Greg Hibbard

Why does Podsednik deserve any respect? Statistics don't lie. The only thing the guy does better than other qualified AL leadoff men is steal bases and score runs, and both of those statistics are clearly overvalued, as one has a smallish chance of contributing to a victory and the other is the product of the hitters behind you.

B+, would've been an A- had they won the Series with Boston

Literally the ONLY thing that Scott Podsednik arguably provides us with over any other major league replacement is steals and runs, and as it turns out, the value of those two numbers seems to be inflated. His defense is atrocious. He is 18th out of 21 in Qualified Fielding Percentage for Left Fielders. He is a mediocre 10th out of 21 in Range Factor despite his tremendous footspeed, and 11th out of 21 in Zone Rating. He is 8/9 in qualified AL leadoff hitters in OBP and OPS. He is 7/9 in RBIs. 8/9 in home runs. This means he doesn't walk enough and he doesn't have nearly enough pop. Pretty much all of his OPS is generated by his ability to stretch a double into a triple. Now he IS third in runs, and he IS second in steals. However, the runs are more of a product of the success behind him than the runs he is generating with his legs this season. I'm going to argue in this thread that probably less than half of his steals have been truly meaningful in terms of determining the outcome of the game. Additionally, a lot of his offensive numbers in terms of hits and RBIs are occuring in blowout games. In fact, six of the first seven games in which he had an RBI were lopsided victories for the White Sox: 10-4 Sox over Cle April 1st (1 RBI), 9-0 over KC April 17th (1 RBI), 7-1 over MIN April 21st (1 RBI), and 9-1 and 12-5 over LAA two consecutive days May 9th and 10th (1 RBI each). The lone game he contributed to that was close in that stretch was @ LAA, where he had two RBIS in a game where we still won by a larger margin than that (3). Additionally, 7 other RBIs out of his 32 total occurred in lopsided games in which the White Sox won, and a handful of other RBIs occurred in losses for the White Sox. Aside from the Grand Slam against Houston, less than 10 of Podsednik's RBIs this season have been at all meaningful in terms of determining the outcome in a White Sox victory over 6 total games. And all of those games he had 1 RBI. Now, Podsednik's stolen base log for 2006: 1) April 16th vs. Toronto. 1 Steal. Podsednik steals second with 1 out in the bottom of the 2nd in after the Sox score 3 in the first against Toronto and have a 3-0 lead. He takes thrid on an Iguchi groundout, allowing Thome to swing away for a sac fly, which he ends up hitting out for a 2-run job. The Sox go up 5-0 and hang on 6-4 in a game that was closer than expected. Net Result: stolen base generated arguably 2 runs, the difference in this game. 2) April 18th vs. Kansas City. 2 Steals. Pods steals second in the 5th inning with the sox up 3-1, takes third on an errant throw and is stranded on third after an Iguchi K, a Thome walk and a PK strikeout. Pods steals second in the 7th inning with the Sox up 3-1, and scores an insurance run on a 2-out single by Thome. Net Result: stolen base generates 1 insurance run, but Kansas City had virtually nothing going against Jon Garland all game and was never really a threat. 3) April 25th at Seattle. 1 Steal. Pods is part of a double steal with Anderson as the lead runner in the third inning, and both end up scoring the first runs of an eventual 13-3 blowout which featured dominant pitching from Javier Vazquez. Net Result: Hard to argue that his steal as a trail runner in a blowout really contributed much to the success of the evening. 4) May 1st at Cleveland. 4 Steals Scott is the centerpiece of an 8-6 win by stealing 4 bases in 5 chances on Victor Martinez and scoring three runs. Net Result: Podsednik probably won us this game with his legs, but Vic Martinez is pretty easily to steal off of 5) May 9th at LAA. 1 Steal. Steals a base in a 9-1 whitewashing of a struggling Kevin Gregg. Yawn. Net Result: Nada. 6) May 14th at Min. 1 Steal. Steals a base and scores a couple of runs, also has a couple of RBIs and hits against Minnesota in a close game. Net Result: Podsednik was crucial to the Sox winning this game 7) May 15th at Min. 1 Steal. Pods' home run probably had more to do with the victory here than his stolen base. He stole second in the 4th but was stranded. Net Result: Nada. 8) May 16th at Tampa. 3 Steals. Steals 3 bases in a 10-7 loss. Net Result: Hard to argue that three stolen bases in a losing effort really provided much for the team. 9) May 19th vs Cubs. 1 Steal. Steals second base with the Sox up 6-1 in the 6th inning of the first game at the Cell. Net Result: Totally meaningless steal. 10) May 23rd vs Oakland. 2 Steals. Steals third and scores the first run of the game on a wild throw by Kendall. The Sox go on to touch up Saarloos in a game that is never close and ultimately resulted in a 9-3 win for the palehose. On the other steal Pods was stranded. Net Result: Podsednik was a catalyst in the game, but the game wasn't close. Still, his steal contributes to the victory. 11) June 1st at Cleveland. 2 Steals. The first steal did score a run, but only after Iguchi walked (which would've sent Pods to second anyway) and Thome doubled (which would've scored him from first anyway. The second steal was a meaningless down-4 steal in the top of the ninth inning that could've probably been ruled Defensive Indifference. Net Result: None, he did not contribute to a win nor did his speed put us in a position to win the game 12) June 3rd vs Texas. 1 Steal. Podsednik steals third after doubling in a couple of runs and later scores. His steal partially provides the difference in this 8-6 win. Net Result: Scott was a big part of this game, and it's hard to argue that his stolen base wasn't part of it. 13) June 18 at Cincinnati. 1 Steal. Podsednik steals but is stranded in an 8-1 drubbing of the Reds. Net Result: Nada. 14) June 24th vs. Houston. 1 Steal. Pods stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a manufactured run via a Thome sac fly to allow the Sox to go up 1-0 in the first inning. Although the Crede slam was primarily responsible for paving the way to an eventual Sox win, Pods run in the first is just as important and was the difference. Net Result: Podsednik's run generated by the stolen base was the difference in this game 15) June 27th at Pittsburgh 1 Steal. Pods stole second and scored in the first, and although the White Sox never trailed in a close game, the run was crucial. Net Result: Pods' SB was key to the Sox maintaining a slim margin over the Bucks. 16) July 1st at Cubs 1 Steal Pods stole a base and was stranded in an 8-6 win. Net Result: Nada 17) July 4th vs Baltimore 1 Steal Pods stole a base in the second inning with the Sox already up 4-0 and on their way to a 13-0 drubbing. He was later stranded. Net Result: Nada 18) July 5th vs Baltimore 1 Steal Pods stole second and scored the first run in a tight 4-2 Sox winner. Net Result: Scotty contributed to this win with his legs. 19) July 8th vs Boston 1 Steal Pods stole a base and got us within a run at 5-4, but ultimately the Sox lose 9-6 to the Red Sox. Net Result: Pods stolen base didn't contribute to a win. 20) July 9th vs Boston 1 Steal Scotty steals second in the 12th but is stranded. Net Result: Nada. What's the bottom line? Out of 20 games in which Podsednik steals a base, 11 times (55%) the stolen base(s) didn't effect the outcome whatsoever. 2 times (10%) the stolen base(s) generated a run and contributed to a win, but the game was not really close 7 times (35%) the stolen base(s) directly led to runs that help to insure a win. So out of all the games Podsednik is stealing bases for us, almost 2/3rds of the time the stolen bases don't really affect the outcome. This is a very telling statistic, and I think one in which maybe emphasizes that the Stolen Base is overvalued when there isn't a whole lot else accompanying it. Sure, it's a vital part of a good leadoff hitter's repertoire, but relying on this alone is not enough to keep a guy around in my opinion. I'm not really advocating to get RID of Podsednik this season, but I would like to see a full-time platoon with Ozuna. If we're really resigned to giving up that much defensively in left, we might as well get OBA, OBP, OPS and other things out of it rather than just steals. Ozuna has got something like 200 points of OPS on Scotty. I realize that Ozuna is not going to hit .413 for a season, but even if he just hit .290 he'd STILL have 70 points on Scotty in OPS. Ozuna strikes out far less too, only 8 times in 92 ABs. So why not platoon them? Sorry for the long-winded rant, I just felt this stuff was interesting.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 10:08 AM) Taking out the 2 worst starts for any pitcher will make them look much better. lol, true, but I think Garland was quoted as saying that he was experiencing dead arm in April, and I think we can say that a trend is emerging with 100 innings in the book since the first two outings

Garland's ERA and WHIP splits by month: April - 7.11 ERA, 1.52 WHIP May - 5.40 ERA, 1.55 WHIP June - 4.50 ERA, 1.29 WHIP July - 2.35 ERA, 1.17 WHIP now check THIS out: taking out Garland's first two abysmal starts, his stats: 98.2 IP 48 ER 105 H 22 BB 7-2, 4.38 ERA, 1.29 WHIP since mid April - right in line with his career numbers....

just got back from the game jesus f***ing christ

heading out to the game with my wife (Red Sox fan) hopefully we win, or else she may not come back alive

QUOTE(shoota @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 05:25 PM) Which is not the objective of playing. Championship or nothing. I'm not saying it is the objective

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 05:22 PM) They're on pace for 104 wins right now. 105 actually 0 new messages

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 05:16 PM) My advice; stay out of the casinos. I've won about $1000 this year betting on sports.

QUOTE(quickman @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 05:10 PM) why not the pitching is worse. actually our pitchign is terrible. The hitting is way better, and the pitching cannot get worse. QUOTE(Felix @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 05:10 PM) How much? It's not as easy as people think to win 100 games, especially with the quality of teams and talent in the AL. So you would bet that this team would not be capable of going 44-31 or better down the stretch, a .587 winning percentage The one with the picture of Andrew Jackson on it, for any and all takers via pm

QUOTE(Felix @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 05:07 PM) I'm willing to bet it won't. I'll take that action No way this team ever has a 7 game losing streak mid-august either

last year after we swept this team all you guys could say was "how classy the fans were over at SOSH" and "Boston fans really are great baseball fans" Now a lot of you are acting like sore losers with this "f*** Boston and everyone who ever lived there" bulls*** We got beat two days in row, man up and let's move on.

There, I said it.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 04:46 PM) Boy, this thread may suck, but so does White Sox pitching right now. We need Contreras to bail us out tomorrow, but he can't win all of our games after the break. Today, not only did Garcia melt down after the botched popup by Nixon, but our bullpen couldn't get the third out in the 6th or 7th innings, giving up 1 and 2 runs after two outs and no one on. David Riske issued a walk to Alex Cora after getting ahead 0-2, then throwing 4 straight pitches outside. Cora stole, then Youklis hit a single to left on a ball left up over the plate. The 7th might have been worse. Cotts gets two outs, then we watch chink hits and dribblers turn into two runs. With Minnesota having temporarily cooled off, we haven't suffered in the wild card standings much, but we're not getting any closer to Detroit, and we aren't playing the kind of ball that took us to the World Series last year. This team needs to find pitching and defense first again if it wants to be the best in baseball. What kind of ball took us to the World Series last year? Is it just the incredible last 7-8 games of the season and 11 playoff games or do we include the 18-22 stretch that we had from late July through the end of August?

You guys are seriously embarrassing yourselves in this thread

we were due for a s*** series guys, and Boston is the only other team in baseball capable of winning the world series. Let's win tomorrow.

guys, painting an entire set of fans with a broad brush is insanely dumb

my wife is a red sox fan and yes, a extremely serious, pre world series winning red sox fan we have tickets for sunday's game

DH - edge Boston (statistically even, but Papi has a ton of GW hits and a few more RBI)

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 10:52 PM) Can't you read, my dear boy? I was replying to one specific person when I made the comment about subtlety. I guess in your haste to take offense at my indignation you wanted to make the point that I am righteous and condescending. Congratulations. Kindly eschew verbosity and obfuscation. Also... Let me tell you the difference between saying "Garland is trash", "Vazquez is trash" and "Politte is trash" We don't have necessarily reliable options to replace Garland and Vazquez, so we actually have to work with these guys. That's why I've been hesitant to overly criticize and been patient in looking for Coop to resolve this. However, with the trade for Riske, Politte's duty was reduced to a role that literally ANY other major leaguer with a functioning right arm could perform - mop up duty either way. Sure, he had a fine year last year. But don't overestimate what his role was on that team, a middle relief pitcher. He's not your starter and he's not your closer, so he's not nearly as important in the scheme of a pitching staff. And if he's not left-handed, he's easily easily replaceable at the major league level.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 10:40 PM) There is a difference, perhaps too subtle for you to comprehend, between not wanting Politte anymore on the team -- and nobody can possibly want him to remain -- and saying, "He's trash" over and over and over, and ridiculing the end of his career. I'm not going to work myself up over it, and I'm going to bow out now, thanks. I just wanted to say that those of you laughing at Cliff's failures and screeching not for him to bow out of the game, to be cut from the team, but having all the fun in the world and directing all your misguided anger toward him should be ashamed. But, hey, he's garbage, and worthless now, right? So it's okay to be cruel instead of insensitive. Oh, but a snide, condescending attitude towards all the other people in this thread is perfectly acceptable right?

Most soxtalk posters who know me well know I'm optimistic to a fault You know what's ACTUALLY disgusting? the fact that I WANTED to see him struggle a bit tonight to further the case that he be DFA'd as soon as humanly possible. It's not a case of a few bad innings here and there. It's EVERY OUTING. EVERY TIME. Sure, thanks for the memories Cliff. Whatever. Thanks to Shingo for the memories too. And Crazy Carl. They was part of a championship season too. Does Cliff enjoy some sort of special exemption from harshness because he's still with the team? Seriously, this season has been maybe the worst composite of relief work I've ever seen from a proven veteran in a White Sox uniform.

forum troll? lol.

truth be told, I was half-joking with the thread title in any case, it's seriously time for a DFA. No question.