greg775

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 12:55 AM) He was the second best position player on the team in 2013 by fWAR. Yes but the team was the Sox worst in something like 40 years. QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 01:02 AM) Beckham made more than $2.9 million last season. I expect that would put him at $3.2 or so next season. I'm for giving him one more chance. He was having a solid season but was hurt repeatedly. Came back OK from the first one but not the second. Beckham has it made because he's a former No. 1 draft pick, eighth overall. Sox PROBABLY will let him be mediocre a SIXTH straight season maybe even give him a 7th before finally dumping him. I mean there's probably a small chance he might emerge (it took Alex Gordon a while), but for sure Beckham gets a break cause the Sox made a big mistake in drafting him that high. Another overvalued college hitting star who couldn't adjust. QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 01:37 AM) Isn't we widely considered a good teammate? Do you not realize he was the most productive hitter on our team? With so much garbage on this team, why on Earth would you prioritize getting rid of the best hitter? I do not understand the personal player vendettas on this site. Don't you guys care about winning games? Yes and Dunn is a big reason we lose games. He stunk to begin the season again as we lost game after game. He is buzzkill. What'd he wind up with, 33 homers? That's like Babe Ruth on our pathetic team, but I agree with those who say he's just buzzkill, a bad influence with his horrific batting style of trying to pull everything that he happens to make contact with. No reason to discuss it ... no team will take Dunn off the Sox hands so one more year of the big fella. I'd expect .210, zillions of strikeouts, 30-36 homers, 90 ribbies. QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 01:55 AM) Ya, dude was 5th in HRs and 15th in RBIs in the AL. Ks be damned you're gonna be hard pressed to find that kind of production when you're also looking to find that sort of production to replace PK. His Ks suck, and him being nothing more than a dead pull hitter does as well but the fact of the matter is if he didn't K that much or he was able to spread the ball around he'd be a bonafide superstar. He's not, he has obvious flaws but that doesn't mean he isn't a good player, you Dunn haters just expect too much. I am a Dunn hater, that is true. But to be fair to us Dunn haters, when we see Dunn we see the letter L - he's played on Sox teams that have suffered L after L after L the last full season and last month of the previous season. Again, he's going nowhere so I better plan on canceling my MLB subscription before it renews itself. I can renew it the following year when he's gone.

I wonder how many guys the new hitting coach will recommend keeping? We have a lot of players that could be reclamation projects if they are not traded/released. We say Coop saves lousy pitchers off the scrap heap. Will the new hitting coach want to try with some of our hitters? This hitting coach ... will he want to try to make a hitter out of an unproductive first-round pick in Beckham? Does he think Viciedo can learn how to recognize a pitch out of the strike zone and learn how to hit? Does he think Flowers and/or Phegs can learn how to hit? Will he even want the job knowing he has to work with Mr. Whiff at An Alarming Rate, Adam Dunn? Can he take Lexi to the next level? Or will he yawn and tell Hahn he only is looking forward to A. Garcia in this current lineup?

In regards to how bad Beckham is ... he had 24 RBI in 408 plate appearances. Is that possible? Getz actually had 18 RBI in 237 at bats. How can Beckham be so unproductive for a No. 8 overall pick in the draft?? Considering how high he was drafted, he has been such a bust. I'm sick of him. Beckham also had five stolen bases meaning he also is a bust in the speed category. Hopefully Hahn recognizes he has a replacement there in Semien and he can try to acquire a 3Bman to replace that black hole as well. Get to work, Mr. Hahn on your plan.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 09:17 PM) Beckham is the only player I think the Sox should replace, and that's simply because they have a player that I believe is a better option. If they keep Beckham and Semien opens the year at SS or 3B or even in the minors, I wouldn't mind. Oh, and Getz is one of the worst hitters in the major leagues. In 1546 career plate appearances at the MLB level, Getz has career splits of .251/.310/.309/.619 with 3 home runs. Seriously Greg, look at the f***ing numbers before you make ridiculous assertions like this. I should have said "good field no hit" then in regards to Beckham. He has five home runs. That means he has no power. Getz has no power. But Getz can field; Beckham can field. OK, Getz is a worst hitter. Neither are a guy you want on your team outside of a utility role.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 07:46 PM) Beckham is as good as he will ever be unfortunately. That ship has sailed. Yes, I think the ship has sailed on Beckham, Viciedo and DeAza. Replace all 3 please. Beckham is as bad as Getz IMO. Five home runs? What a head case. Seemed like Gordon had talent, but he and his many different batting stances are done.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 03:54 PM) 1b needs a warm body. Abreu is my top guy. Would accept others like Morales if somehow we miss on Abreu. With every other position on the roster I can at least say who plays it next year, including catcher. The guy we have at those spots might be someone we'd want to improve upon, fine, but right now the only 1b on the roster is Andy Wilkins/Adam Dunn/Jeff Keppinger. And it's time for our last 1b to retire. 3B IMO is a bigger problem than first base. We have a guy at 3B who could play for one team in baseball apparently, ours, in Gillaspie. If I had to pick one thing, it'd be having Dunn retire. If you give me five things, 1.) Dunn please retire. 2.) Get rid of Kepp/Gillaspie and let Semien play third if we can't get a free agent. 3.) Get a new CF and get rid of DeAza. 4.) Get a new 2B and get rid of Beckham. 5.) New catcher.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 05:31 PM) Agreed. At least they dumped him before he could permanently damaged Garcia/Semien. Semien walk rate in AA: 17.4%. Result: League MVP Semien walk rate in ML: 1.4% Result: .261./268/.405 That's just alarming! Somebody should bring that stat to Soxfest this year. I mean, totally unacceptable. Thank goodness Manto got fired for this horrific offense.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 02:36 AM) I love your hard data on all of your points, makes it seem much more sane and logical. Seriously, do you need hard data to make my argument true? As an American and (very dissatisfied) Republican who voted for Obama I am VERY frustrated that he can't get anything done. The man simply is a bust. This Obamacare thing is a disaster with him getting so little support for it. The economy is so bad and companies have downsized so much, I can't see that EVER changing to where companies will significantly increase hiring or pay ever again. Why should they? The economy has been so miserable with unemployment so high and wages so low. I've heard even law firms that once were booming have cut back on things like internships, etc. And you know darn well if Obama could run again, he'd win again for many many reasons. The liberal media would again have a lovefest on Michelle and Barack and the kids and how he's so charming, compared to the Republican zombie candidate. All his lovable intangibles would AGAIN come out during his third election. And he'd still get all the minority vote (Afr. American, Hispanic) and he'd win going away. GOING AWAY. And he's a horrific president. That's why I say, WHAT A COUNTRY! I'm so frustrated. What BILL Clinton said today IMO is true; Republicans want Obama and the country to fail and that's very very sad, and they should be so ashamed of themselves, but there's always been partisanship. Unlike Clinton and Reagan and the Bushes to a certain extent, Obama COULD NOT do anything with the other side. Nothing and thus he's a failure. Whatever happened to lobbying, making deals, whatever TO GET THINGS DONE!?

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 07:14 AM) Wrong. Last year was a good year. By YOUR very reasoning I don't understand how you now say last year was a good year. That goes against all the points you have been making. The Sox choked the last two weeks and didn't make the playoffs, meaning they had an "average" year by your printed standards on this board. You said, "If you aren't going to have a good year, the next best thing is a bad year. The order in fates you want for your team go.... 1) Very good 2) Very bad 3) Average" So now last year was a good year?? I mean to many of us, it was a good year because we were .500ish and in the race. How so by your standards? We fell off the map and we were not 1.) Very good. So that means you want No. 2. Very bad. And the Sox were not very bad. Seems like you are backtracking.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 06:52 AM) So, rather than winning 85 games last year and nearly winning the division, you would have rather the team been terrible, because it's only average and the team missed the playoffs. Just so we have it on the record. I think that's what a lot of the draftlovers are saying. I think they don't want a pennant race if they know we are going to fall short, even with 85 wins or so. They want playoffs and if they don't get that, they want 99 losses.s***, they probably prefer 99 losses even if we make the WC and lose the one-game playoff. I mean, what good is the season if you don't win anything, right? Bring on the 99 losses.

Fathom, if Gillaspie is our 3B next year, I predict 99 losses again. Got to get major leaguer regulars on the field.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 03:39 AM) Eh, he knew Cuban would throw all his money into attempting to fixing the Cubs. With Ricketts, he knows he won't spend much money in improving the team. What a good ol boys club. Is Reinsdorf that popular all the other owners would just say, "Screw you Cubs. You aren't considering any bids by Cuban." Why do the other owners feel any allegiance to Jerry? Cuban just might be a breath of fresh air. I can't believe how the Sox are unable to become the best franchise in this weak-ass division. Cuban or somebody might fix that. We should be dominating the Central year in and out.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 29, 2013 -> 10:59 PM) Just a terrible idea. A completely unfocused silly season for him and he was still a solid hitter. Thing is, at this stage of his career why would he be unfocused? He's just starting his career; he should be so happy to be playing MLB. QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 04:15 AM) De Aza's faults are correctable and that's a good thing I don't think you can become a good baserunner. I think he's so bad at that part of the game, that in itself is enough to dump him for anything you can get.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Sep 28, 2013 -> 12:09 AM) So way back in my 3rd year of college I met this girl and we really got on. Hitting it off, we really worked well together. I was all about her, I struggled to hide it and suppress it but eventually really "went for it" and kinda struck out. Since then we had talked every 6 months or so cause even though it wrecks me every time I just engage her anyways. I'm a glutton for punishment. So my truck breaks down outside the city she moved to out west, and being the dumb ass I am I called her. She of course rushed out and we hung out for a few hours having not seen each other face to face in 3 years. It was great, we picked up like right at this awesome place we were at before. She looked fantastic, she was still smart and I mean, yea, it was all still there. She went on to kinda complain about the relationship she had been in for a year or so now and I had to tell her not to go on about it, and she complied but of course it stuck with me. This girl ain't dumb, she knew what she was saying. Since then all those feelings have just rushed back. I just stew on it for 11 hours by myself driving the truck. And I mean its not like I can sustain anything even if she was on board, I have to be from Burley, ID to Worcester, MA in the next 5 days. And from there who knows. It just sucks, this is the one girl I ever really got beat up over. I can't help but stay in touch with her because she's so stimulating and really is one of a handful of people stands up to my bulls*** but the only one who never judged me for it. It blows, man. And the thing is next time I'm in her neck of the woods I'll call her again. I can't help it. Well, she's not married. She's still on the market. It's like that old episode of "The Office" where Jim wants Pam, who is engaged to a moron. Michael Scott said to Jim, "She's not married; don't give up." It can be that simple, though distance is probably prohibiting you from standing a chance.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 03:27 AM) That is absolutely the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Being average is not the worst thing because that means you are winning some and that you are at least relatively close to having a winning team. Being terrible and losing most of your games is the worst thing which is why sport leagues give high draft picks and the right to pick the very best players in the draft to those worst teams. By your logic, the Sox could lose 90-100 games for the next 50 years and it'd be perfectly fine by you. I mean, if you can lose for 1 year and it's a good thing, then you can assuredly lose for the next 50 years and it'd be good too. Excellent beatdown post! Some of the people who were begging for us to lose every game (not Fathom, I think he really wanted the draft pick) struck me as having very little pride in the Sox and being a Sox fan. It's almost like they were glad we were out of it so they didn't have to worry about us being in a pennant race or something. I could be mistaken but I caught a weird vibe from the draft people, almost like they preferred not having a good team. It's like they only want a great team that runs away with the division and if we cant have that, they are fine with 99 losses.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 03:32 AM) Funny enough, JR was the one who blocked him from getting the Cubs. Cuban was on Olbermann a few weeks ago, and he said he was told by JR that he had no chance so he shouldn't even bother trying. He didn't bother listening to JR, but was indeed blocked from buying the Cubs by him. He went on to say he will not pursue buying another baseball team because of those politics - getting blocked from buying a team by a guy who didn't even know him, nor did he have even a 5 minute conversation with ever. That's a wild story. Yet Jerry has no problem with the Royals' inept owner, David Glass. I wonder what Jerry feared from Cuban in owning the Cubs. The Cubs appear to have a capable owner now. Cuban might have been worse than what the Cubs would up getting.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 02:30 AM) The last time the Royals made the playoffs, Ronald Reagan was President. Wow. I'd really like some discussion on this, though. Royals fans think they are back and I kind of disagree.

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 29, 2013 -> 10:04 PM) What world do you live in? Where do you disagree with what I wrote so I can respond?

Since this is the Central thread, please give me your opinions of the Royals' future. I am thinking this might have been their year and the fact they didn't make the playoffs may spell continued doom for KC. I truly feel Brett's 2 month stint with the team turned around Hosmer. He may return to medocrity again next year, in fact there's a good chance he'll be mediocre without the boost from Brett. Moustakas appears to be a Beckham-like bust. Very average player. Not saying he's finished yet, but signs are he's not very good. Shields had a very good year and still didn't get them a playoff berth. Shortstop and second base appear to be hitting black holes for KC now. That's not good for the future when the corner infielders have no power. Cain is injury prone. Gordon is their best player along with Sal Perez. RF is blah. Butler had an off year for him; he figures to return in a blaze of glory. Their bullpen appears average to pretty good on paper. Crow had a bad year and Holland was as good as you can be. Their starting pitching was excellent. So tell me ... because of starting pitching and a good bullpen, will KC remain a 10-over-.500 or better than that team next year? Or did they blow their chance at a WC and will KC remain KC next season? I'm thinking unless they acquire a big bopper bat, KC will remain out of playoff contention next season. I'm glad we got A. Garcia before KC could put together a trade for him.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Sep 29, 2013 -> 10:45 PM) The worst thing you can be in professional sports is average. For that reason, I believe this was a very productive season for the White Sox. I give us an A- grade for this season. Well done. I will not take the bait. I will not take the bait. I will not take the bait. So no comment. QUOTE (Tannerfan @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 12:45 AM) I'm gonna go with not wearing the black jerseys very often. I just don't like those things so not having to see them very often was a definite highlight. Didn't Sox win on Opening Day? That was fun. That's about it for me. Plus the extra inning win I saw in Kauffman Stadium. It was fun to win and see my 3 Royals friends get so pissed. ... I agree about the black jerseys, though. That was a highlight. I don't like those, either.Another highlight for me was not getting banned on Soxtalk. I survived a couple heated issues without getting the boot.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Sep 29, 2013 -> 11:05 PM) QFT. Beautiful post. As far as not getting good again til JR moves on, why can't Cuban own a baseball team? Why does baseball not want him in? I'd love to see him take over for JR and throw his tantrums at the umps, etc., and maybe put the pressure on some people to turn the Sox into a Central Division power. If we could just win the division every other year, I'd be pleased. It's not a difficult division in theory.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Sep 29, 2013 -> 09:45 PM) What a fitting end to 2013 bases loaded 1 out and nothing but K after K. Season That's exactly what I thought. Even with Manto gone and a young hopeful up to the plate in Semien, the same malady struck. I hope that was the last at bat I'll see from Beckham in a Sox uniform. I would like to see Sox dump Beckham and DeAza on somebody. I can't take DeAza's dumb baserunning anymore and Beckham's mediocrity bothers me. I'd trade Beckham to the Royals for Giovatella, but Gio's defense really really really appears to be a problem, so nix that. QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Sep 29, 2013 -> 11:22 PM) That could have happened in innings 3 through 9. I found the decision very odd. Pop out in only one at bat, an out in the field next inning and then pulled. Unless he was hurt or something, it wast just weird. I really blew this one. I thought it was all planned and it turned out Paulie has the bad back flareup. Man, he's really broken down. I guess quitting at 38 isn't so bad. I'd like to have seen him last through the age of 40, though. His body just can't take the grind anymore (it appears from the last couple seasons).

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Sep 29, 2013 -> 08:11 PM) Didn't understand why Konerko only hit once -- and left after making an out. what kind of exit was that? forgettable, just like this season. It was weird, but it's obvious nobody wants to play the game today. Royals announcers were saying its in baseball's unofficial book to just get the game over with as quick as possible. Never work a count, swing at everything. Get it over with. I'd bet he's 80/20 coming back but in case he isn't at least the fans got to cheer for him coming off the field. It seemed pretty OK to me.

That was pretty neat. Paulie taken out in the middle of the 2nd inning so the fans and the Royals could cheer for him. My favorite player in Sox history by far.

DeAza's instincts are so bad. He's got to be one of the scapegoats for this season. I doubt he makes the big-league club next year if he's not traded in a minor deal. He has some talent but he has too many deficiencies for the big-league level.