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QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 08:55 PM) he's only 22 which makes him totally age appropriate for the level he's at right now. Wont be 23 til december, considering how he's raking he'll almost definitely be a top 100 next year unless he falls off in the second half. Between the high BA, good XBH numbers and silly SB #'s, you absolutely have a top prospect in the making. He also plays a premium middle infield position He will be 23 when the rankings comes out. Those Top 100 rankings usually look heavily age and the league they played in. The only 23 year old in the BA Top 100 list last year that played entire year below AA was Alex Meyer of the Twins, and he was a first round pick in 2011. I think he's on the bubble right now, but if he makes it to BHam by year end, then he's in.

Only way Micah would crack the Top 100 prospect is if he continues to hit like this and gets promoted to AA by the end of the year, or if he flat out dominates AFL. Very rarely would you see a 23 year old player finishing A+ considered a Top 100 player. On a side note, it's tough to be Courtney Hawkins on some days. EDIT: Uh oh... Rangel Ravelo 2nd homerun in as many days.

Who cares about where he ranks in our system? He could be #1 or outside of the 25, after he plays his first full season. The real question is can we develop him? He is extremely raw right now, and is another prospect who has issue with pitch recognition and is susceptible to off speed stuff. As some pointed out, his bat is rated as a 3/8 right now, and projects as a 4/8. Given our track record with these type of raw, athletic bats, or just bats in general, this concerns me a little.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 2, 2013 -> 12:54 AM) 6 titles? Me likey. Did Oz/KW hate each other from the start? Make it 7. Seems like we already forgot the VDN Pax scuffle didn't end so well.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Jul 1, 2013 -> 09:58 PM) Maybe its the 117 degree heat in Las Vegas making me crazy, but what if we decided to be buyers instead of sellers? We are only 10.5 games out of first place and no one seems prepared to run away with this division. Lets go out and trade for a 1B, 3B, C, OF, DH, and a couple of pitchers. If we have the opportunity, lets upgrade at other positions as well. We can turn this thing around with the pickup of 8 or 10 new players who contribute strongly. Wouldn't it be a hoot if we won the division after this start?? You just simplified the complexity of baseball and solved every issue of the team with one statement. Bravo.

Bulls are apparently in pursuit of Mo Williams and Will Bynum. I am in disgust... This FO baffles me sometimes. We still have Hinrich and Teague to back up Rose, unless he's not ready to go to start the season. They are also not likely to retain Belinelli at this point. Our biggest needs are a shooting wing, and a backup center, not another PG who can't shoot. We can't go into the season with our two best shooters being rookies who aren't likely to get enough burn.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 30, 2013 -> 07:18 PM) Kevan Smith has recovered from a slow start to the season and now sporting over an 800 OPS. Overall, perhaps the best catching prospect in the system, although Phegley's more major league ready, obviously. Doubt it. They are both the same age. Phegley is dominating Triple A this year, Smith is having decent success at a league he's too old for. Phegley even has better defensive potential from what I've read.

With DeMichele seemingly getting enough burn at SS in WS, I wonder what the hold up is to promote Micah. I think it's beneficial for him to get a more challenging assignment at this point, he has gotta passed all the checklist in Low A if there is one.

I am not saying you couldn't keep ranting and micro analyzing about Hawkins every single day. If it adds any value to you, by all means. I don't see how one poster can't give honest opinion/feedback on another poster who practices a habit regularly when no personal attack is involved. Maybe learn to respond in a more constructive way? It's early, but Michalczewski is looking to be one of the best contact hitting prospects we had in a while, and he's ONLY 18 years old. Hard not to get excited about him.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 28, 2013 -> 07:58 PM) FINE, oh wise one, it also doesn't do any good to say his day to day results or if he walks or homers either....we should REALLY just ignore him for the rest of the season and then look at the final results at the end of the year, like you would with a mutual fund. I won't mention his FREAKING batting average for the rest of the season, because I'll be specifically waiting for your oh so insightful night-by-night analysis of what we actually SHOULD be looking for based on your extensive experience of assessing minor league prospects. I think you are forgetting that you are bringing up these stat lines/observations for discussion. Other posters can certainly go on the box score and look at the stat line themselves. A great game, bad game, new trend, new observation, consistent trend, things beyond the box score, etc are usually discussion worthy. 0/1, 0/2, 1/3, 1/4 games aren't usually going to garner much discussion. Like I said, if you get pleasure from doing it, and want to continue to be your one man TMZ, and use the forum as a ranting and spamming ground, keep up the good work. Take it for what it's worth, this is the last time I am commenting on your posting type.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 28, 2013 -> 07:38 PM) What, if anything, do we really have to actually care about for the rest of the season? Hawkins' development is the single most important factor for the organization going forward, along with Sale staying healthy. Of course, it's going to be analyzed, reanalyzed and micro-analyzed. Because it adds no value if you analyze his batting average every game? It doesn't make a difference if he's hitting .188 or .191. He is far far away from producing at the major league level. Unless you get pleasure from watching a minor leaguer's BA jump 0.03 in one day.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 26, 2013 -> 02:14 PM) And Conor Gillaspie's wife opens up the door for Morel. Now Morel will go 1 for 11 with a poke double for the double entendre

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 10:08 PM) Really? I mean, I do think Earley is a guy worth keeping an eye on. Probably in the 30-40 range on a top prospect list. But you think he's in the majors before Thompson? I'd say Earley's chances of seeing the majors at all are pretty slim. In terms of ceiling, yes. But he does have a higher floor than most of the "prospects" higher than him on that list. If he continues to hit around .300 this year, he would be in Charlotte by next year and will be worth a call up if someone goes down, or just as a September flyer. I, along with most poster, believe that we should not rush Thompson to the majors, there is no reason to. Let him take his time and he could be a solid regular by 2015.

I stand by my prediction that Michael Earley will make it to the majors before the trio of Thompson, Walker and Mitchell, although Thompson's stock is trending up in past weeks.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 06:17 PM) Wow, seems eerily similar to our argument weeks back. In fact, there is several arguments that match both this argument and ours. The words "tangent", "unnecessary" and "comparisons" show up in every one of your riffs. Instead of calling everyone else kindergartners, look at the facts. You get in several of the same arguments over and over again. If you're up against everyone else, it's probably you and not everyone else. You're not the victim, you have bad habits. Michalzewski has been compared to Troy Glaus. Troy Glaus hit 41 HRs in 2001. Whether Michalzewski can cut it from both sides of the plate remains to be seen. Either way he probably doesn't crack the majors until '16. With that said, do you think Hahn shells out the money for a McCann/Utely type FA? Even if we did, we still need to develop our own all star position players. While Hawkins can be that guy, I don't see him exploding on the scene like say, Yasiel Puig. LOL this is golden. Caufield, I have no hidden agenda against you. But when you pose an argument to someone, you always take them on a merry go round. You are quoting on another poster, but it's hard for others to read and follow your thoughts. If you have a new idea to point out, feel free to make a new post or save it for another time. I think other posters other than bbilek and myself would appreciate it as well.

And quietly, Semien making strides on his pitch recognition. A 51 to 49 BB/K rate in 74 games is definitely an encouraging development for a 22 year old shortstop in Double A

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 01:43 PM) Guys, stop it! Can't you see Courtney Hawkins is tearing us apart?!?! Naw, it's just Caufield's irrelevant comparisons, unnecessary details, and constant tangents are finally driving people to insanity.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 10:40 AM) Could not disagree more, except for the jump between High A and AA. That's the biggest, this, the second. WOW. this guy. This is the same guy that thinks demotion would not help Hawkins, two weeks ago, and the talent level between low A and high A is pretty much similar. This is also the guy who suggest to promote Hawkins to Double A 2 weeks ago. Caufield, as a poster, how about you stick to what you really believe in, stop flip flopping positions every week. And for the love of God, spare us from your irrelevant player comparisons.

So much for me being the only extremist on the Hawkins demotion front two week ago. What do naysayers have to say now? Having him keep aimlessly swing out there is going to break him down even further. Something have to be done at this point.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 05:50 AM) The point is if you are going to be bad for a long time, like the Astros, Sale pitching ffor several years in meaningless games only increases his chances of getting hurt. He has already missed starts the last 2 seasons with soreness. So the other point would be, when you are ready to win, Sale would be more expensive and perhaps not nearly as effective. If it were a guarantee he would be healthy when the Sox were ready to win, you would not trade him, but pitchers, especially him, are far more likely to acquire a devasting injury than position players. Exactly my point. People who think Sale is in no bigger risk to injury than any other pitcher are either in denial or they really don't think bad pitching mechanics will attribute to a higher chance of injury.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 23, 2013 -> 06:39 PM) I have no reason to believe that Chris is any bigger risk than any other starting pitcher at this point. All starters are risky. You might lose a season to injury and/or ineffectiveness, but that's part of the deal. You'd have to get a Giancarlo Stanton++ type package to make sure you're getting another cornerstone in return and that makes you wonder why you would have dealt him in the first place. Most of the time, ineffectiveness due to mechanics/physical wear and tear is long term, not a single season. Exhibit A, Tim Lincecum. Pitching wins championship, we can agree on that. It comes down to whether you build your core pitching first, and wait for your hitting to come along, or build up your hitting now, and sign / trade for pitchers when you are ready. Given the risk and fragility of pitchers you just mentioned as part of the deal, which route would you take? I don't see us competing with the Tigers for another two years. By that time, Sale would have been pitching for 6 to 7 seasons, at least 3-4 seasons of 200 innings+. The risk is higher than ever given his frame/mechanics. Conventional wisdom says you always need an ace atop your staff, and don't let him go if you are looking to compete. But does conventional wisdom apply in every scenario and does conventional wisdom always win you championships?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2013 -> 06:14 PM) I'm as confident in Sale as any of them at this point. Verlander is older and much more expensive. In case you haven't noticed, Matt Cain has an ERA in the mid-4's right now. The others don't have the record of Sale yet. We're good at keeping guys healthy. This is our task. Neither of us have hard evidence on this. This is just based on our instincts. So your are saying even the best of them aren't reliable to stay healthy/effective in the long term, yet we should hold on to them even if we will go on a 2-3 year drought, even though Sale isn't a safe bet to stay healthy to begin with. So why take on the risk if someone offer you a premium bat or two, which is more of a guarantee to contribute in the term, health wise? Also, in recent years we have had better luck developing pitchers, but no success on the hitting front so far. By your logic, you are really confident that the Sox will compete again as soon as next year with the $30 mil or so they have to spend, given how many whatever positions we have to fill.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 23, 2013 -> 02:45 AM) That was when he was still above .200. He was way down in the .150's and .160's, recovered all the way to .229, but I never thought he'd go back down under .200 for the remainder of the season. Thought he had things somewhat figured out to at least make it through the next 2 1/2 months at Winston-Salem. When you're going 3/40+ AB's with that many K's, it's starting to become counterproductive. He's hitting .190 as of today. Way to exaggerate. Seems like you were analyzing based on a pure batting average to me, based on that post. The only difference between today and two weeks ago he was hitting homeruns, but he isn't anymore. Two weeks ago, he still boast the BB% and base hit minus HR % as he is today. So you basically went from open for promotion to Double A two weeks ago, to have him stay put last week, and now you suggest to demote him this week. Sometimes you got to look at the numbers and analyze further. Just by looking at his numbers minus the HRs he didn't he look like he has things figure out, even two weeks ago.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2013 -> 06:03 PM) See, I disagree. with the principle here. I think that by far teh easiest way to stay in contention for the long term is to have an ace pitcher. If you can get that, then you've gotten the hardest part done. That reshapes your entire team, especially if he's underpaid relative to his performance. How confident are you that Sale can be the ace long term? If we are in the same situation now, and the guy we are talking about is Verlander, Cain, Harvey, or even Matt Moore, I wouldn't consider it either.

I just want to see where everyone stands on this idea. Apparently most folks are very confident he will be health/effective when we are good again, or we will be good again as soon as next year. Where I am coming from is I see Sale as a risk. I love to watch him pitch, but he's always been an injury concern, and signs still show the past two years. In terms of risk management, we can get creative and transfer the risk to someone who is will to overpay and take on the risk. It might pay off for the other team if he stays healthy, but I rather someone takes on the risk than we do as it stands now. This idea won't even be considered if we are in contention every year, because no one trades their young ace if you are competing. But if we are close to the rebuilding mode, we might as well start from scratch and transfer the risk to someone else and fill one of our biggest needs in the process. If you aren't the Yankees or Red Sox, it takes some forms of creativity to stay in contention for the long term. I see a move like this as one of those moves. If Hahn does pull of this move, and most of the returns do pan out, and Sale is no longer the same pitcher a few years down the road, this will be seen as an incredible brilliant move.