Jake

There are a ton of international players that put up scary bad numbers in places like the DSL

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 06:30 PM) You're not accounting for positional scarcity. There are only 25 roster spots and not many players can get you 6 or 7 WAR in a given year. Having a guy like that, signed to a below market contract no less, makes building a legit World Series contender that much easier. This is a good point - worth pointing out that Chris had a 4.8 WAR last season. He is on track for a bit higher than that this year. How much more do these players need to produce to make us feel better about position scarcity? In a situation when there is (presently) a scarcity of WAR, do we care so much about position scarcity or is that too short-sighted?

A bunch of us in Soxtalk chat got accounts to troll over there 7 or 8 years ago and I was rightfully insta-banned. I probably could sign up again without my IP being blocked by now since I've moved. It doesn't seem like a good place for me.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 06:05 PM) what does fangraphs have his "official" FB velocity increase as from 2012? About 1.5 mph

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 10:53 AM) It's Google Adsense - so since you are using AdBlock Plus provided as an add-in for Google's Chrome, it makes sense that they do not block. I didn't realize they were AdSense ads...I just read a story about AdBlock Plus whitelisting AdSense as their ads are never intrusive ("intrusive ads) are technically the only type of ad that AdBlock Plus seeks to block). They were, however, paid handsomely for this whitelisting. Some debate has ensued about whether that is good practice or not. I say, why not? Non-intrusive ads being whitelisted and ABP making money doesn't seem like the worst thing. It helps websites like Soxtalk, too. Also, I accidentally clicked the banner the other day...so enjoy my 5 cents.

Decide what WAR you are likely to get from Chris Sale over the next 5-7 seasons. Decide what chance the package in return matches or exceeds that WAR. If you get a 3 WAR/year guy, two 2 WAR/year guys, you've already won in grand fashion. But can you do that?

We talk about prospects as if they are all created equal. Some prospects have an extremely low probability of busting (say, lower than the likelihood of Sale's arm exploding) while others are extremely high. You can't just say "prospects" and have an understanding of the risk. Good talent evaluators will do a good job of assessing a particular player's risk.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 04:44 PM) Quintana's stuff is severely underrated. The Buehrle comparisons were asinine. The increase in velocity is kind of strange though; Hector threw harder than reported when he came up too.

When Gordon was drafted, Baseball America had this to say about Gordon's defense: At the end of the 2008 season: During the 2009 season: Overall, it seems the concern was his overall fielding ability, which has proven excellent. Nobody really questioned his athletic tools to be a shortstop, short of that brief comment about his speed (not really relevant?). Those are far from the complete reports, for those worried about copying things behind a paywall.

Another thing I think about: did Zimmerman have an opportunity to try to inflict NON-deadly force? I know this may not pertain legally, but it still makes me wonder. The prosecution has shown that the deadly shot was a picture perfect one for killing a human being - self-defense or not, Zimmerman meant for Martin to die when he fired the gun at his heart. Is it reasonable to expect someone to try to defend themselves with a gun without shooting to kill? I'm not sure. You certainly don't want to miss or hit the person harming you in such a way that it doesn't stop them from harming you.

I thought we liked concealed carry because it defends us from death, yes? When evil people try to kill us (particularly "criminals with guns,") we are allowed to use our concealed weapons to defend ourselves, even if it necessitates deadly force. This sounds great. I think most people in the Zimmerman camp are thinking about the possibility of getting their ass kicked, wondering if a blow the head will kill them, and feeling happy that their gun can diffuse things very quickly. But what I can't help but think about is...does this confrontation ever occur if George Zimmerman isn't armed? Do we feel emboldened to confront people that we believe to be dangerous if we don't feel that we have an easy means to kill them? I don't carry guns with me when I'm out and about and I know that I don't normally feel compelled to prolong my time near people I think could be dangerous. I think it is fair to say that I'm much more likely to listen to the side of me that is annoyed with local crime when I have a gun than the side of me that fears criminals; this is not to say that sometimes fear won't still override other emotional/logical considerations, of course. It's messy. This is why I'm highly skeptical of people that believe that concealed carry and maybe gun ownership in general is an unequivocal good. I don't mean to paint the picture that concealed carry/gun ownership are unequivocally BAD, either.

It's pretty simple. He had no track record since he was drafted. That wasn't necessarily his fault (this has been talked about at length), but there just wasn't a strong back catalogue of success for us to look back at to be sure this isn't "just" a really great hot streak. The fact he's ranked 5 shows you that we're pretty darn sure he's for real.

You want to be able to go into negotiations for an Alexei trade and say, "look, you're trying to acquire our number 2 hitter. There's a price for that."

I'm taking the Sox. Farm system rankings are typically a horrible predictor of future success. Having an excellent MLB pitching staff with a pretty long track record of finding and developing pitchers seems like a better predictor for me. I also am happy to know that the White Sox have been far more committed to winning rather than mystical delusions of grandeur. We thought KW was arrogant, but TheoHoyer takes the cake. TheoHoyer believe they have cracked the code. Seems to me, Theo is continuing to pioneer the science of giving out horrible contracts. Enjoy your expensive Edwin Jackson and Starlin Castro! As for the rest, we shall see. I have a feeling that the next time the Cubs compete, it will be because Theo started buying MLB regulars through FA...and lord knows how that will look for the Cubs a few years after that project begins.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 10:56 PM) Here's what I've been told...(one source), FWIW - Close on a couple deals (real names exchanged) - Sale is not untouchable - Several guys are on their way out just to be gone (out of favor with RV) What this tells me, more than anything, is that they are committed to Robin. You don't let your manager's doghouse play much of a role in who you are trading if you are about to cut that manager loose.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 02:36 PM) This is Peavy vs Rios. Peavy is a great starting pitcher, so he's always going to have good value, plus it's a relatively weak pitchers market. Rios is maybe a top 12 right fielder, but he's one of the best bats on the market right now. His value now versus where it will be in 5 months is drastically different. Alexei is going to have enough value right now simply because it's a position of weakness for many teams, but we can't act like Alexei is irreplaceable either. If the Sox can get solid value for him, especially if they get a shortstop prospect in a return trade, then they absolutely should do so. Peavy is far more likely to have his value sullied by another injury than Rios, which is no small factor. One more trip to the DL and Peavy is next to untradeable. For our purposes, also, we are far more likely to have the means to replace Peavy. Letting Rios go may leave us in a place where we have 0 decent outfielders.

I am clearly more optimistic on Anderson than most. I think I'm slightly more pessimistic on Erik Johnson.

So...is this another Jeff Manto success story?

Let's just clear salary until the end of the next season so we can afford LeBron

QUOTE (Boogua @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 09:58 AM) I can agree with that, but I'd like to add that Rose wasn't all that confident in his jumpshot in that series, nor was it falling at a great rate, so Lebron was the perfect defender. Think of when Diaw was guarding Lebron in this past finals and no, I'm not saying Diaw is the defender that Lebron is, but Lebron was able to give space which also helped him stay with Rose longer just as it helped Diaw against Lebron. If Rose any Chicago Bull was hitting his jumpshot it would have been a lot more interesting because Lebron would have had to pick something (like he had to against Jason Terry the next round).

Admins will be happy to know that my Chrome AdBlock Plus has apparently whitelisted whatever ad provider you guys have, since I often see ads on here despite having that plug-in.

Phegley won't be a lift and pull .210 hitter, I can promise you that. He might a s***ty .210 hitter or a .300 hitter with some pop, but he won't be an all or nothing guy. He'll much more likely be all....or nothing. If that makes sense.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 09:51 PM) Better? That remains to be seen. You're right, Freddie isn't as good at blowing off Luis Gonzalez

Glad to see the more deserving and better player got in. NL one step closer to home field advantage!!!

FWIW, I was irritated that we are doing this bulls*** for him in the first place. The logo is just icing on the "look at this asshole" cake.