chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 27, 2014 -> 08:58 PM) Good idea to trade Reed, but a terrible move to waste 40 save value on such a flawed player. They were fooled by his semi-successful cup of coffee in the bigs - a 117+ wRC in AAA translates as a borderline MLBer. Bad scouting, I guess. Eaton trade looks good. RH will need to do better than 50-50 for the team to turn the corner, though. Addison Reed fWAR: -.3 Addison Reed bWAR: -3 Matt Davidson fWAR : 0 Matt Davidson bWAR: 0 The Sox "won" that trade, if anyone. Reed was smoke and mirrors and the Sox (as they are prone to) correctly sold high. Davidson is still young and will have a chance in 2015 to turn it around. Reed on the other hand has declining velocity (down to over 2.5 mph from his rookie year) and will be lucky to carve out a decent career as a middle reliever. Anytime you can trade a "proven closer" entering arbitration for a high minors 3B that has a 50/50 chance to turn into a solid starter -- you make that trade. Hahn has done an excellent job, really the only obvious mistake is the Keppinger signing. Some would argue (not me) the Rios trade was a mistake but other than that his additions have been spot on -- and for the most part, he hasn't spent much money or sold the farm to get good pieces. Reed isn't very good, check his stats. The Sox obviously have a good track record with pitchers and they correctly recognized his downward trend. Anyways, good to see the system now back to respectability even if the Sox don't hold on to all these guys it certainly helps to have depth to trade from.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 25, 2014 -> 05:03 PM) the list was 10. Darvish 9. Teheran 8. Kluber 7. Sale 6. Price 5. Wainwright 4. Richards 3. Cueto 2. Kershaw 1. Hernandez Pretty awful list. How in the heck is Scherzer not even on the list and Sale #7? Cueto 3? Richards 4? You gotta be bleeping me! IMO it's: Kershaw Sale Felix Scherzer Darvish And then a clear 2nd tier starting with maybe Price, Wainright and flavor of the week. Cueto and Richards this high is a joke. You can def chalk those stupid picks up to "guys that are good I watch on TV more often than other guys that are better".

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 25, 2014 -> 09:27 PM) No way he's at 12 percent body fat. Yea, maybe 16%. He def looks like he's lost a lot of weight though. Some of that is probably by design so he doesn't get too anemic by the end of the year. Next spring though I think he can come in a little leaner. He's proven fairly durable so far and any problems he's had are with his feet so the benefits of the weight loss outweigh any loss of power -- if any, imo.

Danks pitched well but man, the Minny lineup is not good. Facing Danks, who has struggled badly with control this year, they go up there aggressive and Danks did a lot of pitching backwards it seemed starting with offspeed stuff to grab a strike. That said, I still don't really see anything that points to anything other than 4/5th starter out of John. He still doesn't have nearly enough command to pitch well at 88-89 but I will say he seems to have more movement on his stuff than earlier in the year. I haven't checked the stats, but it seems he's getting more swings and misses than earlier. Good effort from John, an easy guy to root for, wish he wasn't a facsimile of his pre shoulder surgery self but it is what it is. Offense wise, it was a few bloops and a few blasts and I'll take it. The Sox have a number of good hitters, they just need a few more average ones.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 25, 2014 -> 02:54 PM) Maybe your man boobs at a heavier weight would have protected you more. Yea, sarcasm aside, for most athletes (non NFL edition) losing weight is only going to help. An extra weight you're carrying around as you approach 30 isn't good weight. Just ask CC Sabathia what it did to his knees. When I saw him in spring Jose looked a lot like Miguel Cabrera in that NFL guard sorta way. Yea they are incredibly strong but they are also carrying an extra 5-10% body fat and that translates to an extra 10-30lbs. I'd guess that Jose came into came around 18% body fat and he's probably now down to around 12%, you can notice it in his face especially. If he can get down to 8% it should prolong his career at 1st base by a couple years. Nobody is going to mistake Konerko for Usain Bolt but he has kept any extra weight off and that has undoubtedly helped him extend his career relatively injury free. Jose would do well to follow that.

I think Tank is the most automatic out in this lineup right now, that's saying something.

jesus, jose, a humback 400 ft line drive oppo.

jeez, what a way to cancel the postgame.

Eaton has a great feel for how to get on, he's always slapping at balls and using his speed. He's basically the platonic ideal of a slap hitter. He even gets his share of doubles because of hustle.

what an awful AB from Tank, jesus.

Hawk, I know you're not in the booth, but are you on Soxtalk?

Noesi looks good. His slider is nasty and so is his fastball. He gets in trouble the 3rd time through usually see if he can break that tonight.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 04:57 PM) Actually, other than the Houston game, his velocity and metrics have improved as the season has gone on. fun with selective endpoints. I honestly don't know what to say to anyone that thinks John Danks is anything more than a 4th or 5th starter at this point. Don't even look at the metrics, watch the games he pitches! Is there anything about his stuff, control, or command that screams 3rd starter? Hell no. Hector Noesi has better stuff. Danks used to succeed because he had pretty good command and control and a 90-92 mph heater that he could spot well to work with his cutter and change. His average FB velocity was 91.6 in 2011. This year it's 88.1. That tells you most of the story right there. His change is still good but his cutter and fastball are both well below average now and the metrics back this up. His fastball gets absolutely tattooed, the numbers on Fangraphs for his fastball post injury are pretty stunning.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 03:25 PM) If only we still had Addison Reed ... he'd be injured?

Of course.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 02:27 PM) Danks can certainly be a factor in the Sox next run for the World Series. He is not an average pitcher, he is an average mid-rotation pitcher, something that is not that easy to replace or the Sox would have three more of them. His contract is reasonable for his performance and it is unlikely that the Sox would get any discount by bringing someone in put up similar production. Couple that with the way that Danks has continued to improve the further he has gotten from surgery, he could end up being an extremely solid #3 starter in a playoff rotation. The money is not holding the Sox back from anything and the Sox have a terrible track record of acquiring established players in free agency. John Danks will never ever be a "solid #3 on a playoff team". In fact, he's pitching worse this year by many metrics than he did last year. His velocity is down and his walk rate is way up. People need to realize that he had a horrific (for a pitcher) shoulder injury that no pitcher has every really come back strong from. It's a testament to John's determination that he's even in the rotation and slightly above replacement level but as far as the physical tools, he doesn't have them anymore.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 02:42 PM) Odds are it's mostly continuing to build strength and thengetting in "baseball" shape with timing and coordination. Basically he needs to go through Spring training. Yea he probably couldn't do any upper body work for a few months and is probably just now getting back to lifting. Bat prolly felt pretty heavy in his hands the first few swings. There might be scar tissue he is also working through correct?

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 04:44 AM) Maybe not but when league average is 10.6% and his first two years were 10.5% and 10.2% I think it's probably safe to say 5.4% is the outlier. Same with Chris Sale, his HR/FB has been 11.1%, 10.9%, 11.6%, 12.5% and this year it's 6.2%. That should rise. xFIP uses normalized HR/FB rates and his xFIP is 3.29, good for #23rd in MLB. No matter how you slice it, Q is one of the best pitchers in the game, a guy you could squint hard enough and see as an ace but that slots perfectly in as your #2 in a tough playoff series. The Sox could very well have the best 1,2,3 punch in MLB rotation wise in 2016.

Things are way too quiet on the trade front. I'm half expecting a "f***ing a trade" to go down at any time, Sox or otherwise.

So he's running, hitting and throwing, they must just be waiting on a formal medical clearance before he does his rehab assignment. I would love to see him get 80 or so PA in September to knock a bit of the rust off.

so he touched 96? Did he throw much off speed stuff? Probably telling him to take it slow to start, given Hahn's awesome quote about him not "having thrown a pitch in anger in a few months". Man, if I was in PHX area I would be there, just show up after a few innings watch him and go home. Very exciting to see him in the fold.

safe, easily

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 08:37 PM) Moises is hitting .279 with us now and has two walks. But, he should see more time.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 08:34 PM) Sierra's doing it all. Hitting, fielding, and his dugout antics. He has a 289 OBP with Chicago and a 677 OPS, he's butchered a couple of makeable plays in RF, let's not get ahead of ourselves. That said, there is zero reason he shouldn't be starting everyday in a corner after the trade deadline. De Aza or Viciedo or both should 100% be gone.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 08:32 PM) Semien or Sanchez needs to replace this bum (Beckham) At this point the most likely end to Beckham's career will be a non tender or a trade for a C level prospect. Man, that is disappointing for a guy that looked like a world beater as a rookie and is a former top 10 pick.