CWSGuy406

QUOTE(studes @ Mar 29, 2005 -> 12:25 AM) Thanks a lot for all the great comments about my article. I appreciate it, and wanted to respond to a couple of them: - I totally missed that Uribe batted well in September. I should have researched that more thoroughly! - Regarding this comment: "I think the players that we had have a large part in our HR numbers, not just the park. We have had a tremendous amount of right handed power hitters in our lineup during this homerun binge. It could be a skewed number." It's true that the Sox have had a lot of righthanded power hitters, but that doesn't impact the RHB park factor. Park factors are calculated independently of who is on the team. - And regarding this comment: "I think it was weak in building a case for the Lee trade." I didn't try to build a case for the Lee trade. I tried to explain the possible thinking behind it. There's a difference. I also didn't say that getting guys in RISP was more important than getting guys who hit well in RISP. I did say that the former was a clear weakness of the Sox. I wouldn't have made the trade myself, though I don't have to worry about the team's budget. That was definitely one of the best team previews I've read, great job on that -- and awesome to see you check in. A quick question, if you have a moment and see this -- I know you went off of Gleeman's prediction of production (bleh) of Iguchi, but do you really think that he can hit .300/.345? Or, is it just too hard to tell with Japanese players (as far as not a good enough sample size to judge Japanese players and how they adjust)?

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 28, 2005 -> 10:06 PM) I don't recall many games against Oakland which were blowout wins, or where our pitching simply dominated. Whether our bullpen surrenders the lead, offense is shutdown, or some fluke occurence (Magg losing flyball in fog two seasons ago) there's always been a reoccuring theme of futility. Our troubles against Oakland disgust me becuase I take personal pleasure in watching Oakland lose, and Billy Bean supporters covering his ass. Nothing would satisfy me more than Oakland losing 90+ games this year. However, I'll probably hear" this is a rebuilding effort" in response. Flash, do you remember (two years ago, I think it was) the two duels that Mark Mulder in Mark Buehrle had, one at the Cell, and one at the Colleseum? I'm not old enough to remember any really great classics, but those two games were probably the best two games I've ever seen in my lifetime. Both games were under or close to two hours long, and both games saw Buehrle and Mulder dominate. I remember Oakland winning one, forgot who won the other, but man -- those games were beautiful, win or loss. Anyone else remember those?

Jim, do you by chance know if tickets for Saturday's game are going to be hard to come by? Me, my brother, and my dad plan on going to the Saturday game, and do you think we'll be able to buy tickets at the gate?

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Mar 28, 2005 -> 09:34 PM) So in your opinion, what has contributed more to their sucess; the sabrmetrics aprroach, or the stellar pitching? Certainly both, but wouldn't you say that the sabermetric approach helped them land a guy like Zito or Mulder -- a guy that doesn't necessarily throw hard, but has proven that how he throws works? Then again, I can't really characterize Beane taking Zito/Mulder as sabermetric... I'm really not the one to ask about this. I'm very dumb when it comes to sabermetrics, and am trying to learn as much as I can through reading guys like Bill James. I just know that the comments that Hawk makes towards Beane and his approach to building a winner are stupid.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Mar 28, 2005 -> 09:11 PM) Is he wrong? No, but he brings it up like Billy just lucked into those guys. Does he forget who drafted them (IIRC, Billy drafted at least two out of the three)? And, his constant ragging of Oakland's system is really pathetic. Oakland has won more games in a much tougher division the past what, four, five years, and then he turns around and calls Kenny the best GM in all of baseball... It's overkill at this point...

That pitching staff might be dominant next season. Blanton, Meyer, Haren, Harden, Cruz, Calero, Street, Bradford, Garcia -- should easily be the best in the AL West, and one of the best in all of baseball... Didn't Garcia pitch in Oakland's farmsystem, somewhere in the Chicagoland area? I seem to remember Tony raving about his stuff...

QUOTE(3E8 @ Mar 28, 2005 -> 08:27 PM) Uribe really is fun to watch defensively. I agree. Definitely one of Kenny's best trades during his tenure...

QUOTE(3E8 @ Mar 28, 2005 -> 08:22 PM) Where does Hawk's disdain for Billy Beane stem from? I dunno... Maybe it's 'cause in "Moneyball", Beane shows a dislike for the older scouts, the ones who go off of 'tools' rather than results/stats. I assume Hawk goes along with the older scouts, though that could be a bad assumption on my part...

QUOTE(3E8 @ Mar 28, 2005 -> 08:10 PM) I'll go with 5 times. And it's begun! Bottom of the first. Hawk says that he thinks that Oakland will begin to go back to "conventional" baseball... Ugh... I don't even want to listen.

What's the over/under on Hawk ripping Billy Beane/Moneyball?

Dodd has us taking Rodgers? Is he nuts?

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Mar 28, 2005 -> 06:05 AM) I consider it the ultimate sport when played at the highest level. Certainly enjoyable to watch. The majority of the world seems to agree... Don't get me started on golf and nascar. Don't worry about it SleepyWhiteSox, I get the same response when I post something about hockey. Some people don't realize that those two sports are huge in places not named America. And, while I'm not a fan of soccer myself, I certainly respect those players. They gotta be in some real, real good shape -- the soccer field is friggin' huge. And, I saw highlights of the game. I guess it was pretty intense, huh? Didn't the Mexican coach get kicked out as well as one of their players?

I'm headin' down there for the Saturday game. Can't wait.

And, if Kenny is really, really unimpressed by Contreras, what teams would/could possibly have interest in him? The only team that keeps popping into my head is Texas, and that's only because they seem to be so desperate for pitching. But, they have really nothing we could use (Blaylock?), meaning we'd have to get players from them who we could then deal to another team... It could be a real long season if Contreras doesn't get his head out of his ass...

QUOTE(AnthraxFan93 @ Mar 28, 2005 -> 06:20 PM) The one thing that got a smile on my face is the last sentance.. I been asking for years, why move the fences in? It has been said that it is easier to win in a pitchers park than a hitters park.. Next year maybe they can do that... We will see. Someone asked a question to that effect at Soxfest, though I don't quite remember Kenny's response... (anyone?)

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 28, 2005 -> 06:04 PM) Now you cant start an argument about having felix diaz over contreras. The sky must be falling if you think the JC's performance in ST is a indicator of how he will do in the season, and make you think Diaz is a better option. I mean how can you be jumping ship because of ST and ONE tribune article. Its starting to look like the north side on these message boards. Give me one reason why some of us should believe that Contreras will be able to pitch well for a whole season? And don't tell me about his 2003, because he only pitched 70 innings, the equivelant to 10-11 starts...

Easily the best preview I've seen thus far. Some previews I saw didn't even include our entire offseason aquistions, and even though a lot of the sabermetric crowd tends to hate on Kenny, good to see someone give him some props. Over the past week, more and more I've read THT. Some really enjoyable reads on that site, too... EDIT: And I also just got to reading his predictions for Iguchi, and man -- Gleeman made an awesome prediction as far as Kaz Matsui last year. The only thing that he was really off in was SLG%. Just thought that was really neat... I think I'm going to send him an email. I've really enjoyed reading a couple of his articles...

Alrighty, here's my All-Star sliders. I dunno if anyone is actually going to use them, but I said that eventually I'd get around to posting them. Here they are: User Pitch Meter Difficulty: -13 Pitch Speed: 0 CPU Ball Rate: 0 User Pitch. Fatigue: 0 CPU Pitch. Fatigue: -7 (Could be even less than that, adjust at your own playing.) User Pitch Control: -5 CPU Pitch Control: -9 Bullpen Fatigue Rate: 0 Bullpen Fatigue Grace: 0 User Bat. Contact: 14 (Start it off at the mid-20s, and as you get better, lower it.) CPU Batting Contact 33 (Probably could go up some -- when you feel more comfortable pitching, raise it.) User Bat. Power: -1 CPU Bat. Power: 2 User Bunt: 0 CPU Bunt: 0 User & CPU Foul Ball Frequency: 50 (Some real good AB's). CPU Swing Frequency: 0 (Probably could be lowed for more realistic K numbers). User OF Speed (Manual and MVP): -7 CPU OF Speed: -16 User IF Speed (Manual and MVP): -10 CPU IF Speed: -20 User Throw Speed: 2 CPU Throw Speed: -14 User & CPU Throw Accuracy: 0 User & CPU Catch Errors: 0 User Dive Difficulty: 0 CPU Catch Effort: -15 User Baserun. Speed: -2 CPU Baserun. Speed: -4 User Run Agression: 5 CPU Run. Agressioin: 8 User Runner Steal Speed: 4 CPU Runn. Steal Speed: 0 User & CPU Run. Steal Delay: 0 CPU Steal Rate: 8 Injury Frequencies: (Anywhere from 2-4, whatever you feel like) Pitching MG Difficulty: 0 Offensively, you gotta learn to take pitches. If you actually try to do so, you can actually draw 3-4 walks a game without doing much. I'm still tweaking them, I'm still winning a little to easily, but hopefully I'll figure it out.

So 3E8, you have it? Can you explain this thing to me? You buy the games for it, and you also gotta buy movies for it, too? Or, can you just download movies off of something like 'Ares' or 'Kazaa', and then put those onto this memory stick? And, you can also download music onto this like an MP3 player? I'm thinking of buying it, but if I have to buy a whole lot of other stuff -- within reason -- then I'm not gonna throw my money away. But, if all I have to buy is games, and I can download the games/movies, then I'm definitely gonna think about buying it...

DBAHO, I definitely like the idea about Harris, but would Sabean actually trade for not one, but two guys under 30 years of age? Anyways, a couple days ago my brother showed me an issue of Baseball America, and that issue had their Top 100 Prospect list. They have two Giant prospects on the list, the afformentioned Valdez and an outfielder named Fred Lewis. Valdez -- I assume they wouldn't give up their top prospect, and Lewis is an outfielder, an area where we are pretty stacked in -- plus, he's a free-swinger, strikes out a ton, doesn't walk a whole lot. Just wanted to bring that up for reference...

The Twins PA announcer, Bob Casey, passed away yesterday. My thoughts go out to his family...

Who started for the Sox today?

I think teams can care less if he has power from both sides of the plate if he can't hit above .200... But hopefully the Giants can find a spot for him, it'd be nice to get a Jerry Owens-like player (not necessarily an OF'er, just a raw kid with potential) out of a deal like that.

QUOTE(SoxFanForever @ Mar 27, 2005 -> 07:17 PM) Walks in the minor leagues don't necessarily mean very much. Look at guys like Michael Young. Yeah, but it tends to translate better to the major leagues than a high batting average does. And, Young seems alright as far as 'walking', but he didn't show a lot of consistency at taking the base on balls in the minors. For the most part, it seems that Young relies on a fairly high BA to get on base, though he's not 'afraid' (lack of a better word) of taking a walk.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Mar 27, 2005 -> 06:40 PM) I should probly add this as well: The last few minutes of regulation, with me crying and sulking in my chair, my mom (who's not hardcore obviously, but she cheers for them and watches almost every game because i'm there) is like "we can do this, come on there's time left...it's not over til it's over" and all that cliche stuff. I was so close to just being like "shutup already mom" because it was typical mom-style positive attitude in a time of utter disbelief and sadness in my life..down 14 freakin points. Who woulda thought mom was right Same with my mom. Me and my dad are sitting there watching the game, and, while my mom didn't watch any Illini games this year, she usually roots for the Chicago teams, so she comes down -- and she sees them down 15. She's feelin' real bad for Illinois, but then she's like, "we can still do this". My dad and I are basically just watching the game because nothing else is on, and they start chipping away. My mom, who I never knew even liked Illinois, is cheering real, real loud when Deron hit that three. (I should have prefaced it by saying no one in my family is a big Illinois fan -- we usually cheer for Depaul/Northwestern...).