Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jun 27, 2015 -> 06:01 AM) Kiley McDaniel has his July 2 board up now http://www.fangraphs.com/scoutboard.aspx?d...e=0&pos=all Has Sox tied to Franklin Reyes at projected $1.5m and Fernando Tatis Jr. at $600k. I know these rankings are fairly meaningless, but it's still a bit sad that the best guy we are linked to is ranked #31 despite having one of the larger budgets. Really shows how behind the times this front office is, as most of the premier organizations are blowing past their caps and realizing the penalties because they still come out ahead. IMO, this is no different than when the Sox wouldn't go over the recommended slots in the draft and passed on high-end talents.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 27, 2015 -> 07:17 PM) Why Putnam? Dude has absolutely elite stuff. Feel like we'd be selling extremely low? The Feek, agree? QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 27, 2015 -> 07:20 PM) Okay, so looked it up. Putnam is striking out 14 per 9!!!!! Holy s***, has to be by far best I'm the AL. Yeah, definitely wait until his era is out of the high 3s Selling low? Do you really think he'll maintain a 14 K/9 rate going forward? He's striking out guys at an incredibly elite level, his value right now should be incredibly high regardless of his ERA. He's a guy you definitely move in the next 30 days. Him & Shark are probably our best two trade chips.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jun 27, 2015 -> 07:00 PM) Not really. If the Sox have any hope of trading Danks at the deadline, a few decent starts between now and then would be helpful. No one is taking Danks at this point, a couple decent starts won't change that.

I would try to sell high on Putnam at the deadline. Might be able to get something of value for him. And if someone would take on Duke's contract, I'd definitely let him go for the salary relief.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jun 26, 2015 -> 04:54 PM) Danks isn't going anywhere.... Why? What is the point of keeping him in the rotation? He isn't going to return to his previous form. He is a sunk cost and no one is going to take him. Might as well cut our losses now and move him to the pen.

Zach Duke is a real b****, a total f***ing coward.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 26, 2015 -> 04:03 PM) Johnson more likely to get Shark's spot, IMO. Who gets Danks' spot then?

Must win game today with Danks pitching tomorrow & us facing Price on Sunday. I think you give this team until the All-Star break before making any trades (would make some internal changes). That gives you 15 more games to evaluate on. If the team can win 10 games in that time period and the offense looks better, hold off on trades until closer to the deadline. If not, start working on a Shark trade during the break. He's a guy that should be moved early if we decide to sell.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 01:38 PM) Give me some numbers then on what a "special player" is? Yeah, I'm not going to get into an argument of my definition of "special". I already said high-end leadoff hitter, so let's say Adam Eaton (2014 version) with a Ton of SBs at a good rate. Do you feel that is not a possibility?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 11:53 AM) With his skill set what exactly do you mean by this? For guys with speed but little power, defense is usually a particularly important part of their game unless you think Micah can pull his hitting up to legendary levels. I said special offensive player, so why are you bringing in defense here? Dude has incredible speed, good plate discipline, and more natural power than most people think. In this offensive environment, he can be a pretty special hitter if he puts it all together for a middle infielder. Not saying he will be a superstar, but he can definitely be a high-end lead off hitter if all goes well.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 12:14 PM) But he hasn't been passable at any stop in the minors either. He has been a bad defender. Expecting Sanchez to hit is different because he has a history of hitting, while Johnson does not have a history of fielding. Sanchez has a history of slapping, without walking much or stealing a lot of bags. His upside is incredibly limited offensively. As for Micah's defense, everything in the minors is based on second-hand reports. There is limited data to gauge the degree of "bad", and quite frankly, I've read in some of those reports that one of the primary reasons for his bad defense was trying to do too much. That can improve with time. What we do know is he has a lot of range, which provides a floor to how bad he can really be long-term. Again, Micah is no doubt a flawed defensive player, but I think many on this site have already written him off as even being passable based on a small major league sample and some minor league scouting reports.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 08:59 AM) The knock on Johnson all through the minors was his defense as well. If you want to use the minor league argument, at least Sanchez has hit in the minors. Johnson has never been known as a good defender. I get Johnson has had issues with his defense in the minors and I don't expect him to ever be a plus defender. I just think it's crazy that people look at how bad he was in an incredibly small sample and for some reason expect that going forward. There is no doubt in my mind Sanchez isn't a .400 OPS hitter, just like I don't believe Micah Johnson is the worst defensive 2B of all-time. However, I do believe Micah has a chance to be a special offensive player, which means he doesn't even have to be average defensively to add value to the team, he simply needs to be passable.

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?