is exactly why one shouldn't take everything from KW at face value.

you probably really think that's exactly what Kenny meant.

You know they've got a snitch down in the locker room too, reporting on any unnatural non-grinding activities. My candidate for weasel is Toby Hall, he doesn't serve any other useful function on the team.

like a sloth.

Don't go picking on Joey! He may not have been Roberto Alomar but he most definitely did not suck. First, he lasted 11 seasons and over 1100 games in the majors. You'd be hard pressed to find many really sucky ball-players who had that long a career.

Second, he was a decent hitter. During his prime, he OBA was consistently over .350. He was a pretty good baserunner and, later in his career, he even developed some respectable doubles-type power. He was a legit All-Star in 1997 and in his best two seasons, he posted OPS+ of 97 and 110. We'd take that kind of production from second base in a heartbeat. Now, granted, he wasn't anything special with the glove. At his best he was a league average glove and there were times he didn't even make that standard.

Joey was not a great player, but he was always serviceable and sometimes he was damn good. He was certainly good enough to be a starter on a championship team, which is why he made the play-offs four different times. Great? No. Sucky? Absolutely not? Grindy? Oh, yeah.

That's Joey!

I'm pretty sure that to be a grinder you have to be white or Japanese. Everyone knows that Latin and black players just coast on their talent. It's the athletically overmatched white and asian guys that really grind...

Our hitters will have good results if they can get deep into the count a lot, see a lot of pitches, and getting into hitters counts. This will help that balance you speak of. You can have a much better AB when you are seeing a 2-1 pitch than constant 1-2 pitches. Plus the add on factor of driving the pitchers count up, and sending him to the showers before you hit the back end of the bullpen.

Hence why Swisher and Quentin so far look pretty promising.

White Sox
Do you see Aaron Poreda as a starter or reliever at the major league level?

by Ryno on Apr 11, 2008 2:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

poreda
Too early to say. Need to see how his secondary pitches hold up at higher levels. My guess is that he spends time in both roles but eventually settles into the pen.

by John Sickels on Apr 11, 2008 2:14 PM CDT

He went unmentioned in Sickel's top 20 (I'm unsure where he ranked on Roger's list)

But since he never really fell out of our top 15 or so, It just seems like he's not a sleeper around here because, well, I've been hyping him for a going on two years now. The minor league "experts" will likely be writing about his surprise status in the coming months, so there's your sleeper.

maybe this is a news flash for people who think that the lower part of the first rounds is some haven for premium talent but if you're drafting a player who actually contributes to your team for a few years, in whatever capacity, that's good. like, really good.

But yes.

The odds are against the player picked 25th in the first round becoming a useful major leaguer. That doesn't mean it never happens. It just means you shouldn't expect an all-star in that slot. If you get one -- that's fantastic drafting/development. If you get someone who contributes in the majors, that's still really good.

your examples are horrible. pray tell, who is all this premium talent that those teams have developed that weren't top picks that have actually contributed? morneau and youkilis. that's it. the other players who i assume you're referencing haven't done much of anything yet. papelbon and neshek with another year probably gets in there. other than that, it's all potential.

second, yes it's really good. here's a research project. go to baseball reference. look at who has been picked at #25. tell us what percentage of those players 1) ever even appeared in the majors and 2) how many of them can actually be called contributors. let's define contributors as a minimum of 1000 ABs for position player, 150 games for a reliever, 75 games for a starter.

Chance of rain all night, but nothing heavy. Should be fine.