hogan873

Josh Paul

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 14, 2013 -> 10:34 AM) Shouldn't AJ be the co-ref if there's wrestling involved...? He'd be the guy who interferes for no reason, hitting people with chairs.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 14, 2013 -> 08:16 AM) Better idea is to put them in a ring and have them duke it out With special guest referee Joe Crede. Just as Quintana is about to finish off Viciedo with some sort of super-serpent move, Crede attempts to attack Quintana yelling, "I'm number 24, b****es!" Crede, however, blows his back out and lies writhing in the ring.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFan05 @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 11:37 PM) Sorta OT but Quintana wants his number changed to 24 apparently. QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 11:51 PM) And what does Viciedo think of that? Trade 'em both. Can't be having tension in the clubhouse.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 11:04 AM) Why the f*** does every episode have to be an hour and a half? It's just piling up on my DVR, because that's such a daunting commitment (something like 65 real minutes without commercials). I'm much more down for spending 42 minutes with the Sons on a weekly basis. Same here. The only time my wife and I get to watch some shows is after the kids are in bed, and settling down to watch a 90 minute (60+ minutes of actual show) is tough. I think I have six episodes on the DVR, and I'm trying to not read anything about it.

I guess one of the big questions is, if Konerko does come back, who is not on the roster? Based on who the Sox have right now, the bench would be Keppinger/Gillaspie, Flowers/Phegley, Konerko, Jordan Danks, and L. Garcia. Is that enough flexibility?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 08:21 AM) Paul Konerko had 76 games at 1b last year and 50 games at DH. .660 OPS at 1b, .682 OPS at DH. Adam Dunn played 70 games at 1b, 74 at DH. .888 OPS when he played 1b, .655 OPS at DH. Your point being...

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 07:56 AM) It's the 25th man on the roster spot. For the saberguys, that's generally a replacement level player anyway. A young player would be better off playing every day in Charlotte.It will tie Ventura's hands a little bit, but in the grand scheme of things, it won't cost the Sox wins. If Paulie wants to play for the Sox, it's the right thing to do. I still think he isn't coming back. I agree. And if injuries attributed to him dismal performance and he's healthy next year, maybe having him and Dunn split some time will improve the production from the DH spot. Maybe... I'd be mildly surprised if he comes back, though.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 07:22 AM) You are wrong. Look at the numbers more closely. He had a .973 OPS in games he played where a LH started. Not a .973 OPS vs. LH starters. You're right. I was just looking at the vs. LH starters stat in response to an earlier post. His .681 OPS against LH pitching is a true representation of how he hit LH pitching. Plus, he only had 142 plate appearances against LH pitching vs. 465 PA against PH pitching. I wonder, though, why his OPS was so much higher in games where a LH pitcher started.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 06:38 AM) I've posted it before, but I'll post it again. Dunn had a .973 OPS off left handed starters last year and for his career his OPS is higher off of left handed starters than it is right handed starters. If you sit him against lefties to start Konerko you are hurting the lineup. QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 07:09 AM) Dude, what the f*** are you talking about? You really need to double-check your facts on this one. He did actually have a .973 OPS against LH starters while putting up a .717 OPS against RH starters. However, he had only 110 plate appearances against LH starters compared to 497 PA against RH starters. It's hard to say what his OPS would have been against LH starters if he had more plate appearances, but I would guess it would be lower. Interesting stat, though.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 08:18 AM) I'm a week behind all of the major shows, that's my excuse for not posting more. I did catch Homeland from last week though. I have no idea where this show is going. The entire Dana/Brody family storyline is completely unnecessary and downright boring. And the Saul/Carrie/random Iranian person storyline is too confusing to follow. I'm not sure why i'm supposed to care about him or what role he played in anything. Did he plan the CIA bombing? Did he finance it? So confused. A lot is answered about the Iranian this week. And I agree with the Dana s***. I hope we never see her again this season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 08:22 AM) This should tell everyone how bad of an idea it is. Might as well bring back Dye to replace Viciedo. Carl Everett might be available to replace Dunn, too.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 07:31 AM) Do you know who else never did anything in the offseason? Mark Buehrle. He wouldn't even pick up a baseball all winter, but I never heard him classified as lazy. Then he had a bad year where he wore out, so he changed his offseason routine. Same thing with Dunn. For 10 years, he was the best home run hitter in all of baseball without picking up a bat in the offseason. Then 2011 happened, so he realized he had to change his ways as he got older which he did. It's not like he signed that big contract and decided to be lazy, that was his routine every year and it worked pretty damn well. Good point. Adam Dunn gets a lot of criticism, and some of it is warranted due to his performance since signing with the Sox. But he's not lazy, and he's a good clubhouse guy...at least from everything I've heard. Hindsight says don't sign the guy, but oh well. He'll be playing for the Sox in 2014 during the last year of his contract, and he'll most likely hit in the low .200's and crank out 30 HRs or so. If 2014 is indeed a rebuilding year (and with a reported $85 million payroll, that seems likely), you don't trade Dunn and cash for a nobody prospect. You stick it out and start looking for that left-handed bat for 2015 and beyond.

Did everyone stop watching TV?

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Nov 11, 2013 -> 09:41 PM) Here's a great reason to trade Dunn, and it's the one of the reasons the Cincinnati Reds traded him: To get him out of the clubhouse and away from the younger players. He's out of shape, lazy and not much of a leader. Or maybe he'll follow through on one of his hollow threats to walk away from the final year on his contract if he thinks things just aren't working. QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 12:00 AM) Is Dunn lazy? Is that a proven fact? I do think it was ridiculous we had to read about his commitment to go to left field during that week period when he actually hit a few balls to left and left center. He completely stopped doing it shortly after having a bit of success doing so. That appalled me he gave all those comments about how smart it is to hit the other way, then he stopped doing it ... again. I've never heard that Dunn is a bad clubhouse guy. I don't think he's lazy either. He talked about his prep for 2011, when he said he didn't do a lot of baseball work over the winter. I think because of his disastrous 2011 season, it made him look like he was lazy. And, Greg, for a guy whose baseball career has been hitting to right field, making an adjustment to hit to left field is not as simple as saying, "I'm going to start hitting to left field." He made the adjustment a few times, there was some success, but it didn't stick. A hitter will tend to fall back into patterns, especially if a pattern has been part of their life for 10 years. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge Dunn fan, but unless the Sox have a plan to replace his left-handed bat and 30+ HRs, he'll be back for 2014. Beyond that, no way, he's gone. I imagine the Sox will be looking for another left-handed power hitter soon...but not for next season if for no other reason than no team would likely trade for him and give the Sox anything in return.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 11, 2013 -> 11:58 PM) I'd give anything to have Uribe replace the Kepp/Gillaspie duo for one year. Come on, Greg. Think about your statement. You want to pay Juan Uribe, who is 34 years old, $6 million a year to most likely give you what Keppinger and Gillaspie will. I like Juan, too, and he was awesome for the team in 2005...that will be nine years ago. He had a great 2013, but his 2011 and 2012 seasons were not so good. And again, this team should not be looking for a one year "solution", especially for a position like 3B. They shouldn't settle for Juan Uribe for a year if all he's going to do is be a one man version of Keppinger and Gillaspie.

Catcher and 3B are the two positions the Sox really need to improve. I'm not saying Saltalamacchia is the long term answer, but he's a longer term answer than AJ. I like AJ, but bringing him back doesn't help beyond 2014. If it comes down to AJ or Phegley/Flowers, I suppose AJ would be the way to go. But that has to be a last resort.

I'm going to assume (and hope) that the Sox sign Salty for the purposes of predicting a lineup. So here goes: 1. De Aza - CF 2. Ramirez - SS 3. Dunn - DH 4. Abreu - 1B 5. Garcia - RF 6. Salty - C (with Phegley or Flowers getting some starts vs. lefties) 7. Viciedo - LF 8. Keppinger/Gillespie - 3B 9. Beckham - 2B I still think that lineup needs work. I'd love to see an upgrade at 3B and/or 2B.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 09:50 AM) If he's on the big league roster opening day (and just so it's said...that'd be rushing him)...he needs an obviously cleared spot. You can't have a guy in hist 5th year in the league making $4 million sitting there on the bench and expect Semien to get regular playing time. I see what you're saying, and I agree. So, do you think semien needs to at least start in AAA next year? I don't know much about him, but it seems like he has potential.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 09:43 AM) Having Marcus Semien sitting mostly on the bench as a fill-in/utility guy could be your worst idea yet. In greg's defense (has that ever been said here?), he said to have Beckham be the back-up to Semien. But your point remains...having Semien be a bench guy would be a terrible idea.

Skill vs. Will. In the normal everyday world, I'll take Will over Skill. If somone is willing to try and tries their hardest, you can usually give them the skills. In the MLB world, however, the Skill is so damn important. The percentage of baseball players (from little league on up) who make it to the big leagues is so tiny, it shows you how important skill is. Now, if some shlub gets in the bigs based on skill and under performs because of a lack of will, that usually gets taken care of by coaches and teammates. Now to contribute something related to this thread: Congrats to Jake and Matt. Peavy is a very good example of someone who has the skill and a s***load of will to go along with it.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 07:23 AM) TATBG - the ability to be good - is far more important than TWTW. If you give me the choice between taking 25 players who "just want to win" and 25 players "who are very good at baseball," I am going to take the 25 "who are very good at baseball." I'm also not sure why you put Thome in this fabled TWTW category since, by all accounts, he was an incredibly unclutch and bad player late in games. Pretty sure he only had 1 walk-off homer during his entire tenure with the Sox. And I believe that was his 500th.

I always feel like I need a drink after watching an episode of American Horror Story.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 02:33 AM) I could "handle" giving Beckham the proverbial one more year IF he's the backup to Semien at 2B and fills in once in a while at 3B for what I hope will be a new third baseman. I really truly want to see Kepp and Gillaspie gone and I've had my share of Beckham as a starter. If he's a Lillibridge type utility guy, fine. Out of Beckham, Keppinger, and Gillespie, I'd keep Gillepsie. Keppinger was a major letdown, and Beckham has had his chances. I'd keep Gillespie as the bench guy depending on who the Sox find for third base...if anyone.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 30, 2013 -> 02:14 AM) He still hit lefties well. He's still a great fielder. There are arguments to keep going (if healthy). This has been debated over and over. I think everyone (at least most everyone) can agree that Konerko is not a great fielder. He does not have good range, and that has only gotten worse as he's aged and has been hurt. His greatest asset as a first baseman is his ability to pick badly thrown baseballs. Granted, that's a needed skill, but that's far from what would make him a great fielder. Adam Dunn played a lot more first base than he had in the past because he was better at that position than Konerko was in 2013. Think about that. I love Paulie, but unless he signs a very minor deal to come back as a bench player and (very) occasional spot starter, he will not be back.