SoxBlanco

I love a good Pal appearance, especially near the deadline. What’s your prediction on whether we keep or trade Crochet/Robert? Think both are gone this time next week?

It’s hard to argue with this, but then my feelings toward both get in the way. I like Crochet so much more than Robert. If we traded Robert for a “meh” return and extended Crochet, I’d be thrilled. If it was the other way around, I’d be furious. And that’s with me fully understanding that this team needs offense.

Ray Ray, you hoping the Sox keep Crochet?

I’d rather pick 10th when the draft class is great and 5th when the draft class is weak than the other way around.

Looks like he divided by at-bats instead of plate appearances to calculate the percentages. Someone else made that same mistake in a Wolkow discussion the other day.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. But the part about high school kids asking for more than ever before got me wondering.

Interesting. So you think Smith went underslot, and the amount we saved there was used to sign the two high school picks?

Starts today at 1 PM CT, right? When do we hear the slot value for Smith? Just curious how that will impact picks today.

And Thorpe will look that much better as a back end guy. I wonder if he’ll be even more effective if he happens to pitch game 2 of a 3-game series, slotted between two of the power lefties. Not sure if that actually matters, but it sounds great in theory.

Is Wes Kath still a prospect? Guessing he hasn’t been doing well, since I haven’t heard his name in a while.

It’s tough, man. I can see both sides of the argument. If Smith turns out to be a stud in a couple years, and we passed on him to take an offensive player who busts just because we needed offense, it’ll look like a ridiculously dumb decision. But at the same time, like you are saying, what they’re doing isn’t leading to success. So at some point, do you have to try something different? At the end of the day, I lean more toward taking the guy who you think has the best chance of success in the majors. All I read about for the past couple weeks is how all the offensive guys they might take had flaws/risks. I’m pleased with the pick.

Good call. This is the one I’ve been following anyway. As long as you guys don’t meander over to that one, I’ll stay focused on this one.

Should we merge this thread with the one on the main board?

When you say agreements are made prior to the selection, you just mean verbal agreements, right? Do teams make verbal agreements with every player that could be in play prior to the draft? I’m wondering about a situation where Bazzana falls to the Sox. Have they already talked to the Bazzana camp and have an agreement in place in the unlikely event he falls, or do they pick up the phone and quickly try to come to an agreement? What if they can’t agree during the few minutes they have?

Agreed. I’m no scout, so I have no clue how serious the flaw might be in his swing that some scouts refer to, but he would be super fun to follow. And I’m with you regarding position. Give me up the middle over 1B all day.

James, how would you feel about Griffin over Cags, if both were available?

He’s becoming one of my favorite prospects. Obviously not the highest ceiling, and maybe it’s because of an underdog thing, but I love him.

BBs count as a plate appearance, but not an at bat. So if you come to the plate 10 times and you have 2 hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks, and 2 fly outs, your batting average would be .250 (2 hits divided by 8 at bats), and your K% would be 40% (4 Ks divided by 10 plate appearances). Wolkow has struck out 42% of the time this year (44% since getting called up to A ball).

You have to divide by plate appearances, not by at bats.

Baldwin is rocking an impressive 5.000 OPS in AAA right now. That’s gotta be near the top of the league.

The most eye opening thing I learned from this thread is how little I pay attention to baseball when the White Sox suck. I started reading the names of the guys he beat out, and I’ve never heard of a single guy, other than Burnes. I literally thought they were made-up names.

That’s fair. Hopefully he turns it around and the adversity ends up being good for him.

It’s not the fact that he didn’t throw. Based on how he caught it, he had 0% chance to throw him out. But I can’t fathom how somebody playing a competitive sport (professional or not) doesn’t sprint behind that ball and come in with full momentum and heave it home. I’ve played enough sports in my life, and I’m a very competitive person, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that if I was in CF, that play would have looked a lot differently, regardless of how unlikely it was to get him out.

East to say that in hindsight, though, isn’t it? Had he continued to hit in AAA, nobody would have been like, “Not the move I would have made, but glad it worked out.”

A good friend of mine coaches the team that beat Sloan in the semifinals. Final score was 1-0, and it was only the second earned run Sloan had given up all year. Insane. His ERA skyrocketed up to 0.30.