Marty34

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 04:43 PM) Lol...this is the problem with statistics. You can tell any story you want. When people start using three years of data to claim a three year trend, you know there is an issue with their logic. I look at those stats and see a SS who is a .720 to .725 OPS player. His first year and this past season look like obvious outliers to me. Having said that, it's definitely possible 2012 represents the player Alexei will be going forward. However, you can't use his numbers from 2009 to 2011 to draw that conclusion or to claim he's been trending downward. He was within 20 points of OPS in all three of those years, which represents extremely normal levels of fluctuation. The only argument you can make is that 2012 represents the new Alexei. I don't think it's a $27M risk worth taking given where I see the Sox over the next 2-3 years. Not that it matters as they are stuck with the contract.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 04:40 PM) I disagree with your assessment, somewhat. This team is going to live or die by pitching and defense. For this team his defensive his well worth his poor offense. Replacing one player in this offensive will not help as much as replacing the defense will hurt the team. Is the difference between Ramirez and Sanchez worth $27M over the next 3 years? I say no.

QUOTE (ewokpelts @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 02:01 PM) you can still buy cubs/sox bleachers at wrigley for ...get this...50 bucks. total clownshoes org..... I don't know what their best seats, they have a lot of price points, but it seems like you can still get decent seats for the opener. Their season ticket renewals must have cratered.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 01:00 PM) Sorry, that doesn't fit your claim of 4 straight years of decline. I will wait for some numbers that do. Owing him $27M over the next three years when his OPS has been in decline three of the last four years is not a good spot to be in. Some of his batter comps through age 30 on Baseball Reference are Pat Meares, Jason Bartlet, Julio Lugo, and Mark Ellis. Scary.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 12:05 PM) That is two straight. His 2009 OPS was .723, which means 2010 was up, not down. You're right, three out of four.

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 11:22 AM) I've given up on thinking that age matters for PK. I expect him not to be worthless for half the season and spend virtually the whole season approaching at bats like Juan Pierre. What he might lose to age (get slower?), I think he gains with a fancy new wrist. He'll also be seeing more time at DH this year which would help ameliorate some concerns about his age. 37 y.o. players get hurt, decline. I can see the early May newspaper stories now about how Konerko is defying his age then looking at his year in September and say he really didn't.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 11:57 AM) Please explain, using some facts, how Ramirez has declined 4 straight seasons. By OPS three straight. 2010: 744 2011: 727 2012: 651

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 10:18 PM) I agree with Caulfield, Carlos Sanchez should be plan B for Beckham this year. He fills more needs in the lineup (AVG & OBP) that Morel does. Honestly, I feel like we need to see if Morel can actually fill a reserve role down the road. That means demonstrating some positional flexibility. Might as well see if he can handle SS while he is at AAA. I don't think there is a plan B for Beckham this year unless he's injured. I'd like Sanchez to stay at short because if he can play there it makes him more valuable and there's a replacement in in the unlikely event they are able to move Ramirez next offseason.

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 09:23 AM) I would say not everything went right last year. I would expect upticks in production from Viciedo, Ramirez, Konerko, and possibly Dunn and Beckham as well. Not counting on anything with Gordon, though. Why do you expect an uptick from Ramirez, but not counting on Beckham when Beckham had the better year last year and is 3-4 years younger than Ramirez?

Ticket sales appear to be alarmingly slow for Cubs. Bleacher seats still available for Opening Day.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 08:50 PM) Agree, plus it would give Morel a chance to play more SS. I'm not a fan of him playing anywhere other than third until Beckham shows he should be in their plans for 2014. Plan B would be Morel at third, Keppinger at 2B.

Rather see Morel at Charlotte to see if his back can withstand the rigors of playing every day.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 11:18 AM) Yet somehow giving up on the next two seasons before they're even played isn't, it is actually quite courageous? I'm floored that you are equating painting me as a racist to what I think the prospects are for the Sox over the next two years. I thought I had seen it all tying racism to jersey sales . . .

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 11:15 PM) I built a case that you are selectively biased, but not necessarily racist. Those two particular words are commonly confused or interchanged, but definitely not synonyms by any stretch of the imagination. In this particular thread, I wasn't the one who opened up that particular discussion, nor your Horatio Alger/Ayn Randish-defense to begin the other thread. You left an out in case you were called on it. You're still a coward.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 05:25 PM) I think you're completely off on what his velocity was. Perhaps you're only remembering the end of the season, he clearly lost some velocity at the end of the season, but take a look at the chart, he was at 93-96 for the first half of the season. If he looks a bit bigger, hopefully that's an effort to make sure his conditioning lasts for the full season. I thought his stuff was flat, especially his slider, the majority of the year. Particularly from the Boston debacle on.

Does Reed look bigger? Saw he was hitting 94 last week which is closer to what scouting reports had him at in the minors than what he showed a lot of times last year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 12:20 PM) We've been down this road before. You can say that he has advocated trading for the likes or BJ Upton and Juan Pierre. OTOH, Marty has spent 80% of his time the last couple of years advocating that Ramirez and Viciedo be traded, and that KW was a bad GM. Still, he has defended Ozzie Guillen, so he's apparently not against all Hispanics, although he's been very quiet about Alex Rios. Maybe it's Marty's version of a backhand compliment that he realizes both Ramirez and Viciedo have more trade value than pretty much anyone on the Sox not named Chris Sale. It just gets to seem like a pattern/trend because he's ceaselessly picking on Ramirez earning just $7.5 million this season when the likes of Dunn, Konerko and John Danks are earning considerably more... Or perhaps it comes off as an anti-Cuban bias, who knows. So I would ask the opposite. Has he ever said anything positive about a Cuban player on the Sox? To build a case that someone is a racist and not directly call them one is a very cowardly thing to do.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 11:14 PM) That's because you did. Why don't you go ahead now and say "the sox will contend in 2013" in this thread so you can have your proof that you said it once. That would be talking out of both sides of my mouth.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 11:05 PM) Lol whatever Marty. I don't have time to sift through a year of your posts to find what we both know you said. You did find the time however to accuse me of "talking out of both sides of my mouth." Speaks volumes.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 11:01 PM) Have you, multiple times in the past year, insisted that this team should be broken apart and rebuilt for contention down the line, usually 2015? Not during last season.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 10:50 PM) Sure I am. And I am sure Hahn wants Ozzie coaching the Sox again too, right? When you accuse someone of "talking out of both sides of their mouth" the least you could do is provide proof. Maybe you can edit one of my posts . . .

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 10:38 PM) And of course, he is cuban. Got to get rid of them, huh Marty. Maybe we can package him and Viciedo and get a non-Cuban. Please explain.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 10:36 PM) Proof you didn't? You were just making stuff up.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 10:28 PM) Of what? You insisting that we should trade alexei and Dayan and anyone else with a contract? Sure, none of us ever read that from you. Proof of me "talking out of both sides of my mouth".

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 10:20 PM) What about Verlander and Scherzer's workloads? And do the Tigers not have to play the Royals & Indians this year? I think Verlander is a better risk his surviving ast year's workload than Sale, Peavy, or Scherzer.