CaliSoxFanViaSWside

It won't happen if there is a universal DH and the difference between knowing Cruz is a stud and expecting Vaughn to be one are 2 very different things.

I would be more inclined to think this is a factor if the season wasn't 60 games long. Given the whole of the season his offensive numbers were on par with Jose Ramirez and Mike Trout.

Speaking of winning a title , there's another aspect to the universal DH . If the DH becomes AL only that would mean in the World Series the DH would only be used in when the AL is the home team so home field advantage would be more important if the Sox signed him . Of course that means the Sox would also need to have the best record in baseball which seems unlikely even with Cruz. They would lose a big part of their offense in games without the DH during inter-league play on the road also.

I think mainly because the owners get a lot of money from expanded playoffs especially if fans are back in the parks in October. Easy rejection.

I was watching Tom Verducci and he pointed out that Aaron , who wore #44, hit his record breaking HR against #44 of the Dodgers Al Downing. He also passed away on 1/22/21. 1+ 22 + 21= 44. The Universe , fate, God seem to be paying tribute too .

It's his dog's name. NVM someone beat me to it.

Until he gets caught and suspended per the current policy I will assume he is innocent and worth cheering for if he become a member of the Chicago White Sox. Quick name me all the MVP's, HR titles and World Series victory's they took back because of PED's ?

There's something very obvious I can say here but it would be in extremely poor taste.

That didn't stop them from getting Lynn. His was higher than Walker's last year and Giolito's was about 3% less. Walker was at 40.4 but his career FB rate is usually in the 30's . His hard hit percentage was very good beating both Lynn and Giolito. However the rest of the statcast data isn't very impressive compared to Lynn and Giolito. I don't know if he is just craftier or was lucky last year. Guessing a bit of both.

I wish they were choosing to Cruz !

Punny !

Spoken like a true meatball fan. Use one play as an example against years of data. I guess the data doesn't fit your world view. I am no great believer in defensive metrics and even less in framing but I'll take Grandal for his overall body of work offensively and defensive than just about any catcher.

Wainwright does as much charitable work as any player in baseball from helping minor leaguers during the pandemic to his involvement in water filtration systems in underdeveloped nations . And this is just a short way of explaining it. He does so much that it's extremely heartwarming.

I have seen arguments that will downgrade pitching because of the competition they faced in 2020 so if that is the case the Yankees played in a much stronger division. No telling how those rookie and young arms on the Sox might have fared in the better hitting East or how the Yankee pitchers would have fared in the Central.

You're right it doesn't look right because it's listed as even so you misread it.

I am not going to try to explain it to you. I can't. I came here many years ago as a way to talk baseball and trying for a better understanding of the new stats. It helps to be a mathematician with many of them if you truly want to understand them. Since many fans are not, many attempt to use them because its the modern way. They are often misused and used without question. I have often questioned them and peoples use of them. 1st basemen will very rarely accrue as much WAR as a CFer because positions on the field which are deemed more crucial defensively accrue more defensive war if both players are equally elite defenders, which in itself is hard to quantify. Defensive WAR stats are the most questionable. When Jason Heyward was an elite CF he had some great WAR years because he attained much of his WAR playing great defense. He may have even got that huge contract because of his defense more than his offense. Baseball is a game where great offense has always been viewed as more important than great defense. That is hard to quantify but generally fans and evaluators both seem to think in these terms. You will of course also find differences in bWAR and fWAR (Baseball Reference and fangraphs WAR ) not just for hitters but for pitchers so now you have to keep track of which one to use and for whom to use it on. If you want to understand WAR that will lead you to most of the other new stats. No one stat can measure a players value. I think you are better off asking what are Sabermetrics and that can be googled and there are some good articles on it. I edited this to say I explained this with your point of view in mind because I was once in your position. I still think it's possible to evaluate position players looking at old stats but adding some things like walk rate, OPS, OPS+,wRC+. I left out base running and speed because speed is a key element in base running and defense but not the only thing. For example Eloy has decent speed but according to other stats gets poor jumps which is part technique ,fundamentals , route running ,reading the ball off the bat . A big guy like Eloy can improve those things but may never become a good defender. Also a CF doesn't ever have to slow down very much like corner OF's do when approaching foul territory so they can use their speed to its full advantage. He also doesn't have a strong arm so that's another strike against him in fielding so he will never get as much WAR in LF defensively as others who may not hit as well but accrue more defensive WAR in their total WAR stats. It's a long journey which many do not take to understand. Good luck.

Thank you . It bothers me that no one puts in any work to find those things. I see Wainwright and his age and a good season in 2020 so I dig deeper. A quick google search and I quickly found those things in a Sports Illustrates article. It really took no time at all. They just see Jack Parkman misusing Baseball Savant and throwing out a comp to 2019 Gio Gonzales and people reacting to it moreso than how the guy actually pitched. I was never actively saying I'd prefer Wainwright. Anyone who pays any attention knows I've just been chatting up Taijuan Walker. My focus here is always to provide facts and educate. At this point putting all the names in a hat and picking one out you are just as likely to get a surprising good season or a terrible season and the older you are doesn't help. It's why I prefer Walker over the rest mainly because he's the youngest and his strong recovery from TJ surgery. Age and possible upside was the reason I defended McCann and Mazara. Age and declining stats also was the reason I never wanted EE or LaRoche . Old age and good stats I will defend like Wainwright and Cruz.

Remember August 15th when the Cards were coming off the long Covid outbreak vacation and swept the Sox in a DH ? Wainwright pitched 5 innings 3 hits 1 run . We were disgusted that something like that could happen. Out of all the boppers we had in the lineup that day Mendick got 2 of the 3 hits off him. The Sox went 2-8 against Cleveland last year. Wainwright pitched a complete game against the Indians 8/30/20. 9 innings 4 hits 2 ER 9K. He was remarkable consistent in 2020 only gave up 4 ER once in his 10 starts .The other 9 it was either 1 ,2 or 3 ER. Even with bad offenses a pitcher not on his game will get lit up. 65 IP in 10 starts meant he was going deep into games also. Not too shabby for a geezer.

Actually you used the wrong thing. If you click on player similarity under the picture of the player, that is the more accurate similarity which is Aaron Civale of the Indians and Chris Bassitt of the A's. These similarity are based on speed and movement of pitches . What you were looking at was batted ball profile.

Who would that be? Luck as much as anything will determine if anyone in the Sox price range will catch lightning in a bottle . Last year it was Taijuan Walker $2M signing.

Might as well put this one on ice too.

I think if there was a poll about all the leftover SP and you only included pitchers who seem likely to get 1 year deals in the $5-10M range Richards might be at the top of that list . There's just a lot of choices and opinions. One choice is as likely to be as good or as bad as another.

All we should go by is his last 30 starts when he was healthy and damn good. The Sox aren't looking for a stud here unless they think they can trade for one. You are not getting anyone very healthy or reliable and recent history should mean more than anything .The Sox are looking for depth and among the candidates everyone has issues.This board will not be pleased with just about anyone the Sox sign in the $5-8M range. The guys with the best stats from last year also have the highest ZIPS projections for 2021 and that includes Wainwright.

Yes he is and I said his age didn't make him a strong option already. The reply basically was to those who said he was garbage . You said he was decent so I wanted to point out it was better than decent and garbage and it's been for longer than just 2020.

I'll answer my own question at least among NL pitchers. My cutoff point for a low 3's ERA is 3.25 . Kyle Hendricks, Yu Darvish, Brandon Woodruff, Trevor Bauer, Zac Gallen, Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Luis Castillo, Zach Davies, Dinelson Dimet , Jake DeGrom. If I lower the IP limit to 59 then Corbin Burnes makes the list. Notice anything about that list ? Some of the best pitchers in the NL and Wainwright was on it and that good run was a carry over from his last 20 starts of 2019.