Chicago White Sox

It's huge that we've been able to float around .500 with Sale out and to a lesser extent Eaton too. Sale is obviously a beast and gives you a strong chance to win every single start. Not so much the case with Carroll. Eaton really changes the entire complexion of the offense and makes Abreu that much more dangerous, as he'll be up to bat more often with men on base. If these two guys can stay on the field, I still think we can push for the 2nd wild card spot. Still a huge long-shot, but it's a tremendous improvement over the baseball we had to suffer through last year and what they're currently suffering through on the Northside (worst team in baseball, go Epstein!).

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 15, 2014 -> 02:41 PM) The complaints revolve around ...*drum roll*....online features. NOT SURPRISED. Cant wait for the 30th, it has been a while since i got out the wheel Yeah, it sucks Nintendo is so far behind on online play. The good news is most of the complaints so far are about being unable to play/chat with your friends online and since most of us have no friends that own a Wii U it shouldn't be a much of a problem. Speaking of no one owning a Wii U, Nintendo better come hard with their E3 announcements. I'm talking about at least one major game for Christmas 2014 (Zelda?) to go with Smash Brothers and some other surprises, like glimpses of the new 3D Mario in development and whatever the f*** Retro Studios is working on (Metroid please). If Nintendo focuses on something lame like a hypothetical Wii U Music then it's time to put down the Wii U once and for all Old Yeller style. Nintendo can't afford another poor E3 with PS4 & Xbox One in the mix.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 15, 2014 -> 02:47 AM) I hope Danish stays in A+ the rest of the year. I don't, if he keeps dominating his level then keep pushing him up.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 14, 2014 -> 05:39 PM) White Sox 6-0 in games Andre Rienzo pitches. Rienzo >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Paulino.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 14, 2014 -> 12:44 PM) [buzz] Dan Hayes ‏@DanHayesCSN 1h #WhiteSox have 10 days to work out a trade for Jeff Keppinger or put him on waivers. He is out of minor league options. You got to think some team would be willing to take on Keppinger for $500k/season. Ask for nothing in return and hope you can recoup $1M of his remaining salary. I'd consider that a win at this point.

I may be Semien's biggest fan on this site, but it's time to send him down to AAA. The K rate was already a concern and the part time play is definitely not helping matters.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 13, 2014 -> 04:32 PM) A lot of managers believe (and, apparently, players too) that guys get out of whack when their batting order position is changed. Given how little the batting order matters to game outcomes, who cares if you put a bad player higher in the order for a few games while you wait for the normal guy to come back? Parent had just said to the media yesterday that ADA felt very uncomfortable hitting leadoff. I agree with this logic to some extent, but batting your worst hitter leadoff isn't the answer. Why potentially give Garcia an extra plate appearance and likely hurt your chances of men being on-base for Abreu? I don't really care if De Aza or anyone feels uncomfortable for a couple of games, they need to put the well-being of the team ahead of themselves.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2014 -> 02:46 PM) The bottom line is even if Semien hit there, it wasn't a huge upgrade, at least at this point in their careers. You might as well give Leury a shot. There might be a situation someday where he has to get a shot when you really have to win. Except for the fact that Semien takes a f***ton of pitches and gives the rest of the lineup additional looks at the opposing pitcher. Also, I'm glad we can completely ignore their minor league careers and base our expectations for last night's game strictly on their performance so far this year. Nothing like using 35 PAs to justify decision-making.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2014 -> 01:06 PM) The problem is when Eaton is out, the Sox don't really have a leadoff hitter on their roster. So no matter who is there, when a game is lost and the guy leading off doesn't have a good game, Robin is an idiot. Nope, batting the worst hitter on the team leadoff is incredibly stupid. I don't care if there isn't a clear answer to the leadoff problem, what is clear is that Luery is not the solution. Unfortunately, White Sox managers equate speed to leadoff hitting and have done this same bulls*** for years. But please continue to justify every stupid decision Robin makes.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ May 13, 2014 -> 07:19 AM) He should rip himself for batting Leury Garcia 1st. When in doubt, speedy guy on bench = leadoff hitter.

HS pitchers typically have the highest bust rates of 1st round picks, but if Rodon is gone I'm not sure how you justify passing on Aiken or Kolek when there is such a disparity in talent between and the next tier of college arms. Regardless of your risk tolerance for HS arms in general, the decision seems like a no-brainer to me if Rodon is off the board when we pick.

I'm sorry if this offends someone, but seriously suggesting that Jared Mitchell gets called up should be a bannable offense on this board.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 11, 2014 -> 10:57 AM) Think big. You can't get an ace if you're the White Sox via trading prospects without dealing our system away, and we're not going to be able to afford Scherzer/Lester/Shields and Masterson's not quite a 1 either. If you look back over the last 10-15 years, Contreras, Peavy and Freddy Garcia are the only "aces" we've acquired from outside the organization via trade. All of them were brought in under unique circumstances (Contreras failing against the Red Sox and in NYC pressure cooker, Peavy because of salary cutting, Garcia because of the relationship with Ozzie). Among the other "aces," Buehrle and Sale were drafted, along with Gio Gonzalez. Now is not the time to be timid. We missed on Tanaka, and we're unlikely to be in a position to outbit everyone on the next Japanese/Korean superstar unless our attendance picks up dramatically. Dude, I don't know where you come up with some of these narratives. We're going to have a ton of money available next offseason, way more than this past winter when we were hard after Tanaka. To say we can't afford James Shields is ridiculous and pretending our attendance this year will have a major impact on next year's offseason is also crazy. The Sox will spend big money if they think they're close. Given how this year is going, I think it's probable we'll major players in free agency.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 10, 2014 -> 07:44 PM) In my mind, Montas and Danish are the top two pitching prospects in the system. Was literally about to post this exact comment.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 8, 2014 -> 09:17 PM) Nathaniel Stoltz also had a comment about him regarding he saw him hit one ball hard in the few games he saw him, and it was foul. Seems like injuries might have prevented Barnum from ever getting his minor league career on track. Too early to write him off. I think the Winston-Salem may have been too aggressive, so let's see how he does in the 2nd half of the season.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 8, 2014 -> 11:05 PM) The velocity story with Johnson seems to be becoming a big issue Yeah, it's definitely worrisome. He's so damn important to our future as we don't have any other top flight pitching prospects in our system. A couple guys could get there, but they're far major league ready. Johnson at his old velocity paired with Sale & Quintana gives you something to build around. Without him we're looking at a lot of question marks.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 8, 2014 -> 01:26 PM) Theo is really smart and I agree with what he is doing as well. He will get it turned around if the owner doesn't get in his way. Bernstein isn't wrong about that praise. Rick Hahn is another smart, forward thinking GM that Bernstein has applauded many times. Bernstein has stated many times how good of a job Hahn has done and how the team is in good hands. Go on hearing what you'd like to hear though. I think you're one of the more intelligent posters on this site, but I find your faith in Theo to be unfounded. He's rebuilding the Cubs in small market fashion because he no longer has the loopholes that were available to him while in Boston. I'm not very impressed by that, look at some of the moves Rick Hahn has made in the past 12 months. He's been able to add a significant amount of young talent to our offense in a short period of time by being both creative and willing to take calculated risks. I have not seen Theo do much during his tenure so far that made me say "Wow, that was a smart move". Don't get me wrong, I think Theo is a very smart guy, but so are the vast majority of GMs in baseball right now. His plan may end up working, but it's entirely dependent on a few minor leaguers becoming major league stars. As good as those prospects are, that's a big if IMO. And even if that happens, he'll have to compete in the division that has one of the best run franchises in baseball. To say that Theo "will get it turned around" with this much confidence is incredibly premature. That's the same issue with Bernstein as he honestly believes Epstein's plan is foolproof.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 7, 2014 -> 11:24 PM) Give me one of Rodon or Aiken and I'll be very happy. Yup, at this point the best case scenario IMO is if the Astros take the local kid in Kolek. I still prefer Rodon over Aiken, but I would be more than happy with either of them.

Man, we really need Eaton back in the fold. Beckham & De Aza are never going to get on base enough to maximize Abreu's value.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 7, 2014 -> 07:49 PM) He is fine. They have hit 1 ball hard. You don't have to throw 95 to be effective. Come on dude, even you have to admit it's a bit troubling that his FB has actually decreased from last year. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Bernstein was quoting numbers that Danks had the slowest fastball among all qualified starters. If this velocity is here to stay, then we're looking at a #4 caliber starter best case scenario, which is not what we're paying for. I was all for resigning him too, but anyone being objective has to be concerned with how he's looked so far this year.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ May 6, 2014 -> 09:57 PM) Downs' ERA down to 6.17 Stop tempting the baseball gods by quoting these types of stats mid-inning!

Honestly, with the way Beck has been pitching this year, Danish probably will overtake him and become our #2 pitching prospect after whoever we take in the draft. I think that Anderson, Hawkins, & Micah Johnson should all be above him without question. You can make a case for a couple other guys depending on how the rest of their seasons go (Thompson, May, Sanchez, Ravelo), but right now I'd predict him coming in at #5.

The more I think about it, the Sox have to take the best pitcher available at #3, regardless of signability concerns. I know that drafting Rodon is a risk, but if he's the top guy on our board in terms of talent we really need to roll the dice on him. I don't think we'll be drafting in the top 5 again anytime soon and it's absolutely critical we get a front of the rotation starter of this pick. If Rodon has the best chance of becoming that player, then just take him at #3 and force him to pass up millions of dollars right now if he's really demanding 1-1 money.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ May 2, 2014 -> 07:11 AM) Been playing Windwaker a lot lately. Love it. Download only unfortunately. System does support external hd I believe if that's an option. QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 2, 2014 -> 07:15 AM) Time to get an external HD or just trade in/up for the Kart bundle I'll never know why Nintendo ever came out with a 4 GB in the first place. I typically only download virtual console games, so I didn't think it would matter, but you seriously can't download anything. NES Remix honestly eats the entire storage. Paying for an external HD eats away a big chunk of the benefit of a free game, but maybe I can find something cheap. I'd really like to get Wind Waker for free.

I think Salazar is starting for the Indians.