Balta1701

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 03:53 PM) Supposedly they worked on his delivery a bit, in an effort to improve his command and control. It looked like it worked vs. Houston. Hopefully it continues tonight. Either way, he's tough to hit. If he isn't walking you and getting behind, he is going to be hard to do much against. If he has cleaned it up and he does have command, Houston and Miami will soon be wondering what they were thinking last draft. Houston ought to have been wondering that about their last 2 drafts already. How is the kid Miami drafted doing? The 100 mph high school righty?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 03:45 PM) Coming from you? You have been calling for someone's head, anyone's in at least 100 posts. If you were a Tiger "fan" you wouldn't think anyone needs to lose their job? Yes, but I don't bring that to every single thread. You do. This is really simple. Another team loses a game and you use that as an excuse to bring it in. The White Sox score a run and its an excuse to bring things in. I literally don't even want to comment in "winner threads" because you're just going to troll me every time we win a game.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 03:14 PM) How come they haven't fired anybody? You realize that by trolling every single thread with this you make the site unreadable right? That's the goal? Every thread must have the exact same discussion?

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 12:00 AM) Yep I can pretty much vouch for that. Occasionally I've actually had to show proof that I have a return ticket home, in order to get the whole 90 day Visa Waiver thing. For the original thread starter, maybe it's just that way at the Chicago Airports. Whenever I go through LAX, it's usually a 5:1 ratio the other way around, so I end up having to wait 90 mins or so just to get through customs (which if you have a connecting flight is a nightmare). That's how it was when we had a large group going through LAX, the citizens breezed through and everyone else took forever.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 01:37 PM) Need a win tonight. I'd be pretty impressed if Rodon wins tonight and beats Keuchel next Tuesday. I think where he's at right now Rodon really matches up well against aggressive swinging teams (Astros) who are willing to strike out a lot but he'll get in more trouble against teams that are going to take a walk and make him have to throw strikes/work the count.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 06:37 AM) It is funny how the Bulls smear campaign organized months ago vs Thibs has been successful. Even thiugh he coached without his best player more than half the games during his tenure, he has a.top 5 all time winning percentage. His offense is old, horrible etc. yet somehow it was top 10 in efficiency with guys like Aaron Brooks and Kirk Hinrich getting decent minutes. He ran players into the ground, yet the only 2 with real heavy minutes were Pau, having his best season in years, and Jimmy Buckets, who somehow overcame being run into the ground last year and this to be voted the leagues most improved player. Maybe Thibs had to go, but there is no basketball reason that needed to happen. The hatchet job started stealthfully months ago, and kept on continuing. Just the other day i heard a media member slammimg Thibs for playing Noah 40 minutes a night on one leg. He played 40 minutes in 2 games this year. One was OT, one was double OT. The total lack of class the Bulls organization showed will bite them in the ass one day. I hope the Mayor succeeds, but I doubt he will squeeze more wins out of the team if the players reamin the same and Rose plays less than half the time. If we're discussing strictly whether Thibs was an effective basketball coach and deserved to go based on that, I agree with much of this, particularly the discussions of Thibs getting the most out of his players in the injury depleted years. However, the 2014-2015 season convinced me on basketball grounds that it was time to cut the cord, particularly due to the poor offensive performance. The Cleveland series was an example of this - the offense was simply outgunned, between Hinrich playing so many minutes, Mirotic and others falling out of the rotation until Thibs was forced to put them in, and the long point droughts that became inexcusable. The Cleveland series highlighted it, but a couple weeks ago I posted this absolutely remarkable stat - the Bulls had a much better roster right now than in 2012 when little nate was running the point, as you said Gasol had his best year, Rose was back, Butler, Mirotic, and yet despite all that the Bulls 2014-2015 offense was basically exactly as effective (within 1 point) as the 2012 offense led by Nate. Thibs can get the most out of players when the roster has a bunch of holes, but when he's set up with a roster that could actually do damage, he got in his own way. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) I guess I am part of the Thibs army, but the real problem I had was not with the Bulls dismissing him, although I don't think they will be a better team because of it, it was how it was done. The hatchet job the day of the firing was over the top, but they, the guys who have been crying about leaks, have been leaking crap for months. Players in their exit interviews want to avoid Thibs, this must have come from Thibs. So and so leaked this and that, whether that is true or not we will never know. What we do know is Gar Forman's quotes during the press conference announcing the dismissal and the press conference naming the Mayor was full of lies. I hope the Mayor wins 75 next year, but if players keep getting injured, like Noah did before Thibs was around, who are they going to blame? However on the 2nd point...this part I cannot disagree with.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 01:28 PM) It would have had to be as the main piece in acquiring someone like Donaldson. I'm basically 100% confident that I would not have traded Quintana for the package the A's got for Donaldson last year. I'm pretty confident I wouldn't have traded Quintana for Donaldson last offseason either, although I'm a bit more iffy on that (people kept whispering about Donaldson's medicals as a reason why the A's moved an MVP candidate for less than he's worth so I'd have to wonder a bit on that). In other words, Donaldson would have been the main piece in a package acquiring Quintana, not the other way round. Quintana's been more disappointing this year so I'd be a little more open, but still hesitant on even those, given the contract status of the players.

@scottmerkin First time in Sale's career with three straight games of 10+ strikeouts

Wow that was close I thought that was fair

Choo getting testy after up and in fastball

Holy hell chris never ever do that again

nice catch by that girl

It's better than the 1-2-3 DP.

Avi takes a fastball off the arm/ribs.

Easy DP ground ball ends the inning.

Slider demolishes Andrus, 1 out.

Infield hit and a walk, 0 outs.

Ump is giving the high strike to both pitchers so far.

Come on Chris, let's show that same thing you did last time.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 08:00 PM) There were other things they wanted to do that couldn't get done. So Rick Hahn blew a $30 million payroll increase and did so while knowingly leaving gaps that could easily screw over his team's chances of being competitive? Wow, Rick Hahn is even worse at this than I could have imagined.

Aced abreu low and away and offspeed.

@scottmerkin Jesse Crain and Nate Jones pitched in simulated games yesterday. Scheduled to do so again Friday

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 04:19 PM) STATS ‏@STATS_MLB 19m19 minutes ago The #Rangers have averaged 7.5 runs in the last 11 games, and #WhiteSox LHP Chris Sale's 4.62 ERA vs. them is highest versus any AL club. Pretty sure we said the same thing about the Orioles and Sale like 5 days ago.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 04:17 PM) RE: Samardzija. Right but it's been ten starts. That's the point. RE: Melky. He has performed substantially worse than at any point in his career, even the low points. And he jsut put a 125 wRC+ last year, post-steroids. This is just not his true talent level, and it's far off. But he's just one example, most of the team is doing this. And when I read that..."the whole team is performing far off of their talent level"... I'm compelled to ask again, what force out there could influence an entire roster to perform below their standards? After 2 months it's not just random chance, that's nearly 2000 PAs. Either it's the water at the ballpark, something has gone terribly wrong with the plane and we're accidentally irradiating players during flights, or based on these comments the coaching staff should be in the crosshairs. Again I'm ok with that.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 04:01 PM) We haven't even finished this LAST "start-over!" At some point, you have got to stay the course. Balta, it hasn't even been a HALF of a season yet. Melky Cabrera is not a 54 wRC+ hitter. Adam Eaton is not a 77 wRC+ hitter. Jeff Samardzija is not a 4.68 ERA pitcher. You haven't even given this roster a HALF SEASON and you're ready to clean the entire organization out. I just wanna highlight one...Jeff Samardzija's advanced stats have dramatically dropped off this season. His strikeout rate is the worst of his career. His ground ball rate is the worst of his career. His line drive rate is the worst of his career. Right now Jeff Samardzija is a lot closer to a 4.68 ERA pitcher than he is to being a top of the rotation pitcher. Adam Eaton is better than that and is slowly improving, but he doesn't have to be the player he was last year either. And yes, Melky's advanced stats suggest he's due for some improvement, but for a player whose steroid abuse was absolutely key in his switch from "non-tendered after being paid $3 million" to "quality player" I'll believe it when I see it.