thxfrthmmrs

Is there anything wrong with Thornton? He's thrown 12 pitches and only 3 FBs so far. In past years, it would be 10/12 FBs

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 30, 2012 -> 05:23 PM) $56 Million and a number 1 pick for a DH is high. There is a difference between overpaying and buying high. Did we overpay for Dunn? Maybe, but just a tad bit. How many player you know in this league who can hit 40 HRs, drive in 100 runs and has a OPS greater than .900 makes less than $14 million a year? Buying high essentially is paying for a player who had a great stretch, we are paying a premium, but we aren't sure if he can keep up the level of play. But Dunn was one of the most consistent power hitters in baseball the year we got him. And at 30 years old, no one was expecting him to decline in value any time soon.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Jul 30, 2012 -> 05:26 PM) Nick Swisher Swisher is interesting, but I wouldn't consider buying high . We got Swisher after a year he hit 13 less home runs and had less RBI's than the previous year in Oakland. I think his value was higher the year before got him. I think when we got him, we was actually hoping he would rediscover his power in his 35 HR season and hit 40 HRs at the Cell. The package we put together for him wasn't exactly overwhelming either, considering the numbers he put up before and after the Sox days. Sweeney was a only decent prospect, and few people thought Gio was capable of pitching at this level at the time of the trade.

We didn't buy high on Dunn. We didn't get him after he played considerably better than previous years, and his salary is consistent with the numbers he put up in previous years.

It's obvious but it's true. When was the last time Kenny has bought high on a guy through trade or free agency?

De Aza needs to stop playing so deep. That was a routine pop up.

Both Walker and Smith are doing very well after promoted from a extreme pitcher's park to a notorious hitters park. I hope that Smith has a good last month and a half and start off next season in B-Ham

This has gotta be the slowest combination of runners ever put on base at the same time

Watch Moneyball

If you are comparing Lee to Bogans, then you haven't watch Lee play or you forgot how terrible Bogans was. Lee is a decent defender in his own right and a very reliable three point shooter. The main difference is Bogans was so worthless on offense besides taking a corner three, and he wasn't even a good three point shooter to begin with. Lee is actually a pretty good player in transition because he is a good athlete and he finishes. He's not a great half court player, but definitely a lot better than Bogans.

Apparently, the Bulls are going to sign Radmanovic tomorrow. Something bad inside me just threw up.

With all the attention on Youk, I seriously didn't remember he was on the team. It's like he just vanished, and no one noticed.

If Knicks didn't match Jeremy Lin's offer, it sounds pretty silly for us to match Asik's contract given it would cost us over $30 million including the luxury tax in the third year. At the end of the day. Lin is still a starter caliber point guard, and his influence and marketability off the court is even greater than his performance, yet the Knicks opt to get creative and found a cheaper option instead. It's the New York f***ING Knicks we are talking about, it makes no sense for us spend money the Knicks wouldn't even spend for a lesser player on and off the court. I really hope Gar Forman was bluffing about matching the offer. Asik is a great fit for our team, and I couldn't imagine the team publicly telling other teams they are not going to match him before he even receive a formal offer. The Knicks were even firm about matching Lin's offer right after he got the offer. I hope the Bulls are just using the same tactic.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 17, 2012 -> 10:20 AM) Bleh. I'm less interested in how good the Mavs look and more interested in how bad WE look. The inability to even have a meeting with Mayo is a huge black stain on this FO. If details come out of this signing and it turns out they gave him equal amount of money we would have been able to give him, there's no excuse for this failure The Bulls DID meet with Mayo in Vegas. And D Rose reached out to Mayo as well. We did try as a team, but it just didn't work out due to other factors.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 15, 2012 -> 12:21 PM) BJax has an even more alarming K rate and plays in a ridiculous hitter's league, whereas Mitchell is doing it in pitcher-friendly B'Ham. Jackson only have 10 or so more strikeouts than Mitchell. Mitchell's home and away strikeout ratio is almost identical. And you can't ignore past seasons where Mitchell struck out 183 times while Jackson strikes out in the 130 range. Mitchell hasn't hit over .250 in a full season, while Jackson has hit .290 and .270. There is really no debate who is the better contact hitter of the two as of now.

The Cubs already have a slightly better version of Jared Mitchell. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?p...&pid=571804 http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?p...&pid=502200

SEVEN Rookie arms pitched out of the bullpen last night. Eight rookie pitchers if counting Quintana. That's gotta be a record if anyone can confirm. Even when the team is healthy, we only have two veteran pitchers on the team in Thornton and Crain. I will be shocked if KW doesn't get a veteran arm by the trade deadline or waver deadline.

I am glad JFP didn't pitch in the ASG. We need him to go at least 8 tomorrow.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 11:50 AM) Three comments... 1) The Bulls also bricked a ton of outside shots in that series. Bogans and Korver were essentially useless, bricking wide-open 3's all series. If they had hit a few of those, the series would not have ended in 5. 2) I never said they need another Kyle Korver. What they need is a 2-guard (not a backup PG that is never going to be on the floor at the same time as Derrick) that can do a little bit of everything. The ability to stretch the floor is important because otherwise you get teams successfully packing the paint like the Heat did in that playoff series, and they need at least some ability to get decent shots in one-on-one situations. That's very different from getting a pure driver that needs the ball to be effective and would take the ball out of Derrick's hands. 3) The Thunder are basically what you want, but it has very little to do with having additional ball-handlers. Their wing players aren't Tyreke Evans or Monta Ellis types that have to play on the ball to be effective. Durant isn't a guy that dominates the ball looking for driving opportunities. He gets a ton of catch and shoot looks and drives when the opportunity presents itself. Harden is similar. He's not going to get 6 attempts at the rim per game, virtually half his FG attempts are 3's. He drives enough to get to the line and make people respect the threat that he'll go by them. Unfortunately, those kind of multi-talented players aren't very easy to find. 1) The good ol' what if scenario. Bricking open shots happens in every game, every series, more often than you think. If three point shooting was a huge part of your offense, you are bound to have nights like that. It's pretty simple, the Bulls weren't going to win that series with the rest of that team if Rose was shut down. Suppose even if the shooters caught fire, they were still going to put Lebron Rose. With Lebron on Rose, and without that missing guy to run and create the offense, Bulls had no shot. 2) Sounds like you are talking about Ben Gordon or JJ Reddick. While I do see your point, I think the first need for that missing piece is ball handling and scoring, much like Durant and Harden, and the secondnary need is the three point shot. I think you are looking for a guy with shooting as a primary shooting, who can do a bit of scoring and handling, though I don't think that would be as good a fit and as effective in this system. 3) While we don't need a guy like Durant for us to beat the Heat, the guy we need isn't as easy to obtain as we would like, if it was easy, we would have gotten him already. I see guys like Harden Ginobili, the Joe Johnson from two years ago, and even Mayo or Thornton as great fits for the team. They also happen to be scorer first and shooter second.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 11:16 AM) It really isn't. People have been asking for someone that can put the ball in the net, not someone that would take the ball out of Derrick's hands. No. The type of player you are describing is more of a 3 point specialist. We had one in Korver and he didn't help in the Heat series because he was a liability on defense. The Heat proved that they can shut down our offense if they put Lebron on Rose. We need another guy who can handle ball and score at the wing position. The reason Lebron didn't shut down Westbrook like he did on Rose is because they have Durant and Harden who can handle the ball, if they put Lebron on either of the three, the other two can still step up and create offense. That's why Westbrook was able to do his thing. We don't have that other guy on our team yet. We don't just need a shooter, we need a wing who can handle and create if we want to beat the Heat.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 10:25 PM) Like it - way to get creative and get it done. I haven't seen the post-AJP catcher in our system to this point, or I'm a long way from sold on any particular guy at any rate - maybe this is the guy. We gotta bring AJ back for two more years, no matter what. It's actually pretty typical for teams to pay for HS players college expenses up to a certain amount if baseball doesn't work out for them. One of my colleague's son was picked in the 19th round this year, JUCO guy, not a great prospect, but the team offered to pay for his college expenses if he quis baseball

I remember this article like it was yesterday. http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/draft2009/i...tory?id=4206996 For once I wish what Keith Law said was true. (For those without Insider, KLaw had Sox picking Trout in his mock, which was a rarity since he always bashes Sox for taking safe college arms.)

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 01:35 PM) His move downwards also reflects other guys moving upwards and other guys being drafted too, don't forget. I am well aware of that. Personally, I would have him dropping several spots from the 4 or 5 spot he was at during the preseason, but not out of the top 10

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 01:57 PM) Despite Mitchell's slump, he's beating him (Saladino) pretty handily on the OPS front playing in the same home stadium. Mitchell's just a much more dynamic and exciting player. 8 homers, all those triples, the increased walk totals....he's getting there, or at least making progress. Let's say Saladino is an "average" 2B defensively. That means he needs to put up a 700 - 725 OPS not to be hurting the Sox at that position. He has a chance, but nothing this year would cause one to reach the conclusion that it's a foregone conclusion he's going to put up those numbers. Will he be better than Escobar? Probably. But a starter? Maybe not. When you have a three month slump, then it's not really a slump, it's more so that he's not polished enough to hit the pitching. Have you looked at his BA for the past three months? He's hit .220, .210, then .150 the past three months while striking out 85 times in 215 ABs. He had only have ONE good months the past two years, that was this April, but he's reverted back to his old self again, albeit showing some improvements in walks and power. His ceiling was once absurdly high, and is still pretty high right now, but chances of him reaching the ceiling is very slim now. Mitchell at his floor will not make it too the majors. Saladino might not have a ceiling as high as Mitchell, but his floor seems to be a utility player at the majors, which is what I was saying. I don't know what you are trying say from all those rambling.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 11:27 AM) We've seen some negative reports on his defense, that seem to indicate he is not even average for that level and his development. Also, while being in B-Ham may take some HR's away, it should cause THAT drastic a split, which suggests something more mental. Its possible the pressure that was added last year when he became so highly touted, then had an extended look in ST, is having an effect. Also hearing rumblings of some other, unspecified issues. His overall numbers are not good, but his K rate is a little lower and his walk rate is a lot higher, so those are good signs. Hopefully his strong July will continue. But having him in the teens on the list, right now, seems about right to me. I would like to hear some specifics about those reports. Coming out of college, he's known to have a pretty good glove and was a good bet to stay at short. Even as recent as last season, I heard his defense was adequate. Most players move to third base from short either because he outgrew the position or they lack the range or quickness. I don't think either scenario applies to him. If they feel that he doesn't have a strong enough arm for short, given his size and quickness, he will be experimented at second base before moving to third, which still makes him an intriguing prospect. The reason I would place him in the top 10 is that he has a higher ceiling and floor than most of the guys in top 15. I would even argue that he has a higher floor than guys like Mitchell and Thompson because they are still figuring out how to make contact with the ball. Without any solid evidence on his inability to stay at short, dropping him 12 spots on the list, given his improvements in several major areas, is too much.