chitownsportsfan

Viciedo could have done better than Melky. You can only laugh.

I'm sick of seeing Choo 2-0, 3-1.

I dunno man I really want to give Carlos 200 PA and see if he can make the adjustment to MLB pitching. His defense has been a huge boon to the staff. I kinda want to throw out the saber stats with him I think he's had a calming affect on the entire defense.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 07:54 PM) Twice now it looks like Flowers blocked the ump's view on a possible strike by popping up for a fake throw. He's in there for his bat anyways, wait, what?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 07:46 PM) Well, if you'd like to come here to "second tier city" China and improve the internet infrastructure so I could get MLB.TV to work without freezing every 30 seconds, that would be greatly appreciated. The ferry that sank with 458 on board earlier this week happened just 95 miles away. Somehow, cyclones/tornadoes/rainstorms don't exactly improve the bandwidth. I'm blacked out in Seattle... I don't know wtf is going on. I was watching and then I got blacked out. Fun times.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 07:40 PM) All I can go by is what the Rangers' radio announcers are saying. Using logic now, it's obvious that the gun down there is off by 2-3 MPH. Because if the velocities were correct, it would be a red flag...like the start where Sale was maxing out at 87-90 MPH in Arlington. and how did that red flag go with Sale? IIRC it amounted to jack s***.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 07:39 PM) Given Melky's struggles vs LHP and Bonifacio's struggles, I'd love to see the Sox try to trade Bonifacio for the recently-DFA'd Justin Ruggiano mariners are in love with willie bloomquist already.

avi starting to take his walks, I can dig that.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 07:42 PM) I don't have it backwards. I used WAR which is what Baseball Reference uses. You deferred to fWAR. Q is a good pitcher but he is not a stud. Chris Sale is a stud. His WAR for 2013 and 14 is 6.9 and 6.6. I don't know what his fWAR is Q has like the 15th most fWAR in baseball the past 3 years for SP. If that's not a stud I'm not sure what is. On most teams he'd be their ace. You know who isn't a stud, isn't an ace? Shark. FWIW, there is a philosophical and counting division between bWAR (b-ref) and fWAR (fangraphs) on pitchers. bWAR leans more towards "what happened" and fWAR leans more towards "what do we think happened that was in the pitcher's control". There's a lot of reading on it if you want to explore.

forget instinct just his thought process is beyond awful -- his first pitch swinging percentage is like 65%, why the f*** would you ever throw him something good to hit on the first pitch? Everyone in the league knows it. Honestly I think he's looking really toasty. He's two sleps slower in the field and his bat has always been passable at best. If he's not a good or even average defender at SS he's not going to contribute much.

Holy s*** the Tigers...are playing awful baseball.

This would be a good time to put in Shuck. Avi doesn't need any more wear on that knee tonight. Something isn't right with him. I really wonder if he tore some cartridge sliding in Oakland. From the symptoms thats my best guess. Off season scope hopefully goes well.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 09:08 PM) nice catch by that girl can she hit? try her out at 3b.

Good job Carlos.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 05:41 PM) I actually have been enjoying listening to Swirsky these past few games, I think that he is doing a solid job. I know that he is not the best baseball mind and may not be able to tell the difference between a good slider and a bad slider, but he has brought some new flavor to the broadcast and I like that he is REALLY leaning on Stone. I think at this point the best thing Chuck has going for him is "he's not Hawk". We've lived with Hawk so long, (here I will go ahead and insert my usual caveat that Hawk is a legend and I grew up his voice like many of you but his time has passed) that anyone competent is better. I think they can do better than Chuck and Rowand. Rowand just gave off too much of a "bro" vibe IMO. That's really not the guy you want as the ambassador to your fans.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 05:12 PM) There is plenty of room for fluke in a 50 game sample. Look at the other end of the spectrum at who is in first place. Does anyone really think that Houston is a 101 win team? That is the pace they are on. Is Minnesota a 95 win team? That is the pace they are on. I think is pretty clear you will see some significant regression from those teams, just as there are high odds that you will see some significant improvement out of the White Sox. The odds are they aren't a playoff team. http://www.hardballtimes.com/the-meaning-o...ord-in-mid-may/

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 04:12 PM) There's an Adam Dunn joke in here somewhere Certainly. The Sox need to get the leaded coffee back in the clubhouse.

according to Mays' GF's twitter he was feeling a little better last night. Seems like maybe they escaped a worst case scenario. Anderson with some bruises and May with a concussion.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 03:50 PM) Good thing everybody knew Fielder was good. That's all it took to get him out. You asked for an example and I gave one. I don't think I'm the only one a bit puzzled they kept throwing him heat over the plate like he was Carlos Sanchez.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 02:27 PM) There used to be times when Walker was here, I remember a couple against Detroit, where it seemed like the whole roster came into a game with a plan. "We're all going to take a couple extra pitches and get Verlander out of here" or "We're going to wait on his fastball". I can't remember the last time I've felt like that, particularly against someone who is actually a challenge. Maybe they go into the game with the plan but it quickly goes out the window. Guys are certainly pressing, trying to make too much happen with every AB instead of just simply looking to take the ball up the middle, get a base hit, and move the order along. Avi, bless his heart, has come through quite a bit this year, but he's also been one of the main culprits in not letting the pitcher get himself in trouble. It's common sense: the guy has just thrown 5 straight balls, he's walked the last hitter -- don't f***ing go up looking for a strike on first pitch. Again, goes back to trying to do too much IMO. It's a vicious cycle. This is a radical solution but if I was RV I would consider telling everyone not named Abreu or LaRoche to take until they get a strike the first time through. At least see a few more pitches, get the pitch count a little higher, and try and see if the starter will get himself into trouble.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 02:24 PM) Sox brought in plenty this past September/October? Why do you think otherwise? Well we could start with the fact that apparently nobody knew that Gallo is pretty f***ing good. Or maybe Shark's ego just told him to challenge the talented rookie.

Great post South Sider. It's a stale orginization that needs new blood all throughout the system, not just at the top or bottom but the minor leagues, the roving instructors, advance scouts, the whole org top to bottom needs a thorough reboot. Hahn is only one man and at the end of the day so if RV. The structure and (don't laugh) "the White Sox way" hasn't worked for close to a decade now. It's time to broom IMO.

The whole "meeting with RV about how to do things better" begs the f***ing question: WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG? I mean, shouldn't you be going over this s*** in the spring? WTF were they doing down in Camelback anyways? It clearly didn't prepare them to start the season in any of the areas KW mentioned. There's a general aura of sloppiness around the team and it really shouldn't take a poor start to jump start people into action.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 10:25 AM) The broadcast with Swirsky is just awful if you listen to it on a regular basis. It worked for a game or two, but the guy is literally just filling a chair. He can't follow a ball in flight. He can't tell you pitch type was thrown. He can't even tell you if a ball is hit hard or not. All he does is try to make Steve Stone talk. I even caught once last night after the game was a laugher where Stone said something to the effect of "This is where you start telling stories to fill time Chuck." Of course Swirsky laughed and asked Steve another question. Honestly, I wish they would bring in one of the ex players, you know Wimpy, Rowand, McDowell, Huff.... someone. Let Stone do PBP, and let the other guy talk about the game and do color. The broadcast would be 10 X's better. Don't get me wrong, Swirsky is a great basketball guy, he just has no baseball background at all, and it really really shows if you listen to it for any amount of time. Yea he's a pro but after a week of him he's almost like Gus Johnson on soccer, he's a great voice, knows exactly how to setup his partner, but just knows nothing about the sport he's calling and it affects the quality of the broadcast because he can't get basic things like pitch recognition or tracking the ball off the bat. When Gus was doing soccer he'd get excited at routine stuff but then a guy would send a 60 yard cross into a teller window on the wing and nary a word -- that's a world class pass and should be recognized as such. When Sale throws a nasty slider I really want the play by play guy to at least know what it looks like. Swirsky just doesn't know enough baseball even tell a good slider from a bad one or knowing how hard a ball is hit.

Solid stuff from Jim over at SSS this morning: More at the link: http://www.southsidesox.com/2015/6/3/87175...holding-pattern