AFL Game #24: Peoria Saguaros @ Peoria Javelinas [UPDATE]

Boxscore. Gameday. Weather: 70 degrees, clear. Jared Mitchell starts at LF and Eduardo Escobar at SS for the Saguaros.

UPDATE: 2 K in the 9th for Carter:

Peoria Saguaros
Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Escobar	SS	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.353
Mitchell	LF	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.179
Sappelt	LF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.281

BATTING
TB: Escobar; Mitchell.
GIDP: Escobar.

Peoria Saguaros
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Leesman	1.0	1	0	0	0	3	0	10.80
Carter, A (S, 3)	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	4.50

Pitches-strikes: Leesman 16-11, Carter, A 13-10.
Groundouts-flyouts: Leesman 0-0, Carter, A 0-1.
Batters faced: Leesman 4, Carter, A 4.

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Alexei Ramirez expected to opt-out of his current contract

Merkin @ BOG:

[Alexei] Ramirez also has a contractual decision to make. The White Sox shortstop can opt out of the $1.1 million he is set to earn in 2011, marking the final year of a four-year, $4.75 million deal, and become arbitration eligible. If Ramirez makes that move, as he is expected to do, the White Sox have the choice between exercising a $2.75 million club option or going through the arbitration process. The White Sox would be expected to exercise the option. Ramirez has until Dec. 1 to opt out. The White Sox then have until Dec. 15 to make their decision. …

Don Cooper on Chris Sale’s career path

Coop says better pick one destination for 2011 and stick to it:

Pitching coach Don Cooper certainly wants [Chris] Sale working at the big league level, after watching him dominate to the tune of a 1.93 ERA and four saves over 21 games. But Cooper doesn’t know if the plan for Sale to serve as an April fill-in and then once again provide relief best fits his development.

“I would have to hear the reasons to start this guy for a month,” said Cooper of Sale. “I don’t think a kid like this needs to be bounced around. I like him in the bullpen for the 2011 season.

“In my mind, Sale and [Matt] Thornton are two really good lefties I would like to have in the bullpen. I do seem him as a starter long range. I’m just not so sure that range is in April.” …

Finding out Paul Konerko’s destination

Padilla @ ESPN:

… [Paul] Konerko‘s options appear to be down to three teams: The White Sox, Rangers and a surprise team to make the cut, the Rays.

And maybe the Giants might be willing to consider Konerko, although Aubrey Huff would return at a much more affordable price. Konerko would probably be up for it. The Giants do have spring training in Scottsdale, where Konerko lives. …

Conan starts tonight (10 pm CT, repeat: 12 am CT)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOCTEUwHKFo (3:00)
same video on tbs

more on teamcoco.com or youtube.com/teamcoco

Carlos Torres goes to Tokyo

NPB Tracker (h/t MLBTR):

[Tokyo’s] Yomiuri [Giants] to acquire White Sox farmhand Carlos Torres

UPDATE: MDN:

TOKYO (Kyodo) — The Yomiuri Giants are expected to sign former Chicago White Sox right-hander Carlos Torres, Kyodo News learned Monday. 

AFL Game #23: Peoria Saguaros @ Surprise Rafters [UPDATE]

Boxscore. Gameday. Weather: 75 degrees, overcast. Jared Mitchell starts at LF, Eduardo Escobar at SS and Johnny Lowe is the starting pitcher for the Saguaros.

UPDATE: No hits for the Sox prospects:

Peoria Saguaros
Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Escobar	SS	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.362
Mitchell	LF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.175
a- Wrigley	PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.206

a-Struck out for Mitchell in the 9th.

FIELDING
DP: (Negron-Escobar-Parmelee).

Peoria Saguaros
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Lowe	3.1	8	5	5	2	3	1	15.15
Mabee	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	7.71

Pitches-strikes: Lowe 73-44, Mabee 12-7.
Groundouts-flyouts: Lowe 5-2, Mabee 2-0.
Batters faced: Lowe 20, Mabee 3.

Most Important Sox, 2011 and beyond edition (#21-30)

Ballantini @ CSN:

As the coals in the hot stove are just beginning to get stoked up, it’s time to rank the current Chicago White Sox, in order of importance for 2011 and beyond. It’s not intended to be a strict list of merely the best players, or best values, on the White Sox. Rather, it takes into account team depth, the free agent market, or answering the question of which player would hurt the most not being on the team? …

… 30. Eduardo Escobar, SS

One great AFL season does not make a prospect. But given that Escobar has lit up a fall season that earns more than its fair share of attention from major-league eyes, Escobar becomes an important trade chip this winter. Perhaps the inclusion of the shortstop in a Carlos Quentin-Colby Rasmus deal with St. Louis gets that trade done.

2010 White Sox team profit

Ballantini @ CSN:

So, how did Williams do as Chicago’s general manager in 2010? This analysis draws upon the player season values at FanGraphs (where they basically assign a value to player’s WAR, with one win above replacement equating to $4 million) to see if the White Sox got their money’s worth from each player on the roster.

Positional totals come from the player’s FanGraphs value subtracted by season salary, and numbers below are expressed in millions. ..

•    The White Sox finished second in the AL Central with a 88-74 record and a team payroll $103.1 million. Profit: $62.8 million

•    The AL Central champion Minnesota Twins were 94-68 with a team payroll of $97.7 million. Profit: $106.4 million …

AFL Rising Stars All-Star Game: 8 pm CT (free webcast) [UPDATE]

Boxscore. Gameday. Weather: 80 degrees, clear. I don’t see any White Sox prospects in the West starting lineup.

There is a free live stream of the game on MLB.com/LIVE (preview).

MLB Network:

Some of Major League Baseball’s top prospects will be featured in Arizona Fall League matchups on MLB Network and MLB.com. MLB Network’s Dave Valle and Daron Sutton, who calls play-by-play for the Arizona Diamondbacks, will call the fifth annual Rising Stars Game on Saturday, November 6 at 9:00 p.m. ET at Surprise Stadium. Valle will be joined by MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger in the broadcast both for the 19th annual AFL Championship game on Saturday, November 20 at 3:00 p.m. ET live from Scottsdale Stadium. MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, will co-produce and provide free live and on-demand video streams of the two games.

UPDATE: Anthony Carter pitched a scoreless 2/3 of an inning:

AFL West Rising Stars
Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Mitchell	CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Escobar	SS	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

and

AFL West Rising Stars
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Carter, A	0.2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

Pitches-strikes: Carter, A 12-8.
Groundouts-flyouts: Carter, A 1-1.
Batters faced: Carter, A 3.

Fangraphs’ “must watch” and more 2011 White Sox prospects

Both articles are from Bryan Smith. First the “must watch” prospects:

In 56 plate appearances (so, sample size alert), Sale held right-handers to a .120/.214/.240 batting line. He did it while throwing them six change-ups in 220 pitches (2.7%), which accounted for 3 balls, 2 called strikes and 1 swinging strike. It was a non-factor. as he went with a two-pitch approach: 66.8% four seamers, 26.4% sliders. And, to my surprise, looking at his Texas Leaguers chart, he wasn’t just back-dooring the slider everytime. It’s a pitch he trusts, and a pitch that works, against right-handers. …

and those prospects outside the ‘Top 10’:

I credit Baseball America and Matt Eddy being the first to make me aware of Mike Blanke, the team’s 13th-round pick from the Division II University of Tampa. Blanke hit .329/.400/.508 in the Pioneer League, where Eddy ranked him as the number seven prospect. He wrote, “…he would have gone much earlier had clubs had any inkling that he would show plus power, arm strength and receiving skills in his pro debut.” …

Carson Cistulli’s SCOUT system (and Eduardo Escobar’s AFL BABIP)

Carson Cistulli devises the SCOUT system to get around, as much as he can, the small sample sizes issues of the AFL stats:

Herein lies at least one of the problems with winter-league stats. Because the AFL leaders in plate appearances rarely top even the 125-PA threshold, we’re forced to regress them over two-thirds of the way back to league average. That creates little in the way of meaningful separation. An alternative, however, is to look at those categories that (a) become reliable more quickly, but also (b) tell us the sorts of things we like to know about a prospect — namely, the quality of his tools. In this case, we can probably say at least something about contact- and power-hitting — via strikeout and home-run rate, respectively. …

… With all that as preface, allow me to introduce what I’ll call SCOUT. To devise it, what I’ve done is to find the regressed strikeout and home-run rates (xK% and xHR%) for all the qualified batters in the AFL. Then, for each player, I’ve found the z-score (that is, standard deviations from the mean) in xK% and xHR%, and averaged them (i.e. the z-scores) together. SCOUT is the result of that.

Here’s today’s SCOUT leaderboard (earlier versions):

Hmmm, a .373 BABIP. I’m not excited.

Speaking of Eduardo Escobar this is from Bryan Smith’s ‘Must watch White Sox prospects’ post today:

The question is how much he’s going to hit. His walk rate is downright Viciedo-esque, and it did not improve between 2009 and 2010. His contact rates are about average, maybe a touch better. Overall, Escobar is a much better hitter from the right side with these batting lines in his three leagues this year: .326/.343/.495 in CAR, .321/.333/.491 in SOU, and .542/.577/1.208 in AFL. It should be said that his patience is non-existent from that side, but he swings a big stick. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised he tripled off the best southpaw prospect in Arizona. It’s clear that Escobar has grown since his initial listed weight of 5-10, 150, so there’s slight optimism for 10 home run power potential. Strength is where the similarities with Jose Vizcaino (one of those lazy comps you’ll hear people use) end, and where you can see his ceiling is that much higher.

AFL Game #22: Peoria Saguaros @ Peoria Javelinas [UPDATE]

Boxscore. Gameday. Weather: 86 degrees, sunny. Jared Mitchell starts at DH for the Saguaros.

UPDATE: A single for Jared:

Peoria Saguaros
Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Bour	C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.333
Mitchell	DH	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.183

BATTING
TB: Mitchell.
GIDP: Mitchell.

Peoria Saguaros
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Leesman	1.0	3	2	2	0	2	0	12.27

HBP: Lawson (by Leesman).
Pitches-strikes: Leesman 29-19.
Groundouts-flyouts: Leesman 1-0.
Batters faced: Leesman 7.

Fangraphs’ White Sox 2011 Top 10 prospects

Hulet @ FG:

1. Chris Sale, LHP

Sale not only reached the Majors in his draft year – he dominated. The lefty pitched just 10.1 innings in the minors before posting a 2.74 FIP in 23.1 innings. He missed a lot of bats (12.34 K/9) while showing respectable control (3.86 BB/9). A starter in college, Sale pitched out of the bullpen in pro ball and saw his fastball velocity climb from the low 90′s and sit around 96 mph. He also displayed a sharp slider, at times, and a promising changeup (which he’ll need to combat right-handed batters). …

More at the link.

Smells Like Mascot: Faces Walking

Carl’s latest:

http://www.smellslikemascot.com/2010/11/faces-walking.html