Chicago White Sox

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-fringe-...e-prospects-11/

While I do hate Thornton with all my heart (2011 to 2013 version), I must admit he does have some value because he can still get lefties out at an extremely effective rate. Contenders will have use for a player like that, especially come playoff time when every late inning matchup is important. I doubt you get anything crazy for him, but a high-end lottery ticket or two doesn't seem out of the question.

Semien is now 2/3 with a HR.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 08:27 PM) Beckham is freaking awesome We really need to consider locking him up to a 3 or 4 year deal.

Alright, to get back on track, Semien & Walker with back to back hits to start the game and take an early lead. As I mentioned in another thread, Semien now has an .800 OPS on the season, which puts him 10th in the Sourthern League. He has 27 XBHs (14 2Bs, 4 3Bs, 9 HRs), 16 SBs (at an 80% clip), and a BB to K ratio of 63:58. His .386 OBP is 3rd overall in the league. A 22 year old middle infielder playing very well in AA and he doesn't even crack the top 10 in a poor system? I think we all may be sleeping on Semien quite a bit, myself included.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 02:58 PM) WTF Holy f*** this times infinity! I see a minor league game thread at 3 pages before 7:00pm and think something interesting may have actually happened with one or more of our players, but nope just another thread getting caulfielded with more Puig comments and other random nonsense.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 03:31 PM) Worth noting is that the Boras guy is Ellsbury's agent. Yeah, he could get $18-20 million. And let's not forget every team gets an extra $25 million to work with this offseason. That's going to lead to serious inflation in player salaries.

So the top 10 is the following in some order: Erik Johnson Courtney Hawkins Trayce Thompson Tim Anderson Carlos Sanchez Josh Phegley Keon Barnum Chris Beck Daniel Webb Tyler Danish

Quintana beasting through 4. Right now, he's got a great shot of going 7 to 8 innings tonight.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 06:41 PM) I hope the union shoves it up MLB's ass in this whole case. Am I misreading your comment or do you not want these guys suspended?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 06:22 PM) Ravelo with a walk. He's about the most exciting hitter right now in our entire system, in terms of being a "pure" hitter. Power has been coming around the last week, too. Still don't think he'll get to 10 homers, but progress. Curley and Farrell have been playing well this season but neither are true prospects...at least yet. The aspect you keep overlooking with Ravelo is his 17 doubles in 181 ABs. That's the main reason for his .486 SLG, which would qualify for 5th overall in the Carolina Leauge if he had enough ABs. The hope with Ravelo is that some of that gap power will turn into HR power as his body matures over time.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 04:32 PM) I think a text would suffice Stop it w/ Sale re: pitches k thx bye Lol...I agree this conversation wouldn't require a closed door meeting, but my god, Robin needs to stop doing his best Dusty Baker impersonation. At some point Hahn has to tell Robin this.

Or it could be Hahn simply telling Ventura to stop abusing Sale's arm.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 02:08 PM) Even so, Gordon showed at least gap to gap power, even when he was overmatched at times. Sanchez has shown none of that. He still hasn't found a defensive position either. Tim Anderson at least has plus plus speed to make up for his power numbers, Sanchez doesn't have that either. At best, Sanchez could be a .300ish hitter, with zero power, ala Jeff Keppinger. Sanchez is a pretty damn good fielder at 2B though, which makes him a step above a Keppinger type.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:55 PM) I would wait until next year. I am sure Sanchez is going to end up figuring out the pitching and hitting for average again. He will work hard in the offseason and be in AAA for a 2nd year which will help a lot. Again, I'm not writing Sanchez off by any means, but prospect rankings should always be somewhat sensitive to current performance. The fact is a prospect whose game is heavily reliant on his hit tool suddenly can't hit. Obviously we know being one of the youngest players in AAA is contributing to that, but how much remains a legit question. I think you have to bump him down a few spots in the rankings until he starts showing actuals signs of improvement.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 8, 2013 -> 11:31 PM) What's your problem? You think Ventura is a good manager? Why can't Baines finish out the year? You act like he's some kind of chump. Harold Baines was a heckuva player, just like Ventura. What's your problem with Baines? Why would I be "embarrassed" at the mention of Baines. He's one of my favorite players of all time and he was a gamer and a smart player, too. WTF? Your reaction is like I recommended re-hiring Bevington or something. If being a heckuva player made a good manager, then Robin would be a good manager by your theory. And I'm not to respond to your Harold Baines nonsense other than if Robin were to get fired midseason, which won't happen, Mark Parent or Joe McEwing would get the job. Baines would not be in consideration.

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?