Kalapse

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 03:45 PM) As much s*** as Gammons' takes for his Red Sox love and Billy Beane worship, at least he knows his stuff, along with Ken Rosenthal. The quality of their pieces and the depth of their knowledge is far greater than the rest of the national media. Like Jon Heyman who's never said or written a single interesting thing that I've ever seen.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 03:19 PM) Your acting like that error to Orie (yes I still call it an error even though it was a hit) was later in the game. That happened in the top of the 3rd so Wood already knew that he gave one up long ago (Biggio's HBP was in the 6th). I would say that would seriously decrease the pressure of throwing goose eggs, and just going all out (in fact.. the runner was at 3B cause of the sac. bunt to 2B. and Wood balked moving him to 3B) Wood also had 18 K's into the 9th inning so he would have either tied or broken the record. There's not a doubt in my mind if he only had say.. 16 Ks he would not have pitched the 9th inning especially with his pitch count over 100 not to mention he was a young guy comming in not pitching that much stressful innings before. In essence, that game (along with the additional innings pitched afterward from AAA to the stressful innings and pitch count in the bigs) cost him his elbow later on during the season and 1999. He threw at least 115 pitches in 5 of his next 8 outings. His pitch count was only at 110 pitches going into the 9th and like you said, that hit came in the 3rd inning and he hit Biggio in the 6th so he was on an incredible role through 8 and it was only a 2 run game, he had a lot things going for him going into the 9th, not just K's. Given how long of a leash Riggleman had him on pitch count wise through that entire season I'm fairly certain Wood would have pitched the 9th regardless of how many K's he had, not that it really matters. As for the hit to Orie: I saw it again about a month ago and it's a play a thirdbaseman needs to make but it's a judgment call so it can go either way. It's all a matter of opinion.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) watched the Simpsons yesterday... boy that show has fallen so hard, it's bad You mean like 10 years ago, right? That show has been awful for quite a while now, they just stopped trying.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 02:48 PM) They are both impressive, but I think wood's was more dominating. But at the same time theres no pressure on a 20 k game of giving up a dinky hit and it all being over. Sure there is, every baserunner increases your pitch count and the likelihood that you get pulled from the game. The only reason that Wood was even afforded the opportunity to go for 20 K's was because he only allowed 2 baserunners the entire game and was in turn able to keep his pitch count down. 3 extra baserunners along the way and he'd have been pushing 140 pitches by the end of the 9th something he didn't come close to doing until 2003 (he's only gone above 133 once in his career). Especially in a close NL game where you have the added element of having to hit, there's always the chance that you'll have to be lifted for a pinch hitter and it just makes the manager's decision easier if you have 115 pitches through 7. In '07 Jake Peavy had 16 K through 7 IP but had thrown 117 pitches thanks to the 5 baserunners he had allowed, he didn't come back out for the 8th.

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 02:30 PM) How about their age and the point at their careers when they did it? That's a good point. It was the 5th start of Wood's career at age 21. Buehrle's perfect game came in his 313 career outing at age 30.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Retherford's ever actually caught before, at least not in the minors or college. They just wanted to give him some work behind the plate during spring training to see if that would be an option down the line. If Castro needs to spend a little time on the DL and the Sox aren't comfortable with Flowers not getting regular ABs (that's the only reason I'm not calling him up, f*** his arb clock, that's not a concern right now) then you go to Lucy for his defensive prowess. Corky Miller (one of the all time worst offensive players in big league history) got a grand total of 18 PA last April (4 starts) and didn't totally embarrass himself or kill the team, something tells me Lucy could do the same.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 28, 2010 -> 12:11 PM) He did put up at .789 OPS or so with the Sox and a 101 OPS+, so he wasn't "Bad" with us, he was at least average. I'm not just going to ignore 79 PA because he wasn't in a White Sox uniform, they still count and put his numbers much more in line with what he's done over the past 5 years, his hot streak with the Sox certainly feels like him correcting his numbers to get his OPS back into the low .700's for the year where he seems to belong.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 28, 2010 -> 11:56 AM) He wasn't bad last year though .278/.327/.390/.717 is bad, especially for a first baseman. His wOBA was only 0.008 points higher than Omar Vizquel's.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 11:47 PM) What game was this? And give me Pedro's game 5 masterpiece against arguably the most devestating offense of the modern era in '99 over any single-game performance ever. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SD...200107180.shtml

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 09:24 PM) Yea Wood easily should have had a no-hitter. I was stunned that wasn't an error. I would still say Buehrle's perfect game was much more impressive though. It's a freaking perfect game for christ sake. If it wasn't for the catch, Buehrle actually had every other hitter not hit (or no ball was really hit hard at all) him well that whole game. TB's offense was one of the best as well. Someone mentioned Buehrle's no-hitter against Texas. That was impressive too with Texas' offense. (they had Tex at that time too) But Mark needed alot of help defensively that game. That Astros team finished with the highest runs/game and OPS+ in the NL in '98 and the only baserunners were a guy who was hit 285 times in his career doing what he does best and a pretty weak grounder to third. Only 8 times did the Astros put the ball in play that day, that's f***ing dominance.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 08:24 PM) He hit a batter too. Can't remember who. Yeah, shockingly it was Biggio.

Mark my words: this will not end well.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 07:59 PM) There have been something like 15 perfect games and one 20 strikeout game in baseball history. You can make a pretty good case for Wood. Actually, there have been 5 20+ K games, 4 of them in 9 innings (the other was 16 IP), 2 by Clemens, 1 by Wood and 1 by Johnson. Wood's outing was exponentially more impressive than Buehrle's. Not only did Wood K 20 in that game but the only baserunner came off a fairly routine groundball to third that Kevin Orie couldn't corral, it really should have been an error. Not only that but he had to go through Craig Biggio, Derek Bell, Moises Alou and Jeff Bagwell to get it done. It's arguably the most dominant performance in baseball history.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 05:45 PM) Torri does make nice catches though. It's not his range that's bad, it's his arm. That's why his UZR is usually mediocre. UZR doesn't take into account a player's arm.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 02:48 PM) Feliz? He's not going to sniff AAA. Hunter and Harrison are also on the opening day roster. Right now it looks like Feliz will begin the year in the Rangers' pen.

From Merkin 4 minutes ago, take from it what you like:

Only 1 full time 2 hole hitter cracked 100 RBI last year and he was hitting behind Marco Scutaro and his .380 OBP.

Except Hanley's only an average defender at this point where there really isn't a single thing that Chase Utley isn't very good at. Utley is one of the best pure baserunners in baseball regardless of speed. Just keeping it real simple: over the past 3 years Chase is 46 for 49 in SB attempts (96%) and has been picked off only once and it was a POCS. He was also #2 in BP's Equivalent Base Running Runs which measures the number of runs contributed by a player's advancement on the bases. Over the last 3 years Chase is actually a 6.0 in speed score where as Hanley is a 6.1. Over the past 3 years Chase Utley leads all players at all positions in UZR/150 at 17.6, #2 is Ryan Zimmerman at 14.6. Over the past 3 years he's 7th in baseball in wOBA behind Pujols, Chipper, a guy who played the majority of his games at Coors, a known roider, Teixeira and Hanley and he's only 0.005 points behind Hanley.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 06:51 PM) Beckham slugged .700 against changeups? Man, it amazes me the statistical information that is available today. I'm a little worried about all the national recognition/love Beckham has been getting. I guess I'm just not used to one of our guys getting so much hype. It just lends credence to all the "National Star" talk of the offseason, there's little doubt in my mind that if he does live up to potential he's going to be a pretty big name in the game.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 04:27 PM) Uh, let me think about that. NO. It means you also work on your pitch location and you do try to get guys out and not just throw fastballs. Dear god, they work on everything. Some guys just throw pitches in one section of the zone for 2 innings trying to put all their pitches where they want them to go. Some guys throw only 1 pitch for an entire outing trying to work on location and arm slot (the Maddux special). Like the Wikipedia article said: it's practice and that's exactly what they're doing, practicing throwing a baseball at a glove in a variety of ways. You can believe whatever you want I suppose but if you ever get the opportunity to speak to a major league veteran who's been through plenty of spring trainings they tell you just this; you don't always worry about getting guys out because in the end it doesn't matter, all that matters is that their mechanics ans stamina are in order for opening day, a lot of times this entails not worrying about the count or what pitch a particular batter hits well but being able to repeat your mechanics and find your proper arm slot on a 33 degree day in mid April. So players don't use entire spring outings to work on a single pitch, throwing it for greater than 80% of their total pitches yet the best starter on the Sox's staff did just that a week ago. Right.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 04:20 PM) Spring training From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to audition for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play. Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warmer climates to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play, and spring training usually coincides with spring break for many college students. Spring training typically lasts almost two months, starting in mid February and running until just before the season opening day (and often right at the end of spring training, some teams will play spring training games on the same day other teams have opening day of the season), traditionally the first week of April. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training first because pitchers benefit from a longer training period due to the exhaustive nature of the position. A week or two later, the position players arrive and team practice begins. I think I get it, when you practice as a pitcher you don't throw batting practice with only a week left before the Regular Season. No one in our starting rotation is auditioning for anything, these are veteran starters trying to get their arms and brains prepped for regular season games not minor leaguers battling for their baseball lives. That's why Jake Peavy is throwing nothing but fastballs against the Royals. Practice time = working on mechanics and getting a feel for competitive baseball not battling to get people out in meaningless games. If Peavy's comments about his outing against the Royals didn't convince you that spring games are basically glorified side sessions then nothing will I suppose.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 04:18 PM) It's this offense that is worrying me. You should have been worried about the offense before spring training even started and even if you do put stock into Spring performance; 2 of the biggest question marks in the lineup have been our 2 most productive players.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 04:09 PM) Is it just me or is the whole starting rotation like pitching batting practice this week? I swear everytime I see the box score this week they are getting shelled. You just really don't get Spring Training now do you?

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 01:40 PM) Ugh, but god, say he is batting capably, moving Q to DH and then Andruw to CF just screams injury. It also screams Q losing his mind on the bench with his only respite from the disparaging voice in his head being the 4 or 5 PA he'd get per game. He'd be bat s*** crazy by week 3 of the experiment. It also leaves Juan Pierre and his league-worst arm in left field which does not please me in the least but then again if you move Pierre to DH who becomes the starting LF? Quentin? He was a pretty awful defender out there and we are kind of banking on him going back to his plus defender days with a move back to his natural position of RF. Rios? He's an elite defensive RF with a plus bordering on elite arm, seems as though that would be wasted in LF especially with Quentin and his mediocre arm in right field. Jones? If he really is the best defensive CF on the team why would you put him in a corner OF position? And besides; I don't think Ozzie would do that to him anyway, he's not going to put a 14 year vet with 10 GG to his name in a position other than the one that he was playing super elite defense at only 3 years ago. I suppose what would really happen would be a rotating OF with Pierre and Quentin getting the majority of the games at DH, Jones picking up a few as well and the 4 of them rotating between OF spots depending upon personnel. I also agree that he's a tremendous injury risk especially playing a near full time role in the outfield. That's why I wouldn't even attempt it for the first month or 2, rushing him out there would just be asking for trouble. Yeesh, this would just open up a whole new can of worms.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 01:21 PM) stop making me nauseous Well, it depends. I don't like the idea of rushing him out there, giving him 4-5 starts in the outfield a week right away, there's just too many factors working against him right now. But if he's eased into the role a bit there's good reason to believe that he could still be an above average defender in center even if he's not able to move as he used to. As qwerty said a few days ago he was never the fastest CF in the game yet he was the best and arguably the best ever, his defensive prowess was largely due to his immaculate reads this isn't something that fades with declining physical ability and CF at the Cell isn't exactly cavernous, not a ton of ground to cover out there. It's crazy to think of but since Rowand left in '05 this team has struggled to find a player that could give them above average defense and decent offensive production in CF and right now we might have 2 guys that fit the bill.