CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Abreu taped the handle of his bat. Let's see if it makes a difference . Yes maybe it did !

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 11:46 AM) He usually does when people start noticing. His last HR was 59 PA's ago. Yeesh. He has 2 in his last 133. Between Abreu ,LaRoche and Avi it might be 250 AB's without a HR . Just a pure guess there. But I'm sure someone can prove me wrong or right if they want.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 11:46 AM) He usually does when people start noticing. His last HR was 59 PA's ago. Yeesh. He has 2 in his last 133. And he couldn't elevate the ball twice with a man on 3rd and less than 2 outs last game , once striking out the other time grounding out to the pitcher. He did have an RBI single that took a wicked bounce past Reynolds at 1st. Ground balls every time up.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 12:38 PM) No nobody has ever noticed! I'm sorry, it's been pointed out numerous times, beat to death really. Fact is the guy is the best catcher the Sox have and he plays not nearly enough. I don't care if he walks the ball back the mound. Play LaRoche against lefties, don't play Soto nearly enough, keep Bonifacio . It's like management wants the Sox to lose. I don't give a rats ass if Sale likes Flowers . Does anyone think Flowers will be the only guy catching Sale for his whole career ? Sale will be Sale regardless of who is catching him. I'm not saying play Soto all the time but DH him against lefties , split the catching duties equally. It's really so simple and apparent but the team just keeps defying logic with personnel decisions.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 12:02 PM) I am not a fan of signing Samardzija long term either but if the Sox want to sign him long term, they should still trade him...now. Everything is going as I predicted it would. Despite insider "knowledge " that the Sox would sign Jeff , it was a long shot to start with. I said trade him after his next 2 starts , the 2nd one being the KC series. I said do it before guys like Price become available and more players period become available , which has happened. I said the KC series was enough to know whether the Sox would be contenders while others pointed to the 1st 3 series after the AS break. Now I have a sickening feeling that the return the Sox get for him will be less than we all hope for. I truly hope I am wrong this time and by that I mean ,if for some crazy reason they keep him, I will have lost what little faith I have left in team management to make the correct decision.

QUOTE (Downtown518 @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 06:00 AM) NPR story on Saladino's journey... Major League Dreams It's actually like 5 articles on him from over the years. If you want to know everything about the guy that's the link to go to.You don't even have to read the stories. You can listen to them .

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 06:59 AM) Simple question, would you trust two of Saladino/Sanchez/Johnson to plug up 2B/SS for the forsee able future? Im leaning closer and closer to yes. I have little doubt Johnsons bat will be able to play. That's weird saying, I haven't thought that about a Sox MILB guy in forever. His defense needs to come along, but I think it will. So hopefully one of Saladino and Sanchez pan out to something decent. The other could hopefully make for a utility man. I still have faith in Sanchez. His glove is that good where his bat won't have to do too much more, if we can plug up a few other positions offensively. Every time I see you post I wonder how can you resist the urge to say " I was right about Hector Santiago ' !

QUOTE (VAfan @ Jul 21, 2015 -> 07:52 PM) Last offseason, I was firmly of the view that Brian Anderson espouses here -- you can't trade Alexei, because it opens up a NEW hole that you then have to fill. Fill the holes you have -- Alexei isn't one of them. Now, I'm not so sure. If you look at his numbers over the last 4 years -- http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ramiral03.shtml -- what it looks like is a guy on a pretty steady decline with one good year thrown in -- 2014. Take out 2014, and you have HRs going from 15, to 9, to 6, to 3 this year. So, I think the Sox need to re-calibrate the expectation of keeping Ramirez, and use the money he was slotted to make somewhere else. And if you aren't going to tender him in the offseason, there's no reason to keep him now. Trade him for whatever you can get. Everything you stated is the reason why many here wanted him traded during the off season. Only special players or guys on PED's continue to maintain a high level of play approaching their mid 30's. There's no question the Sox may have to do some creative financing in the off season to improve this team and that $10M might come in handy. Despite the rant by BA Alexei is hitting terribly and some of us could be saying " I told you so" about trading him after last season and now he want's to keep him yet another year ? Time is never on your side as a professional athlete. It must be awful nice to be so clear about the future of ballplayers. I would imagine what BA might've thought of Jose Iglesias' minor league hitting stats and his chances of being more than just a slick glove at the ML level.

Another one on the ground for Abreu.

Does Abreu hit fly balls anymore ?

2 crooked number innings in the same game ? 1 more Sox might get back in it.

Saladino !!!!!

Sox signature solo shot by Soto

Bring back the blister.

Avi's out

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 07:58 PM) You want to bring up a guy to the majors when he's starting to doubt himself a bit? Caulfield was being facetious . Saladino was brought up during a good stretch of hitting .

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 04:55 PM) Morales didn't have to adjust to league's like LaRoche. LaRoche is also notorious slow starter (that said I know he has struggled a lot the past month). And that's another thing that made it a bad signing. League adjustment, declining stats against lefties, 2nd half worse than his 1st half in 2014 when it's normally the other way around. Sox need to focus on AL players to get more predictable results. The stats were there . Why no one in the front office paid any attention to them is beyond my comprehension.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 04:32 PM) It's not just the fielding although many of his errors come on really simple plays...to me it's his mental mistakes, his tendency to let his mind drift on the field as well as his inability to work a count usually swinging at the first pitch and generally grounding out to short in key situations with runners in scoring position. Mark Well I know his hitting has been pitiful but you hear a lot in the game threads about Alexei being a step slow . All those assists tell me differently As far as mental errors I really think that's something that is extremely hard to quantify. No one is in his head and plenty of SS make errors on routine plays or what appears to be routine plays. Like Hawk likes to say if you get to more balls than all other SS the chances of making an error are higher because you're getting to more difficult plays. I can't defend his hitting at all except to say working the count is also one of those things there is too much emphasis on. Some pretty good hitters love to sit on that 1st pitch fastball because its the most predictable pitch and likely to be the best pitch you see in a particular sequence.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 04:24 PM) That's if we are willing to believe Morales and Lind would have played exactly the same with us. In the case of KC, it was kind of the perfect fit for him...they needed a veteran, stabilizing presence to take Butler's spot. Morales is in the same division as the Sox pretty much facing the same pitchers minus his own team mates. LaRoche was a bad signing . Way too old and terrible stats against lefties, even his 2nd half last year which normally was his strong suit came way down and could be construed as more evidence of decline. And they still play him against lefties . That's really sad. I'm pretty sure I remember Balta saying that the Sox would do just that and he's been right. Someone should pull the LaRoche signing thread. I can't remember if I said anything about it at the time .

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 04:29 PM) I'm pretty sure Lind is a free agent after this year. Sox will not trade for him. I think it's a team option for 2016 at 8M . If thats right Brewers probably keep him for that money.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 20, 2015 -> 09:12 AM) LaRoche isn't really a bad contract. He'll be in his walk year next year and I still bet on him coming around this year and have relatively respectable numbers, slightly below his 3 year trend. And at that price, I think you could move him (if not early in the season, by the deadline a team would be looking for a vet bat to add). I don't think the LaRoche / Danks contract, at this point, are reasons you don't sign Shark (given that both are done a year from now). Well when you realize the Sox could've had Kendry Morales or Adam Lind for considerably less it sucks looking at his stats and his salary. Dayton Moore smarter than Hahn/Williams ? Luckier ? If the Sox can dump LaRoche maybe trade for Lind.

So Alexei leads all AL SS in assists. Is that an indication that he plays more than most SS or is it because the fuss about his fielding is slightly overblown ?

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 04:47 PM) I support move, but feel bad for Connor. He had plantar fasciitis right? I imagine that really affected his offense this year. Glad we get to keep watching Saladino though. Yes he did and when hitting is basically a transfer or weight from the back foot to the front foot any of the 2 feet hurting will effect timing and balance and power.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 02:44 PM) Hahn's gotten a free pass for a terrible offseason (in terms of results on the field). He needs to win a few of these big trades going forward, as so far he doesn't have a lot to show at the big league level besides Eaton/Avi. There's the Abreu signing and the contracts with Sale and Quintana . The pen acquisitions are solid . LaRoche was a reach . Hahns strength is with contracts . Too many chefs in the kitchen on trades.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jul 19, 2015 -> 01:06 PM) Yea man and finely this series is almost over. I see what you did there