Chicago White Sox

I love people are now being sarcastic with their "Robin is so bad" jokes that they're almost implying that he isn't bad. I'm not sure what games you guys are watching, but the dude is clearly a bad in-game manager. I'm not holding the lack of talent against him and I'm sure as hell not going with the ridiculous Balta argument that a lack of fundamentals in spring training carried over the entire season. He simply makes bad decisions on a regular basis. I'm not going to provide a bunch of examples either, although I'm sure Dick Allen will request.

Lol...Jose Quintana for Pedro Alvarez? Gregor needs to find a new job if that is the best he can come up with, because Hahn would be fired on the spot if he went to Jerry for approval for that trade.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 07:20 AM) Pretty much EVERY manager is bad at lineups. Fortunately, studies show that they don't make much of a difference. I used to stress out about lineups, but it just doesn't matter enough to worry about. What exactly is not much of a difference?

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 02:11 AM) I hope not. Let him finish out the year in W-S. Start him in AA next year, and hope he finishes in AAA. Give him a shot at the 2016 rotation in the spring when he is just 21. Why exactly? A+ has proven not to be a challenge for Danish. If he dominates AA over the first 3-4 months next year, why does he need to spend any time in AAA? IMO, AAA is much more important for hitters and pitchers that still haven't learned how to pitch and require an extra year of development. It's not like we haven't had players skip AAA before. Here's three guys off the top of my head: Mark Buehrle: 0 AAA starts Chris Sale: 0 AAA starts Jose Quintana: 0 AAA starts Obviously Sale was a unique scenario, but I think Buehrle & Quintana are fairly decent comps for where Danish might be at next year in terms of development. Both guys were pitchers not throwers who dominated AA. As a result, the Sox felt they were both ready for the majors and they were proven right. I honestly think Danish will be in the same boat next year and I'm not sure what some token time at AAA will really prove for him.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 01:40 AM) Danish hasn't given up more than 1 run in any of his last 8 starts. Give him a start or 2 at AA before the season ends. I think he'll be up in the majors by sometime next year. The kid is just so advanced for his age.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 9, 2014 -> 11:27 AM) I think I see three major leaguers on that list, right? I see two and which one of them was a star or above-average?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 9, 2014 -> 09:17 AM) Can we at least be a little patient with the guy who has played like 3 games in 4 months and is rehabbing a major shoulder reconstruction? Is his shoulder under less stress at AAA?

QUOTE (QuickJones81 @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 09:43 PM) I'm probably just slow, but your point is getting past me QUOTE (daggins @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 09:49 PM) I think the point is that none of those guys panned out. I know each prospect is their own person, etc, but Jake Peter is just a guy right now.

QUOTE (QuickJones81 @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 08:57 PM) Peter dominated rookie ball, and the fact that the Sox promoted him straight to Winston Salem might indicate they see more than a guy who had a flukey streak in rookie ball. We shall see... Here's the list of guys who posted .900+ OPSs for the Great Falls White Sox from 2003 to 2007. This period represents the entire time Great Falls was a Sox affiliate before they changed their name to the Voyagers. Brian Anderson: 1.081 (2003) Ricardo Nanita: .991 (2003) David Cook: .968 (2004) Francisco Hernandez: .929 (2005) Chris Carter: .968 (2006) C.J Retherford: 1.002 (2007) Jim Gallagher: .953 (2007) Christian Marrero: .945 (2007) Salvador Sanchez: .938 (2007) . . . Jake Peter: 1.023 (2014)

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 05:29 PM) So if we picked him up, the only way to keep him next year would be to offer him arbitration which would probably involve a 20% raise because arb usually does, meaning that he'd cost us $5 million next year to keep? That seems ugh. I think you may be using the 20% average increase incorrectly, but either way, why couldn't we simply offer him a contract at his current salary and tell him to take it or leave it. Guys that get DFAed aren't typically looking at big free agent contracts.

I'm sorry but Jake Peter being rated so highly is ridiculous, although not quite as bad as Semien being in the the sub category. Marcus won the AA MVP last year, has performed extremely well at AAA other than being unlucky, and yet you judge him based on a month or so of big league plate appearances when he had essentially skipped AAA? On the other hand, you base Peter's high rating on a small sample of inflated Pioneer League stats. I know these lists are just for fun, but the above bothers me greatly.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 02:04 PM) A year ago I would have agreed with you. I think he is pegged correctly. Stop evaluating players by only using batting average.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 11:29 PM) Jesus christ. In case anyone is wondering, tonight's 0-3 makes Leury the single worst hitter in the majors (min. 100 PA) in wRC+ at 13, 379th of 379. Doesn't matter, fast guy on bench = automatic backup leadoff hitter. Apparently there is no other option.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 08:07 PM) Johnson ended up having a mediocre start. Continued the trend of him falling apart after a few innings. Makes me wonder if his future might be as a reliever. Not sure I agree with this. Yes he blew up in the top of the 7th, but through the first six innings he gave up one run on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk. That's incredible improvement from where's been at this season.

I think Micah Johnson may be the most underrated prospect on this site. Not sure if it's because he wasn't a high draft pick or the fact he's never been a top 100 prospect. Both can be explained by an elbow injury in college that cost him half his junior year at Indiana. Had he been healthy, he would have gone much higher than the 9th round and would have likely done better at Great Falls to start his professional career. Despite having legit 80 speed, the kid was a relatively unknown coming into the 2013 season. Since then he's gone from low A to AAA, being very productive at each stop along the way. People used the age excuse last year, ignoring his plus speed and athleticism. Not sure what the excuse is now given how well he's played at AA & AAA in just his second full professional season. Micah Johnson is a way better prospect than Sanchez. I don't care if he ends up average defensively at 2B when he has the potential to be a dynamic leadoff hitter. Not saying he will reach that potential, but I just have to laugh when I see someone call him a max 2 WAR when he's got 80 speed and a decent ability to get on base. To me he's easily the #3 prospect in the system, with Rodon & Anderson the only guys clearly above him. Sanchez is a nice prospect, but does not have the potential to dominate any aspect of the game.

I'm sorry, but Leury Garcia has no business being on this team right now. He should be playing everday in AAA, working on his offensive game. If he could just hit a little bit he'd be a useful utility guy, but unfortunately that's not the case.

The Cubs are not going to trade major prospects for guys making almost $25M per year. If they're willing to pay top dollar, they'll buy their pitching in free agency. Otherwise, they'll trade for pre-arb guys that are both cheap and have a better chance of fitting into their competitive window.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 09:52 AM) If I were the Cubs, I'd strongly consider throwing a couple of those big position prospects their way and trying to get a deal done. It's time for them to take a step forward and they've got the depth to do it without wavering from their course. And if it doesn't work out, they could trade him at any point over the next few years assuming he's healthy. So the Sox aren't ready to sign major free agents yet, but the Cubs are ready to take on a $100M contract and should give up significant talent do so??

I'm not ready to write off Davidson just yet, but I think the lesson here is to always be skeptical of PCL stats, especially if the guy plays in Reno. Adam Eaton put up a .995 OPS when he was at Reno, while Davidson put up an .831. Yes, Eaton was a year older, but he's also not a power hitting prospect. That should show you exactly how inflated PCL/Reno stats are and why Davidson's first AAA season wasn't that good.

Nice work Alexei!

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 07:16 PM) This is horrible.. It has to suck as an offense to know you are already in the hole by multiple runs because of your less then average pitcher Abreu will hit a three run jack in the bottom of the 1st to tie the game.

We're going to have to score a f***ton of runs tonight.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 05:09 PM) I am with you on this. If you look at the fastest way to make the biggest improvement to next year's team, it's to add the best right-handed starting pitcher we can stomach giving a contract to. We are 12th in the AL in starting pitching this year. How many wins would we add with, for example, James Shields instead of the 5th man carousel? There is no one in AAA knocking down the door for a rotation spot. Add a left handed outfield bat that is better than De Aza and a bullpen arm or two and the team could/should be in the mix for a wild card and believing they can compete and win without the pressure/expectation that they have to win this season. That's a good spot to be in. 100% agree with this. And quite frankly, I think wasting another year of a cheap and healthy Sale/Quintana pairing would be foolish. One of those guys could go down with injury at any time, so now that we have some semblance of an offensive core we shouldn't be waiting on internal candidates to fill all the remaining holes. Obviously we shouldn't do anything stupid, but waiting another full season before signing decent free agents would be a huge mistake IMO. This team is pretty close to being legit if Rodon lives up to the hype.

Wow that Ethier deal is horrible. If the Dodgers would eat about $10M/season and ask for nothing in return, I might be willing to roll the dice on him as part of a rotating DH. Best case scenario he's a platoon guy, but he's been very effective against RHP prior to this season.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 07:53 AM) There will likely be one or two free agents thrown into the mix, at least one (maybe both) of the Felipe Paulino/Rich Harden ilk. I'd be shocked if we go big this year on FA signings unless the team really finishes exceptionally strong. Why do you think this? We signed Abreu last offseason and tried to go even bigger with Tanaka. Hahn is going to spend money if he finds the right fits. He's just not going to sign aging veterans to extremely long deals.