Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:24 PM) Seeing a lot of people on this board fall in love with the flavor of the month types. I don't see why people on here rate Semien so highly. Sub .800 OPS (granted barely) isn't cutting it. I'm not sure Micah defensively is cutting it. Sanchez is the youngest so I'm sticking with him for a bit longer. The bottom line is none of our middle infield prospects are anything to get excited about. Kind of unfair to call Semien a "flavor of the month type" after he put up an .830 OPS in A+ last year. This year his .798 OPS would qualify him for 10th in the Southern League. The kid is only 22 years old, so while he's older than Sanchez, he's not old for his league by any means. No one is saying Semien's a stud prospect, but he's doing fairly well in AA, and the plate discipline is promising. Sanchez on the other hand has yet to show much improvement over the course of this year. If I saw his AVG & OBP slowly climbing month by month, then this wouldn't be up for debate IMO, but right now that's not the case. He's just plained suck all year. Hopefully Sanchez shows something in July & August, but until then, I think a case can be made for Semien over Sanchez.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:19 PM) Semien is above Sanchez, IMO. Semien's BB/K ratio is great I was so high on Sanchez coming into this season that it's hard to backtrack on him, but I'm starting to move in that direction with Semien. He's shown a lot this year with the bat, especially in the plate discipline deparment. Hard not to be impressed so far. Semien will likely be Sanchez's double-play partner at AAA in 2014 and it will be interesting to see how they each perform while at the same level. I see them auditioning next year for a 2015 major league job, and with Micah Johnson likely on their heels at AA the competion should be pretty intense.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:15 PM) I guess cause he appears overmatched. Let another former Sox give it a try. It's Baines' turn. Get the f*** out of here troll. No one in their right mind would suggest Baines as manager. That's by far, without question, the single dumbest idea I have seen written on this message board. I know that claim gets said a lot in some form or another, but I honestly mean it this time. Just an absolutely pathetic comment to make and you should be incredibly embarrassed if you weren't a blatant troll.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 10:53 PM) Forgotten in all the discussion about prospects today is Carlos Sanchez. It's as if he doesn't even exist anymore. Well his OPS is below .600 which isn't going to fly, even if he is the youngest player in the International League. He's still a top 10 prospect IMO, but he definitely should be in the bottom half rather than the top half. I'd also rank Micah Johnson ahead of Sanchez without much hesitation.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 10:32 PM) I like to think about how Twins fans all think Jesse Crain is horrible. If you're a non-closing reliever, it appears to be impossible to be remembered fondly You can spin this however you want, but the numbers in 2011 & 2012 don't lie. He has been terrible in high leverage situations over the past few years. I will always appreciate how dominant he once was, but he is no longer that pitcher. The current version s***s the bed more often than not when the pressure is on.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 10:27 PM) Thornton gets far more hate than he deserves. He's a nice relief pitcher. He used to be elite. Sometimes he'll give up runs just like everybody else. I'm sorry, but he sucks balls in high leverage situations.

God, I'll be so glad when Thornton is gone. What a f***ing little b****.

Phegley for captain!

QUOTE (BPK @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 09:49 PM) My problem with him is how often he's unable to hit all pitches. Sure, he runs into more fastballs than anything else, but I've seen many at bats where he blindly chases three consecutive fastballs in off the plate and never adjusts. You just don't need good mechanics to stop swinging at the exact same thing out of the zone. Either he doesn't recognize what's coming towards him, or his approach is God-awful. Or both. Then what happened last year when he seemed to be hitting a lot of pitches?

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 09:36 PM) He will be 23 when the rankings comes out. Those Top 100 rankings usually look heavily age and the league they played in. The only 23 year old in the BA Top 100 list last year that played entire year below AA was Alex Meyer of the Twins, and he was a first round pick in 2011. I think he's on the bubble right now, but if he makes it to BHam by year end, then he's in. Why does is it matter what age he is when the rankings come out though? Why should he be punished for being born in December rather than March? He'll play the entire 2013 season as a 22 year old...that's what should matter when discussing if he's age appropriate.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 08:21 PM) Only way Micah would crack the Top 100 prospect is if he continues to hit like this and gets promoted to AA by the end of the year, or if he flat out dominates AFL. Very rarely would you see a 23 year old player finishing A+ considered a Top 100 player. On a side note, it's tough to be Courtney Hawkins on some days. EDIT: Uh oh... Rangel Ravelo 2nd homerun in as many days. First off, Micah Johnson is only 22 years old, which is completely age appropriate for A+. If he does well the rest of the way, he'll likely spend most of 2014 in AA as a 23 year old. I think these age concerns are seriously overrated around here, especially now that he has been promoted. Again, he completely dominated the SAL while demonstrating a well-rounded offensive game. He's off to a strong start at A+ and if he can keep it up, then he would have passed both tests this year with flying colors. We're talking about a guy with elite SB skills, strong OBP ability, and decent power. Guys like that are very rare and will typically make top 100 prospect lists. I don't see why it's so far-fetched.

If this is the real Josh Phegley, then that's one less hole we'll have to fill this offseason. Hopefully he can keep this going, because he's been nothing short of incredible with the bat all year.

I think Micah is a top 5 prospect in our system. I get that he was old for the SAL, but he also flat-out dominated. Plus he has elite base-stealing ability that he's not going to suddenly lose when he moves up the system. I also think the defensive concerns are likely overblown, probably the victim of poor field condtions and trying to do too much, but I must admit I haven't seen him play. If he has a strong 2nd half in Winston-Salem, then I don't know how he's not a top 100 prospect in baseball. I just think offensively he's more than exceeded every challenge he's faced and I've yet to see a huge red flag with him that suggests the floor is going to completely fall from under him when he hits AA.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 05:52 PM) That is totally my rationale right now. Take a Carlos Sanchez for a example. Best case scenario for him is Jeff Keppinger. When you have a guy with a potential 70 power number, how can you not rank him ahead of a Sanchez, even if Sanchez is closer to the majors. I'm not sure that's a great comp for Sanchez, but I agree with you for the most part. I think Zapata has to be somewhere in the 10-15 range bare minimum.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 04:38 PM) I see Alexei as the opposite of Rios. He is probably disinterested, frustrated, and bored from being on a bad team. I'd bet money if he were traded to a contender, he'd be the type to go on a big time run, and you would see he defensive lapses disappear. Completely agree. Playing for a god-awful team or being on the trade block can affect a player's performance, but smart GMs know being part of a playoff race can revitalize a player and will take that into consideration when making deals.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 03:03 PM) This is a fallacy -- there are dozens of variables that are different now than back then. The two biggest are (1) the risk -- regardless of age, he is signed for 1.5 years with a team option now versus 5.5 before, and (2) the market -- he's the best OF available in a very thin market where there are more contenders and fewer sellers than ever before thanks to the second wild card. Thank you. And the cost of talent has increased significantly since we acquired Rios. Look what B.J. Upton got this past offseason and then forecast what OFs are likey to get in the near future when each team has an extra $25 million to work with. It's quite clear that Rios is now signed to below market terms and there's a ton of value in that.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 7, 2013 -> 03:39 PM) They flat out blew it starting him at W-S at 19. The Twins just moved Buxton up to high-A. Why? Because he earned it. While I agree with what you're saying, I don't think him starting at Winston-Salem is that big of a deal long-term. It's clear by his performance this season he needs to make significant adjustments and if can't make those over two years in high A (assuming he repeats in 2014) he was never going to make the pros anyways. Hopefully the taste of failure for the first time in his sports career will force him to be more open to change, because he has all the tools to be a legit superstar at the major league level.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 5, 2013 -> 08:22 AM) And yet the odds of Jordan Danks being a starting OFer for Opening Day 2014 are minimal, at best. If Hahn trades both Rios & De Aza and moves Viciedo to 1B (which I think is a terrible idea), then there's a decent chance Danks is starting for us in 2014. Replacing an entire outfield from outside the organization is unlikely to happen. Having said that, my guess for 2014 is that Viciedo remains in LF, we go out and sign one free agent outfielder (perhaps Granderson), and either we acquire a young OF as part of our selloff or Danks gets a job until Thompson is ready.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 4, 2013 -> 10:16 AM) I'd still be happy to save 1/2 of his contract for next year. Completely agree. Hopefully his hot month fools a GM or two and someone takes him off our hands for a decent amount of salary relief.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 01:30 PM) This is the best thread on this site by a very large margin. Futures squad: C: Wellington Castillo 1B: Anthony Rizzo 2B: Starlin Castro SS: Javier Baez 3B: Kris Bryant OF: Albert Almora OF: Jorge Soler OF: Eloy Jimenez Someone post one for the White Sox. No, I'm just kidding. Man, why did they have to sign Edwin Jackson? They could have put that money towards resigning Garza. Look at all that pitching!

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 11:08 AM) Why don't you do some research before you question me on this. I don't come on this site and just spout off nonsense. Nor am I a Cubs fan. Even with their 2nd largest bonus pool, they could not sign all of the guys that they wanted. They traded for more bonus pool money. It is something that not many other teams did. That is how they found loopholes and exploited the market. I would have liked it if the Sox did something like this. These teams aren't just giving the Cubs their bonus pool money because Theo & Jed are so charming. They are trading away some of their bonus pool money instead of giving up another asset. I still don't see what loophole they are exploiting here.

I know it's a small thing, but English being Micker's first language should really help his transition to the states. Being able to communicate clearly and easily with the majority of the coaching staff, players, and everyday people will make his life so much easier and aid in his development.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 2, 2013 -> 10:39 PM) It's a big move. The new draft rules really hurt the style of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. But when you hire those guys you do it because you trust that they will be able to find the new inefficiency in the market and exploit it at all costs. They have done so with these moves. Not all of these guys will pan out but when you invest this much on the top talent some of them are bound to hit. Are you Dan Berstein? What inefficiency have they exploited here? They had the second largest bonus pool because their team sucked balls last year. That reason alone gives them an edge with the top players. It doesn't make Theo & Jed genuises.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jul 2, 2013 -> 04:50 PM) Agreed. At this point we might as well let Ventura finish this disaster of a season out though. If Hahn doesn't wake up soon and make some deals to beef up the farm, shed salary and position his team to be competitive in the next couple years- his job needs to be evaluated as well. The dude has done NOTHING. And signing a 16 year old kid still hasn't changed my view on Hahn. I think SoxTalk has reached a new low with this post. Hahn has been our GM for a total of 8 months. That's 1 offseason and 1/2 of a real season. The lack of patience on this board is beyond incredible. Can we at least wait until after the trade deadline before we start with these empty threats?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 1, 2013 -> 05:18 PM) Rios was pretty bad in June. As we all know, it could linger with him. I would be really surprised, especially if he doesn't pick it up soon, if you could get one of a team's top 5 prospects for him. I'm shocked if you honestly believe this. Baseball is a game of ups and downs and GMs aren't going to overreact to one bad month like Soxtalk does. Teams are actually scouting him and will know if his June struggles are cause for concern (which I don't think they are). More likely, teams will see a guy who can be a difference maker in their lineup. There won't be a lot of alternatives that will offer the upside Rios does, and most of those players will only be rentals. Also, Hunter Pence landed the Giants' #2 prospect last year, which is a pretty similar comp minus a year of team control.