great post. These lists are always going to be based on the most current information and as a result will tend to be fickle. As for ranking Montas over Davidson, I wasn't the biggest fan of Matt to begin with (still like the trade) and his struggles haven't instilled any more confidence. Montas on the other hand has incredibly stuff and has been absolutely dominant for a short, but recent stretch. Right now I'm taking him over the guy who has had contact issues in the past and currently has a 34.5 K rate.

I'm not buying into the Saladino hype. Maybe if he keeps this up all year I'll reconsider, but until then he's a fringe reserve infielder prospect IMO. Semien, Johnson, & Sanchez all may be legit to varying degrees. I think Beckham is pretty much a guarantee to be moved by next offseason and more likely by this deadline IMO. That opens up one spot in the lineup for Semien or Johnson. The real question is what they do with Alexei. If we keep him, the only way we're getting two of these guys' bats into the lineup is moving someone to the outfield, most likely Micah Johnson. I think Carlos Sanchez is the odd man out and will be traded in the next 9 months. This is going to be an interesting deadline for us, because we have several pieces that should probably be moved, but with how the team is playing right now, a White Flag 2.0 is going to be a hard sell to the fans. Also, I don't think we should under estimate the addition of Rodon, who can be a member of our rotation as early as next year. With him in the fold, there is little doubt in my mind the Sox will active in free agency next offseason. I would argue having some momentum heading into the offseason would be beneficial when courting big name free agents and doing another White Flag isn't going to help in that regard. I could honestly see the Sox hold some of their trading chips and attempt to go on a run here. I don't see them being buyers by any means, but Hahn may feel a long-shot playoff run is more beneficial to the organization than the prospects we'd get back for guys like Dunn & Belisario.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 5, 2014 -> 11:24 PM) Wendelken over Sanchez and Beck? I don't know... Wendleken is way closer to #20 than #10 IMO.

1) Rodon 2) Anderson 3) Johnson 4) Hawkins 5) Montas 6) Danish 7) Davidson 8) Adams 9) Sanchez 10) Ravelo

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 08:22 PM) Do people really think the Texas Rangers, if given the choice between using money and using prospects, would have chosen to use a better prospect in that deal? No, but had we been willing to pay his remaining salary his market would have been bigger. It's really not that difficult of a concept, most teams aren't flush with cash come the trade deadline.

I think it's completely fair to say that the return we got for Rios was underwhelming and that had we been willing to pay the rest of his 2013 salary we would have gotten a much better return. Clearly the Sox were looking for financial flexibility in the Rios deal and that's what they got. Not sure I agree with that decision, but it definitely impacted the overall return. Also, like Dick Allen & raBBit have already stated, trading Rios did not result in us getting Abreu. The money would have been there regardless. This team has cut back on payroll because it's doing a semi-rebuild and only wants to commit big money to guys that can be part of the long-term core (Abreu/Tanaka). I think people will be very surprised when they see next year's Forbes' numbers and see exactly how much money the Sox made this year.