chitownsportsfan

Mario: "we expect to play baseball tonight but for now the tarp is on the field". Sounds like might be a half hour or so until they take it off and what, another half hour after that until game starts?

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 06:06 PM) I'm glad that this is a team that I still look forward to watching at the end of July. No doubt, just imagine when Avi comes back in a few weeks!

thanks everyone for the info I am enjoying following Rodon quite a bit.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 05:05 PM) If John Danks gets traded does Jordan automatically get included in the deal? Yes but only if they are never on the same 25 man roster.

I'm excited to see if Hector can continue to show some good things against a much better lineup than the Twinks, er, Twins.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 04:02 PM) Crap, I just realized Abreu can opt into arbitration and out of his guaranteed salary after three years... Don't worry about it because if that happens it means he's one of the best players in MLB.

Wow! Awesome. I was genuinely upset about seeing Avi go down I thought for sure we wouldn't see him until 2015. That we might get 30 more games out of him is amazing.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 04:23 PM) I'd hope Alexei is being dangled in the Yankees Danks talks. He would slot just fine in their gaping 2B hole. I'd prefer to hold onto Alexei until the offseason or next trade deadline. There's no rush to trade him especially with the team possibly closer to contention than thought coming into the year. There is some downside risk there for sure but I think it's better to hold onto him because 2-4 WAR shortstops are pretty hard to find.

Good, get it done. Even if they have to send out a good chunk of cash as long as they can get a decent B level pitching prospect I'd take it. Preferably a guy that would be ready by '16 in theory.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 01:03 PM) I think you are misunderstanding. This isn't Ventura bowing at the throne of Don Cooper and begging permission on who to use. This is Cooper telling him who is ready, who makes sense. He's tell him that that starter looks tired, he looks strong etc. This guy is ready for this situation, this one isn't. I also don't think it is unorthodox. It just seems like it because we don't follow the other 29 teams as much as ours. As long as the chain of command is Manger (whoever, Robin, Ozzie, etc) --> Pitching Coach, I'm cool with it. I just don't want executive decisions being made by the pitching coach when the manager is higher up on the org chart because that is a recipe for ass covering and discord.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 12:55 PM) Recognizing that someone knows something better than you do doesn't emasculate you. It has been clear for a really long time, again all of the way back to Guillen, that the pitching staff belongs to Don Cooper. Both of them have said as much in comments over the years. I'm really curious about this. Like, if Robin wants to go pull Sale after 94 pitches in the 6th (just for example) does Cooper have veto power? That seems absurd to me from an organizational hierarchy but I'm willing to accept that perhaps that is how they do it. It's obviously worked pretty well but it's certainly unorthodox.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 12:35 PM) He hasn't handled any leverage at all this year. Even mop up roles have been sloppy. Until he quits walking guys, that will be the case. His last 10 or so appearances he's been pretty good. 3/1 K/BB ratio. Fun with selective endpoints but as of lately, he's been better.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 12:34 PM) I'm here to tell you guys that neither Guillen, nor Ventura, manage the bullpen. It is Don Freaking Cooper who manages the entire pitching staff. This team always had defined roles up until this year, when it just so happened that everyone was either hurt, or really sucky. The differences you are seeing this year are 100% related to the roster, and nothing to do with Ventura managing a pitching staff. I honestly have a hard time believing that any manager, who is a very clear #2 on the pecking order on the baseball side of things in an MLB FO, would accept his fate being tied to a pitching coach, even one as talented as Cooper. I highly, highly, highly doubt that Cooper has the final say on any pitching change. If a manager accepted those terms for the job he's chickens***. Although from what I've seen from Robin that may well be the case. If that is how the Sox do things they got a problem the manager needs 100% authority. Cooper can make suggestions fine and Robin can take all the advice he wants but the final call absolutely has to come down to Robin.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 01:31 PM) Dunn is about $5.3 million left. Beckham is under $1.5 million. I have no doubt Gordo would be claimed, but I doubt you get anything for him. Yea, both those guys should be on waivers I think someone would claim Beckham but Dunn will probably require some cash going out. I can see Dunn + 2 million to the Yankees or even Indians.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 01:29 PM) They obviously don't feel he is ready yet, or he would have been tried. Well that's what I'm saying he's got like 50 low leverage innings might as well start throwing him into the fire what do we have to lose? If he can't handle at least you find out in a rebuilding year, no downside imo.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 01:27 PM) I would say he is a clear improvement over the post- World Series Ozzie Guillen. I wouldn't even hesitate for a second. The problem with Ozzie is that he wanted to fill out the roster with guys that hit like he did. If KW actually put his foot down and refused to bring in some of those guys the team would have been better off imo. I really liked how Ozzie managed the pen (defined roles, something Robin seems to struggle with) and his "sunday lineups" imo were a good thing as I think it's important to keep guys fresh and I didn't mind sitting a couple starters on one designated day. Ozzie started to think that he was more important than than the 25 man roster sometime around 2006 and that was when it all went downhill. He stuck his nose in with personnel decisions and started throwing guys under the bus in the media, not a good combo.

On a related note, I've been critical of how Robin has treated Webb (pretty much as the 4th or 5th guy out of the pen) but now it's time to take off the kid gloves and let him see some high leverage innings. They wanted to bring him along slow well OK great, now put him under a bit more pressure and see how he responds. Stuff wise, he has the potential to be a good setup or decent closer imo, certainly as good as Reed was for the Sox.

Sox are only -10 in differential. This time last year they were, wait for it... ... wait for it ... -73. 63 run improvement. Good job Hahn. More of the same please. Eaton now "quietly up to .289, his BABIB is always going to be high as long as he's healthy and that will allow him to consistantly hit around 280-300 imo. Defense is solid in CF and baserunning while not that good certainly isn't a negative. Overall around a 3-5 war player (again, if healthy, big if but the risk was def worth taking). Flowers dead cat bounce dude is still ideally a backup but kudos for not completely catering which brings me to ... Beckham. Go away. 225 .271 .358 his career OPS now .686 and his OPS+ is 84. It's 75 this year (Darwin Barney levels folks). If he was an elite defender ok whatever, but he's not, he's a solid defender and a putrid hitter. Not a good overall player. Flowers because of positional scaritude is more valuable and should be kept around at least as a backup, but not Gordon. Ditto Viciedo although there is no rush to trade him unlike Gordon he isn't due a raise. Maybe they will just waive Gordon at some point.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 10:39 PM) 33-22 to win 85 games, and hope to get a TON of help. .600 ball. Yeah, probably not. Yea, 85 is pushing it. I'd think 87 for 2nd WC I don't think historically you have the 5th best team in the league win only 85. That said, they need to play like .620 ball to have a chance -- not happening. Very happy with the progress and would be thrilled to win 85 but it's such a longshot I don't think you plan for it (aka being anything other than sellers this week). Yep, and JR too.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 10:35 PM) Re: walks, those don't have to be at the expense of the hits. He looks to be doing a better job of recognizing when he's being pitched around, though, which is key. I think he'll walk an adequate amount ultimately. Damn, I just posted pretty much the same at Baseball Think Factory. He def needs to learn when guys are going around him and IMO he's doing a better job of it, we saw it tonight when he took his walk. The thing I love about Jose is that he's the anti-Votto. Frank was an OBP machine, much like Votto, but with Frank it was never at the expense of ripping his pitches for extra base hits. Jose seems to be the same way. He'll learn to take his walks, but he's never going to be a guy that goes deep in the count just to go deep in the count (a troubling trend throughout baseball imo). Some guys are just amazingly talented hitters like Frank and Jose and it stands in stark contrast to the Viciedos and Beckhams of the world that while both those guys pretty much have the same weaknesses after years in MLB (Gordon can't pull the ball for power or catch up to high heat; Viciedo has no patience and zero ability to recognize pitches fast enough to square up) Jose pretty much has fixed his big weakness (junk away) in a few months. It's freaking amazing and we as Sox fans are lucky to get to watch him hit at a high level for the next 5+ years barring injury, which knock on wood, so far, he doesn't seem prone to. This team is really set up well foundationaly, they need to spend some money this offseason and start going for it. They are a few pieces away and if their offseason is as good as 2013 then they are right there imo.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 09:51 PM) He's going to finish the year with an OPS over 1000 as a 1st year player. That would be amazing. Certainly the first Sox to achieve that elite feat since the Big Hurt. And, offense is down league wide he could end up with a wRC+ of around 180 and that is truly exceptional.

Dunn's ISO is down to .204. His OPS is now well below 800. Please, for the love of god get a hit in the next day or two with a scout watching.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 07:52 PM) Watching De Aza be stupid at the game of baseball versus watching the advanced stats. He hurts his teams. So does De Aza. I won't be sad when either are gone. Well those same stats tell me Jose Abreu is pretty good and Dayan Viciedo sucks so imma go with the theory that you have a bad case of confirmation bias here. Also, pretty telling that is was Tank, and not De Aza benched to start the year. The Sox don't agree with your assessment.

I dunno if I've ever seen a hitter improve from month to month like Jose. He would have struck out a few times in that AB if it was May.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 07:00 PM) I decided that because a) he's been a productive player for years, unlike Viciedo and b) he's lovely WTF do people have against De Aza man? He's been worth 6.8 bWAR, and 7.3 fWAR in his time with the Sox. For all that production he's cost about a total of 8 million. He was found off the scrap heap and acquired for nothing. I get that he looks awful at times but he's a solid player. Thinking otherwise is letting emotions get in the way of logic.