Leonard Washington

Apologies if this is a repeat thread. Also, please don't correct the Canadian spelling. My three are Jose Reyes, Justin Upton, Mike Stanton. I also still love watching Carlos Lee hit. I know he's a shell of his former self, but I have too many good memories of that man to stop the excitement. Yours?

I don't know if this has been posted before, but all of a sudden Beckham's underachieving makes perfect sense.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 12:55 AM) I also want Dayan, but he'll make his share of outs. No. Only opposite field doubles. Get a grip.

You know that sinking feeling every time Juan Pierre steps to the plate, and you know the absolute best outcome is a bloop single? Now close your eyes and imagine that instead of Juan Pierre, it's Dayan stepping into the box with his quietly dangerous stance. He gets a fastball, and it looks like he's taking the pitch. Then all of a sudden you see lighting fast bat speed knock a line drive double to RF. This could and should be a common reality in our lives, and the fact it isn't is utterly disturbing.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 11:36 PM) They'll swap places next week, after Kuhn plays in the SL all star game. What's Kuhn's upside? How's his defense?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 11:19 PM) Thought this was interesting: http://www.pe.com/sports/highschool/conten...id.40083da.html Either you got this from the Sickels link, or that's a pretty big coincidence.

I didn't read through the thread, but Pablo Ozuna, Greg Norton, and Carlos Gomez were the first ones I thought of.

Sickels love affair with Walker continues. Asked who he would have drafted with the Rays' picks, he chose Keenyn Walker with the 38th overall pick in the draft. He also drafted Erik Johnson with the 42nd overall pick. He must have really liked our draft. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2011/6/16/2...draft#storyjump

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 02:15 AM) Greg, sometimes I don't understand why you think it's your role to defend Ozzie or Bobby Jenks or Juan Pierre. Is everyone disappointed in Beckham and Rios and Dunn and Peavy? Of course, but realistically, we know we're pretty much stuck with all of those guys for the duration of their contracts. As someone else mentioned, players like Rios with all the talent in the world but none of the courage/fearlessness/drive/heart drive me nuts. If you put Juan Pierre's "head" in Rios, you'd have a superstar. Unfortunately, we're stuck with Juan's drive in a body that's been beaten up and abused for too many seasons....you could probably say the same thing about AJ. Maybe we'll see glimpses of the former player, but not on an extended basis. So because of his caught stealings, lack of arm, atrocious defense THIS year, lack of walks, lack of power, lack of ability to sacrifice bunt....what tool of the five does he still possess? Unless he's hitting at .300 or above, he's not bringing anything to the table. In his best incarnation at this point of his career, he's still in the bottom quartile of AL LFer's in terms of production. And then there are those frustrated he's getting so many AB's, that Ozzie keeps defending him (he's THE reason, basically, that Viciedo isn't up), that Lillibridge hasn't been given more opportunities when he's clearly outplaying Juan at 1/50th the salary. Add all these things up....Juan Pierre will be okay as a man, as a person, no matter how this year turns out. He's one of the good guys in baseball, hardest workers....it's almost because he represents everything that is good, that's standing in the way of his being benched or waived. If he was pouting like Swisher or isolating himself from the media and teammates like O-Cabrera, this wouldn't be so painful for everyone watching the soap opera from a distance. I emphatically agree with all of this.

I can say I don't hold it against either of you for holding out hope, and it's actually nice because reading it renews some of mine....but I just don't buy it. High tools guys in the low minors, I want contact rates more than almost anything. That's just a way I view guys. But my man...I hope you're right. Especially about Thompson.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:13 AM) I agree totally. He's had a decent career and made vasts amounts of money and won't be here next year. Why is he playing so much and leading off on top of that ? I respect him, I honestly do, but he's gotta go. That he's made as much as he had out of so little talent is a testament to his dedication.....but there comes a time, ya know?

If I'm Kazmir's agent, I'm looking for an NL club with a rotation/bullpen opening. I don't see us signing him, even if we wanted to (which I hope we don't....dude's toast)

I'd rather have Ohman.

I find it really hard to be excited about Thompson or Mitchell, which sucks because I used to be. I don't trust anybody with K issues in the low minors, regardless of tools.

He's done.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 15, 2011 -> 10:10 PM) No, it's not one game. Not against this team. 7-27 since May of '09? Are you serious. That's a problem and shouldn't sit well with anyone. There's no way to sugarcoat that. Agreed 100% I expected failure tonight, and that's what happened. I think the team does the same thing, and that's the problem.

If anything, Rios' immense talent makes me like him less. Someone like Pierre would kill for that kind of natural talent. Rios annoys me infinitely more than Pierre because he represents wasted talent, which pisses me off. But the reality is that Rios DOES own that talent and upside, and unlike Pierre, he can play CF. Pierre is a one and a half tool player that no longer has one and a half tools. He's just about as useless as a player can get. I don't dislike him, but he's doing nothing but hurting this team. He NEEDS to go. He's the worst player on the team, and he's getting more at bats and playing time than anybody.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 10, 2011 -> 02:34 PM) FanGraphs did a study on the biggest rivalry in baseball based on Google results (flawed, but something). http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/w...es-in-baseball/ Apparently, White Sox-Tigers is the 7th best rivalry in baseball, followed by Sox-Cubs and Sox-Twins. You'd think it's the other way around. That was a really poorly done article.

QUOTE (MAX @ Jun 11, 2011 -> 12:46 AM) Gordon had some big at bats tonight that surprised me, in a bad way. I hope he picks it up again too. He has some seriously bad habits with his swing.

Man....I love Devon White. I'm born and raised in Toronto and was a little kid when the Jays were killing it in the early 90's. Devo was an amazing CF. I remember in little league trying to perfect the bucket catch like he would always do. As for Walker, Sickels has really helped me accept the pick.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 10, 2011 -> 09:41 PM) You see teams in the Super Regionals with no one close to hitting 10 homers. I wonder how much scouting has changed of these players due to the bats. You'd have to think it's easier.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 10, 2011 -> 11:41 PM) Seriously, what has gotten into Burnside. He figured something out..... 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 K. He has struck out 9+ each of his last 4 starts. 27 1/3 IP, 41 K, 8 BB. He needs go get those walks down a little, but his K's have exploded. He struck out only 9 batters in his previous 6 starts, and then AVERAGED more than 9 in his next 4 starts. At age 24, and in Low-A, I really would like to see him moved up to W-S very soon. He still has a chance to be a decent prospect if he can be in AAA by time he is 25 or 26. Scouting report? I'm not going to get too excited about any 24 year old in Low-A, but it's nice to know these things.

Very, very tough loss. Especially since we could have been 4.5 games back, and also gained ground on the Tigers. But reality is these types of losses happen a couple times a season. We've been on the other end of it (comeback against KC that was very similar comes to mind), but not as much as I'd like.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 10, 2011 -> 09:35 AM) May 23 Indians were 30-15 June 10 Indians are 34-26 I can say with confidence that at no point this season did I take the Indians seriously.

I won't lie...I love Gio. He's essentially the only prospect we've let go in the last while that hurts for me.