Brian Anderson

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

No, you're missing my point. I mentioned Terrero because he started out hot when brought up, but then went on to hit .231.

 

In other words, don't get too excited about a career journeyman hitting well over a short period of time, as there's usually reason that player keeps bouncing around from team to team.

I see, and I agree. Journeymen are rarely exciting.

[westy21]

Brian Anderson is probably the best defensive center fielder in the game today, is one. Dewayne Wise was born in 1978 and has a career 353 at bats, is two. In the past three years, Dewayne Wise's batting average against RHP is .205 (lower than Anderson), is three. Dewayne Wise's career OBP is .241, is four. If you averaged his career numbers out to predict what he might do in a full year, it'd look like this: 298 AB, 41 R, 8 HR, 29 RBI, 14 BB, 48 SO, 11 SB, .201 BA, .241 OBP, .363 SLG, .604 OPS... is five.

 

Do I have to keep going?

 

Best fielder? I mean he's good but come on.

 

Ichiro

Hunter

Cameron

Jones

Tavares

Sizemore

Granderson

Ellsbury

Crisp

Upton

Rowand

 

are all better or equal to Anderson. He's just another failed 1st round pick for the Sox and not worth a roster spot

 

[justBLAZE]

Wise starting again today.

[the People's Champ]

Jerry Owens might not be a bad idea.

 

By the way, anyone know the status on him? Is he still hurt? I'm actually confused why they brought in Dewayne Wise when Konerko went to the DL if they could have brought up Owens.

 

Could the Sox live with him as the every day CF in the 9 spot? Maybe move Swisher over to 1B and platoon Konerko and Thome at DH (damn, that's an expensive platoon... and at DH, haha) and guarantee that Thome isn't back next year?

 

I'm just trying to think outside the box here.

I'd say the fact that they brought up Wise instead of Owens is pretty much an indictment on what they think of him. I hope KW has something up his sleeve cause the future isn't looking very bright right now.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

What, a top young player? If they don't get that then they have no reason to trade Roberts. a year and a half from now he walks as a FA and they get 2 draft picks that have good value because he's a guaranteed type A person, they like him on their team anyway, etc. If they don't get something of real solid value then they'd be stupid to deal him. From our system, that means Danks, Floyd, or Quentin. Poreda, Fields, Broadway, Richar, you name the person, or even a combination of them, just isnt' enough to get him.

Normally I have no quarrel with what you say, so let me check my reading comprehension level here . You just said the Orioles wouldn't give up Roberts for any cominbination of the 6 players you mentioned ? You don't think the Orioles would part with Roberts for an offer of Danks and Floyd ? For that matter either one of them + Quentin ? I don't normally overrate the Sox talentpool but Floyd , Danks and Quentin are good young players with a lot of potential and I can't see the Orioles saying no to any 2 of those players ( not that I'd make that trade). So please tell me you didn't say what I think you said.

[justBLAZE]

I'd say the fact that they brought up Wise instead of Owens is pretty much an indictment on what they think of him. I hope KW has something up his sleeve cause the future isn't looking very bright right now.

 

I'm pretty sure Owens is injured right now, he hasn't started in the last couple of games for the Knights.

 

 

[the People's Champ]

I'm pretty sure Owens is injured right now, he hasn't started in the last couple of games for the Knights.

Well I'm pretty sure he wasn't when Alexei couldn't leave the country, and they still elected to bring up Wise instead.

[BobDylan]

Best fielder? I mean he's good but come on.

 

Ichiro

Hunter

Cameron

Jones

Tavares

Sizemore

Granderson

Ellsbury

Crisp

Upton

Rowand

 

are all better or equal to Anderson. He's just another failed 1st round pick for the Sox and not worth a roster spot

 

Ellsbury?

 

Just because a player doesn't make web gems every night doesn't mean he's not in the category of the CFer's who do. Unfortunately I don't have a BP subscription, so I can't show you truly how good he is out there. But it's funny that you mentioned Rowand. The sheer fact that you put him on the list tells me you haven't seen enough of BA out in the field, or you just simply don't know what you're looking at. Rowand, although a good defensive center fielder, is not in Brian Anderson's league.

[Balta1701]

Normally I have no quarrel with what you say, so let me check my reading comprehension level here . You just said the Orioles wouldn't give up Roberts for any cominbination of the 6 players you mentioned ? You don't think the Orioles would part with Roberts for an offer of Danks and Floyd ? For that matter either one of them + Quentin ? I don't normally overrate the Sox talentpool but Floyd , Danks and Quentin are good young players with a lot of potential and I can't see the Orioles saying no to any 2 of those players ( not that I'd make that trade). So please tell me you didn't say what I think you said.

No, that's not what I said.

 

My point was...no combination right now of anyone in our minor leagues is going to be enough to pry Roberts away from Baltimore. You will not get him with Fields, Poreda, Owens, Richar, or Broadway. Maybe if you gave them all 5.

 

If you want Roberts, the only guys in our organization who have enough value to get our hands on him are on the big league squad. I don't think it's practical to expect the Orioles to give him up without getting one of Danks, Quentin or Floyd.

[Jake]

Anderson looks terrible much of the time at the plate. So did Crede when he first came up. Anderson needs big league at bats, and now is the perfect time to give him the playing time.

 

Until I read this post, I had forgotten the years of Crede hate I had. He really struggled at the plate at the beginning of his career, but his defense earned him a lot of extra chances. Even in 2005, his average really wasn't too good and the rest of his numbers weren't eyepopping but since we were winning games it wasn't questioned much. He was a key offensive player in the ALCS and WS though. Nonetheless, once can draw some parallels between BA and Crede although it is of note that BA was not the caliber of run producer that Joe was in the minors.

 

Also, I thought perhaps we didn't bring Owens up since Paulie would be back relatively soon and we didn't want to waste one of his options. That's just a guess on my part though, I don't know how many options he has or anything like that.

[DBAHO]

Ellsbury?

 

Just because a player doesn't make web gems every night doesn't mean he's not in the category of the CFer's who do. Unfortunately I don't have a BP subscription, so I can't show you truly how good he is out there. But it's funny that you mentioned Rowand. The sheer fact that you put him on the list tells me you haven't seen enough of BA out in the field, or you just simply don't know what you're looking at. Rowand, although a good defensive center fielder, is not in Brian Anderson's league.

Anderson's RZR IIRC in 2006 when he was starting was above .900.

 

Not sure what it is this season, but that number above is elite no doubt.

 

He'd be in the top half dozen for mine, defensive wise.

 

Unfortunately, his swing seems to have deserted him over the past couple of weeks, and he needs to get it back ASAP.

[WCSox]

Until I read this post, I had forgotten the years of Crede hate I had. He really struggled at the plate at the beginning of his career, but his defense earned him a lot of extra chances. Even in 2005, his average really wasn't too good and the rest of his numbers weren't eyepopping but since we were winning games it wasn't questioned much. He was a key offensive player in the ALCS and WS though. Nonetheless, once can draw some parallels between BA and Crede although it is of note that BA was not the caliber of run producer that Joe was in the minors.

 

That's the key difference. IIRC, Crede won multiple batting titles in the minors and was projected to be the next Mike Schmidt. No wonder they were so patient with him.

 

Also, Crede plays a relatively difficult position and does it extremely well. While CF is also very important defensively, there are CFs available who can play the position adequately well and hit better than Anderson.

 

[Jake]

Also, Crede plays a relatively difficult position and does it extremely well. While CF is also very important defensively, there are CFs available who can play the position adequately well and hit better than Anderson.

 

As there were adequate defensive third basemen who could hit better than Crede, hence our fascination with getting Joe Randa way back when. I don't know if BA is the answer or if he will figure it out a la Crede, but you certainly can't write him off just yet.

 

Also to be noted is that BA had a much quicker rise from draft to major leagues, leaving less time to make a prolific impact in the minors. His 2005 season in Charlotte was very good though.

[WCSox]

As there were adequate defensive third basemen who could hit better than Crede, hence our fascination with getting Joe Randa way back when.

 

But none that had Crede's potential. It's a lot easier to be patient with somebody who has Crede's minor league background than BA's.

 

I don't know if BA is the answer or if he will figure it out a la Crede, but you certainly can't write him off just yet.

 

Of course not. I'm happy that he's getting time out there and that he's produced on occasion (although he's looked bad lately).

Edited June 23, 2008 by WCSox

[Chisoxfn]

I'm curious, but what is wrong with Anderson's minor league background. He did nothing but rake at all levels throughout his career. I remember long writing that despite his above average numbers that he had a flaw in his swing which would be exploited, but if you are going off the basis of minor league numbers, his higher strikeout totals were the only real alarming thing (and you can point high-strike out totals as an issue with practically any power hitting minor league prospect).

 

Of course there is a difference between high strike out totals and Josh Field's like strikeout totals

 

Honestly, if anything, when you look at Anderson's minor league data you could actually put some of the blame on Sox management for rushing him. He was clearly outproducing his ability (given the flaw in his swing) at AAA Charlotte prior to getting the big league job handed to him. The Sox player development people should have been aware of this (because it really didn't take an expert to see Anderson's swing and realize the holes) and been consistent with Brian to get things in a better place.

 

That said, we don't know Anderson's attitude for that and maybe it would have taken him struggling initially at the majors before he'd be willing to make any adjustments to his swing. Right now, he's in a funk, but it really is hard for him to get into any sort of consistent groove given the limited playing time. Honestly, between last seasons injury and this year's limited playing time we are talking about 2 years of wasted development, imo. His full season in the bigs could be considered a bit of a rush, but I can't call it wasted development since he was playing everyday (even though he was getting used and abused).

[lostfan]

Of course not. I'm happy that he's getting time out there and that he's produced on occasion (although he's looked bad lately).

If someone had made a bet with me at the beginning of the season that Anderson was going to get cold, and this exact thread (or one closely resembling it) was going to be started shortly thereafter (but only after his batting average dipped below .250 and stayed for a week or so) I would've bet my mortgage on it. It's so damn funny, and predictable.

[Jake]

His full season in the bigs could be considered a bit of a rush, but I can't call it wasted development since he was playing everyday (even though he was getting used and abused).

 

The thing about his "full season" is that it wasn't full. He could hardly get a streak of consecutive games played without sitting out a day for Brian Mackowiak. Not only would that disrupt rhythm, but also perhaps confidence. Another fact that was virtually ignored by the White Sox was that he batted .257 the second half of 2006. .257 is very respectable, especially at the stage of development he was at. But all the Sox looked at was the overall .225, which was concerning but not representative of the strides he made.

[Middle Buffalo]

But none that had Crede's potential. It's a lot easier to be patient with somebody who has Crede's minor league background than BA's.

My point in comparing Anderson to Crede is that we need to have patience with young players who struggle. Now is the perfect opportunity (with Konerko on the DL) to give Anderson some meaningful, consistent playing time. He's not hurting us defensively, and isn't killing us offensively. Sadly, on any given day, he has one of the top 6 averages in our line-up. Let's see what he can do with two weeks of at bats. If he plays well, he can get 3 or 4 starts a week in center while we rest Dye, Swisher, Quentin and Konerko the rest of the way.

 

 

 

[WCSox]

My point in comparing Anderson to Crede is that we need to have patience with young players who struggle. Now is the perfect opportunity (with Konerko on the DL) to give Anderson some meaningful, consistent playing time. He's not hurting us defensively, and isn't killing us offensively. Sadly, on any given day, he has one of the top 6 averages in our line-up. Let's see what he can do with two weeks of at bats. If he plays well, he can get 3 or 4 starts a week in center while we rest Dye, Swisher, Quentin and Konerko the rest of the way.

 

I completely agree. In fact, I'm happy that BA is in the lineup right now.

 

[the People's Champ]

I completely agree. In fact, I'm happy that BA is in the lineup right now.

He's never going to amount to anything, they should cut ties now while they could still get something for him.

 

Sure he's great in the field, I'll give him that, but I would almost rather let them DH for him and give our pitchers a chance to hit.

[witesoxfan]

He's never going to amount to anything, they should cut ties now while they could still get something for him.

 

Sure he's great in the field, I'll give him that, but I would almost rather let them DH for him and give our pitchers a chance to hit.

 

Yeah I'm just gonna go ahead and disagree with everything in this entire post except "sure he's great in the field." Because that part is true.

 

I think I do understand the hatred for Anderson though. As of today, 6/23 (2x3=6)/2008 (8-0-0-2 = 6), so essentially on 6/6/6, Brian Anderson's OPS is .666. I can see the force and power of Satan re-incarnated flowing through the veins of Brian Anderson each day he steps onto the field and it's evil; quite honestly, I'm a bit scared. There were thoughts he was a communist...no, he's no communist. He's just Lucifer.

[southsider2k5]

He's never going to amount to anything, they should cut ties now while they could still get something for him.

 

Sure he's great in the field, I'll give him that, but I would almost rather let them DH for him and give our pitchers a chance to hit.

 

So it is so obvious that Anderson sucks that random message board posters can see it, but not the MLB GMs who will be lining up to give us something for him? OK.

[DBAHO]

You just have to remember with BA, his defensive ability is that highly thought of, if he was able to give you an OPS of around .775-.800, that would make him a very valuable player, in the Mike Cameron sort of mould.

 

But of course to do that, he'd have to hit about 20HR's over a full course of a season and hit around .260, and I'm not sure he can do that.

[the People's Champ]

So it is so obvious that Anderson sucks that random message board posters can see it, but not the MLB GMs who will be lining up to give us something for him? OK.

The difference is, I have nothing invested in him. I'm not hanging on to the tiny shread of hope that this kid may, MAY, just one day get it. I have the easy job. I can just wash my hands of him because I have nothing to lose.

 

That's the difference, smart guy!

[Dick Allen]

The difference is, I have nothing invested in him. I'm not hanging on to the tiny shread of hope that this kid may, MAY, just one day get it. I have the easy job. I can just wash my hands of him because I have nothing to lose.

 

That's the difference, smart guy!

But other teams don't have anything invested in him and you are suggesting that they will give up something of value for him. So you must know more than the other teams.