Chicago White Sox

God these commercials suck worse than our offense.

Alright De Aza, get on base for Keppinger and he'll hit first HR as a White Sox. I promise.

Come on Wheezy, hit a f***ing HR bud!

QUOTE (fathom @ May 7, 2013 -> 07:59 PM) Once they return to the Cell, they have to do something with the lineup. Not sure what can be done. If you want to get real crazy, you could call up Phegley, but I don't think he'd be much better than Flowers (at least no right away).

Yeah, none of these minor leaguers are going to be Konerko's replacement. And while I still have faith in Viciedo, I think you keep him in LF until someone forces him out of the spot or until he shows he can't handle the position defensively. That means free agency or the trade market. One name that would be somewhat intriguing on the cheap would be Kendrys Morales. He'll be 30 to start the 2014 season, he can hit RHP, and playing at Safeco this year could suppress his power numbers. If you can get him at a reasonable price, he might be a nice replacement for Konerko.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 7, 2013 -> 02:12 PM) Blades of Steel >>>>>>> Ice Hockey on NES Not even close. Ice Hockey is still amazing to this day and requires an incredible amount of skill to be good at. Give me three fatties and a skinny (preferably Canadian) and I can dominate for hours.

Ice Hockey for the NES is without question the best sports video game of all-time.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 6, 2013 -> 11:13 AM) I think Gillaspie is getting too much credit on this board. Show me some RBIs and runs scored. Both of those stats are heavily factored by the players surrounding him in the lineup. Don't blame him because the rest of our lineup sucks.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 6, 2013 -> 08:17 AM) Last 10 games for Trayce: .270/.378/.486, 6 BB and 7 K in 43+ PA Unfortunately, this is how we're going to evaluate most of our better position playing prospects. A lot of them are raw/toolsy players who were given aggressive assignments, so you have to look for improvements over the course of the season and not their numbers in aggregate.

Thank god Conor regrouped and stayed with it.

And it begins...

Alright guys, I know Quintana has been nasty today, but let's try to score more than 1 run.

Wow, that looked like it was going to go out off the bat.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 5, 2013 -> 09:11 AM) I don't understand how KW can be completely absolved of the Wilder fiasco. As the one who did the hiring he has a share of the responsibility. Having you ever interviewed someone before? Did you put them through a polygraph test or an extensive psych evaluation? How was KW supposed to know Wilder would commit massive fraud? From what I know of Wilder, he had a strong résumé at the time of the hire and had nothing in his background to suggest he would be capable of unethical behavior. The guy was obviously a very capable liar/con-man and fooled numerous people in baseball. I can't hold it against KW unless there was some warning that this guy may be a scumbag.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 5, 2013 -> 09:06 AM) Yes, but we sort of made up for it with Ramirez and Viciedo. I would doubt there are more than a couple of teams that have developed more than 2 starting players from the Dominican since 2008. Throw in Quintana (Colombia), Sergio Santos, Septimo, Santiago (Puerto Rico by way of Newark/30th round), DeAza (Dominican), Rios (Puerto Rico), Gimenez, Angel Sanchez, etc., we have had a representative number of Latin ballplayers, right around the 30-35% mark that's typical for most teams. Other than Ramirez & Viciedo, you named zero Latin American players that we actually signed as amatuer free agents. I have no idea why you listed a bunch of players with Latin American backgrounds that we either drafted, traded for, or picked up on waivers as a counter to my point. Again, there are two sources of talent (at the lowest level) and we basically didn't use one for a long period of time. That's going to cost you in the long-run and it has. We will never know what trades KW could have made in recent years if he had a few more prospects in the system.

Dave Wilder without question. Not having an influx of talent from Latin America for an extended period of time has put us at a significant disadvantage. We became a crippled organization and it's almost shocking how we've been able to remain competitive in recent years despite this. With even a couple of Latin American players on the roster or prospects available to trade who knows how the last few seasons would have played out. Also, not sure how you can blame KW for the Wilder fiasco. He was highly regarded at the time of the hire and even interviewed for the Red Sox's GM job at one point. Wilder was simply a scumbag who fooled a lot of people in baseball. It sucks for us the way it worked out, but I don't put the blame on KW for Wilder's misdoings.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 4, 2013 -> 04:46 PM) It's not like he was all that great in A ball. Sub .800 OPS between Kanny/WS. I wouldn't write him off, but it's hard to say he's a high value guy at the moment. He's never going to put up a big OPS, but if he can put up a high OBP (.395 in low A) and steal a ton of bases (56 total last year), then he can still become a dangerous leadoff hitter.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 4, 2013 -> 09:08 PM) Jaye also struck out 9 guys in his last start. He had a low ERA, but with mediocre peripherals earlier. Webb is looking like a very solid relief prospect after his nice AA debut today. Another hard thrower. Pretty crazy we got both of these guys for a mediocre middle reliever in Jason Frasor. Right now, they're a better return than what we got in the Sergio Santos & Edwin Jackson deals.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 4, 2013 -> 11:56 AM) Walker is maybe close to that level, though I'd say a little more than a throw-in. Thompson is still worth a lot more than that, IMO. Neither are MLB-wide elite guys, but I think Thompson is still a B prospect with the tools for more. Walker almost at throw-in level? I'm absolutely flabbergasted. What exactly are you basing this off of? 117 plate appearances as a 22 year in AA? He shouldn't even be at this level, as he only had 168 plate appearances at high A last year. The Sox give him an aggressive assignment and people don't even allow him a chance to make adjustmentd before writing him off.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 3, 2013 -> 11:27 PM) I can't imagine Trayce and Walker have any value at all right now. You being serious? You don't think other organizations would love to get their hands on athletes like Thompson & Walker? We're talking about two 22 year old outfielders with crazy tools. Just because we struggle with developing hitters doesn't mean all other teams do and wouldn't want chance at them. You wouldn't be able to headline a major trade with either of them, but both guys should have strong value as secondary pieces in a deal.

Bassitt quietly having a hell of a season.

QUOTE (IowanSoxFan @ May 3, 2013 -> 11:02 AM) What if I've always wanted to throw a Cubs HR ball back into the field at Wrigley? Is that acceptable? That's hilarious because I was at a Cubs game earlier this year and thought the same thing.

If muscle memory is the real issue with Rose, then wouldn't playing in games actually help him retrain his muscles? IMO, he doesn't want to come back unless he's in full-fledge MVP mode. If that's the case, then I'm sorry but he's a s***ty teammate and competitor.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ May 3, 2013 -> 12:56 PM) According to South Side Sox: 89 mph, while not great, would be a pretty decent number at this point. Much better than those gun readings.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 3, 2013 -> 12:54 PM) The only thing tweeted was 84-87 in the first inning...but minor league guns are often a mess. Worth noting though that he only struck out 1 batter. His velocity was higher than that in extended right? Hopefully you're right about the guns.