Over at FanGraphs, Matthew Carruth chronicles Carlos Quentin’s precipitous slide from his glorious 2008 season. Since coming back from his wrist injury, Quentin has been worth -0.3 wins above replacement, meaning the Alejandro de Aza’s of the world could probably do as good of a job or better than Q as the everyday right fielder.
I don’t know about you, but I have a tough time swallowing the notion that Quentin is this bad of a player. Maybe I’m just being a homer, but when I watch Quentin play, my mind doesn’t think “star”, but I certainly don’t think of him as replacement level player either. I think he’s definitely capable of a lot more, and I think just by eyeballing his WAR numbers you don’t get a real clear picture of Q’s true talent. …
August 21, 2010
Erik takes a good look on Carlos Quentin
THT Fantasy on Jim Thome
Here is a quick trivia question. Among all major league hitters with 250+ plate appearances not named Jose Bautista, who leads in ISO? No it is not Miguel Cabrera (.304), Albert Pujols (.276), Luke Scott (.278), Adam Dunn (.294) or a Rangers corner outfielder. It is none other than Old Man River himself, 40-year old Jim Thome (.316). The same Jim Thome who the White Sox passed up last offseason, despite a sub-$2 million dollar salary, because a rotating DH and the incorrigible Mark Kotsay seemed like a good idea at the time. The same Jim Thome who last year posted the second-lowest ISO of his career since 1994 (.232 versus a .155 MLB average) and walked “only” 15.9 percent of the time (8.9% MLB average). The very same Jim Thome who was nonetheless the fourth-most-valuable designated hitter in baseball, whom I ranted and raved about plenty in the offseason. …
White Sox team most likely to claim Manny Ramirez
MLBTR on Ken Rosenthal’s latest video update:
Now that Manny Ramirez is off the disabled list, Rosenthal provided an update to his news from last week about the possibility of Ramirez on the waiver wire. The Dodgers will wait to put Ramirez on waivers since teams will want to make sure that he is both healthy and hitting well. Rosenthal repeats that the White Sox are the club “most likely” to put in a claim for Ramirez, since the Sox “don’t like Brad Hawpe all that much” and they doubt that Detroit would trade them Johnny Damon.
Isn’t it a little late to add a bat?
August 20, 2010
ScoutingTheSally scouts the Kannapolis Intimidators
Tyler Saladino, SS – A pleasant surprise, Saladino was the most complete prospect on the field in my eyes. Having just turned 21, he’s not young for the level, but plays the game the right way and makes the most out of the tools he does have. And while the tools may only be average across-the-board, very few players even have that to offer. Call me a fan.
Saladino’s splits.
More reports at the link.
Brian Anderson’s AAA pitching debut
8/19:
Omaha Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Hardy, B 5.0 8 4 4 1 2 1 2.75 Anderson, Br 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Coleman (W, 4-1) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.22 Rupe (H, 1) 0.1 2 1 1 1 0 0 2.72 Collins, T (S, 1) 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.71
Pitches-strikes: Anderson, Br 20-11.
Groundouts-flyouts: Anderson, Br 3-3.
Batters faced: Anderson, Br 6.
Brian Anderson, a former outfielder for the White Sox and the Royals, made his Triple-A debut as a pitcher a rousing success on Thursday at Fresno. He pitched two perfect innings in relief in Omaha’s 6-5 victory.”He’s definitely throwing Major League stuff,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s got his fastball up to 97 miles an hour and his comfort zone is 95.”
Yost also said Anderson’s slider rates as Major League average quality and his pitch command just a tick below average.
“When he first did it, I wasn’t sure it’d work out for him, but he’s proven to me that it very well may,” Yost said. “Somewhere down the road I imagine he’ll get a look. I don’t know if it’ll be this September, it might be next spring, but he’s done enough to warrant that.”
Here are BA’s splits.
Baseball America on Jon Gilmore
From the ‘Not So Hot Sheet’ section of today’s ‘Prospect Hot Sheet’:
Jon Gilmore, 3b, White Sox: Perhaps Gilmore has run out of steam. He’s hitting just .224/.250/.241 in August and hasn’t homered since June 25. His struggles worsened last week, when he was just 2-for-23 and both were singles. More nettlesome, the big picture for Gilmore, 21, isn’t adding up. He’s hit .321 this season, but it’s fairly empty with a 27/72 walk/strikeout ratio and just 28 extra-base hits. His .355 OBP and .402 slugging marks are greatly enhanced at home (.357/.391/.446 vs. .286/.318/.359), and he’s committed 35 errors while also grounding into 18 double plays. He’s a .321 hitter, but the rest of the numbers don’t scream “prospect.”
Smells Like Mascot: Blinded
Carl’s latest is another classic:
August 19, 2010
Frank Thomas will replace Steve Stone this weekend at the TV booth
For the 3-game series (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) at the Kansas City Royals:
Frank Thomas is going to fill in for Steve Stone in the White Sox’ TV booth this weekend. On Aug. 29, the Sox are going to retire Thomas’ uniform No. 35 before playing the Yankees.
SoxNet on Chris Sale
[H]is stuff is legit. A 96 MPH fastball that comes from the side similar to Thornton’s so it’s tailing hard in on righties and hard away on lefties. Great starting pitch, going to be hard to hit. Sale snapped off a changeup in this game that had real good movement, and that curveball from his windup is the pitch we always dreamed Thornton would develop; sharp break, but you can’t pick it up from his windup. He keeps that arm healthy and this kid has few limits.
Kevin Goldstein on Brent Morel
Brent Morel, 3B/SS, White Sox (Triple-A Charlotte): 2-for-4, K. 16-for-38 (.421) in last nine games and .318/.346/.478 since move to Triple-A; even more fascinating is that he’s playing shortstop with Viciedo’s return to Charlotte.
Goldstein on Morel’s SS defense: “Makes the plays he gets to, but limited range.”
August 18, 2010
Fangraphs on Carlos Quentin
Shortly after Arizona traded him to the White Sox before the start 2008 season, Carlos Quentin unleashed a monster season on the American League. Since then, Quentin’s performances have been disappointing to put it mildly. I endeavored to find out what’s different between the All-Star worthy Carlos Quentin of 2008 and below replacement level Carlos Quentin since. …
Ozzie Guillen is insane
A few quotes from Ozzie Guillen’s latest rant:
How many games did we win against the National League? 15? Every time we had Jim Thome here, we couldn’t play him against the National League. Why won’t anybody give me credit for that one?
Can’t this dumbass understand that we aren’t a National League team and we played only 9 games in National League parks, while the rest of our 162 game schedule is against American League teams? And close to half of the 162 games are against divisional teams, and none of those are National League teams. Is that so difficult to understand? Jeez…
When I see him hit that s— out there all the way to the building out there at 98, I don’t see that for the last three years with us. Good for him. A lot of people talk about the home run from Jim Thome.
What? Jim Thome didn’t hit enough HRs for you Ozzie? I see 42 in 2006, 35 in 2007, 34 in 2008 and 23 in 2009.
Ozzie had some words for the White Sox fans who like Jim Thome too:
You want to have Jim Thome here? F— it. They’re a fan, a radio announcer or a newspaper. We don’t want him because we don’t need him. Right now we don’t. Is he playing good for them? Good for him. Anybody else anything about Jim Thome? All those f—— people in Chicago say something Jim Thome?
Big Jim keeps going
Jim Thome is raking so far this year. Here are the only players (1901-present) to post an OPS+ of at least 150 in age 39 season, minimum 80 games.
Rk OPS+ G Year Age Tm PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG OPS Pos 1 Barry Bonds 169 126 2007 42 SFG 477 340 75 94 14 0 28 66 132 54 5 .276 .480 .565 1.045 *7/D 2 Ted Williams 190 113 1960 41 BOS 390 310 56 98 15 0 29 72 75 41 1 .316 .451 .645 1.096 *7 3 Barry Bonds 156 130 2006 41 SFG 493 367 74 99 23 0 26 77 115 51 3 .270 .454 .545 .999 *7/D 4 Willie Mays 158 136 1971 40 SFG 537 417 82 113 24 5 18 61 112 123 23 .271 .425 .482 .907 *83 5 Ted Williams 179 129 1958 39 BOS 517 411 81 135 23 2 26 85 98 49 1 .328 .458 .584 1.042 *7 6 Babe Ruth 161 125 1934 39 NYY 471 365 78 105 17 4 22 84 104 63 1 .288 .448 .537 .985 *97 7 Barry Bonds 263 147 2004 39 SFG 617 373 129 135 27 3 45 101 232 41 6 .362 .609 .812 1.422 *7/D 8 Jim Thome 163 81 2010 39 MIN 253 209 31 57 14 1 17 44 42 62 0 .273 .391 .593 .985 *D 9 Hank Aaron 177 120 1973 39 ATL 465 392 84 118 12 1 40 96 68 51 1 .301 .402 .643 1.045 *79
Fangraphs reviews the 2010 AL Central draft classes
I have to hope and assume that Sale will soak in some knowledge from Don Cooper these last two months, but then be ready to open next season in Double-A, as a starter. Petricka has some fantastic potential, and don’t sleep on ninth-round pick Kevin Moran, who also has a good arm. …
Kevin Goldstein on Dayan Viciedo
Dayan Viciedo, 3B, White Sox (Triple-A Charlotte): 3-for-5, 2 K. First hits since return to minors; hasn’t drawn a walk since June 9, when he walked twice.
Viciedo’s stats.
White Sox news, Minor Leagues updates and more 