Jake

Given that Fulmer's performance has clearly regressed, I think it's unwise to assume the version we're seeing out there right now is the "real" one. Sometimes players do regress (or over-perform for stretches), but I think something's off. Perhaps he's about to join Burdi on the operating table.

Yeah I can see exactly why the Astros would talk tough about Tucker being untradeable but it's hard to imagine them passing up on such an obvious improvement to their already-good World Series chances all because the Sox insisted on a 20 year who just got his first taste of AA. Ultimately if you want to make a deal that is so clearly good for a championship-type season, you have to be willing to have lost the deal when you look back a few years later. I doubt Cub fans really want to dump Epstein all because of the Chapman-Torres deal. Everyone knew how it was going to look.

Given that there are times when the decision to rest/rehab or do TJS isn't a clear-cut one, I don't think it's totally crazy that he might do some light tossing even in the presence of what is or will be a major overuse injury.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 10, 2017 -> 02:35 PM) I don't know, I think I'd read opposite. You now know that Moncada's trade value is very high because he was used for one of the top 2 pitchers in baseball this year on an affordable contract. He seems to be implying that real proof for high rankings is the absence of getting traded, not getting traded for a huge haul. I think the idea is if Sale was #10 or whatever he was and Moncada was somewhere near there too, then Sox shouldn't have gotten another very valuable prospect back in Kopech and a not-insignificant third piece and another lottery ticket in the same deal. The other alternative would be to crank up Sale's trade value ranking but that probably didn't seem justified though I don't remember where he was.

He had a smart agent (or doctor) advising him to take that team-friendly contract extension.

I've always felt that Reynaldo Lopez was one that was most likely to take off just by getting to be around Coop. He seems like the kind of pitcher who needs that Coop touch.

I'd give Fulmer plenty of time to work through things and try to find some consistency as a starter. He's got the stuff to make it.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 6, 2017 -> 11:15 PM) That includes A-ball and a week off for his hammy, and only like three games in AA. Much as I'd like to find optimism, that's a pretty empty selection. Wait until he's been in AA hitting again for a few weeks. Here's what I'll say. Many of us were rightly alarmed when in his first 25 games, he struck out 60 times in 105 PA with just 3 BB. In that stretch, he had at least 1 K in all but 2 of them. In 18 of the 25, he had 2 or more Ks. It was about as bad as you can play and when it comes to strikeouts, we know we don't need a big sample size to know something is going on. He never had a 2-game run without at least one of the games having 2 or more Ks. I've really never seen a player play so badly, we're talking about yips level problems with contact. So after striking out 7 times in his first 12 PA in his rehab assignment down in Kannapolis, it seems like something changed for a guy who had no hope of putting the ball in play before. He's played 14 games since. In that time, he's had 59 plate appearances and 10 K (17%) while hitting the ball a little bit (18 for 53, 2 HR, 3 2B, ~.915 OPS). In 7 of those 14 games (half!), he's had zero strikeouts. He has struck out multiple times in only 2 of those games. If you want to split his season into two halves, he has 46 more plate appearances to go since the game where I drew the line to reach the same amount of PA in his first 25 games. He could strike out in every single one of those 46 plate appearances and would still have a lower K rate in the second 108 plate appearances. I don't think the talent difference in A-ball (where 10 of those games occurred split between Kannapolis and W-S) explains the change. Anyway, the point I was trying to make may have not been clear. I've had little optimism for Hawkins as a MLB player for a while now. But the horrendous start to the season was crazy and I've never seen something like it. I've taken a rooting interest in seeing Hawkins fix what looked a lot like a hitter's version of the yips to the point where he could at least just languish in the minors until he wants to hang it up or become a pitcher.

Last 11 games for Courtney Hawkins (multiple levels): 12 for 37, 2 HR, 4 BB, 6 K (!)

I think it should go to the league that won interleague play.

His ability to take walks is a major, plus-plus tool that ought not be ignored.

There's real smoke with this—somebody involved with the loan application knew they were bulls***ting—the only question is whether Jane Sanders was merely negligent or actually knowingly participated in the deception. The alleged pressure from Bernie, though, seems purely politically motivated and the public record doesn't provide a shred of evidence.

The individual market was so rotten pre-ACA that if they repealed ACA now, it would be such a killer for the economy. Only a crazy person would walk away from employer insurance to do something like start a business or take work as an independent contractor if they felt they had any potential need for health insurance.

Illinois will never fix its budget issues without a progressive income tax.

Dude needs the extended release if the stress of it running out in the middle of the day was bothering him

What is Courtney Hawkins's injury? He's fallen so far that nobody bothers saying what's wrong anymore.

What I'm not seeing with Hanson is the ceiling to justify the kinds of rankings he was getting as a MiLBer with non-great production.

Would be very hard to justify taking away any playing time from Leury in favor of Tilson at this point. Tilson's best bet is a worse than anticipated prognosis for Leury or a quicker than expected trade of Melky

I have a feeling he more than some others will be slow to adjust to the grind of catching every day over a 100+ game season.

Going to be some tough decisions when Leury and Saladino get healthy.

When an off-the-radar player with no acclaim is traded away and many years later resurfaces as good, it's worth putting things in perspective. It's hard to say whether there's something obvious like this for Devenski, but you have to consider the possibility that the player would not have developed successfully in the original organization. I'm sure Yankees fans are pissed they let Jose Quintana go, but there's a good chance he was going to be in single-A and possibly pitching in relief had he stayed in their organization. Instead, he got modestly hot as a starter in Birmingham and then benefited from a surprise situation when the Sox both had a roster opening and had a doubleheader on the same day, leading to a callup of both their AAA and AA starters scheduled that day. The luck continued when the Sox scheduled starter had a rotten start and they had a need for their emergency reliever, Quintana, who subsequently pitched so well in his long relief appearance that the Sox kept him up. Even in the best of circumstances with the Yankees, his timeline would have been significantly delayed, probably by two years. Compare that to a guy like Moncada who is probably so clearly talented that it matters very little which team he plays for because he'll do well regardless of opportunity and coaching.

I would like to figure out what's going on with his defense, because last year he really was good. Maybe this or that stat overrated him, but he was at minimum a major league average SS defensively last year. But now he has a serious error problem—maybe it's all in his head. The offense it makes much more sense to be patient with. He's now played more in the MLB than any other single level. We've never let him really grow within a level and he hasn't really had to deal with a scouting report being out on him and executed well.

Please let all those Sunday games be Hawk and Wimpy

Big question remaining is his defense. To compare him to another late bloomer, is he going to be like Jose Bautista as a defender or can he be more like an average outfielder? Has big implications for his future value as well as how much his newfound stroke has to be for real vs. just a slight improvement

I still think the Samardzija trade was more obviously bad at the time it was made, but that was in large part due to the loss of Semien who would have filled the 2B hole that has been gaping since he was traded (and before that). Injury aside, Chris Bassitt may well be a nice piece we lost there too.