hogan873

Sometimes it depends on who was involved in the trade, or how much the player signed for on another team. Since most of the latest trades have been good ones for the Sox, it's easier to wish the former Sox players to do well. I'll always like players like Buehrle and AJ, and even though they might be overpaid now I still hope they do well...for them, not necessarily for their new teams. I'd like to see Reed and Santiago do well. Both are good young players, but the return on both guys looked pretty good for the Sox. If a guy like Keppinger gets traded, I wouldn't really care how well he's do with another team.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 10:19 AM) Got a first good look at our bullpen yesterday. Damn, we got some chunkers. Cleto, Veal and Belly (if that nickname hasn't been hung on Belisario yet, let me be the first) should get an Old Country Buffet endorsement. Then you've got Paulino in the rotation, and EJohnson might be dangerous with the MLB meal per diem. Even Lindy looks to be porking out. Discuss. Could be a good commercial with the Sox bullpen walking (in slow motion) towards an Old Country Buffet, and people looking out the window saying, "Oh s***."

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 1, 2014 -> 01:41 AM) I'm really happy for DeAza. He certainly passes the eye test as a baseball hitter. Hope last year's "sloppiness" was just an anomaly. Way to go, DeAza. It's only one game, but I like what I've seen so far. Apparently, De Aza likes hitting further down in the order and not being a lead-off guy. He obviously has the power (17 HRs last year). Maybe allowing him to be a different type of hitter will help. Regardless, he's already either showing that he's the man for the job or he's a good trade candidate.

I wish I could be watching this game.

De Aza saying, "I'm your guy."

I thought the Walking Dead finale was very good. At first I didn't get the flashbacks, but looking back it all ties into the change in Rick. The flashbacks showed how it was Herschel who got him to start the farming and animal raising, and basically got him thinking that it would all be "okay" at the prison. Then Rick tried to get Carl to follow the same path. Rick's behavior and change in demeanor all stemmed from Herschel being killed by the Governor. The events in last night's episode pushed him over the edge.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 01:43 PM) Hmm That is interesting...

Actually, $17 for that is a decent price. That would keep my three kids busy for a while, and there'd be some leftover for me. I like the idea of frozen beer in Texas, though.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 12:38 PM) If he had signed somewhere else for $68.5M you know this board would be more than ok with it. $13M a year for a 27 y.o. 1B goes against a lot of what I've seen written on this board about how to best allocate financial resources. Insert game show wrong answer buzzer here. If Abreu had signed somewhere else for slightly more than the Sox had offered, there would have been much complaining. Everything we've heard about this guy before (and now during) spring training is that he looks to be a very good power hitting player. He fills a void that the Sox needed to fill. And now with what people have seen in ST, it looks like $13 million a year for this guy could be quite the bargain.

80-82 They'll hit some rough patches, but a mid-season surge will get them within a few games of the division lead. They don't quite have all the pieces yet, but overall it'll be a good year.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 19, 2014 -> 07:51 PM) I wonder if they still prefer Phegley over Nieto, but would rather have him play everyday at AAA while Flowers gets his last chance in the majors. Maybe they don't think much of Nieto, but feel he's a solid backup. If Flowers falters and gets hurt, maybe Phegley gets called up to start while Nieto remains #2? This is basically my view on it. I do think the Sox really like Nieto, but it's hard to believe he's ready for the majors. However, it makes sense to have Phegley play everyday in AAA while Flowers gets one more shot. Nieto (provided nothing changes) will get into a few games here and there. If Flowers succeeds, great. If not, Phegley comes up and becomes the #1 catcher. Regardless, the Sox will have to make some sort of move at catcher by next season...unless one of these guys just explodes.

I've been one of the few Dunn fans during his tenure here. The results aren't there, but the guy obviously tries. From everything I've seen and read, he's a great clubhouse guy, and that's something...just not enough. This year, however, that veteran presence could be more important to a team full of youngsters, a team that is going through a "rebuild". I'm not saying he should be teaching guys how to hit, but the guy's a professional. Honestly, I'm glad this is his last year. This team could seriously be contending in 2015, and they're going to need someone who hits better (preferably from the left). Let's hope the Sox go out and find that guy. For now though, let's just accept the fact that he's here for 2014 and hope for the best.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 03:16 PM) Come on, Rock, don't ignore context. You're not like these other guys. He put up a .775 OPS on the strength of a .370 BABIP, over 42 games. Players ride .370 BABIPs all the way to MVP awards. A .775 OPS on that BABIP is somewhere between disappointing and very disappointing. Furthermore, he did it with a league average LD% somehow, which is numerical corroboration to what we all already observed -- a whole bunch of seeing-eye grounders and shanked pop-up ducksnorts. If he does everything that way he did last year, that BABIP is going to drop substantially. It may stay above .300 if he continues to hit 8-10% more GB than average, but take 50 or so points off of that BABIP and stay around 3.0% BB rate, and that average-ish RF OPS will very quickly become below average. The dude needs to learn to take bad pitches and work a count. He's 22, so hopefully he does, but he has shown us nothing so far. He has shown remarkable tools, and no skills. It depends how you define talent, I guess, but I always think of it more toward the skill side of that spectrum. EDIT: Also, I'm not expecting him to be one of the greatest hitters ever, and I'm not saying he has to be him to be successful -- but that's the comparison everyone is making that I'm criticizing in my post. I'm tired of people comparing him to Miguel Cabrera. As players, they are nothing alike. I view tools and skill to be pretty much the same thing. Different players are going to have different skills that are part of their overall toolset. It's the skill vs. will comparison that will set players apart. Granted, if a guy has little skill, all the will in the world won't help him at the MLB level. But, if you have two players with similar skills and one busts his ass day in and day out to get better, he's going to succeed over a guy who tries to fall back to his "god-given" skills. Garcia is a guy with the skills to be a great player, but he's going to have to bust his ass.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 02:33 PM) Whatever talent he's oozing, it isn't hitting or fielding a baseball. I get it, he's a physical specimen. Someone teach him how to play. He may look like Cabrera, but he sure as hell doesn't hit like him. QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 02:37 PM) Not fitting the bill on this puts him in company shared by, oh, all but 2 or 3 people in the history of Earth QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 02:38 PM) 1. So he doesnt hit like probably one of the best hitters EVER? Thats CRAZY!!!!!!! 2. The guy put up a .775 OPS with us last year at age 22, and has tremendous upside. So yes, he has great talent. The talent is there...maybe not to be as good a hitter as Cabrera (there's not many players that are or will be). He has a very high ceiling, and with him being young, there's a chance he could be a great player and a cornerstone for the Sox for years. Most likely it's going to take a bit of time, but if he can hit in the .270 range with 20+ HRs this year, that would be a good start.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 17, 2014 -> 09:41 PM) Does anyone watch Agents of SHIELD? My list right now is Scandal, House of Cards, Shameless, Person of Interest, Elementary, both NCIS shows, CSI, The Blacklist...tried to start watching Hannibal but can't really get into that one. Maybe I can't picture anyone else but Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, especially a former James Bond villain from Casino Royale. I enjoy Agents of SHIELD.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 17, 2014 -> 02:38 PM) Crazy. That is about the last guy I would have expected to be involved in a series like that. He's good friends with Carl Sagan's widow, and they've been working for quite a while to do this. He said he wanted to do something worthwhile with some of his disposable income.

Tough to watch episode of The Walking Dead last night.

So, there are still 4 catchers in camp. I assume one is Nieto. Since he was a Rule 5 pick, if the Sox send him to the minors he goes back to the original team? Is that how it works? And is that the only reason he's still in camp?

This thread today has been like a child that is throwing a temper tantrum, running around screaming, ripping the heads off stuffed animals while the parents calmly talk to said child, which only infuriates the child even more. Of course, what usually happen is that the child finally sobs himself to sleep surrounded by his beheaded stuffed animals.

QUOTE (almagest @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 09:27 AM) I really think this should be his subtext/flair/whatever it's called. Yeah, what is that called? Subname? Subtext? Thing above the little squares?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 09:03 AM) What if greg775 was just one of Hahn's Assistant GMs trying to neutralize the PR around all the worst things that happen to the White Sox? Think about it: he supports everything the rest of us hate, and dumps on everything we like. He's not a troll, he's an entity of universal balance. Someone needs to put that on greg775's profile.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 08:49 AM) Adam Dunn would be a good fat waitress at Applebees. Then he could add a little TexMex to spice up some of that "veteran wisdom" he's so great for. I don't think I want Dunn giving advice to anyone on this team. Well, he does have experience as a bartender after Dallas Buyers Club.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 09:39 AM) This is a fun thing to think about. "Ok, ok, greg775 likes him, so we know we'll have the fans from Lawrence behind us. Ahh s***, here's a lengthy one from witesoxfan, get ready for a dumpfest. WHo gave that asshole access to FanGraphs anyway? Oh it's free? Oh. Well whatever." "Quick, I need a team of folks to hit the Applebees in Lawrence, Tulsa, and um...how about New London. Find out which players make them smile. And see if Ozzie is available to help with the polling."

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 09:40 AM) "Hey guys, should we go after [NAME REDACTED]?" Fixed that for you.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 09:39 AM) Back to the competing thing, if the Sox win 86 games, is anyone going to be too surprised? On the flip side, if they only win 72 games, is anyone going to be surprised? I won't be surprised with either. Baseball is a fickle game, and you can flip everything around simply by being luckier. Honestly, I'd be more surprised by only 72 wins. I see this team playing close to .500 baseball. 82 wins won't be enough to compete, but 86 wins vs. 82 wins could be the difference between playing baseball in October and playing golf in October.