CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Wouldn't it be great if Tyler sustained it and the fans could wear Tyler Flowers googles like they do in Oakland with Sogard. Tyler Flowers Google's Giveaway Night.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 08:37 PM) Just realized that I kinda botched it all....you call them Sorcerers Spectacles....Will fix it in a sec I wasn't going to mention that since you obviously put a lot of effort into it on my behalf.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 08:00 AM) It's a completely unsustainable .243, and it's also come along with a collapse in his power. If he produces the same whiff rates next year we should be looking at about a .200 hitter. Make that highly unsustainable .252 with an increase in his power since he's doubled his xtra base hits in 18 games.

Awesome !

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 08:27 PM) Hey Cali, go peep the Tyler Flowers thread. Very very good. You are the man !

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 08:11 PM) We can purchase half a dozen of these magical glasses and hand it out in the club house. Beckham gets a pair, Dunn's overdue for one, why not for ADA, Tank definitely needs a pair. And they ought to be upgrades over Belisario's hideous glasses. Ha I said that about that for BJ Upton after we steal him from the Braves for a bag of balls.

Just took a look at Flowers triple on Gameday and I think they missed it. I swear if you watch it very carefully in slo mo after it hit the top of the fence it hit the bottom rung of the metal railing. Doesn't that make it a HR since without the railing it goes over the yellow line ? http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?g...ay&c_id=mlb

QUOTE (VAfan @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 06:59 PM) Why is building a solid core of young position players and starting pitchers, AND having a plan for a competent bullpen MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE?? I guarantee that's NOT how Rick Hahn sees it. If he did -- if he had your approach -- he SHOULD be fired. The simple fact is the Sox could have fielded a much better bullpen without spending a lot more money. Rick Hahn made some very bad investments, and took far too much risk hoping that Nate Jones could step into the closing role and everyone else would fall in behind him. For that, he deserves the fair criticism I've raised here. Are you enjoying the Sox 2014 season???? I sure the hell am enjoying the season. Before it started I remember some poster wondering if he should get the Baseball package on DirecTV . I encouraged him to do so to watch the young core watch Abreu watch Sale watch Eaton and watch Avi. It'll be a delight and a disaster but very entertaining. That's how it is every year. Sometimes the delights outweigh the disasters and but most times the disasters outweigh the delights since nearly every season the Sox go home not winning the World Series.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 07:46 PM) We thought that the first month of the season too But doesn't this streak look a bit different than the early season one ? A lot more xtra base hits in this one.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 07:45 PM) Tumbleweeds a double away from the cycle. He's back to being a Flower . No more Tumbleweeds or Weeds.

Wow Tyler wow Sorcerer's Specs . Double needed for the cycle. Piece of cake.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 07:25 PM) Here was the original question: "Is this bullpen Rick Hahn's fault?" The answer is obviously YES. To everyone who thinks he "couldn't" have fielded a better bullpen (which is frankly an absurd view) the answer is still YES. And I think Rick Hahn would stand up like a man, take responsibility for the bad choices he made, and agree. And most of his supporters never said he's infallible. In another thread I said he failed with potluck signees who could have had trade value but they all underperformed. I've chided SSk2 before about giving up on the season too early . Yes I want the Sox to contend every year. That doesn't mean I can't see the plan the Hahn is doing and I support what he's done and will continue to do . GM's make mistakes , they are human. If that was your point thank you Capt. Obvious I'm pretty sure we know that.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 07:03 PM) Much has been said here recently about the 2014 pitching staff. It needs help next year. Free Agency will be discussed in off season, but you can't count on that as a savior for next year. Even though most of Sox better pitching prospects are in lower minors (W-S on down) there are several at Charlotte and Birminghame who will probably be given serious consideration sometime in 2015. Alphabetically, they include Bassitt, Beck, Blough, Bucciferro, Casey, Fuentes, Recchia, Snodgrass, Vance. The following roster pitchers probably don't figure to be in the mix Belisario, Guerra, Jones, Lindstrom, Paulino, Rienzo, Surkamp, Thompson. I didn't include Rodon, only because he is still at W-S. I don't know where I'm going with this, just looking for some positive comments on Sox pitching next year. Sale and Q will still be here. You're welcome.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 07:17 PM) Not a good decision to put runners in motion with a 3 outcome king up. Both runners were going ? If so it was a hit and run But even if it was how the hell does Eaton only make it halfway to thrird ? You have to be out stealing making a real good attempt at stealing 3rd with Adam Dunn up even on a hit and run.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 07:14 PM) Dunn still sucks. Not sure why the runners were going Not even sure it was a hit and run . You'd think he'd be a lot closer to 3rd if it was.

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 07:04 PM) So how well does Tyler have to hit before we take him seriously? I suggested.270 a week ago but I'll take .260 if he hits more bombs. As hot as he's been maybe he can bat in the middle of the order for a while. Yea yea I know comfort zone yada yada.

How many runs has Sale driven in tonight ?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 05:39 PM) The key has obviously been Abreu. We somewhat unknowingly (at least this quickly)signed an MVP contender. Then Alexei has a bit of a resurgence, and Q and Eaton put together very solid years. Had we known all this coming into the season, we might have invested a bit more in the bullpen. I will say this much...you can always move great bullpen pieces at the break. The Cubs, Orioles and others have utilized this as a method of acquiring young talent even in down years. Unfortunately for us, the two guys we did sign this year have been worse than back hair. Dick, you're as hypocritical as they come. Why should we listen to your thoughts on being a General Manager? What is your previous experience in General Managing? Do you have any front office experience? May I see your resume prior to any further comments on Rick Hahn's performance? Where were all these comments prior to these signings going poorly? Can you document for me your opposition to the Scott Downs and Ronald Bellisario acquisitions? I'd like to see more credit given to Rick by you for the Jose Abreu and Adam Eaton acquisitions. I've tried this tactic with him. Brought up getting on those who critique Ventura in hindsight or 2nd guessing him and while he gets on Hahn. But he swears he isn't using hindsight, says he was critical of that trade from get go ,oops ,wait now its from the start of spring training thanks to SSk2 doing some detective work. I was like fine so which plan have you advocated the Sox (Hahn) follow ? Contend every year , spend the max on payroll every year or Hahn's plan to build up the core 1st because its a rebuild and try for sustained success while limiting costs for but spending more for special occasions, because the Sox don't have a lot of things going for them financially to be able to do both at the same time. He danced around the question every time never giving a straight answer. Then he went on the attack trying to divert my attention from him onto me, but I know his M.O. so I didn't bite. I politely called him a guy who plays devil's advocate to stir the pot which others would call a troll. I'm not even as anti troll as most people on a message board are because it can generate conversation for Jason's sake and the sake of keeping Soxtalk around awhile it aint all bad .

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 03:40 PM) If they were both free agents after the year and we could only keep one, I'll take Abreu. You could sign Lester as a FA and be ok but who replaces abreus production? He miggy-esque right now. Just saying if that were the case(not involving the contracts) See I told everyone chicks dig the long ball though admittedly you're the only one who posts on here so you're a small sample size

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 01:18 PM) Here are your replies from the trade thread. Maybe I can read into some that you aren't excited about Davidson, but I don't see anything about the loss of Reed, or that he is more valuable than Davidson. There really isn't much of a commitment from you on the trade one way or another. I left out the posts about other things. The first post is in relation to how everyone likes the trade. Are you saying the thread to which Dick is referring to when he said he hated the trade, he didn't actually say he hated the trade ? Say it aint' so. So now he covers his ass by saying it was in a thread before spring training started because when it 1st happened he said he didn't have the facts . How convenient. So you do all that research and now it's another thread where you'd have to do a whole lotta more research to prove he didn't say what he says he said without even knowing the threads topic. All without the search feature ever working on this site.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 12:41 PM) Oh so you're the reason we got all these problems. Why am I not surprised? I am going to start a thread and say "Is it Kyyle's fault that the Sox have had as many problems as they did and couldn't make any trades and why they don't spend any money and the minor leagues are so bad?" Don't forget the bullpen sucks too unless that's under the heading of no spending money.

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 02:39 PM) Right - that's what I saying. To look at WAR and say "WAR says this guy's better but I totally wouldn't trade for them" would be a misunderstanding of what WAR is supposed to do. That's what I was trying to explain. There are all kinds of other things that go into projecting a player and deciding how to build a team. We're on the same page at least you don't say sabermetrics are the end all be all. It just seems WAR and saber stats will be misused for many years without the general media people and most people in general having advanced knowledge on how they work.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 02:30 PM) And you've found the crux of the entire situation. This is why you can't just say "Would you rather have Donaldson or Abreu?" Both players have the same value, and they have star power and both have missed a bit of time (meaning both could easily be 4.5-5 WAR players at this point) but WAR is not meant to transplant players, it's meant to provide some sort of baseline value for these players. Given what the Sox offense looks like, and the fact that they have a viable option at 3B in Gillaspie, I'd obviously much rather have Abreu, but ask Oakland, with Moss hanging around 1B for them, who they'd rather have and they'd certainly tell you Donaldson. Ask the Cubs who they'd rather have. Conversely, ask the Nationals or Twins or Rangers who they'd rather have, and they'd assuredly tell you Abreu. Chicks dig the long ball. I dig chicks. Therefore I dig Abreu. Nutshell.

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 01:58 PM) Advanced statistics make baseball better. They help to eliminate gut reactions and misguided assumptions over small sample sizes. It helps us to value different aspects of the game properly. Bill James always says that a statistic is no good if it doesn't surprise you. That's because a given statistic is supposed to tell you something you don't already know. We know Abreu is good. We know he's been phenomenal at the plate. We don't know how to properly value his contributions in comparison with other players that play other positions. To ask whether, based on this season's WAR, you'd trade for someone, is a misuse. It's not a projection - it's a measure. WAR is a way to look at players' contributions and separate them from context so you can make valid comparisons. A guy like Donaldson plays different competition, in different places, with different people batting around him, and at a different position. WAR is a way to look back and disentangle all those confounding factors. When I'm deciding between Abreu and Donaldson, there are several concerns for both players. Abreu, being new, has considerable upside that we just don't know about yet. Could he play even better than this? There's reason to believe so. However, given his newness to the league, maybe he could get dramatically worse. Look at the way Yoenis Cespedes's production fell off after his first year. At 27, Abreu can't punt too many years solving his sophomore slump. He also plays first base, meaning a down year at the plate means he'll be simply valueless. Donaldson plays a more valuable position and defends it extremely well - we have three years of sample size to back up his defense. His year last year, with a 7.7 WAR, is probably better than any year Abreu will ever have. However, he is a year older than Abreu. He's also a guy who wasn't worth a s*** until he was about 27. While "fluke" might not be the right word, there is reason to step back when a guy blooms this late and wonder what's going on. He was never an impressive upper-level MiLB player until he was 26 over 50-some games in AAA. Seems like a candidate for regression, if not a guy who might be thriving only under a particular coach or whatever is going on. So no, I wouldn't pull of that particular deal, money aside. We effectively have a prospect in Abreu, which I think makes him worth the gamble that his position or lack of experience could make us lose the deal. Good explanation as usual from you educated folks But many of the points you make can be made without the advanced stats. Their ages ,the late blooming,standard MILB numbers, Abreu's 1st year, sophomores slumps etc are all part of baseball past stats and folklore. Besides Abreu's near the best at his position now so it's probably a bad example of trading Abreu for Donaldson and much more useful for trading more similar players. Besides no stat can predict the future . I probably toot my own horn too much but I've had debates on here about choosing one player over another in the off season for certain trade possibilities and kept those debates in my mind while looking at the production of the players involved over the next few years and I'm usually right .

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 01:36 PM) This x100000 Sox arent even done with that. One more starter and a couple more bats and then you can address the bullpen. I think they can do it with one quality SP and 1 more bat that is if Avi can put up some good stats next year. Would have to be a LH guy to replace Dunn's .850 OPS against righties or a lesser OPS but still productive offensively and good defensively with a rotating DH from a deep bench. No easy task. I see too may people using Rodon's name for the rotation and that is not a viable option for next year.Can't expect a guy just drafted to come in and be your 3rd or 4th starter a year after being drafted. So someone besides Rodon.