chitownsportsfan

If you want to tack on 15 points of average go ahead, here's the results of one xBABIP calculator I just ran. Another trope that needs to stop is how "horribly unlucky" he's been. I don't know enough about how teams are scouting him to have an opinion on if shifting is hurting him but I can't think it's helping. He's hitting less balls up the middle in general and those usually have higher BABIPS. Furthermore, ZIPS surely has some of system in place for normalizing BABIP, and guess what ZIPS sees rest of the way? A 275 batting average.

I've been saying this all year. He's always been vulnerable to junk away. Now that he's gearing up to pull the pull more often he's especially vulnerable to it. More Ks and more defenders that can position themselves expecting a pulled ball. He's hitting the ball hard but he's not hitting it nearly in the right spots or enough. He is a guy that relies on a high average, not high OBP, to drive his value outside home runs and that part of his game is gone like sands through the hourglass. Father time ya know?

And they all report to Senior VP of JR Operations:

And to think I took you off ignore this year.

pobrecita.

Personally I feel I have a much better grasp on Jose's value to the Sox than Jeff Passan, because you know I'm a Sox fan and not a national beat writer. But hey, if you want to parrot his opinion because it happens to support yours, be my guest. I'll continue to think independently and you'll continue to randomly capitalize words.

I'm surprised you're around after Tony and Kyle ethered you for the billionth time last night. All you do is troll here. You add nothing of value. You don't have any insight or opinions beyond stanning Jose Abreu and beer leaguers like Palka because your neanderthal brain reacts to flying objects faster than it can a spreadsheet.

He's at .4 fWAR. He's had a bad year. It wouldn't be "selling high" it would be foolishly bailing on a 22 year old that you've ID'd as a future cornerstone of your offense. And WTF does trading a guy that was the 3rd overall prospect in baseball in 2018 have to do with Jose fucking Abreu? Why do I waste time responding to idiotic tangents from moronic trolls with room temp IQs?

WSI --->

The one that starts with getting assigned -1.5 fWAR at the start of the season because you're a MLB player that can't field a position.

Yea if it's one thing Jose knows it's pennant races and pressure down the stretch.

You're comparing an elite defender up the middle in his prime at SS/2B to an aging DH. FFS there is a delta of 25 RUNS defensively between the two. That's 2.5 WAR right there. It's why Baez is at 4.3 fWAR and Jose is at .9 fWAR. Defense matters. Playing a position matters. Age matters. OPS+ does not at all encapsulate that. Why the hell anybody would compare the two is beyond me. Cubs infatuation I guess.

I think comparing apples to oranges doesn't work and I personally DGAF about the Cubs.

Can we stop this lazy, tired trope? Here is Jose Abreu's last 1100 PA: He's not a "streaky good hitter" he's a "streaky mediocre hitter". And he can't field. And he's aging. Folks, the 140 wRC+ Jose Abreu left the building a few years ago and he's never, ever coming back. Going more than 1 year on him is insane. He's projected as a 1.5 fWAR player. You don't sign 33 year old DHs coming off two seasons of mediocrity to anything other than a one year deal.

How about we keep Abreu and ditch the "latin whisperer" Rickie. Sounds like a fair deal.

He had a problem throwing strikes again for about 5 starts and it was also coupled with diminished velocity iirc. It wasn't bad but he dropped to like 91-93 instead of 93-96 and was missing his spots with every pitch. I'm almost glad he stumbled a bit because it showcased his new found mental toughness. Just awesome to see.

Wow, one start gave him .6. I guess when you have a ZERO FIP over 9 innings you get rewarded. Mercy.

I've long ago learned not to argue what an "ace" is and isn't on a baseball board. Some of the most pedantic dead end conversations anywhere around. I happen to believe there are only about 3-6 aces at any given time in MLB. For me that's what it is, and it's relative. He's a helluva pitcher and a great story and a very positive development.

There's plenty of stupid to spread around nice and thick that's for sure.

Lowered his FIP to 3.2 after today's start and that will push him to around 4.5 fWAR. He can still have a 5 fWAR season, which while not quite an "ace" is certainly "really good 2nd starter every team would love" territory.

What a disheartening two days of asinine comments from the Sox FO.

The years they had a top 5, I believe there were 4 of them from 2006-2013, they were still a good 40-80 million below the top 3 or so teams. They were a bigger mid market team but they never got close to leading the league in payroll. Expecting them to exceed around 5-7th in the league seems a high expectation. I'd be satisfied just getting back into the top 10.

They had a 5th best payroll for a few years in the mid aughts. That's about it. Their historical norm, at least since around 1990, has been middle of the road or bottom 1/3. They've never consistently been a big market payroll. They are mid market and I would not expect them to approach the luxury tax. At best you'll seem in that 5-15 range like we saw throughout most of the last 20 years prior to the rebuild. http://www.stevetheump.com/Payrolls.htm

lmao, jfc. Rickie is a nice guy but he's a simpleton.

What evidence do we have of this? I was with you maybe 5 years ago. I've seen nothing that tells me there's been any changes. You can handwave away the RR hire (I guess) but what about Don Cooper? Don Cooper is clearly of another mind from the top pitching minds in the game at the moment and yet here he is. Giolito had to go somewhere else to fix his delivery.