How bad is our minor leagues ?

[Vance Law]

Except the jury's still out on whether any of those players have the tools to really succeed at the next level. Scouts preferred the likes of Trey M. and Jacob May.

 

Fwiw, Peter and Coats were the only one close to prospect status, although Delmonico had the original pedigree.

 

Hayes is the type of kid who just hits and hits and hits and 75% of the time never gets a break to make it up unless he has a huge supporter like a Buddy Bell in the organization pulling for him.

 

Sure. I was answering the very specific question "who's had a good year so far." And while Trey's numbers don't look great, he's again playing well above his age level. He's at AA and just runed 20. You'd expect him to have an adjustment period, and you'd hope he improves as the year goes on. Davidson I left out, but he's better now than any other time since joining the organization. Don't know if that will continue or not.

 

There's no reason why Delmonico shouldn't be considered a prospect. He hit his way to AAA at age 23. Hayes could well get a shot in Chicago if there are injuries or serious slumping. The weird thing about Avi (and Austin Jackson) is that he's got reverse splits, hitting righties better than lefties this year.

[Vance Law]

Coats is getting a little old for a prospect. He's having a decent year at Charlotte. Hit well at Charlotte last year, is a good defender, is older because he missed a year of playing time due to injury

 

Danny Hayes? Are you kidding me? No.

 

Nick Delmonico sort of came from out of nowhere this year. He's 2 for 17 since his promotion to Charlotte. He's 23.

 

Jake Peter is doing OK at Birmingham as of now. And he's 23. And he's a 2nd baseman.

 

[BaconOnAStick]

The problem with the minors is not the lack of top 100 prospects. The Sox are actually OK on that front and figure to be better.

 

The problem is there are absolutely zero MLB ready arms that challenge the current crop of absolute bums populating the Sox pen. Nate Jones, Albers, Duke, Jennings (Robertson too) all need to be sent it the glue factory... but there's nobody to replace them. Although I've hit the point where I have more faith on Phil Aumont ignoring his AAA production and becoming a lights out closer than I do Robertson ever getting another 3 out save.

[Hatchetman]

our two A ball teams are a combined 36-61. I feel like crying.

[soxfan49]

And this is exactly the major misconception about this year's three top 50 picks. It does not matter if the front office making the selection is the same one who has screwed up so many picks over the last two decades.

It doesn't?

[caulfield12]

You can forget about Robertson going anywhere with that contract.

 

And, in fairness, it's probably not the wisest move in the world to put your closer in a 6 run game in the 9th...because he's not geared up for pitching in that situation typically. The White Sox manage the bullpen correctly in the first game of the series, Robertson notches the save and they aren't forced to use him in a "non-save" situation on Saturday.

 

 

Traditionally, the bullpen hasn't been the problem...we managed to use 11 rookies in 2012 and nearly won a division behind all that depth. Of course, if you look at the remaining members of that pen, almost all of them are already out of the majors leagues. In other words, it wasn't sustainable, at least not anymore than the 2005 pitching could hold up all the way through 2006.

 

 

It also just goes to show you how having one member performing poorly on injured can throw off the whole pen. In this case, Petricka gave way to Albers and everything was fine again until Albers started to implode beginning with the Orioles' series. Then, once you have uncertainty in the 6th and 7th, it starts to roll downhill and affect the rest of the bullpen adversely.

 

We also haven't done a great job signing lefties, with the likes of Duke and Kelly Downs struggling mightily. Belisario also comes to mind.

 

Theoretically, with the addition of Nate Jones, the pen SHOULD be better because you were using Petricka and Putnam more the last couple of years to get through the 7th and 8th.

 

And, as we've seen with Kahnle, just because you can throw 97-99 doesn't mean you can get away with just throwing that one pitch for strikes.