chisoxfan09

Thanx, I look at the box scores quite a bit and see him putting up goose eggs more often than not with a little more than a K per inning plus I read in a couple of places he had upside. Though meaybe he benefits from the park in BHam being pitcher friendly as well. If he moves up to AAA and does well there maybe he can be a good trade chip at next year's trade deadline. I am gonna start looking at who is up and coming in A/High A ball and ready to move in to BHam next year. Would appreciate your feedback. Man what a team this year. They are starting to break it up now with the callups and Ommogrosso going to AAA. But it has been a good core the first half.

Cubano, according to MLBTR, the International Free Agent signing period officially begins in 2 weeks on 2 July so that means all of the Cuban players whose paperwork is ready can sign after that. Wonder what Jaime Torres is up to?

JP, how good has Jhonny been down in Bham? I have been following him as well via milb.com and his stats are very good this year. He has a 44/18 rate in K's to BB's in 36 innings pitched with a WHIP of 1.42. Not bad. I checked his farm stats with the Yanks prior to coming over in the Swisher trade and man he stunk it up when starting. He seems far more comfortable in the pen role. Even has two saves. Most upside links say he relies mostly on the fastball. Again JP any observations on whether he has seconday stuff? He is young (22/23) so maybe another year in AA/AAA and he will be ready for a try in the bigs late next year? I think now we have a surplus of power lefties in the pen. Maybe he could be a valueable chip next year? Thoughts

I have not seen either thrown out here as acquisition ideas. Both carry some form of risk but high reward. Let´s look at some facts: 1. Rich Harden when he is on is one of the best strikeout pitchers in all of baseball and normally is good for 6-7 innings. Very fragile as the 3-4 trips to the DL in the past 2 years with the Cubs will show.Do we make a play for him before the trading deadline? We have a trading chip or two now including an offensive need the Cubs want (Dye) or maybe omething centered around releif pitching (Dotel)) and a AA player. Either way if KW were to g after Harden do you wait until he is a FA at the end of the year and offer an incentive based contract based on health and performance? There is not much on Harden but what little there is does not conclusively indicate he wants to return to the Cubs 100% nor have they publicly commited to discussing an extension. I wonder if they are content to let him walk and pick up the draft picks as either a type A or B? Harden has obvious AL experience. 2. Brandon Webb is hurt with shoulder issues and no short term return date has been published that I could find. He as opposed to Harden has been an innings eater and already has a Cy Young award. When on his sinker would be lights out at the Cell. I have seen a couple of other forums posts that he may be expendable later this year if the DBacks have a fire sale which looks likely if they continue to slide. He has a team option for 2010 but if KW were to explore this route he should wait until right before the trade deadline (Depends where we are and whether we are buyers or sellers). DBacks pulled a 3 year extension so there might be real damage to his shoulder. Are either worth the risk of exploring a trade/extension? Thoughts?

Funny comment Beautox, I actually looked up Jaime Torres when MLBTR was first discussing Marti and Gomez and found his offices in Miami but they would not pick up the phone, always got VM. I wanted to know what his strategy would be and which teams had the inside track. I gotta believe KW will at least inquire and have a chat with Torres. We will see.

I know we have discussed this topic backwards and forwards and Cubano has provided some good insight but hopefully the 2 Cubans from December 08 posts will finally get their chance to enter free agency and be picked up to 3-4 year contracts. In prior interviews both were open to playing for a few teams to include the White Sox but at KW at the Jan Sox fest laughed off the possibility of a direct question about the CF Gomez. I do not have a complete summary of Gomez´s skills but he does have quite a bit of International experience and Marti also has good control with a high 80´s to a very low 90´s fastball. I am hoping they can both be signed to maybe AAA contracts because they both have at least 5-7 years more experience that Viciedo and more international games under their belts. What kind of controbutions do you think either could make if we can get them to play at least 2 months of AAA ball? A Sep callup to rehearse in the bigs for next year? Any opinions? Any more knowledge tidbits out there to share with all of us?

Yeah, amen to that. Grew up on the South Side near the Indiana border and watched the Sox through the Bill Melton/Harold Baines years. Been overseas now for almost 20 years. Kinda rekinled the passion for baseball 2 years ago. Do a yearly trip to the US to see the folks in Cicero on the west side. I kinda scope through the daily boxscores of the Baron´s games trying to get a feel for what àtterns are emerging and I am confident Viciedo is starting to pick it up. The lower K rate is a good indication that he is laying off but still a lot of work to do.

That is pretty true what you say Balta. A mediocre fielding positional player of the like Vicedo can turn into and can rake has infinitely more value that someone like Betemit who could not hit or field to save his life. I am pretty excited with the chemistry the AA Barons have developed and to imagine a good 20/30% of that team could conceiveaby make it´s way up to the bigs is well "California Dreamin" isn´t it? But on a serious note DV is also developing or getting introduced to a concept that may have escaped him earlier on in his teens which is to work hard or to have a good work ethic. I think he is really starting to see the system of reward for hard work under the Sox´s farm system. I think the next 6 weeks until the end of July should give us a good snapshot of what kind of numbers we can expect from him and whether it will merit the jump to AAA. Like I said earlier I don´t think he has enough US baseball fundamentals experience just yet to get a Sep callup but that depends on how well he continues to do. Heck he may go into a slump of the kind we saw in April. I also speak fluent Spanish so I will scour the Internet and assist Cubano when I can to find nuggets about up and coming Latino players. More to follow I am sure.

Thanx all for the nice welcome, I appreciate and watch the Sox from overseas in Spain. Have to stay up late to watch the night games on MLB.COM but hey the Internet is a neat medium. Back to DV, another thought I had which is really the opposite of the point of this thread and which is something that is being hotly debated is whether or not his defense will be cause for concern. Problem with MILB.COm is that they do not put up the robust fielding stats as opposed to hitting/pitching. If we project going forward that DV´s errors (15 to date) decrease as he also acclimate´s to the US style of fielding fundamentals does it really mean he will improve significantly or marginally? I mean I would argue for logic´s sake that he could actually have the most tremendous value to be groomed as the future DH and take Thome´s spot in 2011. Psychologically this is bound to take half of the pressure off him with regards to improving to MLB standards defensively. I just don´t think he is destined to be a Gold Glover at 3rd. We already have a couple of DH possibilities in AA (Allen and Flowers if his kness give out) so I don´t know. But to have just DV concentrate on his hitting and excel and grow at that is the purest way to him being a true stud.

Hi all, first time poster. I just started a similar thread on another board but a couple of things jump out at me. Is Birmingham´s park known for being home run friendly (I thought Charlotte´s ballpark is where baseballs fly out much like the Cell)? Also as noted his OBP is now slightly above .300 which is good steady and quiet progress. I know the prototype is to jack balls out of the park but with Dayan still trying to develop plate discipline after being brought up in the Cuban system it may take a bit more time as they are taught baseball fundamentals differently (Maybe CUbano can comment on this). But a step in the right direction is the the 2 part formula (Plate discipline/pitch recognition) of which he seems to be progressing as far K´s is concerned and also not swinging at pitches down and away. Taking pitches and pitch recognition should come along. What I asked in the other forum if he does very well from now until the end of July and gets his OBP up to say .340-.350 is that worthy of a promo to AAA? I also think the home runs will come but I personally do not forsee 35-40 per year but more like 15-20 with very good RBI potential. That seems to be his pattern right now at AA (Low HR but decent RBI). Not sure if that also equates into him improving with the RISP statistic. Thoughts?