CWSGuy406

The double standard here is such a f***ing joke. There's NO defense for leaving Erstad in there. He sucks against lefties. He's 1-for-10 career vs Mahey. If that was Anderson, Ozzie wouldn't even let BA move to the on-deck batter's box. What a f***ing joke. Erstad f***ing blows.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Apr 19, 2007 -> 10:46 PM) They are better? How so? Dellucci has an on-base percentage of .350 or better twice in the last 6 years. His career batting average is .262. He had one season where he hit 29 home runs, but hasn't ever come close to that before. You are overvaluing him I believe. Nixon is always hurt and can't hit lefthanders. How exactly are they better? Maybe the grass is always greener for you. I hate using career numbers, but Delluci's career OPS+ is 103 to Podsednik's 89 and Erstad's 96. If you use three year splits, a much better indicator of what these players will do going forward, the scales tip heavily on Delluci's favor. Nixon crushes righties -- something that Podsednik or Erstad don't do. His OPS borders .900 (vs righties) over his career, a .150 point increase over our current (DLed) LFer. He also came on a cheap one year deal. He would've been a perfect fit. Who cares if he can't hit lefties? Neither can Erstad nor Podsednik. BTW -- there is no indication that guys hit better/worse in different spots. You're talking like Iguchi would just crumble under the pressure of having to go from hitting second to first. When he gets 500 ABs in the one spot and has a .300 OBP, then you can (start) to talk about him not being a capable leadoff man. Until then...

You can add a couple of guys who can be considered in the vicinity or better than Crede -- Edwin Encarnacion and Alex Gordon. From next year on, Gordon will be the better player, and I'm sure a lot of people will take him over Crede this year. Ditto Encarnacion who was worse than Crede last year -- but not by much -- and figures to be the better player going forward. QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Apr 19, 2007 -> 08:16 PM) You are delusional Compelling argument. Tell me why one of those guys SHOULDN'T be considered better than Crede. Please do.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 19, 2007 -> 04:37 PM) Is it possible that Mr. Williams still has some confidence in Mr. Owens, who I believe has started off this season hitting .290 in AAA? Oh joy, a player who's ceiling is probably 2005 Scott Podsednik. If this organization has Owens in their plans as a future leadoff hitter, I'm going to pull my hair out. I'm sick of these slap hitting speedsters who get on-base at no better than an average rate. And how, exactly, is this different from our current (DLed) LFer? Oh, right -- one can actually *mash* righties while the other can't even muster an .800 OPS against them.

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ Apr 19, 2007 -> 04:26 PM) If he can't afford to pay Buehrle $75 million for five years, how is he going to afford Pierre or Gary Matthews, Jr.? I don't think anybody was asking for either of those two. It would've been dumb as hell to pay either of those guys $40 million plus. David Delluci or Trot Nixon, on the other hand... Nixon would've been a great fit for the two hole with Iguchi leading off. Erstad still would've been needed (as a backup starting CFer), and we still would've been short a righty mashing platoon mate, but Nixon still would've been a great pickup.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Apr 19, 2007 -> 05:13 AM) Hopefully this loss wakes people up and some start to realize that Ben Gordon is not the great player everyone makes him out to be. And now, hopefully Skiles realizes that Wallace should not be playing 25 minutes in a playoff-like game. Forgive me for saying so, but I almost liked the 'injury' line-up better, ie the quicker group that featured lots of Thabo and TT. I'm really surprised how much time Duhon was given to guard Carter tonight. It seemed like Carter was manhandling Duhon all night. The parts I saw tonight were very ugly; a lot of quick possessions with bad jump shots; a lot of ugly jump shots; not a lot of defense; too many offensive rebounds for NJ. Here's where Ben Wallace is going to earn that $15 million the Bulls are paying him. He can't lay an egg against Shaq.

Calgary finally plays some freaking hockey. Iginla scored a goal -- his first point of the series. He's was invisible in both games in Detroit. It really looked like the home crowd got that team going.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 09:17 PM) I'd just like to thank Steve Stone for being a good voice of reason on the Brian Anderson situation. How the hell is Steve Stone a.) not in a front office or b.) not announcing for a team? Gosh damn... he seems like the perfect mix between "stats and scouts". That, or his instincts are 99% of the time spot on.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Apr 18, 2007 -> 02:52 AM) I suggested Sweeney or Owens, but any offensive option would be fine. Owens is no better than Ozuna or Mackowiak or Anderson. A guy who projects to be a 4th OFer shouldn't be considered as an "offensive option".

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Apr 18, 2007 -> 02:33 AM) I had Sammy Sosa and Kenny Lofton on my fantasy team In 1998 You know what's sad? Those two are better than two-thirds of our healthy, starting OF. Lofton especially... would've been a perfect choice for LF this year.

Remember when people said that Anderson would get lots of PT once Erstad or Podsednik went down? Heh.

Does anyone know of a website where I can see the new Entourage? I'm at school and HBO isn't included on our cable here...

Does anybody have a subscription to Baseball Prospectus? If so, there's news on Dewon Day in Kevin Goldstein's Monday Ten-Pack that I'd like to see.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 05:29 PM) Yeah, go ahead runs in the 9th inning mean a little more than go ahead runs in the first inning if you ask me. They wouldn't be go-ahead runs if you hadn't scored those earlier runs.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 04:12 PM) They both cant hit, and they both can field. No -- Anderson has shown he can't hit in 400 sporadic, platooned at-bats. We are not looking at 'equals' here. One is a guy in his mid-20s who has shown as early as two years ago that he could, in fact, hit reasonably well. On the other hand, Erstad is on the wrong side of 30 and hasn't hit well since six years ago. What left does Brian have to prove at AAA? The only reason he should be at AAA is to get consistent ABs. He has nothing left to prove there. He hit .300 for a year there. What's it going to do for him to go down there again and hit .300? Not a lot... He can leadership all he wants on the bench. He can put on his pom-poms and do whatever the hell that makes managers go gah-gah over him from the bench.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 04:52 PM) When has he gotten a big hit late in a game this year? The only thing I can find is the run scoring single in Oakland. Everything else has been way early in games. So runs late in the game mean more than runs early in the game? Heh -- ya learn something new every day!

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 05:59 AM) I'm extremely happy about our draft position. Just four days ago, before the Knicks losing streak, they held the 10th worst record in the league. Now, the Knicks have quadrupled our probability of winning the lottery. I wish the Bulls could eclipse Seattle, but with one game remaining against Dallas (and uncertaintly of a tiebreaker), as well as expecting the Knicks to lose two straight, I doubt everything comes together even more than it already has. Drafting in that 6-8 range would be fine with me -- anything better than that is icing on an already delicious cake. I'm pretty much banking on that pick being a true big guy with an actual post game. Hibbert is a guy I'd love, but Horford would be great too. Wright (NC)? Does he project as a true center? Because -- and I realize he'll fill out a bit -- he reminds me of Tyrus Thomas with a much better post-game. Is Wright projected as a guy who can bang with seven-footers on a nightly basis?

QUOTE(GreenSox @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 05:30 PM) First, I'd ditch Thome and keep Dye - he's a good hitter, can play the field. I don't think he'll command the salary everyone seems to think he will. Further, Thome really clogs the bases when he gets on, and makes immediately neutralizes any speed we may have. I can't believe people still think this way. Thome clogs the bases? Dusty Baker, is that you? Yikes... Thome isn't even close to being the slowest guy on our team. In fact, for a big guy, he moves quite well. If Thome "clogs" the bases, what do you think about AJ, Konerko and Crede? And to a lesser extend, Dye? QUOTE(BearSox @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 03:29 AM) ??? Maybe not Uribe, but Sweeney, Fields, and Anderson are three good guys to build a future offense around. You don't build your offense around any of the three. I can't see how you can project any of those guys to be better hitters than Paul Konerko is right now. And a Konerko-like offensive player is not someone to build your offense around. Miguel Cabrera -- there's a guy you build your offense around. Don't get me wrong -- I think all three are capable of being good players (to varying extents), but none look to ever be superstar type offensive talents.

Wow -- the Bulls are in an amazingly great situation right now. The Knicks -- depending on tiebreakers -- are currently the 6th-8th worst team in the league right now with two games left. It's looking like the Bulls are going to get a top ten pick with a (reasonably) decent shot at winning the lottery. Other than maybe the Wallace contract, this franchise looks to be in a GREAT position to regain dominance in the East (obviously not to the extend of the 90s, but I think you get my point).

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 12:29 AM) Erstad looks better in the field What has Anderson does wrong in the field? Isn't it now two consecutive days where Erstad has made mistakes in the field?

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 06:30 PM) In his last 3 injury-plagued years, Erstad's OPS is 50 points higher than Anderson. Anderson's defense is tremendously overrated -- every Sox beat writer I've heard has talked about how much trouble he has going back on the ball. We've had this argument before. He rated above average in just about all metrics, and Sox fans on Tango's Scouting Report have rated his defense above average. Ditto most Sox fans on here. Ditto just about everyone else except those beat writers. You're just plain wrong here. Quoting "White Sox beat writers" is histerical, too. Those same beat writers thought that the reason we won in 2005 was because of Ozzieball. Anderson looked fine in Spring Training. He's coming off the bench and getting ABs once a week. I don't know if Anderson is the answer in the future. He put up an .861 minor league OPS. I would think that, at the very least, he'd be able to eventually put up a .750 OPS in the majors if he wasn't jerked around like he's been for the first two years of his major league career. Maybe he falls on his face and never gets better than what he did last year. But I want to find out, and 4 ABs per week is not the way to find out. What I do know, however, is that Erstad isn't the answer to any question, other than being a good bench player. He has no upside, and the downside is ruining the career (at least his Sox career) of a CFer who the Sox spent a first-round pick on and devoted another three (plus) years of development time to.

So now Anderson doesn't play hard and doesn't break up DPs? Okay, I'll take note of that. Anderson's closing speed is much better than Erstad's. But if you want to believe that they're equal -- maybe it makes you feel better -- go ahead and believe that. Yup, he's healed and back to his 2000 ways. Err, wait, no he's not...

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 05:23 PM) Better velocity on that pitch up in the zone. 93 on the Cleveland gun. Looked legit, too. Good to see.

QUOTE(Brian @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 02:23 AM) I liked Death Proof more than Planet Terror. But both were fun. I can see why some people would criticize Death Proof. Too much dialogue and dragged. Didn't bother me too much. That is what Tarantino does. I saw Grindhouse for a second time today, and Death Proof grew on me a bit. The one black girl (the one with the poofy hair) was histerical, and the car chase scene was great. The multiple camera angles on the first crash was very neat, too.

Not to defend Greg Walker here, but maybe the reason the offense has been bad for the past three plus months of actual baseball (going back into last season) is because, in reality, the players we're bringing in aren't very good offensive players. I mean, look up-and-down the lineup. Our top of the order has got to be one of the worst in baseball. You're looking at two players -- two outfielders, much less -- who struggle to crack the .700 OPS mark. That's pathetic. Thome, Konerko, Dye -- those guys will be fine. By the end of the year, I'm confident we'll get the usual ~.950 OPS combined from the three of them (that's a pessimistic estimate, too). Then look at the bottom of the order. Iguchi and Pierzynski are no better than league-average hitters. And Uribe is (more or less) just there for his defense, although if he can hit a bit, that's awesome. I just don't expect our offense to be able to overcome the probable offensive drops from Crede and Dye. That's not to say they won't be good this year, just that it may be tough for both of them to replicate their great seasons. I really hate to beat a dead horse, here, but the obvious spot to upgrade is LF. I can't say enough how EASY it is to find .800 OPS guys at that spot. At the very least -- if you can't do it with one guy, you can make a platoon to get that .800 OPS. It's funny... we're crying about the lack of spending money the WHOLE winter, and there cash-strapped Cleveland is picking up TWO outfielders who are than two-thirds of our OF.