Balta1701

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 01:33 PM) xFIP: 3.79 Also, as recently as the middle of last year he had a stretch of pure dominance. Even with a full year of poor numbers, it would be hard to declare with any confidence that Danks is "steadily declining", let alone with a very recent stretch of greatness. Danks has those stretches of dominance...but this is why I'd call Danks a "Question mark" or at the very least "Less than rock solid" as a #1 pitcher. He also has stretches where that changeup just isn't on, and when that changeup isn't on, he doesn't have a good other way of getting outs.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 01:31 PM) I thought you said Humber was bad - pretty sure he had a 3's ERA last year. I did not say that and now you're not paying attention to what I said. If people are trying to say our rotation is "Rock solid" based on what some guys did in 1 year and what other guys did 3 years ago, then you have to give similar leeway to the other rotations in this division. You cannot tell me that you'd call Philip Humber "Reliable", "Rock Solid", or "Dependable" coming in to this year. He had an incredible run last year before tiring out. But if you're asking why people would project this team to be a weak team, that rotation has a bunch of question marks in it. We could get them all answered positively and be in excellent shape this year and next year.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 01:26 PM) John Danks BABIP last year? .313 John Danks BABIP career? .289 he was unlucky in all aspects last year. So, Danks was unlucky by an incredibly small amount compared to the rest of his career, and the rest of his career was slightly lucky compared to league average?

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 01:23 PM) you would take Bruce f*cking Chen over Peavy? Max (I gave up 7 runs in 2 innings) Scherzer? Rick (I can't strike a guy out to save my life) Porcello? Fransisco (5+ era) Liriano? good lord man. you know BP has projected a low 3's era for Peavy this year right? I think they know more about projecting pitchers than we do. Yeah, I'd take Francisco Liriano of the 5+ ERA last year over Jake Peavy of the 4.92 ERA and 25 fewer innings (which isn't much at all). BP might have projected him for a low 3's ERA, but he's not going to get there and anyone who watched him so far knows that. A low 3's ERA pitcher is an overpowering pitcher. Jake Peavy is not an overpowering pitcher, with either stuff or control.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 01:22 PM) Aj with a single to right, no chance for Dunn to score on Choo's arm. Bases loaded now, one out for Lexi. Be nice if Alexei could get going and pretend it's June.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 01:21 PM) I have no idea where you're coming from on Danks. Last year he posted some of the best peripherals of his career, he was clearly unlucky. He has had two modest outings so far this year, so I'm just not sure why you're so down on him. Danks was unlucky last year, in terms of getting "Wins", that useless stat. He was pretty regularly Danks the rest of the year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 01:03 PM) Has that ever been indicated? Not directly, but the victim's family has repeatedly suggested that they believed he was a flight risk, and usually that makes things like "don't leave the state" orders happen.

Not Smart Masterson, putting people on for Konerko.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 01:03 PM) I'm simply saying compared to the rest of the division, this rotation IS rock solid. and no, Floyd is actually AMAZINGLY consistent over the last few years. His ERA doesn't reflect it, but that's because it's an imperfect stat. FIP's of 3.77, 3.46, and 3.88 the last 3 seasons to total a 12.4 WAR. He's been much, much better than his ERA indicates. I'll give you Danks' inconsistency, but he still had a 3.77 FIP last year. again, much better than his ERA. And, when healthy, I said Peavy can compete with anyone in the division not named Verlander. Who do you like better? Just in this division alone, I'll take Cleveland's top 2-3, Danks and Floyd, Minnesota's top 2, Detroit's top 3, and maybe now Bruce Chen over Peavy. He's got to learn to pitch the Freddie Garcia route where he no longer has his fastball. And I doubt he's going to do that here. No one who saw Floyd in 2009-2010 would ever call him amazingly consistent. An ERA of 7 followed by an ERA of 1 month to month just isn't normal. And Danks, well, we all saw the last inning.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 12:52 PM) Between all of the threats on his life and people giving out his home address, can you blame him? Depends on if anyone in law enforcement had ordered him to stay in contact about his location or not leave the state.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 12:58 PM) Yeah, I think Morel's would have been gone and Viciedo's would have been to the wall if it were July. Did Morel pull his?

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 12:52 PM) really? let's look down the line. Cleveland: Masterson, Jimenez, Lowe, Tomlin, Gomez (we're better) Minnesota: Pavano, Liriano, Hendricks, Blackburn, ??? (we're better) Tigers: Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello, Wilk, Fister (injured), Smyly (closest, but honestly after Verlander I like all our pitchers better) Royals: Chen, Hochevar, Sanchez, Mendoza, Duffy (again... I say we're better) can you honestly argue this? we have 2 high-celing, high-floor guys in Danks and Floyd. No matter what, they won't be BAD. Sale has potential to be an ace, Peavy - if he stays healthy - can compete with any pitcher in this division not named Verlander. And Humber - even if he's a mid-4s ERA is still one of, if not the best #5 in the division. I'd call that rock-solid. Yeah, I can argue that easily. Danks has never been a top flight starter, he's a guy who goes thorugh stretches where he doesn't have his changeup and winds up with an ERA in the upper 3's and is getting slowly worse. And last year he had a number of injury problems, which could easily be a sign that his body is starting to wear down. Floyd gives innings but is incredibly inconsistent. He's put up decent numbers because he repeatedly put up ridiculous june/july numbers. On top of that, he has a couple long term injury things. Peavy...no, he no longer can compete with anyone in the division if healthy. His fastball simply isn't there any more. He's at best an average pitcher with major health and durability concerns. Sale...Sale has great stuff, huge mechanical/injury concerns, and ought to be on a 150 inning limit this year even though he won't be. And Philip Humber, going in to last year, couldn't even make the Royals as a 6th starter/long relief guy. And he also has major durability concerns after last year. Not all of these will come true as things that will bring the Sox down, but that's not "Rock Solid" in the Tampa Bay sense, for example. I can put a serious question mark on every guy in that rotation, at least in terms of filling their role.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 12:49 PM) Just beat up on the Twins, Indians, and Royals. I think that we are better than those teams. Go .500 against the Tiggs. Overall, this isn't a strong division and that is why the White Sox should at least be above .500 That's been darn near impossible for us the past few years, even when we've been better than those teams.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 12:39 PM) i just do not understand how people project us to be worse than Cleveland and Minnesota. Neither can hit OR pitch. Our rotation is rock-solid, and if we even get a decent bounceback from Dunn, we've got a relatively potent lineup I really struggle to call this rotation "Rock solid", and this bullpen has the potential to be really, really flaky since there's so much youth. That's how I'd put this team pretty far down. That said, I'm still sticking with 78 wins.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 12:40 PM) And a pretty iffy statement by Zimmerman about the whole thing, and boom, there you go, maybe the statute was adequate in this situation and really it was the s***ty county state's attorney handling the case. I wouldn't call the statement iffy at all. He claimed self defense. How do you go about proving him wrong? Even if he lied, he's still got a slight injury, there's no hard evidence, and the only other witness is dead.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 12:32 PM) Probable cause is such a low hurdle these days, i'm not really sure what the big deal is. This statute is no different than any other criminal law on the books - cops can't get a phone call saying X did Y to Z and arrest them before they perform any sort of investigation. They have to come up with some probable cause for the arrest. A dead body and the killer holding a weapon?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 12:30 PM) 1/2/3 2nd for Sox. That is six in a row retired for Masterson. 4-1 Sox going to bottom of 2nd. Masterson is one of those guys who can get better as a game goes along commonly, right?

LOL

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 12:20 PM) I agree. As long as the defense is adequate. Danks is our ace right now and he has to shut down their weak, lefty-filled lineup. Lefties usually hit Danksy better than righties because his changeup works better on righties, don't forget.

I just turned around and worked during Konerko's at bat and assumed he was going to get an RBI or more.

Nice to see Dunn get another hit, hadn't had one in a couple games.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 11:46 AM) Seriously, who still thinks the Heat can go 72-10??? I think thoughts of crazy but seemingly plausible things like that went out the window this season with the compressed schedule. What do you think they could do if Nash went there next year for their whole MLE?

QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 11, 2012 -> 11:14 AM) One of the oddities of the gun debate that I have never gotten around comes to mind. The anti-gun people generally do not own guns, nor have they ever owned guns. This is normal and expected because they would be a bit of a hypocrit to own guns and advocate for them being illegal. At the same time owning a gun and being a responsible owner adds some insight to the argument that I believe is important. Everyday people use things incorrectly and harm comes to people. From cars to cheeseburgers, cigarettes to scissors, stuff happens. Responsible gun owners see the differences and the similarities. Non gun owners see a gun as an evil weapon with no value. If you are doing something stupid with a car or scissors and harm comes to someone else, you face charges, even if it is just involuntary vehicular manslaughter. If you are doing something stupid with a gun and harm comes to someone else...you wind up having your name graffiti-ed onto black cultural centers as a hero. People don't pick fights because they have their car to defend them. People don't become more aggressive because they have a pair of scissors in their hands.

Reasons why you should not walk and text at the same time. #1: Bears.

The special prosecutor in this case has indicated that she will hold a press conference "no later than friday" to "release new information" on the case. This means one of a couple things. Either the press conference will announce charges, the press conference will announce that charges aren't being brought, or the special prosecutor doesn't know what kind of case she's on and will simply give an update without realizing an update without an explanation of why charges aren't being brought would be needlessly inflammatory. Either way, things will be happening soon.