Jack Parkman

The extensions only matter because of what they were able to gain in trade because Both Sale/Q were signed to such nice team friendly extensions. Where the accountability comes in is that they had two seasons to get a damn supporting cast around Sale/Quintana/Abreu/Eaton/Rodon and they failed miserably. They weren't allowed to spend the money, there was failure in player development, and the fact they couldn't convince JR to open the wallet a little more and they didn't make any shrewd moves for distressed assets is an epic waste of that talent. KW did that and that is how he kept his job for as long as he did. They had a hell of a core and they put absolutely nothing around them. That is a fireable offense.

What concerns me is that it has just gone ridiculously south on him. Moncada is 9/74 with 33 K since the ASB. That is absolutely putrid. It isn't just 18 games. In May he hit .197 In June he hit .205 July was .231 .107 through a week in August. His April props up his entire season, in which he hit .273. Since May 1 he's below Mendoza. Roughly half of a season. Also, He hit .188 in July and August last year. Evidence is mounting he's either nowhere near ready or completely overmatched at the MLB level. I looked this all up at Fangraphs. He had a hot streak in September 2017 and April 2018 but otherwise it has been a whole lot of bad. September 2017-April 2018: 55/203 for a .270 BA with 77 K The rest of his time in the majors with the White Sox: 81/414 for a .195 BA. and 191 K His wRC+ is down to 89 for the season.

This is a great post. The fact that he wasted Chris Sale, Prime Quintana and quite possibly will waste Prime Rodon is a huge indictment on his ability to identify talent. There is a valid argument to be made that JR has a lot to do with the Sox FO, and if that is the case he should just have baseball people and run the damn team himself. At least at that point we'd not have any illusion of accountability being possible until there was new ownership.

Moncada has to explode or Madrigal has to turn into Rod Carew or forget it. I know they're loaded in the OF but it isn't as deep as I thought. I thought they were 8-10 deep there. Jimenez Robert Basabe Rutherford Adolfo Gonzalez I'd feel better if either Basabe or Rutherford could vault themselves into future stud status like the 1st two. Skeptical about Basabe because he switch hits.

The one about Urlacher's hair graft was hilarious. I get that this is supposed to be satire, but I can't disagree with anything that was said here.

Moncada's struggles have severely tempered my excitement. If you would have asked me during the ASB when it looked like Moncada had turned a corner you would have had a completely different answer from me. I really expect an Avi type start from all of the Sox top hitters now. This is the same reason I rail on Trubisky in the NFL thread. White Sox position prospects and Bears QBs have a long list of epic failures. You assume they suck until proven otherwise. I let my guard down with Moncada. I'm not making that mistake again.

Was it only 41 games? I thought it was closer to 70. Sorry If I was mistaken. Anyway, If Eloy had a half season in AA with the Cubs before getting traded I'd feel much better about him. Because he did most of his growing in the Sox system, I'm skeptical. The fact that he only got to Low A with the Cubs makes me more iffy about him as a prospect. White Sox trained position prospects are notoriously under prepared for the Majors.

He's the most likely to be that guy, I agree, but because it is this particular organization I doubt it.

Avi didn't have good game power in the minors but he hit damn near .400 for half a season in AAA before getting called up to the Sox. It means nothing. If Moncada isn't going to see 96 mph fastballs consistently in the minors neither is Eloy. Which means that take minor league stats with a grain of salt.

Because he plays for the White Sox. We don't get nice shiny new toys. We're the red headed stepchild of baseball. I have zero faith in this organization to develop hitters. I gave them a chance with Moncada and they're failing him. I get that Eloy is more highly regarded but to me he and Avi were/are very similar as prospects. I have no doubt that if Moncada were still with the Red Sox he'd look a hell of a lot better than he does here. This organization is clueless about player development. They haven't developed anyone from scratch that had a 5+ year career since Brandon McCarthy. it is approaching a decade and a half of utter incompetence. Every one who questioned whether the current FO was the correct choice to identify talent and acquire and develop it so far has been proven correct.

You might want to leave baseball for a while. I don't think that Eloy is going to strike out as much, but he's probably going to strike out a lot, and not walk nearly as much as Moncada. It wouldn't shock me if Eloy starts out his first half season hitting .230-.240. AAA.. Means. Nothing. If this works, it will be closer to the KC Royals where it takes 3 seasons for the hitters to figure it out. This isn't a Cubs thing. Even the Astros were in between the Cubs and Royals. Of all of the guys the Cubs had, whether traded or kept, they had 1 massive disappointment(Russell) and one non-major leaguer(Soler) Everyone else is more than solid. That is lucky as hell, but after 9 decades of failure something had to give.

He's bringing it up because he's saying it is just as ridiculous to compare Moncada to those players as it is Engel and Sanchez. I agree with you, it isn't the same, however would we be making that comparison if Moncada wasn't highly regarded? He's saying that any performance and non-performance at the MLB level should be treated similarly. I can't argue that Engel and Moncada look similar at the plate currently. If Moncada was ranked #75 in 2017 instead of #1, would we be giving him this much slack for obvious non-performance? (the other thing is that if Moncada wasn't ranked #1 he wouldn't be on the White Sox, he'd still be with Boston and Devers or Benintendi would be here)

Then why not send him to AAA to start 2019 to get his confidence back? I really don't know if they can afford to take the same "sink or swim" approach they took with Beckham.

If there is anything more boring than 2018 White Sox Baseball, it is Mars. This is coming from an avid amateur astronomer. In any event it would be a very White Sox occurrence for this rebuild to fail spectacularly.

I'm done making grand declarations about how good x player is going to be for the remainder of the next 2.5 seasons. I've been so wrong on Moncada and Giolito that I'm just going to let it play out and let the play on the field do the talking. No more getting attached to prospects. Take everything I said previously and throw it out. At this point, I'm questioning whether I know as much about baseball as I thought I did.

Speaking of Moncada having a rough day with pitchers nailing the corners on him, it seems like for some reason opposing pitchers don't throw him mistakes that often. They seem to nail the corners more often than not in his PA. Not making excuses for him or anything, but it just seems like the pitches he actually has the opportunity to drive are far fewer than others. It is kind of weird, but the dude doesn't seem to get as many cookies as the other guys in the lineup.

Well then, never mind. Move along.

Senzel is completely blocked by Votto and Suarez. If Suarez is a building block for them, they have no place for Senzel because good luck getting a team to take Votto's contract. They're not exactly negotiating from a position of strength here. Someone has to go.

It's way too early to give up on Moncada people. Wait until after next year, at the very least. Am I concerned? Sure, who isn't? Am I ready to write him off as a bust already? Absolutely not.

After reading this WCG article, it wouldn't surprise me if Smith told the Bears to budge or shove it. https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2018/8/7/17662420/chicago-bears-roquan-smith-holdout-set-precedents-college-ucla-national-letter-of-intent-nfl-2018

Completely agree.

That one was ridiculous. WTF is he supposed to do with that?

No left handed hitter could have done anything on that pitch. It was either perfect or a ball that was called a strike. It would have been incredibly tough to even foul off.

Renteria can go with him. I didn't think it could get much worse than Ventura, but Here's Ricky! If there was one redeeming quality about Ventura it was that he knew when to stick up for his players. RR is both bad at managing a pitching staff and a wimp when it comes to sticking up for his players.

I don't disagree and I've been vocal about it recently. The post ASB slump which he has been in for 3 weeks and counting is concerning. I was really hoping he'd pick up where he left off before the ASB, where he was en fuego, but he's gone south and it has no signs of changing any time soon. I hope he has something up his sleeve this offseason because that hit tool is really becoming a problem. When he makes contact it is loud but he doesn't make contact anymore. I'm also going to take his September with a huge grain of salt because it's September. Hopefully he hits a walk off here. Moncada could probably use a week off to clear his mind and work on some stuff with Steverson. Another 0-4 game with 3 K and that is all too common since the ASB. Before the ASB, there were enough hot streaks to go along with the slumps you could think that he was making adjustments. Now it is just one huge slump. 3 weeks and counting. It seems like 4-5 nights per week lately he's 0-4 with 3K. This is incredibly concerning.