ScottyDo

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 04:20 PM) God damnit. f***ing bad luck Brians all over this offense. My name is Buck and I love bad luck That's how that line goes, right? I saw that movie on an airplane

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 04:18 PM) Ohhhhh jokes! I get jokes

Damn. Tagged it pretty good

QUOTE (daa84 @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 04:16 PM) Who is the royals catcher? Is he supposed to be good? Salvador Perez. If you ask Hawk and Stone, he's a lock for Cooperstown

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 04:15 PM) Royals announcers: "Now we got a real dangerous hitter up here, Alejando De Aza." Have these guys been watching this series so far? The Royals announcers bring about as much insight as Hawk's dog

Somebody should be able to make a good cut out of all this "rapper" talk by Hawk

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 03:49 PM) While I agree late-in-season games shouldnt be weighted in importance, isn't the scoreboard-follow just a little early here? It's never too early to enjoy a Tigers loss

Good bounceback inning for Gavin!

QUOTE (La Marr Hoyt HOF @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 03:42 PM) Gold Glove this year .... No more Jeter BS Needs to have a better offensive year for that, or Andrus will get it

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 03:41 PM) Has Keppinger gotten a hit yet? That was an awful AB Yeah but just the one, I think

Alexei might have range and a good arm

QUOTE (daa84 @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 03:32 PM) Let's review that inning. Ground out, walk, weak grounder on hit and run for a single, weak ground out that scores a run, softly hit liner to center that should have been caught, smoked double by Gordon, and then a ground out Yeah 5 line shots in a row Well, I was speaking in the abstract (this is the type of thing Floyd tends to do) and definitely exaggerating. But the Royals made plenty of hard contact that inning, and Floyd left q few flat fastballs where he shouldn't have.

QUOTE (Joxer_Daly @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 03:31 PM) Jesus! Step out for a few minutes and return to a three-run deficit!!! well then sit your butt down and don't move!

lmao Dayan...point guards make ankle-breakers, not Jeremy Guthrie

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 03:26 PM) I'll take 2 earned runs in 5 innings every time. Good performance overall, but this is what Floyd does: looks fantastic for a while, then 5 guys in a row hit line shots off him.

The ol' Gavin Floyd implosion

Okay NOW it's a nightmare start for De Aza

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 02:56 PM) Ugh. De Aza is having a nightmare start to this season I don't think you can have a nightmare start less than 2.5 games into the season.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 02:41 PM) Guthrie was pretty awful against everyone but the White Sox last year, wasn't he? That's probably why the Royals targeted him: taking 12/18 from us wasn't good enough

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 11:53 AM) Umm, clearly you aren't familiar with gof... Don't act like you don't jump in front of your buddies' drives when you're playing skins.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 11:30 AM) so this is proof that the Sox will win by 100 today? Book it. Sig bet, in fact. If the Sox don't win by 100 runs, I will make my signature a David Bowie reference or a poorly crafted cartoon pun about PHT.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 10:54 AM) Ultimately, you can only put 9 players in your lineup at any given time. These players have to serve two purposes: offense and defense. The goal is to find the optimal mix of players to produce the best result both offensively and defensively for your club. This may be influenced by your pitching staff and your home field, as well. As others have said, there are certain defensive positions, such as catcher, second base, shortstop, and center field, which are considered to be more important than others because of their relative positions on a baseball diamond and number of balls put in play towards them. Therefore, the players chosen to play those positions are typically going to have the skills requisite to exceed there...speed, agility,good hands. If you can have players that serve both purposes, offense and defense, in positions that are traditionally very defense-centric, you are really putting yourself in a position of strength. Constructing the optimal baseball lineup is NOT a zero-sum game. Having a player that plays a defense-centric position that also excels at offense does not take away anything from any other position defensively or offensively. Therefore, by having players at defense-centric positions that also excel offensively, you are allowing yourself to constuct a more optimal lineup than most others because most players that play up the middle are going to produce less from an offensive standpoint. This might be similar to having a soccer player who is strong defensively but is also very talented offensively. Ultimately, players with both skills are very valuable and highly-coveted, so the more of them you have on the field at one time, the better. I always view it as a game of attrition. As a prospect progresses through the development system, you're really looking for offense, but you're only willing to accept a certain level of mediocrity defensively before you have to find another position. As you progress from level to level, the defensive bar gets higher. So let's say you come out of high school as a shortstop because you were the best athlete at your school, you're moderately fast and have a great arm, and you have tons of power. You go to college and there are 3 other guys like you but two of them are quicker defenders than you. They still want your bat, but they're not willing to put up with a mediocre range from their shortstop so they move you to 3b where your range isn't so important, but your arm is. They still get to have your bat and your defensive shortcomings are masked because your position is less demanding. You get drafted and play in the minors, but now you're in professional baseball so everyone is really freaking good. Now there are other guys in your system who successfully played shortstop in college but are moving to 3b, and they're better than you. But you've still got power so they still want you, and relative to these other pros you're a lumbering ox, even though you were the best in high school. So they're going to stick you at 1b where you will be considered an acceptable defender, and your power is what made it worth it. If you go through the same process, but with less offensive output and equal defense, you probably get cut or don't get drafted at all. If you go through the same process with less offensive output but better defense, you might end up at 2b or 3b. Everybody goes through a similar filtration process where you get moved down the defensive totem pole (or up if you want to get technical about how totem poles work) or removed from the system based on offensive output as the concentration of talent increases. That explains some of what you see in the majors.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 10:52 AM) What does a score of +100 equate to with regards to baseball runs? I don't know. This fuzzy math only applies to the German board game version of baseball. But we'll say 10 victory points is a win....and a Bill James win is worth 10 runs. So...100 runs. I like our odds. EDIT: also, everybody go to bovada and bet heavily on the over

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 10:42 AM) Reed's career ERA against the Royals had been 12.91. Peavy had an 0-6 record and a 5.56 ERA in his previous seven starts against the Royals. So if they can reverse the damage against KC so can the batters against Guthrie. The fact that it's Guthrie is like -10 victory points, multiplied by the fact that it's the Royals which is is probably -10 victory points... (-10)*(-10) = +100 victory points You can't argue with math, it's the universal language.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 10:37 AM) Same lineup Doug Padilla ‏@ESPNChiSox White Sox vs Royals 4/4: De Aza 8, Kepp 5, Rios 9, Dunn DH, Konerko 3, Viciedo 7, Ramirez 6, Flowers 2, Beckham 4. Floyd pitches. Man, I was hoping we could get Gillaspie some time and see if his spring hotness carried over into the regular season. Still, getting Kepp rolling in the #2 spot is important