chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 6, 2016 -> 07:47 PM) There's something like only 10 qualified players below him in OPS now. Almost all of them are middle infielders. The other two are Aoki with the M's and Prince Fielder. Of course, Alexei Ramirez is there as well. lol, thank god they let Alexei go.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 6, 2016 -> 05:40 PM) My guess? Bench. that would be awful, if you're going to keep around a replacement level 5th OF they sure as s*** better be able to pinch run. He can't even do that. Just send him to AAA or work out a trade for a reliever. He's not ever going to turn in around in Chicago or probably anywhere else for that matter.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 5, 2016 -> 09:28 PM) 107 hits in 91 IP. That's more Buehrle/Danks-esque. Certainly not what you'd expect from a future ace. Should we just be contented not to have Kolek or Aiken? Career 3.94 ERA with 227 hits in 226+ IP. aiken just had tommy john so no.

Most troubling thing I've seen with Rodon is he hasn't developed his change hardly at all and his fastball command is as bad as ever. Mechanically he still appears to be falling off the rubber to his arm side and this gives him all sorts of trouble when trying to locate middle in to righties. The stuff is still there but with his command issues he's forced into throwing fastballs and sliders behind in the count and that is not a recipe for anything other than mediocrity. Once again I have to say that Don Cooper's magic dust has long worn off on the South Side.

QUOTE (Insp @ Jul 5, 2016 -> 08:35 PM) On 2-0, you should be going for a walk. yikes. ever play baseball beyond little league?

RV needs to ride Jones the rest of the year if possible, as many 4-5 out high leverage chances as possible is one way to help paper over the rest of this s***.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 03:44 PM) Not sure what you're arguing here, but you're flat out wrong. There may be a lot of bad on this team, but there is simply no excuse for having a DH that can't hit. It was one of biggest flaws with the team heading into the season and to no one's surprise Avi has once again failed to live up to his tools. This is an issue that could have easily been addresssed in the offseason, so I'm not sure why you're giving Hahn a free pass here. Yea, they put too much faith in Avi and thus themselves everybody saw it coming. I was hoping Avi could AT LEAST have some OFFENSIVE value despite his brutal fielding if you put him at DH and he could hit 270/330/440 but it's not f***in happening, not even close.

Unless he gets in his own head his swing is too pure and too quick to ever go through a prolonged batting average slump. I think even in his "down" years he'll hit 280 as long as he doesn't suffer a major lower body issue that saps his speed and explosion. What more can be said about this kid so far?

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jun 30, 2016 -> 08:33 PM) The best way to fell asleep is owning a very comfy couch and working your ass off physically. I can't lay down on my couch without falling asleep. Def agree on that. I go hiking / backpacking fairly often and nothing feels as good as your bed (I got a decent couch too) after a couple nights in a tent on a sleeping mat and 20 miles on your feet.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jun 30, 2016 -> 06:26 PM) Who are you to say what the Sox need to do ? You can't even wake up on time to do your game thread duties. You'd be working on your 3rd one for tomorrow if you were not stoned on melatonin. Slacker ! I bought some melatonin tea a few years ago to help me try and sleep. s*** works way, way, way too well. I had a very hard time waking up on it and would feel groggy all day. Now I just stick to the old standbys weed and booze to put me to bed. Or the Sox offense.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jun 30, 2016 -> 04:23 PM) Fractured foot for Davidson what a bummer.

feels good to be back over .500. Maybe the team bottomed out in May and early June. If so it's better then September. That said, this is probably a 82 win team at the end, and it won't be enough. The bullpen is comically bad right now. Offense is showing signs of life thanks mostly to Anderson but how long can he sustain these crazy multi hit games?

more bunts with one of our best hitters! Awesome!

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jun 30, 2016 -> 01:54 PM) All Anderson does is hit lasers. Another multi hit game First quick twitch AA Sox have had forever that can actually play a little baseball as well.

nice, glad to see he's finally improving his slash lines.

Wait, Davidson is playing? Has he actually hit his weight at AAA this year?

I respect all of you guys that continue to watch this on a nightly basis.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 28, 2016 -> 07:18 PM) I still think if they believed he was going to put up six .280/30/100 seasons they would have kept him...and dealt Fielder instead, which they obviously ended up doing later. Yea the Tigers position player scouting is really good. Iglesias has had his ups and downs but he's probably the best player from that trade.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 28, 2016 -> 06:55 PM) Not really. It was get them Top 100 prospect Frankie Montas, who got them Frazier (who has the same line statistically as Marcus Semien, roughly). Avi has actually gotten in the way of this team moving forward, in the same way Beckham, Viciedo, Gillaspie, DeAza, Ramirez and Flowers did. The most dangerous word for fans is "potential," because it has never-ending shelf life for GM's to sell it. Little Miggy. 30/30 potential. Incredible athlete. Has the tools to play CF. Elite throwing arm. Brian Anderson is the next Torii Hunter if he could just hit 20 homers, etc. Chris Marquez, Nestor Molina, Zach Stewart and Matt Davidson will lead the Sox to the World Series. Of course, "proven veteran performer" hasn't been comforting, either. Avi had a hit tool that played in the minors, much like Anderson at every level he was able to hit 280 or higher. With Avi it was more impressive because of his age. The rest of his tools didn't translate but you could hand wave it away with "he's young for the league". Well, he stalled. But when he was aquired there were legit saber and scouting reasons to be excited for him. The same was true of Viciedo. This guys just have not developed. Given the Sox' complete lack of position player development the finger might be pointed not at the scouts that said "get this guy" but the coaches and instructors that were not able to mold that clay. Now obviously some guys won't ever develop no matter how great the coaching but I'm not sure that's the case with Avi. I think poor coaching and instruction has held him back, Viciedo and Beckham as well. I mean Avi put up a 312 average in 200+ PA at AA as a 19/20 year old. That's pretty much elite hit tool for that age. That he hasn't produced anything close to a 270 average in a full season in MLB since becoming a Sox is damning imo.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 27, 2016 -> 07:40 PM) He has an incredibly quick bat, so he can get to alot of balls all over the plate. Thats going to help him a bit. Yep. Need to avoid the dreaded "core injury" during his career because he relies on his bat speed to generate almost all his offensive value.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 27, 2016 -> 07:36 PM) 31 walks in 471 plate appearances his rookie season is hardly Moneyball. 6.6%. Obviously, he picked it up after that, but I was thinking back to my impression of when he first came up with the Sox in 1995. In the minors, 168 walks in 1568 at-bats. 10.7% 11.1% walk rate over his entire major league career. Fine, in every aspect of their games (besides walk rate), they have similarities. Anderson has a better arm. The one area that Ray was excellent at defensively was going into shallow OF or into foul territory for those basket catches....he had huge range on those balls, but not as much on the infield/laterally. If you want to compare Anderson to another AA former Sox Lance Johnson is a much better comp. Great hit tool, tall rangy athlete, not much patience, decent amount of pop, not a great natural base stealer despite the speed.

Not even close to comparable in anything but potential WAR impact. Most of Durham's value came from his patience. Not sure about you but Franks' ridiculous OBP was always a conversation point when he was being talked about as one of the best batter's eyes ever along with Ted Williams.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Jun 27, 2016 -> 12:07 PM) in fairness to the Beckham comparison, I think Anderson has a much quicker swing, livelier bat, etc than Gordon did. TA is a fast twitch athlete and that informs everything he does on the field. From his bat speed to his defense. He can get around on balls Gordon could only dream off and ditto with his range. Gordon was essentially an average athlete by MLB standards, TA is an outstanding one. TA has a lot of developing left to do but I don't see any reason to think his floor isn't decent starter. Unlike many guys the Sox draft there's enough raw athleticism that translates to production, including in his swing and the way he can clear his hips and get his hands on top of the ball, to think as long as he's healthy he'll always have a shot to hit 300 with 20 HR. I'm impressed. His bat speed continues to play at every level. Kid knows how to make hard contact.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 25, 2016 -> 04:44 PM) The 4 big name relievers were all unavailable according to Ventura are you f***ing kidding me? Man the f*** up. It's all hands on deck the rest of the year. This team just really pisses me off. Not sure if RV is covering his own ass but how about challenging your men to step up when guys are hurt in a big mid-summer game? I honestly question if these guys would p**** foot around like this if RV wasn't such a pushover.

lmao, RV and this bullpen is like dipping a rag in kerosene and giving it to a pyromaniac a long with a pack of matches. Game was there to win, RV pretended it wasn't for a minute, and that cost them. Yea the pen sucks but that just makes using it smartly even more important.