Señor Ding-Dong

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 07:42 AM) Kennyn Walker's had quite the last 10-12 games or so. He must have raised his BA 50-60 points. He still appears to be a bust but it seems like he's had multiple hits almost every game the past couple weeks. As one of our many toolsy OFs, he might still have a chance to be a 4th OF type, which is more than what can be said of the departed Jared Mitchell.

I'm glad Micah's destroying AAA, but his bat wasn't the reason he was demoted in the first place. We all know how horrid he was defenisvely during his brief stint in the majors and sending him down to work on that was obviously the right move. If he can be just below average defensively at 2B instead of in the running for worst defensive 2B of all-time then his speed and hitting skills will make him a real weapon. He has the range and athleticism to be a solid defender, so let's hope he can improve his footwork and other mechanical issues. From what I can tell the reports on his defense in AAA have been positive, but is 56 games really enough time for him to improve his defense by any notable margin? I think it's going to take more than two months in the minors to get his defense to at least playable at the major league level. To put it simply, he's a threat on the basepaths and his bat is major league ready, but his glove is no where close. The opposite could be said of Cleuluis Rondon, but you don't hear anyone clamoring to call him up to the bigs anytime soon and for good reason.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 16, 2015 -> 02:20 PM) His reputation now seems to be a horrific defender with fantastic speed yet limited hitting skills as well. The first part of that statement is true, but I wouldn't say Micah has limited hitting skills by any means. While the sample size was small, he more than held his own with the bat in the majors and showed a nice approach at the plate. He's also tore it up during his time in the minor leagues. Micah's speed and hitting skills are why so many are high on him despite his terrible defense.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 11:06 AM) My conclusion is the same as it was when they DFAd him: he'll be traded for a dead veteran. What are you talking about?

Fantastic, hope to see more.

What the hell was Keon Barnum doing playing catcher? http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?g...ox&did=milb

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 02:47 PM) Ffs. 1. The Sox need to start over. 2. They are 3-4 years from winning. 3. Sale and Abreu have small windows. 4. The Sox shouldn't be afraid to move them. 5. They don't sell tickets. 6. Southsider has a long standing argument that the Sox can't afford to rebuild because of the fickle fanbase. 1. We wouldn't need to start over if our players would just play to their career averages, but apparently that's impossible to do in a Sox uniform. Virtually everyone has regressed, from guys like Eaton and Gillaspie who were solid for us last year to our big free agent signings/trade acquisitions like Cabrera and Samardzija. Even Abreu has regressed, though that's not entirely his fault. If our guys were playing to their career averages or even reasonably close to it, I have no doubt we'd be in the thick of it even with cruddy defense. 2. We could/should be winning right now, but instead we're underachieving. If this continues, we're probably a lot more than three to four years away from winning given our dearth of position player prospects and our inability to develop those we do have. 3. I agree that Abreu's window is pretty small, but why Sale? He's 26 years-old and at worst a top three pitcher in baseball. The injury concerns have been mostly unfounded up to this point. I think he has a lot of time left as an elite player. 4. No team should ever be afraid to move anyone, but that doesn't mean they should move them just because they can. 5. So? 6. The Sox can't afford to rebuild because they're largely incapable of developing position players. I like Rick Hahn and the moves he's made. They were good moves on paper, they just haven't worked out for whatever reason. Having said that, the philosophy of this organization is flawed and outdated, and as long as Kenny Williams, Buddy Bell, and Doug Laumann are around that's unlikely to change. Unless they're MLB-ready or very close to it, I would hate to trade our cornerstones for position player prospects as I have absolutely no confidence that our organization will be able to develop them properly. I would say our best bet is is to hope our players rebound to their career norms and shop players like Samardzija, Ramirez, Danks, etc. or clean house in the front office and embrace a philosophy that's founded on baseball skills and defense rather than raw athleticism and power. Neither of those things are likely to happen, so things look pretty bleak right now.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 11, 2015 -> 05:54 PM) I think it has more to do with the experience. He is probably going to play for a little while so he sees what it's like and what the other ballplayers are like. Then he will transition out of the playing side and into a front office or scouting. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/129847344/wh...on-on-final-day Play? Is he even going to sign? I thought this was just an empty gesture, like Reinsdorf saying "Congrats on getting into Northwestern grandson, here's a little graduation gift for 'ya." It ultimately means nothing but Reinsdorf did it because he can and it's kinda cool for the kid...I guess.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 10, 2015 -> 12:11 PM) At various points this year the Sox have pitched pretty well. This is another of of those times. The problem, obviously, is the offense. The defense has largely stabilized and I would continue to trot out Beckham and Sanchez more often than not at 3B and 2B. The problem with Sanchez's bat isn't necessarily even that it sucks, it's that the rest of the lineup isn't good enough to carry a guy that's all glove no hit. In theory, if Melky and Alexei pick it up a bit (and Jose goes back to elite masher and not just solid) then his line (which will improve) won't look so awful. I'm rather optimistic right now given how well Rodon and some of the pen pieces are pitching that if the offense can just get to "mediocre" the Sox might have a decent chance at 85-86 wins and hell that might be enough for a 2nd wild card. Sanchez's BABiP is .193 right now. Isn't that indicative that he's hitting into bad luck and that will likely turn around sooner or later? Just off the eye-test, for the most part Sanchez looks to be making solid contact only for it to go right to a defender or the defender will end up making a good play robbing him of a hit. I said for the most part because he stll strikes out and hits some weak grounders. His defense has been very good, so hopefully his bat will come around.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 10, 2015 -> 12:22 PM) 17. Jeffrey Orvis, Ole Miss, 1B, senior 19th round last year after being named 1st team sec. Went back to school. Seems like his bat can play a bit and has power. 1b picks make for Meh prospects though. Our new Dan Black?

QUOTE (fathom @ May 22, 2015 -> 08:55 PM) Sanchez has been great on defense, but his offense has been worse than anyone could have anticipated. It will be interesting to see if Beckham or Bonifacio get a chance to start consecutive games at 2nd while the rest of the offense is struggling. Well, he hit a walk-off and probably had three or so hits robbed by good defense. We should probably give him more than seven games to adjust to ML pitching. He's 3/23 since the call up, and Micah was 3/20 in his first seven games, just for comparison and he wound up at a respectable .270.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ May 20, 2015 -> 03:57 PM) Ramirez needs a day off.. I wonder who will play SS when Ramirez gets a day off. Beckham, Bonifacio, or Sanchez?

Great clutch hitting by the kid and kudos to Eaton for scoring the run that tied it up. Great pitcher's duel. We're rolling right now.

Starters: Carlos Rodon Tyler Danish Spencer Adams Jordan Guerrero James Dykstra Thad Lowry

QUOTE (SCCWS @ May 15, 2015 -> 01:20 PM) Sorry. His stats page showed from 5/3 till 5/13. I thought it was the Month of May but they only show a player's last 10 games. No problem.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ May 15, 2015 -> 12:08 PM) Look at your post. In his last 10 games going back to 5/3 he has hit .222. That's great, but why didn't you just say that instead of posting factually incorrect information? You said "in the month of May" several times but nothing about his last 10 games until now.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ May 15, 2015 -> 09:28 AM) Not sure what you are talking about. He tore up AAA in April. Sanchez is 10/45 in May for a .222 BA w no walks. His average in May has dropped from .407 to .344 in two weeks. He's cooled down as of late, but I'm not sure where you're getting your information from.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ May 15, 2015 -> 12:10 AM) Altuve lite? Though unlikely, I could actually see that in a best-case scenario. Most see Sanchez as a future utility guy, but I think there's a decent enough chance that he can be a starter in this league ranging anywhere from below average to slighty-above average. If I had to put odds on it, I'd say: Utility- 60% Starter- 35% Altuve-lite: 5% Whatever becomes of him, he should be able to stick in the majors for awhile because he's a good defender and can put the bat on the ball.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ May 14, 2015 -> 07:11 PM) Based om his performance in May at Charlotte, hitting .222 and no walks, .300 OBP will be difficult to attain. His OBP last fall w the call-up. was .269. Hopefully he hits .250 but provides outstanding defense. What are you talking about? Sanchez is hitting .352 in the month of May. It's common knowledge that Sanchez has been tearing up AAA since his demotion, though he's cooled off lately, has an unsustainable BABiP, and rarely walks.

What? No! He was my sleeper! I really liked him and his background as a Chicago guy and I always root for the underdog. Surprising and disappointing, but good luck to him in his future endeavors. I thought he was the next Axelrod/Carroll.

So one guy hits for the cycle (Anderson) and two more (Smith, Alvarez) almost hit for the cycle. Wow.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 8, 2015 -> 08:04 AM) The White Sox have added Micah, but thst is still a defensive downgrade from Beckham for this season. Cabrera is so-so at best (improvement on DeAza/Viciedo)....and Garcia is a great athlete with a plus arm and terrible instincts that will be hard to overcome. Finally, Whe you consider Conor, Tyler, Micah, Eaton's throwing, Alexei's aging/loss of range....and the fact that the best defender for now is rarely on the field (LaRoche for Abreu), it is a recipe for disaster to give up a run or two per game when you're usually scoring 0-4 runs. And the only available "upgrades" are Trayce Thompson and Carlos Sanchez....sigh. I'm not sure why you're being flippant toward Thompson and Sanchez. Both of those guys look to be, at worst, above-average defensively at their respective positions. Too bad we didn't sign Markakis instead of LaRaroche and had Avi DH.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 7, 2015 -> 11:15 AM) Nick Basto has been terrible this year. He was terrible up through 2013 too. Seemed to jump all of a sudden in 2014, but now back at the same level he's hitting .112 and striking out about 40% of the time. In addition to Basto's struggles with the bat, he's listed at and playing OF this year. There were/are a lot of concerns about his defense and he has a career .837 fielding percentage at 3B, so the change is not really surprising, but it's disappointing that he seems lost both at the plate and in the field.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 7, 2015 -> 11:33 AM) You may notice an odd exchange with Erik Johnson in there. The description doesn't do it justice. The takeaway is this - Erik is a very intense and serious guy. That isn't a good or bad thing - just very different than the laid back Davidson, or talkative Thompson. Fascinating to see the personalities on all these guys. Good stuff. I was gonna say, based off that interview, EJ seems a little tense. But you like you said that's not a good thing or a bad thing, and I'm sure it would be boring if every guy was the affable, talkative type. I'm a big fan of Coats, so good to see his perspective on things.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 13, 2015 -> 04:32 PM) OK guys, I'm going to be at Charlotte and Kanny on May 2nd and 3rd respectively, to report live, get some video, chat with scouts, etc. But also I'll be interviewing some players while I'm there. Just out of curiosity, who on those two teams would people be most interested in hearing from? I've got a tentative hit list that looks like this (these aren't necessarily in order): CHARLOTTE Tyler Saladino Matt Davidson Trayce Thompson Erik Johnson Carlos Rodon Chris Beck Carlos Sanchez* (if his English is strong enough or if I can get a translator) KANNAPOLIS Brett Austin Eddy Alvarez (though I interviewed him before) Tyler Williams (Kenny's son - just want to meet the guy really) Jordan Guerrero Spencer Adams David Trexler Luis Martinez* (like Sanchez, if I can make it work) Brad Salgado and/or Jacob Morris (the converted position players to pitchers) I'll also chat with Joel Skinner (Charlotte manager), and since I've already interviewed Tommy T before, one of his coaches in Kanny. Who else would you want to hear from? For Kannapolis, how about Thad Lowry? Young guy, relatively high pick, and he just had a really nice start the other day.