caulfield12

22 pitches but Peavy survived Considering they've scored 31 runs in their last two games against the Rangers, that's a moral victory. Seager, Smoak and Montero have all been hot recently.

Maybe since KW thinks of himself as a Stanford guy, he'll be more willing to take a Dukie, haha.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 05:50 PM) I don't know. It's different right now, seems the economy is really taking its toll all over the southside/south burbs. People continue to worry about their jobs, if they have one, and with that as a backdrop it's really difficult to justify going to a baseball game. It's one of the things that annoys me about the media's take on Sox attendance - it's ignored. Of course, not many media members live south. So how do you explain the attendance in Detroit then? Obviously, CLE and PITT have struggled, but Cincy hasn't done too badly, either. That whole Rust Belt area has been the hardest hit, along with Florida and Arizona (real estate). Now that I look at it, Cincy's around 27,000 per game, Pittsburgh is 2000 per game ahead of the Sox, Toronto, Baltimore and even KC are up this year (although the KC attendance was more about pre-season hype than anything).

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 06:06 PM) Agreed. I've been to two White Sox games this year. My plan to do was 1 a month. Boyer did say premium giveaways have helped for weekend, and today's weather might have walk-up effect. My guess? 24,235. @espnchijon Brooks said they've sold more season tickets in past week than they had in previous month. Of course, that could be 5 to 4. @espnchijon They said beginning last week all the marketing/sales staff was coming in early and staying late...at any rate, every ticket sold is more money for KW to utilize. Indians out to early 2-0 lead over the Twins in CLE.

Grand slam for Granderson against his former club, the Tiggers...after their rookie (Casey Crosby, 6'5" LHP who throws 88-96) making his major league debut had walked 4 to force in a run. Bottom four 4 the Yankees tonight. 6. Swisher 7. Andruw Jones 8. Jayson Nix 9. Chris Stewart

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 04:32 PM) You also don't pass on a lefty in the draft because you have lefties in your rotation or bullpen or minor league system. If you think the lefty is the best talent on the board, take the lefty. By the time he gets to the big leagues, your rotation will look nothing like it does now. However, as in the case of Chris Sale, let's be realistic and say a collegiate pitcher easily could be on the White Sox roster in 2012 or 2013...depending on their desire to get signed as quickly as possible with a guarantee. If the best prospect is a pitcher in high school, that would be another story. But Honel and Stumm are the only ones that come to mind.

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 12:48 PM) Quintana and Santiago are on the major league roster. Pedro Hernandez isn't a starter eventhough he's starting in Double A. He will definitely be a reliever if he ever makes it to the big leagues. How many 5-10 Starting pitchers do you see in the majors. Yes, I know Greg Hibbard had a nice little run 20+ years ago. How long do you trust Sale's arm holding up? I'm still very worried that's a surgery waiting to happen. Gio Gonzalez

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 10:28 AM) Exactly. Our weakest link is 3b but we haven't lost a game, and have actually seen some exceptional defense there, since O-Dog took over the hot corner. I suppose we could use a starter but with Quintana showing some real promise we could stash him in Charlotte as a cheap go-to should one of our starters falter badly (Mr. Floyd). I think this is one year where I actually hope KW chooses not to strike early but rather gives this team some time to clearly identify where our holes are at. And we can't be 100% sure yet how Danks will perform or if that shoulder problem will recur... Better to hold on to our insurance policies in the near-term. And Quintana's not going to net us a significant addition for the very reasons being mentioned for dumping him. He would have to prove himself for an extended run of starts, and, at that point, he becomes more and more dubious to trade...why would we get rid of someone who's clearly being successful and turn our hopes to the Axelrod's and Castro's of our minor leagues? Think of someone like Takatsu. We all feared when he came up that hitters would learn to lay off his frisbee and wait on the fastball. Maybe Quintana isn't a one trick pony, but any starter who's in the 88-91 MPH range (even a left-hander) struggles to bring back much in return for the reasons we want to trade him as quickly as possible for any type of "quick fix" payoff for our roster.

It's always going to be a "reasonable" judgement call, though. Umpire supervisor Charlie Reliford was there at the game and immediately said no warnings needed to be thrown if the pitch was deemed intentional, which it clearly was. The problem, of course, is that it was just as obvious with the AJ plunking that it was quid pro quo retaliation for the spiking, and Beckham had already been hit...so you just HAVE to issue a warning at that point. Either issue the warning there, or with Quintana. But the code of baseball all players, broadcasters and managers go by is that you don't kick out pitchers in the modern game unless they just go after someone's head or deliberately look like they're trying to injure someone. You can also make an argument that Howell threw the ball directly into DeAza intentionally, although that would be much harder to prove/justify if you're the ump after the game. I'm not even sure that anyone in baseball history has been run for throwing at an opposing baserunner in the history of the sport. Maybe?

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 12:34 PM) Keith Law Mock 3.0 White Sox picking Andrew Heaney, LHP, Oklahoma State. Limited upside and small frame scares me 6-2/175. Do like the fact that he's a lefty-close to a finish product and will move up the system quickly. This sounds like a typical White Sox pick. We have no Lefties in the system other Snodgress who has some starting potential. Rather have Smoral, Stratton, Addison Russell, Hawkins. Fried stock is dropping-You never know could be lucky and fall down to lucky #13 just like Sale. Quintana, Santiago and Pedro Hernandez don't count? We already have Sale and Danks. I wouldn't say ANOTHER lefty is the highest priority in the world at the moment.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 07:13 AM) Cooper does also have a rep for helping build guys not named Peavy into innings-eaters. How long before Volquez hits FA? 4.059 years of service. So it should be at the end of the 2013 season.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 31, 2012 -> 01:03 PM) There is a pretty significant difference in RBI's that hasn't been mentioned. Anyways...yes, there is a lot to hope for with Gordon since he's 25, talented, plays good defense at a position that doesn't require a big bat, and has recently started putting together much better at bats. I don't see what is useful in comparing him to Crede since we don't know if Crede was ever going to be a good player. He had one excellent season and then (basically) never played again...so we'll never know if that was a blip on the radar or the sign of many great years to come. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos.../OPS/order/true If you look at those stats, Gordon Beckham's 19 out of the 22 qualified 2B in OPS. If you consider his defense, overall, he's probably close to an "average" MLB 2B. But looking at some of those OPS numbers, you'd almost argue 2B is more of an offensive position than 3B. If Gordon can legitimately be at least a 700 or maybe 725 net ops player, then he's not someone you talk about replacing or non-tendering and is an asset. Where he's at now, it could be either way, but the trend has been upwards so clearly he deserves to continue to hold the position.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 31, 2012 -> 10:32 PM) Hankerd won't be there long. Not sure why he would be anywhere but BIRM or CHAR.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ May 31, 2012 -> 08:40 PM) His ERA is very deceiving. With only 27 Ks in 48 innings, it says something about his stuff. While he must be doing something right with an ERA that low and a good amount of innings, his stuff suggests nothing more than backend rotation fodder or a bullpen arm. Granted, I think that's what many expected from him, I am tempering my enthusiasm about his 2012 year. But couldn't the same arguments be applied to Quintana, Axelrod and Doyle? I get the K/9 and BB/9 thing, and not every young pitcher without stuff matures into the next Mark Buehrle, but at the very least, he should be able to turn into a serviceable reliever. Another example would be Zach Stewart. Even though his fastball's "only" by 88-91 for most of this season, it's the movement and location which has allowed him to be relatively successfuly, certainly more successful than 2011 when he more consistently threw 90-93.

Tigers do hold on to win the game and avoid the embarassing 4 game sweep. Now 5 games behind the Sox and still 3 games under .500.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 31, 2012 -> 04:01 PM) Yeah, the pitching prospects are a total crapshoot at this point. Here's how I'd rank the top 10: 1) Molina 2) Castro 3) Quintana 4) Axelrod 5) Olacio 6) Jaye 7) Petricka 8) Rienzo 9) Johnson 10) Walters Hernandez and Doyle have opened a lot of eyes with their surprising performances. Maybe Hernandez ultimaely ends up in the pen, but 2-3 weeks ago Quintana was a non-entity almost. Similar to Santiago's rise last year. Stewart should also be another name under consideration, although technically he's no longer a rookie.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 31, 2012 -> 11:18 AM) For innings. I think most guys start in the minors simply to get innings and to have opportunities to pitch in a wide array of situations. You can probably evaluate a guy better long term the more innings he has and the more situational experience he gets. See Nathan Jones and Hector Santiago.

Mitchell with another "boom or bust" game. 0 for 3 with 3 k's. Pedro Hernandez didn't give up a single run in his outing. ERA of 2.43 on the season. Other than Thompson and Sanchez, not much reason to depress oneself opening the W-S box. Maybe just for the Shoemaker fans around here. K. Walker has 3 walks. And this guy seems to have announced his arrival with a 2 homer game and white hot start. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?p...&pid=458088

from mlb.com today 13. Chicago White Sox: Chris Stratton, RHP, Mississippi State The White Sox might have an interest in a high school bat like that of Hawkins, but they tend to go for college pitching early. Stratton figures to be the best one still on the board and they scouted him closely down the stretch. 10. Colorado Rockies: Courtney Hawkins, OF, Carroll HS (Texas) The Rockies would look at the college pitchers above as well as high school hitters like David Dahl and Gavin Cecchini, to go along with this week's choice, Hawkins. College pitchers still around, like Michael Wacha or Stratton, could also come into play. Seems like every draft has 2-3 of those raw high school guys (Hawkins), the closest thing to high risk/high reward you get in the draft. All things considered, though, I'd feel pretty comfortable taking Hawkins because other than Mitchell, we don't have any outfielders that are on track. Thompson has been backsliding a bit as a prospect this season.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 31, 2012 -> 08:17 PM) Edinson Volquez is someone I could see KW and Cooper liking FWIW, was watching a spring training game and the announcers said that Volquez was the most frustrating starting pitcher that the Rangers ever worked with. All the ability and talent in the world, but they described him as Exhibit A in the headcase dictionary definition. At one point, they made a list of rules specifically for him in an effort to control his emotions and antics. Which clearly marks him as a target for Cooper and KW, haha.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ May 31, 2012 -> 08:18 PM) All they need to do is destroy every calendar he has access to and then lie to him that it's mid-September and the Sox have been eliminated from playoff contention. If he starts catching on just laugh at him and tell him that he's crazy. Good Bye, Lenin!

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 31, 2012 -> 08:05 PM) I can live with the offense. The question for me is will there be a starting pitcher available who could replace Humber in the rotation (for remainder of year) and be a top 3 post-season starter who the Sox could trade for with their 30th ranked farm system? But what team has that kind of a pitcher than they're not going to hold out for a bundle? Someone like a Wandy Rodriguez (just an example) on a team in the bottom 5-10 that's more expensive. But they're not going to want Gavin Floyd back, obviously. The only two players we could possibly survive trading are probably Thornton and maybe Crain, but we don't want to hurt our bullpen when it seems to be jelling. And bottom tier teams aren't going to want veteran/expensive relievers anyway. So that leaves the likes of Mitchell, Quintana, Castro, Santiago, Thompson, Saladino... We're going to be trading away a LOT of our future for a dubious return, because the odds of a #3 starter CLEARLY being better than Floyd is dubious (depending on which Gavin shows up on a given day). I just don't see the surefire candidate that doesn't cripple the major league roster or our minor leagues.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 31, 2012 -> 11:22 AM) I love it. I hope there are posts proving me wrong for years. By the same token, I'm curious as to why I get no props for being the first one on here to say the Sox should contend. Posters on here had the Sox losing 90+ games in Jan/Feb. I think it's being twisted from "would contend" to "should contend" based on the fact that there was no reason they weren't "all in" again despite trimming $25 million in payroll and trading Santos because: 1) KW was still around 2) Danks had been re-signed 3) Dunn/Rios/Peavy/Ramirez/AJ/Konerko/Floyd/Danks/Thornton, a veteran cast, comprised the heart of the roster 4) AJ, Peavy and Floyd would all probably be gone after 2012, not to mention Thornton 5) There were doubts as to whether Sale, Morel, Viciedo, Reed, Beckham, DeAza, Molina, Flowers, etc., could be the heart of the rebuilding process going forward, and if they failed, KW should be fired. That this was their best chance to contend in any given year in the foreseeable future. I don't think there are a plethora of posts where you predicted they'd win 85-95 games. Probably zero. There are a plethora, though, where you claimed that KW should be fired if they weren't in contention or attendance nosedived, which is which pretty much the opposite of your argument now, lol. So, because the team's playing well and contending, KW is therefore doing his job well again? You were right about Santos, but very wrong about them trading Ramirez and/or Viciedo.

http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/7042...atref=sportsmod Aroldis Chapman's problems with hotel break-in, speeding, assimilation... Interesting, Viciedo's the age roughly, and yet no problems (knock on wood) with him so far. And yet when we read all the scouting reports about Viciedo back when he was 16-17-18 and playing professionally in Cuba, he definitely had lots of red flags and concerns about his character, worth ethic, attitude, etc. With the exceptions of Swisher, Cabrera and Javy, we've been pretty lucky over the last decade plus.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 30, 2012 -> 04:58 PM) You could make that argument. Probably the weakest the top prospect in the system has been in a long time, whoever it is. It would have to be Mitchell, right? Saladino and Thompson have both gone backwards a bit. Molina's stock has to be down a bit, as well. Castro? He's probably the pitcher with the most upside at this exact moment in time, at least. Phegley's definitely opened up some eyes to put him on the radar screen for 2013. Axelrod and Doyle both have climbed, although opinions would vary on their ultimate upsides. Soptic is someone we're all watching to be the next Nathan Jones. Between Veal and Hernandez, we've really got a ton of depth in the LHP department. Rienzo's still on the radar. Carlos Sanchez has to be fighting to be in the 7-10 spot. Ravelo's opened some eyes, minus the power numbers not being there yet. But our draft pick next week automatically shoots to #1 with a bullet.