joeynach

Actually there is something to Marty's point. I think Marty has noticed what we have, but without doing the HW. Reed looks well, rather hittable. Hes velocity on the FB doesnt seem to be the issues, according to PitchFX on Fangraphs Reed is averaging a 94.7 MPH FB this year, last year it was 94.8....no big deal. But there are a couple things differently this year compared to last. The most critical IMO is that Reed's velocity on his breaking ball is way up, his slider was 80.3 last year, a solid 14.5MPH diff from FB to Breaking Ball. However, this year his slider velocity is 83.7, up 3.4 MPH, or a difference of only 11 MPH. So from a stuff point of view, Reed has lost a 3.5 MPH differntial on the change of speeds, thats bad. His change up velocity is also up this year, but only 0.8 MPH so its less impactful than the slider, but still nonetheless not a good thing. Another thing the PitchFX data reveals is his choice in pitch type. Reed threw his FB about 69.5% of the time last year compared to 79% of the time this year. Obviously this means he is throwing his slider and change up much less, down 9% and 2% respectively. Perhaps he's lost confidence in his slider since his lost his large off speed variance, perhaps he just likes his FB more, perhaps Coop and RV have coached him in this way....I dont know, but I do know the data shows a couple concerning trends.

Wonder how long hes been pitching with it. PitchFX showed his velocity down all year, I have been checking. Basically down 1-3 MPH across the board. This could be the culprit...shut him down, this team ain't going no where anyway.

Its interesting, but Beckham's lack of power really makes his low BA and OBP seem like he has an awful way to go. If Beckham's SLG every year was .430-.450 we could live with a higher K and lower BA guy with a plus glove. His absence of power really hurts.

Hes heated up a little bit Ill concede that, but his K rate is the highest of his career, 22%, his ISO is .121, it was .190 in 2009, his wOBA is .277, even last year it was higher at .284. Even if you look at his regular slash line its .222/.284/.343. Thats terrible, I am not even remotely excited or anywhere near being ready to label him as "back".

With all the things manager is responsible for and isn't responsible for when it comes the outcome of games I only care about one thing. Team Record vs Pythagorean win-loss totals. Thats the only way IMO to actually say (or not say) hes is a good manager or a bad manager. Can he outperform his projected win total (based on RS and RA) with managerial tactics. Thats it. I dont care what he or media says, and I really dont care what he does game in and game out. I care about can he as the manager lead to more wins than statistically projected based on runs scored and runs allowed by his team.

According to MLBTradeRumors.com, the Angels are looking for a quality left handed reliever. Im wondering if the Sox could be a potential fit for the Angels here. I know KW was involved in trade talks this past offseason for Matt Thornton and I think most would agree there is really very little point to have a $6M left handed maybe closer maybe not on a team that is destined for about 76 wins. If you could move the two years and $12M hes owed now and get a prospect or two in return I would assume the Sox would want to do it. As of right now, Thornton is more valuable off the books and as a trade piece to bring in more young talent to our dead farm system then he is actually pitching for us, though he is still a quality player. Who could we posibly get back from the Angels for Thornton, obviously not Mike Trout, any other prospects that could be had?

Hey guys myself and a co-worked of mine are looking for a new fantasy league, preferable where there is a good entrance fee, say $75 and up. Does anyone here know of such a league with any openings, or would anyone here be interested in started such a league with me. I have about 4 or 5 guys I know would particiapte for something like a $75-$150 buy in, obviously just need more people. Thanks all.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Feb 17, 2012 -> 04:14 PM) Bah! We need more Jews in baseball! Yep, this is defiantly not a Jew friendly promotion, im calling the ADL.

QUOTE (SmashROT @ Feb 14, 2012 -> 08:20 PM) Has any major league club played regular season games at a minor league stadium in recent memory? Anybody know? Didnt the Expos play some portion of their schedule at that stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Thats a sort of minor league stadium.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Feb 14, 2012 -> 01:25 PM) A small minority of idiots? Remember, you are talking about Cub fans. They would probably lose out on the annual wrigley trip goes from within the region, the birthday parites, corporate parties, tourist stop overs, and all those types of fans but im sure they would manage to sell 30K+ tickets per game. The thought of seeing the cubs play games of the south side is a novelty in intself, and something we all know their fanbase is famous for, they should be able to draw based on that principle as well.

I have no problem with this at all. I assume there is something in it for the Sox as they would get to keep some portion of sales or get a payment from the cubs for renting the Sox facility. That could mean a bump in payroll or better signings from Cubs/Domincan. Didnt the Yankees have to do the same thing in like 1978 or something and play at Shea when they rennovated Yankee Stadium?

Who cares about what the organization or anyone says, its what they do that matters. Words are meaningless, actions are important.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 12, 2012 -> 04:45 PM) And so if they win 79 games, they've overperformed by that standard. PECOTA has the sox pegged for 78.8 wins this year....aka 79 wins

Lets get back on track in this thread, #75PitchPeavy sucks. There I said it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 7, 2012 -> 07:47 AM) Absolutely not. There is zero sense in which Juan Pierre had a decent season last year. I would say its safe to assume that when you are coming off a $9M salary one year, then the next year you are only able to secure a minor league contract, then its safe to say that your last season was NOT that great for you. But hey that just me.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 09:03 PM) What's with all the blind child references? I am not wanting Mark because I am like a 12 year old with a crush on him. He was f***ing good last year. How many quality starts did he have? He also has a style of pitching I think is contagious for our other starters. I AM suggesting he will continue to EXCEL. How many years did Jamie Moyer kick ass? You guys are nuts if you think I got owned in that post. I want Mark for his future contributions not his past. Geez. I'd appreciate the few Greg fans out there to support me on owning him back with my post. I wasn't really tring to be a di**, but I am just so sick of people, grown men and women, on the other site that I run complaining about not bringing back Mark like some little kid whose player left via Free gency or a trade and they dont understand why...they are just upset the guy on the poster in their room is now gone. But I still thinkin you are looking at the MB sitution in way too much of a bubble. No team has finite resources and retaining Mark takes some of those resources, look at the Red Sox, they have no RF and trade away their SS last week in a salary dump last week so they could stay in budget. Mark was offered salaries of $10, $12, and $14M on the open market, and guess which one he took. But dont forget one of the #1 reasons the Sox had success in 2005 is b/c they did not reseign Magglio Ordonez and they saved themselves the $14M/year he was supposedely offered by the Sox, he obviously signed with Det for much more. But KW even said that $14M allowed the Sox to fill multiple holes and make the team better as a whole. The $ was spent on Dye in RF, Iguchi at 2B, and El Duque as the 5th Starter.....and all 3 of those pieces contributedly greatly to a 99 win team and WS title. On the other hand Magglio signed like a 6 Year $110M deal with Detroit, and yeah he had a good 05, 06, 07, but as he approached his mid 30s toward the back end of the deal he was often injuried and unproductive as the Tigers paid him like $18M per. Basically KW made the right decision. Detroit paid Maggs on past performance, KW probably would have loved to resign Maggs on a 3 or 4 Year deal, but again, he knew you dont pay a player based on what they produced in the past, you pay on what you expect them to produce in the future. And very rarely does anyone expect 33/34 Year old Free Agents to continue to produce at the levels they have in the past.....the only time its ever happened has been with blatent steriod abuse (Bonds, Clemens, Palmerio, etc). And again dont look at MB in a bubble, look at the White Sox, what if MB's non return for the Sox is the only way KW was able to extend Danks for 5 Years, what if Danks then wins a Cy Young or takes us to the playoffs. What if Chris Sale or Zach Stewart, who take MB's spot in the rotation emerge as absolute studs, posting 5x better numbers than MB. What if one of those guys is then traded for the next Posey, Strasburg, or young rising star, etc etc. What if the Sox are able to spend in the Cespedes sweepstakes, rumored to be as high as $60M, only b/c they saved $50M+ on not retaining Mark. What if Cespedes comes here and is ROY and is the next young rising star. The point is want whats best for the White Sox from 2012 and beyond, not whats best for yourself as a fan, whats most comfortable for you, not whats easiest for your kids to recognize, not whats continous....just whats best. And IMO and most on this board, if there is even a glimmer of hope that any of those situations I mentioned above come true for the Sox, then its 110% worth the risk of not re-signed MB. And your Jamie Moyer comp though...bleh. Yeah he pitched into his late 30s and 40s but no one was bending over backwards to hand with guy near $15M per year. The highest salary he ever made was $8M in 2005. The Mariners soon dumped him after that, he spent like 4 season with Philly making around $6M a year to produce ERAs of 5.01, 3.71, 4.94, and 4.84. While his K rate declined from 6.01 in 2007 to 5.08 in 2010. I really dont think thats a model pitcher you want to match the Marlins 4 Year $58M offer for, I wouldnt even offer half that for those numbers no matter what the pitchers name is.

b QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 5, 2012 -> 11:35 PM) I am not the only Sox fan outraged that Mark is gone. You guys sometimes fail to realize some people actually do agree with me on some of these issues. Im not that upset hes gone and I love Mark, he was always my favorite player for the last 10+ years. But that being said Im not 12 years old anymore, when one of my favorite players leaves and hes on the back end of his career where is velocity is down, his K rate is down, and hes approaching that age where performance becomes seriosly threatened and he leave so be it. Im not gonna cry and bit** and moan b/c someone I liked leaves, Im an adult, and if the reason for his departure makes sense then so be it. Hes a proverbial 12-12 pitcher with average stuff who eats innings and posts an ERA around 4.00 every year. That being said hes probably not going to get better with age, expecially as the AL seems to get deeper and deeper every year. So Mark is offered a series of 3 year contracts around $10-$12M per year, then Loria and the Marlins, in a quest to drive up the value of their franchise for prospective buyers, make overvalued bids for basically every free agent and they get Mark for 4 Years and $58M. A complete overpay by 99% of baseball analysts. No one said Mark is bad or is not beloved, we all wanted Mark back, but no one on this board looks at this team like a teenager, I want who I want because they are good and I have seen them be good in the past. The team plays within a real economy and budget based on real world factors, and smart teams know when its time to say goodbye to certain players. Its always better to be the team who know the player the most and says no more, than the team who has no clue but an open checkbook for anyone that counts toward "making a splash". Are you even familiar with the theory shared by most Sports Execs that you never play a player on how they performed in the past, you only pay them on how you reasonably expect them to perform in the future. Hence the Matt Forte arguement. But history proves time and time again, contracts that pay players based on past performance, especially as they approach their mid 30s are usually mistakes. The Marlins will regret this deal, the Angels will regret the Puljos deal, the Dodgers majorly regret the Scmidt deal, and how do you think the Giants feel about the Zito deal. The White Sox have always treated their greats well, in due time Mark will be honored, a statue, a retired number, a coaching position, a job with the team, whatever, but in term of the best strategic direction for this team right now, not commiting $58M over 4 years to a 33 yr old pitcher, saving the $, taking the draft pick, and promoting some young talent to the rotation to get some big league experience is obviously the best course of action. If you want to look at the siutation like an informed fan/analyst/adult you will make friends here quickly, if you want to look at this team like a child who gets upset when their favorite players, or the few players they can recognize in a team photo depart the team then I suggest you find another message board.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 5, 2012 -> 10:36 PM) Jesus f***ing christ. You are f***ing ridiculous, you must be smarter than this, I can only hope for your sake. The Sox TRADED for Peavy, and assumed the current contract he is on, meaning he is making that money NO MATTER WHAT. MB was a free agent, he CHOSE to sign with the highest bidder, aka the Marlins, and it's been leaked that no one else was even CLOSE to the years/money that the Marlins offered. Recap if that was to confusing: Peavy is here under contract for 1 more year (and will not be traded because he has little value). MB is in Florida because they made him Mr. Moneybags (btw you are even worse that Joecoolman for nicknames). Does that make sense to you? YUP! And I think it should also be noted that if MLB was like NFL, where contracts aren't guaranteed, Peavy would definately but cut. And also if the MLB was like the NBA and could amnesty someone, aka release them from the roster but pay them, the Sox would do that with Peavy too. He is a valueless $17M starting pitcher coming off a 4.92 ERA season who has no durability as a starter....FAIL!

Peavy says hes ready for a bounce back season, the dude couldnt pitch past 4 innings at any point in the year b/c his arm falls off at 75 pitches. His career is about 1-2 years away from being over, his arm is shot, his stamina is a huge issue, his velocity is down about 3-4 MPH since acquiring him, and at 75 pitches his velocity tanks, his slider flattens and his BAA goes up from .250 (pre 75 pitches) to .410!! But its all good b/c hes ready for a bounce back year. #WhatAJoke

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jan 26, 2012 -> 03:39 PM) Ideal? No. But he's decent and certainly better than what we had the last 2 years, whom this organization seemed to think was ideal. Ideal no way, servicable, probably. Plus the sox weren't going to make a move to acquire anyone, its obvious they were behind the ceiling quite a bit on the debt load from last year and all the dead money on the books. Think about it, the Sox traded Santos and Quentin away and received a cast of A and AA players. They signed no major league ball players, they let Buehrle and Pierre walk. Its pretty obvious, 2012 is a dont do anything lets get the books under control type year.

He will either do nothing, or a trade of Gavin or Thornton is possible. Thats about it.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 04:35 PM) You do realize we are at or very close to 100 million now and are in talks with at least three expensive Cubans right? I would love to see them signed, perhaps their contracts can be signed in a such a way as they dont count for 2012 major league payroll, perhaps if they are signed the white sox have to move someone to stay withing budget, but I am sticking to all signed point for $100M. If they move someone in the meantime and get below, like Thornton or Floyd then so be it, but my claim is that they have $100M set for payroll expidenditures this year.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 10:54 AM) Unfortunately I still think the Sox have a solid team and the move I pointed out serves two purposes makes the current team stronger and builds for the future. If Jackson wants to come back to Chicago I think there are ways to get it done. I also think there are four guys that know the White Sox budget and none of them write for a living. I would be willing to bet my life savings that the sox will open this year with a payroll right around $100M, give or take a few million bucks. Every single thing any representative of the sox, or any writer, or any move the sox have made all points to one direction, a lower payroll of around $100M. There is no one else to move, there is no one else to acquire and we are at $103M like I said. The sox have lowered season ticket prices by about 20%, usually we see ticket price increases/decreases proportional to the amount at which payroll increases/decreases. There are no indications to think my statement that keys in on a $100M major league payroll are erroneous in any way shape and form. You can wait for official word and opening day reports, and Ill use intuition, logic, and facts to deduce a reasonable answer in the meantime.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 09:15 AM) At some point I really think KW will sell low on Floyd and sign Jackson. I am not sure why or what to think of this but that is what I think will happen. There is zero chance of this happening, the signing of EJax that is. Every source I have talked to or listened to, Scott Merkin, Chris Rongey, Scott Gregor, MLBTradeRumors.com, etc, they all point to the White Sox budgeted payroll for this year at about $100M. It has been reported numerous times that KW's job was to get payroll down from about $127M last year to $100M this year. As the White Sox stand right now, they have about 12 players that accounts for 97M, and 13 players that will make pre-arb salaries, according to the new CBA that is to be 480K this year. So add that up and you get about $103M. Thats already about $3M over budget and there is no way KW is going to trade Floyd, making $7.5M then add EJax making $10M or so, then his payroll would be net $3M+ on top of the $3M hes already over budget for. In a rebuild year where you will be lucky to draw 1.5M fans and win 75 games, there is absoultely no reason to be even a dime over budgeted payroll. Sorry bro, money talks! I am all for trading Floyd though and getting prospects and saving the $7.5M, just thrown Stewart in the rotation, forget about Ejax.

QUOTE (Cali @ Dec 24, 2011 -> 06:51 PM) When 92 mph straight fastballs are being put into right field and not being missed by three feet and into the catcher's glove we'll talk... Like