Bruce_Blixton

Great write-up, they seem like a great group of guys and really relatable. Thanks for posting!

Great stats and analysis on Danish! I'm really excited about him going forward, not only do I think his stuff and delivery can hold up as a starter but his bulldog mentality will keep him in the rotation. He reminds me a lot of Peavy with the unorthodox delivery, above-average stuff and great mental toughness. Alvarez 3-3 with a 2B & 3B and 2 RBIs, looks like he doesn't have much left to prove at Kanny. If/when he gets promoted to W-S, they'll have some major speed in that line-up with Engel, Walker and Alvarez. It would be fun to catch a game or two to see all the havoc on the basepaths.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 28, 2015 -> 03:06 PM) I don't recall the TJ guys signing for that big of a discount last year, may not be remembering correctly though. I was using the hypothetical numbers in the post that I quoted for the discount, I know that it is highly unlikely that either of Aiken or Matuella are willing to sign for such a steep discount but stranger things have happened.

If Aiken or Matuella were willing to sign for that big of a discount it would be tempting to pull the trigger, close to $1 million to spend on prep prospects past round 10 could be huge. However, I think the injury history for both of them is too concerning so I'd stay away. If they are willing to sign for that far underslot though, Hahn could use it as leverage to negotiate with other available players. Personally, I'd like to see them take a more advanced college bat like Swanson or Happ, it's been pointed out several times that we have a distinct dearth of position prospects in the system outside of Anderson, Hawkins and Trey and it would be nice to have premiere bat coming up.

I feel bad for Saladino, he's got the skills to make it to the show but I'm not sure if he's durable enough. Seems like he goes on the DL every year, probably suggests that his ceiling is as a utility guy which is realistic but I was holding out hope that he could develop into a super-utility player like Sean Rodriguez for TB.

Looks like Trey Michalczewski left today's game after one at-bat, hope it's not a serious injury.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 09:56 AM) If Mitchell keeps doing THIS badly, in say May or June, I'd say it's time to cut ties. Jason Coats is doing well in AA, and would be more age-appropriate in AAA anyway, so send him up. Hawkins and May aren't ready. Josh Richmond should be healthy around that time too so he's also a possibility to replace Mitchell in Charlotte. I'd like to see Coats called up too, very polished hitter and a very shrewd draft pick by Hahn in 2012 getting him in the 29th round coming off an injury.

Great to see Erik Johnson back to his old self so far, Carlos Sanchez is raking right now. Going to be a really interesting situation with the infield over the next couple of seasons. Also nice to see Kevan Smith starting to adjust to the league, everything has been singles so far but at least he isn't overmatched. Brett Austin looks like he doesn't have anything more to prove at Kanny, should be a quick call-up to W.S. unless they like how he catches the young guys.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 02:27 PM) No Well...

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 05:48 AM) They won't have the money to do this unless they go way under slot in round 1. I'm not an expert with the draft allocations but with the rash of injuries to the top of the draft it's feasible that the Sox could draft one of the injured prospects for a modest discount of $500k or so and use that to throw at a higher ceiling prep position player in the later rounds. I'm sure it's not likely but there are scenarios where it could happen.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 06:23 PM) There is no such thing as "too much pitching." Pitching is always tradeable. If we have 7 MLB ready starters and we need to restock the lineup, either there's money available or that trade writes itself. If everyone else stays healthy and Rodon is in the rotation, then within a year or so we should be staring multiple top level trade candidates that we could use to fill in whatever gap we have. That is fine. Very true and I hope they have this philosophy for the first 5-7 rounds, but I wouldn't mind seeing them drafting some high ceiling/big bonus high school position players outside of the first 10 rounds. Much like they did last year with Bryce Montes de Oca but with a position player instead.

If only Danish was going today for BIR.

The Kanny lineup is pretty difficult to follow, there's a distinct dearth of position prospects on the current roster outside of Eddy Alvarez, Brett Austin and Mason Robbins and even those guys are fringy at best. Hopefully Hahn & co. take this year's draft to focus on drafting more position players with upside.

Congrats to James Dykstra on the no-no!

Trayce Thompson continuing his hot start, it would be great if something clicks for him this season. He probably still has the best physical tools in our minor league system.

QUOTE (newguy @ Apr 13, 2015 -> 02:05 PM) Bruce Blixton, thanks for the kind words about Brad. (my son) I wouldn't normally have responded, but I wanted to build on your comment about "not having a lot of mileage on his arm". I know we are very early into the season, but since he was converted into a pitcher, we have always emphasized about being efficient, as it relates to the pitch count. Strikeouts are fine, but over-rated. (even Greg Maddux would say so) The main goal is to pitch to contact & get the ball in play within 4 pitches. There's 8 other defenders to help make outs & it saves the arm. Having been a former shortstop, he knows what it's like to have pitchers throwing 5, 6 or 7+ pitches to every batter & he doesn't want to be that guy. Last year was his 1st full year as a pitcher & his pitches/inning were a pretty good 15.8 with a 63.2% strike rate. We set goals before spring training of getting the P/Inn to 14 or less & strike % rate to 70%. As I said, it is still early, but the P/Inn is currently at 11 & the strike % is at 67.3%. He's got 5 total innings in 2 games with only 55 pitches. I think the thing I'm most proud of is getting the ball in play in 4 pitches or less. So far he has faced 19 hitters & balls in play in less than 4 pitches is 14! (73.7%) (10 of those batters were 2 pitches or less) That saves the arm & keeps the fielders on their toes & into the game, cause the ball will be put in play. There are so many numbers as it relates to Sabermetrics these days, and admittedly, I sure don't understand them all. I try to stick with the few basics: First-pitch strikes - 11-19 (58%) - needs to improve a little there. Granted, it's only a 2 pitch difference, but the goal is 67% (13-19 would be 68%, but it's still a goal) Strike % on a 1-1 count - 4-5 (80%) - very happy with that - a strike thrown on a 1-1 count favors the pitcher by a difference of roughly .200 points in batting avg. than if you throw a 1-1 pitch for a ball Getting the first batter of the inning out - 5-5 (100%) - very happy with that Pitches per batter - (2.9) - very happy with that. So far, so good. Just need to keep focused & working hard. Thank you for such a lengthy and informative reply, I am absolutely impressed with your understanding and involvement in Brad's progression. He's lucky to have such a great father around! It sounds like he has a great gameplan on the mound and having watched Mark Buehrle all those years I completely agree with your philosophy on working efficiently and keeping your fielders involved in the game. The numbers that you shared with us, especially the situational strike %s, lead me to believe that Brad could make the leap to starter. I would love to read a first-hand account on his transition from SS to P, I've always had a lot of respect for players that can do that.

Brad Salgado with an old-school 3 innings save for Kanny too, I wonder what the Sox long-term plan with him is. Grooming him for the bullpen is the obvious choice, but I wonder if he's shown them enough flashes and potential to convince them to give him a shot as a starter. He doesn't have a lot of mileage on his arm being a converted position player and his results so far have been pretty impressive, seems to have a good command of the strike zone.

QUOTE (LDF @ Mar 26, 2015 -> 05:19 PM) at #8, Aiken (after surgery), Kirby, Allard, Matuella, Bickford, or Fullmer. who still has the higher upside?? From that list I'd go with Matuella, Bickford, a toss up between Kirby and Aiken and then I'd go with Buehler and even Funkhouser before Allard and Fullmer. Don't really like the size of Fulmer, he could light it up like Stroman but I'd feel more comfortable is the Sox took someone with a bigger frame and more projectability. As to the original question posed regarding Aiken, I wouldn't choose Aiken unless he gives us a steep discount which I think is extremely unlikely to happen. I'd rather take someone that has a clean history and similar projectability than someone coming off of TJ surgery, but I'm skeptical of the conventional wisdom that TJ surgery is some kind of cure-all for pitchers.

Hahn has done an amazing job locking in a great core of players so far, Sale, Quintana, Abreu and now Eaton, this has to make a pretty persuasive case for Samardzjia to sign an extension before the end of the year. Also I'd love to see Hahn sign Avi to an extension on the heels of this one. Great time to be a Sox fan right now, I haven't been this optimistic since the offseason before the 2006 season.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ Mar 4, 2015 -> 07:36 AM) Think I'm going for a Quintana shirsey this year. Don't see enough of them around. I've got a dark gray Sale and an Alexei ASG one, but that's it (let's pretend the Beckham one I bought in early 2011 doesn't exist). I think Quintana's the guy. Are you sure you wouldn't want this instead? http://supersportstees.com/view/2934901/jo...aseball_t_shirt

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2014 -> 06:29 AM) No, that is the perfect example as to why you make a move like that. They gave Paulino a shot to prove himself, he didn't, and they jumped ship immediately. They gave Downs a shot, he stunk, and they jumped ship immediately. Frankly, I think they kept Belisario because the stuff was still good and they wanted to see if they could get him straightened out and, bottom line, they need SOMEONE to pitch those innings. They couldn't, and he'll likely be non-tendered this offseason. So I believe Eminor would like to thank you for the perfect example of what the Sox should do. They can probably shoot a little higher up the ladder than Paulino, but the idea remains. Also, when the good you are trying to acquire is unique by itself, and you are going up against 29 other teams, the player has a lot of leverage, especially early on. Someone who has had success like Masterson in the past will likely command a lot of 1 year offers and he'd likely take 1/$6 mill compared to 1/$10 with a team option for year 2 because he has a higher earning potential with the 1/$6. I am very sure he'll get a standard one year deal. Totally agree that this is the best strategy to address our rotation over the next couple of years, by signing a reclamation project like Masterson or possibly Brandon Morrow to a short-term "prove it" deal the Sox limit their downside while having the potential of a lot of upside if they can regain their previous form. With Rodon waiting in the wings to enter the rotation and another high draft pick this year to acquire another front-end pitching prospect the Sox would be smart to have a bunch of short-term deals that can be easily unloaded to make space for the pitchers that have a better pedigree. Ideally I'd like to see the Sox sign Masterson to a cost-effective 2 year deal and eventually take Danks' spot in the rotation, Morrow would be another good choice and would most likely be way cheaper but he also carries the same injury/bust risk as Paulino did this year. Still that 10 K/9 he had for a few years would look really nice in our rotation...

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 11, 2014 -> 09:34 AM) Super, super awesome early list with great info: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2015-mlb-draft-top-51/ Thanks for the link, great preliminary look at next year's draft class. I hope the Sox go with a college player in the first round next year, even if it is Aiken or Bickford, I'm really hoping that Matuella falls to us though. For the second round I hope Hahn & co. go for a high-upside prep bat, a couple of players really stuck out from that list that might be available when our second pick rolls around. has amazing size and athleticism almost in a Vlad Guerrero mold and Jahmai Jones has great bat speed and the athleticism to play several positions. Regardless of which way they go with their picks it looks like a pretty strong class this year and we should get another couple of good prospects out of it.

I thought you guys did a great job with the recaps, they helped add color to the box scores. Thanks for doing it all season long!

Brandon Morrow could be interesting for the right price, I highly doubt TOR would pick up their club option on him.

Great Falls does have to complete a suspended game today as well so maybe they give Adams the nod to help finish out that one. Although one start at Kanny to end the year might be a good test/reward for the season he's put together.