Another day of nothing: Bogaerts is ready, Clay isn't

[black francis]

not gonna be sellers this summer.

making a push to finish .500

calls up chris getz and sends down johnny giavotella in an effort to put more pop in the lineup

fucking idiot

 

[Rock Strongo]

Some baseball facts since Dayton Moore's first full season in Kansas City:
-- 28 major league franchises have finished above .500.
-- 22 franchises have made the post season.
-- Each team from the AL Central has played at least once in the post season.
-- Yodazilla has some excellent numbers looking at the length of time it took each franchise to go from a losing record to the postseason.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are going to finish .500 this season. That means unless the Royals win 39 of their remaining 70 games (a .557 winning percentage) they will be the only team since 2007 to have never finished above .500. The players have changed. The GM is the same. It's not difficult to connect the dots.

the future expires like milk

 

[RedSoxWorrld]

we're gona break 100 here easy today

im right in the 'between 495 and 128" zone

i got home after work and checked the thermometer on my screened in porch

98 at 5:30

was only 80ish when I got home yesterday around 7

 

[black francis]

why? the futures so bright n stuff

it might be if there was a different manager and general manager

 

[black francis]

"There's no reason this team can't go on a run where you win 15 of 20."
Dayton Moore
July 18, 2013


Yet it hasnt happened yet in the DM era


​

 

[Rock Strongo]

was only 80ish when I got home yesterday around 7

yeah, it was the heat trapped on my porch...my guess..you live closer to the shore?

hot as balls already

 

[Rock Strongo]

enjoy this fungus that replaces flesh with its own

 

[Rock Strongo]

delicious

 

[black francis]

Club officials also believe the Royals have more upside potential than either of the two teams ahead of them - Detroit and Cleveland - in the American League Central Division.
They mean more short-term upside potential.
That view - which seems an undeniably optimistic slant - contends that, barring a major trade, the Tigers and the Indians are as good as they're likely to be.
The Royals see their own club, in contrast, as a young collection still in the process of jelling.
​

Really. Detroit has played four games worse than their Pythag. Cabrera, Fielder, Verlander, Sanchez, Hunter and the rest of their roster is pretty much playing at their peak. I'll go out on a limb and say the Tigers peak is better than the Royals upside. And if "club officials" really believe the Royals have eight games of "upside" in them to make up the deficit facing them in the Central... I'm speechless.

 

[RedSoxWorrld]

yeah, it was the heat trapped on my porch...my guess..you live closer to the shore?

hot as balls already

north shore, yeah

 

[Rock Strongo]

north shore, yeah

thats why then

out my way its bruuuutal, even at night

 

[RedSoxWorrld]

thats why then

out my way its bruuuutal, even at night

heard it will be close to 100 today even without the "feels like 100" heat index

only thing growing in my yard is the damn crab grass

you want some to smoke?

 

[Rock Strongo]

heard it will be close to 100 today even without the "feels like 100" heat index

only thing growing in my yard is the damn crab grass

you want some to smoke?

oh, its going to clear 100 in a lot of places like i said

saturdays storms are going to be something to behold

 

[Rock Strongo]

for downs morning boner:

Red Sox minor league roundup: Henry Owens unhittable, untouchable in trade market; Matt Price’s startling return from oblivion; Henry Ramos scorching

07.18.13 at 1:12 pm ET By Alex Speier and Katie Morrison


4
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Left-hander Henry Owens threw six no-hit innings for High-A Salem on Wednesday. (Darrell Snow/Greenville Drive)

Henry Owens will turn 21 on Sunday. He celebrated early.
The 20-year-old left-hander underscored why the Red Sox view him as a potential top-of-the-rotation starter with a signature performance on Wednesday, firing six no-hit innings in which he matched a career-high 10 strikeouts for High-A Salem. Relievers Matty Ott (2 innings) and Matt Price (1 inning) followed suit to complete a no-hitter against Frederick.
But Owens, naturally, was the focal point of the effort, particularly given the nature of what he did. Of the 18 outs he recorded, 10 came via punchout, three more came via groundball (another grounder resulted in an error), two came via foul pop-up to the catcher, one came on a lineout to left and one came on a flyout to center. So: six innings, two balls in the outfield.
The 6-foot-7 left-hander featured his best curveball of the season on Wednesday, while working with his typical fastball (sitting at 91 mph, topping out at 94 mph) and also operating with his characteristic swing-and-miss changeup, a go-to strikeout pitch for the 2011 supplemental first-rounder. He did walk four batters.
It was unquestionably a spectacular day and spectacular accomplishment, but it was almost as noteworthy for the fact that Owens’ stuff wasn’t particularly outlandish relative to the norms he’s established in his second full pro season. A few markers of his dominance in High-A suggest as much. A few examples:
– Owens has a 2.93 ERA, sixth in the Carolina League;
– His 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings are third in the Carolina League among pitchers with at least 50 innings of work;
– Opponents are hitting .190 against him, the best mark of any pitcher in the league;
– His 1.19 WHIP is 10th in the league (min. 50 innings).
Owens is dominating older competition with a three-pitch mix that makes it easy to project a future for him in a big league rotation. Internally, the Red Sox have seen enough to think that there’s a chance he’s a future top-of-the-rotation starter, a No. 2 or perhaps even a No. 1 as he continues to develop, so long as he can continue to make strides with his command and strike-throwing ability.
Externally, perception is perhaps slightly different. Evaluators from other organizations see a work in progress, a pitcher whose stuff does indeed suggest that of a future big league starter, but one about whom there are questions about whether he will put everything together. One evaluator from an NL team who saw him early in the year suggested that he had some difficulty commanding his fastball, featured a great changeup and a solid curve; it was the look, in that start, of a potential No. 3 starter. Another evaluator from an AL team who saw Owens recently suggested that he didn’t love his delivery, and that he wasn’t impressed by the left-hander’s curveball. He saw him as a future No. 4 starter, perhaps a No. 3 if he tightened up his command.
Since the Red Sox project Owens as a potential top-of-the-rotation starter, in no small part because of their familiarity with him and because they’ve seen him feature all three of his pitches at their best, and because they’ve seen him make considerable strides in his second full pro season while moving up from an impressive strike-out-a-ton-of-guys-but-give-up-a-lot-of-walks-and-homers first-year professional to one with more polish and dominance against more advanced competition this year, there’s a gap between their view of Owens’ value and that of other organizations. Because the Sox are the ones with the higher opinion of him, that means that, even if they would consider dealing him, the likelihood of another organization viewing him as a potential centerpiece for a star who would be under team control for multiple years (the only scenario in which the Sox would consider dealing him) would be extremely low.
Indeed, right now, according to a major league source, other teams view Owens as a potential secondary piece in a deal for a controllable star. That is a reflection of other teams’ evaluations, the fact that he is still in High-A rather than the upper levels and the fact that the Sox farm system is loaded. There are some organizations where Owens might be the No. 1 or No. 2 overall prospect. The industry perception of the left-hander in the Sox’ farm system, meanwhile, is that the almost-21-year-old likely ranks behind Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Garin Cecchini, Anthony Ranaudo and perhaps Brandon Workman and/or Matt Barnes.
For those six, industry opinion likely comes a lot closer to the Sox’ internal evaluations. For Owens, the gap is greater. All of that suggests that, between the desperate need for young, controllable, potential front-end starting, the Sox’ tremendous opinion of the left-hander and the more modest industry view of him, it may be harder to envision the Sox trading Owens than virtually any other player in their system.

 

[Paul Fizzle]

enjoy this fungus that replaces flesh with its own

That is one awesome looking fungus

 

[Rock Strongo]

HIGH-A SALEM RED SOX: 6-0 WIN (NO-HITTER) AT FREDERICK (ORIOLES)
(BOX)
– Right-hander Matt Price, a 2010 eighth-round pick who entered the year having pitched just 3 1/3 professional innings due to a recovery from Tommy John surgery in 2011 and a suspension that cost him all of 2012, continued his late-innings dominance by closing out the no-hitter with a two-strikeout ninth. He did walk a batter.
When the Sox drafted Price in 2010, some of the team’s talent evaluators suggested that his fastball-changeup combination had a chance to rate with that of anyone whom the team took in that draft (which included supplemental first-rounder Anthony Ranaudo and second-rounder Brandon Workman). This year, he’s offered his first glimpses into why the team held such a high opinion of the Virginia Tech product.
Price has shown electric stuff at times this year, sitting in the mid-90s and touching 97 mph with his fastball while showing a swing-and-miss changeup. On the year, he has a 2.79 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 14 walks in 38 2/3 innings during which opponents are hitting just .172 against the pitcher, who turned 24 this month.
He’s amidst an overpowering run in the Carolina League. He hasn’t allowed a run in 15 of his last 16 outings, with a 0.51 ERA, 20 strikeouts, eight walks and a .136 opponents’ batting average over 17 2/3 innings during that time.
– Right-hander Matty Ott followed Owens into the game and delivered two perfect innings with two strikeouts. Since the beginning of June, in 12 appearances for Salem and Double-A Portland (for whom he made a one-game, four-inning cameo), the 23-year-old has a 2.03 ERA with 28 strikeouts and six walks in 31 innings.
– Owens and his fellow pitchers were the headliners for Salem on Wednesday, but pitching wasn’t the entire story there. Henry Ramos blasted a pair of homers, the first multi-homer game of his career, while going 2-for-5 and driving in three. The 21-year-old, who made his pro debut just over three years ago in July 2010, continues to add to his new career-high in homers, with 11 (surpassing the eight he hit last year in Greenville) in 89 games. He’s walk rate (10.6 percent of plate appearances) is the highest of his career, while his strikeout rate (17.5 percent) is the lowest of his career. He’s also posting career-best marks in average (.278), OBP (.354) and slugging (.454), enjoying a particularly torrid stretch over the last month and a half, with a .338/.390/.579 line and eight homers in his last 38 games dating to June 5. His statistics are combined with the sort of athleticism to make him look like a potential big leaguer, particularly given that he’s a center fielder.

 

[gobigred]

Lol @ royals contending!!

How bad must they think AL Central is for them to actually contend

 

[RedSoxWorrld]

That is one awesome looking fungus

has to be fake

 

[Down38st8]

Nice write up on Owens Rock....

Fangraphs has him there midseason top 50. Actually...#50...

Bogaerts #2, JBJ #38, Cecchini #45, Ranaudo #49, Owens #50

Keith Law as well, Bogaerts #3, Cecchini #20, JBJ # 24, Owens #31

And Blake Swihart was a "just missed" on both...despite rather pedestrian numbers, most scouts absolutely love him...

Their top 3 picks in the draft, Trey Ball, Teddy Stankiewicz and Jon Denney all may be top 100's next year...Ball and Denney are near locks..

Add Barnes, Brentz, Workman, Britton, Webster? Fuck me...could be 10 top 100's half in the top 50 with a top 5....

#cantwait

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

it might be if there was a different manager and general manager

It doesn't seem like that long ago I saw a listing with KC having 4 or 5 out of the top 20 best prospects in baseball. A couple of years ago maybe? Even for spring training, I was amazed at the wins they were putting together.