Greg Hibbard

YES!

1-2-3. Say it with me guys,

guys don't forget that MLB Extra Innings is free this weekend

I like our chances tonight, boys

strike zone is f***ing ginormous

QUOTE(valponick @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 05:46 PM) ERA is an overrated stat. No we aren't talking about their careers, the OP was talking about this year. When it comes to comparing relievers, I totally agree that ERA is an overrated stat because IRS comes into play so damned much Starters, on the other hand....ERA is not overrated in my book. In fact, I would venture to say it's the second most important stat after WHIP.

QUOTE(valponick @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 05:29 PM) I disagree, the numbers of an "ace" and a #5 shouldn't be so similar. Vazquez spent many years pitching in the National League, guys.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 09:46 AM) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This can't be bolded enough. If there was only some way to make it even more bold

Isn't part of Vazquez' 2007 salary also covered? Also, Podsednik will be given his walking papers, IMO.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 12:51 PM) With the Tiggers playing the Royals this weekend, and us playing the Yankees, We can easily fall to 3 or 4 games back. The Tiggers wont lose this weekend. That's funny, I swear I saw this exact line during the weekend the Tigers played the Pirates...

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 11:10 AM) Brandon is a nice pitcher to have, but were it not for the financial position of this team, I would gladly include him in a deal for a young superstar player. However, with salaries beginning to rise dramatically, a few players getting closer to FA (Mark, Joe) and a payroll at or about $100 million, Brandon's ability to pitch at a relatively decent level combined with his low cost make him a fairly necessary piece for us to hold on to. We are going to need him in that rotation soon not because his talent is forcing us to put him there, but because our payroll is. If it were purely from a talent perspective, I can't see how you could pass on a Carl Crawford or Miguel Cabrera for the sake of what Brandon might one day become. I think this raises a much larger issue. In my mind, the White Sox have exactly a three year window, including last year, to compete for the World Series. I'd like to see them do everything possible to win those three World Series, even if it means 2008 is a 60 win campaign.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 08:56 AM) I'm not sure where you got 4-4 but I got different numbers. Still, lets say your numbers are correct, then we've averaged almost a half run lower per game without him in the lineup. Sorry, those were just games in which Pods did not have a plate appearance. In any case, in most of those games, offensive production was clearly not hurt enough for it to be a problem

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 08:48 AM) I agree. That's research I haven't taken the time to do. That being said, when him getting hurt coincides with the Sox going through their tough stretch last season and the Sox continue to struggle with him out of the lineup this season, then there has to be more to it than coincidence. Last season we struggled to score runs with ANY lineup, until we got hot in October. This season is totally different We are 4-4 without him in the lineup, but we also scored 44 runs in those games, an average of 5.5 per game...

guys, OBP + BA is redundant. A better measure than OPS for this discussion would be something like the fthe following: OBP + Steals/(Steals + CS) + (#steals/100)*2 so in other words, you'd be incorporating steal% and bumping the entire equation by 2 percentage points per stel. There should also be a Sac Bunt factor. this is just off the top of my head

QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 11:30 AM) Liriano is going to pitch Thursday to start the second half for the Twins. Radke will follow then Santana. So the projected trio we will face will be: Radke, Santana, Silva. No Liriano. I think we can take 2of 3. Hmm, i just assumed that they would start the second half with Liriano, Santana or vice versa.

Rather than try to predict each series as a win or loss, I think it's better to do three series stretches: 1) @ NYY, @ Det, vs. Tex (9 games) - A very tough roadtrip followed by a contender at home looking for a bit of revenge. I think we split the road trip one way or another and take 2 out of 3 from Texas in a real dogfight: Prediction: 5-4 2) Min, @Bal, @KC (9 games) - Minnesota is playing well and we are likely to catch both aces, so I think we lose that series at home. We shouldn't have a problem going 4-2 on a relatively easy roadtrip. Prediction: 5-4 3) @Tor, LAA (1 game makeup), NYY, Det (10 games) - We have something to prove at Toronto and go up and spank their asses 2 out of 3 against a notoriously bad second half team. We should win that Angels game, and I think another split with the Yanks and Tigers is the most likely scenario. Prediction: 6-4 4) KC, @Min, @Det (11 games) - I rarely pick 4 game sweeps, and this home KC series is no exception. KC has been playing better and we should be happy with 3/4. A tough roadtrip follows, and hopefully Gardenhire doesn't pull his usual "shuffle the rotation so Santana starts against the White Sox" bs. I think we would probably be ecstatic with a 4-3 mark on this roadie, and I think that's entirely possible, but 3-4 is way more likely. Prediction: 6-5 5) Min, TB, @KC (9 games) - Now the gravy comes. I like us a lot better vs. Minnesota not hitting off of a garbage bag, and we should feast on TB at home, I predict a sweep there. We'll probably win 2/3 at KC, they play a lot tougher at home. Prediction: 7-2 6) @Bos, Cle, LAA (10 games) - Ugh. We will lose 2/3 at Fenway, probably split the 4 games with Cleveland who is due for a second half spoiler resurgence at some point, and hopefully win 2/3 at LAA, where we've had recent success. Prediction: 5-5 7) @Oak, Det, Sea (10 games) Definitely lose 2/3 at the Coliseum, but take 2 of 3 from the Tigers in a division deciding series and 3/4 from the Mariners, a brutal road team especially in AL parks. Prediction: 6-4 8) @Cle, @Min (6 games) - Tough road trip to close out the year where two teams will be playing to spoil. We do no worse than split the six games Prediction: 3-3 Second Half Prediction: 43-31 Overall Record - 100-62

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 09:18 AM) . In regards to Podsednik, as has been mentioned, no one is comparing him to Rickey Henderson. But there is no conclusive proof you can offer that shows that stacking your team with all OPS guys instead of any speed guys is optimal. Do you understand the following sentence: THE ORIGINAL ARGUMENT WAS NOT THAT WE SHOULD GET AN OPS GUY. Podsednik's On Base Average, which is determined by HITS AND WALKS, not power numbers, flat out sucks for a leadoff hitter. We haven't even touched on the fact that lately, the guy has been popping up sac bunts....

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 11:26 PM) My point is that whatever s*** he does or doesn't do isn't that much of a problem since the offense is leading the league in runs scored. I am tired of arguing whether he is a good leadoff man or not since we can not even come to agreement on what a good leadoff man does. However, I do know this. Our starting pitching sucks right now. I don't give a flying f*** what Pods or BA do offensively as long as we score runs, they catch the damned ball, and our starters begin to pitch well. Fair enough, but that doesn't excuse the fact that we can obviously upgrade at least 3 aspects of the defiencies internally by platooning podsednik with ozuna. The defense is probably a wash, Ozuna is clearly a better bunter, he's faster, and he's got better overall offensive numbers. Starting pitching is a whole 'nother thread anyway.

Iamshack, the point is that Podsednik isn't just bad at OPS, he's bad at almost everything, and the point of this thread was not to point out that he's JUST bad at OPS. He's terrible at OPS, RBI, HR, and even taking walks (an important stat for a leadoff hitter, wouldn't you agree) in comparison with OTHER LEADOFF hitters, which is even more pathetic. We're talking about other "set the table" guys who also happen to do things like stealing bases and scoring runs ALMOST as well as Pods, but are about 5-10 notches ahead of him in defense and in other offensive categories. Moreover, the things Podsednik DOES do well either aren't necessarily directly attributable to him (in the case of runs, which requires relying on the hitting of another player, as opposed to homers, rbis, and batting average which all are determined solely by the batter), or they aren't necessarily impactful on the game itself (in the case of steals, which AGAIN, unlike RBIs and HR don't impact the scoreboard immediately, if at all) Simply put, my point is that the s*** he does well doesn't matter that much, whereas the s*** he doesn't do well matters a whole lot more.

QUOTE(watchtower41 @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 02:25 PM) Changing your tune?? Before you said he did NOTHING positive for this team, and can do NOTHING right. If you have to keep arguing your case, does that give you more confidence in making believe you are right?? No all you comback with is quoting the poster on top of you yuo I'm pretty sure even the biggest Pods haters on this board can admit that he DOES in fact do positive things for the Chicago White Sox. This thread is useless, your "comeback" reasoning has gone way past pointless, your posts have nothing to offer other than "I HATE PODS," obviously there is nothing that anybody, including Pods, can do to reverse how much you dispise him as a player and on the White Sox. So we'll agree to disagree, I know Pods is not the best LF in baseball, but he is on the White Sox, and for that reason alone I will support him as much as I can. I guess you can go back to practicing your bunts. This is the worst sort of rah-rah homerism imaginable. Let's review, shall we? The guy is one of the worst defensive left fielders statistically and has cost us several outs over the course of the year. The guy is one of the worst AL leadoff hitters in several major offensive categories statistically (RBIs, HR, OBA, OPS, etc. etc.) The things the guy does well are either mostly a product of the great hitting behind him (runs) or an overvalued statistic PROVEN in this thread to be a contributing factor in only 1/3rd of the games the statistic occurs in (steals) Therefore, the guy is at best a mediocre player. Sorry this doesn't sit well with your rooting interests.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Jul 11, 2006 -> 01:34 PM) What struck me about the original post was that the writer concludes that a stolen base by Pods was a significant factor in 7 victories by the White Sox -- in other words, 12% of our 57 wins -- and then concludes, paradoxically, that he's not valuable and should be replaced! Now, I'm not going to sing the praises of Scott Podsednik. I think as soon as he moves into more expensive contract territory, he'll no longer be worth his pay grade. But if just his stolen bases have contributed to 12% of the team's victories, then it seems to me a testament to his value, not his lack of value. And I do think having Pods at the top of the lineup will create scoring opportunities in tight ballgames down the stretch and in the playoffs that are not presented by the other types of hitters in our lineup. If we can come close to pitching like we did last year, then Pods' value to this team will increase as the season goes on. As may his actual production, which has yoyoed from cold to hot on a month-to-month basis. I didn't conclude that at all. I concluded that his stolen bases were a contributing factor to 7 victories. I can think of at least three instances in which podsednik's defense was a contributing factor to a loss, too.

QUOTE(Colorado Sox Fan @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 06:05 PM) I know there's a reason for that. My point had to do with the Ozuna/Mack option. These aren't kids who haven't been given a shot. Okay, when has Ozuna ever been given a starting job in the major leagues?

QUOTE(Colorado Sox Fan @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 04:56 PM) I'm not a big Pods fan by any means, but everyone forgets about the games he has helped win with clutch hits. I count about 3 games out of 250 he has played for us. In other words, about the same number Timo Perez has. Correct me if I'm wrong.

that bunt pop up yesterday was just absolutely inexcusable in that situation, btw.