Balta1701

QUOTE (venom4789 @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 02:04 PM) I was never to impressed with EJ, seems like people love him as much as they did marcus semien here, i would much rather let rodon work through it. Also sending him to the minors puts him against weaker hitters, let him iron things out in the mlb. He doesn't have #1 stuff, but he's got legit big league rotation stuff. Low to mid 90s fastball, multilple breaking pitches, decent enough control of it all so far, big frame where you look at him and think his body can handle just about anything you throw at it. He's not Chris Sale, but with time you could convince me he's a mid to even upper rotation guy.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 02:28 PM) You have a solid point, but that's not to say that pitchers couldn't harness their control in the minors. Furthermore, Rodon in the minors walked 17 batters in 34 innings, so it isn't as if this is only an issue in the big leagues. I think the bigger issue is his changeup is a below average, show-me pitch at the moment. Looking at his splits, opponents have an OPS of over 1.000 and wRC+ of 199 on his changeup. RH hitters have an OPS of nearly .900 against him, that just tells me that without a effective changeup, he will continue to struggle in the big leagues. Given the margin for error is a lot smaller in the big leagues, I think he's trying to avoid that pitch as much as possible. It will be interesting to get some insider info on whether throwing only 8% changeup is by design, or that he just doesn't have confidence in that pitch. All in all, it would be best if he's given the chance to work on this pitch in the minors. For his first couple starts he threw 0 changeups, so not using it much is clearly deliberate. He's working it in more with time, but he doesn't have it every game just yet.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 01:44 PM) Yes, EJ. It went South for him after he started to get hit around and lost control. I think he will be back with the Sox this season sometime I disagree. He never had his fastball even in spring training. We kept waiting for it to come back and it didn't. We were wondering if he was a slow starter and his arm would loosen up but it never did. If it were mental, it wasn't a control thing, at least not at the start.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 01:42 PM) We are committed to Saladino apparently This year Valencia has played 6 positions, LF more than anywhere else. LF, RF, 3b, 1b, 2b, DH. Can you think of anyone who regularly plays any of those positions who is particularly weak against LHP? Are we carrying anyone who can play multiple positions but who doesn't get used all that much?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 12:52 PM) I agree and I think he did last year and his ego took a beating. You mean EJ? Much different problem last year. His fastball mysteriously lost 3-4 mph.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 12:34 PM) I'm not saying I agree with overvaluing the comp pick...I think the Sox might. But again we have no clue what was even remotely offered for him. I will say this tho...I value it more now than I do say 5 or 6 years ago! The Sox have been plucking some great talent with their first 3 picks the last few years. Mostly tho...the Sox probably believe they still have a chance at a wild card spot and didn't think Shark's slot in the rotation could even remotely be replaced is the bottom line IMO. Then they needed to add a bat. Even a decent bat. No discussion, no debate. They needed to add a bat.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 12:11 PM) But the odds of that pick doing what Semien, Bassitt and Phegley have already done in the majors this season are about 10-15% at best. I'm pessimistic on that pick but you've underestimated it here. These guys haven't established themselves as long-term successes yet, so I'd still say a comp pick has a 40% chance or so of matching that, give or take. The numbers when I looked through the comp picks were 10% of them over the last decade being all-star worthy and about 50% of them making the big leagues. If you say "made the big leagues and being slightly positive players so far" then you're probably down to 40% of the comp picks or so, but if 10% or so of comp picks are legit All Star quality, then you're underestimating the value of the pick.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 11:35 AM) true....and the Sox must value that comp pick more than any trade package they were offered. I know that's pure speculation...but it would be interesting to see the type of packages that were offered. I told my dad this would happen a month ago...a little mini streak and they'd stand pat...and then lose 8 out of 10 after the deadline. I still say a comp pick is a pretty rotten return for the player. A comp pick is, to me, a guy with about a 50% chance of being in the big leagues 4-5 years later and 10% chance of being an all-star within 7-8. The White Sox gave up 4 guys who were on the verge of being big league hitters and will get 1 guy who has probably a 60% chance of reaching that level in return. Yes there's some additional flexibility in there where you can move money around, so that's not perfect, but basically the White Sox gave up 4 guys and will get 1 guy with a 60% chance of getting to the point where any of those 4 guys got, and a bit more flexiblity to move money around. If they couldn't get an easily better return than that, then the league respects Samardzija less than I do and they think he's about to fall completely apart.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 11:01 PM) Anything about...CONCUSSIONS?!?! Yes, that's in there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 11:04 AM) Rodons problem is he has to throw strikes consistently. Does that get solved in AAA as opposed to the Majors? I don't see the difference. I'd say it's much more likely to get solved in the big leagues. In the minors his stuff is so overwhelming that people will expand the zone to defend against it. In the big leagues, the hitters have caught up and you can't overwhelm them with stuff. You have to throw strikes or you won't succeed. In the minors there are ways around that. Oh, and EJ will have the same issue when he comes up.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Aug 1, 2015 -> 11:05 AM) Without knowing what the offers for Samardzija were, its tough for me to criticize the FO. Maybe the bids were under, who knows. I'm fine with the comp pick in next year's draft and trust the SOX to grab a nice prospect. Fwiw, Spencer Adams was drafted #44 and Kolek #2. Adams has better numbers so far and they square off today for the third time this season in A- . Just goes to show there will be talent available when the Sox comp pick comes up, they just need to grab the right player. I'm very happy the Sox did not trade top minor league talent for a rental. The SOX have remained committed to building the farm and I have to give them credit for that. Personally, it's just nice to have everyone come around and suddenly agree with me when last offseason I said that expecting Samardzija's value to rise by the trade deadline was silly. Now everyone's switched to the excuse of weak offers, which is what everyone should have expected for a 2 month rental.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 10:13 PM) Avi was the crown jewel of Hahn's plan. He was to be the cornerstone of Hahn's roster of the future. I don't trust Hahn's judgement at all. I still like my plan. "Avi every time you hit the ball to the right side you owe me 40 pushups".

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 09:59 PM) I'm at this garbage. It's awful. Dude, it's a gorgeous night and there's fireworks. Get some beer.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 09:40 PM) Carroll over Albers. I don't understand why we have Albers here when he's not really a long reliever and we don't have a long reliever. 1 year deal and he's back. He's better than Carroll in tight situations and we're fighting for the Wild Card, we need every good pitcher for tight situations we can get.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 09:37 PM) Wouldn't shock me one bit if Johnson comes up and has similar command to that of Rodon This is what you expect from Rookies. I think Johnson would be a little more reliable, more experience in the minors, but rookies need to take their thumps sometimes.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 09:37 PM) Or Scott Carroll. Why the f*** are we carrying Matt Albers over Carroll? Because Carroll is the 9th guy that would go in the bullpen and we don't have room for that. Having him would require clearing some space in the pen. Which you know...trade deadline...anywho.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 09:34 PM) The #4/5 starters coming into the season was a huge blunder by Hahn. No it really wasn't. These guys really are fine in that role. They would look a lot better with a better offense and defense, and the top guys were supposed to carry them. Remember that both Quintana and Samardzija are a small but notable step down from last year's performance so far.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 09:31 PM) Or this pitcher isn't cut out for this spot yet. There's no issue with him being at the back of the rotation, he's basically a pretty good #4 starter who has good upside. But anyone who thought he was going to destroy the league and be this huge record setter as a rookie...was just fooling themselves.

Ignoring Greg for a bit, Hillary released current medical records today, which is something I actually do care about for a person running for President at ~her age. Hyperthyroidism, seasonal allergies, couple things on the longer-term record but nothing serious, no heart issues, exercises, no evidence of cancer.

zat ball was kilt.

boom

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 08:54 PM) This team just can't catch a break lately Really?

Do we even have a long reliever on this roster? Albers pitched 2 yesterday right?

S***. This did not go according to plan.

Really, this is the guy we traded for Vazquez?