chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 8, 2014 -> 05:22 PM) Ventura has been over his head from day 1. Ventura is not 1% better today than when he was hired, I could care less he was a Sox player means nothing to me as a manager. This team wins in spite of him not because of him. Won't get any argument from me. He makes the same "rookie mistakes" he did 3 years ago. I understand those sort of mistakes when it's your 1st year managing but things like leaving yourself short of pitchers in a 12 inning game like earlier this year, that stuff is just inexcusable as a 3rd year manager.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 8, 2014 -> 05:15 PM) Yet RV decision is great..........Hawk is so full of it. No kidding, Sale clearly wasn't that sharp at the end of the 7th and probably you could make the argument in hindsight it was obvious and he should have been pulled after Alexie's error. You could see that he was at that point "effectively wild" as he couldn't spot his slider for s*** and his fastball for that matter as well. The velocity was there, the command was not. That said, last night is like reason #38382929 I'd fire Robin, he's been asleep at the wheel far longer than last night and his daily lineup construction is a bigger issue for me.

I'm going on a little vacation this week and won't be watching much, if any baseball. Thank god, what a brutal last couple games. This team is better than last year's, but they still aren't very good. Flowers hasn't just come down to earth, he's collapsed in upon himself and is now a black hole.

damn dialing it up 95, 96, 95 there to end it. Nice.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 7, 2014 -> 11:07 PM) Because of how poorly he played last year (fundamentals, baserunning, fielding...) and the fact he has been one of the least productive hitters in the majors for two months this season. If he was doing this coming off a really good season, and he wasn't a year older...then the concerns wouldn't be so loud. He was at worst around average year. It's hard to find guys that can play CF.

The Angels look sloppy as all hell. Like the '13 Sox.

Chris Sale is the best pitcher in baseball right now, no question about it. He's in Video Game mode every time out.

Seems like, as usual, Chicago has a rep as a 1st class org to play for. Rarely if ever do players have a bad thing to say about how the Sox do things. As much as I am loathe to praise JR at times, that's a real testement to how he runs things. That move he made to honor the pension of the clubhouse employees even after MLB changed the rules is pure class as well.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jun 6, 2014 -> 04:25 PM) Hopefully they start feeling comfortable with their pool money left and can start targeting better players. Still, very happy with this draft so far. Yea I was gonna say the last thing you want to do is over extend yourself with the bonus money and have to let Adams go. Gotta be careful with these picks and make sure there is money there for Adams and Rodon.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 6, 2014 -> 04:01 PM) Adam Dunn has hit 9 HR in 208 PA's this season. Scaling up to a full 600 PA season, he's on pace for 26. Also he only walked 76 times last season, so 90 BB's aren't guaranteed etiher although he's on a good walk pace this year. I just laugh at the people that think Dunn is worth anything. Do people see the market for Kendry Morales and think, yea, a guy 5 years older with stats half as good over the past few years is gonna get signed to a multi year, 10-15 million dollar deal? Come on people, get real. 35 year old DHs better have an OPS above 850 to have value. Hell, look at Ortiz, he's the most effective DH in the AL and he's ONLY getting 14 million and the Sox refuse to sign him long term.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jun 6, 2014 -> 03:49 PM) And this would be another case where "advanced metrics" would be really stupid. You don't need advanced metrics to tell you a DH only 34 year old that hits 25-30 HRs a year but can't hit above 230 isn't worth anything to anyone. Seriously, he'll be lucky to get a two year deal totaling 10 million. Much more likely is a one year deal at 4-6 million. No thanks, the Sox have better, cheaper options.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 6, 2014 -> 03:25 PM) Jose Abreu is my response. Specifically, for the first couple weeks of the season, Abreu's footwork at 1b was on the verge of getting his ankle broken every time he received a throw. IIRC it led to an error/run scoring in Colorado or something like that. Jose Abreu is 26 and has been playing 1b longer than Garcia has played by several years, but in all that time, no one had ever coached him how to correctly plant his feet while taking throws at 1b. After that error, suddenly the next couple days he was doing it correctly. He got coaching and suddenly improved. That's a great example of a raw player who has played baseball all his life and still makes simple mistakes. Coaching makes a big difference sometimes. That's why in general you want guys that are athletic and have tools because those are the things you can't teach, right? If bet Avi is going to work his ass off this offseason to improve in RF and he'll have MLB quality coaching helping him along.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jun 6, 2014 -> 02:21 AM) Why would the Astros and Marlins pass on Rodon? Because the Marlins are the Marlins and Houston gets a guy on par or slightly ahead of Rodon on talent at 20% savings,so they have more of their pool left later in the draft. Don't let anyone tell you different now or 5 years from now: the consensus is Rodon is very, very good. TINSSAAPP and all that, but Rodon is about as much as you'd hope for wrt to stuff, stats, and build. He'll easily be the Sox' best prospect and the "fast track" would have him coming out of the pen in September. Not saying Aiken or Kolek or anyone else drafted won't be better, but as of today, Rodon is a pretty damn good prize for a 99 loss season.

The Sox can get 3/4 Dunn's production at 1/4 the cost and maybe better production just from Viciedo. There is zero chance Dunn is back. I'm not even saying Viciedo is anything special -- thing is, neither is Adam Dunn at this point. What, his bounce back year is 230/330/500? That's simply not worth what he'll want to get paid, and that's best case scenario as far as his production.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 5, 2014 -> 09:38 PM) https://twitter.com/fox32news/status/474726276620509185 Because, of course. Funnily enough when you google "Carlos Rondon" quite a few people have made the same mistake. Damn latin surnames.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 5, 2014 -> 05:29 PM) Because that means giving up kids to win now. Plus our biggest problems are in the outfield and pitching. Nobody is going to give up pitching cheaply and you already have long term plans for Eaton and Garcia and maybe Viciedo. It's better to just let Viciedo do his thing and either give himself another year or enough rope to hang himself. It's not like what, 2010 I think, when they had a crater at 3B and trading for Youk immediately made them 2-3 wins better.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 5, 2014 -> 09:27 PM) Part of me feels that with the Cubs picking behind the Sox, the Sox were a little more willing to go big and not have to answer questions about being cheap or avoiding Boras. I honestly don't think it had any impact. Hahn said repeadedly that money wasn't that big of a factor and if they guy they wanted was there they'd take him. That's what happened.

Huh the guy fangraphs has doing their draft chat says he has Rodon 1-2 on his board this year (with his current stuff) and that even with his minor blip this year in velocity and numbers he would have been 1-1 last year. Interesting, seems the Sox got a helluva talent here.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jun 5, 2014 -> 07:56 PM) Lance Broadway was also a college pitcher and he didn't turn out well at all. come on man trigger warnings!

So, coming off a near 100 loss season I think this is pretty much best case scenario. With guys like Rodon, Sale, Abreu, Garcia, Q, etc signed long term, we got a real chance to have a long period of sustained success.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jun 5, 2014 -> 06:43 PM) Looks like my Mariners-Jackson prediction may come true They gotta be tickled pink. Jackson on the other hand is probably pretty pissed he might have to play half his games at Safeco.

Man some good bloodlines in the Gordon family. Was fairly impressed with Dee over the past few days.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 5, 2014 -> 06:37 PM) Isn't Jackson in hs? Some say Zimmer, some say Pentecost, there's a lot of different opinions. Conforto, etc. Yea sorry screwed that up was just looking to call out Gammons. Jackson is in HS, and a stud.

QUOTE (Nokona @ Jun 5, 2014 -> 06:36 PM) Brian Cartwright ‏@blcartwright 2h Kyle Schwarber 1.04 to Cubs Oliver peak (age 27) proj 330 wOBA 247/321/437 comps - Mike Carp, Ryan Roberts, S VanSlyke If you can get a Mike Carp at $4 you gotta do it. Wow, Jackson falling into the M's lap.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 5, 2014 -> 06:35 PM) Wow we really really really f***ed over the Cubs seeing that. Nola should be perfect for them though Nah, they want a middling colllege bat apparently. Gammons, senile as he is, seems pretty convinced "he's the most advanced college bat". Uh, no, that's Jackson.