SI1020

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 15, 2013 -> 07:40 PM) Singleton made me enjoy Darrin Jackson on the radio and I hate Darrin Jackson on the radio. I feel exactly the same way. Chris Singleton was the worst, by a large margin, the absolute worst train wreck of a baseball announcer I ever heard. Is this organization in total self destruction mode? I hope the tweet does not indicate a return to the booth.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 2, 2013 -> 06:39 PM) Remember when Morel showed a lot of pop at the end of his rookie season? That didn't last long. Josh Fields in 07 even more so.

Things change over time and that includes message boards too. This site has gone through several eras, and an upheaval or 2 since it was soxnet.net. WSI went through a long era of purging, including some of their best and most creative posters. It's a testimony to this site and WSI that both have lasted over a decade. Some mods will want to throw their weight around. Some posters will want to "lord the board" and tell people what subjects are worthy of posting. That's just the way it is. As for WSI and soxtalk no need for one to disparage the other. It's nice to have to some options as a Sox fan.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 05:16 AM) Not to get all deep...but that's a HUGE issue with today's society...disassociation and lack of interpersonal skills. So I'm all for closed door meetings... You are so right.

I miss the days of soxnet.net. I was definitely a player here then. I miss whitesox.com on the mlb boards before it went completely to hell. I miss my old neighborhoods in Chicago but every time I'd go back no one I knew was there and hardly anybody spoke English. Now I'm told that on my next visit I'll notice the gentrification that is now is full swing. Time marches on and you can never go back. This year's Sox team is as bad as anyone I can ever remember. Add the reality that internet message board traffic is down as people switch to newer briefer more mindless forms of high tech communication. In any case internet message boards were never a bastion of intellect and civility. All you can do I suppose is contribute and hope for the best. I've enjoyed lots of posters and posts during my on again off again time at soxtalk.

QUOTE (TRU @ May 16, 2013 -> 01:10 AM) that doesnt justify a bad trade.. you could have still traded Lee for a better return and saved all that salary.. like I said im glad we won the world series, but that trade sucked I could not possibly disagree with you more. You just can't look at as Lee the fearsome hitter vs Podsednik the weak armed slap hitting outfielder. 2005 was the only year in recent and not so recent history that the Sox didn't have an all or nothing approach to offense. Yeah they hit a ton of homers but they got off to that great start with Pods and Iguchi leading the way. Didn't they take the lead in the first 37 games that year? Podsednik totally changed the dynamic and it's no coincidence that they struggled when he started having his injury problems. Like Caufield mentioned the Podsednik trade opened up the other possibilities and fortunately Kenny was at the top of his game. Scott Podsednik is a big reason why I refuse to become a stat slave to WAR. Kenny doesn't make that trade and we're looking at 95 years and counting.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ May 12, 2013 -> 09:05 PM) The team has a real strength at pitching. We are solid with gld glove fielders at SS and 2B. We need a 1Bman only because Konerko will retire soon. We need a 3Bman. We seem to be set pretty good in LF and if we decide to sign Rios again then we are good at RF. CF could be iffy. De Aza ain't bad but we might upgrade. Catching is an issue. Now we do have some good looking OF prospects in the minors. How far away are they? Two years maybe? This team ain't bad now but we do need a resurgent Dunn and see if Gillaspie can perform at 3B. Now that one takes a bit of time. With Adam Dunn you just don't know if the time has run out. I hope not but he just hasn't shown anything I think it's pretty obvious that at the very least his time has run out in Chicago. How many more ABs of this misery do we need?

Horrible article. I have never been a fan of run differential or the whole Pythagorean win thing. Now they can say, well weren't that far off after all. They're lousy at predicting and some of us have actually spent lots of time on this and still refuse to bow at their altar.

Caving in to pressure has been a hallmark of Sox teams dating back to the Stone Age when I first started rooting for them. I think a big reason for this is that almost always even good Sox teams had so little margin for failure. In the go go years the Yanks were top heavy with talent. The Sox were good but not quite good enough in 55 and 64. In 67 no hitting. In 72 the A's were better and the Sox had little depth. In 77 they tanked when the hitters cooled off. In 06 the pitching fell apart in the second half. Last year they didn't put the underachieving Tigers away when they had the chance and in September they were mentally and physically spent. Depth and bench strength can make all the difference in the marathon that is a MLB season. The Sox often come up a little short in that category, and when the pressure is on they tend to fade.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 19, 2013 -> 07:50 PM) I'd be shocked if they played worse than .574 against those 3 teams. CLE & MIN still suck, and they are due to play better vs. KC. Definitely.

Absolutely not. I mean should we look at the Alomar brothers and Ken Griffey Jr. again too?

10. Probably not, he's been in decline since 08. I admit I've never particularly like him, his style, his propensity to be unable to locate in crucial situations. 9. I don't know. 8. This team has been in love with all or nothing hitting for far too long. We need some good situational hitting and hitters badly. 7. I hope not. 6. Not sure. I think he can be, and I really like his ability, makeup and arm. He needs to be more consistent. 5. Keppinger 4. I hope I'm wrong but I don't know if the guy can hit. He's also a + defender but not great. 3. I'm going to believe that he won't regress and will remain solid for the 13 season. 2. I think last year was as good as it will ever be for Peavy. I hope he can approach the success had last year in the coming season. 1. Right now the Sox look like a .500 or so team to me. Would love to be wrong.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Dec 27, 2012 -> 12:54 AM) He managed to produce a higher WAR than AJ. WAR doesn't account for grinderism though. You won't give that one up will you? When you factor in years on the team and games played AJ outperformed Karkovice in the sanctified and hallowed WAR category. I liked Karkovice a lot. He was a defensive marvel behind the plate. I don't think AJ was terrible defensively, just not very good. If you could get have someone with AJ's hitting and the Officer's defensive prowess that would be a helluva catcher. Flowers is a definite upgrade over AJ behind the plate, but not on the level of Karkovice. Or Fisk and Lollar for that matter. He's also another all or nothing strike out machine that has given me no indication whatsoever that he can hit well enough to be worth it.

We moved to Chicago in 1953 from Pennsylvania. At that time Chicago was a major jobs mecca. My father grew up a Pirates fan, but after a brief period of adjustment, he really took to his new hometown. He was and is a big sports fan and he adopted the White Sox as his new MLB rooting interest. I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe because they are an AL team and that wouldn't conflict with his rooting interest in the Pirates, maybe because he met Luis Aloma, a Sox relief pitcher in the early 50's, maybe because he had an aversion to the Cubs. I don't know, I suspect a combination of all three reasons. Whatever kind of father we men have a young boy in most cases gravitates to his dad and what his dad likes and does. Mine liked to watch the Sox on WGN or listen to them on the radio at home or in the car on WCFL 1000. Towards the end of first grade I took an interest in baseball. My dad taught me how to read a box score, they were a little different then, more intricate. My dad rooted for the Sox and so did I. The 1957 White Sox team will always be special in my heart because it was my first year following and rooting for the team. My dad and I have had some highs and real bad lows over the years but he bestowed on me a love of sports, particularly baseball and lifelong devotion to my favorite team through thick and thin, the Chicago White Sox.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 4, 2012 -> 08:12 PM) That's totally fine -- if you aren't interested in evaluating player performance, there's nothing wrong with that. Just acknowledge (to yourself) that you have no idea what you're talking about and remember that since you don't understand and have no interest in learning, that no one should take your assessment seriously. Arrogance personified.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 4, 2012 -> 06:31 PM) All of these offensive numbers do not need to make these kind of estimates. It's all based on linear weights, and it is, conceptually, very simple. Essentially, it has to do with coming up with average run values for each possible offensive event. These values change every year because the run environment changes every year. For example, on average, a homerun was worth 2.058 runs in 2012 because sometimes people were on base and sometimes they weren't on base. If a guy hit a homerun, you give him credit for 2.058 runs regardless, because that's what a homerun is typically worth. You're stripping context from the measurement -- the guy did these things, and we're giving him credit for the average amount of runs so we can compare him to other guys who did similar things. I have a major problem with the bolded. QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 4, 2012 -> 05:31 PM) No, not at all. You just need to actually try to learn about it before passing judgement, just like everything else on this planet. You just need to set aside uninformed pop journalism prejudices for long enough to actually see what is going on. OMG you obviously don't know me. I love it when someone disagrees or tries to gore a sacred ox, my how the insults or stereotypes fly. As for the whole saber thing, I'm done with it. I'll bet I've spent more time on it, much more time than the average afficianado. Oh and I don't know about pop journalism but right now as I type I'm jamming to the Ramsey Lewis version of The In Crowd. Ordinarily I favor more serious pianists like Monk, Powell and Red Garland. Very little of what I like, journalism or otherwise is pop. Cal Tjader's on now. Gotta go.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 3, 2012 -> 09:01 PM) This cracks me up every time. How can you call OPS a statistic that is one "small, simple number" and then make an argument that we should look at one smaller, simpler number that is one of many inputs into OPS? The funny thing is that you're right, OPS does suck. But it sucks because it's inaccurate, not because it's "too simple." If you want to end this argument over context and how much you and I "feel" like each number matters, use linear weights. This problem has already been solved -- wOBA and wRC+ are the best, most complete, most accurate offensive measurements we have. There's no opinion involved, they simply weigh everything a hitter does based on how they actually affect run scoring in the current run environment. I've never heard anyone try to make an argument against this method. Do I need to take a calculus course to understand them? Do you know how to compute them? If they are the be all and end all of hitting measurements like FIP is supposed to be of pitching I think I'll pass. As for the thread I really enjoyed TUC's rant. I'd have to disagree on Dunn though. Last off season I said I'd trade him for a bag of balls. This time I'd ask for some bats too, because he did improve somewhat. I also think the Red Sox overpaid for Napoli. Maybe he will find Fenway to his liking.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 6, 2012 -> 07:37 PM) It was pleasing to see the 41 homers with the RBI's and lots of walks, but it was all tempered with a million strike outs and a BA of .204. I think Adam Dunn is an asset to the Sox but hopefully he can cut down on the K's and hit for more average in 2013. Maybe a .250 BA? I'd say he is more of a liability.

Come back to what? From record breaking awful to merely bad.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 22, 2012 -> 10:00 PM) It was a throw away post, but if you want to keep the back and forth going . . . the Sox have a much better idea where the economy is heading than you or me. Not necessarily. Even a cursory study of economics will reveal widely different philosophies and the accompanying differences in predictive models. Not only that but it was a weak comeback. Stand by your post or admit you made a mistake. We all make mistakes on message boards.

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Oct 19, 2012 -> 02:10 PM) I'd trade Quintana & Jones to Pitt for Pedro Alvarez I wouldn't. QUOTE (PuertoRicanSoxFan @ Oct 20, 2012 -> 12:15 AM) if we get Alvarez that would be another low on base percentage guy, youk OBP was on the .350 while Alvarez was .317. And a line up with Viciedo, Dunn and Alvarez is gonna be a K party. and we can say that nate jones was our best reliever this season. This is why.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Oct 15, 2012 -> 05:19 PM) Since we're on the subject of TV markets, here's a link to the map: http://www.bizofbaseball.com/images/MLB_Bl...Map1000x733.gif You can see what teams are considered "local" to any area of the country. Thanks for that link. A lot of territories overlap.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 15, 2012 -> 05:56 AM) I'm just weird, I guess, but I give pro football a chance and I watch it on TV and I see all these short passes to running backs and bullets up the middle at breakneck speed. I just find it a bore. I prefer a good high school football game No. 1, followed by college football before the NFL. I realize I'm in the vast vast minority. I just love MLB baseball except the umps' small strike zone drives me absolutely insane. Down here in the south greg college football is king. Even in places like Atlanta and Charlotte. The devotion to school and team borders on religious zealotry.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 15, 2012 -> 12:49 AM) Yes Random Message Board poster knows more about the bottom line for a baseball team than a baseball ownership group, all of whom are already independently wealthy, and have been running at a profit for pretty much 30 solid years. Read The Best and the Brightest or The Peter Principle just for starters. Did you lose money in the 2008/09 stock market real estate debacle? I hope not but lots of people did. I bow not to the elites. They make mistakes all the time. Some of them are even catastrophic. The Reinsdorf group has made many questionable business moves. That's not to say that Jerry Reinsdorf is not the classic up from his bootstraps American success story. He is. That doesn't mean that smart successful people don't make bonehead business moves. They do it all the time. If I make one of those bonehead moves then you'll see me on the street pleading for money. Once you've made it there is more leeway. One last thing. I already conceded that the White Sox are doing OK financially the way they run things now. I'm just a random dumbass that doesn't care all that much for some of their policies.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 07:14 PM) You have to figure the Sox have done the math that lowering the ticket prices wouldn't equal more revenue when accounting for the increase in attendance and money spent on concessions. The bottom line is revenue (at least that is the Reinsorfian model), so you would have to imagine, the set the prices for what they deem to maximize the revenue. I don't agree at all. Many supposedly brilliant business people are penny wise and pound foolish. This ownership group has made many mistakes and every now and then is known for throwing its fan base under the bus. Now I know the sweetheart deal they have guarantees a tidy profit, even with modest to lousy attendance. That being said they could do much better with adjustments in their ticket and parking pricing. Fielding a consistently winning team wouldn't hurt either.