CaliSoxFanViaSWside

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 09:18 PM) I've read in Baseball America that he wants to come stateside Since we don't know when he will be able to come over maybe we all need to see if he has a twitter or get the Nippon Ham Fighters address and all send him fan mail for however many years we will need to do so convincing him that the White Sox are the team to play for. Do this for a few years and he will think the SOx have the best fans ever.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 04:44 PM) Can play center field, perhaps better than Eaton. Is left handed. Righties make up around 77% of pitchers. Guess Moises isn't part of the core .

If we're choosing between Markakis or Rasmus . I'd have to go with Rasmus . They both have positives and negatives. Markasis basically has very little chance to duplicate his glory days whereas Rasmus does based on age alone. Rasmus just seems like a guy who opens up when he should keep his mouth shut. I'm sure a lot of players know better than to complain to the media about how they feel physically because it always comes off as whining. Rasmus definitely will sign with someone who has real grass. He feels the turf in Toronto hurt him. So he could be looking for a team like the Sox. Ultimately they may cost near the same amount because Markakis has been consistent and Rasmus has been erratic but is still young enough to turn his career around. Put the guy on grass and it just might make him happy.

He's also the head of the research and development division of the British Secret Service.

Before we got Abreu ,Corey Hart was all the rage around here while I was vehemently against it . Of course I was pushing for James Loney who doesn't hit for power but he had his average year pretty much.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 03:39 PM) By position, the players that I wonder if the Sox will go after via FA or trade: C- Grandal, Castro 1B/DH- Butler, VMart, Alvarez OF- Ackley, Saunders, N. Cruz, Crawford/Ethier, Bruce, C. Dickerson SP- Samardzija, Gallardo, Latos, Leake RP- Robertson, Soria, Maurer, A. Miller, Justin Wilson, Rex Brothers RP - Duke, Gorzelanny, Gregerson, Robertson SP- McCarthy

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Sep 28, 2014 -> 02:04 PM) Seemed like someone in NY had a issue with the Sox. Every close call was against the Sox especially calls at the home plate. I hope someone in Sox management request meeting with NY to get what is and is not blocking this offseason. We've been (pale) hosed a lot

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Sep 28, 2014 -> 02:04 PM) Seemed like someone in NY had a issue with the Sox. Every close call was against the Sox especially calls at the home plate. I hope someone in Sox management request meeting with NY to get what is and is not blocking this offseason. I'm sure after they reword the rule (again) there will be a dvd explaining it all in detail sent to every team in spring training.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 13, 2014 -> 11:08 AM) If I see an .800 OPS this year, I will be happy. You must be deliriously happy .

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 28, 2014 -> 01:57 PM) These calls at home are insane I'd like to see if another team has had the calls go against them as much as the Sox have had at home plate this year. Calls against us when we block the plate. Calls against us when other teams block the plate . Everything working against us before and after they tweaked the rule. Same thing with the full possession rule on fly balls .

QUOTE (VAfan @ Sep 28, 2014 -> 12:20 PM) The debate over V Mart is all about 1) his guessed cost, and 2) whether or how fast he will decline as a hitter. What seems to be missing is any discussion of the overall fit and what the alternatives might be. - The Sox MUST have lefty power. At the moment they have NONE. - The Sox really need someone to slot behind Abreu, to keep him from being pitched around. - The Sox would be better with fewer high strikeout guys in their lineup. V Mart fills all of these needs. And what are the alternatives on the FA market? For all those railing against V Mart, what other lefty free agent can we sign who is (1) younger, (2) just as consistent throughout his career, and (3) cheaper than V Mart? That player likely does not exist, or we would be debating him instead of V Mart. ************* As much as I want the Sox to take Victor Martinez away from the Tigers, the more important area of the team the Sox need to fix is the bullpen. Martinez's bat isn't going to make a 15-game swing in the standings. Nor would adding an impact right hander. But fixing the bullpen could. And if we DON'T fix the bullpen, it won't matter what else we do, because our bullpen will continue blowing games at an alarming rate. I addressed all those concerns in my multiple posts including mentions of Rasmus and Melky Cabrera while Markasis was brought up by another. I also brought up David Robertson for the pen and McCarthy for the rotation ( he seems to really like it in NY , he might stay there). Also discussed other bullpen options . Not sure if in this thread but definitely in the bullpen 2015 thread. Doubt I'd pay big money for Robertson but I'd try like heck to pry Betances away from the Yankees .But I'm pretty damn sure Betances isn't going anywhere.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2014 -> 12:51 PM) I'm going to give some props on this one. A little low on the slugging estimate. Thank you. I didn't predict a SLG% but I got the .300+ BA , .900+ OPS , .360+ OBP pretty accurately not to mention only 1 off each on HR's and RBI . Remember I also predicted the final score (3-2) and a Toews goal in the Stanley Cup final game in 2013.

Thanks for the memories Paulie !

Abreu final stats unless he pinch hits today. Avg .317 (5th in AL ) ,OBP .383 , SLG .581 (1st in AL) , OPS .964 (2nd in AL) , 35 Doubles ,36 HR (3rd in AL ), 107 RBI (4th in AL ),131 K's , OPS+ 169, wOBA .411 , wRC+ 165, BB% 8.2 , K% 21.1 , WAR 5.2/5.4 Stake your claim if you did well on your predictions

Now that KC's clinched maybe they can serve up a big juicy gopher ball to Paulie.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Sep 26, 2014 -> 06:31 AM) Feels just as good as clinching the division. IF NOT BETTER. Hmmm winning the division vs. slobbering over a draft pick that is likely to not help the Sox at all ever. So close.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Sep 26, 2014 -> 06:18 PM) Konerko and Dunn, two older sluggers who declined over the past 3 or 4 years and were highly overpaid as a result, have much more to do with the mediocrity than Beckham or Viciedo. Ironic, then, that you would talk about shedding the dead weight to acquire more while advocating for signing Victor Martinez. When VMArt becomes mediocre you let me know because now he is so far above mediocre he'd have to go blind in one eye to get there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 26, 2014 -> 05:49 AM) Since we are talking about a three/four year deal, how did Konerko's 37 and 38 year old seasons look? You have to judge guys on an individual basis. PK's performance has nothing to do with how VMart will perform at similar ages. PK's a walking cripple. To do what Martinez did this year you have to be pretty healthy. I'm actually shocked at how many people don't want one of the best hitters on the planet for 3 years. Are we so steeped in mediocrity that not only do we accept it but we yearn for it ? Do Dustin Ackley's beckham-like numbers or Rasmus' viciedo-like numbers really appeal to so many ? Have we gotten rid of the dead weight only to acquire more of the same ?

http://baseballhotcorner.com/paul-konerko-...tiring-captain/

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 26, 2014 -> 01:16 AM) .303/.376/.847 lifetime. If he has his career average year, he is pretty damn good. I knew he'd come back with the career yr. stuff but you beat me to the punch. It's been like 5 yrs since the guy hit under .300 and how good do you have to be to have a career yr. at 35 ? Answer: Really good and really smart too. 41 K's this year. 41 ! Adam Dunn never sniffed .300 and usually had 41 K's some time in May. Just to be accurate on Konerko he came in 13th in MVP voting during his age 35 season and was an All Star in his age 36 season .

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Sep 25, 2014 -> 06:36 PM) If you think that spending in free agency will make this team about 20 wins better and capable of sustaining that level of success for the next 5+ seasons at least, then disregard my post, as the premise of the entire thing is that it's going to take longer than this off-season to build a sustainable contender, likely another full year. That said, Victor Martinez is not the answer unless the question is "Who can the White Sox sign to a contract they'll regret by midseason 2016?" He's 36 years old and it appears that some team is going to give him $20 million per year for at least 3 years. That will hamstring the process of putting together a competitive team for 2016 and beyond. If the team wants to spend $20 million this off-season, they should acquire three or four players who could give much bigger returns on investment. I didn't get into specifics because I haven't really studied the free agent class, but you mentioned one guy that might fit the bill that I'm taking about in Rasmus, Markakis is another guy that might work if the O's don't pick up his option, and I've heard the name Michael Saunders tossed around, which doesn't seem like a bad idea either. The savings you get between two decent bats vs. Martinez could be spent on a pen arm or two, then toss another $15-20 million in for another pen arm and a decent SP and you've set the stage well for 2016. If the team improves 5-10 wins with that kind of off-season, then you go get the big bat in the 2015 off-season, when the entire contract will occur in competitive years. Do you like what you've seen of Abreu. I'm sure you do. Great season right ? Well VMart has been just as good as Abreu in his age 35 season. He has the highest batting average in his career, the highest OBP ,SLG , TB , OPS, and OPS+. He's doubled his career best in intentional walks and has K'ed just 41 times in 627 PA's. That's almost 90 less K's than Abreu. In many respects he's been better than Abreu. Just how fast do you expect him to fall off a cliff ? According to what you're saying he's got 1 good year left in him after a monster of a season. It helps a lot hitting behind Cabrera and hitting behind or in front of Abreu would be just as good. Sox fans need something to get excited about . As I've already said if you get him and McCarthy and Dave Robertson we will be contending because we'll have a better lineup bullpen and rotation especially if they are all signed for 3 years we can contend for those 3 years while also working Rodon, Bassitt, Montas, Danish and any other pitching prospect that develops into the rotation and pen which will cost the bare minimum that players make in their 1st 3/4 years in the league. Contend for 3 yrs then contend after that with a (hopefully) very strong rotation after that anchored by cheap young talent. You can't wait till the year after to get a big bat in free agency because we're likely to be outspent by all the high rollers which will probably end up the case with VMart also. BTW I've been the one tossing around Michael Saunders name but the Sox would have to trade for him and we are woefully short on pieces ( talent) to trade if we don't want to touch our minor league guys.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Sep 25, 2014 -> 08:14 PM) Semien since the call-up has been nails. I'd venture to guess he is hitting around .280+ with an OBP around .400. I'm surprised we haven't seen him in the OF since his recall. He had started playing OF in the minors and Sanchez looks to be the frontrunner for the 2nd base job on defense alone.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 25, 2014 -> 05:57 PM) Last I saw he just lined out to Hosmer at 1st. Is he out of the game now ? Yes he is . Replaced by Sierra. Btw You are a great poster . I like your style

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 25, 2014 -> 05:55 PM) What happened to avi Last I saw he just lined out to Hosmer at 1st. Is he out of the game now ?

At least we're watching. f*** Thursday night football.