chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 02:28 PM) http://deadspin.com/chris-sale-flexes-his-...dium=socialflow That's awesome I posted after I heard him say "repudiate" that I thought he was doing a word a day thing. Now there is no doubt. Sale is just an all around amazing guy, glad he's a Sox.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 11:36 AM) He is one of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history, in a era that had all offensive numbers distorted by cheaters. He played 15 years in Chicago, and gave a lot to this City. If anything his time here is being downplayed by those who don't appreciate what he did here as one of the best hitters in franchise history. It's hard to appreciate the good times when over the last two he's been worth -2.6 WAR. That's worse than De Aza, worse than Flowers, worse than Beckham and worse than pretty much every player in MLB. I appreciate Paul Konerko's career. I don't appreciate that he wanted to go out "on his terms" and cost Chicago both development time for a youngster and a few games in the standings.

Just got back from the game, left in the 8th as it was boring as f*** and wanted to do something else with the rest of the afternoon besides get stuck in a traffic jam on the way home. I had a great seat just slightly to the 1B side of home plate and close, Row 20 total, not just that section. Was probably 80 feet from home plate. Body language of the Sox pregame seemed normal to me I was hanging out by the dugout although one thing I notice when I watch the Sox in person is they don't have a lot of guys that like to get the "extra work" in before the games. The mariners guys seemed to be a little more active pregame but who knows, this is just a small sliver into their routines take it fwiw. The ball De Aza lost in the sun is 100% Jordan Danks fault. Danks failed to take charge on an earlier play that Viciedo almost lost. Danks is a natural CF and if he's not going to safe runs with the glove he has no business in Chicago. Again, just my observation but from home plate it surely looked like off the bat Jordan could have made the play. The f***ing music at Safeco is intolerable. My goodness not a moment's peace. It's actually even worse than most other stadiums including the Cell and NYS. Citi Field and Baltimore I remember as pretty bad too. Watched Cano turn a couple double plays effortlessly. His footwork around the bag is a thing of beauty. I will give Gordon credit he made an amazing play ranging to his right to save a run. I think most 2B maybe knock that ball down but I don't think many throw him out. Great reactions from Gordon. Too bad he can't hit a lick. DFA please. Jose looked awful his first 3 times up. Missed the single. Nobody around me thought De Aza would be called out. How in the world did they over turn that? Was it clear in HD or something? Sox only come to Seattle one time a year, it's a shame. At least the weather was nice today. Otherwise a very boring game, Danks pitched OK but the M's lineup sucks.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 04:54 PM) His agent is Scott Boras. You can absolutely bet that Rick is going to do everything he can to maximize Rodon's team control. It makes no sense whatsoever to call him up this year. Dumb thread. Well they can massage his time next year to avoid super 2 but in general I agree there isn't any reason to start the clock unless he's absolutely dominating and you want to develop him more at the MLB level.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 02:49 PM) If defense isn't such a huge factor why is Rondon on this list when he is a .224/.307/.291 career hitter? I'm being a smart ass of course, but I tend to agree there isn't that much difference between Johnson and Sanchez and actually personally value Sanchez more. Sanchez has been across the board better than Johnson this year in Charlotte. Comparing their 2014 in Charlotte Sanchez: .302/.358/.423, 16 of 19 on SB's Johnson: .291/.335/.388, 20 of 32 of SB's (counting Birmingham SB/CS #'s as well) This is a relatively small sample size, but I think people are unfairly judging Sanchez off his awful 2013 which was completely the Sox fault in rushing him up to Charlotte at age 21. These are pretty much my thoughts. I expect him to maintain a fairly high OBP in MLB based on what he's done in MilB. He taken his walks with an acceptable level of strikeouts. That will translate imo. From what I've read Rondon is a special defensive SS, talking Andreton Simmons level. You don't have to hit much over your weight to have value if that's the case.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 01:52 PM) Johnson has 75/80 speed. Sanchez has no plus tools. From what I understand, their hit tools are very similar, as are their power tools. If Johnson is a guy who shows he can get on base 35-40% of the time, he will steal 50 bases a year. He is a guy you make room for. Sanchez might hit .300, but it will be an empty .300. There will be no power or speed to speak of. Micah is going to get the bat knocked out of his hands. His absolute best case IMO is decent defensive 2B that hits 270/330/380 and steals 40 bags. That's a 2 WAR player. Sanchez's upside is higher IMO. I'm just skeptical of guys whose best tool is speed. Speed is great, but you gotta get on base first and catch the ball when you get to it. Throw in the fact that Sanchez is a year younger and it's even clearer imo. I'm not really knocking the rankings but some of the scouting logic that goes into them seems outdated imo. Getting on base is a tool and so is locking down a defensive position.

Might head down to Safeco this weekend. Sucks that Sale isn't going to pitch this series.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:47 AM) I wonder if Beckham just naturally sucks or if he's uncoachable. You never hear any rumors about Beckham. So is it a matter of lack of hitting ability, the fact he just can't see a baseball and drive a baseball, or is it that he won't listen to hitting coaches? A lot of first round picks flop, but you have to wonder about Beckham. Personally I've never liked his batting stance and the way he cocks his bat when going for a pitch. It's really sad but without the hype, he's really no better than Chris Getz. He's a mental midget with a very long swing. He built his hype on spraying the ball into the RF gap but once the league figured out how early he had to gear up to hit fastballs he started seeing a steady diet of inside heat followed by junk. Instead of trying to shorten his swing (see Gillaspie, Conor) Beckham has doubled down on this approach (looking for power I think) and it hasn't worked at all. His swing is just too long for MLB. If he learns 3B a bit he'd be a good utility guy but his years as a starter are over.

Not much of a prospect guy but what exactly separates Micah at 4 from Sanchez at 9? If anything I'd reverse the order. Sanchez is younger, can actually handle 2B now, and might project as a SS. Micah seems like a guy without a position to me. If he can't handle 2B, with that bat, his options are 3B and CF and I don't think he's going to supplant Conor or Eaton anytime soon. We'll see.

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:16 PM) 3 innings, 2 hits ( one broken bat single), 1 walk, 3 k, 0 runs Sweet, he's dominating in high A. He's on the Chris Sale path! JK, a bit. He's averaging over a K/IP that's good news. Stuff is certainly there.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 03:28 PM) I am 99.9999% sure both of these cannot be true. In general, don't trust players' that have a defense driven WAR, the confidence interval on those stats is much lower than offensive numbers. For example we can pretty much nail down exactly how many runs above average Jose Abreu has been worth and then use that to predict his future performance in that category, but Heyward's numbers in the outfield this year? Some of that is just random noise. Guys get hot defensively as well and it doesn't correlate year to year nearly as closely as offensive production. bWAR really loves Adam Eaton based partially their defensive runs above average metric, they have him as a top 12 player this year in MLB. I don't think anyone really believes that. Excellent player, top 50, maybe even top 40 no doubt, but not that good. We can also quibble with the positional adjustments (at this point I think you can make an argument that there are more guys than ever (or at least a long time) that can play good defense but can't hit a lick) but in general it's a no brainer that a CF putting up a 950 OPS (Trout) is probably more valuable than a 1B putting up a 1000 OPS, besides the baserunning and relative defensive adjustments.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 09:18 PM) Which is only true if you ignore the fact that he's quite poor on defense and has gotten worse every single year of his career. I'd very much appreciate the value of a solid defensive 2b if the White Sox had one. They do not. Gordon Beckham is a weak fielder. 3 years ago he was a solid 2b and he has gotten worse every year. He commits a lot of errors and does not have good range. Yea his range is awful. Literally the only tool he brings is a strong arm on the pivot. That's it. IF he could hit AT ALL (talking 270/320/400) you can easily pencil him in as a long term starter. Problem is he can't hit at all.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 10:04 PM) Do people still think Leury Garcia is worthy of a roster spot for next year? .182/.216/.236. You just can't carry that from someone who's not a pitcher. Eh, for the 25th man you need a guy that can play multiple positions. It's unfortunate he's had to play as much as he has due to injuries. If an upgrade is there to be made make it, otherwise bigger fish to fry.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 07:46 PM) Avi doubles.. 2-3, batting .556 now Avi is pretty much what Viciedo was supposed to be. A guy that can spray the ball all over and hit 280-300 in MLB while developing power. Tragically, Viciedo hasn't even hit 270, let alone developed any real power. In like 300 MLB PA Avi has a 287 average. He might never take a lot of walks or hit more than 25 HR a year, but he will hit for average and that is valuable in today's craptastic offensive environment.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 08:04 PM) My guess is Hahn is still trying to see if any team will take Beckham, ADA, Viciedo, or Dunn on waivers. Hell, give it up. Just accept the salary as a sunk cost and start getting these youngsters some MLB playing time. The upside is you save a couple million but it's not even worth it imo.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 08:23 PM) Avi with a hit. Phegley with a 2 run double. Wilkins walks in his 2nd AB. Sanchez and Semien both had hits their 1st AB's. We need to get some of these guys up to the big league club.. These guys have been hitting the s*** out of the ball I'm a big fan of what Hahn has done since he too over but for the life of me I cannot fathom why Gordon, Dunn and one of Viciedo/De Aza haven't been DFAd. Marcus and Sanchez have nothing left to prove at Charlotte, especially Marcus. Wilkins should be called up as well I don't care what his prospect status is he's creaming the ball might as well see if he can translate it to the MLB.

Dude, if the Sox had lost as many games as the Cubs over the past decade they literally would have to pay people to come through the gates. Comparing the Sox to the Cubs is pretty dumb imo. One team has a destination ballpark that is part of a historical neighborhood. The other has a nice, but fairly hard to get to park, located in a fairly s***ty neighborhood (for an urban park). Apples to Oranges. Soler and Baez literally have nothing to do with the Sox' situation. I can't believe it's even occurring to link the Cubs' farm system to the Sox' attendance problems. It's like blaming Obama for it. Heck, that would make more sense it's a s*** economy.

He's started pulling off fastballs a bit. I think that's the new plan against him, just try and jam him in as much as possible. He's really cleaned up against hanging breaking balls for much of the year but right now it seems he's being thrown nothing but inside fastballs and junk outside. He's missed a few very hittable 90-92 mph heaters the last couple days.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 06:46 PM) Less than a week ago, they were yet another bad bullpen appearance from being just one game under .500. Do you expect the White Sox to at least PRETEND to compete in 2015 or are you willing to concede that the bar for competing for the playoffs realistically is being moved back to 2016, minus some dramatic free agency additions this off-season? Of course they are going to try and contend in 2015. Look at it this way, how much did they improve last offseason? Probably about 10 WAR. They added Eaton (3), Jose (5) and Avi (2-4 if he stayed healthy) as major additions. They didn't spend on pitching because they knew they weren't that close. If they bring in 10 WAR on the pitching side of things this offseason and Avi comes back strong then they are in contention for the 2nd WC. Things are going well I don't know why so many fans are complaining this team is way better than last years and all their good players are locked down and young. They somehow got the consensus best player in the draft (Rodon) and the farm system, while still lacking much high end low floor guys, is as deep as it's been since the early aughts.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 06:43 PM) I'm fairly certain that Jerry Reinsdorf and Rick Hahn would much rather trim the payroll down even further, below the 60MM mark, and let attendance carry on around the current levels. Tread water during the rebuild and make a splash when the team is ready to compete. Adding a "big ticket" free agent isn't going to do much of anything for attendance. Besides, that logic assumes the big ticket players that would be available would even sign here. For what? To participate in a rebuild? I will be fairly concerned if payroll isn't top 12 by 2016. Until then I'm just going to assume this is part of the rebuild, there isn't much reason to think otherwise as JR has usually opened the pocketbook when in contention. Unlike KW, I think Hahn will actually tell JR when he think they are ready to contend. KW probably was always thinking he had a contender.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 05:05 PM) Ball, wall, ball, they teach you that s*** in little league. I get that he was approaching at an odd angle and he's a psychopath who refuses to give up on any fly ball but playing with full reckless abandon is a great way to cut your career short. His aggressiveness is awesome and it's probably the #1 reason he's in the bigs (though it's also lead to some truly embarrassing baserunning) but he has to show some self control and awareness out there. This was just kinda stupid. Certainly agree. But for some of these guys they only know one way. You can't take the Derrick Rose out of Derrick Rose and I don't know if you can take the Spanky out of Eaton. In his mind that's how he has to play to be a success. That said, the sliding headfirst has to stop, unlike making a spectacular catch at the wall diving headfirst usually has zero benefit. Teach him the hook slide in the offseason.

QUOTE (MAX @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 06:13 PM) I don't agree with the implications in the phrase 'only 5 1/2 games back in the WC'. The sox suck. That's why people don't attend. They suck. There are 4 teams who suck more in the AL. That's all. They were horrific to watch last year. Its going to take more a lot more winning than they have been doing to bring back the fans in numbers. eh, this year they are mediocre. But yea, they did suck badly last year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 05:53 PM) What's the reason...because he's 27 and doesn't "feel" like a rookie because he's not the same age (20-22) as Baez/Soler/Bryant? Because he never spent time in on our minor league system developing or wasn't drafted? It's hard to figure out why a team with 2 of the 10 best players in baseball is 28th in attendance. It is rather baffling they can't get more folks into the park when you have an MVP and Cy Young candidate on the roster. I just don't get it. Is the train stuff still screwed up near US Cellular?

I like Sierra I wish they would give him the next 40 games all to himself to see if he can prove something. Bench Tank and De Aza everone in MLB knows what they are anyways not like a hot week is gonna convince any team to try and move for them.

Good, this Avi thing like the only good news we've had lately other than Jose mashing. Some quotes from the Charlotte Observer tonight: You have to think he's going to force their hand possibly even next week. While there is no rush to get him back there also isn't much point in seeing him lace AAA pitching if fully healthy. Once he gets 3-5 games under his belt in RF and sprinkles in just a few more hits, it's time to bring him up.