Look at Ray Ray Run

No. His fastball was an 80 at one point - the highest grade of any pitch. He was said to have the best fastball in the minors. Him losing his curveball definitely hurt when paired with the fastball drop off but his fastball was his bread and butter.

His max last year was 96.7 with an average fastball at 92.6. That is standard difference between max and average. Lucas does not throw 97 mph anymore consistently - it's not his mechanics.

Moncada, sure. Giolito hasn't been trending upward for nearly 4 years now. His fastball was his best pitch and he's lost it. Mechanics arent pulling 5 mph off per pitch. I am not a giolito believer. I certainly hope I'm wrong but for as optimistic as I am about Lopez and his progress last year (which was huge the past two months) I am as pessimistic about giolito.

Illinois is one of the 3 highest taxed states in the country. Not just using income tax as my barometer.

Robert has more raw talent than anyone in the system. He has more raw talent than manny machado. Robert played as a 19 and 20 year old. He's young for his level and he impresses everyone who watches him. BP power matters when you're that young. He's younger than every top 10 prospect.

Wow. Using batting average to evaluate a player. Neat. It's like a cave man sighting.

Why would it take us out of the Harper sweepstakes? Jon Jay signed on at a 4th outfielder rate. Eloy is the only legit MLB outfielder that has to start on the roster right now. I would say it's nearly impossible that they sign both Harper and Machado, so them being out on Harper has more to do with them being the favorites for Machado, but I don't think Joc has any impact on it.

Dave is legit and has legit sources. I don't think anyone who has any inkling of involvement with the organization or the coverage of said organization would argue otherwise.

Dave isn't posting eyeballs for a Sergio Romo signing.

1 WAR does not equal 1 more team win - that's not how WAR works.

What? $ value is how trades are evaluated. It's not jibberish it's how modern baseball works. I have no idea how you derived "minor league depth is a bad thing" from that point.

To be fair, Semien graded out the same had with the Sox every year in Oakland until this past year. So it took Semien 3 years to improve with all that "coaching." Or, Semien just worked hard and bettered himself. Semien is one of the few players the Sox actually developed who turned into a decent MLB player - it seems hyper critical to attack their development of Semien.

Semien was a nothing prospect who they developed into the AA player of the year with the help of the White Sox.

One of the main points stated about Madrigal is that he was the closest person drafted to being big league ready. If he's not up until 2020 or 2021 then they evaluated him poorly as well. If neither guy sees AA this year, then this team has some big issues.

I'm not sure what this means; no one said it was easy. The point of a rebuild - this one in particular - wasn't to be competing in 2021, leaving 2-3 years of control over the majority of the marquee assets we acquired with our deals.

I mean, it's not as if Seattle has the best history in the world of developing catchers. Not sure they should be throwing stones in their glass house over there.

12 months; this means entering spring training next year, every one of those guys should be fighting for a spot.

How are they not ready. They are accruing MLB service time - Moncada and Kopech were in the Major Leagues. How is that not ready? My goodness. Not being stars does not mean they are not ready. If they aren't ready, what are they doing in the big leagues?

Palka and Delmonico are no more part of the future than Jay and Alonso. Guys, Palka and Delmonico are very bad baseball players.

This doesn't even account for the fact that Giolito and Lopez were also MLB ready (Although, IMO, if Gio is ready then this is bad). Every single major asset they traded Q, Sale and Eaton for were within two years of being Big League ready, and 5 of them were arguably ready when they were acquired. To say this rebuild should take 5 years is horribly misguided

In the next twelve months? Some of the following names better be making appearances or pushing their way into the conversation: Cease Robert Madrigal Dunning Collins Zavala The expected arrivals for 18 of the top 30 was 2018 or 2019 - some got pushed back due to injury, or lack of progress - but if we're talking 2020 before the majority of these guys even make an appearance then that's a problem - given that it will be year 3 of Moncada already, Timmy will be nearing the end of his deal, Kopech will be without two years, and Eloy will be 3 years closer to his exit as well.

Years away? As I have noted, their 4 MAIN assets, were AA and AAA ready players. They were all less than two years from MLB ready. Eloy - ready last year. Cease - ready this year. Kopech - ready last year. Moncada - ready two years ago. The Sox could spend however much they want. The argument otherwise is absurd. MLB is swimming in cash, the White Sox as well. They have plenty of money to spend. They use to run payrolls in the top 5 of baseball - they are capable of doing it. Don't buy the small market nonsense. The Cubs have a bigger following outside the Chicago Metro area, but in this area the city is split (AT WORST) 55/45. The Sox aren't a small market team.

Man do I hate these comments. No one is saying to take a shortcut. 85 wins, btw, could win the division. People are saying it's time to start adding MLB pieces to a team that is going to have a lot of youthful pieces coming up over the next 12 months.

The Cubs didn't trade 3 of the best assets in baseball to acquire their youth. They didn't trade for a plethora of already established MiLB prospects. They drafted well, made some FA signings, and a couple of great trade. Everyone who compares these two rebuilds completely ignores the fact that the White Sox had a head start given the assets they moved to acquire their talent.