Gene Honda Civic

This actually is a good question, and I think it may be WH. Last time this Q was asked with AJ's signing, I absolutely thought it was Reynoso. But after reading some things here and something from a Q&A with Merkin on MLB.com(I think) -- It sounds like 1) the Sox are really high on him and 2) they feel that he would be picked up by somebody.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 08:00 PM) Leave Timo alone, he's here and you love him You have to admit, .262/.343/.323, cheap w/ good defense at 2B looks better than .246/.285/.338, $1M w/ poor range and a plus arm in the outfield. One is almost universally loathed, and looks to be done with this team, the other is a beloved mascot of ineptitude.

Iguchi takes #7 and the Sox current #7 hits the bricks.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 06:47 PM) Iowa probly shouldn't have moved, makes sense to me. Who the hell voted for Duke to be #1? LOL. I guess DUkie V. has a vote after all.... I don't know why anyone would be surprised by Duke being undefeated... OMG 5 mcDonalds All-Americans coached by Krysysyekslwlki have a 14-0 record.. He must be the best coach in america.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 06:35 PM) Exactly. That scares me ALOT. Especially since no one seems to talk about we were the only team to be in the running for this guy. That makes me question something... The Yankees would rather have Tony Womack start at 2B, I think that says a lot. Of course this can be countered by saying those same Yankees didn't really even examine the possibility of the all-around solid Placido Polanco.

I don't know whether to credit the voters, or just a bunch of other teams for losing, but somehow Iowa was able to stay in both polls top 25(not moving in either poll) despite losing in a valiant effort at Illinois. Normally any loss from the 24th spot will drop you out, but aparently the voters were impressed in their defeat.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 05:05 PM) How about this? White Sox get: A.J. Burnett Marlins get: Jon Garland Willie Harris I would do that trade in a second. The Marlins get cost-cutting replacements for Burnett and Castillo and we upgrade our rotation. There's a problem with that though... Jon and Willie make more $$$ than Burnett.

QUOTE(BlackBetsy @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 05:52 PM) I don't get the .103 ISOp, da Chort. Why would you think his ISOp would be even lower than Kaz Matsui's? Matsui went from hitter's park in Japan to pitcher's park in the US. Iguchi is doing the opposite. I see an ISOp in the .140-.170 range - short of his .220+ in Japan, but much better than Matsui's. You may be giving him too much credit in terms of walking. If he hits .262, his OBP will be .325-.330. My guess is .285/.350/.440, which is probably on the low end of what he is capable. I wouldn't be surprised with a .310/.390/.480 line, either, but that's probably in the 90th percentile of expectations for him. Nothing truly scientific to back it up... The avg/obp, I just used Willie's numbers off the top of my head... I just don't think you can take two solid years in Japan, and ignore the 4 crappy years before it. We've seen the adjustment period in other japanese imports. The Matsui's (50hr's in 2002, 16 in 2003 for Godzilla), Ichiro(although he was asked to just get on base) ---The averages were down a little, but the power was down a lot. I don't think you can say just because his park is of similar size to USCF that there won't be a drop-off. The league that he plays in is full of tiny indoor boxes. The major league, while trending to smaller parks, is still much less hitter frindly than japan. The ISOp is probably low, but I didn't put a ton of thought into it. I would definitely be surprised by an OPS much higher than .700. The second year of the deal, I'd expect some big things from Iguchi(.290/.365/.435). I just feel there's some significant growing pains to be felt in the next 8 months.

I was on the Whitesox.com board on Friday, and I saw that he had some recent posts over there.

In general, most parks are smaller in Japan. USCF is considered a small park in the states, and Tad's home park is a pitcher's park in Japan. So his numbers are still inflated based on the 50% of games that he plays in those small parks away from home.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 04:53 PM) and does that take into account he'll be playing in USCF? No, but there is steroid testing now.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 04:27 PM) Yeah its incredibly stupid for the Sox to keep a dirt cheap player around, when we can put all of our eggs into the Iguchi basket. I hope Iguchi is outstanding, but to say it would be stupid to have a cheap plan B, I just dont understand. For all the hate for Harris, I wonder why so many people dont hate Crede? Ah well, I hope the Sox do not knee jerk sell Harris at the lowest possible price. SB I have exactly the same feeling.

OK, just to sqaush the Captain Buzzkill nickname -- Here's Iguchi's Major League Equivalents for the last 5 years (an approximation of what his production would have been in the major leagues) Credit: This site Tadahito Iguchi dob Dec 4, 1974 BR TR pos 2B 2003 salary: $2.24 million YEAR G AB H 2B 3B HR BB AVG OB PCT SLG 2000 65 194 45 11 4 5 14 .230 .284 .402 2001 162 639 155 29 2 21 57 .243 .305 .393 2002 132 495 120 16 2 13 25 .242 .278 .357 2003 156 596 189 42 2 19 75 .317 .393 .488 2004 151 621 193 41 4 18 40 .311 .358 .474 He's just turned 30 and has been released by his team so he can go to the majors. He's finally turned in two similar seasons. I'd say he's likely to play at least another year or two at about the 2004 level, then begin to decline with age. He won Gold Gloves in 2001 and 2003, but as we saw with Kazuo Matsui, that's no guarantee of a NPB middle infielder's prowess with the glove at the major league level. I'd scout that aspect of his game carefully, because if his defense is up to snuff, you've got to like a .300 hitting second baseman with some pop in his bat. Unless Jojima is posted, he's almost certain to be the best player to come over from Japan this year.

Tam-Iguchi

QUOTE(3E8 @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 03:49 PM) Where are your predictions cheat? p.s. hilarious avatar. He's gonna struggle .262/.343/.365 -- 11HR, 45 RBI, 31SB, countless balls not played because the backhanded scoop is shameful. Oh and the avatar has been in the works for a couple weeks now. I was just waiting for it to become official

So wait the Cubs calander doesn't have samme, but the Sox one I got for christmas has Maggs Carlos Loaiza Jose Sandy

QUOTE(mmmmmbeeer @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 03:21 PM) .282/.343 with 28HR 84RBI and 27SB This is the Kool-aid I was talkin about 28 HR?????

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 03:14 PM) BB, I'm honestly just curious here, is that an opinion, or is that using statistics? I've seen on baseballreference.com where it noted The Ballpark at Arlington as a better hitter's park then USCF last year(USCF had a 107 batter rating, 106 pitcher rating, while the Ballpark at Arlington had a 111 batter rating, 109 pitcher rating). Given, I am not very educated on that topic, don't know how much the home offense affects that, don't know how the team's pitching staff affects that...I am just seeing 111-109 to 107-107. Given, both are very good hitter's parks regardless...and I do think your numbers are very reasonable. In the end, I really do like the signing. We are almost fortunate that San Francisco gave Vizquel that 3rd year, otherwise we would have likely had no shot at Iguchi. This is very much a medium-risk, high-reward signing..and is a very good signing. I would almost say don't be surprised if Harris is dealt...but that would be a poor choice, having no idea what Iguchi will do in the MLB. Wite, BR uses 3-year park factors. so that would explain the difference, considering USCF played close to nuetral in the two years prior. The one year Parf effects were greatly skewed towards USCF being a hitters haven. We won't know for sure until there are a couple more years played, but I think it's pretty safe to say, after what we've observed with our own eyes that USCF is one of the top 3 hitters parks in baseball.

There seems to be an inordinate amount of people hear sipping the kool-aid and ready to place this guy in Cooperstown tomorrow. I was wondering what you thought his production would be next season... .avg/.obp/.slg HR RBI

I'm on the record that a Harris/Valdez/Uribe triple platoon at 2B/SS would be cheaper, better defensively, and probably produce at the same rate as Iguchi at second.

It's amazing the confidence all of you have in a guy you've never seen before.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Jan 23, 2005 -> 09:03 PM) Regular season wins are nice, but when you choke in your only two playoff starts, not much else you can say. He made some absolutely horrible throws in the playoffs, yes he's a rookie, but he did choke this year. I'm not giving up hope for the future with him, I'm just pissed that Jerome's probable last chance was ruined. Jerome had plenty of other chances, and never got it done by himself. That he had to rely on a rookie to get him there says all you need to know about him... Maybe it's Bettis you should be directing your anger towards. he's 0-3 in AFC championships.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Jan 23, 2005 -> 08:51 PM) Congrats to Ben chokeonaburger for f***ing up Jerome Bettis' last chance at the superbowl. I hope that dips*** goes into a long depression over this. Not that I'm bitter or anything. The kid was the field general for 25 straight victories. I don't think there's any need to start calling him a choke artist. I am starting to come around on Tom Brady though, he's one victory away from an automatic spot in Canton.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Jan 23, 2005 -> 06:33 PM) Um...cheat, don't you mean, NHL: Coming to an arena Near you in 2007? I don't have sigs turned on -- I vaguely remember puting a flag up the other night while I was drunk. -- Ah nobody else will notice anyway. Who cares about hockey?

He was DFA'd by Anaheim... We picked him up because he didn't clear waivers.