SCCWS

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 14, 2017 -> 11:19 AM) With the huge improvements to the farm system, the focus has been heavily on Moncada and more so, pitching prospects. And for good reason. But the next most interesting grouping among prospects is probably the wave of outfielders who will open 2017 in A-ball. Here's a look at seven notable outfield prospects you should keep an eye on, and which of the two Class A affiliates they are likely to be assigned to in April. Which of them are you most looking forward to tracking? Who is over- or under-rated? Northside: I had asked you in another thread if the White Sox have made any significant changes to their minor league coaching staff to accomodate the influx of young positional talent.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 09:16 AM) If you want May and Engel to get the best possible shot for their future, then you want them getting starting time, and at a level that neither has shown much mastery over yet (AAA). There' no need to rush them. Northside: Agree on that approach. But when someone debated Moncada down to AA vs AAA, I brought up the question of hitting instruction. I live part of the year( baseball season) in Red Sox territory and they have a pretty extensive group of batting instructors. Obviously the results have been outstanding w the group of young hitters on their roster. But their pitching development has been abysmal. Have the White Sox made any significant changes to their farm system to accomodate the influx of young talent especially on the hitting side?

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Mar 12, 2017 -> 08:48 PM) Frazier + Q Keep Abreu for Moncada. Not sure it makes a big difference if Moncada is not in the majors.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 12, 2017 -> 01:45 PM) I think Sox would be a perfect fit for Vegas if Vegas built a new indoor stadium. Great uniforms to market, in fact the best uniforms in baseball. Have a billionaire owner and you'd have quite a match. Probably would take a while to build such a stadium. I am telling you the Havana White Sox are in the works. Obama will be one of the principals.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Mar 10, 2017 -> 08:14 PM) The Yanks look as though they want to see how their team performs before committing to a trading a haul of prospects for Q. I am curious if the news on Price has made Cashman take a step back to rethink his teams' chances of hanging with Boston this year. Best case scenario is Tampa and the Yanks stay competitive into June/July. This would keep Archer on the Rays and off the trade market add keep the Yanks in the mix for Q. Hopefully Cashman moves now because I think Yankees and Rays are double digit back by the All Star break. Boston looks really loaded in all facets. I saw Panda last week and he looked blah but Holt looked really good. They have hitting pitching and defense. Maybe their pen will go south.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 10, 2017 -> 04:21 PM) Moncada has 207 PAs in AA. Wouldn't be wrong to send him to Birmingham. Anderson only had 250 at AAA. Unless the AA hitting coach is a better fit than the AAA coach, I think the best place is AAA. But I think he may need a full season w a Sept recall.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Mar 10, 2017 -> 01:13 PM) I think we can all agree that Q is a consummate professional, a great pitcher, and a great guy, but baseball is ultimately a business, and Hahn will be forced to make some tough decisions. I don't think he wanted to have to trade Sale and Eaton either, but it is what it is. That's a story for another time however. As far as Q goes, I can't see the rationale in keeping him long term. In a perfect world, he'd have 1, maybe 2 seasons left on his current contract in which he could pitch for a competitive Sox team. Barring something absolutely amazing, 2017 and 2018 will be a wash, thus wasting 2 years of his prime and team friendly contract. It's a high risk and only medium reward scenario and an array of dominoes would have to fall into place to make this plan worth it. Q deserves better than to pitch for a rebuilding team and his presence actually hurts the Sox as far as potential draft position goes for the 2018 and 2019 drafts. I'd have to hope Hahn is smart enough to realize this and trade him now to fully capitalize on his value right now. The thought of getting 2 or 3 everyday position players for the next half decade is a lot more appealing to me than holding him in hopes of utilizing him on a winning team for a year or 2 when he'll be in his 30's. Hahn also has to consider that the pitching is a strength for the Sox. By 2019 or 2020, the hope would be that Rodon/Giolito/Lopez/Fulmer are all well established MLB pitchers, and guys like Kopech/Hansen/Adams/Dunning/future draftees & trade acquisitions are waiting in the wings and are close to making an impact at the MLB level as well. The Sox can develop arms with the best of them. Bats are another story, so I'd prefer to acquire as many as possible in hopes that a couple of them stick. Q might not even be needed if everything falls into place. and lastly, the fact that Q could get injured or have an unexpected downturn in performance has to be considered. While not likely, it's a possibility. There's no way I'd take that chance if I was Hahn. It's just too risky considering Q is the best trade chip the Sox have left and he could be used to acquire several impact players in the future. So, in my opinion, trading Q is the only option. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but it does. Mike: Agree but that begs the question can the Sox develop acquired young position players. I think Moncada develops regardless but is this farm system equipped to develop players like Collins for example. Otherwise they need to change the plan and acquire young MLB players as opposed to Class A studs.

QUOTE (turnin' two @ Mar 7, 2017 -> 07:53 PM) I believe he only has about 200 ABs at the AA level, so even Charlotte is a fairly aggressive assignment for him. It is but since he jumped to the majors last year, AAA is the right level. For example, Anderson had about 250 AB at AAA before he jumped to majors. Another question for Moncada is how he progresses at 2nd since he got bounced around position wise last year as well.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 7, 2017 -> 05:41 PM) They'll win 50 games, but then they'll probably win a few more on top of that too. AL Central is probably worst division in baseball. I think Sox win 60ish

I saw where Chris Sale is making his first start tomorrow. Some guys do not go full throttle the first few weeks of ST.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Mar 3, 2017 -> 05:25 PM) I am glad too hear it, If he plays at AAA all year I am fine with the plan. As long as they have people in Charlotte that can improve him. I am sure Hahn has a plan in place to make sure there are people and translators in place to work with him. He actually may have his own translator since that is something Boston was big on.

QUOTE (bighurt574 @ Mar 3, 2017 -> 12:47 PM) Boston does seem to have a pretty good track record of top prospects panning out though. Certainly not pitching. They generally do pitching like we do position players.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 2, 2017 -> 04:29 PM) The best indicator of the future is history. I believe that 100%. Then we are back to the question is this a total rebuild? History would tell us no. Hahn says yes.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Mar 2, 2017 -> 10:13 AM) Me neither. They'd still have Sale, Porcello, Pomeranz, Wright and Rodriquez. They just wouldn't have the strong 3 like they wanted. He's seeing the TJ specialist Dr. James Andrews. Agree but Wright is coming back after an injury. Granted he was an AL All-Star before he was injured. They also have Joe Kelly as long reliever in a pinch. Not sure if they have any AAA talent. I saw where Sale is able to commute to ST from his home in Fla.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 1, 2017 -> 08:36 AM) There's no way. Even if his talent proves undeniable he has so far to go to build up his stamina and innings. Also remember talk in Boston media was very split as to whether Kopech would end up being a starter or reliever. Hopefully the White Sox can add another pitch and make him a starter but that decision ultimately determines how fast he arrives. With Burdi, I think the FO will be patient and give Kopech time to develop as a starter.

QUOTE (miracleon35th @ Feb 28, 2017 -> 10:01 PM) Zack Colliins, as a Left handed DH and third string catcher would make some sense. Matt Davidson as a Right Handed DH second string third basemen might also make some sense. No way. That would hurt Collins development. Also, the backup to Frazier has to be able to play multiple positions. Davidson needs to win the DH job or hope Frazier is out a while.

QUOTE (miracleon35th @ Feb 27, 2017 -> 10:18 AM) I am hoping the Roberts and his agent chose to sign with the White Sox even if they do not place the highest bid under whatever rules are in place. I am hoping that Moncada, Abreu and a Spanish speaking Manager will be factors as well as the fact that he has little to no competition from anyone in the Sox system for a starting position in the outfield. Do whatever possible to get him. This rebuild needs some good news. Roberts may think that way but the agent 's commisson is based on the bid.

QUOTE (blackmooncreeping @ Feb 24, 2017 -> 03:01 PM) The only caveat being that I don't think an established, contending team would be willing to pony up multiple prospects for an unproven closer, or at least one that is still 'green behind the ears', so to speak. To be honest, Jones will still have tons of surplus value thanks to his insanely cheap contract, and might actually bring in more of a trade return as an established, nasty set-up guy than a fledgling closer. Time is on our side is the point, don't rush a deal just to make a deal. That is a good point. If Robertson is mediocre the first half, his contract makes him a tough guy to move. But then what do you do with Jones unless as you say leave him as the set-up and go from there.

QUOTE (heirdog @ Feb 23, 2017 -> 07:18 PM) It's pretty clear in the article that Devers off the table after the first 2 of Moncada and Kopech in place. That makes sense and I'm sure we asked and settled for Basabe w a lottery ticket throw in (victor diaz) I think actually once Moncada was in place. Both were in their system as the future solution at 3B. I don't think they wanted to trade two prime infield prospects. They might have done Benintendi, Kopech and Devers last summer before Benintendi exploded.

"Hahn thought the club truly signaled its direction when it hired manager Rick Renteria and promoted Nick Capra to third-base coach and Curt Hasler to bullpen coach. All three have significant player development roots." You definitely have to have ML coaches who have player development roots on the ML roster when doing a massive rebuild. But it may be more important to also have them at the minor league level where the majority of the development should occur. Hopefully that has or will be addressed especially since the bulk of the young players are not ML ready yet.

QUOTE (miracleon35th @ Feb 21, 2017 -> 09:00 PM) They have no reason to give up a very talented prospect unless the player they are getting is younger and/or under team control for a while. Todd Frazier does not fit that bill. If Sandoval falters, they'll have interest in Frazier, but they're not spending a lot on him. I am not following your logic. The Red Sox are in it to win it this year. Why would they want an unproven third basemen like Devers on a team like that instead of a guy like Frazier that could be a monster in Fenway? Also, Dombrowski has never been shy to spend money when he thinks hsi team is getting close to a championship run. "Devers is probably a 60 FV type is worth well more than Todd Frazier." This is not like trading baseball cards or making trades in the abstract based on statistics alone. Who would you want at third base in the playoffs or World Series? Devers of Frazier? That is the context. As I posted earlier, they have three other 3B candidates in camp besides Panda. They traded Shaw knowing this so they must have some comfort that they can get by. Also important to note is the fact the Boston owners said they want to stay below the luxury tax this year. They dumped Buchholz in December to get below the threshold. That doesn't mean they won't trade at the deadline if 3B is a major issue but it would most likely be ML players involved.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ Feb 21, 2017 -> 05:09 PM) And Devers would also have to see some major struggles in AA. He's their top prospect now. They also have Marco Hernandez in AAA who hit .300+ last year who is probably a placeholder for Devers if Panda, Rutledge and Holt all fail.

The Q trade will bring back a starting CF.

QUOTE (miracleon35th @ Feb 18, 2017 -> 08:22 PM) I'm all for making that argument to whoever the Owner was that vetoed the prospective trade ! Hahn mentioned (in the interview with Chuck Garfein at CSN) that the return package in that proposed deal was constructed similar to the deal for Sale. We can't be sure exactly what he meant, but it sounds like it may have been a deal that was centered around a very highly rated prospect. That is also the impression I git from his other comments in that interview. But if the other teams backed out, should Hahn have asked for a lesser deal? Because using your rationale, the risk of Q having an arm injury is now with the White Sox

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 18, 2017 -> 09:56 AM) Swihart has the yips. http://deadspin.com/blake-swihart-appears-...yips-1792495549 Hopefully then Hahn has DD on speed-dial. I am sure we have some guys in camp with the yipes so we trade a guy with the yipes for a guy with the yips. Is Lester's problem the yips or the yipes???