Lillian

What exactly does Jimmy Rollins bring to this team? With Abreu getting the day off, the best DH they could employ was Rollins, even with a RH pitcher. Wow, if that doesn't speak volumes about the need for another bat, I don't know what does. If Rollins isn't going to hit, what is the point of having him on the roster? He is not a good SS, at this point in his career. I asked once before but I'll ask again; How much better is Saladino, defensively? I know he's better, but to what degree?

Thank you "Harkness". That is very kind of you.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 21, 2016 -> 04:00 PM) He's getting very hard to watch. Slumping is one thing, even getting worse is one thing, but right now he has some elementary problems. It's not just that it feels like he's being pitched very consistently and predictably inside, the numbers bear it out as well. Nobody sees as many inside fastballs in the league as Jose. But he can't lay off of them and he can't hit them hard. I'd like to see him at least look like he has a different strategy. Go up there looking for inside heat and pound it...or, if he just can't do that, then try to go up there refusing to swing at anything that looks to him like it's on the inside third. Right now it looks like he's up there trying to be able to cover any kind of pitch, but he's only seeing one kind of pitch and he can't handle that one. There are at least 3 ways to counter the strategy of being pitched inside: 1) He can get his bat out in front early enough to pull the inside pitches, before they get in too deep. However, that would require him to swing too early, and also likely result in a lot of pitches pulled foul. 2) Take those inside pitches for balls 3) Back a little off of the plate and take the strikes, which he could still reach, the other way. He has enough power to hit to the opposite field, with authority. Any pitches that look like they are even close to coming inside on him, he could take with confidence, knowing that they were definitely inside, given how far he is from the plate. If they throw him breaking balls "away," many will actually break across the plate for strikes, given that he is standing off the plate. He would need to recognize them as strikes, and make some contact. If he is going to be suckered into swinging at balls breaking away, and out of the zone, as he has so often done, standing off the plate won't work for him. However, if he can lay off those low and away breaking balls, this tactic could effectively counter the strategy of being pitched inside. If there is indeed something wrong with his right wrist, as someone here has suggested, going the other way, and not rolling his wrist over, could help overcome that. The "hands before the barrel of the bat" swing takes a lot of stress off of the top hand. One thing is apparent; he can't continue to do what he is currently doing. He must make some adjustments. I think that he will figure it out, and I hope that he does so very soon.

I know that many think I belabor the point, but acquiring a middle of the order left handed bat is still a high priority. Although Eaton is hitting lefties very well, it is worth noting that our two best hitters, so far are left handed. (Melky is more productive from the left side). I have no idea who, or from where he is going to be acquired, but that has to be Hahn's number one priority, which he has openly expressed. Of course, another RH Starter would be great, as well.

Yes, we do and it wasn't very long ago that some on this board derided those of us who wanted to talk about addressing them. Remember: "The team has the best record in the League. Don't be such pessimists." We sure don't look like the best team in the League. Take away Sale, and this is a .500 team, at best.

QUOTE (shipps @ May 20, 2016 -> 02:14 PM) Lillian and I are going to keep a keen eye on this thread. Indeed.

QUOTE (shipps @ May 20, 2016 -> 09:24 AM) I guess I am just not seeing much of the overly optimistic sox fans as you are. There are people around here who really like him but I have seen no one that talks about him like he is flawless and a sure bet. If he was he would be facing the Royals tonight. Perhaps I've gotten the wrong impression. It just seems like most posters here think that he's "untouchable". Any time a trade proposal is made, which might have to include Anderson, many nix it immediately.

Just as a point of information; Shields actually has pitched better on the road than he has in Petco Park, since joining the Padres.

For those of you who asked what prospect ranking does not include Anderson in the list of top 10 SS prospects: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2016/#list=cws?list=ss I think that source is credible, don't you? Look, I'm not "down on him". I just think that he is overrated by many Sox fans. As I said, athleticism, speed and bat speed are all great, if they translate into being good at baseball. There have been too many guys like Joe Borchard, Brian Anderson and Jared Mitchell. Micah Johnson looks like he may be headed for the same scenario. Great athletes, with various physical attributes, who never amounted to anything. Meanwhile, the Dustin Pedroias and Prince Fielders of the baseball world become stars. By the way, isn't Altuve amazing? None of those guys look like athletes, but they are very skilled at what they do on the diamond.

He has the lowest walk rate of any player in the League, 5 in a 165 at bats. I don't understand the reasoning that it should improve, in the Big Leagues. That seems counter intuitive to me. MLB pitchers do indeed have better control, therefore unless he acquires better plate discipline, that weakness is likely to be exploited, to a greater degree. He is making contact at a terrific rate, right now. However, pitchers are going to start throwing him more pitches out of the zone, unless he can demonstrate that he can lay off of them. He may be getting base hits, but not many of them for extra bases. He did have that one stretch where he homered in 3 consecutive games, but outside of that, he hasn't hit a lot of doubles and triples. Maybe that's because it's hard to really drive balls, that aren't thrown in the strike zone. Moreover, his lack of patience at the plate is a very negative factor, for a leadoff hitter, which is where he supposedly best fits. He will need a much higher OBP, and work deeper into counts, if he bats at the top of the order. Where can one find the stats for number of pitches per at bat, for Minor League hitters? I can't seem to find it. I'm sorry guys, I just don't get why he is so highly ranked, as a prospect. I've heard the line about "athleticism" far too many times, when it comes to sox prospects. I prefer a baseball player with a high baseball accumen and baseball skills, not a great athlete. I'm not saying that he might not become a good player, but I don't get all of the hype. If the right trade comes along, and the price is our #2 prospect, I'd pull the trigger. Maybe the fact that he is our #2 prospect says more about the sorry state of our Farm system, than it does about how good he is. After all, he is still not even in the top 10 SS prospects in baseball.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 19, 2016 -> 08:44 AM) Then why was your first comment about him about his walk total? I expressed both concerns in the same thread. You may be attaching too much significance to the order in which I addressed those concerns. There was no intention to place anymore emphasis on his inability to take a walk than there was regarding his defense. His unwillingness to take a walk does indeed seem to be his greatest offensive shortcoming. Look at his OBP. The fact that he is not even close to an elite defender, at a key defensive position, is also a big negative, based upon what I consider important. Do you disagree with any of those assertions?

The spots which could really use an offensive upgrade are CF, SS and catcher. Those spots are all defensively too critical to downgrade the defense, in order to improve the offense. Anderson's bat has heated up at AAA but he is probably not ready to provide steady enough defense to consider him this early. Is there a good offensive shortstop, who can defend on a level somewhere between that of Rollins and Saladino, or better. Is there a good defensive centerfielder, who could be as good as Jackson, but hit better? I can't think of a single catcher who would be available, to upgrade that position. Conclusion: I don't know how Hahn is going to make this team better, unless he can get another SP.

I hope that you guys are right, regarding his ability to become a good defensive SS. It's not an easy position to learn, and too important to accept less than solid defense. For me, SS is a position that requires defense first, and offense secondarily.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 18, 2016 -> 01:52 PM) yes please. Lillian - when was that snippet from? It sounds like last year is when he made huge strides in defense. That quote on his defense was from the current scouting report on MLB.COM. It is the report on our #2 Prospect, under the "Top Prospects".

If they take Dakota Hudson instead of Zack Collins, I will be very surprised and disappointed.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ May 18, 2016 -> 09:02 AM) What questionable defense? What the hell do I know? I'm just going off of all of the scouting reports. This is typical: "Scouts are split on whether Anderson can play shortstop in the big leagues. He has the necessary actions and enough arm strength, but his hands aren't especially soft and his footwork is erratic, leading to 78 errors in his first 255 pro games. His tools would profile well in center field if he can't cut it in the infield." Many scouts question whether or not he will be a good enough defender to stick at SS, much less an elite defensive shortstop.

Is he ever going to learn to take an occassional walk? In 155 at bats, he has 5 walks!! That, and his questionable defense leaves me less than overwhelmed, in spite of the torrid pace, at which he has hit in his last 10 games. I'm afraid that I'm a little "old school," but I prefer an elite defender at SS. Unless he is going to become a better than .300 hitter, with an OBP north of .350, he is probably not going to be a top SS, because of his defense.

I agree with you, "Dizzy Sox".

Why are scouts so pessimistic about Collins being able to be a catcher? I don't read anything here that suggests he couldn't eventually develop into a decent catcher: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2016/5/10/1...f-miami-florida

Avi now has the highest Slugging Percentage and OPS on the team. His Slugging % is the same as Frazier's and his OPS is almost .100 points higher than Abreu's. And, remember that he is doing it batting 7TH in the order. It's always useful to compare stats with other players on the roster. They have all had to play under the same weather conditions, and against the same pitchers. For him to be doing this well, relative to his teammates, suggests that he has made significant strides to becoming the hitter, the front office envisions. As hard as he hits the ball, it's easy to see why management wants to give him every opportunity to succeed.

Well, this may put the scenario of a "baseball frenzy" in the City to a test. I speculated about such a scenario, but never dreamed that the Sox could get off to this kind of start. The Sox and Cubs could really capture the city, once hockey is over. What more could fans want?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 27, 2016 -> 03:57 PM) There was a really good article on John Farrell (can't find the link now) and how he needs an analytics/game-management bench coach, and how these "second managers" often don't necessarily have the requisite set of skills to be the head guy, but are often actually utilized for "managers in waiting/training" like Lovullo in Boston. With the White Sox, you'd have to at least partially attribute the return to 2012 style of play (defensively) to Rich Renteria. To me, the biggest one is Jackson/Eaton and then Melky at least being passable, which is 10X better than Avi last year (minus robbing a home run in July against the Yankees and a number of good throws). The most pleasantly surprising thing has been his arm strength and accuracy, which we rarely saw in CF for some reason. Frazier's clearly better, Rollins/Saladino a slight upgrade over Alexei last year, Lawrie's been better than expected (although still perhaps a notch below Sanchez, still much better than Micah, who pulled down overall positional numbers), Abreu's been mostly a non-issue (Sands has gotten more attention)....then we can argue pitch framing and Flowers vs. the veterans we have now, but at least both those guys tend to be stronger leaders, which is what we've been lacking in that clubhouse (of course, it's harder to be a leader if you're not playing well or hurt). Isn't the shoulder problem, for which Eaton had the surgery, the reason he didn't have the same arm last year?

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Apr 27, 2016 -> 12:13 PM) I do wonder what it would take to grab Kevin Kiermaier. LHH, god defensively in CF (pushes AJax to left and Melky to DH), he isn't the world's greatest hitter but he's average-to-above-average at the plate with pretty damn good baserunning. Sox would have to wait a couple months for the AL East to shake itself out because as of now the Rays have a chance and wont be sellers quite yet. With Jackson and Eaton, is improved outfield defense really the highest priority? An adequate left fielder would be fine, if he provided the bat they need. Or Melky could stay in left, and they could acquire a DH.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 26, 2016 -> 09:40 PM) http://gfycat.com/SlimArcticGreatargus At the time, I missed Navarro's humorous response. He motioned to the stands, apparently telling Sale that it came from a fan. That's what cracked up the home plate umpire. LOL I wonder what he said, exactly. I wish I could read lips. Does anyone know? I can imagine that it was something like: (In his Spanish accented English) "Hey Bro, it wasn't me"

Currently, the highest winning % in the League, and they have played a game or 2 more than most teams. And they have played more games on the road. This is indeed remarkable. If you had predicted that they could be where they are, with Abreu having this terrible start, you would never believe it. Only in baseball!!!!