caulfield12

QUOTE (shakes @ Dec 30, 2011 -> 05:05 PM) This doesn't so much have to do with your post, but I wanted to chime in about the names you mentioned. I would have spoke up before about it, but I haven't had a chance to talk to the guy about Molina, until now, and this is the first time he brought up Humber. Anyway, I help coach a kids team between ages of 12-14 and one of the kids has a Sox connection, so we get a lot of time, and occasionally special attention, at the Sox-Bulls academy. I have spent more time with the pitchers, than the hitters, but one of the pitching instructors, who works with the kids, is a former minor league pitcher who works with the Sox pitchers as an instructor at the low levels. He said the Sox liked Molina even before Paddy came on board, and got the justification after, and think he is a top of the rotation guy in MLB within a year and a half. He told me he will dominate in the minors this year. The only reason he was available is because he doesn't light up the gun, but he is dominant everywhere else, and his stuff will translate at any level. If he had the innings he would be up this year, but his endurance needs to be built up. This guy was talking word of mouth and from watching video. He also talked about Humber, and how they brought him in because they thought the changes they would make with him were similar to Gavin, and they were pretty confident they would take. He thinks Humber will continue to be successful. His changes, from what I could gather, were more about leading with his chest to retain his balance. It gives him a consistent slot on his curveball. It's interesting, because whenever he shows the righties video it is always Gavin. He maintains that he has the best balance in baseball and one of the most repeatable deliveries you will see. The only other nugget I got was about how they were gradually changing Sales delivery over the last couple of years. He thinks his arm will hold up, and that is the only questions about Sale. When I asked him how his time as a starter will be, he thought David Price, maybe better. I would think it could be homer Sox talk, but he is the same guy who told me Peavy will be a disaster. Stupid me argued vehemently, at the time. Good stuff. Clearly, there's a difference of opinion on Molina's stuff. We've seen fastball velocities ranging anywhere from 89-96. There have also been some scouts projecting with time/maturity/filling out physically that his "consistent" velocity can pick up into the 92-96 MPH range as he gets older. Not quite as much about the movement, which is equally important. Seems, from his stats, that he's missing quite a few bats, one of the biggest issues for Danks when he's off.

YEPPERS.

In the viewing line now.... Sherlock Holmes The Descendants We Bought a Zoo A Dangerous Method A Separation (foreign language, Iran) Beginners (Ewan Magregor, Christopher Plummer) Pina Rampart (Woody Harrelson) maybe I'll give the opening sequence of TREE OF LIFE another shot

Rangers, Texas. Even without CJ Wilson. They might move Neftali Feliz to the rotation, they didn't have space for Ogando in the post-season rotation. Feldman gives them a lot of insurance, and they're still not quite done answering the LAAofAC.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,3155846.story

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Dec 29, 2011 -> 07:02 PM) I'll start being optimistic toward rebuilding the farm if Kenny actually uses his entire draft allotment this coming season. Fair enough. Or if we fork out the money to Cespedes. Perhaps the Borchard experience still lingers in their mind/s, although results with Viciedo look much more promising.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Dec 29, 2011 -> 05:58 PM) I think Mitchell's days as a super prospect are long gone, you never hear any discussion about him at all in KW's long or short term plans. That ankle injury was devastating. This year is THE year (just like with Jake Peavy)...perhaps that was essentially the end of his career, but if that burst/explosion is gone, then yeah, he's not worth much to this organization. On the plus side, he did show a ton of pop and numerous extra base hits in the 2nd half of the seasons. The strikeouts, clearly, were the biggest concern with Thompson/Walker/Mitchell, as to be expected with Trayce, not so much Walker and Mitchell.

What choice is there, other than to mire in misery and self-flagellation? I guess we can pick on Joe Cowley, KW or Ozzie, but that's getting a tad bit tedious, as well.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Dec 29, 2011 -> 05:32 PM) Is this for real? The farm is awful. Has been for a while now, and the reasons for it being bad are readily evident to anyone who cares to do some research. Caul is championing the Sox turning the 8th overall pick of the 2008 draft into an all defense no offense 2B who might be non tendered in a few seasons. Morel has had one underwhelming season and is still largely an unknown. Flowers, Stewart, and DeAza have proven nothing yet. The only prospects I see that one should brag about is Sale and Sergio in relief roles, Humber (who many are still not sold on), and Viciedo. Large influx of talent my ass. Morel, based on the last 6 weeks and his history of making adjustments, as well as being around Ventura. None of that will hurt, and will probably help. Beckham....who the hell knows, right? He could be great again or non-tendered/traded this year or next. Let's see how he does away from Ozzie and Walker for one full season before we consign or condemn him to the scrap heap. DeAza has a nice track record of results when healthy. An All-Star, probably not....but a player who won't hurt us like Pierre did the past two years, undoubtedly. ANd cheap, so good. I'll agree that Flowers and Stewart haven't proven much yet. Viciedo, most of us are very high on. Jury's still out on Molina, obviously. Between Walker, Thompson and Mitchell, one of those 3 guys will "get it" soon. I'm a big fan of Santiago...we have something with him. Addison Reed, as noted, the best closing candidate (among the top prospects) in the game today.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Dec 29, 2011 -> 05:23 PM) I hate when people complain about the farm too. Way to again put it in perspective for those who dog the system. I hope some people actually read what you just wrote. The young fans get impatient, the ones in their 20's. If you're my age, closer to 40, you've seen so many ups and downs with this organization, things are still MUCH better than they were for much of the 70's, 80's and 90's. (Cue the comment, old fans supporting the White Sox through thick and thin only allows Jerry Reinsdorf to become complacent and not put a winning team on the field or "go on the cheap," response) This team is never as bad as it seems, it's always darkest before the dawn, etc., and the 2000, 2005 and 2008 seasons all proved we could come out of nowhere to surprise skeptics. Usually when we're favored or a lot is expected (2001/2003/2006/2009/2011), the team has fallen flat on its face in crunch time. Yeah, in the end, on paper, the Tigers look hard to beat with Verlander, the back end of their pen and seeming "plus" offensive contributors at all but 1-2 positions across the line-up. When Avila hits like he did, it's a huge advantage for them because of the dearth of offensive talent at catcher. Same with Peralta on the left side of the infield. Probably our best chance to compete is staying close to 100% healthy again (that didn't help so much in 2011) and an injury to someone like Verlander, Cabrera or Valverde. (Not ROOTING for one, just saying that's our best or most likely scenario to be competitive...) Just looking forward to a new start, seeing how Ventura can adjust on the fly...the feeling following the Sox last year, was even more miserable than I ever felt as a fan in the lowest lows of the late 80's and mid to late 90's. Sure, it could get worse, but I would rather be optimistic. Our system sucks, but at least we've added 3 more players to it than we had before in Molina, Marinez and Martinez. Would have been happy to get rid of Ozzie with NO compensation back, maybe one of those guys can contribute down the line, who knows?

Mark Buehrle wouldn't have cracked a Top 600 list either his first couple of minor league seasons, and now he's a borderline HOF pitcher if he continues for another 5-7 years. (This is like bringing up the last two Cardinals' World Series teams as inspiration for perseverence and comebacks during a season, along with the 2005 Astros). Top 600, 100 or even Top 10 lists are great, but they don't always correlate to actually success in the major leagues, they're just predictors or indicators. We also have produced 3 everyday starters (with the Quentin trade) in Morel, Viciedo and Beckham, have picked up another starter in DeAza for free, Humber for free, Molina for free (because Santos cost virtually nothing), a potential future starter in Flowers, Zach Stewart, Addison Reed...and one of the most exciting starting prospects in baseball, Chris Sale. Alexei Ramirez is far from old and can be considered a franchise cornerstone or key trading chip. That's not exactly NOTHING. There probably aren't more than 8-10 teams in baseball who have had a similar influx of talent in their 20's.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Dec 29, 2011 -> 10:47 AM) I thought Hesher was a good movie. A bit sad. It reminded me of "Everything Must Go" and the Ben Stiller "dark comedy" Greenberg. But JGL was awesome, big fan of his, 500 Days of Summer and 50/50 as well, all close to great movies. Has anyone seen WAR HORSE since Sunday? The Artist?

Still don't see how they can be worse than the Marlins if Marinez and Martinez were middle of the Top 10 picks before with that team. Definitely 26-30....pending what moves occur with Floyd, Thornton and Quentin. Santos Rodriguez and Jon Gilmore have completely disappeared into oblivion...but at least Lilly and Flowers can still give us something back.

There were lots of issues in the 2002-04 time frame with Lofton, Ordonez, D'Angelo Jimenez and C-Lee. Those four, in particular, were singled-out as "clubhouse" cancers by many insiders, particularly Jimenez....the perfect example of a low-risk/upside guy who nearly tore apart that clubhouse and was rightfully jettisoned, albeit not quickly enough. Obviously, Ozzie and Maggs had their own not so private dispute play out in the media, not coincidentally. And Lee has always been known as a "stats and me first," selfish, non-team oriented player, for a number of reasons.

Then again, many players in the past have had issues with the likes of Scioscia and LaRussa...but because of their overall level of success, they're not so easily held with their feet to the fire, especially by the local media in those markets. Although both those managers have a number of "haters" or detractors as well.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 28, 2011 -> 11:15 PM) That's amazing that ST is just around the corner. Looks like Kenny is tinkering rather that totally rebuilding. I'd have to say I'm in favor of it. On paper AGAIN we have a good pitching staff and with Dunn and Rios it seems silly to put all young guys around them. Everybody needs to have a career year and get the Sox back in the playoffs. Greg, what solution do you have to the Dunn/Rios dilemma? Bench both of them for the entire season? They're not building around Dunn and Rios anyway, they're building around the pitching staff (outside of Peavy/Thornton/Floyd) as well as Morel, Beckham, Viciedo, DeAza, Flowers, Lillibridge, etc. Hopefully Mitchell or Walker emerge as a future leadoff hitter (CF/LF). Escobar and Martinez for the middle INF. Marinez (from FLA) hasn't been mentioned often as a bullpen candidate very often, but he figures into that equation well...as he could allow Stewart/Axelrod/Santiago and Molina to get valuable "maturation" experience as a starter in the minors.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 28, 2011 -> 12:19 PM) $3 million would have been about a 15% paycut. I don't know that anyone has ever gotten a 15% paycut through salary arbitration. I don't ever remember anyone getting any kind of a paycut in arbitration. Again, there are plenty of high paid relievers out there that Frasor's agent would be able to use as comps in an arbitration case. Age doesn't matter there. Just look at all the money the likes of Dotel, Linebrink, Danys Baez, Adams, Jamie Walker, Mike MacDougal, David Aardsma, JP Howell, Farnsworth, etc., are getting or got in their 30's. Thornton now, too. Those pay cuts just don't happen based one so-so or sort of below the mean year...if the guy is off the charts atrociously bad, obviously no arbitration or contract is offered. The only time KW hasn't kept the guy around (even Pena stuck 1 or even 2 years too long) after acquiring him (for pitchers) was David Riske.

Is it Axelrod or Axlerod? I keep seeing it written both ways, but guessing it's the former.

That's definitely the optimistic, glass half-full analogy. Sure, it's possible. By the way, we don't have Floyd for 3 more years, it's only 2. And the next sentence, you have him "aging" so you kind of contradict yourself. Sale and Molina certainly are the two biggest keys for success in 2013 and beyond...but many would argue that any chance we have to compete THIS YEAR is predicated on Jake Peavy being a "near ace" once again. There's just as good a chance that Humber pitches himself out of the rotation, Stewart ends up as a journeyman reliever and Molina is nothing like what he's hyped up to be by some. Just have no way of knowing. And half this board has already predicted a Sale injury or simply the inability to get past August 15th this season, even if he's having a Cy Young caliber season and replicating the Ghost of Randy Johnsons Past. Trade Floyd, and there are even more question marks, as has been diagnosed/dissected/analyzed in depth in other threads. If you want to talk about AL dominant pitching staffs, you would have been in much better position to argue that coming out of 2008, 2005 or from 1998-2001 with Kip Wells/Buehrle/Biddle/Garland/Josh Fogg/Danny Wright/Rauch/Barcelo/Aaron Myette/Parque/Jason Stumm/Brian West, etc.

I can't remember exactly, either he was suspended from the team or there was some ineligibility issue because of a transfer....something like that. Would have to research it. "I've known him since he was in high school in the Miami area. This is a guy I followed for years. I really like the way he competes," Rizzo said on a conference call. "I call him, in a good way, a sore loser." Oakland gets four players in the deal: catcher Derek Norris, right-handers A.J. Cole and Brad Peacock, and left-hander Tommy Milone. The Nationals also received minor league right-hander Robert Gilliam, who went 12-7 with a 5.04 ERA and 156 strikeouts for Class-A Vancouver this year. A's general manager Billy Beane said he nearly took another offer but in the end preferred the prospects Washington sent. "I told everyone I spoke to, we'd leverage one team against the other," Beane said. "We were giving up a pitcher, and the ability to acquire three very good major league prospects who were pitchers swung it for us." More fodder for the anti-KW crowd on the Molina/Santos deal I guess. The 26-year-old Gonzalez went 16-12 last season - a career high for wins - with a 3.12 ERA in 32 starts and was selected to his first All-Star game. He has reached 200 innings the past two seasons. "He brings a presence in our rotation. He's had success. He's been a workhorse. He's very, very young," Rizzo said. "Gives us a young core of starting pitchers at the major league level that really is in the realm of something we've never had here before."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_leagu...urn=mlb-wp29071

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Dec 27, 2011 -> 09:57 AM) I can't wait to see my first Epstein jersey or better yet the two guys with Epstein and Hoyer jerseys sitting next to one another. I am just curious what number they put on it. What would suck even more would be to be a Cubs' fan with the last name Epstein or Hoyer and have your actual name on the back of an authentic jersey and yet dealing with all those thinking you were a front office fanboy lunatic.

The first thing you may notice about these guys is their age – this is a very young skillset, with the average age of a pitcher posting this kind of season being 25.3 years old. In fact, A.J. Burnett’s 2009 season is the only example of a pitcher older than 30 meeting this criteria. The type of result is often the product of an inexperienced pitcher still trying to find command of his stuff, and as he gets older, that command generally improves. In fact, if you’re a Nationals fan, you have to be excited about some of the names that show up here – Kershaw, Lincecum, Johnson, Jimenez, and Gallardo all posted similar seasons at one point in their career before turning one some of the best starting pitchers around. This is clearly the upside that the Nationals believe they’re getting – if Gonzalez does improve his command slightly while retaining his ability to miss bats and get ground balls, he has the chance of becoming one of the best pitchers in the league. However, with the exception of Jimenez, none of those guys had the same long track record of walking guys as Gonzalez does. He’s consistently run walk rates north of 10%, even dating back to the minor leagues. This isn’t a new problem for him, and one that he hasn’t shown any real signs of improving on, even as the rest of his game has gotten better. So, while one could focus on the “what if” upside, it’s more practical to look at Gonzalez’s command problems as something that are going to stick with him, and ask how good Washington can expect him to be if what they’ve seen is what they’re going to get. That brings up a very different set of comparables – Burnett, Billingsley, Zambrano, Cabrera, Volquez, Sanchez, and de la Rosa. These are all good stuff guys who never really conquered their command problems, and had to rely on strikeouts and ground balls to overcome all the walks. If we just look at the career numbers for those guys (minus Volquez and Cabrera, who haven’t thrown enough innings to really be all that helpful as comparisons yet), we see a group that is a bit above average overall, mixing some really good seasons with some less great seasons into an overall package that is good but not great. Overall, these guys have posted +97.5 WAR in just under 6,000 career innings, or a total of about +2.9 WAR per 180 innings pitched. Interestingly, all of these guys are also generally perceived as “headcases” or “bad makeup guys”. Gonzalez has also been described that way, and his attitude is often cited as one of the reasons he’s now been traded four times in his career. I don’t know which way causation flows here – whether guys with command problems are judged to have mental issues because of their command problems, or whether guys with makeup issues are more prone to missing the strike zone regularly – but it is worth noting that this pitcher type is often seen as one of the more frustrating in the sport. fangraphs.com

OOOPS. 4 years off, for some reason remembered it as 1995....really should have remembered it was 91 because one of my best friends was studying at Northwestern, that's why he was in the city and went to so many Sox games...and unfortunately left that one too early.

NOT HUMAN CENTIPEDE AGAIN!!! What about the sequel? I think the only movie that made me more uncomfortable was HARD CANDY. Don't imagine SHAME will be on my reserved list, either.