CWSGuy406

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 3, 2007 -> 04:22 PM) We have better and more intelligent places to spend our money than on blocking the young guys we have who are actually producing. Richar is already several steps ahead of where I though he'd be, and showed that in September with a good hot streak. He is only going to get better from here, and I think it's a step backwards to think that "Oh, he's young, he can't possibly be ready" just because he's young and it's possible he'll struggle next year. I'm sorry, I like Richar and generally what he's done, but comparing him to Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier is apples and oranges. You're talking about one guy in Kemp who is a much, much better prospect and another guy in Ethier who hit well-above average in ~400 ABs as a rookie. Richar has only (really) had one standout season in the minors, that being this year. I agree with your main point, however, about Iguchi. I'm much more a fan of bringing in someone like Mark Loretta (who can also play 3B), so long as Loretta knows going into the season that he's the backup and Ozzie plays it that way, too.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Oct 3, 2007 -> 04:48 PM) I don't care if you hate the son of a b**** with all your heart because he's a racist, egotistical dick who has tarnished the game of baseball by breaking the record when he's admitted to steroid use in the past; if that's why you don't want him here, I respect that. If you don't want him here because you think he sucks, and because his teams don't win (with Randy Winn), then you don't understand baseball. But we don't need more home-run hitting basecloggers. We need more SPEED! Need more speed, damnit!

More stuff to get you ready for tomorrow night: http://broadband.tsn.ca/tsn/?vid=18495

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 07:45 PM) says who? The Braves are offering him arbitration, and I imagine that's a given. If so, I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see him brought back by Atlanta next year, because it'll be hard even for Scott Boras to get Jones as big a deal as Hunter on name alone, and I'd bet that's who they are shooting for contract wise. Nope.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 05:11 PM) If we throw in Crede, they'll throw in Wright. So you agree that Heath Phillips will be the dealbreaker?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 01:35 PM) Plus a few of the scrapper types like Owens. Why do you say that? I'm not insinuating Owens is on anything, just that if Alex Sanchez was busted for them, anyone could've been on 'em.

Really, I won't lose sleep over who they go with. I haven't looked it up in VORP, but there sure seems like a handful of players who are all really close in terms of value -- off the top of my head I'm thinking about Holliday, Fielder, Pujols, Cabrera, Ramirez, Wright, Utley, Rollins... Heck, why not throw Chipper Jones and his 166 OPS+ into the mix? I'm more just confused by the writers' logic in picking there MVPs. Hell, didn't a year or two ago somebody have Pierzynski in their top ten? Crap like that is ridiculous.

Hairston is a useful player. I'm kind of dissappointed the Sox didn't ever (seem) to show interest in him.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 03:27 AM) Joe Borchard. Fo' sho'. I also forgot about Mike Jackson. Everybody knows you can't be a major league baseball player at the age of 39. He was definitely on the juice. Willie wasn't, though -- he was all natural. Pure awesome. (I also hope the green isn't needed for these last two posts of mine.)

Is this where we start the (useless) speculation about which other Sox players on the 2004 team were on 'roids? Oooh, I want to play: Shingo (for sure), Ben Davis, Kelly Dransfeldt, Arnie Munoz and Felix Diaz. There. Oh -- and Timo, that lil bastard.

Where are you guys? There has been some awesome relief pitching on both sides. Bell was throwing cheese to home plate (Mets = pwned), Brocail has been nasty, ditto Herges and Corpas. Now that I say this, of course, his game will probably end in the next inning. Also, if Blum gets another chance to hit... game over. Group 4.

Podsednik?

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 01:46 AM) Give me a break -- Peavy's not a choker because he's had three rough games under the age of 27. Greg you're just being ignorant -- of course you can label Peavy a choker based on all THREE of his postseason starts. You just don't know what you're talking about. Especially against this easy offense against this team that's won what, 15 in a row? Peavy is a gagger!

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 01:44 AM) Then change it to most outstanding player award. But no player in the history of baseball has been valuable to a last place team, because if said player, no matter how great a season he had, were not around, his team would have still finished in last. You can't be serious... If the Marlins didn't have Ramirez, they're a bunch of wins worse, last place or not. You're docking him because his teammates suck. It's an individual award. That's funny -- last place team can't have a valuable player. That's golden.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 01:36 AM) I refuse to ever vote for a guy on a last place team for MVP, no matter how good he is. They could have FOR SURE finished in last place without Hanley, just as they did with him. If it were the most outstanding player award, well that's different, but until they change it from MVP to MOP, last place guys should never even be considered for the award. So you're making MVP into a 'partly about the individual, partly about the team' award. I'd like to base it on what the individual does.

QUOTE(bigruss22 @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 01:29 AM) Seriously, so theyre right what, once out of every 2 or 3 seasons? thats either 50% or 33%, either way they fail. If you look at PECOTA this year their projections were actually very good. My hate is more directed at Carroll. If I'm reading correctly, Carroll didn't have a whole lot to do with PECOTA yet he's pimping it like it's his creation.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=554

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 01:09 AM) For your next trick, convince me that the NHL still has a hockey franchise in Chicago. He'll do that only if you can top the ignorance you showed with the ESPN comment. That's going to be tough to accomplish, better get thinkin'.

QUOTE(fathom @ Oct 2, 2007 -> 12:45 AM) Aaron Cook is also someone who would be very good with a different team. Why with a different team? He's with the Rockies -- the past two years he's pitched ~380 innings of 115 ERA+. He's a fine pitcher, very underrated in fact.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 09:39 PM) But again, you seem to be 100% focused on offense. I am saying that for a catcher, defensive ability is very, very important. I know I made it seem that way in my posts but I really don't believe that. I'm just saying, Lucy has absolutely no bat -- it's tough for me to see him being better than .200/.275/.315 in the future. You best have defense like I-Rod if you hope to stick around with a bat that bad.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 08:33 PM) But our minor leagues suck. They do suck. I think our AA and AAA teams combined for next season will start the season off with all of ONE position player who projects to be a starter (Sweeney), and even that is extremely debatable.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 09:09 PM) 2. Note that I didn't look at any stats for small parts of seasons, since numbers for both of them would be all over the place. I won't be looking at Lucy's 19 games at AAA as meaningful. Then look at his season as a whole, from Birmingham through Charlotte through Chicago -- he wasn't very good. Did he deserve to be called up from Birmingham to Charlotte or was he called up more for 'organizational need'? I tend to think the latter, because his AA numbers were very mediocre, unless the organization is batting average and batting average alone. And if that's the argument they make for calling him up, we are in a LOT of trouble.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 07:32 PM) Suzuki put up OPS' in the low 800's for the heart of his minor league career full seasons (.818 at A+, .807 at AA - didn't play much AAA), which is roughly 80 points higher than Lucy at the same levels (.724, .733). Significant difference indeed, but neither of those sets of numbers indicates a hitter likely to be an offensive juggeraut at the major league level. Add into the equation defense (where Lucy is far superior, from what few stats and scouting reports I can find), and speed (Lucy was 13 of 14 this year in stolen base attempts, Suzuki didn't steal a single bag all year), and suddenly the gap narrows. Is superior defense and a little speed at catcher worth 80 points of OPS? Maybe, but its not definite thing. Using OPS isn't exactly fair to Suzuki. His minor league OBP was .376, so his OPS was generally OBP driven. If I'm reading the stats correctly, Suzuki was also at AA and AAA a year earlier than Lucy. That's huge. As far as speed, minor league stolen base numbers haven't proven to correlate much anything to the major league level. It's a definite thing in my mind. Lucy couldn't even hold his own at AAA (.471 OPS), and his promotion from AA (it could be argued) wasn't really merit based, as a .733 OPS doesn't scream "PROMOTION!". He's nowhere near 'big league' ready while Suzuki is, at a year younger no less, already a league average hitter. It's impossible for me to think otherwise. Looking at the stats and even the scouts' take -- somebody around here said the difference in Baseball America's rankings from Suzuki to Lucy was well over 50 spots -- it's impossible for me to think Lucy has any chance of being a better player going forward.

The tipping of pitches stuff always tickles me a bit. In the past couple weeks the Mets said something similar on why John Maine had been so bad in the second half -- he, too, was tipping his pitches. Always happens when someone starts to suck -- never can it be attributed to the ebb-and-flow of a season. Or, in Jose's case, maybe it's just a 36 year-old (?) with a bad back who's having age catch up to him. His forkball is nowhere near it was during his streak of dominance and I doubt he'll ever sustain a 94 MPH fastball for a full-season. His sidearm slider also used to have a lot more bite -- now it just sort of rolls up there. I don't see that as tipping pitches -- I see as crappy (and deteriorating) 'stuff'.

QUOTE(WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 07:06 PM) Rollins is a much better defensive player. That makes up the 30 point OPS+ difference?