turnin' two

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 3, 2017 -> 03:59 PM) Not really, no. Really? https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/08/2017...agent-list.html Quite a few here you could sign on the super cheap. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/2018...ree-agents.html Couple more here. They aren't hard to find. It is finding a catcher that can hit and play defense that is the trick. And that was hardly the point of the post.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 3, 2017 -> 02:18 PM) If Collins were hitting .300 with everything else being the same we'd be talking about a Top 20 prospect. I swear there is no pleasing this board or expectation of patience. Yeah, well, he is hitting 100 points below that level. Walks are great and all, but if a guy doesn't show the ability to hit, pitchers are just going to attack him, and the walks will decline then disappear. He needs to hit. By no means am I calling him a bust or anything like that, it is his first full season of pro ball and he has time. But he has to hit. For a guy that was billed as an advanced college bat, it is a bit concerning to see him struggle to hit in his second go round in A-ball. If he were doing what he did last year (.258/.418/.467), most people would be happy with him even though it isn't progress. To this point, this season has been a step backwards (offensively) , and in terms of player development, that is a failure. Yes, he has gotten better defensively, but defensive catchers are a dime a dozen, it is that bat that could make him special. The bat needs to start showing some progress, it is scary that he has shown that he may be better suited for Kanny than Birmingham.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 3, 2017 -> 04:07 AM) Kid gonna have some pressure on him. Chris Sale has been EASILY the best pitcher in baseball. Hmmm..... http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/scherma01.shtml

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 3, 2017 -> 11:14 AM) Think about Justin Turner. Hitting over .380. OPS over 1.000 and playing GG defense. I think his absence is easily explained by the fact that he has missed nearly a month of the season.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 3, 2017 -> 02:04 AM) https://sports.yahoo.com/10-biggest-snubs-2...-014051925.html Kahnle, Cain and Devenski some of the Top 20 snubs That list of snubs says to me that the All Star selection was pretty right on.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 3, 2017 -> 11:37 AM) Side note, this is incredible. I know there were conversations previously about how dangerous VZ is right now... Ben Badler‏ @BenBadler Jul 2 As a note, in case it's not already clear, at the request of several players/families, we're not posting any Venezuelan bonus amounts today. I believe this has been the case for the last couple signing periods. Scary.

QUOTE (Two-Gun Pete @ Jul 2, 2017 -> 09:56 PM) Not really "my" research, but here, I'll Google that for you: https://www.beyondtheb...rates-prospects From the article: "...only 13% of high K prospects succeeded without a high walk rate, 76% busted without one..." Umm, well that doesn't really tell you anything. How does that number compare to the average? Doesn't seem like it would be too much different.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 2, 2017 -> 07:49 AM) https://sports.yahoo.com/starting-pitcher-s...-091610868.html Q ranked 17th/18th in fantasy value. Just a bit ahead of his fWAR, which is in the low 20's. $36 Max Scherzer $35 Clayton Kershaw $33 Chris Sale $31 Corey Kluber $28 Carlos Martinez $28 Stephen Strasburg $26 Zack Greinke $25 Lance McCullers *$25 Yu Darvish $24 Robbie Ray $22 Jacob deGrom $21 Jose Berrios $20 Alex Wood $20 Luis Severino $20 Carlos Carrasco $20 Marcus Stroman $18 Jimmy Nelson *$18 Jeff Samardzija $18 Michael Fulmer $18 Jon Lester *$18 Chris Archer $17 James Paxton *$17 Jose Quintana *$16 Johnny Cueto *$16 Justin Verlander $15 J.A. Happ $15 Jameson Taillon $14 David Price *$14 Sonny Gray $13 Jake Arrieta *$13 Dan Straily $13 Sean Manaea $12 Zack Godley $12 Gio Gonzalez $12 Mike Fiers $12 Steven Matz *$12 Jason Vargas $12 Felix Hernandez $12 Marco Estrada What????? Great! Now the Sox can command any prospects they want! His DFS numbers are great! Booyah!

QUOTE (zenryan @ Jul 2, 2017 -> 08:34 PM) Don't fans of defending champs usually stuff the ballot box? Maybe Cub fans aren't all that dumb?? Heyward, Schwarber, Rizzo, Bryant and Zobrist were all toward the top for their positions last tally I saw. None of them really deserve it...

QUOTE (Two-Gun Pete @ Jul 1, 2017 -> 11:09 AM) Take away the kid's name, & his signing bonus for a second: Seems to me that you are holding his name and signing bonus against him. If you take that away, you have the youngest player on his team, who is 2nd on his team in R, 4th in H, 1st in 2B, 3rd in HR, 2nd in RBI, 1st in TB, 2nd in SLG, 3rd in OBP, 2nd in AVG, and 2nd in OPS. All around he has been the best hitter on Kanny, except for maybe Zavala, and that is debatable. And he is 3 years or so younger than most of his teammates. That to me, looks like a pretty good prospect with or without a name attached.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 25, 2017 -> 03:53 PM) Collins getting close to Mendoza Line again Hard to directly compare them, but he certainly seems to be behind where Fulmer was developmentally. And Fulmer seems to be persona non grata around theses parts.

In June (4 starts) Q has put together 24 IP, 24K, 8BB, 19H (1.125 WHIP), a .216 BAA against, and an ERA of 2.25. If he keeps his performance in line with this, he will be in high demand this trade deadline.

Curbelo hasn't played in a couple days, anyone know whats going on?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2017 -> 04:50 PM) Tatis Jr., .260/768 ops (9 homers). Not exactly destroying the MW League, but definitely holding his own for that aggressive assignment for a young Latin American player. Anderson is going to have Jose Valentin error numbers when all is said and done this season... Can I get an update on some other Padres prospects? What are some of their other DSL guys doing?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 23, 2017 -> 10:17 PM) Mark Buehrle in a softball league is the least surprising thing ever. Hat tip to #56. Just a perfect White Sox player. Happy to say I was at his first start, a 12K game (that took like 15 minutes) vs. the Mariners, a classic duel he lost against Mark Mulder and countless others. Watched the first nono, and hung every moment of the perfecto. Soaked up the dropped third strike complete game He'll always be one of my all time favorite players, and my favorite pitcher. And the best sporting moment of my life, I was able to be in attendance at Mark's game 2 World Series start (where he was overshadowed somehow...). And of course I will be there tomorrow. He was completely underappreciated by everyone, but Sox fans, who love him. Cheers to Mark Buehrle.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 23, 2017 -> 08:34 PM) Kopech continues to struggle I guess if the other team continues to have the constitution to keep walking up and back from the dugout Kopech has failed.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 23, 2017 -> 10:06 AM) I would not consider extending him for more than the average MLB salary and I would love it if the Sox traded him next month. It is all about risk management. Avi has shown this season that, at his best, he can be a legit middle of the order bat. The Sox have to judge the risk of him falling back into his old ways against what he could be in the future, and what a return for him in a trade may look like. If the Sox believe that this Avi, or something close to this, is the real Avi, they should have lofty demands for a trade. If they think Avi can continue to be a middle of the order bat, they sure has heck had better get a return that can replace him as a middle of the order bat. If they believe the risk of Avi being a .260 hitter with a dozen HRs is high, well, then, you don't need as much back. He looks like a different hitter to me, better discipline, and punishing pitches in the hitting zone. He is also getting much more lift on the ball. In previous years, he would hit the ball hard, but it would be on the ground or a low line drive. He also seemed too ready to just try to punch the ball through the infield (which is a fine approach, but you better hit far better than .260). So, I guess, I am buying into the changes a bit. Not saying I think he is going to be a .340 hitter for his career (or all season) but he was always a guy that had all the tools. If he has mentally put it together and changed his approach, he could be a valuable guy to have in the middle of the order with Abreu. I would be disappointed if they traded him for less than a great return. Young players go through growing pains. Not everyone is Miguel Cabrera. Heck, there are people here saying Schwarber should be part of a return for Q, Avi has never struggled near as bad as what Schwarber is mired in right now. Yet everyone believes he will still be an impact bat. It seems many Sox fans are willing to believe in any one other than Avi.

The fact is, it doesn't matter if they even discussed an extension in 2013. Maybe they did. Maybe Avi turned it down. Maybe he (or his agents) thought he would make a ton of money through arbitration and get to FA and break the bank. It doesn't matter. So much has happened since then. Avi has experienced failure, he has experienced a major injury and took a lot of time to fully recover. Those experiences, along with the fading of his prospect star, make it a completely different situation, one that may lead him to see the security of an extension as a major positive.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 04:20 PM) https://mobile.twitter.com/ChiTribKane/stat...995504923140096 I was there. As was I!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 04:00 PM) The Sox love getting their core young guys locked into long term deals as early as possible. I would put the odds near 100% that the Sox talked to him about it very early on in his time here. Well, even if they offered it "early on" the situation has certainly changed for Avi (and the Sox) since that point.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 03:27 PM) If Garcia has held out this long to be extended, it tells me that he thinks he can get paid in free agency. For what it would take to get his attention and give up free agency, I am not willing to go there. Has he? I kind of doubt there were extension overtures during previous seasons.

PS-- I know 5/ (60-70) is still a big financial risk for the Sox, but if they feel he is even close to this player, well, they just spent 50 million on a 19 year old they had really never seen. Avi sure seems to be a safer bet than that...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 03:11 PM) At this stage, he is two seasons away from free agency. In order to get him to give up that free agency, you are going to have to make it worth his while. The time for cheap extensions is pre-arb, not two years from free agency. I am not sure how you structure a 3 or 4 year deal that is bargain enough for the White Sox, but big enough to make Garcia willing to give up free agency without a big guarantee of money. What are you taking? Something like 3/45? ($10-'18, $15-'19, $20-'20). I mean in that case, why wouldn't Abi just wait and look for a 5 or 6 year deal at the same rate or better on the open market? There are several reasons. What is he going to make the next couple years? Your guess puts him at 25 mil, without an extension he will make what 12 -15 (just a guess) That seems to be a good reason. He could get injured. That is another reason. Maybe he likes it here and doesn't want to leave. More than likely though, he wouldn't sign an extension for 3-4 years. But the Sox could do 5 years, and that would probably look pretty good. 5/ (60-70) could be tough to turn down. And still leaves quite a bit of room before 9 figures.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 03:03 PM) I am not willing to put nine figures on the fact that this is the real Avi Garcia. I think there is a chance he can sustain it, but that is one helluva bet. Fair enough, but isn't there a lot of space between extending him, and extending him for 100 million?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 02:53 PM) I want no part of giving Avi Garcia a significant extension as of today. Do you think he has just been getting lucky? He certainly looks like a different player with a much better approach now than any other time in his career.