Feeky Magee

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 5, 2017 -> 03:32 PM) Kevan Smith is now 4 points short of hitting .300. The walks or power aren't coming yet like they did in the minors but he's close to giving a kick in the dick to the whole AAAA concept so many people here are fond of.

I think you're reading too much into it. He calls for bunts because he thinks that's the best way of scoring runs. He is wrong and it is something that needs to be corrected for when this team is in contention.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 4, 2017 -> 03:27 AM) And bench/dump our Olympian speed skater or push him up to Charlotte when he's struggled pretty much the entire season offensively? Put him back up to Charlotte, why not. Despite struggles he's hitting for a 111 wRC+ in Birmingham and hit 106 in his brief time in Charlotte last season. Still yet to hit for a below league-average line at any stop. Release Everth Cabrera who is hitting .195/.279/.245 as a 30-year-old in AAA. Definitely need to see Dickman at AA.

Melky's up above a league-average line. Maybe they get a lottery ticket for him if they eat some salary.

Swarzak has almost the exact same peripherals as he did for the Yankees last year, only difference being a reversal of his ridiculous HR/FB percentage. Hopefully the Sox see this and roll with some more bad ERA/good peripherals bullpen free agents in the future, it's one of the easiest ways to improve a team.

Dickman 2-4 with 2 doubles

Heeeeeeeeeere comes the BABIP!

Swarzy is back in the groove

Well at least Quintana has wrapped up the most unearned run of the year award

I'd trade for Frazier if I was a contender needing a 3B. I calculated his expected BABIP a couple of weeks ago and it was over .300 iirc, compared to his current .223. His walks are by far at a career-high, strikeouts close to a career-low and power at his career norms. Just needs a few hits to start dropping in and his triple slash will start to look pretty.

Just noticed sorting through Baseball Reference's WARP leaderboard (which includes catcher framing) that they have Flowers as the 5th-most valuable player in baseball this year. Welp.

Really liking the Hanson pickup. Preseason ranked #80 prospect in baseball on the KATOH statistical projection list ( http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/katohs-2017...-100-prospects/ ), and (not that it's particularly wise focusing on a team slash rather than a season slash) .370/.451/.519 with the White Sox. High floor due to baserunning and positional versatility. Sox have a few of these guys but he looks like an MLB-calibre super-utility guy to me.

Justin Yurchak has 8 walks and no strikeouts so far at Great Falls. .353/.560/.412.

Dickman 1-1, BB, 2B

Mendick 4-4, HR, 2B. He's really starting to be someone.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 18, 2017 -> 07:23 PM) The future Sox board has an absurd tendency to suggest that any level 20-30/fringe prospect ever getting mentioned more than once like totally is overrating them as we all know you should only talk about players in proportion to their future impact. I was specifically responding to suggestions in this thread that he's one of the two most underrated prospects in our system right now and would be a household name next year, with curiosity as to what that was based on. I quoted his K-rate after 4 starts (and added in his K and BB rates in circa 40 college appearances) in response to his ERA after 3 starts being quoted to show how well he was doing. I'm sure he's a stand-up guy but sometimes I think there's a tendency to put too much stock in the draft rankings and potentially getting a steal versus guys already performing in the system. For example, more people putting Hickman in their top prospects than Brian Clark, meanwhile Clark is just 4 months older (again noting Hickman's age caveats) with a 8.3 K/9 v a 1.9 BB/9 at AAA.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 18, 2017 -> 06:44 PM) You do realize Hickman only pitched full time his last year at Iowa. I don't bet on any of these guys, but I do know all the things you criticized Hickman about as a pitcher, could easily be used to critique your 27 year old .220 hitting AA infielder mancrush. I would bet 30 out of 30 GMs would trade Alvarez for Hickman. You do realise that Eddy Alvarez didn't play college baseball at all and has put up above league-average lines at EVERY stop (including his current one, with a .345 OBP and a below-average BABIP with improved power and good scouting reports on defence)? I hype him more out of how incredible his story is than his MLB future (I think his peak is a utility infielder, and his demotion was not a good sign for what the Sox think of him), but he stands a hell of a lot better chance than Hickman imo.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 18, 2017 -> 07:33 PM) He's no Eddy Alvarez, Let's make a bet. 3 hours of future minimum wage* says Alvarez spends more time on the active roster than Hickman when all is said and done. *should be $100 minimum under President Sanders in 10 years.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 18, 2017 -> 06:57 PM) Writing someone off based on their velocity and K rate for their first 3 starts pro surgery is more premature than a virgin on prom night. I'm not, I'm just saying I'm not seeing where the love is coming from, as of yet. And I'm also factoring in the 16 starts he made at Iowa in 2016 with a 5.5 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9. And the 8.9 K/9 to 6.0 BB/9 out of the pen in 2014. And that was all before the surgery. What is it exactly that makes him a prospect as of this point?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 18, 2017 -> 09:24 AM) Hickman was looked at as a top 3 round pick before he was drafted. The injury and surgery pushed him back, but there is a decent amount of upside there. Whatever about where he was potentially viewed by some observers before a surgery (based it would seem on projection rather than any sort of college performance, which was seriously mediocre and actually regressed from 2014 to 2015), he is now a nearly 24-year-old (albeit with age caveats) throwing 90-93 in single A striking out 3.3 per 9. I don't see him as any sort of prospect without serious improvement.

QUOTE (turnin' two @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 09:25 PM) I have to say, I don't quite get all the Hickman love. I know he is a great story, but he has made, what, 3 starts? I saw people saying he was a better prospect than Danish at one time. Danish is younger and performing pretty well in AAA. Stephens has been injured this year, but he was fairly dominant last season at WS. I don't see how Hickman is in the same category of prospect as Stephens. I have to plead a bit of ignorance on him, does he throw 98? Plus plus slider? Plus command? Why is everyone so high on guy that took 2 years to recover from a TJ surgery who is now a 23 year old in the Sally? He doesn't seem to K guys at a high rate (now, or at Iowa, and at Iowa he really walked guys at an alarming rate) and doesn't have a huge history or pedigree. Sorry if this came off snarky, I don't mean it that way, I am just legitimately curious and likely uninformed. I'm with you.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 01:18 PM) Yah, nothing more exciting than a guy OPSing .692 in his 2nd trip through AA as 27 year old!! Alan Hanson is a guy everyone on here wanted a few years back in a trade. Trying to think of who it was we were looking to move at the time at Pittsburgh was rumored as interested. Peavy maybe? Was being mostly sarcastic but just for fun: Eddy Alvarez career minors: .284/.380/.403 Alen Hanson career minors: .281/.340/.435

Can someone edit the title to spell his name right, I spelled it like Alec Hansen

Yet more sickening disrespect of Eddy Alvarez

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 7, 2017 -> 06:56 PM) Blake Hickman has come out dealing his first two SALLY starts. Pretty much the same level of dominance as Dunning. Impressive, considering the two years of inactivity due to surgery. He's struck out 5 guys and walked 2 (and a HBP) in 12.1 IP. I'm not sure that's dealing, not exactly getting a ton of grounders either. Dunning in his first 2 starts struck out 21 in 14 IP, walking nobody.