Dan Hudson was selected for the Futures Game

Merkin:

While a call up to the Majors is not yet in the offing for Hudson, one of the talents mentioned by Williams, the right-hander has been honored in another way. Hudson was selected to take part in the XM All-Star Futures Game, as part of the U.S. Team roster, featuring many of the top Minor League prospects in baseball.

Mark Buehrle, John Danks, Gavin Floyd and Alex Rios are just some of the players on the current White Sox roster who have previously played in this game. Hudson posted a 14-5 record with a 2.32 ERA and 166 strikeouts in 26 starts over four Minor League stops for the White Sox last season and has followed up that stellar effort with a 9-3 record and 3.89 ERA in 14 starts for Triple-A Charlotte this season.

… The 12th annual Futures Game can be seen live on MLB.TV, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD and followed live on MLB.com’s Gameday. In addition, XM Radio will broadcast play-by-play coverage of the event live on XM 175. MLB.com will also provide complete coverage before, during and after the game.

5 pm CT on Sunday, July 2 @ Angels Stadium in Anaheim, CA.

Lingo @ BA:

Hudson made his major league debut last season and is ready to contribute in Chicago whenever the club needs him. He offers three solid pitches with natural deception and strong command.

Chris Sale is going to Winston-Salem

Merkin:

Sale will begin at Class A Winston-Salem, where he will work out of the bullpen under the watchful eye of pitching coach Bobby Thigpen, quite possibly the greatest reliever in White Sox history. If Sale proves himself capable of handling the role, he will get promoted up the system’s ladder. The ultimate target is working behind Matt Thornton as another left-handed relief option, with general manager Ken Williams speaking highly of Sale’s polish and talent.

“He’s a left-handed pitcher with a plus arm and a power changeup,” Williams said. “Mark Buehrle has what we call, we grade on a 20 to 80 scale, and Buehrle has a 65 or 70 changeup when he throws good and so does John Danks. This guy starts his career with a 70 changeup, and sometimes plus. Right-handers are going to have to take notice of that. When he gets on top, he comes from a little different arm slot, so he’s going to have to work to stay on top of his breaking ball, and when he does, it’s a darn good, plus Major League pitch. What you worry about with young players is command. Well, he walked 14 guys in 100-plus innings and showed us that command to both sides of the plate. What you are developing in the Minor Leagues is that touch and feel for your fastball location and your secondary pitches and if he shows that he’s capable of doing that, certainly not on a starting basis, but if you look to him to begin his career as a reliever and then graduate into that starting role, as he gets more experience and a little more weight and strength.

“You can start to look at the rotation possibilities,” Williams said. ” But early on, if he can handle the relief role and show he’s ready, then you can look to put him into the equation sooner rather than later.” …

BTW, Sale signed his $1.6 million contract today.

UPDATE: Chris Sale is on the Winstom-Salem roster.

White Sox sign 12th round pick SS Drew ‘Crayton’ Lee

Eddy @ BA:

Chicago White Sox

Draft picks signed: RHP Austin Evans (23), RHP Jamaal Hollis (33), RHP Ethan Icard (13), RHP Thomas Royse (3.5), C Michael Blanke (14), 1B Mike Schwartz (17), 3B Rangel Ravelo (6), SS Drew Lee (12), SS Ethan Wilson (25), OF Michael Earley (29), OF John Spatola (35)

Drew Lee was D.J. Ashwood’s teammate at Morehead State. Both were assigned to Bristol Sox. The others have been covered.

Stats:

Year	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	HBP	IBB	SH	SF	DP	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2007-08	42	127	33	46	10	0	3	23	9	4	23	18	4		4	1	1	.362	.471	.512	983
2008-09	51	195	38	61	12	1	7	30	6	2	15	29	4		3	1	2	.313	.372	.492	864
2009-10	52	208	62	86	18	2	17	67	5	0	25	32	5		1	1	0	.413	.485	.764	1249

or

Year	avg	gp-gs	ab	r	h	2b	3b	hr	rbi	tb	slg%	bb	hbp	so	gdp	ob%	sf	sh	sb-att	po	a	e	fld%
2009-10	.412	50-50	204	60	84	19	1	17	66	156	.765	21	12	24	4	.485	4	0	13-16	87	139	17	.930

Year	c	po	a	e	fld%	dp	sba	csb	sba%	pb	ci
2009-10	243	87	139	17	.930	32	0	0	—	0	0

CSN:

12th round, No. 368 overall: Crayton Lee, shortstop, Morehead State University

Lee hit .412 with 17 homers and 66 RBIs in 50 games. He is a quarterfinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, which is given to the nation’s top shortstop. He is also a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, given annually to the nation’s top collegiate player. He is the first Morehead State player to be drafted since the Sox took Henry Mabee in the 19th round of the 2007 draft. Mabee is at Double-A Birmingham.

Bruce Levine’s White Sox trade speculation

Levine:

Teams that will soon be putting up their players for sale in the National League include the Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals. The Cubs are on the cusp of that list as well.

American League teams ready to dump players include the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics. Productive left-handed RBI men like Washington’s Adam Dunn and Houston’s Lance Berkman are names that will be out there over the next 40 days before baseball’s trading deadline on July 31. Baltimore outfielder Luke Scott, a big-time fly ball hitter, will be on the radar for teams like the White Sox who are desperate for left-handed run production.

MLBBB on the Chris Sale signing

Seiler:

What agent B.B. Abbott worked out was that Sale would sign for slot, but he’d be used as a reliever this year. First, that protects his arm, as he’s thrown a number of innings this spring. That’s win number one. Win number two is the fact that the White Sox are shooting to bring him up to the Majors as a bullpen arm sometime in August or September. That doesn’t just qualify him to get about $70,000 in Major League pay. That also brings him the benefits of the Player’s Union. Not only does that mean he’s on the 40 man roster, that means he gets split pay next year when he’s in the minors as a starter. That’s the difference between about $30,000 and $65,000, the minimum for a player on optional assignment with at least a day of Major League service time. He’s also going to be eating away at his options next spring, and the chances of him not ever getting Major League pay go way down once he’s on the 40 man roster. See how we’re eating away at that $344,000 difference in bonuses between signing now and in August?

I had similar thoughts as well. If the White Sox put Sale on the big league roster (40-man roster) this year, the difference between signing now and August gets erased.

Ken Rosenthal’s White Sox trade rumors

Rosenthal:

White Sox bullying the NL

The Marlins were one of the teams that inquired on left-hander Matt Thornton during the brief period that the White Sox were in sell mode.

The White Sox said they would not even entertain trading Thornton, and they have now won 11 of their last 12 games, reaching .500 for the first time since April 7. Their run started against the Tigers and continued against feeble NL opponents — the Cubs, Pirates and Nationals.

White Sox starting pitchers are 9-1 with a 1.95 ERA in this stretch. Their ability to contend could be determined by how they fare in their six series leading to the All-Star break. They will be home against the Braves and Cubs, on the road against the Royals and Rangers, home against the Angels and Royals.

If the White Sox end up buyers, their biggest need will be the same as it was in the off-season — a left-handed hitter for the middle of the order.

BTW, here’s Fangraphs Sox trade advice.

White Sox must have signed two OF draftees: Randall Thorpe and Dusty Harvard

18th round draft pick Randall Thorpe and 34th round draft pick Dusty Harvard. I see them on the Great Falls team for tonight’s opener:

The roster was augmented Saturday by the arrival of outfielder Dusty Harvard, a 34th-round draft pick from Oklahoma State. The Voyagers currently have only five outfielders on the roster.Cron has chosen a 24-year-old right-hander, Trey Delk, to start on the mound tonight. Delk was a 29th-round draft choice in 2009.

He will be followed to the hill by David Holmberg on Tuesday, Thomas Royse on Wednesday, Steven Upchurch on Thursday and Addison Reed on Friday for the home opener at Centene Stadium.

Reed is the top recent draft pick here, a third-rounder from San Diego State. The 18-year-old Holmberg was a second-round draft choice in 2009 and pitched in Bristol, Va.

Cron said it’s likely his starting position players will be Kyle Davis at shortstop, Jeff Tezak at second, Juan Silverio at third and Leighton Pangilinan at first. All played here or at Bristol, Va., last summer.

The outfield will be chosen from among veterans Ryan Hamme, Michael Early, Ryan Lee, Randall Thorpe and Harvard.

FutureSox on Randall Thorpe:

Expected to star as an Aggie and develop into a legit 5-tool player, Thorpe only had 21 AB’s as a freshman, going 2-21, finishing with a line of .095/.136/.238 with 3 SB/4 ATT. Unsatisfied with his playing time he transferred to San Jacinto JC (TX), but not before he excelled in the MINK Summer Collegiate League (wooden bat league), where he hit .282/.400/.479 and flashed his defensive prowess in center field. At San Jacinto Thorpe hit .297/.420/532 with 6 home runs and 11 stolen bases. He walked at a good rate, 16.1%, but his strikeout percentage, 25.4%, is alarming. Thorpe flashed all five tools at San Jacinto, but questions over his ability to hit remain, due to his inability to make consistent contact.

And here are their stats:

Dusty Harvard:

Player	avg	gp-gs	ab	r	h	2b	3b	hr	rbi	tb	slg%	bb	hbp	so	gdp	ob%	sf	sh	sb-att	po	a	e	fld%
2010	.289	51-50	159	35	46	8	0	4	27	66	.415	16	6	36	2	.374	1	5	14-15	120	0	0	1.000
2009	.238	36-18	63	18	15	4	0	0	5	19	.302	16	1	20	4	.400	0	2	3-4	44	0	1	.978

baseball cube:

Year	Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	HBP	IBB	SH	SF	DP	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	20	35	17	3	3	0	0	0	3	1	1	2	6	0		2	0	1	.176	.263	.176	439
2007	19	29	44	12	11	2	1	0	2	1	0	6	18	0		1	0	1	.250	.340	.341	681

and Randall Thorpe for 2010:

AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	BB	RBI	Avg	Slg	Obp.	AB RSP	Avg RSP	Sacb	Sacf	HP	SOS	SOL	Picked Off	GW RBI	DP H	SB	CS	SB%	G
175	46	50	14	4	6	57	35	40	286	514	411	73	274	1	1	3	39	18	2	2	0	11	3	786	53

More on the Chris Sale signing

Caldwell @ Naples News:

“He wanted to play,” Allen Sale [Chris Sale's father] said. “The White Sox as an organization have stuck to slotting probably about as tight as any team. We kind of came to the conclusion that if he held out, there wasn’t going to be an enormous amount of additional money.

“We’ve been talking for about a week, and what the White Sox convinced me of, from a historical perspective, is when they get a player that they feel like can contribute to their major-league club, they advance them. They don’t hold them back to delay their arbitration or delay their free agency. Their primary concern is the 25 players that play for the major-league club. That was the key element in the signing.

“A lot of White Sox scouts have seen him pitch and there is a body of thought that he could advance pretty quickly. All clubs look at making moves this time of year, and he wanted to be in that mix, and the only way to be in that mix was to sign and show them what he can do against professional baseball players, throwing a major-league baseball against wooden bats. This is the best way to do it.”

More at the link including a 1:14 video and a picture gallery of Chris Sale.

White Sox sign 9th round pick RHP Kevin Moran [UPDATE]

Cape Cod Times:

The story keeps getting better for hard-throwing right-hander Kevin Moran, the former Barnstable High and Cape League pitcher.

Moran, a ninth-round selection in the Major League draft 12 days ago, signed with the Chicago White Sox yesterday.

The 278th player selected, Moran will report to Chicago’s rookie team in Bristol, Va., tomorrow. Bristol is a member of the Appalachian League. …

Here are his stats:

Year	era	w-l	app-gs	cg	sho	sv	ip	h	r	er	bb	so	2b	3b	hr	b/avg	wp	hbp	bk	sfa	sha
2010	7.92	8-5	27-3	0	0/0	1	50.0	67	47	44	41	29	16	1	4	.335	12	4	3	1	4
2009	2.75	5-2	27-1	0	0/1	0	52.1	51	22	16	26	37	9	0	2	.258	7	5	1	1	8
2008	7.45	2-1	13-6	0	0/0	0	29.0	38	29	24	22	16	6	1	4	.325	5	2	0	2	1

totals:

Year	ERA	W-L	APP-GS	IP	Hits	Runs	ER	BB	SO
2008	7.45	2-1	13-6	29.0	38	29	24	22	16
2009	2.75	5-2	27-1	52.1	51	22	16	26	37
2010	7.92	8-5	27-3	50.0	67	47	44	41	29
Career	5.76	15-8	67-10	131.1	156	98	84	89	82

UPDATE: More on Moran:

John Sickels:

Kevin Moran, RHP, Boston College: Can hit 93-95 MPH with a good slider, but severe control problems resulted in an ERA higher than 8.00 this year. Very raw, but has potential.

FutureSox:

Kevin Moran’s power fastball/slider combo gives him a chance to become a legit back of the bullpen arm with closer potential, and that’s the role that the White Sox envision Moran filling. Obviously he still has a long way to go with the control in order to realize that potential, but the White Sox have done a decent job turning around these underachieving college arms in the past with the likes of Dan Hudson and Dexter Carter, and Moran’s raw stuff makes him a definite one to watch.

And video from MLB.

White Sox agree to terms with 1st round draft pick Chris Sale

Callis:

When Chris Sale started to slide in the first round of the draft because of signability, it was a surprise that the thrifty White Sox were the team that selected him. Now comes a bigger surprise: the first- or second-rated college pitcher on most draft boards has agreed to terms for a bonus equal to MLB’s bonus recommendation for his No. 13 slot a year ago: $1.656 million.

Sale will take a physical on Monday and likely will sign his deal on Tuesday. He’s the highest-drafted player to agree to terms so far this summer. … While Sale will get less money than anticipated, the White Sox will give him every opportunity to crash their big league bullpen, perhaps as early as August. He’ll initially report to high Class A Winston-Salem, with an anticipated promotion to Triple-A Charlotte in mid-July. After spending this summer as a reliever, he’ll work in the Arizona Fall League as a starter and get the opportunity to make Chicago’s rotation in spring training next year.

Here’s video (mlb.com), a scouting report (mlb.com), another scouting report (baseballdailydigest.com), and his college stats:

Year	era	w-l	app	gs	cg	sho	sv	ip	h	r	er	bb	so	2b	3b	hr	bf	bavg	wp	hbp	bk	sfa	sha
2008….	3.47	2-0	21	1	0	0/1	2	36.1	36	15	14	10	43	4	1	2	157	.254	1	4	0	1	0
2009….	2.72	7-4	14	12	1	0/0	1	89.1	83	43	27	27	104	16	1	7	378	.246	4	5	0	3	6
TOTAL…	2.94	9-4	35	13	1	0/1	3	125.2	119	58	41	37	147	20	2	9	535	.248	5	9	0	4	6

More Chris Sale coverage here: reports from Kevin Goldstein, Jim Callis, John Sickels.

Also, What made Chris Sale adopt a three quarter delivery when pitching?

UPDATE: Gonzales:

As for the perceived discount the Sox might have received by agreeing to terms less than two weeks after the draft, Sale has a chance to more than make up any difference with a major league promotion that would start his service time clock.

In addition, that also would include a placement on the 40-man roster with a chance to make the major league team out of spring training in 2011.

General Soreness visits Jake Peavy

Gonzales:

Jake Peavy took off his suit jacket Sunday morning without any sign of discomfort.

That was a start in the right direction for the White Sox and Peavy, one day after he threw a 107-pitch shutout after coping with an aching right shoulder.

“Just general soreness,” Peavy said. “Getting up and down nine times, there’s soreness there but hopefully we’ll work through it and be ready on Friday.”

Justin Smoak hits HR #8 (video)

A 2-run HR against Houston’s Brian Moehler:

Video: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=9158579 (0:43)

Smoak went 3-4 and is hitting .223/.332/.406/.737. He’s hitting .311/.408/.574/.982 in June.

No Pitch F/X data was available for the HR pitch. It was an upper-deck shot though.

Jerry Reinsdorf confirms Kenny Williams can fire Ozzie Guillen

Gonzales:

Reinsdorf confirmed that Williams has the power to fire Guillen but never asked for his approval. … Reinsdorf explained why Williams has the authority to make chances as he sees fit, although Williams said Tuesday he has no intention of making chances during the Sox’s winning trend in the past 10 days.

“The biggest mistake I ever made, but I would make it again, is I let Hawk (Harrelson) fire Tony La Russa,” Reinsdorf said. “I would hope Kenny would never come to that conclusion. But you can’t make a general manager have a manager he doesn’t want. You can’t make a manager have a coach he doesn’t want. I can’t make the head of the accounting department work with someone he doesn’t want. I hate to think about it and I don’t think it will ever come to it and Kenny says he doesn’t see it, but that’s the way it works.”

Reinsdorf, also, said the Sox have the resources to add a player if they’re in the playoff hunt, and acknowledged that the Sox are playing better but they are playing a soft part of the schedule too.

Centene Stadium

Home of the Great Falls Voyagers (Chicago White Sox rookie level affiliate).

Fangraphs looks on Bobby Jenks

Hulet:

Bobby Jenks | Chicago White Sox

The Comments: As expected, Jenks’ luck has started to improve and so to have his numbers. His ERA is down to 4.39 (xFIP 2.70), although his BABIP is still high at .405. He was the hottest reliever this past week and went 4-for-4 in save opportunities with six Ks, one walk and one run allowed.