thomsonmi

There's been so much talk about how Santana sucks because he was bombed in his first outing I thought I'd do some research for myself. Baseball America ranks Santana as the Angels #7 prospect and many others write pretty glowing scouting reports on him, like the one below. My point here is that everyone should step back from the ledge. Top Prospect alert - Ervin Santana By Schuyler Dombroske DOB: 1/10/83, Age: 20, Height: 6’3’’, Weight: 160, Bats: R, Throws: R. Acquired: Angels – Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2000. 2002 Stats: (Low-A – Cedar Rapids) 14-6, 4.18 ERA, 147 IP, 133 H, 10 HR, 48 BB, 146 K. 2003 Stats: (High-A – Rancho Cucamonga) 10-2, 2.53 ERA, 125 IP, 98 H, 9 HR, 36 BB, 130 K; (AA – Arkansas) 1-1, 3.94 ERA, 30 IP, 23 H, 4 HR, 12 BB, 23 K. The artist formerly known as Johan Santana was one of the top sleeper prospects in baseball at the beginning of the year, but his rapid ascent this year, along with his Futures game selection, has likely ended his time "under the radar". Santana is an absolute stringbean of a pitcher, weighing in around 160 pounds despite his 6’3" frame. What he lacks in mass, however, he makes up for in arm speed. Santana has been clocked as high as 97 mph, and routinely throws 92-95. He also has a nasty slider that is getting better very quickly, and a changeup that, as with most young pitchers, is rather inconsistently effective. For a power pitcher (especially a young one), Santana’s control is good. He walked almost exactly three batters per nine innings last season at Cedar Rapids, and has cut that number by just over 0.1 this year. In each season he has struck out almost a batter an inning, so his K/BB ratio is over 3.0, which is an extremely positive figure for a pitcher his age. As clear as it is that Santana has electric stuff and well above average command of it, it is equally clear that he still is learning how to pitch. A pitcher with his stuff and command should never allow double figures in homers in a minor league season, but Santana has done that both last year and this year. If Single-A guys can take you 375 feet, you can bet your bippy that the big leaguers won’t find it all that difficult either. Other than that issue, Santana is as exciting a pitching prospect as there is in baseball right now. The name change combined with his participation in "Agegate" (he aged roughly ten months) has continued to suppress his prospect status, but he is clearly one of the top pitching prospects in the minors.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ May 23, 2005 -> 09:28 PM) Oh bulls***. In his only other MLB outing he got smoked. Clearly proving he sucks. And, I believe we had 5 hits.

s***. Game over.

Oh, what the hell, post #1000.

Konerko seems to be battling his way back. That's good news. He's 2-4 tonight.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 23, 2005 -> 09:22 PM) Carl Everett is allergic to reaching base when facing a righty. He's hitting .370 against lefties and .189 against righties. Interesting because most seem to think when Frank is back we'll want to use Everett against tough right-handed pitchers. Apparently not.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 23, 2005 -> 09:21 PM) Something that has really pissed me off tonight has been numerous swings by the Sox hitters when they were well ahead in the count. There were 4 or 5 times where we hit weak grounders or fly balls to the opposite field on a 2-0 or 3-1 count. We need to hit the ball a lot harder than that to have consistent offensive production. Constructive criticism. Here's some more constructive criticism... I have a better chance of hitting the ball right now than Crede.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ May 23, 2005 -> 09:17 PM) I hate having to think like that. That's the exact type of thing we started saying last year right before the Twins came back. Well, even if we win 110 games this year you'll have to deal with it at least 38 more times this year.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ May 23, 2005 -> 04:06 PM) General ballpark neighborhood leaves a little to be desired, but the area around the ESPNZone is fun. I actually love what they call Lo-Do (Lower Downtown), the area around Coors Field. In the early nineties it was basically all abandoned wearhouses, now its the place to be on Friday/Saturday nights in Denver. Now, its not Chicago as Denver isn't even 1/4 the size of Chicago but for a small town its a pretty nice area. And, I've always hoped that Chicago would do to the area around the Cell what Denver did in building around Coors Field. It seems that a city like Chicago would have the resources to invest in a community like that. Especially, when the Mayor is a White Sox fan.

QUOTE(TheBigHurt @ May 23, 2005 -> 01:19 PM) Holy s***! This may sound like a stupid question, but where these comments broadcasted? O_O They've been playing them on Mac, Jurko, and Harry this afternoon. "Say hello to my little friend!"

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ May 23, 2005 -> 03:19 PM) ROFL for some reason that makes me laugh so f***ing hard. Just picturing the little round Uribe speak jibberish makes my laugh my ass off. "whatever language Uribe is speaking" That's one of the funniest things I've ever read. That's why its in my signature.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ May 23, 2005 -> 03:14 PM) Hell I thought that was Ozzie. Or it was something along the lines of you can understand half of what I'm saying, but no one knows what the hell Juan is saying. The quote is in my sig... "I have to know how to curse in english, spanish, japanese, and whatever language Uribe is speaking." -- Ozzie Guillen, April, 2005.

I play shortstop for my softball team. Last year, a runner on 2nd asked me if there were two outs. Even though I knew there was only one I said "yes." The batter popped out and the runner took off for an easy double play. Bad sportsmanship on my part? Or just gamesmanship? I thought it was pretty funny just as I feel about Uribe's move. My daughter's high school team runs a play where they pretend to pick off the runner on 2nd, the fielders all of a sudden start running around like the pitcher has thrown the ball into the outfield. The runner steps off second and the pitcher tags them out. It works all of the time.

QUOTE(KevHead0881 @ May 23, 2005 -> 02:18 PM) I'm not doubting you. It would make my trips there a whole lot more tolerable if I could cut them by 3 or 4 hours. I wish there was a way to bypass Nebraska all together. It lasts an eternity and it smells like cow s***. I'm not kidding, the whole friggin state smells like cow s***. They might as well just merge Iowa and Nebraska anyway. I've yet to tell the difference. (apologies in advance to all you Iowa and Nebraska lovers out there) I've done the drive about two hundred times (no kidding) and the best I've done from Boulder to Elk Grove Village is just under 14 hours. It's about 2 1/2 hours to the Illinois border. About 4 1/2 hours in Iowa. About 5 1/2 hours in Nebraska. And, 2 hours in Colorado. And, yes, Nebraska smells like cow s***. There's a reason so many Nebraska football fans live in Colorado and no Colorado football fans live in Nebraska.

I'm the brother who lives in Colorado. And, Coors Field is a great place to see a game. If the rotation holds I'll be watching Garland from 14 row directly behind home plate. I highly recommend Falling Rock Taphouse for you beer lovers. For food there a Vesta Grill down Blake Street from the park that's fantastic. If you like Jazz music you gotta hit El Chapultepec on Tuesday or Wednesday night after the game. My brother and I intend to be at all three games. Hopefully, the thin air will help some of our batting averages.

QUOTE(Steff @ May 23, 2005 -> 10:31 AM) I bet Fisk would have ^5'd him.... Jim's playing golf with him next Monday so I'll have him ask. I'd love to hear Fisk's reaction.

Paulie is consistent on this stuff. He didn't like the Torii Hunter play last season and said so even though his manager complimented Hunter. I disagree with Paulie but these are his views on how the game is played. And, as Steff suggested, it's not unusual for Paul to call out a teammate in public. He did it to Frank a couple years ago too.

ESPN 1000 reporting that McCarthy will be officially activated on Sunday to start against Prior.

Boy, we've been beating this one to death lately. Leave BMAC alone. If something happens to one of our starters call him up otherwise let him get experience and innings at AAA. It ain't broke so don't fix it.

Don't look now but Pods is hitting .292.

Scotty Pods with the bunt single. I love this team.

2-0!

Crede YES!!!!

Too many of you people are hittin' the sauce early in the day again. We are 2nd in the league in holds and people are suggesting we've blown too many leads?!?!? Enjoy the run while its happening. We will eventually have real reasons to complain.

Joshua Hansen the former San Diego University star and 24th round pick in the 2004 draft has some awfully good numbers for Kannapolis playing right field, first base, and DH. In 36 games, he has 10 homeruns, 34 runs batted in, a .300 batting average. Josh Hansen #19 Position: OF/IF/DH Height: 6'0 Weight: 215 Bats: Right Throws: Right DOB: 9/15/1981 Resides: Irvine, CA Acquired: 24th Round Pick in 2004 First Year Player Draft Bio: Minor League Highlights: 2004: Made pro debut at Advanced Rookie Great Falls … batted .290 (42-145) with 18 extra-base hits and a .387 on-base percentage in 40 games … posted a .370 (27-73) average at home … recorded 10-game hitting streak from 7/17-30, batting .472 (17-36). Miscellaneous/Personal: Attended San Diego University, where he hit 15 career home runs with 92 RBI … twice named All-West Coast Conference, earning first team honors in 2003 and second team honors in 2004 … posted a 22-game hitting streak as a senior … batted .369 in 2004 … his 20 doubles as a junior were the third-highest total in school history … was one of school-record five players taken in the draft, and one of four seniors taken on the second day … also attended Wake Forest and Cypress College in Los Angeles … named first team All-Orange Empire as sophomore at Cypress in 2002 after hitting .388.