bigredrudy

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 5, 2006 -> 02:35 PM) Have you seen Sweeney's splits in AAA? You would think you would want to put one of your top prospects in the best position to succeed starting out. Ryan Sweeney is my favorite White Sox prospect. I just think its asking an awful lot of a kid to basically begin his major league career playing the toughest RF to defend in baseball, in a pressure packed game, facing a left hander, something he has had problems with. If the White Sox had another right handed OF who could actually play RF, there is no way Sweeney would start tonight. What are Sweeney's splits and where did you get them? Thank you for your response.

QUOTE(quickman @ Aug 14, 2006 -> 11:14 PM) So we are talking about letting go our potential MVP this year for some pie in the sky prospect whom we hope will hit 20 Hr's this year? Didn't anderson hit 20 Hr's in the minors last year. That is certainly transitioning well isn't it? i think if the sox want to win the world series they won't be playing sweeney regulary anytime soon. Lets rebuild when our pitchers leave. I truly don't beleive we can win the world series with sweeney, andersen and fields in the outfield unless of course your talking about the 2012 world series. When the rebuilding comes the fans will leave. You, of course are keeping Dye next year as you have an option on his for 6 million. I am not advocating letting him go in 2007 I am talking about 2008 and beyond. I do not think the White Sox budget will allow you to resign Buehrle, Crede, Dye and Iguchi. What if Dye wants a 4 year deal for 50 million. Right now he is a better player than Konerko. I just think the Sox might balk. Dye will be playing for cheap money next year but in 2008 he will want to be paid like the other big names on the Sox.

I do not believe Dye will be resigned after next year. There is one condition and that is if Sweeney shows he can do the job. I believe Sweeney will get that chance next year and will either be the extra outfielder or the regular left fielder. If Sweeney is the extra outfielder he will play a lot-just like Mac is doing this year. I believe Mac will be a platoon leftfielder and will be the leadoff man. Mac is a hustler, plays good defense in the corners and has a strong arm. From the box to first Mac may get there quicker than Pods. And Mac appears to be a hard nosed player and he has power. I don't think either Fields or Sweeney will be traded. These are the only real position prospects the Sox have. KW has said he wanta at least one player from the farm system to join the Sox every year. I dont think it is an accident that Sweeney has played all the outfield positions this year and he has started leading off. I think this is all done by design. It is possible that a trade will be made and that could change the picture. Someone has suggested Crisp but Crisp has an arm like Podsednik. And he has been disruptive in the Boston clubhouse. Crawford is just a pipe dream. Getting back to Dye, he will command a salary of between 10-12 million per year and length of contract could be an issue. This willo be Dye's last big contract and he may be more difficult than Sox fans think. and Dye is slowing down. I could not believe he was thrown out by Guillen.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 09:46 PM) Last year, Fields struck out in close to 30% (29.8 is just about the exact figure) of his ABs. This year, he's striking out in 29.7% of his ABs. His K/BB ratio hasn't improved a whole lot, either. Last year it was at 2.58. This year, it's at 2.48. In other words, his handling of the strike zone has changed very little from last year to this year. Obviously, he's hitting the ball with more authority, but he also seems like a guy who has greatly benefited from playing in such a tiny park. If Fields were to make the jump to the majors next season, I'd suspect he'd struggle more than Brian Anderson has this year. Problem is, Fields doesn't have great defense to fall back on like BA had. OTOH, Chris Young is teh awesome. BA stated today that ifYoung were still on the Sox, he would be playing center field and Brian A would be in the minors. Read it-it is in the hot sheet

QUOTE(VAfan @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 08:03 PM) I, too, groaned over the loss of Chris Young. But you have to put this trade in some perspective. At the time we acquired Vazquez, we did not have Garland or Contreras under contract extensions. We were facing the potential exodus of probably our two best starters, with McCarthy at best available to fill one of those potential holes. By bringing in Vazquez, I think it helped KW make the case to both Garland and Contreras to sign the contracts they did. Now, has Vazquez turned it around? Certainly he has to prove it. Is Vazquez a big-game pitcher? Well, he's never pitched a big game in his life. But stuff-wise, he's as good as we have right now. And he has had good stretches during most of his seasons. We just need him to put one of those together over the next two months. You make a good point about the possibe loss of Garland and Contreras. But I get sick every time I see what Young is doing. And I really get sick when I see how he has cut down on his strikeouts-unlike Fields who continues to strikeout at an alarming rate.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 03:30 PM) Do you know for certain that he will succeed against major league pitching? Have you ever even seen him play? What exactly do minor league stats mean? Should we put Roberto Petagine in the Hall Of Fame? I love it how people try to make definitive assessments when discussing minor league players. Observe him on the major league level for a lengthy period of time, and then if he's kicking ass, feel free to run your mouth about how you "thought" he'd be great based on some minor league stats. That is a riot in and of itself. The trick i8s projecting what a minor league player will do in the majors. Chris Young was rated the 4th best prospect in the Southern League by BA. Ahead of him were Delmon Young, Jeff Francouer, and Jeremy Hermida. The last two are already in the majors. And Delmon Young is the highest rated player in the minors. Again the best thing about Young is the improvement he has shown. He skipped high A ball and went directly to AA-a very good sign. And his strikeouts continue to decline but his power does not. No one can say for sure that a player will succeed in the majors. But I think the odds are very much in his favor. No one can continue to trade prospects on a continuous basis and expect to get away with it. I think KW might have done what most GMs fear-trade away outstanding young player. By the way I have seen young play and he looked good to me.

QUOTE(beck72 @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 02:42 PM) Young wasn't going to help the sox in 2006. Let me pose a few questions for you: 1] If Javy helps the sox reach the postseason and gets a few playoff wins, thereby helping the sox repeat, will your assessment of the trade change? 2] Do you believe that Young is a budding star who shouldn't have been traded for anyone, let alone Vazquez? I hope for KW's sake Javy does do well. They did not trade Young to get a 5th starter. They thought Javy was better than that. And that they could do the same thing with Javy that they did with Jose C. And most importantly they got Arizona to pay part of his salary. As for Young I would have more unwilling to trade him than I would have bee4n willing to trade Fields. Any one can tell about about players once they reach the majors. The difficult job is to judge players before they reach the majors. I think the Sox will be sorry they traded Chris Young. So far Javy has done little to help the Sox. His ERA is one of the worst in the league. We'll see how he does in his next few starts. Everyone is assuming he has turned the corner. We'll see.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 06:20 AM) Because Duque has done so much with Arizona and now New York, Vizcaino turned into one of the best middle relievers in the NL, and Chris Young is a blooming superstar, while Vazquez has been horrendous for years on the South Side. You won't be able to tell if this is one of the worst trades in team history for years. KW liked Vazquez enough that he traded his top prospect for him(given, that's completely arguable, but Young probably was our best all-around prospect at the time he was dealt). Give it more than 4 months to determine if it's one of the worst trades in years...that is all I ask. Hell, regardless of how well he pitches from here on out, he will probably end up pitching in some pretty big games down the stretch, and perhaps even the postseason if the Sox are lucky enough to get there. Wait till then. The worst thing about the trade with Arizona is that we lost Young. He is putting up monster numbers-27 doubles 4 triples and 21 home runs. he is near the top in every hitting category except batting average and it continues to rise. After a slow start he has been on fire. The thing about prospects is whether they improve. As he has gone up the line Young has continued to get better. In A Ball he struck out over 140 times- this year he has only struck out 66 times. And of course Young is fast and a good outfielder. Arizona already has him penciled as their center fielder for 2007

What happened to Robert? He is no longer playing. Is he injured and if so what kind of injury does he have?

What kind of prospect is this guy? Can he run and throw? he appears to be able to hit and has power.

Everyone is euphoric about his last effort. Bu in his career Javy has had games like this before. I think the trade for Javy may turn out to be the one of the worst in Sox history. Chris Young is putting up monster numbers in the PCL. I have ahunch that Young could be the next Alfonso Soriano.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 08:02 PM) I can give you his 2003-2005 splits. By Breakdown AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB HBP SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS vs. Left 165 17 38 3 5 1 17 7 2 38 0 1 .230 .269 .327 .596 vs. Right 963 125 256 44 8 31 135 101 11 229 27 7 .266 .340 .425 .765 I think these numbers could justify a platoon situation for next year. Podsednik has lost a step or two since the first half of last year. His stealing percentage for stealing second base since the first half of last year is horrendous. I would bet that Mac is faster to first base than is pods and is faster to second. Pod's infield outs are not even close. He seems to have trouble getting started from a stopped position. I have to believe that Mac is a better fielder than Pods but how much better I don't know. Your thoughts and corrections if any

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 07:07 PM) It wouldnt be. His career .328 OBP sucks balls for a leadoff man. What are his career numbers against lefthanders and righthanders? I would play Mac in left field on a platoon basis if his numbers justified that Mac seems to be a better fielder than Podsednik and has a stronger arm.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Apr 16, 2006 -> 04:33 PM) He's got some tools. Don't know a ton about him cause none of my contacts have seen him play until now (I don't know anyone thats been around the dominican summer league). But he's good good speed and I believe the Sox feel he'll develop some pop. I think the Sox are going to really like this guy. he has been out of the lineup the last couple of games. Is he hurt? By the way he is very fast.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Apr 16, 2006 -> 08:10 AM) They could move Sean Smith to LF (since he's hitting over .300, doing a fairly good job so far) for Dane Cook to let Orlando hit in CF. But I would like to see what Orlando could do in high A ball. I think it's fair to say he's too good for low A ball already. What do you know about Orlando. Does anyone have a scouting report?

Nomar would be the best bet. He has a much higher OPS than Konerko. And this would free up money to resign the pitchers after 2006.

The White Sox would have to end the season with a 7 game losing streak to at least not get into a playoff for the wildcard. Stated another way only one more win gains at least a tie for the wildcard. That coud come today.

Thus far BA does not think all that much of the sox farm system. The Sox have very few players in their top 20's. I know most of the talent is at Birmingham but even so I am surprised at what I have seen so far. Since we know Charlotte won't have more than one player in the top 20, even a good showing in the Southern League won't make up for this poor showing. And I think Birmingham will have only 3 in the top 20.

I could not believe it when I saw AJ hit against Walker. I thought surely Ozuna would hit for AJ. And here is why. Including AJ's AB against Walker last night walker has the following numbers.Against lefthanders his BA is .231-his slugging percentage is.298 and his OBP is .273. Against righthanders he has a .274 BA-a .417 slugging percentage And a .340 OBP.In addition his walk and strikeout totals are as follows:against lefthanders he has 4 walks and 24 strikeouts-agains righthanders he has 9 walks and 6 strikeouts. He has 104 ABs against lefthanders and 84 ABs gainst righthanders. Ozuna is hitting .305 against lefthanders and in 95 official ABs he has struck out only 11 times. It is easy to see that more than likely Ozuna would make contact against Walker and with the infield in he could probably slap one through. Ozzie must have had a gut feeling because his non-move was definitely against the percentages. In fact Ozuna has pinch hit for AJ before and he got a double. by the way AJ was only hitting.226 against lefthanders. I have a gut feeling that this non move could prove costly.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 09:12 PM) Due to a lack of options I'd say that we shoudl off him arbitration on a year to year basis for now. As it gets mroe expensive-I'd make my decision accordingly. I'd rather have Muller but if there are no other optiosn I'd keep Joe but without getting locked into a long deal Joe Crede is not the big problem on this club.I think it is generally accepted that OPS is the standard by which most people judge offensive contributions from a particular player. Here are the OPS's for the following players. Rowand .743, Everett .748, Pierzynski .744 and Crede .742. In other words these players contribute about the same. Rowand and Crede contribute good defense while Pierzynski does not and Everett not at all. The big culprit in all of this is Everett who is a terrible DH. What do you say to this?

QUOTE(beck72 @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 08:59 PM) Get rid of a young and inexpensive 3bman like Crede who has flashed gold glove caliber defense and sign an aging, expensive replacement for him?! Sure, that's what winning organizations do. Boston is going with Kevin Youkilis [sp?], whose bat is unproven and whose glove isn't close to Joe's. If Mueller was that good, wouldn't they re-sign him and trade Youkilis When Joe Crede was in the minors his power was to right center field but after awhile while with the big club he began to pull more and more. lThus the drop in his batting average. I think Joe is a great defender and he may have found his old stroke. If the Sox had a DH like Hafner instead of Everett the situation would be very much different.

Ozzie seems almost fearful that McCarthy will pitch well because then he would not know what to do. What if McCarthy pitches well this evening and then his turn comes up next Tuesday. And then he does pitch well on Tuesday against Detroit and then he pitches well on the seasons final day. How could he not include McCarthy in the post season rotation if all that occurs. If McCarthy gives up more than 2 runs this evening I see Ozzie going back to Hernandez on Tuesday. Then his problem would be solved.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 04:20 PM) He'll be a free agent in time, maybe after nest year I think. There are rumors they could trade him to Houston too. Maybe if the White Sox organization weren't so petty and actually were run professionally we could have looked into resigning him in two years. But instead, the Sox do what they like to do, rip someone on the way out. Where did you hear this?

In my mind the Sox must win 2 out of 3 if they are to win the division. If the tribe wins 2 out of 3 the Sox lead will be only 3 on the loss side with Santana pitching on Thursday. The Indians will play 4 at Kansas City with their best pitchers going. If the Sox are lucky they will be ahead by only 2 on the loss side by next week. And then the Tribe will play TB and close with the sox on the weekend at home. They will have their best pitchers waiting on the Sox. Even if this scenario plays out the way I have stated the Sox would have a shot at the wild card as they have a 5 game lead on the Yankees. This whole scenario would change if the Sox win 2 out of 3. Under those circumstances they could win the division or at least tie. And most probably win the wild card.