mac9001

QUOTE (BamaDoc @ Aug 4, 2017 -> 01:07 PM) Our low levels are full of prospects. Upper levels there a smattering of prospects but a lot of filler. Gonna take awhile, longer than I had hoped. Hate to be the pessimist but a lot of these prospects will become filler at the upper levels.

There's a decent chance he gets shut down around 120 inning mark. Give him a couple more starts in B-ham and call it a year.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 02:45 PM) Hope you judge our precious prospects as harshly after 300 or so at bats. I think it would be so cool for Davidson to hit 30 home runs and have people laugh at him like that's nothing. Please hit 30 home runs. His stats tell everything in his first season in the majors. OK, please judge all our prospects the same way. Oh wait, Davidson I guess is old at 26. I can understand only being excited about the prospects, but I stand by what I say if he hits 30 home runs that is a very very nice figure for a first-year player. Obviously i forgot about Judge and some of the other rookies in saying he's rookie of the year if he gets to 30 hrs, but my gosh I can't understand the double standard on here. I guarantee you if Rutherford hits 30 home runs his first year or Robert or any one of our darling prospects people will overlook the bad statgeek categories and only praise the prospect and Hahn. It's all up to Davidson to help me out here, get up to 30 home runs instead of staying stuck at 21 the final eight weeks. The difference between Davidson and whomever we call up next is Davidson never deserved major league at bat's anyway. His minor league numbers did not justify a promotion. He got a chance and he's hit a bunch of home runs. He's made a good showing out of an unearned opportunity. Problem is his numbers are not sustainable and far exceed his previous career norms. He will not keep hitting home runs on flyballs at his current rate. He will not continue to post absurdly low infield fly ball ratios. He will not maintain his current level of hard hit balls. He likely will see a regression in his BABIP and subsequently his batting average. But he may continue to strike out nearly 40% of the time making his margin for offensive success incredibly thin. Then there's the issue of defense. He hasn't played enough in the field to give him a fair shake, but at best he's neutral in terms of defensive value.

QUOTE (miracleon35th @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 10:21 AM) KC would have given up on Moustakis after his first several years in the majors where he was hitting for low average and did not put up big power numbers. I find it somewhat contradictory to be all in on a rebuild that involves developing players from within, and then complaining about Davidson who is in his first full season in the majors and has already shown great improvement. Anyway, as far as 2018, IMHO, the composition of the starting rotation and bullpen will dictate whether or not the team can be competitive. If it looks like what we have now, it will be another sorry season. On the other hand, if they bring up Giolito, Kopec, Reynaldo Lopez z(and they start dealing) and then stabilize the bullpen with a few relievers, the record is going to improve over what we have this season. Our pitching staff now is a joke. Moustakas has a career K-rate of 15%, Matt Davidson is at 39.1% so far this year. They are in no way comparable. Moustakas was always a within reach of being a relatively decent hitter with a slight change to his approach and a little luck. Davidson needs to mash HRs at elite rates just to just to stay relevant offensively. He's one bad 10 game slump away from being irrelevant offensively and he's yet to prove he's capable of providing any value defensively.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 30, 2017 -> 11:46 PM) What if he gets sufficient at bats the next eight weeks to hit 30 homers in his rookie season. No props at all? A stern shake of your head saying, 'he's a stiff?' Just curious. Part of my argument is giving Davidson the 30 homers and what you'd think of him then. I'd buy him a beer in a bar for sure. I'll buy him the 2nd round. But the odds are highly against his current HR rate continuing and by all indications he's been lucky to hit .240. So far there's nothing to indicate he's likely to have sustained major league success.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 30, 2017 -> 11:33 PM) OMG. You are going to criticize a 26 year old rookie who hits 30 home runs in his first showing in the bigs? I love Moncada, but lets say over the next eight weeks he gets about 8 hits and continues to hit .100. Would u dare criticize him? Don't you see the cliche aspect of what you are saying? All these recent trades and these players we got are beloved. Davidson 'could' hit 30 fricking home runs in his debut season? If he does, my gosh, he deserves rookie of the year. How many rookies hit 30 fricking home runs? Cmon people, does nobody support me on this?? At the rate Davidson is striking out he'll likely be hitting .180 or less soon. His HR to flyball rate is also uncharacteristically high. There's nothing about his current stats that indicates its sustainable. I'd put his odds of being waived at about 50% by this time next year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2017 -> 08:14 PM) I really wonder if Illinois will risk losing the Sox over a stadium? I would venture to say the prospect of using public funds will become less likely with each passing year. If they can't get a deal with the city in the next 5 years the odds of it happening 10-20 years down the line are probably lesser.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2017 -> 01:55 PM) Or if they fix whatever is wrong with him ala Tommy Kahnle. Just looking at his numbers is doesn't seem like there's something glaringly wrong. Looks like he's gotten a little hit around and he's had some bad luck, but he's got the stuff and peripherals that indicate he should be more successful. 9.14 K/9 2.42 BB/9 3.98 FIP 3.62 xFIP But .348 BABIP 65.6 LOB%

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jul 30, 2017 -> 01:06 PM) Davis is the definition of a fringe prospect. Puckett is the real asset here. I actually remember Puckett making a start against the Dash earlier in the year, he pitched well but was pretty unimpressive stuff wise (i think he topped out around 90). Davis is a bit old and hasn't had any real success but a 6-6 lefty with a mid 90s fastball at least has some intrigue.

Out of the two I think I might like this Davis kid a bit more. Big lefty with a decent fastball who's throws strikes. Looks like he's had some bad luck this year but I hope they give him a chance to start.

Connor Walsh has big time fastball (98-99).

QUOTE (beautox @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 07:49 PM) Well fulmer's start went sideways in a hurry 6IP 9H 6ER 1BB 2HRA 6SO Cease with another hit and walk up to 5IP and 7SO At this point i don't care if he gets shelled as long as he's not walking guys. Baby steps.

The Dash got no-hit.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 06:02 PM) Its not rushing. Kopech could easily be 100% ready this time next year (in fact, that's his exact trajectory) and Jimenez was considered by the Cubs MLB ready. They just didnt have a spot for him. Jimenez at the very least is forcing a AA callup (you could argue the Sox are wasting time and hurting his development leaving him in W-S much longer), and from there it's only one step to AAA. See what Boston did with Devers? It's not out of the ordinary to rocket a guy up to the majors who is playing well enough to justify such a quick ascension. That's exactly what it is, an exception derived from Boston's desperation to win now and unwillingness to give up value in the trade market. They're rushing the development of this kid because they're trying to win now. You're still not accepting the fact there's no one in the Sox front office that's going to be advocating pursing a win now strategy. Most of them will probably be fairly content finishing last as that's probably exactly what they expect and that's what Jerry, Kenny and Rick have all agreed to.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 05:38 PM) The Cubs thought Jimenez was MLB ready this spring. I trust their judgment. Kopech is on a perfect timetable to be a 2018 midseason callup. No, they did not. If they had they would not have assigned him to high A ball.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 05:14 PM) Yes if they do literally nothing to improve this team in the off-season they will be bad again. But do you know Rick Hahn to do nothing in the off-season? Do you really think the Sox will just sit on the sidelines? I don't know, and neither do you. When you look at whether they should choose to at least put an MLB quality team on the field the answer to me is clear. They can make this team decent without spending $200m on free agents or trading any of their prospects. It really wouldn't be too difficult. They built a pretty good pen out of a pair of cheap trades and some minor league free agents, why can't they do that again? Don't tell that they won't be any good, tell me why they shouldn't. How does it hurt to win a few games in 2018? You're clearly struggling to accept the reality of the current White Sox team. You can try to be competitive. But you don't get a lot of value spending FA money. If you spend 200 million this offense you might make the Sox a .500 team. I can say with a fair amount of certainty Rick Hahn will not be spending this offseason. He's not in denial, he see's what we have and it's not enough. It's not enough where spending significant amount of financial resources will yield a competitive on-field product. We're going to be bad, we will not spend this off-season and we're going to see a lot of growing pains. It's not going to be easy to watch, it will likely lead to a lot of frustration and disappointment. But at some point things will start to look up and we'll catch a break two. Then and only then will you see Rick Hahn commit to winning. For now, he's going to do what we're all doing. He's going to sit back and watch how things play out and hope for the best.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 04:57 PM) That is a choice they can make this offseason. There is more than enough available in free agency (at reasonable prices) and on the farm, assuming they are aggressive calling up Jimenez and Kopech, to field a team that can be competitive on a game-by-game basis. Probably not playoffs, but forward momentum towards 2019 (a season they absolutely must not spend wallowing in the basement). You're assuming Kopech or Jimenez can give you even replacement level production. There's a good chance Kopech will need at least a few more years to work out his command. I'd easily take the over on 6 walks per start if you call him up right now. Jimenez is in high-A ball. Let's see if he can hit his weight in the upper minors before even considering his time table. We also have no bullpen. You might need to spend 50-60 million on just the bullpen to bring it back to respectability. Kopech and Jimenez won't change the fact this is likely the worst team in baseball in 2018.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 04:42 PM) The So have like 10 top 100 prospects, 3 of which are top 10 caliber, and a top 3 pick in 2018 all but sewn up. There is no way the Astros compiled that kind of talent after one draft. But hey, if you want to run with the Astros comparison...do you think it's worth punting an entire season of baseball to get ourselves a Mark Appel? The Sox would probably love to be competitive next year. It's just highly unlikely given the weakness of our probable lineup and complete lack of bullpen (and probably not much of a rotation). You can go out and spend 50-60 million to try and to be semi-respectable, but you'll probably still fail. We're going to be bad, probably worst team in baseball bad. You can't buy your way out of it, we'll need to develop and graduate some decent MLB talent and we probably need at least 2 seasons until we even start thinking of being competitive.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 03:23 PM) How can you say this so assuredly? The Twins are no better now than the Sox will be next year and they are 1 game below .500. The Brewers began the year a cruel joke of a roster and here they are, it's almost August, battling for first with the "juggernaut" Cubs. If you are this pessimistic about Moncada and the arms then I don't see how you could support the trades made over the last 8 months. You are basically saying they gave away Chris Sale and Adam Eaton for nothing. You trade Abreu, Avi reverts, Moncada flops and we probably don't have a single legitimate major league hitter on the team next year. In terms of the distribution of what's likely to happen next year I'd be more comfortable being pessimistic than optomistic.

QUOTE (JPR @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 07:26 PM) Hey Tinley orland frankfort Palos hills palos park Mokena new Lenox homer glen Olympia fields we are talking millionaires...rest in peace but Bernie mac lived down there twista too. R Kelly. The drummer for styx...way more families with bundles of cash to blow. Tinley is the spot and the reason why it's been the #1 concert destination for a list bands for decades on end...nothing but money and disposable income down there. And it's still growing unlike the west suburbs. Will county has been on fire for years when it comes to population booms. Those stadiums in da burbs work flawlessly. Especially here in arizona and for our neighbors in Cali too. Not even close from a population density perspective and Will county is significantly less affluent than Dupage, Lake or the burbs of Cook County. It's also at a significant disadvantage from a public transportation standpoint. Population Density.

QUOTE (The Mighty Mite @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 07:14 PM) Agree, either downtown or a near Western suburb, somewhere like Hillside which would put it smack dab in the middle of the Metro area. The western burbs are probably the next best place. What gave Rosemont an advantage was public transportation. You could have built a CTA stop right next to the park, there's already a metra stop there, a Metra/CTA bus terminal near by and new highway connections to the western burbs. Plus, O'Hare and a ton of high end hotels to stay for anyone coming in from out of town.

Your average Cub fan is not a baseball fan. They're just looking for some decent entertainment. You offer an competitive entertainment experience and people will show up. This is all kind of a moot point as the land they had available is now being developed. But there's no doubt in my mind it presented the best location in Chicagoland for building a huge entertainment focused development anchored with baseball stadium. That entire area, the western burbs and most of Northern Chicago is being heavily developed. If i'm going to build a new stadium it's definitely not on the south side of Chicago. If the south side is the only option I start to seriously considering other cities such as Vegas.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 06:15 PM) The NW burbs are the opposite of centralized. It is one thing to say move downtown to the actual center of the metro area. It is another to move south as that is where their fan base is. Rosemont makes no sense at all. There's a reason someone just dropped 50 million to build a stadium for an unaffiliated minor league team and Rosemont offered free land to the Cubs to build a stadium. It's a perfect place to put a big entertainment spot. You have easy highway access, endless parking, airport, metra access, CTA link, tons of food/bar/entertainment/casion/shopping options and most importantly a population base with a ton of money.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 05:53 PM) It would take a generation at least to do that, and in the meantime you would lose your existing fan base. Judging by attendance and TV ratings it's not much of a fan base and you'll place the team in fairly centralized geographic area with a fairly affluent high income population base with decent access to public transportation. At some point they're going to start thinking about a new stadium and and for the Sox sake I hope they seriously consider getting out of the south side.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 05:50 PM) The south side baseball team to the NW suburbs? That would be awful. You'll build a whole new fan base, one that might actually support the team.