Cerbaho-WG

Jayson Stark wrote today that the Braves jumped into the Buehrle fray. I'd imagine the first name mentioned after Buehrle would be Saltalamacchia.

Barons continue sucking at offense, losing 1-0 and wasting a great start by Eggy: 7 IP 2 H 1 ER 2 BB 10 SO http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...ox&did=milb For some reason I still think he gets traded because Kenny has a boner for Gavin the size of the circumference of Jupiter. Oh, Nanita went 2-4 and Collaro walked. He still blows. Kanny and W-S have the day off due to their respective leagues' all-star breaks. Other games not started yet: Bristol @ Bluefield (Infante v. Procner) Great Falls v. Billings (Carter v. Ravin) Charlotte @. Norfolk (Phillips v. Johnson) Fun fact: There are an assload of Dominicans and Venezuelans on Bristol. Seriously, look at their roster.

Wood 3 run jack. Ballgame.

I would say that it's very encouraging that Broadway has put up the type of numbers that he has considering he's been developing command of a two-seamer. I think the second half of the season is going to be a very good barometer of how well he and the pitch have progressed. But averaging less than a H/IP with moderate walk totals while developing a primary pitch are very good signs.

While I've never given a s*** about the IU football program and most likely never will, it's a shame that Coach Hep succumbed to cancer. He was so optimistic that it hurt, but one could tell that the man had a passion for football and wanted to bring success to IU more than anything. It's hard to say that he will be missed, because unlike what some people say, the majority of the campus, myself included, just doesn't care about the football program. But sports aside, he will be missed simply as a person, and that's how his death should be viewed. Another tragic, unneccesary victim to a horrible illness.

Ok, so we trade Aaron Cunningham, an outfielder with 20 HR+ potential who's very good with the bat and takes walks for a 24-year-old coming into his own after playing in the California and Pacific Coast leagues. Yes, this is a great trade, absolutely wonderful. If this is any indication of the talent we're going to be getting in our firesale, I might as well start making the effigy of Kenny Williams to burn when I get back to Chicago in September.

Because if he gets injured you're all but guaranteed Type A compensation, and I'd be willing to bet that Dye's offensive numbers go up rather than down in the near future. I'm not talking astronomically high, but when you suck so damn bad, marginal improvement is enormous when you improve.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 10, 2007 -> 03:41 PM) Why would Dye for Billingsley straight up be bad? Billingsley has a good future ahead of him. He should be starting now. Dye has been garbage all year long and is a free agent. I'd love to get more for him than just Billingsley but if the Dodgers said, "Give us Dye, we'll give you Billingsley" I'd do it, if nothing else were available. Because it's possible to get so, so much more for him as the trade deadline comes closer. If you want to get the absolute most for Dye, give him three weeks to try and get on a hot streak and then sell him to as many teams as possible. If Dye can somehow get his average up to .250, teams will be falling all over each other to trade for him. Look at it this way: he can't possibly get worse unless he injures himself, so there's very little sense in trading him while is value is so low.

Billingsley throws 96 out of the pen, has a good, hard cutter and a solid curve. While he'd help in the short term for the pen, his future is as a starter. With LA having a s***load of pitching prospects, I'd imagine they'd let him go. Dye for Billingsley straight up would be bad, but getting Billingsley would be a nice addition to the future.

I honestly hope Bukvich gives up a homer here so he can be sent back down to Charlotte with Prinz.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 9, 2007 -> 04:59 PM) You know, it's really a good thing that KW didn't upgrade in LF or at SS this year. But thankfully, we're loaded with AAA pitchers for a while! Considering how bad he started, he must be doing something right to have his ERA in the low 2's. There's an MLB rule that states that for each AAAA pitcher you have, you receive 10 wins per pitcher at the end of the season. We're gonna have like 200 wins

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 7, 2007 -> 10:56 AM) No...it would be great if someone from our minors actually overachieved based on their expectations. The last person to do that has to be Buehrle. I've just always thought of Gio as more of a #4 or 5 guys. There's nothing about his numbers, while repeating AA in a pitcher's park, that makes me think he's going to be a standout starter. If Danks can be a 2/3 and Gio can be a 4/5 though, we have the makings of a competitive staff. Your ignorance is astounding. It's almost as if you don't have a clue what you're talking about. Gonzalez is indeed repeating AA, but is in a different division this year. He has absolutely no advantages when it comes to seeing hitters for a second time because he's not. He's also 21, but age doesn't matter because he's repeating a league. Right, great logic. Furthermore, here are Gio's splits away from the Met: 27 IP 26 H 8 BB 41 SO .248 BAA .635 OOPS .67 HR/9 He's actually giving up more homers per 9 at the Met than on the road. Outside of one start in May, he's been hovering around his April numbers, which were fantastic. If you want to spout off on someone who is overrated, please talk about Russel and not Gonzalez.

We added a second DSL team this year, so all signs would point to having the VSL team scrapped.

Looking at the Skogley pick, he has some obvious mechanical flaws (slows down his delivery on his offspeed stuff), but his stuff is very, very good. Even though he had atrocious stats, I like the pick.

Round 10 Brian Guinn SS HS

Round 8 Lyndon Estill OF Lower Columbia College Off to take a shower, please cover for me. Stats: http://www.lcc.ctc.edu/athletics/baseball/mens/records.xtm

Gallagher's stats: .360/.461/.559 20 2B 6 HR 38 BB 19 SO 16/21 SB

Round 7 pick - James Gallagher - OF - Duke

Conference call just hung up on Minnesota. laffo

Sox take Johnnie Lowe - RHP from Point Lowe Nazarene U Should be on the front page. If it doesn't show on the player, look for listen to the 2007 draft or something similar.

The conference call is back. Aw yeah.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Jun 8, 2007 -> 10:04 AM) After a day I like our first 2 picks even if Poreda was a bit of a reach but the last 3 I think are all career minor leaguers. It seems guys are adding changeups/cutters/etc. all the time now and having them be good pitches, and I think our organization has some excellent pitching coaches which definitely helps. I think the first thing is they are going to have Poreda pitch more upright which will naturally help his secondary pitches and than who knows the possibility. As for the 2nd pick he is the guy I really like. I think he will be a near top of the rotation guy if all goes well and who knows he is a highschool guy so his fastball might add some more velocity as he fills out more. Actually both our first 2 picks might improve their fastballs since Poreda is relatively new to baseball and once he learns how pitching with an upright arm angle might help. From what I've seen of Ely and Hunt, and I must admit it's very little, I'm not too cynical about them. Ely throws the hell out of the ball which I really like, and Hunt has the makings of Jason Grimsely in his prime. Hunt's mid 90s heat from the right with good sink and run should eat up right-handers, but he's going to have to locate it very well inside to left-handers to stay as a starter.

Thirty minutes until the draft starts up again. I'll try and cover the Sox picks as best as possible, but I have to run at 18:50 (it's 17:00 here in Germany right now). 10bux our first pick is a position player.

From Whitesox.com CHICAGO -- The first incarnation of Aaron Poreda's athletic career would have made him a more likely first-round pick for the Chicago Bears, as opposed to the White Sox. Poreda actually stood out on the gridiron for Campolindo High School in California, earning second team All-Conference honors in 2004 as a defensive lineman. But as of his junior year, Poreda decided baseball was the career path best-suited for him to follow. On Thursday, shortly after 3 p.m. CT, the 6-foot-6, 240-pound southpaw completed the climb from a walk-on hurler at the University of San Francisco to an individual who could be contributing on the South Side of Chicago as a Major Leaguer in the next year or two. The White Sox selected Poreda with the 25th pick of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, sounding after the selection as if they were quite satisfied with the addition. "One of the things we were emphasizing for this particular ballpark, which is pretty much of a home run hitters ballpark, is someone who can sink the ball and put the ball on the ground," said Duane Shaffer, the White Sox senior director of amateur scouting, who was part of the front office brain trust arriving at the Poreda pick. "This guy had the best sinker we saw all year from a college left-hander," Shaffer said. "This was a guy we focused on and we were fortunate enough to get at 25." Asked to describe himself as a pitcher during a Thursday evening conference call with the Chicago media, Poreda defined his style as "a big lefty that loves to throw strikes and force contact." His fastball tops out around 97 mph, but usually ranges from 91 to 96 mph. A slider and changeup complete his repertoire, although Poreda added that he has been working on a cutter. Confidence also seems to play a crucial role in Poreda's success, judging by his comments made in regard to his Major League preparedness at the present time. "Physically, I would be ready to compete at the Major League level," said Poreda, who doesn't have much more filling out or physical growth to do, based on his current size. "I need to critique a couple of pitches and work with the White Sox coaches. Whenever they want to bring me up, I'm more than ready. "I need to develop full command of my slider, but it has been a great pitch for me already. Every day, it seems to be getting better and better. My changeup has been a great pitch, but if I throw it more and more, it will be there. My fastball is Major League ready." As a junior starter for the Dons during the 2007 season, Poreda finished 7-6 with a 2.89 ERA over 14 starts. Poreda struck out 66 and walked 18 in 99 2/3 innings, and although he led the San Francisco staff in strikeouts over the past two years, he has the makings more of a control pitcher than a power arm. "He's a ground ball pitcher, at least that's what I think," Shaffer said. "He's a guy who can pitch with his fastball, he can pitch to contact and he's going to get a lot of outs that way because his ball sinks so much." This strong effort as a junior from Poreda followed a sophomore campaign, marking his first time moving from the bullpen to the starting rotation, in which he posted an 8-5 record with a 2.49 ERA. Shaffer watched Poreda pitch three times personally this year, in January, March and during his last game in May, and the White Sox saw Poreda 15 times cumulatively. Assuming Poreda signs quickly, and he gave every indication Thursday that he planned to be part of the White Sox family, Shaffer felt Class A Winston-Salem would be a good starting place for the left-hander. Poreda said he hadn't watched a White Sox game recently and being from the East Bay area, he actually thought the Giants might have selected him with the 22nd overall pick. "I thought that I had a good shot of going to the Giants, but now that I'm a White Sox, I have a new favorite team," said Poreda, who was teammates at San Francisco with Stefan Gartrell, the White Sox 31st-round pick in 2006. "I can't wait to have the White Sox tell me where I'm going to go so I can get this process started." Pitchers have been the White Sox top selection in each of the last three drafts, with Poreda following Lance Broadway (2005, 15th overall) and Kyle McCulloch (2006, 30th overall), marking the first such stretch since the team's drafts from 1974-76. But Poreda appears to be a bit less polished than the two previous hurlers, who practiced their craft at Texas universities. But the White Sox made clear over the past few weeks that they were looking for the best available talent, a player who could be a little rawer in regard to baseball skills, but could develop into something special at the Major League level. The White Sox seemed to hit their target via the one-time defensive and offensive lineman turned frontline pitcher. "We were always looking for the best player, the highest-ceiling athlete, the All-Star type guy," said Shaffer, who mentioned there was a position player of interest available with Poreda, but the White Sox opted for the pitcher. "He can pitch with his fastball. His secondary stuff, it needs some work. "There's no question about that. You don't get a 6-foot-6 lefty, who throws 91-to-95 [mph], unless there's a glitch here and there. But we think we can work that out fairly quickly and get him on his way." Other White Sox Day 1 selections: RHP Nevin Griffith, Middleton (Tampa, Fla.) High School (second round, 89th overall) Originally projected to go quite a bit higher, possibly as a sandwich pick, the White Sox just might have picked up a steal with the hard-throwing righty. "[He's] tall, lean and he can throw the heck out of the ball," said Shaffer of Griffith, who has signed with Florida International University. Griffith's fastball checks in currently between 90-94 mph. But with plenty of room to grow, the White Sox project out Griffith to throw even harder when he gets bigger and stronger. RHP John Ely, Miami of Ohio (third round, 119th overall) The Homewood-Flossmoor (Ill.) High School graduate won 18 games over the past two seasons for Miami of Ohio. According to Shaffer, he's another pitcher with a fastball between 90-95 mph. He also has a good breaking ball, good control and the all-important sink. "Sink and power arms, that was an emphasis," said Shaffer of the five pitchers selected on Day 1, with 45 rounds coming Friday. "We were fortunate enough to get them." RHP Leroy Hunt, Sacramento City College (fourth round, 119th overall) A former outfielder, Hunt presents a little different look with his three-quarters delivery. Hunt finished 9-4 with a 1.99 ERA last year and held opposing hitters to a .199 average. "He's a guy who can move fairly quickly if he throws enough strikes," Shaffer said. RHP Nathan Jones, Northern Kentucky (fifth round, 179th overall) Jones is another power arm out of Northern Kentucky, with a fastball topping out at 96 mph

No-hitter broken up. Eat a bag of dicks, Curt. God I f***ing hate him.