Compiled just before today's fleecing:

"guts" is putting it too kindly; and don't forget chris carter...

• Cheat compiles Nick Swisher's pitch type data.
• Jim on the Swisher trade and the 2008 Sox ZiPS projections.
• Hot Stove: The Cardinals signed Matt Clement to a 1-year deal. -- Gammons says the A's think Coco Crisp is the best CF in the game right now. -- Will the Royals sign Bartolo Colon?
• Life in the Cell moved to it's own site.
• Tango: How bad a hitter can you be to justify a great glove? And a couple college baseball sites; links from Tango.

That headline will come as a surprise to no one around here, but it seems Hernandez is 'building momentum' with scouts as the draft approaches.

Rk Player Name                   Pts
1. Fautino De Los Santos         147
2. Gio Gonzalez                  144
3. Jack Egbert                   109
4. Chris Carter                  105
5. Ryan Sweeney                  101
6. Aaron Poreda                   78
7. John Shelby                    63
8. Lance Broadway                 55
9. Jose Martinez                  49

DLS was the runaway #1, even though his point total doesn't reflect that. He was listed first on 10 of 14 completed ballots. Only a 4th place listing on one ballot, plus Gio being listed at 1 or 2 on all 14, made it close. Either way, they were the consensus 1-2 in the Sox system.

From there, little separated the next three, Ryan Sweeney, Chris Carter, and Jack Egbert, with Egbert's strong AA performance and Carter's 25 HR in Kanny outpacing Sweeney's youth and scouting report.

I'll include my own list in the near future. Hopefully, before Kenny makes the list even smaller with a foolish trade.

We've done this twice before with moderate success. You know the drill. Rank your top, let's say 11, prospects (in order) in the comments. I'll give this a bump or two during the next week, and tabulate the results by next Friday.

Past Results

              2005                                    2006
Rnk  Player              Points        Rk   Name                  Pts
  1. Chris Young            135        1.   Ryan Sweeney          166
  2. Brian Anderson         121        2.   Josh Fields           151
  3. Gio Gonzalez           118        3.   Lance Broadway        141
  4. Ryan Sweeney           111        4.   Aaron Cunningham      103
  5. Ray Liotta              65        5.   Charlie Haeger        101
  6. Daniel Haigwood         60        6.   Oneli Perez            71
  7. Lance Broadway          55        7.   Kyle McCulloch         51
  8. Jerry Owens             51        8.   Jack Egbert            22
  9. Robert Valido           48        9(t) Jerry Owens            19
 10. Josh Fields             36        9(t) Heath Phillips         19
t11. Sean Tracey             15        11.  Lucas Harrell          14
t11. Francisco Hernandez     15        12.  Chris Carter
 15. Aaron Cunningham                  13.  Adam Russell

Whether or not you choose to believe the claims about who he is or who he works for, the discussion raised by a (supposed) member of the White Sox new minor league guard over at SoxTalk is well worth reading. Though, I don't know how excited we're supposed to get over a talent evaluator from the Orioles. That'd be like getting excited about a new minor league pitching coach from the Pirates. Oh, wait.

The discussion centers on our rookie leaguers, so consider this you "Better Know a League" post that I promised and never delivered.

Reading and responding to the post has killed the better part of my afternoon, during which I had planned to outline my off-season plan. Since my sister is due to show up at my door in the next hour, I doubt I'll be able to get to it before Sunday. I'm just like the Sox promising something (We're gonna win in '08), delivering something else (losing '09-'10).

There's also a video (mms), on the main page of MiLB.com of Egbert and Sweeney, but my Firefox just upgraded and needs a restart, which I suspect is the reason it's not launching for me. Update [2007-11-2 17:35:32 by The Cheat]: Turned out to be a puff piece on the current AFLers.

BA:

1. Desmond Jennings, of, Columbus (Devil Rays)
2. Hector Gomez, ss, Asheville (Rockies)
3. Fautino de los Santos, rhp, Kannapolis (White Sox)
4. Lars Anderson, 1b, Greenville (Red Sox)
5. Chris Marrero, of, Hagerstown (Nationals)
6. Jordan Schafer, of, Rome (Braves)
7. Henry Sosa, rhp, Augusta (Giants)
8. Jeremy Hellickson, rhp, Columbus (Devil Rays)
9. Ryan Royster, of, Columbus (Devil Rays)
10. Chris Carter, 1b, Kannapolis (White Sox)
11. Chris Coghlan, 2b, Greensboro (Marlins)
12. John Raynor, of, Greensboro (Marlins)
13. Adrian Cardenas, ss, Lakewood (Phillies)
14. Tommy Hanson, rhp, Rome (Braves)
15. Brandon Snyder, 1b, Delmarva (Orioles)
16. Jared Goedert, 3b, Lake County (Indians)
17. Daniel Mayora, ss, Asheville (Rockies)
18. Justin Maxwell, of, Hagerstown (Nationals)
19. Josh Reddick, of, Greenville (Red Sox)
20. Billy Rowell, 3b, Delmarva (Orioles)

And MiLB.com has an organizational review for the Sox. Here's the part on Chris Carter (pictured above):

I figured I would start a recap of the White Sox minor league system by taking a look at the lowest level first, the Dominican Summer League. The Sox entered two teams this season after closing up shop on their Venezuelan Summer League team. But a quick scan of the stats (and birth dates) from the Sox two Dominican clubs yields little in the way of prospects.

While many of the Major's top stars have come from the Dominican, the league itself is probably comparable to junior college ball with some talented high-schoolers added. There are some players older than 21, but their numbers are limited thanks to the ever continuing search for the next top prospect. The average age is under 19, with the top prospects being 18 or younger. There are some stars, but the overall talent level isn't anything special. A vast majority of these players will never get off the island.

The average batting line in the DSL is .238/.338/.320. The average player has an IsoD of .100 and an IsoP of .82. In other words, they don't hit for much power in the DSL. And since we all know the old saying "you can't walk your way off the island," we can assume that the pitchers are really wild. Because of that, you have to discount some players high OBPs and walk totals, and really penalize anyone who isn't taking their fair share of free passes when evaluating a player solely on the numbers.

Now that we've got the caveats out of the way, let's look at some numbers. Here's a list of the White Sox offensive stars

Here's how they compare to other top offensive talents in the division.

Onto the pitching, where the White Sox have, well, nothing...

Now let's look at the top pitchers in our division

The fast rise of Fautino De Los Santos, who will rank #2 in my off-season White Sox top 10 prospects list, should give the Sox incentive to put forth a more concerted effort in the Dominican. The top international spenders are currently the Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets with Tigers starting to get into the fray as well. It's already paying dividends with Reynoso (Though I'm entirely unsure about the bonus he recieved). The White Sox rarely spend any noteworthy money on international signings, and it clearly shows in their lack of talent in the DSL this season.

Continue reading this post »

The Great Falls White Sox clinched the Pioneer's League Northern Division:

* MiLB.com Pioneer League Playoff Coverage

* Great Falls Tribune: Game 1, Game 2, Game 3

1. Gio Gonzalez
   
2. Fautino De Los Santos
   
3. Ryan Sweeney (still a believer)
   
4. Danny Richar
   
5. Jack Egbert
   
6. Chris Carter
   
7. [insert mediocre pitcher here]
   
8. [insert recently drafted player here]
   
9. [insert relief prospect here]
   
10. [insert mediocre pitcher here]

Catching up on my reading, I caught this piece from the Baseball Analysts in which Rich Lederer skims all minor league starters for guys who miss bats (K/9 > 9), have decent control (K/BB > 3), and keep the ball in the yard (HR/9 < 1).

Here's the list that he comes up with: