SCCWS

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 16, 2017 -> 08:14 AM) Yup, he's a bust. Better hope Jimenez is the real deal or this rebuild is doomed. Boston is very much the opposite of us. They promote positional players that usually contribute but their pitching prospects mostly struggle. I blamed Moncada's burp last year as no AAA time. But the players in his high prospect grouping, Benetendi( no AAA time) and Devers ( 9 days in AAA) have been strong contributors immediately despite AAA seasoning. Hopefully the sox see more RH pitching to boost the kid's morale.

Another concern is whether he should continue as a switch hitter. That issue may resurface next spring training if he continues to struggle from the right. Certainly his defense has improved in one year so he may eventually solve the RH struggles he is having. The K% is skewed because of the high # from the right side.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 11:53 AM) Just looking at Davidson's stats tell everything. He has only walked 16 times in 86 games and has 124 K's. That is not a good or sustainable mlb ratio for a player who does not make alot of contact. Davidson is similar to a Chris Carter type player, if given a full season he likely will hit 30+ home runs, but with a low average/tons of strikeouts/low on base/poor defense. Guys like that are fine for a rebuild, but should be no more than a bench player on a contender. I understand your rational but he still only has played 86 games. Seems like a quick decision w less than 300 AB. I would say you should judge him next August when he should have 600 or so AB. Avi is hitting over .300 w 300 abs. Can we now decide he will be a .300 hitter going forward?

Let's also remember that Avi has taken a step up offensively this year after several years of struggling. So like I posted about Moncada yesterday, Davidson has improved his defense enough to be adequate at 3rd. Someone in the organization needs to now try and help Davidson and Moncada cut down on strikeouts. Opponents must love to see them back to back right now.

I saw him several times in Boston last year and he just looked lost. I think the positive this year is it seems like his defense is okay now that he has gone back to 2nd. So that is a major improvement. Now hopefully someone can work with him on cutting down the strikeouts. I am a little concerned in that Davidson is just as bad and no one seems to have helped him within the system. For Moncada, this year is just getting his feet wet. Hopefully by ST we will see some more contact and less K's.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 02:45 PM) I think Moustakas has hit the jackpot with the timing of this season in which he's become a power hitter deluxe. Boston or the Yankees figure to offer more than 4 years 80 million. Don't you think he's headed to Boston for money we can't even imagine? I don't. Boston has brought Devers up and even if they send him back to AAA, 3B will be his next ST to lose. I don't see Boston spending mega bucks on another 3B. If Moustakas could play 1B, that is another story but his whole career has been at 3B.

QUOTE (New Era on South Side @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 01:39 PM) I am going tomorrow to see Moncada play and outside of my birthday and bachelor party, it will be the only games I attend this year. I see two tickets to tomorrow's game in section 103 (row 4) for $35 each and two in section 107 (row 9) for $32 each on StubHub. If anyone has better seats than that for $40 or so, please let me know. I always buy discounted tickets as there's no reason to pay full price. StubHub and coupon codes off the White Sox website instantly make going to games more affordable. I'll be going to more next year when some more prospects will be up. I have a feeling when the kids are up in 2019 the season ticket holders will be back and the fans will follow suit. I am not sure I agree. There will be fans who give up season tics who will find other avenues of entertainment and will not return. I had season tickets for AHL Hockey for 15 years and then gave up because minor league hockey dropped in talent and fan interest. I then had college basketball for 22 years but my team went through a drought. I dropped out and now they are a good team and attraction but I am content to watch games at home and only go on a very rare occasion. What the White Sox have to hope for is that a young generation of fans start following them in order to gain favorable attendance in 2020 and beyond.

QUOTE (beautox @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 05:13 PM) Get him as many PA as possible and try to salvage something from this lost year. Or Renteria has no clue. Anderson is hitting .224 from the leadoff and .280 from the 7th spot this year. He has been struggling but recently hitting from the 7 he raised his average 6 points. So the manager moves him to the 8 spot and then the leadoff and he goes two straight nights with nothing. Extra plate appearances form a position in the order where he has had major problems may not further his career at this stage.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 25, 2017 -> 11:59 AM) Let's see who is left on the team next Monday night before going too nuts about Moncada's spot in the order. For me, Melky gets traded, and Anderson-Moncada hit 1-2 for two months. No bunting before the 8th inning. Hopefully no way. While Anderson has struggled hitting 7th, he has not even hit his weight batting first with a decent sampling. Let's wait till the kid gets straightened out mentally before he hits there again. I doubt Moncada will be a 2 batter in the future because he strikes out way too much. 3 or 5 is good for rest of year.

FWIW--Heard on a Boston Sports Show that it would be very unlikely Stanton would be dealt since he is the key asset if the ownership is going to sell.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 11:19 AM) This stuff can absolutely affect players. Watched it last season in the NFL with a WR who's close friend died and he had issues. These guys are human. Just has to work through it and get to the off-season so he can get his mind in the right direction. Timmy will be fine. Sometimes you take a step back to take two steps forward. Not necessarily. If the issue is outside of baseball, the offseason may be a worse scenario. The structured requirements of in-season, especially travel may force him at times to forget about the issues. But once that structure goes away in the off-season he may loose an outlet for his frustration and be more immersed in the problem. Hopefully he is getting some professional help to face his adversity.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 12:35 AM) Who the hell coaches base running on this team? Frazier was but not any more.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 20, 2017 -> 08:15 PM) When he does that, he isn't doing it for strategy. I think that is the disconnect here. To me he is trying to ingrain the skill into certain guys skill sets so that when they really do need it, they have the ability and count/situation are not something they are thinking about because they will have done it under all circumstances. But that also means that our minor league system did not work with him enough on it. He is not a player who jumped quickly to the majors like Sale and did not get time to work on fundamentals. I do think that more players in general are arriving in the majors with weaker fundamentals

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 20, 2017 -> 04:13 PM) What the good managers have is good players. Torborg was canned from the Marlins mid season, and then they won the WS. Of course they added Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to their roster. His career winning pct. as a manager is .006 higher than Robin Ventura's, a guy who was blamed for a lot of things you still see with the same players this year. Bad baserunning, bad defense, stupid throws....Lefty Tanner set the record for consecutive last place finishes by a manager. All these guys did pretty well when they had good players. Ozzie Guillen was a genius when the Sox won and he wanted all the attention. When he did the exact same thing when they were not so good, he was an ego maniac. No one wins with bad players, some lose with some good ones, but the locker room stuff, IMO, is now self regulated. Players make much more money than the manager for the most part. If you have talent and the right players leading your clubhouse you're fine. If you are looking for your manager to be that guy, IMO, it will be brief and there are 2 or 3 guys tops that could get it done. I think John Farrell is a great example. Look at this stretch he has had 2011--81-81 w Toronto 2012--73-89 w Toronto 2013--97-65 w Boston Won World Series 2014--71-91 w Boston 2015--78-84 w Boston 2016--93-69 w Boston 2 great , 2 average and 2 lousy.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 20, 2017 -> 12:35 PM) Patrick Nolan‏ @SSS_pnoles The White Sox have 17 failed sacrifice bunt attempts in 2017. Half the remaining American League teams haven't even attempted more than 17. Blame the groundskeeper

QUOTE (Sox-35th @ Jul 20, 2017 -> 12:30 PM) That's what I figured and ALSO a reason I don't really consider Anderson's performance as part of the rebuild. But SS is a prime spot so if Anderson doesn't make it then they will have to fill in via FA or a real high draft pick.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 12:16 PM) I'm 100% sure he'll start tonight. Only possible reason he wouldn't start is if he gets injured or sick before the game. or if he misses his flight................................

QUOTE (reiks12 @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 08:06 AM) Andersons OBP is way too low to be leadoff. Even if he hits his ceiling he will be a bottom of the order guy when these guys get their due. In addition, he has really struggled batting 1st compared to 7th.

I think this year's call-up is radically different than the one in Boston last August where he flopped. Last year he was in the process of learning to play 3rd base when he arrived in the bigs. There was pressure defensively on him and he made mistakes. I will assume 2nd base is his this time he plays in the majors. Second, he was in the middle of a pennant race. The strike-outs ultimately were embarrassing. But maybe the biggest issue was his mental approach which resulted in him being booed on one play when he went in to pinch run in a big gameagainst the jays and forgot how many outs there were. So he went back to AA after a bad experience. Adding to the drama was he came up from AA with Benintendi who also was playing a new position and he made a big splash in Boston. This year he is coming up with a chance to go out and play and mistakes will not be scrutinized. I think this will be his extended spring training for next year. Good luck to him.

FWIW---- Red Sox in rain delay. DD came on pregame and said no trades are close. Said they would like to upgrade 3B and keep Devers down in AAA. Doesn't think they will address bullpen but said that could change closer to the deadline.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 10:03 AM) I take it back. Anderson would be about #8 or 9. But, the top 15 that the Sox have right now, gives them the best system that they've had in many years. I think most agree with that. But the question is what is the status of the rebuild. Now that the system has positional talent, do they have the right people in place to develop the talent. We have seen pretty good development of young pitchers although some would argue Sale, Q and Rodon skipped most of our system for development. But the FO gets credit for identifying them. I mentioned Anderson because he is the only top positional player that went thru the system and presently the jury is out on his success.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 17, 2017 -> 08:40 AM) Niether team wants to call up the prospect. I think Frazier would probably play more 1B in NY, but he is definitely an upgrad over Lin/Holt/Marerro. You are buying the ESPN hype if you refuse to see that. He is far superior. No question offensively Frazier is an upgrade especially in Fenway. But I think the hesitation is Devers. He could be up in a few weeks if his AAA audition goes well. Lin jumped from AA already so I don't think calling up a prospect is an issue. I would guess DD holds off a few weeks and sees how Holt does in Boston as well as Devers in AAA then decides if Frazier is still available.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 17, 2017 -> 12:24 PM) The current mlb team's success or lack-there-of, has zero to do with the success or failure of the rebuild. I don't see how trying to improve yourself through youth is a bad thing. The Sox have certainly had minimal success with less talented minor league guys and above average free agents. The 2000, 2005 and 2008 players - for the most part, never really had super talent. They just hit all cylinders at the right time. I don't agree. The current MLB team's lack of success can be blamed on either poor drafting/identifying talent and /or poor player development with positional players. Critical with this rebuild is that the FO identify quality young players in both trades and the draft. Second, they must develop them once they get them. Anderson is our only real positional roster player that the farm has produced that has a chance to be a building block in the rebuild. So far the results are still mixed. Sanchez and Saladino still border on utility type players.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 16, 2017 -> 05:08 PM) Holt is being added Holt pinch-hit in the 8th and got a hit and then played 3rd in the 9th. Boston has a pretty good deal in that their AAA park is less than an hour from Fenway. So they can move players around pretty easy when both teams are at home. Question now is will they go for Frazier or let Holt bridge them to Devers?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 15, 2017 -> 11:57 PM) I haven't followed this tonight so I don't know if Frazier is still with the Sox. But Sox appear to have caught a break. The Boston and national media have picked up on the Frazier rumors and they are pretty much demanding the Red Sox pull the trigger and give up two prospects between 20 and 30 in the Boston organization for him. They've got the advanced stats rolling and Frazier would have 15 more hits if he played at Fenway this year thus would have a very good batting average, etc. Let them play the stat game all they want. This is good news for the Sox (if he hasn't been traded yet) cause the pressure is on the Bosox to acquire Frazier by fans and media. And as we all know, Mr. Frazier ain't all that. Not sure where you are getting your Boston media info but I have watched both Yankee games. The talk is mostly bridging the gap for Devers who now is at AAA. They have two young players, Marrero and Lin otating left and right. Lin is hitting over .300 and Brock Holt is getting close to returning. Last night they mentioned Frazier as another option out there but only in passing. But DD is quick with the trigger so maybe he won't be patient waiting for Holt and Devers.