daa84

QUOTE(wsgdf_2 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 10:02 PM) PECOTA SAYS: .263/.349/.439 .788 OPS I'll take it. By the way, PECOTA also says Alexei Ramirez goes: .295/.342/.452 .794 OPS I'll take that too. Oh, and PECOTA says Swisher is good: .265/.373/.501 .874 OPS considering PECOTA is just about the best predictor out there id say thats a damn good sign, if we get OPS near .800 from quentin, and if ramirez plays everyday at 2b with an .800 OPS our offense will be real good....whats it say for floyd, danks and contreras, as those guys will likely determine our success this year? oh and how about Dye and Cabrera? Im wondering if they think Dye will bounce back, and im wondering where Cabrera will be relative to his last year (im assuming lower)

I imagine this has been a thread at some point in soxtalk's history, but I thought I'd start it up. I was just discussing with a friend which to buy as a gift for someone. My favorite of any sport might be Bang the Drum Slowly... also, in baseball, i know its cliche and corny but i like Field of Dreams. bull durham is great of course and the natural is a classic, though i think a tad overrated. hoosiers is the also the cliche underdog movie, but theres something about it that is just fantastic, and IMO the best bball movie. Caddyshack for golf movies, and football gotta go with Brian's Song What do you guys think?

QUOTE(StatManDu @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 03:30 PM) After years of Baseball America ranking the Sox system among the worst and the dubious history of the Sox prospects, I figure if someone wants one or two of them and you can get something good ... do it. I guess it's the old "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" theory. im not sure that the sox have really been ranked among the worst by baseball america over the years....i mean they were second to last back in 88 and 89, but damn that was 20 years ago.... since 1984 BA has had us ranked as the following... 1984 - 4th (of 26) 1985 - 4th 1986 - 9th 1987 - 22nd 1988 - 25th 1989 - 25th 1990 - 13th 1991 - C- (they did grades instead of rankings, this would have put the sox among the bottom 8 though) 1992 - 20th 1993 - 7th (of 28) 1994 - 17th 1995 - 12th 1996 - 21st 1997 - 21st 1998 - 8th (of 30) 1999 - 12th 2000 - Can't find Info 2001 - 1st 2002 - 9th 2003 - 15th 2004 - 20th 2005 - 12th 2006 - 14th 2007 - 25th of course that isnt to say that i generally disagree with you...cuz i do agree that prospects are nice, but if you can get proven guys (especially ones who are young and cheap and signed for a long time like swisher) than you go ahead and pull the trigger

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 3, 2008 -> 10:39 PM) I can't believe it, but two men made asses of themselves it turns out: Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Belichick: Going for it on 4th and 13 in a well established defensive struggle instead of kicking a 48 yard FG with a really good kicker on a perfect field indoors. Brady: "Plax said they are gonna beat us 23-17 huh? Wow, we're only gonna score 17 points? I mean, I could see him saying 45-42". Uhh yeah, good call buddy. Enjoy your overrated girlfriend this offseason. thats really an inexcusable play....i could understand if it was like 4th and 2 or 3, but 4th and 13....wtf...belichicks arrogance finally caught up with him there and im happy about it

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Feb 3, 2008 -> 10:33 PM) I wonder if Bill Simmons (the Sports Guy) will avoid talking about this, like he did the Colts last year. boston fans are so goddamn whiney....im so happy..i live about a mile from kenmore square in boston and im so glad i dont have to deal with all the dumbass people in the streets

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Feb 2, 2008 -> 07:59 PM) edit on topic title: As of today, do you think the White Sox are legitimate contenders in the AL? although there are still some potential moves pending with this team (crede, uribe come to mind), i don't think that we can expect anything major that greatly affects how our opening-day roster will look. with that said, do you think this sox team has a plausible chance of qualifying for the playoffs and contending for the american league championship? although i am happy with a lot of the things kenny williams has done this offseason, i don't think he's done enough to make us any better than the red sox, indians, yankees, angels, or tigers. i do think he may have set us up in a better position for future seasons, but i don't see us as a playoff team or al contender in 2008. no i dont...i think this team is very similar to the 02-04 white sox...they are a pretty solid team that, if everything falls into place, specifically with the rotation and bullpen(not unlike 2005) can contend and compete...will they contend? they may stay in the race for a while, but in the end, by around the all star break i think the sox will start to find themselves a pretty significant amount behind the class of the AL central, which i think will be the tigers (if the tigers pen semi shows up) if this at all makes sense, i think we will be competitive, but im not sure that we will compete for the division when its all said and done

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Feb 2, 2008 -> 05:43 PM) We all hope he can hit. He's probably a lot better than he showed in 2007, but thinking he might be able to duplicate his minor league numbers would be a stretch. He seems to have problems with injuries. I hope he doesn't become a chronically hurt guy. I liked the Quentin trade, I just think it may take some time before he becomes real productive. DA, im with you... his injuries are worrisome, and he probably won't put up a .429 obp like he did in the minors...but im a really big fan of quentin... i remember reading about him when he was with the diamondbacks and i was always impressed with the quentin/jackson tandem arizona had...while i dont think he will put up his minor league #s in the majors, i do honestly believe that minor league obp and ops are a strong indicator of how that player will project into that majors....after you factor in the fact that quentin was relatively young at each stop he had in minors..and im just super excited about this guy...im just as excited about him as any sox youngster weve had in quite some time (maybe since pauly)...i may be overly optimistic but i think this was KWs best acquisition of the offseason ...i really think he could be as good of a player as swisher within a year or two and we got him for just 1 single A player...we'll see, i mean i was high arnie munoz and that turned out to be a disaster, but i just have really strong feeling about quentin

I went back through the Dbacks top play Archives and these clips of Quentin got me excited so i thought id post the links.....he has some serious power...he doesn't need the cell to get these out of the park...even though these were from a while ago just seeing how far this guy hits the ball gets me excited...if owens is playing over this guy im gonna be mad.....there are some other clips of him making nice plays in the field in there too but these were eye popping ones for me http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/multim...i&ym=200706 watch the June 19th clip...titled Quentin's Homer...its a bomb From 2006... http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/multim...i&ym=200607 July 22nd..Quentin Goes Yard...July 25th Quentin's Homer... http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/multim...i&ym=200609 Sept. 2nd..Quentin's Homer....Sept. 5th...Quentin's Solo Shot....Sept. 26th Quentin's Two-run Homer all of those balls are crushed...each one would be gone in the cell by about 15-20 rows at least

QUOTE(iamshack @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 12:09 AM) It's really a shame. I honestly believe Brian is the best defensive center fielder in baseball- and it isn't particularly close. In fact, I think he may be one of the best defensive center fielders to play the game since Andruw Jones in his prime. Seems like this guy should get another chance, especially from a team which preaches defense. best defensive center fielder since andruw in his prime? hes good in center, but come on

Poreda was ranked as the #67 prospect in baseball by Keith Law on espn.com today....Gio didn't even make the list....Fautino was ranked at 57 http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/col...&id=3222233 he also listed the top 5 in our org. as Poreda, Griffith, Broadway, McCullouch, and Shelby in that order

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 06:30 PM) Cabrera - Swisher - Thome - Konerko - Dye - Fields - Pierzynski - Quentin - Richar This way you minimize the number of weak-ass, punchless, low OBP hitters at the top before you get the real baseball players. It's not ideal and you're probably hurting Swisher but at least you're putting one high on base hitter ahead of the Thome/Kong/Dye threesome. ^^^

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jan 29, 2008 -> 06:56 PM) 237 G 939 AB .266/.324/.383 /.708 Why not just go with a Dye7 - Swisher8 - Quentin9 outfield? Why must there be a little b**** slap hitter in CF? lol i find it so funny that we have FINALLY cut the waste out of the lineup in uribe, pods, and even erstad and owens, and people are still clamoring to find a fit for a guy like owens or crisp....if we want to have crisp on the bench, im fine with that as long as we are able to swap bad contract bench guys like uribe or crede for crisp, that way you swap a 5 mil contract for a 5 mil contract, but are sacrificing good D of the bench at one position for good D off the bench at another (CF, where we need the D) thats an ok deal, but its unlikely to improve our team a whole lot what is likely to improve our team a whole lot is getting cabreras .340 obp in the lineup over uribes .280, swishers .380 over pods/erstad/whoevers .320 and quentin's potential .350-.360 over owens .310-.330

wow im suprised this is the best the twins could do....gomez is a nice piece and certianly a twins type guy but he had only 17 extra base hits last year and his minor league OPS is only .738......yeah hes young and plays solid D, but theres not alot of evidence to suggest that hes gonna really be an above average hitter....humber tons of scouts are way down on, he lost the fastball that made him the #3 overall pick and he really projects as like a 5 or bullpen guy...Mulvey is a better jack egbert, and i know nothing about guerra....sounds pretty good though...frankly im just not sure that this package is that much better than what we gave oakland for swisher... guerra sounds alot like Fautino (prolly not quite as good of a spect) gomez id have to say is a bit better than sweeney (but that gap isnt as big as you think...gomez has every bit as big of a problem with power as sweeney and walks less) Gio > mulvey so basically minnesota got a similar deal to oakland + humber (who may never turn into anything more than nick masset) i liked the rumored deals from the yankees and the red sox better than what the mets gave em, but who knows

QUOTE(AngelasDaddy0427 @ Jan 29, 2008 -> 06:21 PM) Yeah thats just what we need in the leadoff spot... A .330 OBP... but hes fast !

well let me see exactly what perry said in his column.... we improved this offseason, but not enough to catch the tigers or indians, and we have a downright pathetic minor league system with little hope of adding quality impact players the old fashioned way and that will likely doom our chances of competing with this team.... seems pretty accurate to me

12 pitcher + 9 starters + hall ....three spots left means we need someone who can play all three IF spots (uribe), a 4th OFer (owens), and a do it all utility guy (pablo)....replace uribe with ramirez if uribe is traded KW said crede and fields won't be on the same team...so assume one of them is starting and the other is elsewhere (whether its crede on a diff team, or fields in AAA[which would never happen, KW is just saying that for lip service])

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 04:34 PM) The beauty of the Swisher and Quentin trades is that...if those guys play up to their levels...we should have solved those problems. Nick Swisher is an OBP machine. In a down year for him last year with no lineup protection, he took 100 walks and had an OBP of .381. Put him in front of Thome/Konerko/Dye and those numbers would be expected to go up even more. Quentin's career minor league OBP is .427. Although that's still average-heavy because he's hit over .300 at most of his stops, he's still been good for about 70 walks a year in 500 or so AB's. Joe Crede usually took about 25 walks a season. 30 in a good year. Fields in his minor league stints was usually putting up 60-70. Juan Uribe...well, what more do I need to say? Richar showed some average patience last year, and his BB rate from last year would translate to about 50 walks over a full season, which is right in line with what we'd have gotten from Iguchi. Owens...well, I think that although he's raw, his numbers suggest he has a shot at being a decently patient hitter if he gets a full time chance, and a .350-.360 OBP is not unreasonable for him at all. Compared to where we were with Erstad and Pods and Uribe all in the same lineup (Pods's problem not being that he couldn't take a walk, but that at the end he couldn't do much else), and we've significantly upgraded our OBP this year. Im not sure if its exactly a good thing because of the inherent injury risk, but a good chunk of quentin's obp is explained by HBPs too....he was hit 112 times in 1618 PAs in the minors...thats about 1 every 15 plate appearances

feliz signed with philly...so for sure hes not going back to SF

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 12:01 PM) Yep -- Owens is all of (~)4 months younger than Nick Swisher, to put things into perspective a bit. And no, it's completely unreasonable to think Owens is capable of a .370 or .380 OBP. His minor league OBP was .362, and that's despite the fact that he was old for his level every step of the way. That doesn't even mention his terrible slugging percentage. He's nothing more than a 4th outfielder, but for some reason Sox fans seem to equate 'speedy' and 'slap-hitty' with 'good'. agreed on all accounts... i will honestly be very upset if jerry owens plays over carlos quentin .....Quentin had a .427 obp in the minors with a .526 slugging....owens had a .362 obp and .368 slugging....but yet, because jerry owens can steal bases so many sox fans want him to play over quentin because he can "lead off"

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Jan 26, 2008 -> 11:32 AM) Hey my suspicions were right. We drafted a reliever ahead of one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. I don't see how I'll ever be happy with this pick. what about if porcello fizzles out?

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jan 21, 2008 -> 04:23 PM) I'm starting to wonder if KW has something up his sleeve involving Bobby Jenks. Jenks is soon to be arbitration eligible. He had a nice streak last year which would make him being sold high. His K rate has decrease each of his 3 seasons. K-Rod, a decent comparison is going to get 8 figures, I don't think KW will want to go anywhere near that with Jenks. Maybe something involving Bedard. i would certainly take bedard for jenks...id hate to lose bobby, but if you can get bedard, even with the loss of jenks, i think it would make us serious contenders

QUOTE(rockren @ Jan 21, 2008 -> 03:33 PM) I very much agree. me too, especially if macdougal bounces back to his 06 form, and if dotel pitches like he did last year, we could have a very good pen actually....dotel had 41 Ks and 8 unintentional BBs last year in 31 IPs.....thats a pretty darn good indication that he should be pretty good

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Jan 21, 2008 -> 01:58 PM) i'd like charlie haeger as a starter over colon. i really hope to see haeger get a shot if one of floyd or danks fails (or both for that matter)...i really think he could have a solid career...he will never be an ace, but he will in all probability be a guy who can take the hill 30 times a year and give you a 5 ERA...which over the course of 30 starts is fairly valuable assuming you pay him league minimum......id rather see that than give the ball to colon and have him start 20 games for 5-7 mil (maybe more who knows) and have a 5 ERA....id say haeger has a much better shot at consistently being a back of the rotation starter for a handful of years than just about anyone in our system...its just he doesnt have that upside that guys like floyd or poreda will have

QUOTE(ChiSox35 @ Jan 20, 2008 -> 01:48 AM) How is everyone so sure Quentin makes the club, let alone becomes our everyday LF? I can see Owens leading off, Cabrera hitting second, and Nicholas hitting in between Dye and Crede/Fields. Also, it's been said that Fields won't man left, but it's also been said that Neal Cotts could one day be a no. 5 for the Cubs. Not saying it's gonna happen, but until opening day, or at least well into spring training, don't rule this out. If no one takes Crede before then, what are you gonna do? Send a ready Fields to the minors, or use Crede and Fields, and take an extended look at Quentin in Charlotte? Unless our hitters take a trip to Great America to power-ride Deja Vu (rip) Fields in left shouldn't be *too much* of a problem... In my world we'd score some prospects for Crede, re-sign Pods for a ruble, and let him duke it out with Quentin for left in the spring. I'm glad we signed Carlos, but until he proves it, if you want to compete, he's not a sure shot, or at least less of a sure shot than Scotty who's produced before. So, Quentin beats him out, ok, consider it an abortion. Pods proves himself, then for at least a little while there is a capable leadoff hitter in the fold at virtually no cost. Then, if our porcelain doll breaks, we have our plan B (Carlos in left) which would originally have been our plan A, and at no big loss. *Edit* I know it's not gonna happen. Kenny would rather sign a retarded ostrich for left over pods. Quentin has absolutely nothing to prove in the minors....have you ever seen what the guy did at the minors? his worst year was better than fields best year and in addition he did it at an earlier age at just about every stop....he has the potential to get on base at a .380-.400 clip and hit for some power....owens on the other hand has 0 power, and will probably only get on base at a .340 clip crede has to be traded imo...hes as good as gone at the end of the year and has no place that he fits into on this team....why not get what little we can for him now? unless KW feels teh draft picks would be worth it, but i doubt hell be type A

Dotel had 41 Ks and only 8 unintentional walks in 30.2 IP last year....thats getting it done and a strong indication that his arm is healthy (or at least that his stuff is back)