Eminor3rd

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 10, 2017 -> 06:32 PM) Gillaspie 2.0 starting to get some hits lately. He ripped one to the warning track in deep center in his last at bat, too. The game was ugly overall, but some dudes are hitting.

You wouldn't believe how many people are wearing Cody Asche jerseys tonight in Allentown. He must have been a stud when he was here.

Giolito's curveball is just mystifying guys, but the fastball is getting hit hard or is just straight missing, usually high. Second curve he threw against Kingery achieved the rareified "swinging strike/hit batter"

Gillaspie with an RBI double into the RF gap.

CHA vs. Ben Lively: 1. Peter 2. Asche 3. Brantly 4. Liriano 5. Hayes 6. Peterson 7. Gillaspie 8. May 9. Alvarez

Charlotte plays here at Lehigh Valley tonight. I'll be working, but I should be able to get a few innings in mostly uninterrupted. We (the IronPigs) need a win to stay in the playoff picture, but I wouldn't mind getting shut down tonight Also, they just called Rhys Hoskins up, so that's good for Lucas, haha.

This is cool. Ordered me a Mal Tiempo shirt.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 8, 2017 -> 05:56 PM) If you wait until the stage where it isn't premature, the cost goes from $25 million to $100 million. Exactly. If you've identified the guy as one you believe in, the earlier the better. The explicit point of these things is to get as many of them in as possible, knowing full well that you're going to miss on some, but that the cost is so low that it will be overwhelmingly worthwhile in order to get the ones you hit on. Even if Tim Anderson busts completely, this strategy is still a good one and has proven to be extremely fruitful for our organization thusfar. In fact, it's been arguably as fruitful for us as it's been for any franchise. We've hit WAY more often than we've missed, at a rate that's frankly too high to expect to continue. We shouldn't lose perspective of this when we see a bust. And that's IF Tim Anderson doesn't figure it out.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Aug 9, 2017 -> 10:35 AM) White Sox Dave posted a good blog yesterday pointing out how Moncada has actually sprayed the ball to all fields, and hasn't tried to pull things in general. This is a good sign. He's also swung at less pitches outside the zone than the major league average. For basically his first few months in the big leagues, I think this is good. Yeah, definitely.

To me, the results don't matter, it's about the process. If the process is good and we lose, we're good. If the process is good and we win and we get a worse draft pick, it's worth it. If the process is bad and we get the #1 pick, we're still in trouble. For example: Moncada's second AB is the only one I was able to see. He drew a walk on a full count. I'm glad he drew the walk, because he continues to show patience and a good process -- forcing the pitcher to throw him what he wants. However, what I DIDN'T like were the two swings he took. Both were offspeed pitches, and were strikes belt high and on the outer half. He clearly recognized them as pitches he wanted to hit, but he tried to pull both of them and was way out in front. Keuchel is a junk slinger and a good one, so it's easy to miss the first one. But between the video prep he should have done, Keuchel's reputation, coaching prep that should have happened, and seeing the pitch earlier in the AB, he needed to be able to stay back and try to poke that second strike into RF. He's still learning, and he's already further along than, say, Dayan Viciedo EVER got in the MLB, so I'm not being a debbie downer. Just an example of the stuff I think we should be "rooting for" and/or "concerned about" aside from draft position.

QUOTE (Scoots @ Aug 8, 2017 -> 02:45 PM) Those were basically his numbers when he was with the Sox, no? Maybe just a tad higher when he was here? No reason to think they would change much...other than maybe he might get more opportunities to hit with men on base, but even then he was pretty awful hitting with RISP last year and not great this year...great guy, absolutely love his personality and also his defense at 3B...not so much his hitting. Yeah, he hit 40 bombs...pretty sure a big majority of those were solo shots (or at least it felt like it) or meaningless in lost ballgames. Idk. Will be interesting to see who he goes with next year. He hasn't exactly put himself in a great position to be on a team that is in win-now mode for years to come. He slugged way higher than that.

QUOTE (Two-Gun Pete @ Aug 7, 2017 -> 05:59 PM) And that's perfectly fine. If it was OK for Sale to wait, why was it suddenly ALL-IMPORTANT to get Anderson signed, without having a body of work to properly judge him? Because the market has changed dramatically since FO's started clearly getting the better end of these extensions. They've gotten substantially more expensive each year. Remember how much Evan Longoria signed for?

QUOTE (Two-Gun Pete @ Aug 6, 2017 -> 11:18 PM) ...and both are better, smarter, and more versatile players than Anderson, full stop. Thank God we gave Anderson a contract extension after one lucky season. I'm with you, man. Early career contract extensions have SUNK this team. Still living with the repercussions of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, and Adam Eaton.

Ton of upside, ton of risk.

QUOTE (Dubzinski rules @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 12:08 PM) I think Gonzo goes. He can help someone down the stretch. Anyone think one of our middle infielders goes now or this Winter? We've got SS and 2B covered pretty well and I don't know where you'd find enough at bats for Yolmer, Salad, and Hanson. I think it's just survival of the fittest for those guys. We could legitimately benefit from at least one of them turning into a consistent bench piece in the future, but can't pick out one specifically who is gonna do it, so the best use of them is probably just to let them fight and waive the one's who don't make it.

I think that things like "you can't rebuild in a big market" and "this community won't support a winner" and "JR won't rebuild because he's old" are a lot of made-up media food that fans use to rationalize behavior they don't agree with. There's no evidence of any of this, because we haven't seen any other condition than hail-mary-all-in plays over the last decade. When we see what a rebuild looks like, or what the fans do if we make the playoffs for a few years, etc, THEN we can start drawing conclusions. Until then, let's stop making s*** up.

I think we need another veteran arm or two, in the mold of Pelfrey/Holland, who can hold a place if Fulmer/Giolito aren't ready but can be banished if one of them forces the issue. I'd also like to see a few attempts at trades for post-hype sleepers (like Jake Arrieta), and that might even be the best use of Avi as a chip, either this offseason or next deadline, assuming that he regresses to become some average of this year and the those prior.

What an incredible cratering of value.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 08:29 AM) Pelfrey gets paid by Detroit, so he's making minimum. Someone might take him, but it won't be for anything worth talking about. And someone has to pitch. I'm with you here. No value in exposing Charlotte guys who aren't ready or overusing our meager bullpen for two months.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 14, 2017 -> 10:45 AM) Well done Brian. I didn't see it either, great work!

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jul 30, 2017 -> 09:28 AM) Lopez's last 6 starts: 36.2 IP, 1.96 ERA, 2.49 FIP, 49K, and only 8BB. That's sexy.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 09:21 PM) There's no way in hell Royals would put Saladino at short over Escobar. That's ridiculous. There's no way in hell the Royals would start Migo or Holland. They are never that despearate. Melky? Yeah they'd probably take him. I'd try to rob them and get the disappointing Starling. Trade Melky and Tito Polo for Starling. I'd rather have Tito Polo, honestly.

Other pitcher is Dietrich Enns. Under the radar guy who has been good at every level. No one seems to know why he's never gotten a shot.

I haven't had a chance to see him yet (Charlotte doesn't come here until August), but I always see his name pop up on our league leaderboards for lowest ERA and most K's among qualified starters, so there's that. Still hasn't matched the numbers he put up in AA that vaulted him up the Nationals prospect list, though. His future seems to rest almost purely on whether or not he can avoid walks.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 03:14 PM) There's a lot more to baseball than just adding/subtracting WAR numbers. This year's team has clearly quit, they are fine with being walked all over. WAR is not going to capture the aura of dread that surrounds the current squad. It's ok to have one season like this, but losing is a plague. I dont think it's a good idea to have an MVP talent like Moncada waste his service time on a team that won't be trying to contend this decade. It kills me when people trot out one of the typical anti-number tropes like "There's more to baseball than adding WAR," when that's not at all what's being discussed or argued, and then back the argument with something that's completely subjective, untestable, and that couldn't possibly be gleaned by anyone who doesn't actually spend time in the clubhouse with the players, like "this team has clearly quit, they are fine being walked all over." You completely missed his point. He's using WAR to show you that this team SUCKS, man. That's why they are losing. When they were playing over their heads earlier in the season, and STILL not even remotely close to contention, they all seemed to be in fine spirits. Everyone on that team knows what they're in for, and if they're so mentally soft as to not understand that they ALL have something to prove, or to not be able to muster the effort to make themselves better in the face of adversity, then they were never going to be successful in the first place. The Sox are going to sign some veterans to fill some holes, and the coaches are going to pretend like every year is the year they're going to break out, and that's all well and good. But the front office is not going to deviate from the plan until the players show them they have an opportunity, and that's exactly how it should be.