hogan873

I'll say this about Davidson - he can hit the hell out of a baseball. I was at the game yesterday, and it was really cool to see him hit that line drive HR to win the game. The only true way we'll know how good of a player Davidson will be is to give him consistent at-bats. He's been getting those recently, and I expect him to play for most of the remainder of the season. He'll likely hit 30 HRs. But I'd have to agree that the rest of his stats are not great. I don't see the Sox having anyone else at 3rd next year, so maybe that will be the true test. From what I've seen, I like the power, but he seems to be a three outcome hitter: HR, fly ball, K. Long story short, he'll most likely be part of the team next year, but I don't see him being part of any long-term plans. But you never know...he could surprise us all.

Where will Gillaspie fall on the prospect list for the Sox? He was the Rays' #10, but I imagine he'll be quite a bit lower in our system. Somewhere in the 20s?

He's already a quality starter. The question is whether he can become an ace. He's obviously not 100% back from the injury, and as someone else pointed out, this is sort of like spring training for him. He's got nasty stuff, as evidenced by the 11 Ks in four innings yesterday. His biggest issue seems to be walks. Once he gets more control of his pitches and learns a few more things, he'll be a very good pitcher. I expect him to slowly improve this year. Hopefully he'll be healthy throughout the season all the way into spring training. I think we'll see what kind of pitcher he truly can be next year.

QUOTE (Tony @ Jul 25, 2017 -> 12:07 AM) He's 32, not 42. He's batting .295, is posting a positive WAR and is a respected veteran who is good in the clubhouse. Saying he is going to sign somewhere for the minimum is absolutely ridiculous. I agree. The Melky hate is ridiculous. He's not a great defender, but he's been pretty good offensively and as you said he's a good clubhouse guy. I could see him signing for a 3 year deal worth $12-$14 million per. The Sox won't, as that wouldn't fit with their rebuilding plans. But someone will.

Both of these guys would require a long contract, like 8+ years. I don't think the money per year would be an issue for the Sox, but the years might. However, as others have posted, this is a different team being constructed. The culture has changed, and if things work out I could possibly see the Sox signing one of these guys for 10 years.

I agree it's time to bring him up, especially with Frazier being traded. Question is, who gets the majority of the time at 3rd? Or do Saladino, Sanchez, and Davidson all share time there? I would assume Moncada will pretty much take over 2nd.

QUOTE (maxjusttyped @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:04 PM) Bob Nightengale‏Verified account @BNightengale 2m2 minutes ago The #Yankees-#WhiteSox deal presumably will become official at the conclusion of the White-Sox-#Dodgers game.. Okay. Can they call the game now?.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:01 PM) It's dead all the sudden... Everyone's phones died at the same time.

Twitter is maddening with all of the trolls. And some of the tweets are almost believable. I'll continue to get my news here.

I'm going to burn up my iPad switching between Soxtalk, Twitter, and MLB top prospects sites.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 11:56 AM) I am a fan. If the rebuild works, I get to enjoy the success just as you do. May be unfair, but it's the case. You say if you are not a prospect guy you are not a baseball fan. I don't know about that. Not everybody follows that stuff heavily. Since my team is doing the rebuild, then yes I want Moncada, Eloy, all the pitchers the Sox acquired, Robert, etc., to do well. But frankly I am not interested in hunting for their minor league stats. If their highlight videos are right in front of me, sure I'll click on them. I tend to follow the big league club and wait for the reinforcements. When they come, I have the right to start following them just like any of the people who follow prospects all the way through the minors. No, not everyone follows the prospects. But if you're team is in a rebuild, you have to pay attention to the prospects. And you don't have to go hunting for stats. They are readily available along with their ratings, a write-up, and projection on when they'll reach the majors. 2017 and 2018 are not about the big league club as much as they will be about developing for the future. If you want to ignore the prospects and open your eyes when they reach the majors, that's fine. But you can't say a rebuild is going terribly because of your own ignorance.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 12:14 AM) I am not a prospects guy. I like proven players, though not many hitters are truly elite and not many pitchers are truly elite any more. That said, a lot of you are prospects people so I ask you, since so many gave the rebuild a 9 or 10 in this thread: Taking all the talent the Sox have acquired into consideration and assuming we keep Abreu around as well as Rodon and Anderson ... can you assure me 1 to 3 World Series appearances only taking the guys we acquired and our homegrown minor leaguers into consideration as well as the fact the Sox are sure to get some more good prospects for David Robertson and maybe Melky? Can you assure me 1-3 World Series appearances and/or WS titles? I gave the rebuild 2 so far cause I need proof and I am not a prospects guy. Can you assure 1-3 World Series appearances if the team had increased its payroll to $200 million and signed a bunch of free agents? No, of course not. Your arguments are ridiculous because nothing can be assured. You'll only know if any plan is successful after the fact. But if you look at the history of what some teams have done, rebuilding (properly) and making good draft picks works. Look at the Cubs. Look at the Astros. The Sox are finally doing it right by rebuilding the right way. They now have 9 of the top 100 prospects in all of baseball. And these aren't prospects that just the fans think are good. These guys are rated in the top 100 for a reason. Even by conservative expectations, the Sox look to be a very good team in a couple years. And that's before they spend some of their saved money on free agents. It's obvious that no one here is going to make you see the light, and maybe you'll have your day in 2020 when most of these prospects wash out and you can say "I told you so." That seems to be what you want. But chances are that the Sox will be good...maybe damn good in a couple years. This year and next will be painful, but I can deal with that to get what most of us expect in the future.

Watched the first two episodes of Snowfall. Pretty good so far. It plays a bit like The Wire. There are multiple story lines that seem unrelated in the first episode, but they started to come together in the second. Hopefully it keeps up with the intensity and good story telling.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 17, 2017 -> 11:14 AM) If you are objective that's absolutely true. There's no way to give it anything HIGHER than a 5. Why? Cold hard evidence. The current FACTS are the Sox have a horrible baseball team on the field right now. So in that regard the rebuild is frankly a zero. However, in the prospect world, the prospects push it to a 9. So average it out and you get a 4 or 5. The facts are that the team stinks right now and for some time to come. But the experts say the prospects guarantee a future WS or several WS. So you have to average both factions, folks. Like harkness said it is hard to impossible to rate it at this point because the prospects are amazing according to the analysts; the current team is so bad it is beyond belief. If the prospects don't pan out, the current team's lousiness would forevermore deem the rebuild a failure. Sorry for the delayed response to this post. I just got back from 2020, and my time machine had some mechanical issues. It took me a little longer to get back. The good news is that the rebuild was a huge success. The Sox are in first place in the division, and almost everyone's happy. The bad news is that 2017 was such a bad year that some fans can't recover. and still rate the rebuild at a 2. I think you're missing the point of a rebuild. A team can't rebuild AND compete at the same time. Not in a true rebuild anyway. You have to look at the potential of the future. Will every prospect be the best they can be? Certainly not. Will all of them wash out? Most likely no. Will some over perform while others under perform? Most likely. The prospects the Sox have been gathering point toward having a very competitive to dominating team starting in 2019. Plus, you have to remember that the Sox are also putting themselves in a good position to have money available for free agents within the next few years. How the team is doing right now has no bearing on how the rebuild is going. In a rebuild, a team is not going to trade away Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, and Adam Eaton and get back a bunch of MLB-ready guys. It's not going to happen. It will take a while to see the true results of the rebuild. Hindsight will tell us for sure how everything went. But for now we have to look at what the Sox got in the trades. What is the potential? What will this team look like is 2019-2022? Signs currently point toward the team looking pretty damn good...and extremely good if most of these guys live up to conservative expectations.

Watched some video of Jimenez. His swing looks effortless, and his power is amazing. Two-thirds of the Sox outfield for 2019 and beyond looks pretty damn good.

Count me in with the "WOW" responses. Is this package better than most other possibilities (Astros, Braves, Yankees, etc.)? Getting the Cubs' top two prospects seems unreal.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 5, 2017 -> 10:21 PM) Exactly. If you were fan of a buyer, would you accept your team acquiring Melky Cabrera? There's absolutely no reason to acquire him. He'll kill a contender defensively and he's an average hitter. He's not exactly fast either. Enough with the Melky hate. We get it, you hate him. I think we can all agree he's not great defensively, but he'd hardly kill a contender. And he's been pretty good at the plate this year. If my team was in contention and needed to fill a hole in the outfield, I'd have no problem with acquiring Melky. No one is going to give up anything huge for him, but you are way undervaluing him with your unwarranted hate.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 2, 2017 -> 10:57 PM) Caulfield with all due respect Frazier, Holland, Shields and Cabrera are not going to bring anything. MAYBE an NL team that needs a pinch hitter would take Frazier, maybe. Think about it. You are a contender you make the trade and these guys show up. You really are going to immediately insert Frazier, Cabrera into the lineup and shields or Holland into the rotation? That could be immediate buzzkill and send a team reeling. I don't get the Melky hate. Yeah, he's not great defensively, but why would a team not want a guy who's batting .285 with 9 HRs and 47 RBIs? Putting him in a lineup of a contender would NOT be a buzzkill and send a team reeling. He could be a great addition to team that needs a corner outfielder that can swing a bat. I don't imagine the Sox would get a big return, but to say he's worthless is just dumb.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jun 28, 2017 -> 09:59 PM) Maybe not, but he's played really well for the Sox and I'd like to see him play regularly. That will require moving Frazier/Melky which hopefully happens soon. I like what I've seen so far. He's fast as hell and seems pretty confident at the plate. I would hope that some of the moves coming up (hopefully) will allow him to keep playing even if Moncada comes up and Saladino and Leury return. Why not see what he can do to see if he fits in future plans.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 27, 2017 -> 03:54 PM) Has anyone out there watched Turn about the Culper Ring of Washington's spies during the Revolutionary War? Yes. My wife and I really enjoy it. Haven't started the latest season yet...it's sitting on the DVR. If you are a fan of history, especially the Revolutionary War, it's a pretty interesting show.

I gave it a 6, and that's based on that fact that it's incomplete. I like the moves so far, and I like the draft picks, from what I know of them. In about five weeks, this team could look A LOT different, and there could be many more exciting prospects in the system. If Hahn makes some more smart trades, I could see my rating rising up to an 8 or 9.

Better Call Saul finale was great. The entire season was some of the best TV on right now. Chuck's breakdown was one of the saddest scenes in recent memory.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 1, 2017 -> 01:37 PM) Does he need to get a ton better? He's already very good. I agree. I like him. I'm not sure he and Stone are the best pairing, though. Sometimes Stone seems baffled by Benetti's sense of humor. I'm glad to hear Hawk is retiring. Not because I don't like him...I do. But he's ready to go. Sounds like he's going out on his terms, so that's good.

I voted for Sanchez, but I like all three of them. Davidson strikes me as a guy who will have big power with a mediocre batting average who hasn't seen much time in the field. If he got some more playing time at third and showed he could do well, I might think more highly of him. Leury is the biggest surprise for me so far, but I'm not sure he'll sustain it. His defense is good, but not great. Getting a lot of time in CF is doing him good, though. I think he has a chance to be at worst the 4th outfielder for this team. If he could end up hitting .260ish with 10 or so HRs a year (I think his power this year is an outlier) and start stealing some more bases, he'd look pretty good leading off for this team. I hope Sanchez gets to stay at 2B when Saladino comes back. His defense is great, and having an arm strong enough for 3B at 2B makes his range that much better. I don't think he'll ever be an offensive juggernaut, but with his defense, a .265+ BA with a little power makes him the best of the three in my opinion.

Great episode of The Americans last night. It was interesting, though, that they covered an entire story line in one episode where other story lines have been going on for seasons. I'm wondering also if Oleg's actions in Russia are going to interact with what's going on in the US. I'd have to imagine there will something down the line that brings it together.