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Something I didn't realize until I looked yesterday, he is actually batting behind Torkelson and has been for at least half the season (that's as far back as I looked). I assumed just from looking at their numbers that they were using Torkelson to protect Bishop and that's why he was still getting pitched to while Torkelson wasn't hitting for as much power because teams were pitching around him. Turns out Torkelson bats 2nd and Bishop bats 3rd. It kind of makes what he has been doing even more impressive. Also, the National High School Invitational (NHSI) is this week. CJ Abrams is going to be there so we should get some more good reports on how he does against good pitching and we might even be able to watch him depending on how his team does. Of note to us, Marist is going to the tournament and they have two outfielders which could be early round picks. https://www.mlb.com/news/2019-nhsi-preview?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

Maybe, but the way the specific thing of sliders down and away is being used to attack him it made me think something was up. And then if you check his BRef page they have spring training stats with an opponent quality index. For him, the opponent quality was on average somewhere between AA and AAA. So while his numbers in spring training weren't that bad, they were much lower than what he did against competition of that level the previous season, especially in terms of his strikeout rate. That leads me to believe something is off this year as compared to last year. You seem to think I am basing this solely on the first few games even though I have clearly stated otherwise. If you can't follow that simple line of reasoning I don't think this was ever really an argument in the first place.

What is fabrication? Me saying he doesn't normally have a whole in his swing? Or that there wouldn't be service time complaints because that was specifically stated as a part of the agreement with the new contract? Nothing you said discounts my point. Something is wrong right now and starting him out in the minors to work on it (or even just take the pressure off of him) could have been beneficial. Are you going to argue that it definitely would not have been beneficial? That working things out at lower levels isn't a technique used by every major league team. I'm not saying he isn't MLB ready. Check my post, literally did not say he isn't ready. He has done everything we could have wanted at the minor league level. In fact, he was probably ready by the later part of last season. But so far this season something is off. It could be a minor part of his swing or set up that we haven't noticed yet (god knows I don't trust Steverson to help at all) which could be an easy fix, but it might have been nice to let him work through that without the added pressure of his major league debut. The same thing more ML bats would achieve, which is to say a solution to whatever is wrong right not, but in a potentially more effective environment because there would be less pressure to perform.

4 games, spring training, and common sense. No way did he have this much trouble last year with something as simple as sliders down and away or every scout and coach would have been talking about it and exploiting it. That points to something being different this year as opposed to last. When he doesn't have a good spring and then you put the pressure of the new contract and starting opening day on his shoulders, it was likely to only exacerbate the issue. With that in mind, it might not have been a bad idea to start him in the minors until he figured it out and then brought him up. With the extension already signed there would have been no worries about complaints of service time manipulation.

To get better yes, but right now he looks like something is off. In spring training against similar competition to that which he killed in AAA last year he struggled. After the extension he chalked it up to putting too much pressure on himself, and that might still be the case, but it could also be that something is messed up in his swing or approach right now which would be easier to sort out in the minors. Its likely he will figure whatever is wrong out without the need to send him down, but some time in Charlotte to start the year may have been helpful.

No, he was ruled eligible a couple months ago. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/01/cuban-shortstop-yolbert-sanchez-cleared-to-sign-with-mlb-teams.html https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/cuban-defector-ss-yolbert-sanchez-cleared-to-sign/

In this case it could have actually worked out for us. He is friends with the Mesa brothers.

They don't need to be behind closed doors. He is eligible to sign at any time but the Orioles are basically the only team with any cap left so it sounds like he is waiting until the next period for more teams.

Check out his stats just from SEC play. It is really bad. https://mutigers.com/documents/2019/3/30/19MIZ_Season_Stats_SEC_Only_thru_28G_.pdf

International bonus money is capped and that is kind of why a lot of people are mad. This guy just popped up this year (no one knew he was going to be available), and the Sox are willing to give him $2.5mm which means they still have that amount unallocated even though they have had two years in the penalty box to line up deals with better guys for this coming J2 period. So basically being rumored to be offering this guy $2.5mm means that we have only spent $2.5mm on other prospects even though most of the agreements have already taken place. This seems to line up with the fact that we aren't connected to any of the prospects on the top international amateur lists from any of the different sources.

I found another article that mentioned the list of eligible players under 25 with a few differences (bolded). The article also says they will have a training/showcase in Mexico from April 7th to May 2nd.

The speed thing confuses me. Didn't Law say he has below average speed? But FG says 60 grade. That is a big difference. As a pop up guy, the difference between center and left can be a huge difference in value and risk.

I'm not saying he has to go straight to AAA and we let him sink or swim, just that different caliber of prospects are likely to have different schedules. While guys like Robert and Jimenez will be/were given ample time to adjust to every level, guys like Steele Walker or Luis Gonzalez might be pushed quicker so they can reach a level where their value can be capitalized on.

I don't think he is saying the team is suppressing his value to hurt him or anything like that, but that his trade value is suppressed as compared to if he were pushed to higher levels. Look at it this way: regardless of how good he is and what that "trade value" should be, who is going to trade for an older player at the lower levels? Rebuilding teams will likely want younger players with higher upsides/longer time frames. Teams that are competing are going to want upper level talent that can quickly be plugged in to their ML roster. A college prospect at the lower levels without a huge upside doesn't really fit either of those categories and its impossible to fit one, but he does have the ability to fit the other. So, if this is a prospect that is not essential to your org and is unlikely to actually contribute to your ML team, it makes sense to push them if it will make them a more valuable asset.

I feel like Portland is more likely to be an expansion team. I'm predicting the Sox to Nashville and then you don't have to mess with the divisions.

Its just the small tv in the kitchen.

As if I needed another reason to not watch White Sox baseball this year, I just noticed that it looks like NBCsports' non-HD broadcast on comcast is the shitty 4:3 where they cut off part of the picture. Having a good chunk of the info box cut off is doing nothing to make me less annoyed with this team even if it has nothing to do with them.

If its like last year, he will gain a tick or two a few innings in. Rain delay also probably didn't help.

I think Eddy Alvarez just got traded. He and Jake Elmore are listed as traded to Miami and Pittsburgh respectively on this roster site which is usually accurate. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vRkx7h7y1OZ6xFub4XjCWnQJbH2sXV59qxcp2Y9iTwuOyABvrmHsqIG2ONx89VwwjQr7dNi252Ww4Ao/pubhtml?gid=67648048&single=false#

I was thinking that too. I wonder if they haven't offered yet waiting to see if anyone else pops up during this cycle.

I'll say this for him, from the sounds of a lot of the cuban articles I was reading, people thought he was going to be one of the next great ones on the island. He might not have a ton of power, but articles state he is a line drive hitter, so maybe he has a flat swing and could benefit from a swing change once he gets with our hitting coaches.

Obviously small sample, but he did not perform well against international competition while others who stand out did at least okay. https://u18bwc.wbsc.org/en/2015/team-stats/CUB/

A comparison of the two years Robert and Sanchez were both in CNS. Keep in mind Sanchez is a year older and had a down year in '17-'18, but is a good defensive SS. Luis Robert: Register Batting Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB 2015-16 17 -11.0 Ciego de Avila CNS Fgn 68 313 269 68 82 10 2 5 29 8 2 32 46 .305 .384 .413 .796 111 3 3 8 1 8 2016-17 18 -10.5 Ciego de Avila CNS Fgn 53 232 182 51 73 12 2 12 40 11 6 38 30 .401 .526 .687 1.213 125 5 11 0 1 10 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 3/25/2019. Yolbert Sanchez: Register Batting Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB 2015-16 -- Isla de la Juventud CNS Fgn 59 191 175 21 49 7 2 1 17 1 5 10 21 .280 .323 .360 .683 63 6 1 5 0 0 2016-17 -- Industriales CNS Fgn 37 139 123 16 43 1 0 0 12 4 3 6 10 .350 .391 .358 .749 44 3 3 6 1 0 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 3/25/2019.

I'm less concerned about not already having deals if the new Cuban agreement goes through. There are several really good players on the rumored list of eligible players.