Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 07:53 PM) If Micah can't improve on his defense then he does not have a chance of being a long term solution at the position. Where would he be better able to work on his defense, around the clown show in Chicago or with the player development people in the minors? People seem to be judging his defense off an incredibly small sample of plays and assuming none of his f***-ups were due to rookie jitters. I also don't see why his defense would develop any differently in AAA vs. the majors. However, his bat could use some work against major league pitching. When we go back to Micah (and we will), we'll probably have to endure some offensive growing pains and unfortunately for us this adjustment period will now likely spill over into 2016. We should be taking advantage of this wasted season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 07:45 PM) We were 3 games below .500 with Micah and 6 games below .500 with Carlos so far. Honestly...maybe it really doesn't make that much of a difference, maybe we're crappy with both of them. If that's the case, give the major league playing time to the guy who has a chance of being a long-term solution at the poistion and that player is Micah.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 06:21 PM) Yet so many people are ready to send Sanchez out for Micah Johnson. Sanchez is one of the worst players in baseball right now. On a per game or plate appearance basis, his WAR is way worse than Micah's. And while I don't believe WAR to be the be-all-end-all, I think it demonstrates that Sanchez's bat is arguably worse than Johnson's defense. We suck both offensively & defensively, so I'm not sure why we sacrifice overall value to prioritize one side of the ball over the other. Give me the best player possible and so far this year that player has been Micah.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 09:29 PM) I kinda want to see how long they can ride the 3 or fewer thing without doing anything about it. Lol...there is the elusive 4th run, just what Hahn needed to see to keep the ship as is.

An insurance run would be pretty sweet.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 09:09 PM) Luis Castillo is with the DSL team at the moment. He hasn't been in the starting lneup yet for the ASL Sox, so I was starting to think he'd end up on the DSL roster.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 09:20 PM) Soto is so much better than Flowers. This was apparent weeks ago and it's a shame that Flowers continues to get the lion's share of the starts. Hopefully that changes soon.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 09:02 PM) To my completely nonprofessional eyes, Micah's issues are his stone hands much more than something easily learnable like footwork or positioning. I just don't see him ever being even an average second baseman. I'd love to be proven wrong, though. Maybe you'll end up being right, but I think the sample size was too small to jump to any conclusions. He deserved a longer look IMO.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 09:04 PM) Yes. I posted in another thread the pitchers, especially Samardzpjiza were gettimg very frustrated with Micah's defense. And it isn't like he was raking offensively. He wasn't raking, but he was holding his own as rookie, which doesn't happen often with Sox farmhands. Either way, if you go by WAR, Sanchez has provided less overall value than Micah on a per game basis. I don't view WAR as the end-all-be-all, but it should be clear to any U.S. of watching these games on a daily basis that Sanchez has been incredibly bad and has shown no signs of improving. He will no doubt get better at some point if we keep feeding him at-bats, but the kid is simply a slap hitter and one who is unlikely to get on-base at a high rate or steal a lot of bags. His offensive game is so limited that he has almost no chance of being even average starting 2B IMO despite his glove. If we're going to suffer through growing pains, at least do so with the guy who has the potential to be an above-average starter. Playing Sanchez right now is not helping in the short-term or long-term.

Antonio Rodriguez: 2/2, HR This kid has a ton of potential, glad to see him get off to a solid start.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 08:54 PM) I don't know how Micah is fielding now, but unless it is significantly better, there's no reason to call him up. Make sure the next time he is called up, it is to stay. So suffering through Sanchez's complete lack of a bat is the preferred alternative to letting Micah's defense develop at the big league level?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 08:53 PM) Don't really care what is to be done with Sanchez. Micah needs to improve defensively. This team is brutal defensively, and Micah was the worst culprit. Can't reward that as an organization or well find ourselves in the same position year after year after....like we are now. But we'll reward the worst hitter in baseball with well over 100 plate appearances despite having an epically bad offense? Do you think it's possible that some of Micah's bad defensive plays were the result of him being a rookie and pressing a little bit? Why are we willing to tolerate growing pains with the bat, but not on the defensive side of the game?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 08:50 PM) He can stay there unless he's gotten significantly better defensively You realize how much worse Sanchez has been overall than Michah right?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 08:32 PM) I'm #TeamSanchez and I agree. When I say I'm #TeamSanchez, I'm saying I think he can be 75-80 wRC+ with good defense, not any kind of star. But that really goes back to the whole "trade Sale" stuff. I truly believe that when all the chips fall, Sanchez is an 80, Melky is a 100, Eaton is a 110, and Abreu is a 135, and if all that can happen, the team can win a ton more games. I'm the offical Anti-Avi and I still think he can give us 100. It certainly might be too big a hole to dig out of this year, but I don't think you actually have to fill 7 holes on the diamond like it LOOKS right now. Great post. Only thing I disagree on is Sanchez being the answer rather than Micah. Otherwise, I agree things will look much better by the end of the season than they do now.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 02:27 AM) Whenever I brought up the possibility of the Sox trading Q, it seemed like people wanted burn me to the stake, but I digress. Anyway, I was thinking about the Nats as a trade partner for Q at least during the offseason. Both Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister are free agents after the season. I think they both sign elsewhere, so that leaves them with two holes in their rotation. They are going to be looking for quality arms as they see themselves as contenders. The only starters that they have under contract are Scherzer, China Doll and Gio Gonzalez. So I ask this, would you trade Q to the Nationals in exchange for Lucas Giolito and change (Your pick of lower level prospects, comp picks, international bonus slots and/or cash)? I know I would. Giolito gives you a monster arm and the more comp picks you have the more talent you can add to the system through the draft. If you trade Quintana is has to be for offense, whether that be a star or multiple prospects.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 11:23 PM) I'd love Schwarber. Not sure if I'd even want Baez. I hate that this thread even pops up annually now. I'll say what I say every year, I can't root for losses but when they happen, that's ok, sad as that is. The thing is though, it's not even July yet. This is too early! I'm not rooting for losses this early. The season may be over, but I'd much rather see guys rebound and/or develop than get the top pick in the draft.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 11:08 PM) I don't think the Cubs would give up that much That's fine, just not sure who they're going to get that's as good as Quintana with such a favorable contract. We're talking 5 years of team control for just over $43M. A similar pitcher on the free agent market will make more than that in two years.

International Signings: Rodriguez (20): 2/5, 1 2B, 0 K Velasquez (20): 4/4, 1 2B, 0 K Johan Cruz (19): 1/4, 0 K Adolfo (17): 2/3, 1 K, 1 BB Alfaro (19): 0-3, 1 K Mercedes (18): 0/1, 1 K, 2 BB Solorzano (18): 5 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 4 K, 0 BB

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 11:01 PM) As for next year, sure seems like there is one rotation spot open and 2b/ss/3b/c starting spots. Hahn has his work cut out for him. Kind of funny how the Cubs strength is the Sox weakness, and the Cubs would love to have the young arms of the Sox I know it won't happen, but I still think Quintana to the Cubs for Schwarber & Baez makes too much sense for both teams.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 08:58 PM) Then he will still be one at the All Star Break and maybe he'll have 8 straight great starts instead of 3. He'll still get a real solid look in the big leagues. Why are you ignoring his 2013 season when he dominated AAA? This year you focus on a couple bad starts in May, when he was very good in April and has been elite so far in June. The kid leads the International Leauge in strikeouts by a wide margin with the rest of his periphials more than solid. And yes he was injured last year, the Sox did eventually disclose some sort of injury. His stuff is now back and the results are there. He was ready for the bigs in 2013 and there is no reason hold 2014 against him when the velocity and command have returned. You're clinging to some insider info that only tells a small fraction of the story

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 08:36 PM) I keep saying for EJ...they've said they want to give him time at AAA to get his confidence back and I totally agree with that after the implosion last year. You keep saying this, but also keep ignoring the suddenly drop-off in velocity. I'm sure his mental makeup played a role, but stuff was the primary issue.

Even in a game when our team can scrape together double digit hits, bad base-running, horrendous defense, & John Danks completely f*** it up for us.

Can the mods please ban Greg for his ridiculous "Danks is a good pitcher" comments last week?

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 08:23 PM) Not anymore.. I don't understand how Hahn and Williams can watch this s*** every day and not make any sort of move. And how Robin hasn't benched Alexei yet 100% agreed, I fully acknowledge it's probably too late to change the outcome of the season, but the fact Hahn is going to grave with the same clowns day in day out is beyond frustrating.

At least our defensive defencies are now physically hurting the opposing team!