Leonard Washington

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Feb 5, 2014 -> 02:55 PM) According to the MLB site, their first pick is #56 in the second round and their next pick is #92. They forfeited their comp round picks by signing Ellsbury and Beltran. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2014/order.jsp Well whaddya know... Good looking out.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Feb 4, 2014 -> 02:15 PM) Yeah, I would not be surprised one bit if the yanks spent that much or more. ESPN rated their farm 20th and they gave their 2014 1st and 2nd round picks to Atlanta and Boston so they have to replenish somehow. Well it should help their cause that they will get two picks in rounds 1b and 2 (Grandy and Cano)

I've loved baseball since I was a little kid. It was always my Dad's sport, so I just naturally followed suit. Being from Toronto, he was/is a Jays fan (he grew up a Brooklyn/LA fan, but adopted the Jays when they became a team), but I remember having a really cool 1991 Bobby Thigpen Upper Deck baseball card, and from there I started to follow him and the Sox. Kind of funny how one stupid little thing like a baseball card can turn into what will be a lifetime obsession. Well I don't live overseas, obviously, so it's not as difficult as living in Ireland. Toronto has their own MLB team, so the league gets a fair amount of coverage here in the mainstream news. There's also the internet, which is obviously a big one. I also am a MLB.tv subscriber, so I stream the games through Apple TV and it works pretty fantastic, I have to say. If I'm not home while the game is on, I just follow along via Gameday using my phone. I know I could just watch it when I get home, but I have a weird thing about not wanting to watch a game that's already happened. I need to follow it live. I've actually only ever been to one game, which was when it was still called New Comiskey. It was a great game, though. Frank Thomas, who had become my favourite player (I actually managed to book my Cooperstown trip to see him inducted!) hit what was the longest home run in the park's history (at the time) off of Johan Santana and the Sox won. I have the recap and boxscore from the next day's newspaper framed. When the Sox are in Toronto, I try to go to as many of the games as I can. I made it to three last year. For the most part it's good. I've never met another Sox fan here, but there's a surprising number of people that know their share of baseball. The Sox aren't really a rival of any kind for Jays fans, so they're more of an afterthought in people's minds here. People have taken a shine to Buehrle, though, so it's easy to have that in common with them. I saw him and a few of his buddies out at the place called The Underground last season, and I swear he rolls with a crew straight out of Duck Dynasty. Anyways, the only real downside is Jays fans can be pretty belligerent to opposing fans at games, but it doesn't really bother me. The only other downside is that hockey takes up the majority of all sports coverage, even in the offseason.

I can't help but think if it was that easy (or their intention) to trade for Nieto instead of keeping him on the 25-man roster, they would have just traded for him and picked somebody else in the Rule 5.

Angels signed Torrealba to a minor league deal. I've been wanting the Sox to make a play for Conger, and with Torrealba now adding catching depth behind Ianetta, maybe now is a good time for old Ricky boy to give it a go.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jan 31, 2014 -> 12:49 AM) Added AJ scoring from 1st on a ground ball vs OAK I remember being at work following along with Gameday and being confused out of my skull about what just happened. I remember sometime in early September, 2006, Dye colliding hard against the RF wall making a catch and looking like he might be badly injured. He stayed in the game and hit a bomb the next half inning. I was in Cooperstown watching the game at some diner place. Dye was a beast that year.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jan 28, 2014 -> 11:48 AM) Pittsburgh is kind of desperate for a 1B. Wonder what Dunn could bring? Baltimore is supposedly looking for a DH as well.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 03:50 PM) People from outside US know two cities: NY and LA. AMD LA sports media isn't really that difficult. This isn't a generalization at all.

I almost picture the person responsible at MLB.com reading this thread while repeating "dance, puppets, dance" in a Mr. Burns-like manner.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jan 18, 2014 -> 05:04 PM) Uh, since like we've all been paying attention. $20M posting fee and looking at an annual salary approaching if not exceeding $20M per Sox stated that they have some room within their budget... $40M laying around is a little bit more than "some room" Either the Sox have been bulls***ting as Dick Allen is implying or somebody would have to go It's my understanding that the posting fee is spread out (I believe over two years?) and not paid as a lump sum.

I still think Hank Conger makes the most sense.

Adrian Nieto's agent wrote a piece for Baseball Prospectus recently. In the comments section, someone asked him about Nieto's chances of sticking with the Sox. This is what he had to say:

From rotoworld: Something tells me this is just a negotiating tactic. Or at least I hope so.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Dec 21, 2013 -> 03:21 PM) The other side to look at, since we are retooling, is what player do we have that others might want. I come back to Beckham. Despite the derision he receives, he's not that bad and might have had an uptick last year (a little hard to tell, considering the injuries). A team like Toronto may want him, we may be willing to trade him, so that sort of deal wouldn't surprise me. I'd like to see the Sox somehow get Conger from the Angels. They don't seem to be all that high on him, and still have Ianetta under control, so it's one of the few situations that present a clear and realistic upgrade. Maybe Hahn could keep the 3-way magic going. Send ADA and Beckham to TOR, LAA gets Sergio Santos, SOX get Conger as the main pieces (with other smaller pieces involved to smooth out the edges). Something like this would have me feeling pretty good about our lineup and future. The more I read about Conger, the more I see to like. Switch hitter, good pedigree, greatly improved defense, etc. He just hasn't been given much of a fair shot. It looked like he was turning a corner last season too.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Feb 4, 2012 -> 12:49 AM) I list 86-90mph, you dispute 90mph. I list "at least" one, you dispute one. Whatever. I have a ton of instructs-league level reports on my desk and if you think 90mph for an 18 year old pitcher is special. You're wrong. It's not. Lefties his age with that velocity aren't rare, you're right. But lefties his age with that supposed velocity and command of it (and off-speed stuff) are. He is a low ceiling guy, but also a high floor guy. His scouting reports remind me a lot of David Holmberg at a similar age.

QUOTE (Real @ Jan 12, 2012 -> 05:26 AM) didn't read the last two pages so forgive me if it's already been mentioned but what if the problem isn't with identifying the talent during the drafting process but, you know.... converting those drafts into MLB players there are ways to tell if it were the player, or the player development staff when deciding of a guy is any good or not after leaving through a trade or whatever, such as if he "finds it" on another team obviously borchard, fields, poreda, BA, Broadway were horrible first round picks, we'll see eventually how Beckham pans out as well as the pitchers everybody keeps mentioning my point: we suck at drafting and developing I think we've suffered from a bad combination of luck and execution. We've either swung (and missed) for the fences with high-upside types that never develop, or settle for low-risk/low-upside guys that top out as organizational filler. There never seems to be a happy medium. There seems to be a serious disconnect between our scouting department and player development. I like to think this is an issue being addressed, but with this organization, you never know. I used to be optimistic, but now I just assume the worst.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 12, 2012 -> 03:27 AM) There were rumors floating around that he might even be a few years older, so I am not a fan of Silverio at all. The future lineup projection is a meaningless exercise, but it also shows how thin our farm system's depth is in some of these positions. We have been stockpiling on pitching so far this off season, along with a few international signing of pitchers, but it's frightening that we don't have any 1B, 2B, or 3B prospects in our very weak top 20 prospect list. And our OF prospects are really long term, high risk high reward prospects. We have been stockpiling pitching prospects, but I have no issue with that. That's where we were the thinnest and also where we had the most need. Also the most success in terms of development. Our system is thin on positional prospects right now (as with basically everything), but there isn't a ton of need with position guys. Viciedo, De Aza, Alexei, Morel, Beckham are all young (Alexei aside, although he's the best of the bunch) and controllable for years to come. Their effectiveness is arguable in some cases, but there's still the option there. Three of the other positions (1B, DH, OF) are the easiest to fill, and the other (catcher) is one with which we actually have some semblance of depth. Our starting pitching options were totally barren compared to any other team. The guys we had as our lead prospects (Petricka, Santiago, etc.) would be afterthoughts anywhere else. Most of our pitching prospects are relievers or relievers trying to become starters. They've been trying to add some options, and I think that's the best approach. It represents our greatest need. I love the Castro addition, and I buy into Molina. I like both additions. They bought low on Castro. This was a near elite guy a year ago that struggled with his mechanics, went to the DL, and finished strong. I believe even the Molina acquisition was buying low. He still has the RP stigma unfairly attached to him simply because he worked out of the bullpen initially to help him ease into becoming a pitcher. He has everything you want in a starting pitcher. Sickles was the only pundit really high on him, and that's to his credit. He's usually the guy that focuses the least on reputation, and the most on what he actually sees.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 12, 2012 -> 03:19 AM) Does the new CBA come in effect as of now? If so, I think we need to credit the new CBA's requirement for international spending more than the Sox actively seeking a different philosophy. This signing doesn't count against the new CBA spending limitations. It doesn't come into effect yet, although it should still ultimately help us.

I'm not going to pretend to know anything about this guy beyond what's in this thread, but everything I've read sounds pretty encouraging. He has the body you look for, and that he has a fastball that projects as plus, as well as two other even passable pitches is pretty impressive for a guy his age.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 12, 2012 -> 02:55 AM) Silverio was an intriguing prospect a few years back when he was still a SS. But he's nothing special as a 3B, he's got a strong arm, but he doesn't have great range, and his throw is not accurate. I think he would move to LF eventually. His offense is a bigger suspect, as he couldn't hit for power, his plate discipline is terrible, and he is not a good base runner. Add that up, you got a sub .700 OPS player with no speed and average defense. He will be lucky if he can make it to the majors as a utility player. Rogers was perhaps Silverio's biggest supporter prior to the whole Wilder scandal stuff. At least from what I can remember. He's probably just happy that the guy finally had a passable season, so he can save face a little bit. And the whole future lineups thing is just an exercise in futility. It's meaningless.

I'm just as bored as anybody. I've been waiting for something big to happen, but nothing has really happened. But to criticize KW for waiting out the market is ridiculous. It's still a sellers market, and it appears that will only strengthen as the offseason progresses. The return San Diego got for Latos only improves our bargaining power. Coming into this offseason I felt like patience was the key to success in our position, but I had no faith in KW exercising patience. Yet, so far he has, and I commend him for it.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Dec 14, 2011 -> 02:11 AM) Finally, seems like there's a good chance that Cowley is cobbling together an article which does two beneficial things for Cowley: a) it attacks a person who doesn't get much criticism, so seems unique to the people who are easily impressed and b) attacks a guy who was not totally loyal to the Guillen camp, with which Cowley is clearly married. Cowley is nothing if not vindictive, and there are piles of evidence to that effect. Absolutely. He's a child. I remember his whole tangent about how awful Toronto is simply because he and Bob Elliot/Richard Griffin didn't get along. It actually bothers me that a guy like him has the job he has. But moving on, I'm not too worried about Coop. He's good at what he does. I believe that he was fighting for his job last season, but to me all that says is that he wants to stay here. He'd obviously catch on somewhere else pretty quickly, given his track record. That he was in such a panic to sign an extension just tells me he's in it for the long haul.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 5, 2011 -> 04:22 PM) In that division? I doubt they are in it next year. As is, me too. But you need to understand the desperation of a Pirates fan. Imagine being one.....wow......they exist and they're ready for something to cheer about.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 5, 2011 -> 08:45 AM) They probably missed their window last season. Though getting a big named player could change some perceptions and maybe sell some tickets. Their window is only getting bigger. Huntington is doing a good job, and also yes. Ticket sales would go up. People in Pittsburgh love the Pirates. They want a reason to pay to watch them. Can't say I blame them. They have the best stadium in baseball.....if they just had a watchable team it would do wonders.

I truly believe that coming back to the White Sox is in his best interest, provided of course we make an offer that is at least competitive. If he goes elsewhere, sure he'll be a hit for a couple months, but once the shine wears off he'll just be another guy. If he sticks with the White Sox.....dude is a legend. He's not a legend right now, but he's close to being statue worthy. This sounds ridiculous, but the cash value of legendary status is immeasurable. Endless promotional money, etc. If he has any monetary intelligence, he will keep this in mind.