turnin' two

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 01:32 PM) Ahh yes, but you haven't considered park factors. If you use wRC+ (which includes park factors), you'll see Belt as a career 127 and Abreu as a career 136. Still better, but a much smaller difference, and one that is almost certainly erased by defense. I'm not arguing for getting rid of Abreu, just sayin' Clearly PNC is one of the worst hitter's parks in the bigs, and some of those doubles and triples would certainly be HRs elsewhere. I would still take Abreu though, but that is just me. I think there is room for both he and Avi in the future. One as a DH and one as 1B or both as both.

QUOTE (Username @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 07:52 AM) ^ this. If you could snag Carson Kelly and some more interesting pieces you have to at least think about it. I love Avi and think he can sustain a good portion of this improvement, but filling catcher with a potential 22 year old cornerstone would be huge. Guy has golf glove potential and is coming into his own with the bat. The same Carson Kelly that is a career .253 hitter in the minors? The one that has never hit double digit HRs? I know he is a good prospect and has been much better recently in his career, but the Sox would need to get much more for Avi than Kelly. I understand he is a catcher and carries surplus value because of it, but this would be trading a 3 or 4 type hitter for a 7 or 8 type hitter. I would be disappointed if he were the headliner. There is no rush to trade him and he is producing at an pretty elite level right now. I am not against trading him, but make another make you trade him.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 10:25 AM) I think you're underselling Belt's bat here. It's not his fault he plays in a home stadium that is death to left-handed power hitters. Didn't mean to do that, called out that he adds a lot offensively. With that said, Belt's career high OPS (868) is lower than Abreu's career avg (872). Now Belt had a better OPS last year, spurred on by over 100 BBs and over 40 2B. But it is dangerous to measure Belt by last year as he had career bests in H, 2B, 3B, BB (by a super wide margin), RBI, OBP and OPS. He has also had number fluctuate between OPSs of .755-.868. He is also in the midst of a pretty poor season currently. I will take the steadiness and production of Abreu anyday.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jun 22, 2017 -> 09:56 AM) Jeter also won a bunch of gold gloves. Hosmer is very poor defensively. Absolutely no range at all. Rafael Palmerio won it in a year where he played 1B 28-- yes 28 times-- and DH'd the rest. I know I would much rather have Jose Abreu than Brandon Belt. And I like Brandon Belt, he certainly adds a lot both offensively and defensively, but at first, I would rather have the intimidating power bat.

QUOTE (maxjusttyped @ Jun 21, 2017 -> 09:56 PM) 6 K's 0 BB's 0 R's for Giolito so far. Things might be starting to click for him. Over his most recent 7 starts before tonight, in 39 1/3 he has an ERA of 3.21 and 36 Ks allowed 34 H, 17 BB.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 21, 2017 -> 09:25 PM) Who plays him in the movie? Not Tommy Cruise. Dennis Quaid?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 21, 2017 -> 11:20 AM) It's crazy to deliberately play one of the worst 1b in all of baseball there....for the reasons of keeping him happy, so we can lose more games for draft position? And we can't acknowledge the benefits to Anderson and Moncada of having someone they could feel confident in throwing to? That the fewer errors on the infield, the better off our young pitchers will be? Didn't anyone watch the 2015/16/17 (Cubs, Royals, Indians) seasons to understand how defense/shifts are revolutionizing the game? As well as players who can play 3-4 different positions on the field. The main argument against is he won't be "as engaged" or hit as well in the DH position. If there is a position where you can play a negative defender and not have it hurt you too badly, 1B is the spot. It is the least important defensive position on the field. A plus defender adds far less than at other positions, and a bad defender doesn't hurt as much.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 20, 2017 -> 08:34 PM) What is Hickman's story exactly? Count me in the curious.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Jun 20, 2017 -> 08:18 PM) Yes but they have younger guys that will need to pitch deep in the season and post season. Not sure some of those arms are going to be full strength as the season goes on. Plus you can never have enough pitching. Very true, but they may not have the urgency to trade one of the game's top prospects.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 20, 2017 -> 06:46 PM) There used to be talk here of Rockies being interested in Q. They just promoted #1 Prospect Rodgers to AA. All he did at High A was hit .400 with 12 HRs in 48 games. The problem is, oddly enough, the Rockies pitching has been pretty solid.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 11:30 AM) Which only accounts for 7 of those guys, with Diaz not on these lists. That means a lot of better drafting and obviously Robert. Oh, only 7 or everyone's top 15. Silly me.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jun 19, 2017 -> 10:25 AM) I could see them buying a rental without having to give up their top prospects. I could see the Yanks looking for a non-rental type player. They have 3 in their rotation that could leave via free agency next offseason. CC and Pineda are free agents, and Tanaka has an out, but the way he is pitching, he may not want to utilize it, but still. They may have the need for some arms longer term.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 09:42 PM) Until this year, I always had Hickman as my #30 so he would be on FutureSox's honorable mentions. I have to say, I don't quite get all the Hickman love. I know he is a great story, but he has made, what, 3 starts? I saw people saying he was a better prospect than Danish at one time. Danish is younger and performing pretty well in AAA. Stephens has been injured this year, but he was fairly dominant last season at WS. I don't see how Hickman is in the same category of prospect as Stephens. I have to plead a bit of ignorance on him, does he throw 98? Plus plus slider? Plus command? Why is everyone so high on guy that took 2 years to recover from a TJ surgery who is now a 23 year old in the Sally? He doesn't seem to K guys at a high rate (now, or at Iowa, and at Iowa he really walked guys at an alarming rate) and doesn't have a huge history or pedigree. Sorry if this came off snarky, I don't mean it that way, I am just legitimately curious and likely uninformed.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 12:02 PM) I voted Davidson because I think long term he can make a solid contribution to the team when they get good again. All the others are easily replaceable in my opinion and I'm not sold on A. Garcia yet. Huh? There seems to be a rational disconnect here. Davidson is actually older (though it is close) than Avi, and is less accomplished in AAA than Avi is at the MLB level. I understand not believing in Avi, but not having belief in Garcia, while believing in Davidson seems irrational. If you had to pick one to figure it out, based on pedigree, track record and tools, Avi is the better bet by a significant margin. With that said, Davidson can certainly be a contributor. I am anxious to see him play 3rd everyday one Frazier gets traded. If he can be even passable, then he can hit .235-.240 with power and be a contributor.

This whole situation is such a perfect fit and makes so much sense, it will probably never happen.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 12:32 AM) Amazing how far we've come in just a couple of short years. Not really that amazing when you consider the MLB talent they offloaded.

Two CGs by minor league pitchers tonight. Pretty impressive.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jun 13, 2017 -> 08:35 PM) Look at Collins' numbers on the season. Low BA, High K's/BB's and hits bombs. I'm not saying its a bad thing but it looks like an Adam Dunn stat line. Which, as starved for power as the Sox are, I'd happily take. Between AA and AAA, at age 21, Adam Dunn hit .334/.449/.664. At age 22 (same as Collins now) Dunn put up 56 XBH in the bigs. Collins has a long way to go to find Adam Dunn's shadow.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jun 13, 2017 -> 09:16 PM) That was CRUSHED by Davidson . Yeah, he has a little pop in that bat.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 13, 2017 -> 08:37 PM) Avi Garcia hitting .340 on 6/13/17 has to be one of the strangest things I've seen in 20+ years of baseball. Eh. Not even the strangest thing this year. Avi has the pedigree and youth. Look at Justin Smoak. Much weirder.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 13, 2017 -> 06:09 PM) I'm shocked. I guess his heart wasn't in water polo. That's a tough one to pass up. Is it? 4 years of an Olympic sport in basic anonymity , which you have no opportunity to play beyond college, vs, approximately $160,000 and the chance to play baseball for a long time and be a multi-mega-millionaire. It may not be that tough to pass up, unless he really, really loved water polo.

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Jun 13, 2017 -> 04:14 PM) A guy named Abbot may be who's on first? Bravo sir.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 12, 2017 -> 10:48 AM) Seems like all sorts of underslot discussion hell is breaking loose after several weeks of what seemed like a certain top 5. My prediction: the top 5 is still the same and this is all due diligence. I hope not. Let's get some chaos!

I can't wait to see what wacky happenings go on tomorrow. Seems like there is always something out of the blue in the MLB draft.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Jun 11, 2017 -> 02:29 PM) If the alternatives are Kendall or Bukauskas, the White Sox should pick Hiura. The defensive stuff is overblown because no one has seem him play defense in over a year. An unknown is better than a known negative, like Kendall's K rate or Bukauskas's mechanics. Ok Mr. Hiura, I think we get your point. Though, none of those players will likely be available in next year's draft.