Rowand44

KC will definitely win at least one this weekend.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 02:38 PM) Considering the Sox are at the top of the league in homers almost every season it seems, how exactly is that an "amazing stat"? lol ya. Everyone knew we'd hit a ton of homers as usual, nobody knew at this point that the Tigers would have the best record in baseball.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 03:32 PM) I have a question. I've heard a lot on this board about Ryan Wagner and how great he is. Why, exactly, was he not in the Reds' bullpen? Is he still just a prospect with a high ceiling? Or was he already in the majors and fell out of favor with the management? He was a first round draft pick a few years back. He's got good stuff and his first year in the majors he was very, very good. After that though, he just struggled for whatever reason. I think a lot of people believe with his stuff, he might just need a change of scenery considering he's still pretty young.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 09:20 AM) That's why a guy like Brady Clark makes sense. Brewers still feel they're in the race although that could change. Clark is an OBP guy, plays CF and would also fit into the plans for 2007, he can play LF too. At this point I truly feel their first preference is to see Anderson succeed. SS2K5 makes a good point, they are committed to Anderson by virtue of their actions. By the same token they are going for a World Series and blind faith doesn't always get the job done. KW is always looking to improve. Wouldn't you agree though that as of right now, upgrading the pitching is more important than upgading from a defensive stud just to improve an offense that is the best in baseball right now?

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 09:05 AM) [/b]I also think there is something to the fact that the team has a much better record when Scottie plays, but you also must remember, the games that Scottie sits out also happen to be the games against tough left-handed starters. It probably has more to do with the coincidence that we are playing a Scott Kazmir, or an Eric Bedard, or whomever, then the fact that Scottie isn't playing. That's a fair point, however the horrid month of August last season did happen to be when Scott went down so it wasn't just against the tough lefties. There is a fair amount of data that shows he's a pretty important piece to this offense. His defense on the other hand.... QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 09:05 AM) And yes, I do think the 75% rule is f'ing arbitrary and stupid. Baseball is an amazingly complex game- stop trying to quantify everything into numbers to assign value to it. Accept that there are flat out things that cannot be accurately quantified sometimes. Cease painting every player or situation with the same brush. It cannot be done. This I do agree with but that's an argument for a different time.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 08:53 AM) Last season we struggled to score runs with ANY lineup, until we got hot in October. This season is totally different We are 4-4 without him in the lineup, but we also scored 44 runs in those games, an average of 5.5 per game... I'm not sure where you got 4-4 but I got different numbers. Still, lets say your numbers are correct, then we've averaged almost a half run lower per game without him in the lineup.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 08:07 AM) You also have to look at who else is out of the lineup, who's pitching, who the opponents are, etc. Just looking at what games he was in or not doesn't give the whole story. I agree. That's research I haven't taken the time to do. That being said, when him getting hurt coincides with the Sox going through their tough stretch last season and the Sox continue to struggle with him out of the lineup this season, then there has to be more to it than just coincidence.

A lot of stats being thrown around in this thread but I think one of the more important stats hasn't been discussed yet, the fact that the Sox are under .500 this year when Scott doesn't start. I believe this was also the case last season(if we weren't under .500, we were considerably worse with him out of the lineup) and him getting injured coincided with the August slump. Like I said earlier, I can't stand to watch him play left field but I do believe he's a pretty solid lead off hitter. As annoying as he can be when he watches strike three or can't get a bunt down, he does have some very serious value to this team. Pods also usually is someone that makes a pitcher work, you rarely see him swing at the first pitch and most of the time he'll see a good amount of pitches per at bat. That seems to be forgotten with him a lot of the time and I think that was especially important last season when you had a guy coming in from Japan who had never seen major league pitching before.

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 01:07 AM) I'm going to UNI this year, and that's awesome. Come on now Heads, Northern Iowa is a beautiful area to be around. (With the exception of Waterloo.) SIU shall beat some UNI ass. That is all.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 01:30 AM) Appearantly if you have a $252M contract, walkoff homeruns and 7 RBI games including a grandslam against your crosstown rival don't count as clutch. I'm not one to harp on the clusterf*** of idiocy that is ESPN but the A-Rod hatred comming out of NY/Bristol is just sickening. 1.000+ OPSs w/ both RISP and RISP w/ 2 out seems relatively clutch to me. If they really don't want him, they can pay most of his contract and trade him here.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 12:52 AM) The first person to tell me what is wrong with this poll gets major cool points from me. This is the sort of s*** that pisses me off. How about that Arod has a walkoff homer against Atlanta when his team was down by a run?

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 07:02 PM) Liriano is better than Santana. They are both friggin amazing, but Liriano is spectacular...he is a friggin freak of nature. Ridiculous stuff, some of the best I have ever seen. If he stays healthy, he is going to be amazing. And he was a throw-in /necessary pot-shot at Sabean I'll bet he won't be better than Santana. Liriano is fantastic but Santana is and will be better.

QUOTE(quickman @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 07:50 PM) I thought they were looking for a left handed bat. They are. I for one will be pretty happy if they land Carlos.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 06:27 PM) Anyone know if this is really in the organization's plans, or if it is simply speculation and conventional wisdom? If they really were serious about moving him to left, why has he not yet played there? I don't think any one here really knows. It's been speculated for a while though.

Weird to see Joe Thurston in this game.

Should be fun to watch Charlie since I didn't get to see his start in Chicago.

QUOTE(SoIL @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 04:21 PM) Isn't Posednik a free agent after this year? Or is there an option on his contract. He has a year or two of arbitration left.

Moved to the diamond club.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 09:46 AM) I'm inclined to agree with you. I hope I'm wrong because he is one of my favorite pitchers in baseball to watch. Unfortunately, I really do believe he's done.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 09:31 AM) If the Phillies threw in a reliever, I could see this happening. But something tells me that the Sox don't want Gordon and there's really nobody else in that 'pen that's impressive enough to trade for. I could easily see KW moving Vazquez this winter. The Sox aren't going to be able to allocate $50 million of their payroll to their starters over the long term. But any move that would send B-Mac into the rotation this season is unlikely. It would likely take time for him to re-adjust to the rotation and they'd need to receive a very solid reliever (preferably one that can pitch long relief) in return. Actually, adding Flash to the deal adds a little sense to it. You'd have someone to take Brandon's spot in the bullpen and we'd have that right handed set up man a lot of people want. Move Brandon into the rotation and then the money would be pretty even as well. That being said, I still see no point in adding Aaron Rowand as I think Brian is going to be the better player starting the 2nd half of this season.

Yuck.

QUOTE(DonkeyKongerko @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 08:12 PM) I actually like Thom Brennaman and Josh Lewin ^^^

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 10:38 PM) Honestly, I wasn't really as in to this year's as I have in th year's before. The whole Red Sox/Yankees starting lineup was quite the turnoff, as were the 2 starting pitchers. And on top of that, the game was boring. I enjoyed it. It was a well played game with some late inning drama. Oh well, jmo.

QUOTE(SoxFanForever @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 10:17 PM) I smell a pop up to shallow left. Is there really any doubt? Shallow right it is.

w00t, Carlos Lee.