greg775

I haven't heard that. I trust you it's happening, but the games I've listened to he hasn't been that bad a houseman. Home Game One is the one I can't get out of my mind when Hawk about started crying in joy at how great a team the Sox have this year. Then they blew the game of course, him putting the ultimate hex on the 2018 squad (kidding). I can't imagine Stoney praising Shields that much but if he is, that's not good. Although Big James may be helping in the leadership department even though he personally sucks. That is possible. James may be trying to help some of these guys who are allegedly pitchers.

Cause he's a Sox fan. He might not be 100 percent in line with the "leader of our team." It doesn't make him any less of a Sox fan.

Guess what? This is an excellent take. How can any of the rebuilding lovers disagree? This is my take that you so beautifully worded. I beg Hahn lovers to re-read it please. Great take.

As long as Hahn and Jerry can deal with the crowds of 10,000 in June, July and August during the week and maybe 20,000 on weekends. They have no right to expect anybody to show up to watch this disgrace of a pitching staff. You'd need your head examined to go to one of those awful matchups against equally bad Central Division teams this season unless the ticket is free or you just have to have a Sox corned beef sandwich (yum).

I hope Danny is OK. Considering the circumstances I won't comment on this team. Be OK, Danny. This is scary.

Nice post. I'd play him every fricking day. Please Trayce, hit the ball and run! We need you.

I thought I'd never say this, but now that we got Trayce back, I'd sign Melky too. He isn't holding anybody back and I am not in the mood for a 40- to 45-win season. This team blows and at this point I welcome the Melk-ster back. Sign some of these guys who didn't get signed as stop-gaps. We could use 3-4 pitchers off the scrap heap as well. Somebody send Hahn an email asking for the Melkster!

They will lose more than 106 games. How can they not? The record is theirs for the taking for sure. Logic says when you have pitching this bad and defense this bad, you lose.

Somebody will take a flier on Hawkins. Guys like that get one final chance. Best wishes to him. I bet KC picks him up. They have figuratively no talent in the minors.

Man I can't believe Sox lost that game. I thought that one might be safe. LOL at Shields losing. Of course. You know, this could really be embarrassing this season. If our starting pitching remains as bad as it looks, with this bullpen, I can't see winning more than 39 games. I guess KC and Detroit are so bad we 'could' dominate those teams. But this certainly has to be the worst starting rotation in Sox history. You've got nobody except Lopez who could 'possibly' throw more than 7 innings. Unless Giolito pulls his head out and excels. I mean Shields, Gonzalez and Fulmer are horrendous. And our bullpen has maybe one good reliever in Nate. It's not been a habit of the Sox to outslug many teams. I can't see us winning many of those 12-11, 12-9 games. Maybe my 39 wins is outlandish, but we're certainly not winning more than 50 and I cannot see 50 wins. No way. I'm hoping our hitters stay interested and put in the work on their individual games, which frankly has to be difficult to do. I mean if you are at the plate starting the second week of may and the team is 12 games out, I'd imagine it'd be pretty tough to move runners, work on your own game. s***, the natural thing would be to try to homer every at bat. Good luck, Sox. I know you weren't planning on winning this season, but barring an amazing turnaround, this team's starting pitching, bullpen, defense and weak links in the lineup signal a brutal 39-win season. Like Fathom said, we do have good team speed, which frankly won't translate into wins.

Good job by Moncada. Even the few loud naysayers on here will now join us in liking him.

We should sign some independent league pitchers and get rid of some of these arms. Phil Humber is still only 35.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 18, 2018 -> 05:25 AM) You're right, they're going to have like a 50 million dollar payroll next year Any spending they do will be offseason and have nothing to do with attendance. Yes I want them to suffer embarrassment of low crowds if they are going to put this product on the big league field.

Is our AAA manager any good? Let him take over the big league club if we must save $$. Ricky needs to go. When we play this bad I think about Jason on a podcast saying how overjoyed every single Sox fan was at Soxfest. It was a party with people cheering Hahn everywhere he walked and worshiping him cause everybody loves the rebuild.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 18, 2018 -> 05:21 AM) You complain they don't spend money on players but you hope their attendance sucks? That's a horrible take. Why? You and I know they aren't ready to spend on players (yet) no matter what the attendance is.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 18, 2018 -> 05:14 AM) He's not horrible. Would have been a way better signing than Gonzalez. But yes, this team is mentally defeated. They're on one of the worst offensive stretches I've seen. It's like the third full week of the season and they look like they want the season to end. I'd fire Ricky. No offense to Ricky lovers but his refusal to change the lineup for whatever reason is stupid. Fire him. Oh wait, we don't want to pay two manager salaries I'm sure. Sox management should be embarrassed.Hopefully they don't have one crowd over 20,000 til the Cub series.

I would like to say: "Rest In Peace Barbara Bush." She appeared to be a very nice lady and a classy individual. Peace to her loved ones at this difficult time. Mrs. Bush was a gem.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 11:44 PM) Greg, in all seriousness, how could you question the relevance of BABIP as a stat? I mean of all the stats we track in baseball, including ones like RBI that have been around for decades, questioning this one seems...strange. Good question and politely worded! I like. ... I don't mind BABIP but I tired of it in relation to Avi. I am not of the opinion he HAD to stink this year after last year's out of whack BABIP. I think he still could have hit .315 with a lot of bombs and RBI. For example ... there must be examples of current STARS who had large BABIP numbers 2-3 seasons in a row. There have to be, right? QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 11:56 PM) You are unbelievable. Geez. QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 18, 2018 -> 12:12 AM) not a statnik but has no problem removing the three homeruns on opening day because it doesn't fit his "eye test". unbelievable is right. I like Davidson, remember? Also there has to be common sense here. If a guy hit 3 of his 5 homers on Opening Day and had five of his 10 RBI on Opening Day? That's one fricking game. In the last 10 he has 2 homers and 5 RBI. The homer total is still OK but cmon. He's really dropped off since Game One. I mean there has to be some consideration of this. QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 18, 2018 -> 12:12 AM) His wRC+ is basically double what it was last year (165 vs. 83), but since you're not a "statnik" let's project his current traditional stats over 443 plate appearances so we can compare to last year. 2017 Actuals: 26 HR, 68 RBI, 19 BB, 165 SO 2018 Forecast: 43 HR, 85 RBI, 85 BB, 153 SO But I get it, that .190 batting average is real concerning compared to the robust .220 he posted last year. Certainly that .118 point differential in BABIP will not normalize over the course of the year. I like the 2018 forecast. If he can hit 43 bombs, nice. I just want to see some ropes from Davidson. He's had one good game for gawd's sake. QUOTE (Tony @ Apr 18, 2018 -> 12:17 AM) I also enjoy the fact that “not a statnik” means “I am purposely being uniformed and uneducated on this issue, and I’m OK with it.” This thread was literally created saying “Please tell me what you think of Avi, but please don’t use any data points or critical thinking, just what you feel.” I did want some "human" comments about what yu all think of Avi. I didn't want a barrage of only BABIP comments. Yes I wanted pure human emotion in some responses. I would think new threads would be welcomed, but in my opinion, start a thread and u better duck. Cause the debris is gonna be flying at your head soon if you dare start a thread.

I love SWA. My only airline. I feel badly that the engine blew up today and one person has died and seven injured. Best wishes and prayers to all involved. Like an unnamed comedian had in his act before he was disgraced, we take for granted sitting in a box barrelling through the sky at 575 miles an hour. It is a miracle that we can blaze through the sky as if we are stationary figures. I hope the airline industry continues to be careful with their planes. There are so few incidents they are still doing most things right. Mistakes in that business are life and death. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/southwest-airl...stream-updates/

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 09:25 PM) Lol Greg, only you could love Davidson after his horrible 2017 but be disappointed in him after a much improved start to 2018. He's 8 for 41 which is .195. 10 RBI in 12 games is good. Five homers is good. However ... he had 3 of the homers and 5 of the RBI in one game. Yikes. 2 HRs and 5 RBI in the last 11 games. Remember I am not a statnik. I like the walks obviously and I still worship Davidson, but ... disappointment is creeping in because of my fan eyetest. I'm glad I'm not controlled by advanced stats. His first season he has 26 HRS and 68 RBI in 443 at bats. Before advanced stats that was rookie of the year contention, baby.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 05:49 PM) To answer your question Avi Garcia is a .250-.270 hitter who had one season where a lot of balls dropped in. Man. I beg to differ. I'm no advanced statnik so I have no proof but my MLB dollars fed my eyes last year and he crushed so many hits. QUOTE (Tony @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 06:15 PM) Saw this on Twitter today. But, we shouldn't use stats in this thread and instead blame the manager for batting him in a place in the order that has no barring on performance. Carry on. You sound like somebody mad I started a new thread. Remember when I said, "Start a new thread at your own risk?" People don't like new threads. Why so mean? I am an Avi lover not a hater. I quoted some stats in my original post. You are just crabby IMO. QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 06:47 PM) Not sure how much it matters as he's beating the ball right into the ground. He's 58% of his batted balls are grounders. That is not going to work. Also hasn't taken a single walk all year. That is also not going to work. He's a 270/320/420 hitter that lucked into a great year. Is what it is. I just hope his value doesn't completely crater before they can deal him at the deadline for a B- level prospect, maybe a toolsy IF type. No matter what happens I don't think he lucked into a great year. He was pretty good the whole way through. I think he had a slump in August or something but then he finished strong strong strong again. QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 06:55 PM) Avi sucks, always has and rode an extreme babip outlier to a decent season. He's a below replacement level player and always was. To think anyone is or was going to give the Sox anything other than a bag of used baseballs for him is a pipedream. Next. I don't think he's as bad as you suggest, but if he hits like this all year he's DFA candidate like Viciedo. QUOTE (Scoots @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 07:10 PM) Is it though? Look at how much Davidson is walking and he's not hitting very well right now either. I'm a Davidson lover disappointed with his start. QUOTE (Blackout Friday @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 07:52 PM) So many hot takes. Yes sir. Moral: New thread starters are not beloved. QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 08:51 PM) Avi's always had an absolute ton of red flags at the plate and on the field. I haven't liked him since the first time I saw his swing. Interesting. I respect this take.

My favorite player, Avi, is off to a horrible start. He's 13 for 56 which is a lousy .232 batting average with 1 homer and 3 RBI and just 5 runs scored. His OBP is .254 and OPS is .594. I assume his advanced stats reek. If my memory is correct, he raked almost all last season, really having no bad slumps. I ask you to NOT say this was inevitable because of BAPIP and instead talk to a non statnik here and give me your take on Avi. I prefer to blame Ricky for inexplicably batting him second. If ever a man was NOT a prototypical No. 2 hitter it's Avi. Ricky messed with him and it is NOT WORKING. Yet Ricky has him stuck at second in the order as if it is something that has to happen. Cal Ripken used to play every day no exceptions; Avi will bat second no exceptions despite his reeking. My final question: Is Avi a victim of the Sox organization being clueless or is he just another guy who will be remembered as having one good season? Who is Avi Garcia? I'm sad cause I thought he was a star and now I'm wondering if he's merely Viciedo who tries hard.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 04:14 AM) 100% what will happen. Not this year. We're that bad.

I think Hawk jinxed this team by that crap he was spewing in that home opener when he said this team was special, would never quit, blah blah. There's something special going on and you can see it, blah blah. That error by Abreu there is the ones you make when you are not concentrating because you have such a bad team. Ditto that error there by Anderson. This team totally blows. It really has no strengths when you think about it and a ton of weaknesses. That's it. Name one strength. This team has none. Only weaknesses.

As a Sox fan, I give Moncada the benefit of the doubt. He passes the eye test to me and will be a good to great player. My question/concern would be however, something I'd have to be educated on. What type of a person is he in terms of hard work/focus/caring? Isn't he the guy who was the subject of the long ESPN article on his Twinkies eating habits, etc? Wasn't that article kind of non flattering about his work ethic? Just asking. If he is a hard worker, I think he should be fine. People should IMO just relax and watch. We're not winning anything anyway right now. I'll change my mind, however, if you tell me there's hard evidence he doesn't care/loafs, etc.