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I'm thrilled that Avi is off to a hot start. However, he's not really doing ANYTHING differently. He's still swinging at the same insane amount of pitches out of the zone (RIGHT on line with his career number), he's just made more contact with those pitches. As a result, his strikeout rate is down a couple notches, but so is his walk rate. Now, I'm not saying more contact might not be a good thing. The best possible explanation is that he's cut down his swing to focus more on contact and allowed his natural strength to carry the ball. I hope that's it. But when you break down his peripherals and see nothing changed but the contact rate and then see that he's still somehow running a .409 BABIP, it looks very dangerous. The HR/FB rate is up too, but do we have any evidence of swing changes to suggest that it's sustainable? Asking for real. It doesn't LOOK different to me, but it might be. I'm still not sold. I know, I know, I'm always the Avi hater. But by all indications, this LOOKS like a nice long hot streak that may have been inevitable given enough PAs to such an athletically gifted player. As always, I hope I'm wrong.

I've always liked ol' Carlos Sanchez, but he ain't stopping Moncada from doing ANYTHING.

https://gfycat.com/BrokenBeneficialAfricanmolesnake

All White Sox defensive errors this year are sponsored by hi8is: "Throw it Away for BPA!"

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 1, 2017 -> 04:34 PM) There will be a lot of boos in the Cell this year. There are a lot more fans like me than those who love Sabes and rebuilds. Fans like me will be staying away in droves once the team opens 1-10 and loses at an unprecedented rate. What is proper fan decorum this year? Cheer when the other team scores? And just observe our guys for potential trades? Or cheer for the Sox all the way til the late innings and then root for the other team to rally and win? Somebody needs to explain proper fan decorum this year considering losses are good. NO ONE LIKES TO LOSE GREG. WE WANT TO GET ON WITH THE REBUILD SO WE CAN WIN SOONER. s***TY HALF ASS HAS-BEEN ROYALS VETERANS WILL NEVER PRODUCE WINNING. YOUR WAY LOSES EVERY YEAR.

QUOTE (bighurt574 @ Mar 29, 2017 -> 07:30 AM) No chance. He hasn't started a game since high school. This. I think you're just asking for an injury if you try to convert him now.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Mar 28, 2017 -> 12:11 PM) Budweiser is f***ing garbage. Another bad decision by Sox brass. Not really a "decision" as much as a "sales and marketing agreement"

QUOTE (WBWSF @ Mar 11, 2017 -> 08:49 AM) This is another low point in the JR ownership. The team can't get a major beer sponsor on their TV + Radio broadcasts. Some people have posted that the White Sox will receive a new TV deal in 2 years. I really wonder how much the team will get from that deal. The next 2 seasons are going to be brutal and I have to wonder if the team is going to get any big offers from any TV station. FWIW, all big beer distributors are in the process of drastically reducing their sports venue marketing investments all over the country, and have been for several years. It's not just a Sox problem, it's just a major revenue stream that is drying up.

Yeah I have no doubt that he will get a shot if he is hitting well at Charlotte and Bourjos isn't hitting at all

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Mar 23, 2017 -> 09:34 AM) Maitan has proven nothing so far, and is ages away from the majors #ABallShmuck

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 19, 2017 -> 02:47 PM) I can't imagine any other team is as harmed by non-participation as Team USA. In particular, our pitching staff seems bafflingly bad. Here are non-participating Americans listed by 2016 WAR: 1. Clayton Kershaw 2. Noah Syndergaard 3. Max Scherzer 4. Rick Porcello 5. Justin Verlander 6. Chris Sale 7. Corey Kluber 8. Madison Bumgarner 9. David Price 10. Kyle Hendricks 11. Jon Lester 12. Jake Arrieta 13. Jon Gray and then you finally get to the first American WBC participant, Stroman. And then we can look at relievers specifically: We do have the best, Andrew Miller. Yay! And then... 1. Addison Reed (had to double take at that one) 2. Zach Britton 3. Tyler Thornburg 4. Will Harris 5. Mark Melancon and then we get to Nate Jones and after that, about 10 more until you get to Luke Gregerson. Of course the point isn't that 2016 WAR should be the main criterion for selection, but we're just not anywhere close to assembling our best. And let's think about some of the position players missing: 1. Mike Trout 2. Kris Bryant 3. Mookie Betts 4. Josh Donaldson 5. Corey Seager 6. Adam Eaton 7. Brian Dozier and then Ian Kinsler and Brandon Crawford, a few spots and you get Murphy and Arenado. The outfield stands out, though—why does Team USA have Christian Yelich batting 3rd? McCutchen probably shouldn't be getting the time, but I understand how some may not be inclined to penalize him as much for last year when he had been so sensational for years beforehand. Either way, I find it galling that the US has the world's two best players (Trout and Kershaw) and neither is out there. They have their reasons that are perfectly rational, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. It's also bad for the tournament. On one hand, nobody will like it around the world if the US wins every time...it has to be competitive. But few would deny that the US has the most talent in the world, so it delegitimizes the tournament if Team USA does poorly each time, as it has pre-2017. You are, of course, correct in that assumption. But Japan is hit really hard too, if only on the pitching side. Sugano and Ishikawa are really legit, and Norimoto probably has the best raw stuff outside of Otani, but they're missing: 1. Yu Darvish 2. Shoehei Otani 3. Masahiro Tanaka 4. Kenta Maeda 5. Chihiro Kaneko 6. Hisashi Iwakuma On the position side, though, they're absolutely stacked. Those are all the best hitters and they're mostly high-end defenders too. I've been following Tetsudo Yamada for a few years (because the Swallows were the team I paid attention too because Balentien), just praying he would get posted and the Sox would pounce. Now that he's moved to second base (used to be SS) and we got Moncada, though, I no longer think we'd get him. Unfortunately.

I f***ing love the WBC. I've been following the NPB ever since Balentien broke the HR record. I actually went over their and saw three games last September. Tsutsugoh hit 3 homers in the two BayStars games we saw. I bought a shirsey. Jose Lopez also hit a couple, lol. As fans, they simply have WAY more fun than we do at games. Also, look up Brandon Laird's stats for Hokkaido. Ha

QUOTE (Two-Gun Pete @ Mar 20, 2017 -> 06:26 AM) Even if any of these things are true, neither of the repeatedly injured Rutherford, nor the 18 IP-in-A+ Kaprelian, nor Mateo have proven enough to be the centerpiece to a trade for Q, full stop. All three may have substantial upside, as you claim. But at the same time, all three are far enough away from The Show, or have significant flaws as well. The Prospect Industrial Complex routinely over rates prospects, and history has shown that most of them fail. So, if you're trading away a PROVEN, TOR, LHP, @ that contract for a pile of A-ball schmucks, you're doing it wrong. The equation remains Torres ++ is what the Yankees have to give up. No Torres = No Q. Hell, they got Torres for a few months of a reliever. A GREAT reliever (with off the field issues, BTW ), but still "just" a reliever. This fandom has to be patient, rather than pining for the quick trade of the best pitching asset on the market for a pile of A-ball schmucks that haven't proven anything. Getting less than full value for Q will set this franchise back for YEARS, so better to wait for another club to become desperate. I think you can defensibly say that you feel Hahn should insist on a centerpiece that is closer to the Majors but retains huge upside, as those guys are obviously more valuable. But to lump a bunch of top 30-40 prospects together as "A Ball shmucks" is just flat out destructive logic. Any good system needs depth at all levels, and great systems have high-upside depth at all levels. No one likes to hear the phrase "quantity over quality," but in reality, quantity is crucial, because even those "close to the Show" guys you're talking about fail at an alarming rate. For a team literally in year one of a rebuild, getting three guys with elite upside can often be way more valuable than a single guy with elite upside who just happens to have a higher floor. You DO need quantity, and if you've got to buy quantity, quantity with star upside is the best possible stuff to buy. Limiting our sights to a guy who can contribute next year has been what has been central to this team's inability to build a productive farm system despite years of failure at the MLB level. The only reason guys with this much upside are available at all is solely BECAUSE there's risk associated with not having been challenged at higher levels. Judging these types of guys as the same as anyone else in the low minors is nonsensical.

QUOTE (Two-Gun Pete @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 11:05 PM) OK, I'll bite. Even though I'm not a big supporter of the Prospect Industrial Complex that overvalues "tools" and undervalues actual outcomes, help me understand why I shouldn't hate that suggested trade. Here's what I see out of that trio you suggest: Rutherford: 130 measly PA in Rookie Ball means he's lightyears away from The Show. Piles of "golden gods" DOMINATED Rookie Ball, only to ultimately end up working @ Home Depot. Hell, even Korey (with a "K") Zangari hit more HR than this guy @ Rookie Ball. Kaprelian: 3 measly games @ A+ means he's lightyears away from The Show, & still has a lot to prove before he's an actual prospect. Mateo: An "amazing" 99 wrc+ in A+ ball (2nd exposure to the level) last year. For reference, the much-hated Charlie Tilson had a wrc+ of 121 in his 2nd go-around @ A+, with a lower K rate. On top of all of this, Yankee prospects are generally suspects, in that they're overhyped in a lot of cases. So, again, why should the top SP available in trade be stupidly given away for a pile of A ball bums? For me, no Torres in the trade = no Quintana for the Yankees, full stop. And even at that, Torres still hasn't made the jump past AA with his prospect status intact. In all honesty, the Yankees prospects have yawning flaws, or are too far away from The Show for my liking, or have not shown themselves to be superior to extant members of the SOX system. The short answer is that both Rutherford and Kapreilian have added substantial value since being drafted. The latter has added several ticks of velo in the last year, and already commands a four pitch mix, with a chance for three of those to be above average with some refinement. Rutherford only fell to the Yankees in the first place because of signability issues and an injury he was dealing with at the end of the year. They're both easy top 50 prospects that some would consider top 25 prospects, and they're value is on the upswing. Mateo is substantially more interesting than Tilson because he's two years younger and is expected to develop a tick or two more power. He's also probably even faster a runner. I'm as much a fan and supporter of sabermetrics as anyone on this forum has ever been, and even I have to say that if you're judging the future value of A-ball prospects based on their stat-lines, you're doing it wrong. To claim that Kaprielian isn't an "actual prospect" is to illustrate that you don't know anything about Kaprielian.

Personally, I would love to see a guy like Moncada hit or Kopech throw, if only to see how loud those tools really are from way closer than I'll ever be at a regular season MLB game. I only went to Spring Training once, but it was a blast. Pay 25 bucks for the seats right behind the plate and experience MLB baseball in a new way.

QUOTE (peppers312 @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 12:25 PM) if the Yanks aren't giving up Sanchez and/or Torres as one of the pieces why are we talking to them again? is their farm system THAT loaded with other prospects the Sox would be interested in acquiring? It absolutely is. And a lot of it is positional talent, which is even better. It's not hard at all to come up with several packages that exclude Sanchez and Torres that are clear overpays for Quintana, honestly. For example: Rutherford+Kapreilian+Mateo would be phenomenal.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 04:14 PM) Aren't Moncada's tools kind of wasted at 2ND base? He has a great arm and exceptional speed. Sounds more like CF would be a good position for him. This team has a few capable second basemen. Are they slating him at 2ND just because that's his personal preference? I agree 100%. 70 arm, 70 speed, good instincts but ugly footwork and okay hands sounds like a perfect CF candidate. It's almost definitely too late now, since his bat is on the cusp on MLB ready, but I really wish the Red Sox weren't so stacked in the OF, because I think CF made a lot more sense when they moved him off of SS.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Mar 6, 2017 -> 01:39 PM) The biggest change for the positive is no more Robin. That should be good for at least 10 extra wins alone. The only thing is that's offset by the loss of Sale, Eaton, and others. I don't see us being worse, but don't see us being better either. lol

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 19, 2017 -> 12:58 PM) Dude.

Yeah you can't get Quintana if you're not willing to include ANY of your top five prospects

What does good defense even look like? It's been so long

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 2, 2017 -> 02:32 PM) This is very generous. Avisail Garcia would dream of a .469 SLG with 24 homers. In no universe is Avisail Garcia a better player than Corey Dickerson is. The Sox bad players are worse than the Rays' but that's fine. Lol, yes, very generous indeed. The Garcia thing is the biggst head-scratcher, but: 1. Geovany Soto is not ">>" than any catcher in the MLB, lol. I like him but come on. 2. OP is either drastically underrating Kiermaier (who put up 3-5 WAR each of the last three seasons) or is very VERY high on Charlie Tilson. EDIT: just saw the admission on Garcia. But still, Kiermaier.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Feb 1, 2017 -> 04:59 PM) That being said, we don't match up with Texas. Profar, Gallo, Mendez aren't very attractive headliners. Agreed

Mazara, despite the fact that I think he is rather overrated, is one of those guys who the Rangers aren't going to be willing to trade because he is a key piece of the current 25-man roster. It doesn't make sense to subtract part of what you gain in Quintana.

Even without Bregman, Martes, and Musgrove available, I think there could still be a deal that makes sense with the Astros... but it would require their 5-6 next best prospects, and I just cannot see the wisdom in completely burning the farm to the ground like that. I just can't see Lunhow doing it.