thxfrthmmrs

Tyler Flowers please don't attempt any bunts, ever, again

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 10:20 PM) Just the 8 home runs through 5 innings in the Great Falls game Wind must be blowing crazy today. 9 HR's in a rookie ball game is pretty much unheard of.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 10:17 PM) I hope we don't respond to Mitchell's first strong run of play ever by once again moving him up too fast For the first two months of 2012, Mitchell put up similar numbers as he did now while he was in Double A, batted .300 and had an OPS of over .900. Everyone on this board thought the real Jared Mitchell had arrived. Then he stank for the next 2 months or so but got promoted to Triple A, where he was miserable ever since, until now going back to Double A. Is there anything called a 2 1/2 A player?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 12:42 PM) Thibs needs to paint some hair on like Carlos Boozer did a couple of years ago. Don't know if that's a good look. It'd be like Jonah Hill with Drake's hairdo.

Rose needs to call up Tony Snell's barber and get a fresh cut.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 02:47 PM) I don't get all of you guys rating Davidson so high. I'm trying, but it just doesn't compute. He is hitting .200 with a ton of strikeouts and is clearly regressing from 2013, and those numbers were not so hot. This is his 6th pro season. He has 2650 at bats as a pro -- almost 3000 plate appearances. Not a small sample size. What do you guys need to see in order to put him further down on your list, or gone completely? You also need to consider tools, not just stats when evaluating a prospect. He's a 23 year old 3B who brings plus power and plays good defense at the hot corner, and is very age appropriate for Triple A. That alone puts him ahead of many prospects. He may never hit better than .220 in the majors, but at the same time if he can hit 20 HRs and play good defense at third, he can be a good bench player and stick around for a few years. Simply put, he has a higher ceiling and floor than many prospects in our system.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 02:36 PM) He's only pitched that much above low-A because he was a senior draftee and pitched late ino his senior year, plus I think the Sox were a little too slow to move him up to high-A. This is his first proper year in pro baseball and he was exceptional at low-A and has been even better at high-A. And he has improved his secondary stuff, as I said his change-up is getting good reviews and Stoltz thinks his curve can be his best pitch. He's already been getting buzz as a fringe prospect in scouting circles, more so than Bassitt. I'd be surprised if he didn't put up better numbers than Bassitt in Birmingham when he goes up. Actually, Bassitt has been considered as a sleeper by many in the scouting circle for quite some time now. It's just that he's easily forgotten given he's already 25 years old and missed the first half of the season. He has the potential to be a mid rotation starter, if not a high leverage reliever. Here's an in depth scouting report of his, and it's a good read if you have time. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/chris-bas...ching-prospect/ And I would take Dykstra's draft spot with a huge grain of salt, as NSS pointed out, he was signed for dirt cheap, the draft position was a by product of the new draft slot system. A few years ago, there was a fella in the system by the name of Stephen Sauer, also a sinker baller working in the 90's MPH. He had a really good campaign as 23 year old in Low A, with similar BB% and K/BB ratio as Dykstra, but he topped out in A+ and was out of baseball shortly. Not saying Sauer has the same kind of secondary stuff as Dykstra, but I wouldn't rank him high on the list just based on his raw numbers, as sinker ballers (especially more experienced ones) can offset the fact that they do not have any plus stuff by commanding their pitches and limiting their BB% in the lower level. Now, if Dykstra has truely improved his secondary offering like you mentioned, and can perform in the same fashion in a higher level, then he should be considered a Top 15 prospect. Right now it seems a little premature to put him ahead of guys like Beck and Bassit.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 02:03 PM) Dykstra was the much higher draft pick, is 2 years younger, and his K:BB rates are incredible. Last year in A+, Bassitt, struck out 22.8% and walked 9.5%, at the same level this year Dykstra is striking out 23.8% and walking 2.4%, after putting up pretty much the same ratio at Kanny. When Bassitt was the same age as Dykstra is now at the same level, he struck out 18.6% (5.2% less) and walked 13.4% (11% more). As for stuff, Dykstra sits 91-93, has a sinker with good sink, has a much improved changeup, a decent curve and immaculate control. Bassitt has about the same velo (maybe tops out higher but also occasionally seems to sit lower), has a good slider to righties, an inconsistent curve to lefties, doesn't really throw a change and has decent control. I don't really see the gap in stuff that makes up for the gap in performance. It's too early to rank Dykstra in the top 15 or even top 20. He's only pitched 20 innings above Low A so far and turns 24 at the end of the year. Given he's a sinker baller with good command, you would like to see if he can continue to miss bat while maintaining the same command in the upper levels before really believing in him. Hitter are hitting in the .260's against him this year, that's a split between mostly Low A and High A. While Bassit has limited his opponents to a BA of .220's in his career. I also wouldn't bank on Dykstra's keeping up K%. It's easy to get the less experienced hitters to strikeout in the lower level with good command of your pitches, but without any true "out" pitch or any plus offerings, I highly doubt that he can keep up that K%, unless he takes a giant step forward in his secondary offering. I'd like to see more from him in Double A next year before putting him in the top 15, as we have plenty of guys who are more accomplished than him or has a higher ceiling in the system.

I am surprised to see some guys put Dykstra over Bassit on their list or leaving Bassit off entirely. Bassit is almost 2 years older than Dykstra, but has proven he can handle Double A, and is generally considered to have better stuff. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get invited to ST to battle for the 5th starter spot next year along with Beck, Snodgress and Johnson.

For Funsies. Overall, I think we have many guys in the top 10 who has a strong chance of being solid regulars, and there are many intriguing talents in the bottom of the list to keep an eye on over next couple of years. 1. Rodon 2. Anderson 3. Micah Johnson 4. Montas 5. Danish 6. Hawkins 7. Sanchez 8. Adams 9. Davidson 10. Michalczewski 11. Ravelo 12. Wilkins 13. Beck 14. Bassit 15. May 16. Engel 17. Kevan Smith 18. Barnum 19. Thompson 20. Adolfo 21. Snodgress 22. Saladino 23. Rondon 24. Luis Martinez 25. Guerrero 26. Austin 27. Jace Fry 28. Jaye 29. Lopez 30. Mitchell The next 10 31. Freudenberg 32. Coats 33. Narvaez 34. Recchia 35. Ortiz 36. Lowry 37. Robinson Leyer 38. Jake Peter 39. Salgado 40. Dykstra The 2015 Watch List Andre Wheeler Zach Thompson Johan Cruz Antonio Rodriguez Jose Barraza Kevin Escorcia Nelson Acosta Ramon Beltre

Any publication that has Rodon and Adolfo arriving in the same year shouldn't be taken seriously. And since it's an MLB piece, it shouldn't be taken seriously to be begin with.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 11:26 PM) I'm a little bummed by this mini HR drought Fixed it for you

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 09:19 AM) Messing around with NBA trade machine, Bulls would have to send back 18M in contracts to make it work....Niko/Taj/DMD is 15.5. So pretty much they'd either have to include MJD or Butler and Snell. Trade MJD...Convince Marion to play for the min....go with... Rose/Hinrich/Brooks Martin/Butler Marion/Snell Love/Pau/Bairstow Noah/Pau/Naz ...Championships I did the math as well, and after that trade (which I think would never happen), Bulls should be at $68.7 mil salary wise for 10 roster spots, still way under the tax apron. In this dream scenario though, I have a hard time seeing a 36 years old Marion starting at SF over Butler, who Thibs obviously trust too much. He's better suited as a backup so he can play some 3 and 4 on this team. A healthy starting 5 over Rose-Martin-Butler-Love-Noah with Brooks-Hinrich-Snell-Marion-Gasol off the bench would easily be better and DEEPER than any of the Heat teams we seen in the past 4 years.

Sale must have enjoyed the 12 day rest with 1 inning pitched during the time frame. He was hitting 96/97 regularly tonight. That's just awful news for his upcoming opponents.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 04:29 PM) Jacob May stole another base, now 36-for-42 in that department. Impressive for a guy who hasn't gotten on base all that often this year. His bat has cooled off some though. Coats 2-3, BB. He has not cooled off, .925 OPS in July, over .950 in last 10 games. Rondon doing better in A+ than I thought he would, went 2-4, hitting .266. Omar Narvaez splitting time but hitting well over .300. And he's an excellent defensive catcher. That's good to know about Narvaez. I wish they would play him more. He seems very age reasonable for his position for the league, and he seems to be a good contact hitter with good plate discipline. If he starts showing some power, he should rise through the ranks.

As of 2 weeks ago when Kirk first agreed, we did not have a legit backup PG who can step up and start if Rose was to go down. Kirk was actually offered more by a couple other teams, but decided to stay. If you are the FO , i dont know if you can just let Kirk walk knowing that there's no other floor general type PG out there that you can get with the room MLE or vet min. He flexibility to play the 2 and defend well is definitely a plus.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 09:03 AM) Even if Hanley is out, they still can extend him, play Alexei at SS and Dee Gordon at 2B. I'd want Pederson, Lee and Reed for Alexei You are not getting a top 20 prospect, let alone with other prospects in a package for a 33 year old SS whose OPS is barely over .700 and playing in one of the most hitter friendly parks. Just did a quick research, Alexei has a triple slash of .213/.250/.281 in 41 games since June 1st, with 1 HR and 6 RBI

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 19, 2014 -> 02:35 PM) I think he can be a solid starter at the ML but I am not convinced he is untouchable. Personally I think Semien's skill-set translate better to the Majors than Micah. Between the two, I'll take Semien who is probably superior in all aspects of the game except speed. The speed is exciting of Micah for sure but I think there is still a lot left to be desired. Where did you hear that he's untouchable? Micah's speed is pretty close to 80 on the 80 scale if he not there already, and speed is one of the few things that translates well to the ML. He wow'd many scouts and also drew a few more critics on his bandwagon during his Future Game showing. I would also say his contact hitting is also superior compared to Semien. He has taken a while to adjust to Triple A, as he did with Double A, but his minor league K% and BA are all superior to what Semien has put up. Regardless, I'd like to see Micah at 2B and Marcus at SS for the next 5-10 years, and I think both will be solid regulars with a few borderline all star seasons.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 03:13 PM) Let's get those predicts on-line! Whatever you want to throw out there... Sox final record Abreu final line Sale final line Who gets traded Who do the Sox bring in Any odd ball predictions etc Final record 71-91 Abreu - .278-51-125 Sale - 15-4 2.62 ERA 180 IP 195 SO Traded: Beckham, Alexei, Viceido, Danks, Dunn Traded for: Hard to predict, Paxton (Mariners), or Judge and Clarkin (Yanks) Odd ball: Abreu hits 3 HR's 1st game after Alexei and Viceido gets traded

They knew Bulls eventually will have no choice but to amnesty him, so now they ended up with him for a lot less.

It's like Mark Buehrle never left the team.

Disregard my scenario on Deng.. I forgot that his Bird rights will create a cap hold of 150% of his last year salary unless renounced, therefore forbidding us from signing Gasol.

I now wish we didn't trade Deng in a salary dump last year. We feel we have a scary roster with plenty of depth and length right now, had we not trade Deng, we could have still made all the moves we made, and resign him with the Bird rights, and still stay under the tax apron, which frankly would have been a greater addition than anyone we can get in the FA market right now.

I think there's a chance Sale and Kershaw will replace their respective starters after the 2nd inning. If that's the case, it should be quite a treat.

Alexei would have net us a Samardzija like return about a month and a half ago, but his BA dropped about 50 points since then. Nonetheless, I would like to see a pitching or catching prospect ranked in or just outside the Top 100, and I think that's realistic. People are forgetting Semien already, I think he can still cut it as a SS. Quietly, he picked up himself bounced back nicely in Charlotte since demotion.