CaliSoxFanViaSWside

But that's OK, no big deal. Pretty much everyone knows the facts of our owner, the pandemic, labor strife etc. There's nothing wrong with optimism, you probably live longer supporting other people dreams than you do squashing them. Baseball is the sport where hope springs eternal. I was cautioning people about taking for granted we would automatically make the playoffs or that too many were penciling in Vaughn to be a great hitter too soon. You make your point and move on . This isn't a court of law where you are trying to convince a jury to acquit or convict . There was something that people used to say a lot on this board when people got overly serious. It was a movie quote from "Stripes". Lighten up, Francis !

I am actually like you except there just comes a time when you say this is my team we have a lot of good players. I can't do anything about who the Sox sign or trade. I can b**** and moan about the owners, my hopes, my dreams, my understanding of all the bad. However I will enjoy all the fine talent we have and will enjoy seeing them play. Unless you get in the World Series year after year chances are you aren't going to get many shots to win it so ultimately disappointment happens. There are so many things in life that are sorrowful. Find joy where you can in the team and the sport .

It's wild. I don't give a shit who has sources or who tweets what. I just come for the entertainment value of the tweets and the board collapsing like a star becoming a black hole. I pray for all the souls that get sucked into this blackhole of melodrama. #event horizon

Who's fault is that? Should the owner only spend when are good because of luck or should the owner spend to make the Sox good ?

or the same.

Maybe he is just taking more called 3rd strikes. I don't no where to find that info. Many of his offensive stats are near career highs the last 2 years . It might just be more selective at what he is swinging at . Maybe he is using his knowledge of hitting to outguess pitchers or zone in on pitch location or using the count to a greater advantage which could also explain his very high walk percentages.

But from Cruz' perspective it really hurts his ability to contribute perhaps as much as he would like to ,not to mention limiting his market. He should wait as long as he can unless he's got a $15M offer out there.

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.