Chicago White Sox

So the top 10 is the following in some order: Erik Johnson Courtney Hawkins Trayce Thompson Tim Anderson Carlos Sanchez Josh Phegley Keon Barnum Chris Beck Daniel Webb Tyler Danish

Quintana beasting through 4. Right now, he's got a great shot of going 7 to 8 innings tonight.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 06:41 PM) I hope the union shoves it up MLB's ass in this whole case. Am I misreading your comment or do you not want these guys suspended?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 06:22 PM) Ravelo with a walk. He's about the most exciting hitter right now in our entire system, in terms of being a "pure" hitter. Power has been coming around the last week, too. Still don't think he'll get to 10 homers, but progress. Curley and Farrell have been playing well this season but neither are true prospects...at least yet. The aspect you keep overlooking with Ravelo is his 17 doubles in 181 ABs. That's the main reason for his .486 SLG, which would qualify for 5th overall in the Carolina Leauge if he had enough ABs. The hope with Ravelo is that some of that gap power will turn into HR power as his body matures over time.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 04:32 PM) I think a text would suffice Stop it w/ Sale re: pitches k thx bye Lol...I agree this conversation wouldn't require a closed door meeting, but my god, Robin needs to stop doing his best Dusty Baker impersonation. At some point Hahn has to tell Robin this.

Or it could be Hahn simply telling Ventura to stop abusing Sale's arm.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 02:08 PM) Even so, Gordon showed at least gap to gap power, even when he was overmatched at times. Sanchez has shown none of that. He still hasn't found a defensive position either. Tim Anderson at least has plus plus speed to make up for his power numbers, Sanchez doesn't have that either. At best, Sanchez could be a .300ish hitter, with zero power, ala Jeff Keppinger. Sanchez is a pretty damn good fielder at 2B though, which makes him a step above a Keppinger type.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:55 PM) I would wait until next year. I am sure Sanchez is going to end up figuring out the pitching and hitting for average again. He will work hard in the offseason and be in AAA for a 2nd year which will help a lot. Again, I'm not writing Sanchez off by any means, but prospect rankings should always be somewhat sensitive to current performance. The fact is a prospect whose game is heavily reliant on his hit tool suddenly can't hit. Obviously we know being one of the youngest players in AAA is contributing to that, but how much remains a legit question. I think you have to bump him down a few spots in the rankings until he starts showing actuals signs of improvement.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:31 PM) What's your problem? You think Ventura is a good manager? Why can't Baines finish out the year? You act like he's some kind of chump. Harold Baines was a heckuva player, just like Ventura. What's your problem with Baines? Why would I be "embarrassed" at the mention of Baines. He's one of my favorite players of all time and he was a gamer and a smart player, too. WTF? Your reaction is like I recommended re-hiring Bevington or something. If being a heckuva player made a good manager, then Robin would be a good manager by your theory. And I'm not to respond to your Harold Baines nonsense other than if Robin were to get fired midseason, which won't happen, Mark Parent or Joe McEwing would get the job. Baines would not be in consideration.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:24 PM) Seeing a lot of people on this board fall in love with the flavor of the month types. I don't see why people on here rate Semien so highly. Sub .800 OPS (granted barely) isn't cutting it. I'm not sure Micah defensively is cutting it. Sanchez is the youngest so I'm sticking with him for a bit longer. The bottom line is none of our middle infield prospects are anything to get excited about. Kind of unfair to call Semien a "flavor of the month type" after he put up an .830 OPS in A+ last year. This year his .798 OPS would qualify him for 10th in the Southern League. The kid is only 22 years old, so while he's older than Sanchez, he's not old for his league by any means. No one is saying Semien's a stud prospect, but he's doing fairly well in AA, and the plate discipline is promising. Sanchez on the other hand has yet to show much improvement over the course of this year. If I saw his AVG & OBP slowly climbing month by month, then this wouldn't be up for debate IMO, but right now that's not the case. He's just plained suck all year. Hopefully Sanchez shows something in July & August, but until then, I think a case can be made for Semien over Sanchez.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:19 PM) Semien is above Sanchez, IMO. Semien's BB/K ratio is great I was so high on Sanchez coming into this season that it's hard to backtrack on him, but I'm starting to move in that direction with Semien. He's shown a lot this year with the bat, especially in the plate discipline deparment. Hard not to be impressed so far. Semien will likely be Sanchez's double-play partner at AAA in 2014 and it will be interesting to see how they each perform while at the same level. I see them auditioning next year for a 2015 major league job, and with Micah Johnson likely on their heels at AA the competion should be pretty intense.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:15 PM) I guess cause he appears overmatched. Let another former Sox give it a try. It's Baines' turn. Get the f*** out of here troll. No one in their right mind would suggest Baines as manager. That's by far, without question, the single dumbest idea I have seen written on this message board. I know that claim gets said a lot in some form or another, but I honestly mean it this time. Just an absolutely pathetic comment to make and you should be incredibly embarrassed if you weren't a blatant troll.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 10:53 PM) Forgotten in all the discussion about prospects today is Carlos Sanchez. It's as if he doesn't even exist anymore. Well his OPS is below .600 which isn't going to fly, even if he is the youngest player in the International League. He's still a top 10 prospect IMO, but he definitely should be in the bottom half rather than the top half. I'd also rank Micah Johnson ahead of Sanchez without much hesitation.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 10:32 PM) I like to think about how Twins fans all think Jesse Crain is horrible. If you're a non-closing reliever, it appears to be impossible to be remembered fondly You can spin this however you want, but the numbers in 2011 & 2012 don't lie. He has been terrible in high leverage situations over the past few years. I will always appreciate how dominant he once was, but he is no longer that pitcher. The current version s***s the bed more often than not when the pressure is on.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 10:27 PM) Thornton gets far more hate than he deserves. He's a nice relief pitcher. He used to be elite. Sometimes he'll give up runs just like everybody else. I'm sorry, but he sucks balls in high leverage situations.

God, I'll be so glad when Thornton is gone. What a f***ing little b****.

Phegley for captain!

QUOTE (BPK @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 09:49 PM) My problem with him is how often he's unable to hit all pitches. Sure, he runs into more fastballs than anything else, but I've seen many at bats where he blindly chases three consecutive fastballs in off the plate and never adjusts. You just don't need good mechanics to stop swinging at the exact same thing out of the zone. Either he doesn't recognize what's coming towards him, or his approach is God-awful. Or both. Then what happened last year when he seemed to be hitting a lot of pitches?

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 09:36 PM) He will be 23 when the rankings comes out. Those Top 100 rankings usually look heavily age and the league they played in. The only 23 year old in the BA Top 100 list last year that played entire year below AA was Alex Meyer of the Twins, and he was a first round pick in 2011. I think he's on the bubble right now, but if he makes it to BHam by year end, then he's in. Why does is it matter what age he is when the rankings come out though? Why should he be punished for being born in December rather than March? He'll play the entire 2013 season as a 22 year old...that's what should matter when discussing if he's age appropriate.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 08:21 PM) Only way Micah would crack the Top 100 prospect is if he continues to hit like this and gets promoted to AA by the end of the year, or if he flat out dominates AFL. Very rarely would you see a 23 year old player finishing A+ considered a Top 100 player. On a side note, it's tough to be Courtney Hawkins on some days. EDIT: Uh oh... Rangel Ravelo 2nd homerun in as many days. First off, Micah Johnson is only 22 years old, which is completely age appropriate for A+. If he does well the rest of the way, he'll likely spend most of 2014 in AA as a 23 year old. I think these age concerns are seriously overrated around here, especially now that he has been promoted. Again, he completely dominated the SAL while demonstrating a well-rounded offensive game. He's off to a strong start at A+ and if he can keep it up, then he would have passed both tests this year with flying colors. We're talking about a guy with elite SB skills, strong OBP ability, and decent power. Guys like that are very rare and will typically make top 100 prospect lists. I don't see why it's so far-fetched.

If this is the real Josh Phegley, then that's one less hole we'll have to fill this offseason. Hopefully he can keep this going, because he's been nothing short of incredible with the bat all year.

I think Micah is a top 5 prospect in our system. I get that he was old for the SAL, but he also flat-out dominated. Plus he has elite base-stealing ability that he's not going to suddenly lose when he moves up the system. I also think the defensive concerns are likely overblown, probably the victim of poor field condtions and trying to do too much, but I must admit I haven't seen him play. If he has a strong 2nd half in Winston-Salem, then I don't know how he's not a top 100 prospect in baseball. I just think offensively he's more than exceeded every challenge he's faced and I've yet to see a huge red flag with him that suggests the floor is going to completely fall from under him when he hits AA.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 05:52 PM) That is totally my rationale right now. Take a Carlos Sanchez for a example. Best case scenario for him is Jeff Keppinger. When you have a guy with a potential 70 power number, how can you not rank him ahead of a Sanchez, even if Sanchez is closer to the majors. I'm not sure that's a great comp for Sanchez, but I agree with you for the most part. I think Zapata has to be somewhere in the 10-15 range bare minimum.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 04:38 PM) I see Alexei as the opposite of Rios. He is probably disinterested, frustrated, and bored from being on a bad team. I'd bet money if he were traded to a contender, he'd be the type to go on a big time run, and you would see he defensive lapses disappear. Completely agree. Playing for a god-awful team or being on the trade block can affect a player's performance, but smart GMs know being part of a playoff race can revitalize a player and will take that into consideration when making deals.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 03:03 PM) This is a fallacy -- there are dozens of variables that are different now than back then. The two biggest are (1) the risk -- regardless of age, he is signed for 1.5 years with a team option now versus 5.5 before, and (2) the market -- he's the best OF available in a very thin market where there are more contenders and fewer sellers than ever before thanks to the second wild card. Thank you. And the cost of talent has increased significantly since we acquired Rios. Look what B.J. Upton got this past offseason and then forecast what OFs are likey to get in the near future when each team has an extra $25 million to work with. It's quite clear that Rios is now signed to below market terms and there's a ton of value in that.