Palehosefan

Fernando Hernandez pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

Hudson inching closer to Minor League POY status. Having a very similar rise and season to Jon Rauch years ago. He's either pitching himself into a major piece for a Dan Haren type trade, or a potential rotation spot next year. Also, Brandon Short has found his power stroke with the arrival of Jared. 3 homers now in his last 3 games, with 4 total on the season.

Lee could also do wonders for the development of Kazmir and Price. It would seem to really make sense for them.

The Indians would be crazy to not deal Lee and Victor for all the prospects they can get. Their last rebuilding effort fell way short and it seems like it's time to try again.

Just noticed even easier money, Texas -18.5 @ Texas A&M A&M always plays UT close or beats them. Getting over 18 points and @ A&M is ridiculous.

Oklahoma -11 @ Texas Tech Might have to actually take up betting for that one. OU has lost their last two trips to Lubbock and needs some serious payback for the year changing raping last year in Norman. Oh well, UNC and TTU should be in some of the pre-season top 25 polls, should be another fun year.

TB's announcer thought they were in commercial. "Jiminy Criminy how bad could Diaz be?"

Phegley has got to be getting tired of these 0-fer games, yeesh.

Would love to hear what Harrell's arm strength looks like after a few years of recovery from surgery. He had nice K numbers today.

Orlando and Boston are pretty much neck and neck. The trio's of Garnett, Pierce, and Allen cancel out Howard, Carter, and Lewis. Nelson and Rondo are both good PG's with similar impacts. Rasheed is clearly better than Gortat or Ryan Anderson, but I think Orlando has the better bench. Cleveland should be right there with them as well, as they clearly have the best overall player of the bunch, and now Shaq. If Shaq is rejuvenated again then the trio of Mo Williams, Lebron, and Shaq will be tough to stop in the playoffs. Should be an epic year for the NBA.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jul 19, 2009 -> 10:05 PM) It's way too early to say anything like that. Pena is only 26 and has put up solid numbers in a major league setting. As Goldstein mentioned in his chat with FS, there are scouts around the league that don't project Allen to be a major league hitter. I'm not saying he won't be successful, I am an Allen fan and hope he does great, but whether it is an indictment on the Sox minor system, or them being great at knowing who is going to make it or won't, there haven't been many prospects traded by the Sox to come back and bite them. If Pena can be a serviceable set up man for this team over the next 3-4 years, I'm fine with the trade. If you want to look at it from a glass half empty point of view, which I do for the moment... Pena is 27 years old and has had 3 mediocre/bad seasons in the majors and 1 good season. IF Cooper can fix him and he becomes a reliable set-up man, then I will be fine with the trade.

Hitting .293, .363, with 12 HR and 52 RBI's on the year now. He's going to be a solid 1B or left fielder with his athleticism. I hated this deal only slightly less than the MacDougal one, and Daniel Cortes is struggling this year, but still only 22 years old.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 19, 2009 -> 03:23 PM) Everyone okay with T-Pain as a nickname for Tony Pena, or is it back to the drawing board? Or Tope. Then again that nickname might be taken the wrong way.

QUOTE (Misplaced_Sox @ Jul 19, 2009 -> 02:44 PM) Why are people praising Ozzie for this move with Poreda? This was a terrible move and Ozzie just sticking it to the fans media, I cant wait for him to tout Wise lone HR for plugging him in today either. Ozzie is the mental midget, he slams the kid in the media, never plays him. Then says I'll show you and puts in a situation to fail. I dont know many rookies who would succeed in that situation at all. That was seriously classless indeed, and it show that Ozzie Guillen could never handle a youth movement because he always has to prove something to these "kids" always trying to tear them down. I kind of feel the way he treats BA, Fields, the other young players through the years has been terrible and has done more harm, mentally, physically.... then good. We are just lucky that Beckham is such a sure thing and confidence in abundance that Ozzie dumb comments couldn't even dent him. Glad someone else feels the way I do about Ozzie.

I think it's safe you say you won't find a more athletic OF on any level than the Kanny OF with Brandon Short in LF, Jared in CF, and Justin Greene in RF.

Jared got a base hit in his first at-bat. Nice.

PG. Chalmers SG. Wade SF. Odom PF. Boozer C. O'Neal with Beasley, Cook, Quinn etc coming off the bench? Yeah that might work.

A vet back-up can be very valuable to a team the caliber of the Bears. Byron Leftwich saved the Steelers butts a few times last year when Ben got hurt.

If you want to compare him to someone, he is comparable to a top 5 pick in the 2007 draft money wise. He's basically our Josh Vitters, and Vitters is getting his ass handed to him in high A ball. Bill Rowell of the Orioles from the 06 draft is another comparable 3B, and he's stuck in high A struggling as well. Viciedo is on pace for about 70 RBI's in his first profesionally season as a 19/20 year old in AA. I don't even remember the last 19 year old we had at AA. Garland?

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jul 12, 2009 -> 12:40 AM) He's hitting into extremely poor luck (.207 BABIP), making Phegley just another example of why batting average isn't useful as an evaluation of true ability. His strikeout rates (8.8% swinging strikeout and 0.0% called strikeout) are both great so he clearly hasn't been over matched at the plate. He does have a high fly ball rate thus far which would bring his expected batting average down some but it should also result in a very strong home run rate, which is obviously a good thing. Like other have said though, it's too small of a sample size to make any kind of true evaluation but I don't see anything to be worried about. In fact, if there's one thing I'm most certain about from this draft class it's Phegley's ability to hit, he was a very polished, advanced college hitter and those guys have by far the highest rate of reaching the Majors and turning into average or better players. Scouting reports like this from BA are hard to take about Phegley... "Scouts aren't sold on his future production or his defense, however. Some think his bat is a little slow, and he didn't look impressive with wood bats during Team USA tryouts last summer or Indiana's scout day last fall. He bats out of an exaggerated crouch, which makes it difficult for him to catch up to velocity at the top of the strike zone. Phegley bulked up after batting .232 without a homer as a freshman, and his thicker build has cost him defensively. He has plus arm strength but a slow release, leading to average results in shutting down the running game. He has caught 31 percent of basestealers over the last two years. He is a below-average receiver who has been exposed this spring by Eric Arnett's explosive fastball and Matt Bashore's breaking pitches." Hopefully he can adjust to the wood bats like fathom mentioned.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 11, 2009 -> 11:38 PM) Dan Hudson got to be one of our best pitching prospects to come through this system in a couple years. I loved watching Poreda make his way up, and who can forget the domination of B-Mac, but Hudson's done a hell of a job since his draft year. He's having a year similar to BMac or Rauch from years before, and he should be a nice candidate for BA player of the year if he can keep it up. As for Phegley, he's 1 for his last 20, and I'll admit that I have been very worried that he was a major reach. But we will see.

I have to say, even with it being very early, Phegley is really, really struggling.

Tyler Flowers 2-3 tonight with a BB, average up to .301 now. However, Danks 0-4 and at .298 now, looks to be struggling after returning from the time off.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 9, 2009 -> 08:54 PM) I actually want Haren more then Halladay, but Halladay is the superior pitcher who would require a superior package. Haren is younger, and is signed through 2013 at an average rate of about 12.25M. As for the superior pitcher, it's actually much closer than you think. Haren, 73-57, 3.55 ERA, 1,118 IP, 1068 hits, 931 K's, 247 BB's, 1.18 WHIP Halladay, 141-69, 3.47 ERA, 1,930 IP, 1,881 hits, 1,393 K's, 437 BB's, 1.20 WHIP I think it would require a very similar package, Scenario thinks Haren would cost more, which I could actually believe.

Portland is coming off of 54 wins and is a year older, I think they will be legit contenders for a title. I can't imagine that team if they can put together some of the spare parts for a better PG option. Steve Blake is ok, but definitely the weak link in the lineup.