2010-11 MLB Offseason Catch-All

[balfanman]

^And everyone was pissed that we didn't have any prospects. In the end 3 of the 4 players mentioned were much better than anything the Marlins got (so far, as Maybin still has a chance).

 

And most here still don't think we have any prospects. I'm a long way from a minor league expert, but maybe our minor league system is better than we give it credit for.

[LittleHurt05]

Not sure if the mods want to start a new Awards Thread, but Feliz & Posey win the Rookie of the Year awards.

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and Texas Rangers closer Neftali Feliz have been voted the Rookies of the Year.

 

Posey won the National League award in voting announced Monday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Feliz won the American League honor.

 

Posey drew 20 first-place votes on the 32 ballots. He was called up from Triple-A in late May and hit .305 with 18 home runs and 67 RBIs for the eventual World Series champions.

 

Feliz set a rookie record with 40 saves in helping Texas reach the World Series for the first time. The rocket-armed righty was listed first on 20 of the 28 ballots.

 

Voting was done by two BBWAA members in each league city after the regular season.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Not sure if the mods want to start a new Awards Thread, but Feliz & Posey win the Rookie of the Year awards.

 

I would've been fine with either Posey or Heyward (lol@dumbass Cardinals fans that thought Garcia should've won). Feliz was the easy choice in the AL (though Carlos Santana would've probably won had he not gotten hurt). This was an incredible year for rookies, mostly from the NL.

[Jordan4life_2007]

And most here still don't think we have any prospects. I'm a long way from a minor league expert, but maybe our minor league system is better than we give it credit for.

 

Not really. If you don't include Sale, who might end up a reliever anyway, we arguably have the worst collection of SP in the minors. And I'm not speaking from total ignorance. I subscribe to BA and follow other prospect-laden sights extensively. This is pretty much common consensus. Two of our top prospects coming into '10, Flowers and Danks, flopped miserably. Mitchell got hurt and was already raw to begin with. Other than a few relievers with decent upside, there's nothing to get excited about. And yes, I know JPN, Scenario or Northside will tell me I'm a minor league devil and I'm wrong.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Jordan4life

[bigruss]

Not really. If you don't include Sale, who might end up a reliever anyway, we arguably have the worst collection of SP in the minors. And I'm not speaking from total ignorance. I subscribe to BA and follow other prospect-laden sights extensively. This is pretty much common consensus. Two of our top prospects coming into '10, Flowers and Danks, flopped miserably. Mitchell got hurt and was already raw to begin with. Other than a few relievers with decent upside, there's nothing to get excited about. And yes, I know JPN, Scenario or Northside will tell me I'm a minor league devil and I'm wrong.

THere's a few players who surprise each year, but our depth is depleted from trades, promotions, and weak drafting until a few years ago (even then, Im still skeptical on some of our picks). To truly have a deep farm system we'll have to hold onto at least a few prospects and continue to build from the draft and development.

[NorthSideSox72]

Not really. If you don't include Sale, who might end up a reliever anyway, we arguably have the worst collection of SP in the minors. And I'm not speaking from total ignorance. I subscribe to BA and follow other prospect-laden sights extensively. This is pretty much common consensus. Two of our top prospects coming into '10, Flowers and Danks, flopped miserably. Mitchell got hurt and was already raw to begin with. Other than a few relievers with decent upside, there's nothing to get excited about. And yes, I know JPN, Scenario or Northside will tell me I'm a minor league devil and I'm wrong.

Actually I pretty much agree. We're currently working up our latest Top 25, and its... depressing. Not to say there isn't ANY talent, as any system has some, but overall its pretty bleak, especially for starting pitching above the A level.

 

[Jordan4life_2007]

THere's a few players who surprise each year, but our depth is depleted from trades, promotions, and weak drafting until a few years ago (even then, Im still skeptical on some of our picks). To truly have a deep farm system we'll have to hold onto at least a few prospects and continue to build from the draft and development.

 

Until we start allocating legitimate funds towards the draft, will continue to flounder. Though I will concede that at least regards to first round picks, and only first round picks, we seem to have turned a corner.

 

Actually I pretty much agree. We're currently working up our latest Top 25, and its... depressing. Not to say there isn't ANY talent, as any system has some, but overall its pretty bleak, especially for starting pitching above the A level.

 

My apologies. Thought you were a minor league homer.

[bigruss]

Until we start allocating legitimate funds towards the draft, will continue to flounder. Though I will concede that at least regards to first round picks, and only first round picks, we seem to have turned a corner.

Not just to signing the picks (which is a huge part of the equation), but also to the scouting and development after the signing. If we cannot "afford" to sign the guys taht Boston, Philly, and other big spenders are willing to spend than we need to know who we are drafting better, and get the most out of them. Of course we cannot find every diamond in the rough or draft every superstar, but we haven't had an impact guy from later in the draft for awhile now. We also are not producing superstars, whether that's in the development (think rushing Beckham, or puttign Sale in the closer role and not trying him as start -of course this has only been talked about thus far) or in the scouting, it needs to improve.

[NorthSideSox72]

Until we start allocating legitimate funds towards the draft, will continue to flounder. Though I will concede that at least regards to first round picks, and only first round picks, we seem to have turned a corner.

 

 

 

My apologies. Thought you were a minor league homer.

 

Well, I think the drafts overall in the past 3 years were much improved, and not just the first round. You have to remember that 2008 netted people like Dan Hudson, and that 2009 had three very good picks at the top but all of them had injury issues in 2010, which was a problem.

 

I tend to be less over the top in my anger, or my elation, at the minor league system, than many. People like to categorize minor leaguers into high end can't-miss or non-prospects, when in reality most players are in between. Even a very thin White Sox system still has some guys that I think are worth watching. But this is definitely a weak system, especially since the 2008 and 2010 first rounders shot straight through the system and aren't in it anymore.

 

 

[justBLAZE]

So Phillies hired Ryne Sandbarg to manage their AAA team.

 

[Chicago White Sox]

Until we start allocating legitimate funds towards the draft, will continue to flounder. Though I will concede that at least regards to first round picks, and only first round picks, we seem to have turned a corner.

The White Sox definitely need to allocate more funds to the draft, but they first have to change their philosophy of not paying over slot. With the state of our current minor league system, we can't afford to be throwing away top 10 round draft picks. We failed to sign our fourth round pick in 2010 (Matthew Grimes) and our seventh round pick in 2009 (Justin Jones). Both of these guys were high-upside high school pitchers that would have been great additions to our system. I don't know what their specific demands were, but I doubt they were that outrageous. The slot rates for these draft positions are relatively low, so paying these guys over slot wouldn't have made a huge dent in the draft budget. I honestly believe a minor change in our draft philosophy (a willingness to pay over slot for picks like these two) along with a slight increase in funding (to support these above slot bonuses) could give our minor league system a huge boost in the long-run.

[ThunderBolt]

So Phillies hired Ryne Sandbarg to manage their AAA team.

It's a pretty clever move by the Phillies. There's a bit of irony in Sandberg finally contributing to the Phillies in some way.

[bschmaranz]

It's a pretty clever move by the Phillies. There's a bit of irony in Sandberg finally contributing to the Phillies in some way.

 

Agreed.

 

They also reupped Contreras for two years.

[bigruss]

The White Sox definitely need to allocate more funds to the draft, but they first have to change their philosophy of not paying over slot. With the state of our current minor league system, we can't afford to be throwing away top 10 round draft picks. We failed to sign our fourth round pick in 2010 (Matthew Grimes) and our seventh round pick in 2009 (Justin Jones). Both of these guys were high-upside high school pitchers that would have been great additions to our system. I don't know what their specific demands were, but I doubt they were that outrageous. The slot rates for these draft positions are relatively low, so paying these guys over slot wouldn't have made a huge dent in the draft budget. I honestly believe a minor change in our draft philosophy (a willingness to pay over slot for picks like these two) along with a slight increase in funding (to support these above slot bonuses) could give our minor league system a huge boost in the long-run.

Agreed, but the Sox have done a pretty good job when picking at a higher position, they didn't throw away their #8 pick in 2008, and the Sale pick was out of the ordinary for them (in a good way).

 

The problem is later in the draft, or when they pick at #25 or so, do they grab someone with high potential who is more of a risk or do they play safe with a cheaper paycheck. We'll see that once again in this year's draft and which direction they decide to go in. They'll most likely have atleast one extra pick from FA's like Putz or Konerko (one will most likely be gone, Putz gives us 1 pick, Konerko 2 if they leave) so we really need to utilize those selections. I did like the Trayce Thompson pick, but they need to continue to do so and we'll start to see these guys really have an impact 3-4 years down the road.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

Not just to signing the picks (which is a huge part of the equation), but also to the scouting and development after the signing. If we cannot "afford" to sign the guys taht Boston, Philly, and other big spenders are willing to spend than we need to know who we are drafting better, and get the most out of them. Of course we cannot find every diamond in the rough or draft every superstar, but we haven't had an impact guy from later in the draft for awhile now. We also are not producing superstars, whether that's in the development (think rushing Beckham, or puttign Sale in the closer role and not trying him as start -of course this has only been talked about thus far) or in the scouting, it needs to improve.

 

The notion that the Sox rushed Beckham is ridiculous. The idea that trying Sale out as a closer was a bad decision after he showed the ability to be one of the elite closers in baseball right now is even more ridiculous.

 

 

The White Sox definitely need to allocate more funds to the draft, but they first have to change their philosophy of not paying over slot. With the state of our current minor league system, we can't afford to be throwing away top 10 round draft picks. We failed to sign our fourth round pick in 2010 (Matthew Grimes) and our seventh round pick in 2009 (Justin Jones). Both of these guys were high-upside high school pitchers that would have been great additions to our system. I don't know what their specific demands were, but I doubt they were that outrageous. The slot rates for these draft positions are relatively low, so paying these guys over slot wouldn't have made a huge dent in the draft budget. I honestly believe a minor change in our draft philosophy (a willingness to pay over slot for picks like these two) along with a slight increase in funding (to support these above slot bonuses) could give our minor league system a huge boost in the long-run.

 

Going over slot is the main thing and it's soooooooo f***ing huge it's not even funny. Isn't one of the primary goals of the slotting system to ensure that teams with tons of money to spend can't use their money to leverage highly ranked prospects out of the hands of small market teams and into their own? It's true that a violation is a violation no matter how you look at it, and asking the Sox to pay above slot is kind of like that (going against the wishes of MLB), but when the teams that the system is supposed to guard against butcher that system up year after year and receive nothing but gentle pats on the backs for it, then how can you expect anyone in a lesser position to continue to play by the rules? IMO this is all JR's thing and JR is an owner's owner, but when the guys in the big office refuse to enforce any kinds of punishment, and when the MLBPA just wants even more for their young players, and when the agents look for every possible way to extort teams out of even greater signing bonuses when the teams themselves are supposed to have all the leverage, and then on top of it all, when the other owners go ahead and stab their "friends" in back and abuse a system they supposedly had fought for, then what do you do? Sitting back isn't working. The Sox do go over slot, all teams do, but they don't take advantage of the system. JR needs to take advantage of that system like everyone else does. And I do not in any way think the Sox try to stick to the slotting system because they feel burned by Borchard as I've seen put forth by some fans. I think it's all about JR trying to be the one guy who is in the right when everyone else is in the wrong, and if that's the case it's noble. But I don't like it.

 

Agreed, but the Sox have done a pretty good job when picking at a higher position, they didn't throw away their #8 pick in 2008, and the Sale pick was out of the ordinary for them (in a good way).

 

The problem is later in the draft, or when they pick at #25 or so, do they grab someone with high potential who is more of a risk or do they play safe with a cheaper paycheck. We'll see that once again in this year's draft and which direction they decide to go in. They'll most likely have atleast one extra pick from FA's like Putz or Konerko (one will most likely be gone, Putz gives us 1 pick, Konerko 2 if they leave) so we really need to utilize those selections. I did like the Trayce Thompson pick, but they need to continue to do so and we'll start to see these guys really have an impact 3-4 years down the road.

The Sox don't ever pick as high as 8 and they shouldn't get any credit for picking someone good in that spot or for going over slot in that spot as that's what is expected of a professional organization, especially one that like I said never picks that high. And the Sale pick was only out of the ordinary because the Sox promised a quick route to the big leagues. It wasn't out of the ordinary that they picked someone that they could sign for slot money or less.

 

The Sox need to spend over slot, but IMO it's generally more about the later rounds as the poster above said. There's no reason to pick a player who you think is just a little bit better but costs $2M more when you can go with the guy who is cheaper and still a very, very good prospect *and then* use that extra $2M on a bunch of 3rd-10th rounders who rightfully should have been ranked in the top-150 prospects entering the draft.

 

In fact, in many ways it's actually kind of smart to go with a "cheap" signing in the first 2 rounds since the slot bonuses are still very high and there are tons of potentially excellent prospects available who are very eager to start their pro baseball careers and will sign for slot money. The problem is that you have to go with upside, upside, upside in these spots and the Sox have not categorically done that over the last couple decades or so. Every year where we've made a safe pick you can go down the list and find guys who have signed for similar or less money who had much higher ceilings and turned into much better baseball players.

 

[bigruss]

 

The notion that the Sox rushed Beckham is ridiculous. The idea that trying Sale out as a closer was a bad decision after he showed the ability to be one of the elite closers in baseball right now is even more ridiculous.

He was ready physically, but not mentally, you saw that with a 3 month long slump, sometimes it's best to have a player figure that out in the minors when he isn't hurting your MLB team while figuring out how to deal with failure.

 

Sale's best value is at SP, and has shown throughout his collegiate career that he can handle the innings, so putting him in the closer role and only getting 50 innings of work out of him instead of 160 innings (this next year or two, can be higher in the near future) is ridiculous. Closers are easier to find than a #2/3 pitcher under team control for many years. And if it's injuries you're concerned about, some arms just won't adjust to pitching every day or two rather than longer performances every 5 days.

 

The Sox don't ever pick as high as 8 and they shouldn't get any credit for picking someone good in that spot or for going over slot in that spot as that's what is expected of a professional organization, especially one that like I said never picks that high. And the Sale pick was only out of the ordinary because the Sox promised a quick route to the big leagues. It wasn't out of the ordinary that they picked someone that they could sign for slot money or less.

They picked him without knowing that, they didn't have an idea whether Sale would accept less money to sign faster, and they took that gamble, which normally they wouldn't have.

 

The Sox need to spend over slot, but IMO it's generally more about the later rounds as the poster above said. There's no reason to pick a player who you think is just a little bit better but costs $2M more when you can go with the guy who is cheaper and still a very, very good prospect *and then* use that extra $2M on a bunch of 3rd-10th rounders who rightfully should have been ranked in the top-150 prospects entering the draft.

If paying overslot later means better players in the system, that's fine, but the fact is they need to draft better, and that means go deeper and get more superstar potential.

 

 

In fact, in many ways it's actually kind of smart to go with a "cheap" signing in the first 2 rounds since the slot bonuses are still very high and there are tons of potentially excellent prospects available who are very eager to start their pro baseball careers and will sign for slot money. The problem is that you have to go with upside, upside, upside in these spots and the Sox have not categorically done that over the last couple decades or so. Every year where we've made a safe pick you can go down the list and find guys who have signed for similar or less money who had much higher ceilings and turned into much better baseball players.

Which is why it's a 3 way attack that the Sox need: scouting, signing, development.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

He was ready physically, but not mentally, you saw that with a 3 month long slump, sometimes it's best to have a player figure that out in the minors when he isn't hurting your MLB team while figuring out how to deal with failure.

 

I disagree. There was nothing left for Beckham to learn at the MiLB level. He's struggled at the MLB level because that's what players usually do. But I saw that dude in Spring Training 2009 and he was ready then. He was far more ready than, say, Brent Morel is now even though people think he's ready.

 

Sale's best value is at SP, and has shown throughout his collegiate career that he can handle the innings, so putting him in the closer role and only getting 50 innings of work out of him instead of 160 innings (this next year or two, can be higher in the near future) is ridiculous. Closers are easier to find than a #2/3 pitcher under team control for many years. And if it's injuries you're concerned about, some arms just won't adjust to pitching every day or two rather than longer performances every 5 days.

 

I disagree, and I don't think you're going to get the same Sale in the rotation that you get as a closer. I feel confident in saying that should Sale remain the Sox closer he will be one of the elite closers in baseball and a perennial All-Star. As a starter he could be very good also, but my God can this dude tear it up out of the bullpen. That's nothing to be scoffed at. And really, I think it will be easier to find more #2/#3 starters than closers that can do what I think Sale will be able to do. I mean this dude's potential as a closer is unreal. It's all about how you personally value a player by position though, but in terms of FA dollars per year, I think it's very high either way. Sale is a goddamn beast as a closer, like it's actually kind of funny watching the other team try to hit against him. You put him in the starting rotation and he may be very good there too, but his horns shrink IMO.

 

Edit: Also, you mentioned that the innings demands are fine because he showed he can handle it. Actually, no he didn't. You can't simulate 180+IP per year of MLB stress for six years prior to free agency. Saying he can handle it is an assumption based on really nothing. And personally I'd be worried about that because I'm not a huge fan of his motion. And I also think that by exposing him as a starter it makes him far more vulnerable to right-handed hitters, but keeping his innings down and keeping him as a closer means less looks for righties, a better fastball, less injury risk, and that motion just works for him even more because now a hitter is facing him with the game on the line for the first time in maybe a month. Not easy.

 

I think the Sox struck gold with Sale the same way they struck gold with Alexei. They thought they were getting a good player and then they got a terrific one. If it ain't broken don't fit, and Sale as the closer is just fine with me.

 

They picked him without knowing that, they didn't have an idea whether Sale would accept less money to sign faster, and they took that gamble, which normally they wouldn't have.

 

The Sox wouldn't have made that pick without assurances from very high places. The fact that he signed like 25 seconds after being drafted wasn't a coincidence.

 

If paying overslot later means better players in the system, that's fine, but the fact is they need to draft better, and that means go deeper and get more superstar potential.

 

I don't think they have a problem identifying high-level talent. In fact, I don't think the people on this board have much trouble doing that either just by reading articles about young players and pouring over stats while having never seen them play. I think the problem is specifically what they are targeting and why, and how they aren't spending the money to land some of the guys that they themselves were able to target that they actually should have been targeting. Justin Jones was mentioned above. Morgado was another from that draft. We don't actually have to have these guys turn into anything at all. Just pay them and then trade them at the next year's deadline or over the following offseason if you want. Everyone loves LHP.

 

Which is why it's a 3 way attack that the Sox need: scouting, signing, development.

 

Agree, and I'll add a fourth category of "Latin America" since IMO it should be an equally major focus. But I think they've made (or appear to have made) improvements in all of those areas except the signing one, where they'll continue to suck for the foreseeable future.

Edited November 16, 2010 by Kenny Hates Prospects

[macsandz]

I disagree. There was nothing left for Beckham to learn at the MiLB level. He's struggled at the MLB level because that's what players usually do. But I saw that dude in Spring Training 2009 and he was ready then. He was far more ready than, say, Brent Morel is now even though people think he's ready.

 

 

 

I disagree, and I don't think you're going to get the same Sale in the rotation that you get as a closer. I feel confident in saying that should Sale remain the Sox closer he will be one of the elite closers in baseball and a perennial All-Star. As a starter he could be very good also, but my God can this dude tear it up out of the bullpen. That's nothing to be scoffed at. And really, I think it will be easier to find more #2/#3 starters than closers that can do what I think Sale will be able to do. I mean this dude's potential as a closer is unreal. It's all about how you personally value a player by position though, but in terms of FA dollars per year, I think it's very high either way. Sale is a goddamn beast as a closer, like it's actually kind of funny watching the other team try to hit against him. You put him in the starting rotation and he may be very good there too, but his horns shrink IMO.

 

Edit: Also, you mentioned that the innings demands are fine because he showed he can handle it. Actually, no he didn't. You can't simulate 180+IP per year of MLB stress for six years prior to free agency. Saying he can handle it is an assumption based on really nothing. And personally I'd be worried about that because I'm not a huge fan of his motion. And I also think that by exposing him as a starter it makes him far more vulnerable to right-handed hitters, but keeping his innings down and keeping him as a closer means less looks for righties, a better fastball, less injury risk, and that motion just works for him even more because now a hitter is facing him with the game on the line for the first time in maybe a month. Not easy.

 

I think the Sox struck gold with Sale the same way they struck gold with Alexei. They thought they were getting a good player and then they got a terrific one. If it ain't broken don't fit, and Sale as the closer is just fine with me.

 

 

 

The Sox wouldn't have made that pick without assurances from very high places. The fact that he signed like 25 seconds after being drafted wasn't a coincidence.

 

 

 

I don't think they have a problem identifying high-level talent. In fact, I don't think the people on this board have much trouble doing that either just by reading articles about young players and pouring over stats while having never seen them play. I think the problem is specifically what they are targeting and why, and how they aren't spending the money to land some of the guys that they themselves were able to target that they actually should have been targeting. Justin Jones was mentioned above. Morgado was another from that draft. We don't actually have to have these guys turn into anything at all. Just pay them and then trade them at the next year's deadline or over the following offseason if you want. Everyone loves LHP.

 

 

 

Agree, and I'll add a fourth category of "Latin America" since IMO it should be an equally major focus. But I think they've made (or appear to have made) improvements in all of those areas except the signing one, where they'll continue to suck for the foreseeable future.

 

Great, Great posts here ^. Well done.

 

[bigruss]

 

I disagree. There was nothing left for Beckham to learn at the MiLB level. He's struggled at the MLB level because that's what players usually do. But I saw that dude in Spring Training 2009 and he was ready then. He was far more ready than, say, Brent Morel is now even though people think he's ready.

He was in the minors for 59 games, and although he raked that is incredibly little time and very easily could be that he was just hot during that time and wasn't showing the holes in his game (wasn't ready defensively at 3b quite yet, nor 2nd with the double play and he hadn't dealt with failure yet so some seasoning would've helped).

 

 

 

I disagree, and I don't think you're going to get the same Sale in the rotation that you get as a closer. I feel confident in saying that should Sale remain the Sox closer he will be one of the elite closers in baseball and a perennial All-Star. As a starter he could be very good also, but my God can this dude tear it up out of the bullpen. That's nothing to be scoffed at. And really, I think it will be easier to find more #2/#3 starters than closers that can do what I think Sale will be able to do. I mean this dude's potential as a closer is unreal. It's all about how you personally value a player by position though, but in terms of FA dollars per year, I think it's very high either way. Sale is a goddamn beast as a closer, like it's actually kind of funny watching the other team try to hit against him. You put him in the starting rotation and he may be very good there too, but his horns shrink IMO.

 

Edit: Also, you mentioned that the innings demands are fine because he showed he can handle it. Actually, no he didn't. You can't simulate 180+IP per year of MLB stress for six years prior to free agency. Saying he can handle it is an assumption based on really nothing. And personally I'd be worried about that because I'm not a huge fan of his motion. And I also think that by exposing him as a starter it makes him far more vulnerable to right-handed hitters, but keeping his innings down and keeping him as a closer means less looks for righties, a better fastball, less injury risk, and that motion just works for him even more because now a hitter is facing him with the game on the line for the first time in maybe a month. Not easy.

 

I think the Sox struck gold with Sale the same way they struck gold with Alexei. They thought they were getting a good player and then they got a terrific one. If it ain't broken don't fit, and Sale as the closer is just fine with me.

I just believe that a cost controlled #2/#3 pitcher is worth >>>> than a dominant closer. Fore example, Brian Matusz was worth 3.1 WAR even after just a good but not great season (4.3 ERA, 1.343 WHIP, ERA+ 98), compared to Neftali Feliz's 2.4 WAR even though Feliz dominated, mainly because of the amount of innings that a starter has and thus the impact they have on the season. I personally think it's easier to develop bullpen arms than starters so when you have a choice you begin with starter and transition if you really need to because they can't handle it.

 

 

The Sox wouldn't have made that pick without assurances from very high places. The fact that he signed like 25 seconds after being drafted wasn't a coincidence.

 

 

 

I don't think they have a problem identifying high-level talent. In fact, I don't think the people on this board have much trouble doing that either just by reading articles about young players and pouring over stats while having never seen them play. I think the problem is specifically what they are targeting and why, and how they aren't spending the money to land some of the guys that they themselves were able to target that they actually should have been targeting. Justin Jones was mentioned above. Morgado was another from that draft. We don't actually have to have these guys turn into anything at all. Just pay them and then trade them at the next year's deadline or over the following offseason if you want. Everyone loves LHP.

2 weeks, although short for a first round signing, is not like they had a deal in place (8 other first round (not including supplement) draft picks signed before Sale). The Sox were surprised he was there and took him as the best person on the board, hands down (which I love).

 

Agree, and I'll add a fourth category of "Latin America" since IMO it should be an equally major focus. But I think they've made (or appear to have made) improvements in all of those areas except the signing one, where they'll continue to suck for the foreseeable future.

I include that under scouting and signing

 

[3E8]

JR needs to take advantage of that system like everyone else does. And I do not in any way think the Sox try to stick to the slotting system because they feel burned by Borchard as I've seen put forth by some fans. I think it's all about JR trying to be the one guy who is in the right when everyone else is in the wrong, and if that's the case it's noble. But I don't like it.

JR is good buddies with Selig, they have a mutual respect for each other. We're never going to ignore Selig's slotting system with JR at the helm. From 2008-2010, no team spent less than the White Sox on draft bonuses

[Balta1701]

JR is good buddies with Selig, they have a mutual respect for each other. We're never going to ignore Selig's slotting system with JR at the helm. From 2008-2010, no team spent less than the White Sox on draft bonuses

And yet in general...just about everyone would agree we did a much better job from 2008-2010 in the draft than we did the years beforehand, and we supplemented that with a couple major signings from elsewhere.

[Balta1701]

1 year, $12 million for Hiroki Kuroda, who put up a 3.39 ERA in 196 innings last year.

 

1 year, $3 million for catcher Ramon Hernandez to stay with the Reds.

 

2 years, $2.7 million for this "Geoff Blum" character from the Diamondbacks.

[LittleHurt05]

1 year, $12 million for Hiroki Kuroda, who put up a 3.39 ERA in 196 innings last year.

 

That just seems like a lot, but comparing to other pitchers like MB, I guess it really isn't. Plus, pitching in Chavez Ravine helps him too.

[Chicago White Sox]

And yet in general...just about everyone would agree we did a much better job from 2008-2010 in the draft than we did the years beforehand, and we supplemented that with a couple major signings from elsewhere.

That's true, the 2008 - 2010 drafts have been much better than years past. However, the main reason for this improvement is due to our new scouting director and a new draft strategy based on selecting riskier players with higher upsides. Avoiding those 'safe' picks we had been making in the past has been instrumental to this improvement.

 

A willingness to sign players above slot (outside the exception here and there) and adding to the draft budget would only make things better. We're probably missing out on a lot of guys our scouting department have identified as potential impact players simply because we have a policy of not going above slot. I can guarantee you there are many occasions in each draft where Laumann can't select the highest ranked player (according to his scouts) at a given draft position because of bonus demands. Obviously, signability concerns must be factored into the selection process. You can't completely ignore this element or you'll end up drafting a bunch of Scott Boras clients with absurd demands that will be too expensive to sign in the first place. However, if you can get a 3rd round talent in the 4th round for low 3rd round money you should never pass that up. The extra money to go over slot in this case is practically meaningless in the larger scheme of things.

 

Unfortunately, JR has a policy of not going over slot due to ethical reasons. As a result, we'll continue to lose out on talent by avoiding many players with signability concerns and wasting draft picks on guys who won't budge from their above slot demands. Until MLB creates a hard slot policy, the Sox will be at a disadvantage to many of their competitors.

[Chisoxfn]

With the GM meetings underway I'm surprised there hasn't been much buzz or stories. These meetings can set the stages for some of the bigger deals that go down later on at the winter meetings. Or at least that is what Kenny has always said.

 

Either way, I'm surprised with the GM's all in one place we haven't gotten any good quotes from Kenny.