Frank_Thomas

Here's an article about him after injuring his throwing arm before this season, missed 2 months but was ranked as 73rd overall best prospect in baseball pre 2013. Seems like a grinder who works the count and draws a ton of walks. Interesting read: http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/15788...miss-two-months

Quick scouting report from 2012 (at that point listed as a 4th outfielder ceiling): The Player: Adam Eaton (OF, Arizona Diamondbacks) – Modest 19th round pick out of Miam University (OH) in 2010. Hit a whopping .385 in his Pioneer League debut, torching the league in 68 games. Hit .332/.455/.492 in first half of 2011 season after skipping all the way to Double-A. Continued to hit in Double-A, managing a .302 batting average and 15 extra-base hits in 56 games for Mobile. Returned to Mobile for just 11 games in 2012 before earning a promotion to Triple-A. Since his promotion, he has hit .382/.457/.547 in 105 games with an astounding 41 doubles. Basis of Report: Compilation – Industry Contacts Scouting Report Body (5-8, 185): Small. Thick, compact body with good strength and fringy athleticism. Hit: Quick bat with contact-oriented approach. Noisy pre-load but settles down and gets the bat to the zone quickly and can make contact with east. Excellent knowledge of the strike zone and good pitch recognition. Works deep into counts and finds pitches he can handle. Willing to take a walk. Contact comes easy with very little swing and miss. Potential to hit for a high average against RHP. Lost against LHP. Dives toward plate and doesn’t read pitches as well from LHP. Grade – 60/60 Power: Very little home run power. Has enough strength and bat speed to drive ball to the gaps and can be a doubles machine. Well below average raw power but will still have some extra-base hits, mostly of the doubles variety. Grade (raw power) – 30/30 Arm: Nothing stands out with his throws. He gets rid of the ball quickly and almost always throws to the correct base. Average raw strength on most throws. Grade – 50/50 Fielding: Stretched in CF. Can get the job done due to high effort style of play, but itsn’t ideal. Defensive ability more suited to corner OF. Grinder type that will do anything to get the job done. Instincts and routes in CF are iffy at best and can often leave him diving for balls a better CF would get to with relative ease. Presently below-average in CF with ceiling as fringe-average defender. Grade – 40/40 Speed: Reports range from average to solid-average times down the line. Very aggressive runner, both in the outfield and when running the bases, which helps speed play up. Could steal 20 bases a year. Grade – 50/50 Summation: Absolute max-effort player. Leaves it all on the field. Manager’s dream. Controls strike zone exceptionally well and will take walks. Walks may decrease against MLB pitching because of lack of power. Anemic against LHP. Lacks any significant home run power but can pick up doubles and will stretch some singles because of aggressive style. Can handle CF but stretched in the process. Lacks premium profile to stay up the middle, and lacks premium offensive profile for a corner. Tweener. Really good fourth OF and contact-oriented bench bat. Relative Risk: Low. Big league ready with very good approach and grinder mentality. Future: Having no trouble with Triple-A pitching. Ready to be a big league fourth outfielder right now. Could help off the bench down the stretch and should be in the mix for a secondary role in 2013.

Gardner may cost a 3rd or 4th starter only... Would Danks for Gardner plus a prospect be worth it? If we could sign him long term? Per MLBtr: Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger (Twitter link) hears from rival executives that the most likely return for the Yankees in a Gardner deal would be a No. 4 starter. A No. 3 would be a "great get," according to those execs

Just judging by the text from Our Chuck and reading the latest on MLBtR I think we are waiting on AZ. They are trying to sign Choo and trade for a SP or apparently trading for Trumbo (Skaggs being a piece) and signing a FA SP. I think we are working with AZ with one of our SP. just my opinion. Here's the posts: 6:52pm: The Diamondbacks are in the hunt for Choo, according to Rosenthal (Twitter link). As we heard earlier, Arizona is also very much in the mix for Mark Trumbo, so as Rosenthal notes, it appears the club has several options, including trying to sign Choo and trade for a pitcher, or acquiring Trumbo and signing a free agent pitcher. Rosenthal adds in a second tweet that Texas and Arizona aren't necessarily the only two teams in on Choo. Other clubs are likely involved as well. 7:28pm: In their talks with the D-Backs, the Angels are primarily focused on Skaggs and Trevor Cahill, says Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

Article says if Napoli comes back AJ intends to wear #40 to honor Hawk, who wore #40 during his run with the BoSox. Just wanted to provide the link, pretty cool if you ask me on AJ's part. You can hate the guy but he bleed black and silver for us and will go down as one of my favorite players ever. Always went about the game the right way, and I loved seeing the oddities he would create during games by his knowledge of the game. Thanks again AJ for your years on the South Side and continuing to honor those who supported you from day one in this city, and it really did start with Hawk. Link: http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/pierzy...&ocid=yahoo

FWIW Merkin retweeted this from Keppinger: What comes easy won't last. What lasts won't come easy.

Not very sure of his prediction but says Sox will sign the 15th overall FA, Salty. 15. Jarrod Saltalamacchia - White Sox. Salty had the best overall year of any free agent catcher, and he won't turn 29 until May. He's a switch-hitter with good power. Drawbacks include a poor line against southpaws and lots of strikeouts. Saltalamacchia was benched by the Red Sox in the World Series in favor of David Ross. If Salty fell out of favor enough to avoid a qualifying offer, it will be to his advantage in the marketplace and could allow him to top my predicted four-year, $36MM deal. I don't love the White Sox prediction, so other possibilities include the Yankees, Blue Jays, Rangers, Phillies, and, to think outside the box, the Angels and Marlins. Other interesting predictions: - Choo to DET - Grandy to NYM - AJP to NYY - Tanaka to LAD - C. Young to Cubs - J. Johnson to K.C. Link to check out the rest: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/11/2014...dictions-1.html

I've been trying to find the actual quote or the video from ESPN since it was there interview so you can see what he says exactly. But in the mean time here's a video he mentions TWTW: http://m.wcvb.com/sports/Boston-Red-Sox-ma...l0/-/index.html

Did anybody see John Farrel's post game comments on feild. He was asked what was so special about these guys and he said something about chemistry and blah blah. But.... At the end he channeled THE Hawk Harrelson, he said the most important thing was....? THE WILL TO WIN, above anything else TWIW. Boom Brian Kenny. Lol. I hope Hawk had it ™ Anyways, congrats JP and Matty Ice. I'm glad Peavy finally got his ring even if it wasn't with us.

MLBTR quick write up: Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is no stranger to the trade market. Early reports have already pegged Hank Conger and Chris Iannetta as potential trade targets for Toronto, and now Scott Merkin and Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com report that the Jays are targeting White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham as well. Beckham, 27, hit .267/.322/.372 with a career-low five homers in a career-low 103 games this season. A broken hamate bone in his right hand cost him nearly two months of the 2013 campaign, which could have something to do with the decline in home runs. However, Beckham has never lived up to the hype that surrounded him after being selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2008 draft, slashing just .249/.314/.380 in 2,217 big league plate appearances. Beckham is eligible for arbitration for the second time this offseason, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a raise from $2.9MM to $3.5MM. He is under team control through the 2015 season. Chisolm and Merkin go on to write that given the Jays' need to improve the rotation, it's possible that they could look to expand the deal to include a starting pitcher. The MLB.com duo notes that lefties Hector Santiago and John Danks are said to be available, also adding that the White Sox covet minor league right-handers Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman. That pair of former first-round picks seems to me to be too steep an asking price for the players that the Blue Jays are targeting, but Merkin and Chisholm feel that Chicago GM Rick Hahn would need to be overwhelmed to part with Beckham.

Take it for what it's worth: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/tor/toront...p;vkey=news_tor Not sure if I'm on board of trading Beckham at this point, if the kid can stay healthy I think he puts it together next year. I really think trading him comes back and bites us, I really think GB is an all-star that needs to bust out. I also would be disappointed since I have his jersey. But if it did happen what would a package of GB/Danks or GB/Santiago net us. I assume most people would want Lawrie back As a start?

52

I wonder what Mr. Law analysis of this move will be..

QUOTE (glangon @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 07:19 AM) The A Bomb. to join the Tank and the Cuban Missile I like A Bomb. I can see Hawks call now, looks up... You can put it in the board.. Yesss! A Bomb from A-Bomb

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 09:05 AM) Did Phil rip that off from Jonah Keri's grantland column from last year? Because I swear a quote very similar to that is buried in Keri's column That's what I thought, he's just putting it in his own words I guess... I posted the grant land article last night good read about JDA and Cuban baseball in general.

Love this quote from the Phil Rodgers article on chisox.com: A formula designed by Baseball Prospectus' Clay Davenport translates stats from Serie Nacional to the Major Leagues. It pretty much nailed Cespedes' stats in his rookie season with Oakland. When you put Abreu's totals into that formula, you get a force of nature who is a cross between the Tigers' Cabrera and Barry Bonds in his prime.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 12:56 AM) Enjoy, Rock. I know the feeling, LOL. Bucket I know you don't like sharing over the board either but you got anything as far as future offseason plans?

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 11:55 PM) If you didn't like that ESPN garbage comparison to Viciedo, you may like this one better where they say he may be the best hitter on the planet and puts up god like numbers: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/760160...e-weapon-planet This is a great read, explains the Davenport stat from earlier, gives a glimpse of what playing in Cuba is like and makes you down right giddy about JDA!!

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 12:13 AM) Nelson Cruz??? Doesn't really fit the mold of what you've said though. I think Cruz dumped ACEs once he got popped for Roids. Him and Cabrera maybe, I want to say? Not a 100% on Canrea but pretty sure on Nelson.

Could they perhaps be calling on behalf of Mr. reddicks behalf to put in a request to be traded out of OAK and into the welcoming arms of the south side of Chicago?

So far I have Bryd and DeJesus. What say you Rock?

If you didn't like that ESPN garbage comparison to Viciedo, you may like this one better where they say he may be the best hitter on the planet and puts up god like numbers: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/760160...e-weapon-planet

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 11:45 PM) Before I go to bed ill share a juicy nugget on the board, its pretty general. What's that hot fire to use JDA's new nickname if I may

Cespedes general quote when asked about JDA: "Cespedes recently told USA Today that Abreu shares some attributes with Miguel Cabrera, another former shortstop who outgrew the position and flourished as baseball's best hitter. "If he had just a tad more speed, he would be a complete player," Cespedes told the paper." Espn: http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?storyId=968...amp;src=desktop

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 11:35 PM) DeJesus Would love this. If he's stays healthy he could rake and plays great D. Too bad KW is on the bench he's had a hard on for years for this guy. And Kenny always gets his guys. But seriously this would be a great addition.