Jake

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 20, 2014 -> 06:29 PM) The game thread is a lot like listening to Hawk. It is the same people, saying the same things over, and over, and over.... Except Hawk cheers for the White Sox

This is a good new wrinkle - what's more relevant: the accumulation of runs lost on the bases or the runs lost per time spent on base? PK isn't quite the worst when you're looking at a per-baserunning situation.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 20, 2014 -> 05:11 PM) Would the Knicks do Butler for Shumpert? I'm sure they would. That'd be an awful deal for us.

I actually think it's a very valid question - is Konerko the worst baserunner of all time or just one of the worst? Well, he's the worst.

I was surprised to see Aramis so high. That has to be laziness more than anything else.

Nightmarish defense from HOU today, but our baserunning has been absolutely excellent

I looked at the baserunning component of fWAR, which is calculated via a stat called Ultimate Baserunning (UBR). I wanted to know - who are the least valuable (or most harmful) baserunners of all time? The results didn't disappoint: UBR is calculated simply based on whether you advance the amount of bases that would be expected in a given situation. The run value is derived from how different the likelihood of a run scoring is based on where you ended up (say standing on second base vs. advancing to third on a single from first base). It isn't necessarily anti-slow guy and doesn't even account for missed opportunities to leg out force outs at first. But, still, PK and several other recent Sox were really bad on the basepaths.

It was only a matter of time before that lucky run caught up with Danksy. I hope he figures out how to strike out an acceptable amount of hitters and keep the ball in the ballpark

Semien is the classic "gets a cup of coffee in MLB and now everybody thinks he sucks" guy. Marcus has accomplished far more than Micah at this point and the only tool where Micah beats him is speed. Marcus, at present, is clearly a better bet on defense, for power, for plate discipline, and hit tool in general. It isn't so far apart that Micah can't pass him up, but that's how it is.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought that was ridiculous. How do you play baseball your whole life and interpret that bunt to be a bush league move?

Of all people in MLB that had as many ABs as Josh Phegley last year, he was the absolute worst hitter of them all. It wasn't even close. I'm not sure if he could do anything to make me feel confident in him at this point, especially considering his atrocious defense.

T Wolves are brilliant. They've put themselves in a position where they have to get Love. Everyone knows they aren't good enough without him and the public speculation and the stuff like LBJ calling Love mean that Cleveland has failed if they don't get him. So what does Minny do? "More please!" Yep, just keep asking for more because CLE is backed into a corner

Pitcher pissed about 2-out bunt against shift w/ 2-run lead, calls it breach of etiquette

I am going to be real and say I don't know a god damn thing about this kid so...if we get him, I hope he's good, and if we don't, I hope he goes to the Cubs for a very high price and then sucks ass

I think they're way too down on Davidson, especially considering his recent bounceback. Too high on Micah. WAY too high on Beck.

Wilkins and Micah are both players that saw their walk rates plummet upon arriving in AAA

I wouldn't immediately jump to the conclusion that Astros are in the wrong, here. If the kid's medicals look like s***, they look like s***. With that said, I wonder if Close feels that he can get free agency for Aiken now, which is why he apparently advised him to balk at all offers.

Yes yes yes, I understand how amnesty works. I was just too lazy to edit the post

The thing about the amnesty that f***s you is that it happens after everyone has spent their money. He would have gotten himself paid if he became available July 1

I believe Jon Rauch entered a season as #4 when I last looked at BA's history

Saw this the other day and I think it exemplifies exactly why advanced statistics are a worthwhile venture. Quote is attributed to Bill James - "a muddy truth is better than a tidy lie"

Any other Sox on there?

I'd be a lot more open to it if I didn't have to play him in CF, which is apparently the demand that's causing him to want to be traded

FWIW, we put Mitchell in AA before he had gotten over the A+ hump and then put him in AAA before he got over the AA hump. We put him in a really tough position, developmentally speaking. There was no good reason to believe he'd do well in AAA based on anything he'd done before when we put him there.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 07:42 PM) Well what state are you in again? OH