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Two new scouts from great organizations to help with the biggest draft pick we've had since Rodon? Sounds like a smart move. Also, with how deep everyone is saying this draft is and seeing all the high school talent available, there will probably be more good selections available in the second round than usual, so this helps even more.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 14, 2017 -> 09:25 AM) I can't help but think that with every potential advantage that the Sox might use to sell this team, there are multiple other teams who could offer better. If he wanted to go to a team that liked Japanese players, but can't offer money, why not LA? They worshiped Hideo Nomo. They have also signed a lot more Japanese players and have a bigger Japanese population base than Chicago does. One of the many and often conflicting reports did say that he liked LA because of the large Japanese population. No one knows how true it is, but it is out there.

One guy who I want who I think will be in the second round area is Alek Thomas. He is an CF from Mount Carmel HS in Chicago, he is part of the White Sox ACE program, and I believe his dad is the director of conditioning for the White Sox. He finished second on the 18u national team in batting average and was 5-5 in stolen bases. And he's done all this while still being Mount Carmel's starting QB and I believe he still plays basketball too. So there is definitely more room for growth than most draft prospects.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Sep 13, 2017 -> 10:49 PM) I have an article coming for FutureSox on this tomorrow. I would be stunned if the White Sox were even in the running for this. THey can pay him $300K. They can offer him a rotation spot and let him DH on off days. Other teams can do the same though. Teams like the Pirates and Rockies can offer him $10 million. Yanks, Boston, Texas can offer somewhere in the $3-$4 million range and still allow him to pitch and hit. The Cubs, Dodgers, Astros and Padres can offer $300K. That's it though. One team that makes a lot of sense for me: Los Angeles Angels. They can pay him close to $9 million and he'd still be on the West Coast. This process will be fascinating. The best player on the planet and a guy who has been compared to Babe Ruth on the same team? I'd watch that.

This is the ultimate lottery ticket signing. We basically have zero chance, but someone has to win it and you can't win it unless you buy the ticket. Plus, it allows fans to dream for a little while and if the FO does goes after him and fails, they can tell the fans that they did everything they could to help us contend faster which makes them look better than if they just sit out the sweepstakes.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 13, 2017 -> 01:16 PM) The thing is you can't discuss an extension during these negotiations, that would be considered tampering by MLB and has already been warned against. I would also be willing to bet that any extension that didn't look like an extension that has already been signed by someone around MLB would get thrown out. You are probably talking something like Tim Anderson's contract, and not a nine figure deal. I thought that the consensus was that there basically was going to be some tampering and whatever teams tried to sign him were just going to have to hide it. I guess we really don't know what is going to happen for his signing. Ill say this though, he is probably going to be one of the most talked about names in baseball by next season without ever having played an inning. Thats gotta help get some endorsements that takes the sting out of losing out on the big contract right away.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Sep 13, 2017 -> 12:35 PM) Actually hope Hahn continues to stay away Not big on this kid Its not 300k though if we have that big agreement in place on an extension after his first year. Then you are basically locked in to signing him for that huge contract because it would look really bad and could have repurcusions if you don't go through with the extension. If he is willing to just sign and then talk extension later, then I agree that there is no risk and we should at least throw our hat in the ring.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 13, 2017 -> 10:08 AM) I'm not aware of how lucrative sponsorships and endorsements are in Japan, but I'm guessing you can live off of them, much as you can in the States, and that says nothing of the same that he might be able to get here as well. LeBron James is worth $400 million and has "only" made $200 million from the NBA. Otani can easily become unfathomably rich even if he comes over next year and "only" receives a $30 million signing bonus. The max signing bonus he can get is less than $10mil and some are saying he might sign with a restricted team meaning he only gets $300K. But the point still stands, he will probably make a ton in endorsements right away.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 3, 2017 -> 10:15 PM) Literally can't get him ? He can still sign for 300K can't he ? I know it sounds ridiculous but in the context of the highest amount he can be offered it's not a big difference. If he becomes a major leaguer right away wouldn't his minimal salary be added to the bonus pool money and he would be under control for the normal amount of time? A promise to let him attempt to be an everyday player and starting pitcher seems like something that other teams wouldn't promise. Also do we think part of the offers to him will promise to extend or renegotiate his contract or is that not kosher ? The league said they would be trying to prevent this, but its kinda hard to figure out exactly how they are going to determine if things were pre-negotiated or not, especially for a team like the White Sox which just signed a guy without a full year of service time to an extension.

QUOTE (Username @ Aug 17, 2017 -> 08:34 AM) To be fair, he's flashed mammoth power in the past (see AA last year in a pitchers park and spring training). I think ISO is the hardest to predict at the ML level (look at Leury, other guys that have gained some late). He made dramatic contact skill increases this year and has been getting on base all year. If the power keeps playing up he's got the skills/swing to be productive. Plus the difference in the ML vs minor league ball doesn't hurt (it is actually a different ball)...look at how many guys have had huge power breakouts in the majors. I don't disagree, but there is going to be some regression if just because pitchers will eventually find a strategy against him. The big thing is how much he regresses and whether it can still make up for his bad defense. It will be interesting to watch him continue to develop.

The good: He has already posted a 0.8 oWAR on baseball reference in only 13 games. Thats more than a starter, thats all star level production. The bad: There is almost a 0% chance he maintains said production. His BB% and K% are in normal bounds, but his BABIP and ISO are much higher than normal. On a more basic level, who thinks he can actually maintain hitting close to .400? The question is how far will the offensive profile regress because... The ugly: He already has a -0.3 dWAR on baseball reference in only 13 games and in a position where we are trying to hide his defensive struggles. If we abandon the idea of trying to have him play 3B and let him concentrate on LF he should improve and hopefully become atleast a replacement level defensive player. If he can improve his defense in LF, I really like his chances to hang around and be a contributor to atleast the beginning of our competitive period. Right now I'd say he probably had greater odds of sticking around than Davidson or Saladino.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...610-column.html After reading this article, I think that Ozzie has changed for the better. I wouldn't mind him being back with the Sox, but I'm also not going to call for Ricky's job so we can have Ozzie back.

Could it be that the PTBNL is someone on their 40 or that is rule 5 eligible that we want them to hold onto so they don't take up a spot on our 40 for the rule 5 draft? I think we are going to be right up against the limit with some of these recent acquisitions and Houston might have the space and not care as long as the spot is open for them for free agency. I haven't looked at their 40 man and any roster crunch, but its just an idea.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 7, 2017 -> 03:29 PM) The Orioles, I should have known. It looked like the rest of the deals involved some pretty significant players. The Orioles have traded their pick almost every year. This guy was traded in 2012 along with a "low level minor leaguer" for a round A pick. He literally was a -1 WAR player through 55 games at the time of the trade.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 7, 2017 -> 03:10 PM) Like who? Honestly I can't recall any off of the top of my head. I know teams have been active in moving international cap space for smaller returns, but can't recall any comp pick trades. I looked up a couple a few days ago and I'm pretty sure like none of the players even ended up having positive WAR seasons. This article even explains how the Dodgers got a round B pick by basically taking on a ~$3 million contract. Dodgers Buy Draft Pick

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 7, 2017 -> 02:20 PM) I think you are really overvaluing these guys. At best they a second division starters. They are the type of guys you are always looking to replace and upgrade. No one is giving up basically a second round pick for that. Check out some of the guys who were traded for comp picks though. They're generally not great and if one of these teams gets an injury early on, we could jump in anf fill the position without them having to wait for July.

One thing I would like to see us do is to take a couple of the non-highly touted prospects who are being brought up or knocking on the door at AAA (think Delmonico, Willy Garcia, Danny Hayes, etc) and put them on the market early next year and see if you can get trade them for a comp pick. It would allow us the financial flexibility to go after a good high school guy if he falls and not worry about having to cut an underslot deal in the first round. I think this is important because at some point we are going to have to get some young guys in the system so we don't have a logjam at one level and we can't really do it with international signings while in the penalty.

If Lopez does come up, is it for good or are we going to send him back down to start next year so we can get the extra year of control? I know he had some service time with the Nats, so two more months now means the extra year call up date might be so late it doesn't make sense.

So this essentially turned into a three way trade with the Twins giving money and some prospects for better prospects? I wonder if in this day and age where players seem to be worth only as much as their surplus value if we'll see more three way trades take this template. Find a rebuilding team with a low payroll that can take on some of the salary in return for a prospect and nothing else. Could be the solution to something like a Verlander trade.

I just stared at that top 30 from pipeline for like 5 minutes and was just laughing. These last two trades just bumped Nicky Delmonico and Bernardo Flores. Delmonico may be able to play in the majors and not embarrass himself and he can't even make our top 30. We might literally have so many major league capable guys next year that some are going to have to stay in AAA. I just can't believe how much this system has changed in one year. Obviously we still have work to do to become the kind of system with sustained success, but this is a hell of a one year turn around.

I'd call him up when the AAA season is over if just so he can work bullpen sessions with Coop. I really wouldn't even worry about getting him into games. And for service time, unless he lights the world on fire for the next month or in spring training, he was probably going to still have to prove himself in the minors next year, so not being able to call him up until June wouldn't be that bad.

If nothing else, this shows that our minor league staffs know how to turn catchers with defensive question marks into at least average defenders, which makes me like the Evan Skoug pick even more. So now it looks like we have three young catchers who can be at least average behind the plate and each brings some pop to the lineup, so hopefully one can reach their cieling and become a big part of the future lineup.

If anyone has seen him play and disagrees let me know, but just taking a quick look at the numbers a comp for Giilaspie is a slightly less powerful but higher walk rate Jose Abreu

I'm excited to see what he can do. A lefty that can hit 99 and have a good slider? Yeah, lets see what hes got.

I think it was the fangraphs article that talked about how he got rid of his load to shorten his swing, which made his hands not back before the pitch which could potentially lead to problems. With the (relative) success of Adam Engel doing something similar with an unconvential swing, maybe the AAA guys can help correct Gillaspie because outside this year he seems like a good prospect.