BlackBetsy

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 19, 2009 -> 12:48 AM) The Dan Hudson Box score experience continues to bring a huge smile to my face, I also wish "my boy" Holmberg would make the Bristol rotation. I think putting him in the pen severely limits his ability to throw all of his pitches and establish command. What I find weird is that Hudson went from being a 2 to 1 GB/FB pitcher in Kannapolis to a 2 to 1 FB/GB in Birmingham. I could see is FB rate going up as he proceeds, but this is pretty radical. Small sample size, of course, but 36 innings is over 100 outs...somewhat meaningful. 1.44 GB/FB in Great Falls. Whether Hudson is successful at the Cell has a LOT to do with GB/FB rate.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jul 19, 2009 -> 07:09 AM) Lets see, we have Danks under our control through 2012. Alexie is signed for cheap through 2011. I don't think so Rick. . . Not to mention the fact that Halladay isn't THAT much better than Danks (maybe 2-3 wins a season, support neutral, but maybe only 1 win next year as Danks continues to mature), whereas he's 7-8 wins better than Richard / Colon over the course of a season. Trading Danks and Ramirez for Halladay actually CREATES more holes for the White Sox (creates a hole at 3B assuming Beckham moves to SS and does NOT solve the 5th starter issue). It's so moronic - I have no idea why Morrissey can keep a major sports column. If he says the Sox should go for Halladay at all costs, the costs should be emptying the Sox's prospects (e.g., Flowers / Richard / Viciedo / Danks2 / Hudson / Poreda / Morel)

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 18, 2009 -> 06:52 PM) Beckham is arguably our best hitter, right now. Amazing from a guy who has scouts on his ass the minute that 0-20 was his primary offensive statistic. Since his first 4 games (0-13), he's hitting .330 / .402 /.491 When the power comes, he's going to be a top-3 3B in the league.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Jul 18, 2009 -> 01:02 PM) I was mainly thinking of Ken Berry or Mike Hershberger. I forgot about Ken Berry, although I'm not old enough to have seen him play. My memory only goes back to Chet Lemon.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Jul 18, 2009 -> 12:37 PM) Can't tell if you're kidding or not, but if not I'd point out that you're memory is going to hell. If you are suggesting that either Rowand or Lance Johnson or Chet Lemon were better than BA is in CF, I think you are wrong. Anderson's 2006 season in CF was absurdly good. He has range, speed, a great arm and he takes the best routes to the ball. Rowand was pretty good, but he was more flashy than truly great.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jul 17, 2009 -> 07:29 PM) Throw in Hudson and another SP prospect or a guy like Nathan Jones and maybe we could get Haren. I wouldn't pay that price though. I think that unless we can get an ace for well below his normal trade value we're best off waiting for the offseason to see what teams are looking to dump what players. Assuming he checks out medically, I'd much rather acquire Webb for half that cost or less. All of this depends on how much the Diamondbacks want to reduce payroll. If it's bad, they would take a Flowers/Viciedo/Richard/Poreda package without blinking if it took the $45 million owed to Haren off the books. They raised $50 million to cover payroll over the next five years, so they may be good. If they don't need to reduce payroll, I'm not sure they would trade Haren, period. Unless you offered Beckham / Poreda / Hudson / Danks / Flowers / Ramirez or some other ludicrous deal no GM would turn down.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 18, 2009 -> 08:09 AM) I'm surprised they haven't given Norris Hopper a chance yet. The Wise/BA combo is embarrassing. I just think they are playing out the string until CQ is healthy and can play left. Podsednik will move to CF where he will be even worse than Wise (which is saying something - BA easily catches the two balls Wise crashed into the wall on and probably makes one more play). We are giving up on defense for the most part this year it seems. If the choice is between Wise and BA in center, it should be BA any time. He's easily the best defensive centerfielder the Sox have had since Jim Landis.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2009 -> 07:01 AM) Denny Hocking going yard for a walk off against Foulke, It was a double off the baggie. That game is almost seared into my memory at this point. The Sox had just gotten to .500 after a set at Baltimore (I went to the Sunday game, Baldwin was "effectively wild" in that game). Foulke blew that 4 run lead in the ninth (I was already counting it as a victory) and the season went downhill from there.

QUOTE (beautox @ Jul 12, 2009 -> 03:39 AM) McCarthy had a straight as an arrow fastball that he could locate, with a zito-esk curve Which showed in McCarthy's HR rate, which was the only real chink in his armor through AA - and actually, that was only in Kannapolis. Hudson has allowed 10 HR in 167 minor league innings with 202 K and 43 BB...about a 5 to 1 K to BB. McCarthy in his comparable 2003 / 2004 years (Great Falls and then all the way up to Birmingham in 2004) had 273 IP, 22 HR, 45 BB, 327 K Converting into rate stats (per 9 IP) Hudson: 0.53 HR/9, 2.32 BB/9, 10.89 K/9 McCarthy: 0.72 HR/9, 1.48 BB/9, 10.78 K/9 So, similar, with Hudson having a better HR rate and McCarthy having a much better walk rate. The average HR is worth about 1.4 expected runs vs. 0.3 expected runs for a walk, so it's pretty much a wash. McCarthy was 2 (baseball) years younger than Hudson at these stops, however (15 months in real years). I still think McCarthy was overall a better prospect than Hudson is now because of age/BB rate, but we'll see. If Hudson has more movement on his stuff, he'll likely turn out better. McCarthy is your standard 3/4 starter right now but I think there's still a chance he's a top of the rotation guy if he can figure it out. He's still only 26.

We should just make sure he's in the division so that Konerko can hit off of him.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 23, 2009 -> 05:54 AM) White Sox may have plans for Gordon Beckham The White Sox's first-round pick in 2008, Gordon Beckham, was not among the names mentioned in the trade for Padres pitcher Jake Peavy, and part of the reason is that the Sox may have plans for him sooner than expected. The reason he was not among the names is that he can't be traded until after the June draft. Duh.

QUOTE (dasox24 @ May 16, 2009 -> 09:37 PM) Viciedo with a clutch 2 out, bases loaded, 2-run single in the 4th to give the Barons a 6-4 lead. Allen tagged out trying to advance to 3rd on the play. Good to see Dayan continue to rack up the RBI's, even if his average isn't spectacular. I wonder what his BA is with RISP... EDIT: With 2 outs in the 4th, the West Tenn runner tried to steal home, but got tagged out. Good play by Harrell, Flowers. He is hitting .299 with runners on base, .212 with bases empty He is hitting .341 with runners on scoring position (15 for 44). Warning: Small Sample Size.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 3, 2009 -> 04:43 PM) The dominance that Nolan had on the game for a significant period of time is lost in all of the walk/strike out/IP/hits arguments. Watching the guy pitch, and the task that a hitter had trying to get to the guy, is what I look at. I'd put the guy above Pedro and Johnson, but below Maddux personally. Pedro could rate higher, but his durability sets him back from the other three. Pedro and Koufax have had the best peaks of any pitchers, period. Pedro with Ryan's durability would easily be the greatest pitcher of all time by a mile and a half. At the end of the day, the walks really killed Ryan. His career ERA+ was only 111. Mark Buehrle's career ERA+ so far is 122. In terms of run prevention, Mark Buehrle's had a better career. While Ryan was racking up those K numbers, he was doing so at the expense of control and putting baserunners on base. That's why (along with being on some mediocre teams) he finished up with 324 wins and 292 losses. Think of it this way - if there was some guy who traded strikeout totals for low walk totals and had 3.9 ERA's for his career but had a ridiculous 0.8 BB / 9 IP career walk rate, would you think he is automatically Hall worthy? Probably not...But since we highly value pitcher strikeouts (as we should), Ryan's career is outsized compared to his performance. The 7 no hitters obviously add to his luster...without them he's a high strikeout 300 game winner w/ no CY Youngs. Side note: I was at Comiskey Park when Ozzie Guillen hit a home run off of Nolan Ryan. Surprised it was 1990. Ozzie talked some smack to Craig Grebeck when he went back on the field for defense (Grebeck also homered). I was sitting in the LF seats, first row IIRC.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 2, 2009 -> 08:37 PM) When will we promote Danks to the awesomeness of Birmingham? Make an already awesome and ridiculously talented lineup even more so! Where would he play? :lolhitting I guess you bump Shelby somewhere?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 11:12 AM) I believe they are building the Juan Uribe buffet. Well played, sir. I LOL'ed. +4

We should just have a comprehensive set of polls and a grading system. One poll for starters, one poll for bullpen, one poll for IF, one poll for OF. Get a community grade.

35 - 14 - 56 is probably right, depending on how Konerko ends his career. If Paulie plays '09 and '10 with the Sox and then re-signs to DH a few more years, it's a shoo-in. But I'm not sure that if he's traded before '09 or mid-'09 his number goes up. Buehrle is something of a no-brainer if he finishes out his contract on the South Side and says nice things if he leaves. He'll have something like 150 wins, etc. I think he probably re-signs after this 4-year deal and gets up to 200 wins in a Sox uniform. I see KW and Jerry being fairly loyal to Buehrle. 13 probably gets retired if there is another WS in his tenure. But given that he'll probably end poorly on the South Side (he'll get fired after some blow up and talk smack about Jerry and KW), I could see him being exiled for several years. 23 isn't going to happen. 20 won't happen either because I have this feeling that he'll either be too injured or will be too expensive for the Sox to keep.

My grading scale: A+ best in league A All Star performer A- borderline All Star B+ substantially better than average B above average B- average / above average C average D below average F replacement level. Pitching: John Danks - A Mark Buehrle - A- Gavin Floyd - B+ Javier Vazquez - C Clayton Richard - D graded up to C for being a rookie Jose Contreras - C Bobby Jenks A Matt Thornton A Octavio Dotel B- Scott Linebrink B (would have been A+ through July) Boone Logan F Horacio Ramirez F DJ Carrasco B- Lance Broadway D Mike McDougal C Ehren Wasserman F Hitting AJ Pierzynski C Toby Hall D Paul Konerko C Alexei Ramirez A- Orlando Cabrera B- Juan Uribe D Joe Crede B- Chris Getz INC Pablo Ozuna C Josh Fields D Carlos Quentin A+ Nick Swisher C Jermaine Dye B+ Brian Anderson D DeWayne Wise C Ken Griffey C (with Sox) Jerry Owens INC Jim Thome B+

QUOTE (scenario @ Oct 8, 2008 -> 12:40 PM) I don't think the "Cubs as a wholesome family experience" really took hold until the Trib bought them and amped up the marketing of that message. Definitely. Remember the rant by Lee Elia circa 1982? "They're really, really behind you around here... my f***in' ass. What the f*** am I supposed to do, go out there and let my f***in' players get destroyed every day and be quiet about it? For the f***in' nickel-dime people who turn up? The motherf***ers don't even work. That's why they're out at the f***in' game. They oughta go out and get a f***in' job and find out what it's like to go out and earn a f***in' living. Eighty-five percent of the f***in' world is working. The other fifteen percent come out here."

I voted Alexei. I think the league adjusted a bit to him at the end of the season and he'll have a tough time hitting .290 next year. Maybe .270, which probably leaves with him a .300 OBP. Happily, though, Alexei showed a bit more plate discipline as the season progressed - he walked 8 times in Sep/Oct. If Alexei walks 50 times next season...he's a top notch middle infielder.

What would convert you into a Cubs fan? Probably not much....the Cubs' fan edge is as much a product of marketing as the product on the field. In the 50's and most of the 60's, the Sox were by far the better of the teams and the attendance at Comiskey was consistently higher than at Wrigley. The attendance of both teams fluctuated during the 70's. The Cubs took over the town in 1984 when the Cubs attendance went on an upward trajectory that has lasted ever since. It's largely due to the Cub lovable loser / Harry Caray drinking at a day game vibe that was cemented that season. At the time at Old Comiskey, it was a place where young folks went to drink and get into fights. As a child that was my impression and, quite frankly, the Cubs lured in some of my south suburban friends with it. Bottom line - the Cubs were sold as a product while the Sox were trying to sell themselves as a baseball team during the 80's. They were playing different marketing games and the Cubs won, hands down. The only way for the Sox to catch up now is to have an extended period of winning and making the playoffs, a la the Angels in LA, where they have really outdone the Dodgers in a lot of ways. They aren't going to get the branding away from the Cubs, but they can compete on winning ways if they work hard enough. People do tire of losers eventually, and a couple of World Series on the South Side over the course of the next 10 years could turn the tide.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2008 -> 08:36 PM) Unless Jerry Owens turns into Denard Span in some magical way, he should stay in AAA or on the bench. You know, I was hoping that Span was a two month fluke but the guy hit .278 / .391 / .398 in September / October. Not a great SLG, but Span would definitely fit on the White Sox as a CF/leadoff guy. Frustrating that the Twins always seem to develop guys that fit their needs and the Sox don't.

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ Oct 7, 2008 -> 08:23 PM) Yet he could force the team to do so regardless. EDIT: Betsy interrupted, but there's something I wanted to add. Vazquez demanded a trade when he was with Arizona but that was an extension he signed when he was traded to the Yanks. I think he had 2 years of arbitration left (2004 and 2005) and the Yanks signed him to a 4 year $44 million deal. 2004 was the last year of his original deal with the Expos. I think the Expos locked him in for one post-arbitration year (2003 would have been his 6th year of service - he spent the entire 1998 season on the Expos' roster). So it was a free agent deal with the Yankees all the way, I believe.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 7, 2008 -> 07:41 PM) I guess they could also stick Wood at 1B (or Morales) if TEX leaves via FA. You could also just straight up trade Konerko for Figgins. A nice challenge trade. Or trade Dye for Figgins or Thome for Figgins. All three kind of make sense.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Oct 7, 2008 -> 05:49 PM) He can absolutely demand a trade. I was pretty sure the rule was a trade demand can be made if a player is traded during the middle of a multi-year free agent contract that they signed, not a contract that buys out arbitration years. It's in the CBA which is online somewhere, haven't checked. He can always "demand" a trade in the non-CBA sense (i.e., say that he will hold out if not traded), but it's not binding unless it was a free agent contract, IIRC. [For the record, if a player demands a trade a la Vazquez and is NOT traded, he becomes a free agent. If he is traded, he loses free agency for one year after his contract expires. A pretty weird but pretty cool provision.]