Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 09:18 PM) Who was saying we don't need to try anymore reclamation projects in the bullpen? We're seven games under .500, I don't want win an extra game or two because of J.J. Putz or someone else who won't be part of the long-term core or won't be tradable this year.

What a little b****, guy has no balls.

That could have been out of the park.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 07:29 PM) Ehh. There's really not though. He will end up signing around the deadline for the same money that he could take today. It's not the old system. They can only offer so much and I bet it's been offered. This is simply a game of chicken right now. Boras is likely asking for every possible dollar above slot that doesn't require the loss of a draft pick, while the Sox are probably offering slot exactly. At some point, Boras will blink and Rodon will end up with slot or just above because they really don't have any leverage here, as going back to school would be an incredibly stupid decision. Like Wite said, the odds are 99.9% he signs.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 08:44 PM) May has his average up to 240 now. Yeah, he's playing better but where has the power gone? He hit 8 HRs last year in like 200 ABs.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 07:57 PM) Ben Badler ‏@BenBadler 9m Two more years until MLB teams can sign players born in the year 2000, in case you were wondering when I plan to retire. Reply 9 Retweet 4 Favorite James Fox ‏@JamesFox917 6m @BenBadler How is it that White Sox have so much $$ to spend, but aren't linked to any of the big names on INTl Market? Reply Retweet Favorite Delete Ben Badler ‏@BenBadler 4m @JamesFox917 I've tied them to multiple guys already. James Fox ‏@JamesFox917 3m @BenBadler I saw Ynoa as possible, a SS, and Alfaro. Just not the supposed top 10-15 types. So they should do a decent job, then? This was my convo with Badler. Have Sox been linked to anyone other than those 3 guys? Those are the names I've seen. Let us know if he responds to that last question.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 07:50 PM) An international draft is a terrible idea. I love how success is determined in the INTL by who can scout talent better, I believe that Starlin Castro was signed for $ 50,000. He was an under the radar prospect that the Cubs found and developed into a superstar. An international draft would completely kill that competitive nature in my opinon. I'm not sure how it will kill that nature. The draft is all about scouting now under the new CBA, an international draft will just be an extension of that. The only difference will be that big market teams can't use their excess revenues to simply outspend the competition like the Yankees are currently doing.

It's going to be interesting to see who gets the call if Beckham or Ramirez is traded.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 07:03 PM) They have to rework the rules, it's ridiculous how a team can just blow their budget one year and then take the next year off, ad finitum. Presume a fix will be in the next CBA. There will be an international draft in the not too distant future, but until then we'll have to suffer through high revenue teams like the Yankees playing the system unfortunately. It completely makes sense why the Yankees are doing this, just sucks that they're doing it for the first time when we have a huge bonus allotment.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 05:28 PM) I mean there is nothing the Sox can do about the Yankees. The overage tax on the Yankees does not nearly deter them like it does most other teams because of relative revenues. $10 million in overage penalties affects the Sox WAY MORE than it does the Yankees. Rick Hahn is among the smartest guys in the games, if he thinks it would be worth it to go over the bonus caps by at most 5%, I have no doubt he has the freedom to do so as long as the money + tax for going over the cap is taken out somewhere else (most likely the ML team). Let me rephrase, if you think there is only so much budget to go around and only so many prospects to spend it on, the Sox (or any team with a large allotment) could in theory wait for other teams/players to pair up and then grab the best remaining prospects at discounted prices. However, if teams like Yankees completely ignore their budgets and grab more players than they should have been able to grab in the first place then that strategy won't work. I have no idea if this was their plan or not, but the fact we have one of the largest budgets and don't have direct links to any significant prospects right before the signing date suggests something may have gone wrong with their plan.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 10:29 AM) Interesting. I still put him at 3 or 4 right now, behind Rodon, Anderson, possibly Hawkins. I think people are forgetting about Johnson's defensive woes. I have literally heard nothing about Johnson's defense this season, while Caulfield has been able to provide daily updates on Tim Anderson's defense from China. Maybe he's starting to make some strides? I know his errors are down a little versus last year, but that obviously doesn't tell the whole story.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 11:59 AM) If Micah is #2, I think it's reasonable to see 4 Top 100 prospects in the system then as I think Hawkins is worthy of being in there. Hawkins is in the top 7 in OPS in the Carolina League and is one of the younger players in that group. Like you said, I think all four of those guys deserve top 100 status, and quite frankly, if Montas keeps up his performance (obviously that remains to be seen), he'd have a great shot at making the list as well IMO.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 09:46 AM) I have to be honest, and this is going to sound odd, but... I am not sure there is much value in trying to land 1 or 2 $1M+ guys anyway, and it might be better to get 5 or 6 guys in the 250k-500k range. These are 16 year olds we are talking about here, and this is a HUGE gamble, much more so than the draft. Spreading your bets seems like the smart move to me. Spending more overall is good, but I am not going to be upset if they don't get any of the top 5 guys. Don't the Sox have $4.6M to work with? With that budget, I think it's a huge fail if you don't get one of the top guys, because you'd still have plenty of money to toss around on half a dozen of guys in the $250 to $500k range. I'm starting to get a little worried that the Sox did not plan for teams like the Yankees to go way over their allotments and have failed to adjust their strategy before it was too late. I guess we'll see soon enough.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 22, 2014 -> 11:26 AM) I think when valuing prospects, you truly need a holistic approach that balances proximity to the Majors, likelihood of reaching their ceiling, the ceiling of that player and mental make-up. I think Rodon is No. 1 in our system by a large degree. He is close to the Majors probably a year or 1.5 years away, has very strong make-up (according to the reports), has a huge ceiling and still has a solid chance to reach it. At worst, he probably is a useful mid-rotation arm ala John Danks before his injury. At his best, you have another Chris Sale in your rotation. I like Johnson and Semien, but neither overwhelm you with tools (save for Johnson's speed which I think it a little overrated) and neither has a concrete position. I agreed with everything you said until the Johnson's speed is overrated comment. All scouting reports I have read have put it in the 70 to 80 range, meaning it's plus plus.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jun 22, 2014 -> 10:57 AM) I would probably be a supporter of a different ranking system that focuses on how close somebody is to contributing to the MLB roster. Afterall, that is the idea of the term prospect. Hawkins sure is strong, Danish has the quickest release on the planet, Anderson can hit etc, but these aren't grown men yet, so you have to talk subjective ceilings & floors ad nauseum. Check this out: we don't even know if Adams' body can handle 150-200 IP on a consistent basis and we want to say he's a top prospect for our ML Club. Get to AA, prove your ability to be a healthy horse, prove your dedication to your career, and then let's get excited. I think exceptions to this system might be generational potentials like Harper, Trout, Kolek etc- guys that just have IT, or just enough of IT to warrant expedited ascensions through systems. Unless I'm overlooking somebody, IMO our top 2 prospects are Semien & M Johnson and it ain't even really close. Davidson & Rodon would be the top of the next tier. And part of growing up and maturing is not only physical but mental. Sometimes it just clicks for a guy all of a sudden and he sees the game in a different light. Can't predict that s***. Rodon is our best prospect hands down. I love Semien & Johnson as prospects, but let's not be ridiculous here.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jun 21, 2014 -> 08:30 PM) If they look to add a FA bat this offseason I'm looking for a LH bat to replace Dunn....V. Martinez, Sandoval, Lind, Seth Smith, Rasmus, or maybe Adam Laroach if they push to compete next year., would be the guys I'm looking at in that order. If we could sign Martinez and trade for Grandal, we could run out the following lineup: 1. Eaton, CF 2. Semien, 2B 3. Martinez, DH 4. Abreu, 1B 5. Garcia, RF 6. Gillaspie, 3B 7. Viciedo, LF 8. Grandal, C 9. Ramirez, SS That could be a pretty damn good lineup and we'd still have some interesting pieces in AAA (Micah, Sanchez, Davidson, Ravelo).

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jun 21, 2014 -> 02:38 PM) Meh, I guess there's no swaying people so I'm just gonna let it ride. Looking more into Afflalo more, he seems to really make since for this team. If all goes wrong and 1. LBJ stays in Miami and Melo stays in NY (Nothing we can do about that), and 2. we don't wanna trade Noah+ for Love (which most here don't wanna do) then I'd have no problem with Afflalo being the major piece brought in......He was a borderline All Star last year and the Bulls would be able to build a really strong bench with the extra money they save. Again not my first choice, but not a bad choice. Anything short of landing a 2nd superstar is a failure IMO.

QUOTE (Bruce_Blixton @ Jun 21, 2014 -> 10:43 AM) The AZL team has a lot of interesting names on the roster that should be fun to follow this season, most notably for me Spencer Adams (duh!), Micker Adolfo (double duh!), Victor Done, Luis Martinez, Barraza, Jake Jarvis, Jeffry Santos & Antonio Rodriguez. Lots of raw talent down there, should be some really ugly games with some really great games to check on. I wonder where Luis Castillo is at. Didn't see him on the DSL roster and he obviously didn't play last night for the AZL team.

Is Chris Bassitt ever coming back? I thought he was only going to miss a few months.

Good to see Jose Barraza back in action. IIRC, he was an over-slot signing we took in the 8th round the same year we drafted Ayala. He missed all of 2013 with an injury, but is still just 19 years old, so he's got plenty of opportunity to make up for lost time. He should be a fun prospect to follow. Also, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Barraza getting the opening day start over Ayala is pretty telling to me, given that Ayala is a repeater and should be considered the veteran. Purely speculation, but it seems like the organization may not be as high on Ayala as they previously were.

We desperately need to find a legitimate starting catcher between now and next March. Grandal seems like the perfect target, as he solves two offensive needs (left-handed bat, high OBP). He won't come cheap, but his poor season may make him a little more affordable. Regardless, Flowers needs to go.

f***ing A, this s*** is painful to watch.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 20, 2014 -> 07:47 PM) Really is great for his overall value that he seems to have developed some plate discipline. Means his relative lack of a hit tool hurts a lot less. Really is critical for his development. Honestly though, he's having a pretty good season. 7th in the league in OPS entering tonight and most of the guys above him aren't really prospects outside of Joey Gallo. Given how he performed last year, I think season has to be considered a great success even if his numbers aren't eye popping.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 20, 2014 -> 08:25 PM) God knows why Kannapolis continue to bat him #2. Because they want to give him more at-bats than all of the non-prospects on the team.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jun 20, 2014 -> 02:27 PM) Is this post serious? Unfortunately yes.