Flash Tizzle

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Aug 29, 2007 -> 11:01 PM) I still don't get your enthusiasm for a high pick. Take a peek at our minor league system and tell me that those making the pick are not clueless. Several reasons I, among others, are enthusiastic: - First time in more than fifteen years the White Sox will have a Top 10 pick. - Certain talent is only available early. Porcello nonwithstanding. Verlanders, Mauers, Uptons, Lincecums, Brauns just don't fall without injuiy/performance concerns. - We're allowing ourselves more players to scout. This widens the field and allows more options. - A shift in organizational philosophy concerning picks makes me believe, if given an opportunity, they'll select the person with the hightest celing. However, I'm still worried whether or not we'll be willing to sign a draft pick over slot recommendations. This depends heavily upon the expected value of fellow amateur players and their representation (ie, Boras). If we have an opportunity to select someone and miss out because of the aforementioned concepts, then something has to change in the top of management. We can't blow this chance. Lord knows we haven't succeeded selected 15 and above; may as well see what happens with an earlier selection.

QUOTE(Jeremy @ Aug 27, 2007 -> 03:10 PM) Hmm. I think that unless you believe you couldn't sign remotely as valuable as Javy for a similar amount of money then the $30 million and Young makes the team more than marginally better. You'd essentially be able to have Young and use that money to sign a pitcher who's not much worse than Javy. Your point about the farm system is well taken but I also feel that some teams who evaluate players differently wouldn't have parted with a Chris Young nearly as easily and that's interesting to me. I could be wrong, for e.g. Oakland shocked a lot of people when they moved Carlos Pena who people assumed they'd be really high on. Generally though, teams aren't trading their elite level prospects.. Kenny was either really desperate to land Vazquez, didn't regard Chris as highly as others, or both. Here's what angers me -- why aren't other general managers "desperate" to acquire our players? Where are the pseudo Kenny Williams willing to have a deal haunt to acquire a certain player? I'm sick of these weak trade deals from our end. If your answer is, "what players have value," whose fault is it for holding onto players long enough for defencies to mount? Garland, for example. Why is he still here? Any idiot could have forcasted an evitable drop in production. Or the contract negotiations which will be mentioned ALL offseason and over the 2008 season. And, to address the main point of your post, while teams may be more reluctant to trade their talented prospects, that's just too bad for Williams. It's this position he put himself in by dealing Young, watching Anderson struggle, and having few -- if any -- elite prospects of our own above A ball. He needs to acquire elite prospects this offseason. I don't care how. It needs to happen. What other avenues are there for us to build the ballclub? The free agent market? Perhaps, but we're not spending enough to improve every poor position. The draft? Until we develop talent, or I know more about upcoming players in the draft, I'm not going to rely on it as our savior.

Here's one of MInnesota's draft picks from June pitching in rookie ball: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...&pid=518999 So, should I just assume -- even at this level -- he'll be the next Minnesota Twins pitching stud?

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Aug 26, 2007 -> 09:36 PM) I wonder if you're just being rhetorical, because you've spoken about how Garland needs to go and KW needs to do whatever or we need to draft whatnot and "KW better not fail," and he always does by your standards and mine, but you seem to cut him more slack. I just phrased it wrong. Probably should have proof read the post first. I meant "assembling a trade package" as in receiving a trade package from another team. One in which, several years from now, the journalists responsible for covering said team write how much the trade has haunted them. Meaning, quite simply, Williams had pulled ahead in the deal.

I believe entering 2008, it'd be best for no one within the organization to reference 2005 anymore. It'd be great if such a loose restriction were placed on this website as well. Yes, we're all happy the White Sox won a championship; but two seasons will have passed. Reminds me of Soxtalk in 2003, and how you'd frequently find someone mentioning the 2000 team. It just becomes a stale comparison after while. This team within this division has changed for the worse since then. Time to move on and begin concerning ourselves with this current team and its forseeable future. That should extend to the possible job security of management and the coaching staff. Don't tell us how the same core is remaining. Try to look forward, not backwards. I'm actually awaiting this offseason. It'll be vitally important for Williams first, to acquire talented prospects, and second -- assemble a ballclub capable of contending (such everyone seems convinced those are his intentions.) He's only making it more difficult on himself, to be truthful. If Williams were to begin a rebuilding phase, we'd atleast expect hardships. What's the excuse going to be when he has every intention of competing next season, as he did for 2007, and the team again finishes poorly? 2005 nonwithstanding, his future with this organization should be short. My number one goal leading into Spring of 2008 (because I honestly don't have any expectations for the season) is to improve the minor league system by any means. I don't even want to hear about "prospects being worth their weight in gold." I just don't care. Get it done, Williams. Find your ballclub talented prospects, and not just "diamonds in the roughs." You sure have quite the mess to overcome.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 26, 2007 -> 08:26 PM) Not DLS's best outing this season. Very nice outing for Broadway though. Needs to be more consistent however, as he's had his share of good and bad starts this season. Hopefully starts such as these are rare with DLS. He's incredibly valuable to the future of the White Sox. The most important prospect, IMO, and one where production and/or health can't fall off one bit. We need him to anchor future rotations and match other starters within the division. That's right -- I have high expectations.

At this point, may as well look forward to draft position. What's the difference between 100 losses and 90 losses, aside from the number of digits? Will fans say, "well, I may have bought season tickets if we loss 90, but 100 is just too much." We need every possible break. But knowing the White Sox, they'll suck as losing as well and go on a 10 game winning streak to end the season.

My expectations of Williams this winter is to assemble a trade package in which, two years from now, journalists of the opposing team are writing articles suggesting the deal is "haunting" them. That's just the position he put himself in. He better not fail, for his sake and the success of his franchise.

One of the best movies you've never heard of, Once Were Warriors, is on IFC right now. If you're unable to watch it, catch the re-run at 4 - 5:45am. Tivo it if necessary. This movie is teh awesome.

QUOTE(TLAK @ Aug 25, 2007 -> 07:14 AM) Ozzie speaks the truth, from MLB.com Scott Merkin If Guillen were DJ he could have summed up the entire struggles of our team in one unifying phrase: "It is what it is" Which, basically, is the equivalent of not offering anything of substance on the subject. A complete cop out to avoid criticizing the ballclub. Atleast Guillen is willing to tell everyone what we're seeing what our own eyes, and not what our team's broadcasters are feeding us.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 11:16 PM) Yikes, those are some decent numbers Reynoso has. Let's hope I'm not one day saying "Where's our Reynoso?" It'd be sad if Detroit not only had the benefit of drafting pitchers who dropped due to signability, but actually produced several top tier international prospects as well. How would we compete with that? Here's another potentialy sad note -- a talented 16 year old shortstop out of the Dominican Republic named Edward Salcedo is being heavily pursued by several teams. Among them, Cleveland. Websites such as minorleagueball.com have conflicting information about who may have been the highest bidder. One obvious indication we weren't involved is the name of his agent. You know who. I guess we'll make a conscious effort to avoid his players in the free agent and international market. Here's a scouting report on Salcedo:

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 09:36 PM) This just in....the Chicago White Sox are not very good. But, according to Williams all this team needs is a few tweaks. We have the talent.

Heads, don't even bother posting scores from either DSL team. Both are bad (second team has second worst overall record in entire league), and I can't indentify any legitimate prospects. Browse through these statistics and prove me wrong. The closest is Anneury Peguero and Joucer Martinez. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...ibp&cid=633 http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...bp&cid=1612 Meanwhile, check out this pitcher Detroit has: Edward Reynoso Or Minnesota: Martire Garcia Where's our Dominican prospects comparable to these two?

QUOTE(greg775 @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 08:48 PM) That was a ridiculous decision to let Hall play hurt. To see such a big guy be a singles hitter is sad. Hope he's not around next year. At the rate we're going with Hall, he'll have the surgery in the offseason, take spring training and thereafter several months to rehabilitate, then come back in June when we're already 10+ games out of the division. I'm not too confident for next season, but I'd rather have Toby as a healthy backup than paying some other scrub additional money.

Why isn't Toby Hall undergoing surgery right now? It's ridiculous how he continues to play. The man hasn't had a hard hit ball all year long.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 07:25 PM) Garland strikes me as kind of a flake. The fact the veterans gave up long ago, him included, makes me think he can bounce back next year if the Sox put together a team that can get off to a good start and look like a contender. It's obvious he's given up on this season. His overall statistics in comparison to past seasons suggest he will marginally improve (ERA+ currently 94, career is around 104), but even with an improvement from his current slide, he's still just an average pitcher. Whether he's "given up" or is simply regressing, Garland is absolutely killing his trade value entering the offseason. We're not winning anything next year. I wish people would get that in their heads right now. Just think to yourself what would have to occur for us to rebound and overtake every team (including KC) above us. It's just not happening. Best thing we could do is trade Contreras/Garland, promote Egbert/Gonzalez, and just let them pitch.

Two items featured on the WGN pregame which annoyed me. One, is the amount of time spent boasting the ratio of Boston fans to Sox fans. I understand pointing it out once, but seriously, Dan Rohn (?) went on..and on....and on.. about it. Boston is in first place and travels well; we're in last place. There should be no one suprised. Second was Hawk/DJ suggesting how NO ONE could have predicted the failures of this ballclub. ORLY? So Baseball Prospectus, myself and others around Soxtalk had no idea this team would struggle? I had this team winning 82 games in March. Others were more pessimistic than that. And how about Garland earlier this afternoon? Embarrassing. Williams should have traded him before the deadline. He'll regret it over the offseason.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Aug 17, 2007 -> 07:29 PM) How wrong is it to admit that I REALLY like the new Matchbox 20 single??? Yes. Although I enjoy the latest Timberland creation "Ayo Technology" with 50 Cent and Justin Timberlake, so I'm not one to judge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZKZL6Ed19M...ted&search=

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 20, 2007 -> 07:39 PM) Also we know what the Sox history is with drafting and developing thier own players. They don't do it well. Its like asking Jim Thome to sacrfice bunt. They don't do it, so why expect it? Why expect it?! This is a concept I've never understood. A large percentage of our fans are completely passive concerning this issue. Why should Kansas City, Pittsburgh, or Tampa Bay fans expect a championship? They don't do it well, right? If our fans have expectations of the White Sox to be the best team in baseball, why can't this sentiment transfer itself to player development? Management from Williams on down should strive to not only have a championship calibur ballclub, but a minor league system capable of producing replacement level players. Andy Gonzalez and Jerry Owens just won't cut it. Personally, and I don't believe I'm alone here, I expect more from this organization. Everyone should be aboard and hold player development to the same elevated standards they have towards the major league team. What do we have to show for the last two years of scouting other teams minor league systems and selling players at the right time? Danny Richar? Maybe. Nick "Tick Below Jenks" Masset and Gavin "Arizona Fall League" Floyd don't do much for me. I probably wouldn't have cared as much if it weren't for Williams proudly raving on the talent both possessed. As of now, either appear major league ready, and as a result, Williams looks foolish. Any benefit we've had recently from obtaining other teams prospects is minimal and overstated because of Jenks. Until we have a deal comparable to that of which Minnesota received for Pierzynski, or Cleveland for Bartolo Colon (ie, franchise changing trades), then I'm not going to give Williams much credit for receiving Gonzalez and Danks in what's beginning to look more and more like one-for-one deals. I credit him for dealing McCarthy, but not for only one player worth a damn. Championships won't be won with small steps such as those. More contributing players need to return in trades if, according to you, our draft success is poor and that's just the way it is. In addition, if they truly knew the best oportunity to trade players Garland would have been traded last month. We're going to go through the same issues with his contract extension as what occured with Buehrle, and -- judging from his post ASB performance -- there's a chance we're not going to receive much for him if he doesn't rebound soon. Why didn't they see this coming? I wasn't the only one on Soxtalk practically begging Garland to be traded for positional prospects. Or how about Crede? He should have been traded with lingering back issues and Fields in the wing, correct? Because they were dangling him to Anaheim suggests to me the thought atleast entered their minds. It wasn't as if it was an impossible turn of events to predict. Certaintly more predictable than McCarthy breaking down. Why not? Why can't we be the Twins? This is exactly the problem I have with comments such as yours. We're so willing to emulate the Twins on the field with their philosophy of "playing the game right" and having "grinders," yet we're not willing to match the Twins and their success from within? It's just strange to me how you show absolutely no faith in the system, yet provide no criticism of Williams or anyone else. Almost as if you're virtually shrugging your shoulders. Even if you're more confident in him extracting talent from other clubs, shouldn't it be a priority of a contending ballclub to have their own draft picks succeed? Our ways of acquiring talent is really more limited than people think. -Boras re: draft/FA -Don't select players overslot -Don't have much success developing players on national or international level -Never can be expected to outbid anyone for a high profile player -Nature of market has made finding low-key FA's with high potential less and less likely -Few players on the team hold significant trade value -Fewer players on the team with value are expendable because of someone in the minors ready to replace them. Of course, the one scenario this could have benefited us was with backless Crede and Josh Fields. Only seems fitting Crede undergoes surgery. I don't know about you, but I believe one of these is the easiest to change. That's option #3. To hear people dismiss it is the equivalent, in my mind, of accepting failure. I believe Shaffer's firing two months ago suggests Williams doesn't take such failures very lightly.

Also, relating to the above post, Baseball America has a front page article concerning the signing of international prospects. It's subscriber content. Anyone mind summarizing the amount of money we didn't spend and the players we didn't take?

SSI sent this to me yesterday. I believe it's interesting, to say the least. http://boards.espn.go.com/boards/mb/mb?spo...8302&lid=10 I wonder where we rank among other teams and the bonuses given to sign Latin American players. If we're anywhere lower than the Top 10, something is wrong with this organization and its priorities.

Say what you want about Beane, but would I be the only one relieved if I heard Williams connected with these quotes? Just a sentence that atleast acknowledges the possibility of rebuilding. http://www.mercurynews.com/sportsheadlines/ci_6663217

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ Aug 19, 2007 -> 08:28 PM) Its a "ststement" signing that KW is not rebuilding, I guess lol, that's a hell of a way to make that statement.

QUOTE(Wanne @ Aug 19, 2007 -> 07:57 PM) I'm just sick of every other goddamn team in the majors at some point brings some young stud into there system that people go..."wow...he's a pretty good young talent". When is the last time this team brought somebody up...anybody...pitcher, outfielder...anybody who was actually really good. Sure...I'm very happy with Fields and Danks and all...but where the hell are our Ryan Howards, Ryan Brauns...somebody that just lights it up. I honestly wish they would blow this team up...but KW won't. It would be him admitting he failed. It's to the point now where I'm convinced, by nothing other than blind optimism, that the White Sox will have a Top 5 prospect emerge from within their system by 2010. You just can't fail this many times with first round selections, international free agents, and value from a trade without ONE person emerging. Right? Right?! Hopefully DLS will be that person.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Aug 19, 2007 -> 07:55 PM) It should be noted that there is an option for next year. I was wondering why Rotoworld was calling it a one year deal. Well, that changes this signing slightly. Although I still don't like how we're taking appearances away from Logan. You know damn well Guillen will prefer the veteran.