chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (fathom @ May 7, 2015 -> 03:40 PM) Probably saving other guys for this weekend when the bomb squad is pitching. For the most part, and certainly there are exceptions, you play to win the game you're playing and worry about tmr later. If that was indeed his justification it's a poor excuse imo.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 7, 2015 -> 03:38 PM) You know things are pretty bad when the "Lil' Bulldog" is frustrated with the current state of affairs. Beat the Royals two times...no momentum, same with this series. Just can't seem to get anything going without self-sabotaging it. How many games have the Sox given away so far this year? I'd say a handful between the mental, physical and bad managing. Can't be giving games away like this. I'm not even angry anymore I just expect it under RV. I've come to acceptance. He'll never get fired unless the Sox are 20 under in June or something.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 7, 2015 -> 03:35 PM) JD MARTINEZ HAD STRUCK OUT 20 times in his last 30 plate appearances before that at-bat. The bigger question is why they even walked him. damn didn't know he was slumping too. can't defend RV here although I'm sure someone will try.

Adam Eaton has Juan Pierre's arm and his brain seems to think he has Vlad's arm. Bad combo.

Do the White Sox have an advanced scouting crew? Castellanos is in a huge f***ing slump wtf are they doing. The margin for error is quickly eroding with this season and these sorts of things are just giving games away on a weekly basis. Frustrating man.

QUOTE (LDF @ May 7, 2015 -> 03:30 PM) i thought it was 2 runs, but hardly anyone is hitting. if the sox comes back, then use another pitcher. I pray that RV doesn't think that way because that is horses*** managing.

Why was this inning not treated as high leverage? Puzzling.

Come on boys. Make something of this year. Let's get that sweep and really start cooking.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ May 7, 2015 -> 12:04 AM) We should of scored at least 6 early on. But we got em in the end. I'm just happy to see Simon turn back into a pumpkin. The dude has been a s*** pitcher his entire career except for the flukey 2nd half last year. He's their version of John Danks except cheaper imo. Least they got to him some. It's amazing how much Detroit improved their defense but in the end it's the one spot they didn't upgrade -- 3b -- that cost them. I thought that was a routine play for MLB 3B that Castellanos dropped.

Wow, what a game! Great to see Micah energize the bottom of the lineup and actually team up with Eaton to do some damage like the Sox envisioned. For one night at least that plan worked to perfection. WTF is up with Chris Sale? He's turning into a headcase somewhat, isn't he? He's always had a bit of a short fuse on the mound but this year he's not channeling his anger well. Whatever they did with him on rehab doesn't seem like it worked his mechanics and stamina are horse s***. In retrospect, seems they rushed it some. Oh well great win a sweep would wipe away a lot the misery of last week and put them in a good position to get right back in this thing if they can pull up even on .500 before May is out. The starting pitching has to be f***ing better though and Simon tried his best to give the Sox the game as did Greene last night. But hey, you face the guy on the schedule not the Sox' fault they got the back end of what is looking like a suddenly shaky Detroit rotation. Detroit has got some real problems of their own imo.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2015 -> 03:15 PM) You go with that. I will go with the fact that our lineups have all been significantly below last year in both the starting rotation, and the starting line up, except for one single player. That is 1 out of 14. But I am sure the problem is Carlos Sanchez. You know what annoys me? When I write 2k words and my argument gets reduced to an absurd straw man. What's the point of even posting? I've articulated an internally consistent argument and it gets reduced to "you think Carlos Sanchez will fix everything". That's not discourse, that's middle school level "nanannaana booooo boo" crap and for the 2nd day in a row I'm going to take a break. Cya guys tmr. Go Sox.

I'm looking at him because the decision to go with Micah is a symbol for everything wrong with how the Sox evaluate position players. You could replace Sanchez with any number of other names and I'd feel the exact same way. You cannot win in 2015 with horse s*** defense all over the diamond the margins have never been higher for defensive value, or at least not since the 70's. Offense is down, runs are clustered more, and defense is more important. The Sox are stuck in the wrong era and I will argue that this decision is the perfect test case for my thesis.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:45 PM) And just for references sake, which I am sure you will ignore... I think you are way too high on Sanchez, and way too low on Johnson. Offensively they will pretty much end up being the same players, just like they have through their minor league careers. Sanchez playing a level for the third time should be getting it. Johnson is already putting up the numbers that Sanchez did, which should count for something as well. Honestly I think this is turning into the McCowning of Carlos Sanchez. He's a guy. He is not going to save this team. People are looking at him irrationally because he is hot in Charlotte, not because of anything in his tools set that will be some kind of plus tool in the majors. I just posted I think he's a 1 to 1.5 WAR player. I don't think Micah Johnson will be better than that this year. I've been consistent on this point for months now. Respond to my point about Hawkins, who is literally the last Sox prospect you should have cited for your point about age.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:43 PM) If Rick Hahn found another GM as high on Carlos Sanchez as a few here, he would be insane not to trade him. I think Carlos Sanchez is probably a 1 to 1.5 WAR player. I don't think he's any great shakes. What I do know is that he will catch the ball and occasionally save a run with his glove. Sounds pretty damn good to me after this s*** show defense the past few years.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:42 PM) Hawkins, Courtney. Has been young at every stop? Is in AA as a 21 year old? When Micah was still in high A ball? I mean, this is not the example you want to use.. If anything the ONLY THING keeping Hawkins in top 10 Sox prospect lists the last couple years is his age. If he was 24 he'd be Joe Borchard or Trayce Thompson status -- almost no longer a prospect. But, because he's 21, he gets more time and his stats are put into context.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:34 PM) The guy who comes to mind first is Billy Hamilton. He stole 75 of 90 bases in AAA at age 22. He was a universally regarded top 50 prospect (or at least top 100) for his entire career. He has a pedigree and translated his speed into real production in AAA. He got called up because he was ready.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:33 PM) And despite all of that, Johnson is actually putting up better numbers, and nearly identical defensive numbers, to what Sanchez did in the majors. And looking deeper into the numbers, instead of just using age as an oversimplistic crutch, Sanchez actually is in his third stint at AAA. He has 1107 PA's in triple A alone. Johnson has 1391 PA's for his entire minor league career. Sanchez actually has about 2000 minor league PA's compared to Johnson's nearly 1400. So while Sanchez is young in terms of age, Johnson is actually younger in terms of actual professional experience. Even including Sanchez's insane start in his 3rd stint in AAA, his OPS is only about 20 points higher than what an injured Johnson put up in his short time at AAA last year (.684 vs .702) Now I know that this is Chicago and the fans love the back up quarterback more than the actual quarterback because of the unknown factor, but the reality is offensively there is going to be very little difference between Johnson and Sanchez. Johnson is going to get a plus because of his speed, Sanchez will because of his defense. Then again, Sanchez has 3 errors already at AAA, while Johnson has 1 in a similar amount of time in the majors. Age is an over simplistic crutch? It's one of the most critical scouting tools. Sanchez gets punished for being 2 years younger than Micah and having more experience in pro baseball? I cannot, for the life of my, understand this argument. You don't get extra points for being raw at 24. In fact, you should get deducted for it because baseball players don't usually improve much at 24 as they do at 22 regardless of how much baseball they have played. Why in the world would you ding Sanchez for having more AAA experience at a younger age and putting up (for the most part) better numbers? It makes no sense. Having 3 fulls seasons in AAA before you turn 23 is a positive, not a drawback. When you're one of the youngest players in the league a 111 wRC+ is incredibly impressive for a glove first SS/2B.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:26 PM) Are we genuinely sure about the bolded? IIRC Sanchez went down and immediately had a multi-error game. But I do agree with you, pretty much every other organization in baseball would have given Micah more time in the minors. If the pro Micah and pro Sanchez camps can't agree that Sanchez' defense is better than we'll never agree on anything. Every single scouting report on Carlos Sanchez starts with "solid glove...no hit". He was spectacular in his cup of coffee last year in the field. Fangraphs had him .6 dWAR in just under 240 innings. His bat sucked, but that's a separate point. He can also play SS and give Alexei more days off without relying on Beckham, who has the range of Jeter at this point probably.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:10 PM) Fans specialize in panic. The reality is that Micah Johnson means little. If the stars on this team don't start playing like stars, Carlos Sanchez could come up here and hit 1.000, and it won't matter. Though just for kicks... This is Sanchez's call up, versus Johnson's call up. Can you tell which is which? .246/.317/.263/.581 67 OPS+ -0.2 DWAR .250/.269/.300/.569 62 OPS+ -0.1 DWAR The difference is that Sanchez put up, in a full AAA season, a 111 wRC+ -- as one of the youngest players in the league. Micah Johnson, at 2 full year years ahead of Micah in age, struggled majorly in AAA at the dish. This doesn't even mention the huge defensive upgrade that Sanchez brings over Micah. Sanchez is two years younger than Micah. I'm really not sure why that hardly ever gets mentioned. It's a clear point in Sanchez' favor. I will ask this question: would any other org other than the Sox have promoted Micah this spring over Sanchez? I imagine the Royals wouldn't even have had a decision to make. The Sox don't value defense and they over value raw speed. It's been obvious for almost a decade.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:08 PM) .317/.393/.830 in AA. I guess that is either jack s*** production or your knowledge is what you described his production above A ball. The cherries you pick are so sweet. As if haven't looked at his b-ref page a hundred times looking for any reason he should be on this club. 120 PA at above average median age for the league (23) How about a much larger sample in "never been farther away from MLB" AAA: 275 .314 .370 / .684, .968 fielding percentage.

QUOTE (LDF @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:58 PM) i don't know, maybe, it is me only who is saying this, maybe they didn't do this, b/c they would send a msg that they lost faith in the young player. They never should have had faith in him in the first place is the problem. After the first week for spring he hit under .250 the rest of the way and made several fielding blunders as well. He struggled in the high minors. You know the definition of insanity -- it's the Sox' approach to position player development. Rush them, it will work!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:56 PM) Because Micah Johnson isn't your problem. The problem is the guys you are paying the majority of the payroll too. So unless your plan is to bench Alexei, there isn't much point here. Micah Johnson is below replacement and made a critical error in the last ball game. He certainly isn't part of the solution. You have an above average defensive 2B that has done nothing but earn a spot on this 25 man roster and instead they handed it to a guy that hasn't done jack s*** above A ball. And they wonder why guys always under perform. Maybe make them prove something in AAA first. Oh wait, Sanchez is doing just that and can't get a roster spot. s*** is f***ed up and bulls*** man.

The Mariners are doing things the right way shaking things up only a month in after a disappointing start. The Sox will continue to sit on their hands as is their style. Lloyd was on the radio this morning in Seattle talking about how things clearly aren't working with his managing and the the players' play and that he's already changed things up in the routines. In addition they made a roster move -- they called up a guy from AAA today that is their equivalent of Carlos Sanchez. Very frustrating to see Chicago's approach to their slow start contrasted with the team here in Seattle. I'd swap out RV for McClendon in a freaking heart beat.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 4, 2015 -> 02:56 PM) Is that all you have? You bring it up every time you disagree with me. I have yet to see you point out where I "insulted" you. If mods defending their points disqualifies them from being mods we wouldn't have any mods here. I haven't attacked you. The guy you hate is the reason the Sox have your favorite player. I don't see why that makes you think I shouldn't be a mod. It's worth noting. Hahahahahahahahah. More internet tough guy stuff. Your posts in this thread speak for themselves. Cya another day.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 4, 2015 -> 02:52 PM) This post hurts my eyes and the post you quoted wasn't directed at you. Again, wow. You call me out for "not defending my position" and your response to him is "this post hurts my eyes". I'm done here. This is beyond poor form it's not any community I want to be a part of. Go Sox. I'll come back another day.