GenericUserName

Check out his stats just from SEC play. It is really bad. https://mutigers.com/documents/2019/3/30/19MIZ_Season_Stats_SEC_Only_thru_28G_.pdf

International bonus money is capped and that is kind of why a lot of people are mad. This guy just popped up this year (no one knew he was going to be available), and the Sox are willing to give him $2.5mm which means they still have that amount unallocated even though they have had two years in the penalty box to line up deals with better guys for this coming J2 period. So basically being rumored to be offering this guy $2.5mm means that we have only spent $2.5mm on other prospects even though most of the agreements have already taken place. This seems to line up with the fact that we aren't connected to any of the prospects on the top international amateur lists from any of the different sources.

I found another article that mentioned the list of eligible players under 25 with a few differences (bolded). The article also says they will have a training/showcase in Mexico from April 7th to May 2nd.

The speed thing confuses me. Didn't Law say he has below average speed? But FG says 60 grade. That is a big difference. As a pop up guy, the difference between center and left can be a huge difference in value and risk.

I'm not saying he has to go straight to AAA and we let him sink or swim, just that different caliber of prospects are likely to have different schedules. While guys like Robert and Jimenez will be/were given ample time to adjust to every level, guys like Steele Walker or Luis Gonzalez might be pushed quicker so they can reach a level where their value can be capitalized on.

I don't think he is saying the team is suppressing his value to hurt him or anything like that, but that his trade value is suppressed as compared to if he were pushed to higher levels. Look at it this way: regardless of how good he is and what that "trade value" should be, who is going to trade for an older player at the lower levels? Rebuilding teams will likely want younger players with higher upsides/longer time frames. Teams that are competing are going to want upper level talent that can quickly be plugged in to their ML roster. A college prospect at the lower levels without a huge upside doesn't really fit either of those categories and its impossible to fit one, but he does have the ability to fit the other. So, if this is a prospect that is not essential to your org and is unlikely to actually contribute to your ML team, it makes sense to push them if it will make them a more valuable asset.

I feel like Portland is more likely to be an expansion team. I'm predicting the Sox to Nashville and then you don't have to mess with the divisions.

Its just the small tv in the kitchen.

As if I needed another reason to not watch White Sox baseball this year, I just noticed that it looks like NBCsports' non-HD broadcast on comcast is the shitty 4:3 where they cut off part of the picture. Having a good chunk of the info box cut off is doing nothing to make me less annoyed with this team even if it has nothing to do with them.

If its like last year, he will gain a tick or two a few innings in. Rain delay also probably didn't help.

I think Eddy Alvarez just got traded. He and Jake Elmore are listed as traded to Miami and Pittsburgh respectively on this roster site which is usually accurate. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vRkx7h7y1OZ6xFub4XjCWnQJbH2sXV59qxcp2Y9iTwuOyABvrmHsqIG2ONx89VwwjQr7dNi252Ww4Ao/pubhtml?gid=67648048&single=false#

I was thinking that too. I wonder if they haven't offered yet waiting to see if anyone else pops up during this cycle.

I'll say this for him, from the sounds of a lot of the cuban articles I was reading, people thought he was going to be one of the next great ones on the island. He might not have a ton of power, but articles state he is a line drive hitter, so maybe he has a flat swing and could benefit from a swing change once he gets with our hitting coaches.

Obviously small sample, but he did not perform well against international competition while others who stand out did at least okay. https://u18bwc.wbsc.org/en/2015/team-stats/CUB/

A comparison of the two years Robert and Sanchez were both in CNS. Keep in mind Sanchez is a year older and had a down year in '17-'18, but is a good defensive SS. Luis Robert: Register Batting Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB 2015-16 17 -11.0 Ciego de Avila CNS Fgn 68 313 269 68 82 10 2 5 29 8 2 32 46 .305 .384 .413 .796 111 3 3 8 1 8 2016-17 18 -10.5 Ciego de Avila CNS Fgn 53 232 182 51 73 12 2 12 40 11 6 38 30 .401 .526 .687 1.213 125 5 11 0 1 10 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 3/25/2019. Yolbert Sanchez: Register Batting Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB 2015-16 -- Isla de la Juventud CNS Fgn 59 191 175 21 49 7 2 1 17 1 5 10 21 .280 .323 .360 .683 63 6 1 5 0 0 2016-17 -- Industriales CNS Fgn 37 139 123 16 43 1 0 0 12 4 3 6 10 .350 .391 .358 .749 44 3 3 6 1 0 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 3/25/2019.

I'm less concerned about not already having deals if the new Cuban agreement goes through. There are several really good players on the rumored list of eligible players.

What, does Hahn want credit for being at the table again? Getting something 90% finished? Because the way I see it, this is just another instance of them not being able to finish on something. If the deal fell through because of a leak, who's fault is that? A random kid on the internet or your FO that let that info out?

I'm not going to get my hopes up about us taking on a bad contract. They can talk about it all they want, but at the end of the day I can't see JR signing off on taking on more money for unproven prospects especially when that money won't sell any more tickets or merch. I think its more likely they just use the money on an extension for Abreu and overpaying for a mid-tier free agent next offseason.

Can't remember which it was, but one of the baseball podcasts I was listening to said he has completely changed his stance and swing from last year. That would make it seem like something has clicked with the changes as opposed to him having a randomly good year. I haven't heard anyone say he is in consideration as high as #3, but I don't see how he isn't is he keeps this up. Its seems like he is similar to Misner, except with a potentially better chance to stay in center, possibly better speed, and power that is already translating to games.

They are citing the fangraphs rumors about that from almost a month ago. At this point, I don't think we can assume that info is still accurate.

Here is an article with a video that has Merino and the other prospects as well. Apparently Merino is the son of a pretty famous cuban baseball player. https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2019-02-21-u194102-e194102-s27066-patrick-merino-otros-dos-prospectos-cubanos-presentaran

So I was doing some searching after I saw a tweet about Yolbert Sanchez and it led me down a click-hole of cuban baseball and I found this article about the list of players that will be available to be signed under the new Cuba-MLB agreement. I'll leave the rough translation from the article and a link. Note that Yoelkis Cespedes is included in the list. Notably absent is Pedro Leon who I think may have defected because I found a video with what appears to be him training for scouting (doing 60s and getting speeds on outfield throws). I also found a tweet and an article from one of the good reporters about a Cuban player named Patrick Merino who it looks like we might be in on. The article (though obviously biased) said he hit 16 homeruns and ran a 6.3 60 in his tryout with us and that he has at least 70 speed, plus arm, 60 hit, 55 power as an outfielder. The idea of leading to sign him, us being mentioned with Yolbert Sanchez, us not really being connected to any other big spending in international free agency this coming J2, and all of this talent from cuba coming on the market makes me think we are going hard after some of these guys instead of the traditional 16 year olds for this coming cycle. With that in mind, I thought it was a good idea to get all these names out there for people to hopefully have something other to debate than whatever we were arguing about. https://pelotacubanablog.com/2019/03/20/una-fuente-confidencial-dice-que-la-primera-lista-de-cubanos-disponibles-para-mlb-podria-salir-el-21-de-marzo/

Whoa, whoa, whoa... I thought we all agreed it was Magical Madrigal. When did it change to the magician?

I think its going to be Misner. As much as we want to say we are an analytical team now, Hostetler still seems like an old school scouting type of guy and its those types that seem to be all over Misner the most. Add to that their history of projecting better defense than anyone outside the org believes and I'll bet that if Adley and Vaughn are off the board they take Misner and say he is a true 5 tool centerfielder who was #1 on their board.