Kalapse

QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 15, 2009 -> 03:34 PM) Look how our 38 year old future hall of famer worked out last year. Like Griffey, Edmonds also has declining legs, so his defense is pretty bad. He takes good routes to balls, but he doesn't have the legs to run down those great plays he could have made 5 years ago. He's still a decent hitter, he hit very well with the Cubs last year. But that was not on a day-to-day basis as he platooned in center. Plus, he had much better protection in that Cubs lineup as he batted in the middle of the order. I don't know how we can ask him to lead off. We've already seen that going with the Oakland idea of putting a guy at leadoff who can do nothing but walk does not work (Swisher). Now granted, Edmonds can do a lot more than walk, but at this point in his career, he's a .250-.260 hitter. I don't see anything more than a Griffey clone with a little bit more power and healthier legs in Edmonds. I wouldn't be against this move as long as he is signed for a reasonable price. But I really don't think we'll get the production he had with the Cubs last year. Just as Wise should be absolutely no where near the leadoff spot neither would Edmonds, he'd hit down in the order and PLATOON against righties just as he did last year. All he has to do is play league average defense and put up an .830+ OPS against righties, I fail to see how that's out of the realm of possibility. He'd be a better platoon partner than Wise, that's all he has to do is be more productive than a 12 year career minor leaguer. And Griffey put up an .841 OPS against righties last year, if Edmonds could match that in a platoon role with Anderson then he'd be well worth the

According to Cowley Contreras was sitting between 90 and 93 for that first inning.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 06:21 PM) Given Williams interest in the past regarding Edmonds, it has to be fairly safe to assume he has checked back in with Jim this off-season. If something was going to happen, it probably would have been taken care of a few weeks ago. Quiet you. We still have like 3 weeks of Spring Training left, I'm not ready to accept Dewayne Wise as the starting/lefty platoon CF (75% of the league is right handed, that's a lot of AB and CF innings). I will hold out hope that Kenny expected Owens to come into camp and blow everyone away, winning the starting CF and leadoff job. No need to have Edmonds around if Jerry Owens is going to be your starting CF.

An Edmonds/Anderson platoon is looking better and better.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 05:09 PM) Wise had a very nice year pinchhitting last yr, albeit not being here the whole yr Sure Dewayne and Brian were both good in their limited pinch hit opportunities last season but neither has the pure power or ability to work the count like Wilson Betemit, especially against right handed pitching.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 05:49 PM) Lillibridge hasn't shown the last 18 months that he could be anything close to a good leadoff man. I'm still hoping KW makes some sort of trade. He'd be a disaster. Whether you look at his minor league production or his spring showing/numbers, he's not a major league hitter at this point in time.

That's an .840 OPS on the spring for Brian over 34 AB.

26 PA for Beckham on the spring and he's still yet to strikeout. He and AJ are the only hitters who can claim this.

Lillibridge now looking at a 1/11 BB/K ratio for the spring.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 04:59 PM) .740 OPS .719 after that AB

Coming into today Viciedo had more official Spring ABs than Betemit (who's started more than a few games at SS) and Castillo had 8. Viciedo has more spring plate appearances than Josh Fields.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 04:50 PM) Hey, Anderson's over the Mendoza line? Sweet. .740 OPS

Wise, CF Ramirez, SS Quentin, LF Dye, DH Konerko, 1B Betemit, 3B Anderson, RF Getz, 2B Miller, C Not enough incentive to watch this one. I have no desire to listen to Hawk and Stone talk up awful baseball players.

QUOTE (AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 09:51 AM) I thought we wanted to get younger? Because starting a 31 year old career minor leaguer in CF makes the team younger? It's not like Edmonds would be blocking some incredible young talent we have stashed away in AAA, he'd come in on a one year deal and give you a better chance at winning games than the other 30+ year old option currently on the roster.

Jim Edmonds would be a more productive leadoff hitter than Dewayne Wise.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:55 PM) Not sure why but nobody has mentioned Josh Kroeger as a possibility at CF. He has lots of talent and has played well so far this year. He's also a lefty so he could platoon with either Lilli of Anderson. Not sure what his defense looks like but it couldn't be any worse than Wise or Owens. I'd much rather give him a shot over those two. He's only 25 or 26 so he still has a chance to blossom unlike Wise/Owens who are both about 30 and clearly don't really have that much to offer as anything other than situational players. It could and it might just be considering he hasn't gotten a single inning out there this spring and Bill Melton (not the best source of information to say the least) keeps comparing him to Ross Gload. The fact that he's played more 1B than CF tells me the Sox may see him as more of a corner OF/1B type. A Lillibridge/Kroeger CF would be interesting though with 207 total chances in centerfield between them since 2005.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:43 PM) Good point. Wise's numbers would be even more ridiculous. Anderson actually homered in the exhibition against Australia, that'd be a nice jolt to his Spring SLG%.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:43 PM) Your actually right, (LAD, though he allowed baserunners in every inning) and yes, I do agree with you on Egbert (though he's the only guy I agree with you about in this game thread) It should be either him or Marquez, and I'm shocked that the sox didn't pick up on this sooner. I don't care about Egbert, there aren't a lot of choices for the 7th spot in the pen so he might be a decent option as a long man, I don't know. I was arguing the other side to prove a point. You can't just award jobs to players because they "deserve" it based on their spring stats while ignoring their defensive ability, experience at the position and past success/track record during meaningful games. That was my argument.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:34 PM) Damn those good hitters in "B" games. Do "B" game stats count because I don't think they do.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:31 PM) Who did Egbert start against? Australia? I can't remember...and the line-up he faced that day. I have no idea, I know it wasn't Australia because the stats for that game didn't count otherwise Beckham's OPS would be over 1.300 right now as opposed to the high 1.200's.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:26 PM) Nix is the best defender on the team...we've yet to see how Beckham will do at 2B over an extended period of time. He's looked better at SS so far...or are you arguing he should be beating out Alexei Ramirez, because he's clearly outplayed everyone on our team offensively?? That's the same argument as Lillibridge over Anderson...if we stuck Brent out there for the next 3 weeks about two to three games per week and he "looked good." I'm not talking about Alexei, just spots that are considered "open" competitions and subject to the "forget past performance and defensive ability/experience we're going purely based on stats here" rule. No s*** it's the same thing as the Lillibridge/Anderson argument, that's what I've been saying all along. People are awarding positions based purely on spring performance, that's the only way you can select Lillibridge over Anderson as the second CF (which Balta did). If we're ignoring defense, experience and past performance then Gordon Beckham, Josh Kroeger and Jack Egbert need to be near the front of the line for the 2B/CF and 12th pitcher jobs.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:23 PM) If that's the case, I'll take the guy who has STARTED the games in spring training against guys who are MLB HITTERS over a guy who basically has been pitching in the last couple innings against garbage A/AA/AAA hitters. So Egbert's start doesn't count?

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:23 PM) Was this thread locked for a reason? Not that I know of.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:16 PM) Ah, so you are considering the long man spot as the "back of the bullpen?" The 7th spot doesn't have to be a long man, right now Carrasco and Richard have jobs with the big club and either could easily give you 3 or 4 innings if necessary.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:07 PM) Ummm...we got Loaiza and Jenks for basically nothing. Or look at someone like Carlos Pena. Just because Jayson Nix had no value to other teams last year doesn't mean he has no future value for infinity. Nix has been out for one week with a strained quad and was 5/7 before today. I don't know how you can say Beckham clearly outplayed him. Egbert hasn't pitched CLEARLY better than Marquez, Poreda and Richard...his sample size is too small to say he's the best option. So what are you saying about Nix, exactly? Do you want to start him at 2B in the majors to build his trade value? Because that's where he's going to build his value, by proving himself at the major league level over a sustained period of time. The fact that Beckham has stayed healthy and mashed puts him well ahead of Nix, injury isn't an excuse. And besides, we're going based on spring performance here, if he's hurt in March that must mean he'll be hurt in May. I'm not picking my starting 2B based on building trade value, I'm taking the guy with the near 1.100 OPS over 22 AB!! As for Egbert, as of right now he's performed the best over the most innings out of all the guys fighting for the potential 7th bullpen spot. If the season started today and we're going purely by spring numbers you'd have to take either Marquez or Egbert and Egbert has done it over more IP. How does his 8 IP sample size compare with Wise's 17 AB or Lillibridge's 26?