Bruce_Blixton

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 21, 2010 -> 10:21 AM) I'm not being silly at all. The reason people want him traded is he has 2 years left under team control. Obviously he's not as valuable as Pujols, but he's about as valuable of a White Sox as anyone. Trading him would be a mistake unless there is some sort of injury concern. On this board people are saying Buehrle is appropriately paid $14 million because he gives you 200 innings. Danks gives you a better 200 innings, so he's worth a lot more than his arb number, yet, for some reason people want to trade him. It's not that I want to trade him, but it's probably the smarter business decision for the team right now. We all know that it's team policy to not sign pitchers to long-term contracts, it was a miracle that they were willing to sign Buehrle to a 4 year deal. Danks has already shown us that he's not interested in signing an extension with us and wants to test the free agent market after his arbitration years are up. Most likely he'll be offered a 6-7 year deal for 15+ mil/year, an offer we'll never match. I only suggested trading Danks because of the team's philosophy in dealing with pitchers, not because he's a player under the control of the team for two more years. We're not going to have this discussion about Beckham when he's got two years left. Trading Danks this offseason would probably receive the maximum return for him from here on out.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 20, 2010 -> 07:09 PM) Not sure why the Rangers would give up that much when they just announced today that they are going to try their absolute hardest to resign Cliff Lee and that they are going to bring a very legitimate offer to the table. Considering they amount of cash flow coming into the organization right now, it's not unfathomable to believe that they will be able to resign him. True, the Rangers will see a revenue increase regardless of how they finish the postseason, but as rockren pointed out, when it comes to the free agent market, it's the Yankees world and the rest of us are just living in it. The smart money would try to target someone like Danks to keep costs low next season while collecting all that added revenue.

I know that the idea of trading John Danks isn't the most popular idea, but from a business perspective it's probably a good time into "selling high" on Danks before he inevitably leaves for an ungodly paycheck in a couple years. (a paycheck we'll never match) I came up with this trade scenario the other day and wondered what people think of it: White Sox trade: John Danks Jordan Danks Rangers trade: Julio Borbon Engel Beltre Jurrickson Profar Wilmer Font Pros for Texas: If the Rangers make it to the World Series and win it and with the Astros wasting away, they'll have the entire the entire state of Texas as their fan base and the revenue increase that should come with it. Couple that with what appears to be a highly motivated and aggressive new ownership group headed by Nolan Ryan, chances are they'll be making some moves this offseason to stay atop the AL. This means they probably wouldn't be too shy to take a chance on a young lefty beating on the door of free agency like Danks, especially if Cliff Lee bolts for New York. They'll need to find a viable replacement and John Danks under Greg Maddux and Nolan Ryan's tutelage might do the trick. Plus, the Rangers might get a hometown discount from Danks if they were to try to extend him. Many have written Jordan Danks off and with the current state of our minor league development system I have too, but that doesn't mean it's too late for him. With the Rangers track record with cultivating and nurturing young hitting talent, Jordan could start tapping into the potential everyone's been talking about for years. Pros for the Sox: Acquiring a legitimate top-of-the-order type guy in Borbon would allow us to move Pierre to the 9 hole where he'd be a better fit and add a nice up-tempo pace to the lead-off spot again. I really feel like he's on the cusp of breaking out if given the chance and with Andrus holding down lead-off and their crowded outfield, it doesn't appear that the Rangers can give him that chance next season. Engel Beltre has Matt Kemp type ability and similar character issues as well, there's no doubt that he could be a legit 20/20 guy, maybe even 30/30 if he puts it all together. He'd add an exciting dynamic to our minor league outfield depth to go along with Jared Mitchell. Wilmer Font is a big, young right-hander that has shown flashes of brilliance but hasn't put it all together yet. I have a lot of trust with our pitching development guys in the minors, they always seem to be able to get the players to pitch above their ability. Jurrickson Profar would be the real centerpiece for this deal though, 17 year old switch-hitting SS that was already named the Northwest League's top prospect in just his first professional season. I know that they refused to include Profar in the Cliff Lee deal, but Danks wouldn't be a half-season rental like Lee. Sorry for the long-winded post, just wanted to make sure I backed my idea up with some logical arguments rather than fling s*** at a wall.

Brandon Short and Saladino have been out of their respective lineups for a while now, are they on the DL or something?

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Aug 23, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) Surely not ..both of those guys are very down to earth ..Shoemaker a little on the shy side. Different note, Omogrosso is excited to be caught by Blackwood during his rehab!

Kannapolis is going to have a fun team to follow next season with Wilkins, Blanke, Hamme, Heidenreich, Spencer Arroyo, maybe they'll have Trayce repeat the level too.

Heidenreich has been on fire this year, honestly I think he probably has more upside than most, if not all, of our pitching prospects. (even more upside than Homberg, before he got traded away)

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Aug 14, 2010 -> 08:33 PM) Heidrenreich had 12 BBs in 22 IP last season. He only has 10 BBs in 65 IP this year. He has also increased his SO per. He'll move quickly up the sox prospect boards next season. Saladino last 10 games: .412/.524/.706/1.230. Really like this kid as a prospect. Brandon Short.. 8 BBs this month in only 36 ABs. He's quickly becoming my favorite prospect, ever since I saw this I knew he could turn into a solid middle infield prospect. Love the sound of the ball coming off his bat.

Thanks for the replies, I agree that his bat is nowhere near being Major League ready but from all reports his glove certainly is. I just thought it might inspire/drive him if he saw the amount of preparation that guys like Vizquel put into the game and hopefully have some of that rub off on him. It's amazing to see what Vizquel has done with Alexei over this season. I guess I'm higher on Escobar than most, but a 21 year old switch hitter that is holding his own in the Southern League is still pretty impressive.

Hi everyone, first let me thank all of you for forming such a comprehensive and detailed resource to keep up to date with the minor league system, it's one of the, if not THE best, fan-operated minor league forums around. So to you guys. Wanted to get your guy's opinion, with Escobar's sustained success so far in AA, would anyone else like to see him get a September call-up to get some one-on-one mentoring from Vizquel? I mean, what couldn't a slick fielding, switch-hitting SS learn from Omar, right?