chitownsportsfan

Here's a David Cameron blurb from Fangraphs today to whet your appetite. Not a big Cameron fan but he is good at pointing out what should be obvious but sometimes isn't.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 08:00 PM) mah man! I haven't smoked in a couple days been saving it for the opener! Had a good productive day at my business and a half day tmr. Sox season opener and a week of 60s forecasted for Seattle. Life ain't so bad.

Rolling a couple joints and just cracked a beer. Oh yea.

QUOTE (MDWhiteSoxFan @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 07:13 PM) TMobile site clearly states you need to stream on your T-Mobile device and their network no wifi. That's just for the initial setup i'm 95% sure. I signed up today using my phone but from what I read once that's over you get the whole thing -- including via Wifi on your computer or smart TV. Very happy about this T-Mobile has always treated me right. Great service in big cities, spotty in rural areas but I spend 99% of my time in cities and their $49 unlimited plan is excellent.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 06:08 PM) Navarro starting! Robin getting right so far Yep. Good start. No reason to ever play Avila against LHP, especially with his iffy back. Let him rest for RHP.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 05:54 PM) Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien 20m20 minutes ago The White Sox don't have one position player on their roster who was on the team on Opening Day in 2013. Not sure how KW still has a job...

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 04:13 PM) I wonder if we should scratch Sale tonight. Seems like pitching him here is a waste when he's not needed to win. Pitch Danks against Hill and let him pad his record for trade value. Than come back with Sale later in the series when he might be needed to get a win. Hell no, get the win then move on.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 03:42 PM) At Cleveland and at Yankees postponed. Baseball is not meant to be played in early April for a bunch of the teams. Let's hope Tampa isn't moved to Montreal creating another lousy early season spot. Unless they also go indoors. It's really not meant to be played in early November either but unless they go to a 154 game schedule or the MLBPA allows more doubleheaders -- this is what we get. I'm glad the Sox are in Oakland to start. Get some good weather to start, then even if it's cold in Chicago at least they'll be glad to be home.

QUOTE (chisox802 @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 04:16 PM) I don't like this at all. Rich Hill is the typical shi**y starter we never hit...... Gonna be different this year. I can feel it.

The MB behind the back toss has to be my favorite moment.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 01:58 PM) 8 more hours....... Pretty s***ty day of work at my shop too. Long day.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 3, 2016 -> 03:56 PM) I don't think that's it. They're putting marquee games on for Sunday and then starting the rest of the teams on Monday because people like me will sit around with baseball on TV all day Sunday because it's opening day and then I'll put my team on Monday (or maybe I'll watch these 3 games Sunday and buy tickets for my team's game on Monday) and thus they stretch out the opening day viewership and revenue. I'm watching the KC/Mets game right now, pretty compelling game. Opening day lines up perfect for me being on the west coast and then the sox are right back at it Tuesday. All good from my perspective.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 05:12 PM) Revocable waivers are used in August, if Loney were placed on waivers prior to the season beginning it'd be an unconditional release waiver. The Rays will try to work out a trade the next few days, if they can't then they'll designate him for assignment, buying them another 10 days to work out a trade without wasting a roster spot, within the first 7 days of of the DFA he can be placed on waivers, he cannot be pulled back, the claiming team is on the hook for his salary and if he goes unclaimed he becomes a free agent. You are the man! OOTP only takes me so far into the details of the CBA.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 04:48 PM) FWIW, this gets said every year and I always 100% disagree with this. You're completely right about position players - they could be ready to go by mid-March, probably earlier if they had to given modern training techniques. However, the trick with baseball is the pitching staff. You're just not going to convince me that for most guys shortening ST is a good idea. There is a big difference between working out in the offseason and having an arm conditioned to throw 100 pitches as a starter or to come out and throw as hard as possible for 20 pitches out of the bullpen, and you're not going to get to that point unless you're facing live batters and build up 30-60-100 pitches over a couple starts. Heck, we see enough pitchers who don't get their full velocity until May as starters that I could see some guys benefiting from an even longer throwing program in the preseason. And no, simulated games aren't going to work for most guys, they're not putting the same effort in no matter how they do it. So, pitchers need game action, and they need to be facing live hitters actually trying to hit off them. Rodon had his "dead arm" start last time out, better in late March than on April 10. Yea I'm not exactly sure how best to do it you do have to have your starters firing "live bullets" to real MLB hitters and with the usual 5-7 rotation candidates for each team that means you need 25 or "official" games and then the other 10 or so intrasquad and MiLB games to get everyone enough work. It's probably about right where they have it now. It's not broke so don't fix it. Now, the NFL and NBA however could easily cut down their pre-season by 1/3 or more.

That said, Fathom's post made me look harder at his stats and I'm not sure it's worth it at any price more than 2-3 million. He's marginally better than Ishikawa against RHP but probably would be better to save the flexibility in case a real upgrade over Avi presents itself.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 04:57 PM) Even if it is revocable waivers the only team that could revoke the claim would be the Rays and why would they do that when they could save that entire $8 million. So they get assets back rather than just the money. Sometimes teams prefer to pay a little freight and get back an A ball reliever or whatever. Teams also put guys on waivers all the time to judge interest and then yank them back if they can't work out a trade. But if they waived him and DFA I'm pretty sure they can't pull him back off.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 04:49 PM) Uh if somebody claims him there will be no trade. The Rays will just let that team have him and the Rays will save his entire salary. Is he on irrevocable waivers? Not sure honestly. If he is, then yea but often times teams will work out a trade rather than just a pure waiver claim.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 04:49 PM) I think we've come to the conclusion that Bruce or any other big bat isn't going to happen until closer to the deadline. Jay Bruce last two years wRC+ 78, 91 Jay Bruce OBP last two years: .281, .294 He's a "big bat" on name only. He kinda sucks now.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 04:39 PM) Taking on Loney for anything more than 1-2 million would be a huge waste of money. Why? They can't "waste" it on anything almost certainly until closer to the deadline. Usually guys like Loney aren't available on March 30th and usually you don't have a free 13 million cleared up two weeks earlier to put towards improving the roster. It's a very unusual situation but it doesn't mean the Sox shouldn't look into it. If they are committed to Avi then I understand that but they probably should at least do due diligence on Loney and see what the Rays are asking. There's no reason not to at least investigate the idea of acquiring him.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 04:24 PM) I'd DH him over Avi. He hits righties OK. While his pitches per plate appearance tend to be league normal, he has great career (& recent years) contact rates - out of zone, in zone, all of it. For sure. On a team that often struggles to just put the ball in play he'd be a great fit. Batting average doesn't mean much without context but it's hard to not have offensive value when, like Loney,you can hit 290.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 04:12 PM) No they shouldn't. Why not? They aren't going to be able to spend that extra $13 million from LaRoche until much, much closer to the trade deadline. Claim him and work out a trade where the Rays pick up a couple million and Chicago sends them a reliever or Johnson or whatever they prefer. Loney is a fine player and I'd love to have a guy capable of replacing Avi full time if he sucks again.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 04:07 PM) Interesting. I would rather have him then Ishikawa Yep, they should claim him.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 03:23 PM) A guy like Saladino is going to really benefit from having a guy like Jimmy Rollins around him on a daily basis. It is also really exiting that both Carlos Sanchez and Tyler Saladino could have left camp earning starting jobs. It shows the strides that our minor league system is making, especially with a guy like Tim Anderson who is just behind these guys. Right, I said the other day it's a very good thing that instead of floundering with the Leury Garcias and Adrian Nietos of the world they actually have some guys that probably deserve a 25 man spot but because of decent MLB depth have been pushed down to AAA for the moment. I feel a helluva lot better about an injury or two with Saladino and Sanchez ready to step in.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Mar 30, 2016 -> 12:40 PM) Probably nothing. There just aren't enough guys left in major league camp to rest all of the starters. Some team, might have been the Padres, had a scout play in a game the other day. I think everyone is ready for the real season to start. Every highlight I've seen has had pretty damn big crowds so I'm sure MLB isn't going to cut down the amount of spring games but we sure as hell don't need this many. Only concern would maybe be getting your starters innings ramped up but certainly they could just use more Milb guys and intrasquad games.

Let's fire this s*** up! Just get through today with no injuries boys.