NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 01:45 PM) A contour plot would help, but I think there certainly appears to be 2 different populations there to me. The center points of the splats look to me like they are identical within an inch in either dimension. But the vertical is more interesting to me than the horizontal anyway. Horizontal could be effected by location of his body on the rubber, yes? If the center points are within an inch in either dimension, I personally don't see a strong likelihood that it is the sign of some significant problem. Hell, for that matter, what is the accuracy of the Pitch F/X for this anyway? It might be an inch itself, in which case this means nothing.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 12:23 PM) Thornton's fastball release points since that game against the Tigers. Thornton's fastball release points during first month before elbow issue. His current release point is lower and more erratic in the horizontal direction. The older release point was more consistent on a horizontal basis, but had more of a variation in height. I'm not a pitching expert or a pitch f/x expert by any means, but there definitely is a difference in the release point. And since he has been worse and worse looking since his arm issues, it can only mean that he's changing this to compensate for something. Thornton's not getting any younger, he's reaching his mid 30s. I think we're at the point where health could be an issue. What you are saying about his health and age is possible, but I think unlikely. I don't see a statistically significant variance in those diagrams. But I guess we'll see.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 12:04 PM) The lack of control is most likely due to a change in his mechanics. If I'm not mistaken, he's changed his throwing slot a little bit. Not that I've seen, but that doesn't mean you're wrong, maybe its just too subtle and I haven't noticed. I've in fact marveled over the years at how precise and consistent he has been, mechanically, over the years. And how easy his motion seems for a guy throwing 97. I think if his mechanics have changed in any significant way, you'd see one or more of his velocity, angle of attack on pitch, or movement change. And I haven't seen any of that so far this year. Looks to me like its just a combination of him slumping a bit, leaving pitches up, and not throwing the breaking ball enough. Also, he seems lately to use too many give-up pitches in pitcher's counts, going WAY high to try to get a nibble, or WAY low, when no one will bite on those. Just my take.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 11:37 AM) Thornton's been off ever since that elbow issue he had. That's part of the reason why I didn't want to see him pitch in last night's game. Let's take a look at these numbers. Thornton's April: 0.8 FIP, 1.85 xFIP, 25% LD Rate, 37.5% FB Rate, 13.89 K/9, 69% strikes Thornton's May: 1.39 FIP, 2.25 xFIP, 10% LD Rate, 35% FB Rate, 11.45 K/9, 68% strikes Thornton's June: 3.61 FIP, 3.13 xFIP, 34.6% LD Rate, 23.1 FB Rate, 11.7 K/9, 63% strikes Thornton's July: 1.86 FIP, 3.57 xFIP, 36.4% LD Rate, 45.5% FB Rate, 9K/9, 72% strikes I see a very, very scary trend going here. The high FIP was due to that one outing against Detroit, mainly. But it's clear that ever since June, he's not been the same pitcher. He went from a 1 FIP/2 xFIP pitcher to a 3 FIP and 3 xFIP pitcher, that's a huge difference. One states dominance, the other just states that he's good. However, the issue is in the line drive rate and his K/9. Look at the increase LD% took in June and July. I think we've seen lots of this. Balls have been hit hard off Matt, but usually, they're right at people. This is simply a scary trend, because your luck can only run for so long. He's also starting to miss bats less, his K rate in July is only 9 Ks per 9, down from his dominant 14K/9 early on in the year. Plus, go look at his strike%. It's up in July, but we're only half-way through, but we obviously saw a big dip in June. I'm not too optimistic about what's to come for Thornton, he needs rest, he needs to regain that dominance he had earlier in the year. If these trends that I put up continue, Thornton might end up with some very bad outings in the future in some big games. We don't want that. He doesn't need rest. He's been Easy 97 all along, and his mechanics haven't changed either. What he needs is to throw his slider more than 5% of the time, and to get some pinpoint back in his control, which I think will happen with time. I'm not worried.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 11:19 AM) I'm a fan of a lot of Joe Posnanski's work, but he wasn't happy with Thornton in the game last night: The article was actually pretty good, and I tend to agree with him. But his tweets are what got him in trouble, and those were just dumb. Which was a point he was trying to make as well.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:56 AM) Wait, are there really warn levels? Yes there are, Mr. Zero. You are apparently unoffensive.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:26 AM) I think there's 2 things missing from our system. We have a handful of guys near the top who look like legitimate impact presences, or at least look like they've got a 50% chance or better of becoming them. Hudson, Viciedo, Flowers, Morel. We've got some talent buried at the lower levels as well, but that needs time to develop. The 2 things we're missing are...1. the sort of in-between, talented, good number guys who have started to establish themselves but who are a while away that KW has been willing to trade before (i.e. Gio, DLS, Carter, Richard, etc.)., and 2., the 2009 draft class. I still think the best bet here is to stand pat unless we get a steal by taking on salary. We don't have the bullets right now. The 2009 class was decimated by injury: Mitchell (first pick for us), Thompson (second), Phegley (supp)... add in Remenowsky as an NDFA who effectively had his first year in the system in 2009. That's 3 or 4 guys who were among our 30 best, including 3 top 10 guys, all injured.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 09:02 AM) And what's a 5 minute sack lunch going to wind up being? It's going to wind up being a sandwich of some sort, maybe wheat bread if we're lucky, sugar/HFCS loaded peanut butter, sugar/HFCS loaded jelly, and a piece of fruit that has half the nutritional value that it did 20 years ago. Oh, and a pudding cup or something like that for dessert. We haven't become a lazy country. We've become a country that you have to work like a dog just to be able to afford to pay the interest on your credit card bill that you've got left over from the time you were laid off or got sick without health insurance. So you make due as well as you can. I'd say both are true. And we will happily be spending the 5 minutes to make lunches for the kids, when that time comes. Right now, we are fortunate in not having to do that particular thing. You bet you can make healthy lunches for them as well, it just takes a little more effort.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 08:26 AM) That's what I figured, and I kinda figure that if I ever have a youngin' I'm going to have to figure out how to afford a private school as well. Hard to imagine that any public school could go organic, or hell even consult the parents on lunches, when they have $2/person to play with. Well, when she gets to kindergarten, we should by then be living in a solid school district, so we will probably revert to public. But in that instance, I'm guessing we'll be sending her with lunch (to answer iamshack's question). At this age though, because of how often they eat and dealing with kids that age, no one really sends lunch to school. Besides, the food they have is really good, and we already pay for it, so why not?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 08:18 AM) Case in point. Out of curiosity...is that a public or private or religious school system? (Feel free to say you don't want to answer). Private. Worked out well because it was right next to where my wife works in the burbs. And let me tell you, for a good day care / school facility, it is really f***ing expensive.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 08:15 AM) There's a couple serious lifestyle issues here too worth considering. Not just as a matter of ease...but think about what has happened to the American family over the past 50 years...we've gone from being able to support a family on 1 income to barely being able to support an average family on 2 incomes. So, put yourself in the situation where you've got 2 parents, both of them working 9-5 jobs, having to then pick up the kids from school/day care, get home at 6-7 after an hour in traffic, and then find a way to feed the kids before bedtime. Oh, and a decent restaurant isn't an option, those are too expensive for the average 2 income household. On top of that...a lot of kids are getting the same frozen processed faux-food in school that they're getting at McDonalds as well. Heh. I don't have to "put" myself there, I AM there. And I WISH our jobs were 9-5. ETA: The day care/school our kid is at switched to all organic a few months back, we even got to sample the foods.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 12:53 AM) Ok, with all the talks of trades, who does everyone think will get traded? Here's how I rank them. Traded in Big Move Only: Daniel Hudson, Tyler Flowers Traded in a Mid-Level Move/Second (or Third) Piece in Big Move: Brent Morel, David Holmberg, Miguel Gonzalez Throw In in Big Deal: Carlos Torres, Kyle Bellamy, Jhonny Nunez, Brandon Short, Jon Gilmore, Eduardo Escobar, Brandon Hynick Not Getting Traded: Dayan Viciedo (I think Kenny looks at him like he did/does Gordon), Jordan Danks (the bad K% and the fact that D1 hasn't signed on longterm), Jared Mitchell (injury), Trayce Thompson (injury) Josh Phegley (injury). Brandon Hynick has zero value in trade.

Here is my question... Let's say Erik Threets actually does well with the Sox (if he doesn't, this is a really easy equation). With Thornton and a solid Threets in the bullpen, do you leave Sale in AAA to develop for 2011? Or promote Sale anyway?

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 12:59 AM) Its not McDonald's fault, or CocaCola, or the government. Its the parents and the individual's who choose to eat garbage over a proper diet. People who shove 1100 calorie super-sized meals into their yap with their diet coke of course, and then complain when they lose track of their feet because they can't see them anymore are missing who is to blame. Moderation in a diet is a wonderful thing. Hell some portion control with some common sense and maybe a tad of exercise would do people a lot of good. The worst thing however is that the current generation is preparing the next generation for failure. Happy meals, and sweets, and garbage are quick and easy and in the end people get into habit of just making their kids happy. We need to start from day one and influence our kids food selections. Kids learn from day one from their parents and their eating habits. If you are sitting on the couch shoving twinkies in your mouth guess what the kid wants to do. So if you incorporate fruits, vegetables, and lean meats with the proper portions from day one you should have a better success rate and healthier kids. Sure my kids like a happy meal, but the fact is we may go to a McDonalds once a month if at that. QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 07:37 AM) have you ever heard of this "subsidies" thing? Both good posts. I with SSI's general thought, but bmags is right in that certain farm subsidies are making things worse, and that IS something the government should do something about.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 03:33 PM) Well this is assuming they don't all regress massively like the numbers suggest they will. Which numbers on which players tell you that they will "all regress massively"?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 11:44 AM) How many thirdbasemen do you need? I wouldn't want him for 3B, I'd want him as a DH.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 11:09 AM) I don't think so. All 3 of those teams do make international free agent signings, and they draft players who aren't "safe" picks and go for home runs with most of them. Beyond that, all 3 of those teams use their minor league system at the major league level at a far better clip than the Sox do. I obviously can't say for sure why Law hates the Sox, but most of the info I got on his philosophy came from an interview he did prior to the 2008 season. It's a pretty decent read and lets you into Law's line of thinking, atleast a little bit. He's actually a pretty smart guy. http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2008/03/31...iter-keith-law/ (it's also awesome because at the end of the article, he is asked if Gavin Floyd will win 10-15 games during the season, and Law says no. Turns out Law was correct, because Floyd won 17) So, I know the Sox' international scouting and development are terrible, but if we're talking Int'l free agent signings, the Sox have had some success at the top. Alexei, Viciedo and Iguchi come to mind.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 11:25 AM) Could someone in a nutshell explain to me, besides that it's a Dem® President doing it, that forcing BP to put $$$$$$ up to pay for damages is a bad thing? I've seen a few different arguments to that effect... 1. The court systems should be handling it, and/or BP themselves 2. Government interference in business 3. Obama is just covering for his delayed and lame response to the incident in a punitive way

McGee's is terrible. If you find yourself on the north side, and need to find a Sox bar (since they are hard to come by), I recommend Lemming's.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 12, 2010 -> 05:55 PM) - Ramon Castro Prison Suit Night Eh?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 08:19 AM) And what about those shoes? So irritating. Seriously, I didn't even see anything special about them anyway - what was with that obsessive shoe discussion? OMG THEY HAVE TWO COLORZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!

I turned it off after the first round, because I was tired of watching the David Ortiz show. That was just an awful display of production of a baseball event. Awful announcers, ridiculous bias, and a focus on Ortiz that turned off everyone other than Red Sox fans. Seriously, when Cabrera and others were hitting, they even had to have an inset of Ortiz grinning while he watched the game. It kind of looked like... if ESPN is a buddy of yours, and he's had this huge crush on this female "friend" (Ortiz) forever, but continues to deny it. He (ESPN) throws a party under the pretenses of just having a party, invites the girl, and just sort of stares at her all night talking about her to anyone that will listen. Everyone there, including her, knows he has a crush - except he thinks its a secret. Kind of creepy and sad.

Going from Joe Robbie to The Cell might work well for him. Might be a good choice, for the right price, if we can't snag a more impact bat like Dunn/Berkman/LaRoche for a reasonable price.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 08:01 AM) I wouldn't say "Stopping", I'd say "Capturing". Sorry. meant STOPPING the flow INTO THE OCEAN. Capturing works too.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 12, 2010 -> 08:43 PM) So this thread inspired me to finally read In Defense of Food, and it scared the s*** out of me. So today was my first time shopping at Whole Foods Market. It was as if I had never been grocery shopping before. I dunno how I feel... Whole Paycheck? LOL Actually it really is great stuff. I remember saying a few years ago, food SOURCE will continue to grow in importance to more people, and will eventually be right up there with calorie and fat counting in people's minds. As it should be. We try to get as much organic as we can, especially for our kid, but we're by no means perfect. And its pricier to do it that way, unfortunately.