Balta1701

Anyone know the tentative pitching schedule for the Barons next couple games?

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Sep 5, 2013 -> 01:45 PM) I see some Joe Mauer in his approach to the outer half of the strike zone. This bodes well for his future in 2 strike counts, but you're right, it would be nice to see him punish some guys inside earlier in his ABs. He's shown he can recognize and punish hangers which is good too. From the right side I'll go with more Jeter-y. He's definitely got a serious inside-out action to his swing right now, that's why he keeps dropping balls in front of the right fielder, it's the perfect swing to do that. It definitely means he won't get beat on the outside pitch but he's also going to have to drive balls down the RF line to keep the RF honest and pull balls to LF to keep the pitchers honest to really damage people. But frankly, I do like seeing the inside out action on his swing. For a guy his age that's a lot better than trying to pull everything.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 5, 2013 -> 01:24 PM) Plus as fast as he is, they can't play as deep as the usual powerhitters depth. To keep this up though he's going to have to develop that power more. A ton of bloops to right is great but to keep people honest he has to start pulling that inside pitch harder when guys give it to him.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 5, 2013 -> 12:39 PM) Fluid, but I still prefer him in the corner. He has basically zero experience in CF prior to this year right? So anything better than terrible should be viewed as positive?

The last couple posts are making me think this team is being set up with an eye towards bringing in a lot more players from Latin America in the near future.

Those were calls Greg Maddux might not get.

Nicely done Marcus! Right up te middle!

Excellent work by Phegley

A good walk for Viciedo. Earned it.

Is Viciedo standing taller behind the plate or is it the camera angle?

CC aced Semien there

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 08:32 PM) Well, at least we'll see Webb tonight.robin will find a way to keep him on the bench as long as I'm watching...

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:08 PM) No Im saying the Syrians can fight Assad. But neither of them can use chemical weapons. It has nothing to do with sides, it has everything to do with enforcing treaties. Because if we dont, then what is the point of agreeing to anything? You point out a "mutual defense agreement" as if it means something. Yet you dont think the Geneva Convention and subsequent treaty mean something? Which is it, either we enforce our agreements or we dont? And you keep saying "killing". I dont believe Ive ever suggested that. Ive merely argued that your solution "giving them aid" and doing nothing more, is not a response to the use of chemical weapons. You are the one who wants to do nothing. My solutions could include: 1) ban of all weapons sales to Syria govt for next 10 years, 2) no fly zone, 3) etc etc. Just because you are unwilling to discuss any option but the "bread" option, doesnt mean that I have to accept a world where chemical weapon attacks are allowed. By the way, I forgot to point this one out. The UN charter explicitly prohibits military action against a UN member state without authorization of te UN Security Council, which seemingly will not be coming. Therefore the US would be violating several treaties and defying international law if it starts its freedom bombing campaign. So to save international law and the Geneva conventions you're willing to defy international law and the Geneva conventions.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 07:19 PM) Turns out he thought there would be a sufficient number of murders. They added extra language calling on the president to help turn the tide of the war, so more murders.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 06:40 PM) I suspect Ozzie will take a coaching job where he can build up some trust and support if he was to manage again. It wouldn't surprise me if he spent the rest of his time in baseball as a coach. Do you mean like a minor league position or as a 3rd base coach? If I were a manager I'd want no part of Ozzie Guillen on my staff. That's like signing Tebow in terms of generating an unnecessary media swarm.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 06:12 PM) I agree with all of that too. I just still think that 4 HR/250 PA's combined with a .300ish OBP is still a defense first player. I think the team can get 80-85% of that production with similarly glovey/speedy Garcia, and by moving Ramirez/pitcher, can take step at finding the higher upside bat it really needs to get back to contention. Getting Garcia regular at bats also gives him a better chance to improve more quickly. Like I said I have no problem moving Alexei if the right deal comes along (personally I'd give Semien first shot at the SS spot) but I'm not going to take a poor deal for him until one of the young guys plays so well that I'm forced to move Alexei for them.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:58 PM) Right, I understand. What I'm saying is that even Alexei + power isn't good enough to bat in the middle of the order for a contender. He simply doesn't get on base enough. If he can hit 15 homers again, he's still only going to be about a 90 wRC+ because he makes too many outs (I'm basing this on what his batting lines were when he was hitting 15 homers a few years ago, since his OBPs have been remarkably consistent). A .270-.280 average is good an all, but it looks way worse next to a .300 OBP. But, maybe you're saying that putting him at #7 or whatever will still allow him to hit for more power and that it was the #2 hurting him more than the #3 spot helping him. That would make sense, but didn't he hit at the back of the order most of the first half of the season during his epic power outage? He had about 30 games hitting 6-7-8 and had an OPS of about .690 in those 3 slots. He hit 75 games in the 2 hole with a .660 OPS but a similar batting average, so he was clearly putting the ball in play just about as much but he wasn't hitting for extra bases as much. It's hard to extract a true trend from the 100 at bats lower in the order, but the 0 HR in 335 PA's in the 2 hole compared with 4 HR in 250 PA's elsewhere in the lineup I think makes a pretty strong case.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:46 PM) What does Assad care about limited strikes? You dont know what will be the tipping point. Maybe he can withstand 1 attack, but if the 1 attack comes with the promise of extremely increased attacks if he does it again... That would likely dissuade him. And basically in your outcome you prove NK and Iran right. If you get bad enough weapons, you can paralyze the international community from doing anything. Theyll be so afraid that the weapons will end up in the "wrong" hands, that they are willing to let them remain in the current "wrong" hands and let those "wrong" hands use them to kill people. North Korea's successful attainment of nuclear weapons and the U.S. deciding to invade Iraq in 2003 pretty much proved that beyond any shadow of a doubt.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:45 PM) That may be true, or it may not. Correlation does not necessarily imply causation. Still, even if it was absolutely true that he hits better and with more power from the #3 spot, do you really want to clog the 3 spot up with a ~90 wRC+ hitter? Alexei's bat, at its best, is good "for a shortstop," but it's still a below league average bat by a significant margin. He's an asset as a #7 hitter, but the fact that he's been a key run producer at #3 is just a testament to how completely impotent our offense is. Considering that Alexei is not likely to get any better, and that if he is, he needs to be our three hitter, there's just no argument I can think of that he should stand in the way of player development, because a team that relies on a 90 wRC+ for serious run production is not a team that will win many games. The point there would be that Alexei could presumably continue to have that power stroke if he was hitting 7th, and there were some unique requirements of hitting in the 2 slot that were causing him to adjust his stroke.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:38 PM) Ramirez has been hitting line drives at an increase rate this year, but it's been at the expense of his power. Still, if he can become a .300 hitter by not looking to hit home runs and just trying to hit singles, I have no problem with that, and it's not a transformation that's without precedent. Since dropping to a season low .246 on May 12th, Ramirez has put up a .297/.316/.391/.707, which is about a 90 wRC+ (give or take). That's perfectly acceptable, even if you'd like to see him walk and slug more. Some of that, we should note, seemed to be a direct consequence of him being put in the #2 slot in the batting order. How much it's hard to say, but when he got put in the 3 slot he suddenly found his power stroke again.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:15 PM) lol How many times can you avoid answering the question about chemical weapons? Its as if you dont even want to address the issue. You're right. Chemical weapons were used in a civil war the United States is not involved in. The United States should consider actions to prevent their further use, but none of the military options presented make sense or offer the hope of actually doing anything. If the U.S. launches limited "punitive" strikes too small to change the course of the war, then what does Assad care? He may as well use them again, the U.S. strikes weren't enough to change the course of the war, they just killed people. IF the U.S. launches large enough strikes to destabilize the Assad regime, then the Syrian country falls into libyan style chaos and the chemical weapons are up for grabs. If the U.S. is prepared to occupy the country, spend a few trillion dollars, and lose thousands of additional American lives, this would be the only realistic way to insure both security of the Syrian state and respond to the chemical weapons use. But you yourself have ruled that out. Pick one. You've advocated for the first one most of the time, killing people. How does that punish anyone if the chemical strike was successful and the response isn't strong enough to change the course of the war?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:08 PM) Alexei is a good player paid roughly market value, but he's 32 and his skills are declining at the plate. If we have young guys who need at bats, we should get what we can for Alexei and get those young guys as much experience as possible in 2014, IMO. The problem is, this really isn't the case this year. His performance at the plate this year is better than last year and has gotten better as the season has gone on. (If a team really paid attention, the fact that he hit a ton more power as soon as he was out of the 2 hole should be really important too). Alexei's given every indication this season that he's going to age well, the only question is his level of focus on the field and whether or not he's on a team/has a manager that can help with that.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:08 PM) No Im saying the Syrians can fight Assad.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:01 PM) No you are the one who is creating this imaginary distinction between a civil war, revolutionary war and a regular war. In all wars people die. In all wars there are sides. In the US civil war there were sides, the south was actually launching a war against the north. In Syria there are sides, the govt is launching a war against the rebels. What you are saying is that you value certain countries and people differently. So if Israel (our friend) is attacked, you want to help them. But if Syrians (random people) are dying we should just sit on our hands because well, it might get messy. Thats kind of funny considering the most "messy" wars in history are World War I and II, which in both cases arouse from "military causes." If the Syrian rebels successfully establish a state government and sign a mutual defense agreement with the United States, which the United States finds it in its interests to pursue, then yes, I'd absolutely support defending them. This has not happened. Euphemism for killing here = "sending a message Are you willing to commit 200,000 troops to overthrow the Assad Regime and occupy the country Iraq-style for a decade? Because if you're not willing to overthrow the Assad regime and replace it, then you're saying the same thing, the Syrian Rebels just have to put up with him or go die. You're trying to "Send a message" by killing people. How compassionate.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 04:49 PM) I don't disagree with anything you've said, but I'd still like to see it happen, especially if they manage to move a pitcher for another bat. Even if that bat is an OF, you can play Semien at 3B. Alexei has been solid -- looks like he'll end up about 3 WAR, but that's still propped up almost totally by defense and positional adjustment. His bat has been solid for a SS, but we're still talking about an 82 wRC+, which is simply not an impact bat. So, since we're talking about having a SS whose value comes almost completely from his glove, I don't know that the dropoff to Leury would be very much at the end of day, and he'd clearly benefit from time to adjust to Majors. I'm not going to be mad if Alexei is moved but if they're going to move him they ought to get a solid return for him. He's affordably under contract for several years and fills a position that is a key need for a lot of teams. Take a look at the contract Elvis Andrus is only a little bit better than Alexei with the bat in his previous years (worse than Alexei this year) and the Rangers signed him to 8/$120. The Sox shouldn't need to send along money with Alexei because they ought to be getting significant returns back and Alexei isn't going to be expensive even in his most expensive year. If they send out a significant amount of money, they better be getting someone who is irresistable in return.