ScottyDo

The four straight years of decline are accurate if you consider 2008 to be the baseline value (his highest OPS at .792) against which each other year is compared. If you campare year-over-year OPS, Alexei has declined in two straight years, not four. Either way, a career OPS graph has a decidedly downward slope

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 01:48 AM) Everyone take note: Gillaspie pronounced Gillespie from Conor's own mouth. He doesn't know what he's talking about

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 07:54 AM) My mock thread was taken down Oh well, I think the point got across. Aww, man, there was a mock trade thread and I missed it!? That could have been gold...

League average OPS from the SS position was .685 last year, according to fangraphs. Alexei's career OPS is .725. He plays Gold Glove calibre defense at the most important and irreplaceable position on the field. He had a very poor year last year and of course the money didn't match, but he isn't even close to being an albatross on this team. Give me a break.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 11:41 PM) Yeah, but opposing teams will be playing 81 games at US Cellular as well. I think the point is more than legit. I've pointed out before that our offense wasn't bad last year because we were 4th in runs, but it definitely wasn't the 4th best offense. I'm not sure how you can deem the park factor as silly. Because the heading it's under is "Will the Sox finish 4th in runs again?" Park factors are irrelevant to that question.

QUOTE (Cali @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 10:27 PM) I still say that's more of an advantage than anything. It's not like the league adjusts your record based on Park Factors. Who cares if the park helped the offesive numbers? Good. Hope it helps again. Yeah, I felt like that was a particularly silly point too. Park factors help when comparing players to one another, not teams to themselves over time. Last time I checked, the Sox will still be in US Cellular in 2013.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 09:31 PM) http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...white-sox-2013/ Very good write-up on the team's chances this year. Yeah, I don't really like his analysis of the offense. He did not make a good case for there being a significant dropoff between AJ and Flowers: (emphasis added to highlight flaws) Then, later, he tepidly acknowledges that 3B is an improvement over last year. I guess 3B and C are a wash for this guy. So, then, the argument that the offense will be worse hinges on regression from Rios, Konerko and Dunn. Sure, it's certainly possible that they regress while Viciedo and De Aza stagnate, but betting against Konerko's production in old age has failed people for years now. Nobody really had a true outlier season offensively, so there's no reason to assume failure. I feel like a fair analysis has this year's Sox offense about equal to last year's.

Veal K's the side

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Mar 3, 2013 -> 11:34 AM) I'll bring us back to topic. Is anyone else worried about how Hawk tends to pronounce the name "Conor" I think Melton may have actually performed admirably in this regard, in that I didn't notice him butcher Gillaspie's name (my have called him Gillespie). If Melton can do it, anyone can. I'm pretty sure Melton's autograph reads "X"

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Mar 2, 2013 -> 07:04 PM) I don't understand what's wrong with being down on Flowers. You can certainly use his numbers and eye tests to suggest he's going to suck. He's shown more suck than good so far. Personally I think he's going to do just fine, but I'm no idiot- I realize the evidence suggests he might suck hard. You can't write off what he's shown us as "sample size" and "irregular playing time" caused suckiness. It's general suckfest with a lil hot streak mixed in. Even The Bridge dominated for a streak. Nobody knows dick yet, but I'm glad we have Kep and Lidstrom. See, nobody suggested there was anything wrong with being down on Flowers, exactly. Even I think there's a good chance he won't cut it. The only reason there was an argument in the first place is because someone used poor reasoning, then got mad when people attacked the merit of his argument. You want to say his few and irregular at bats have been mostly poor so you're not confident in him? Cool. Just leave some room for flexibility (which you obviously do) because, as you say, nobody knows dick yet. Personally, I'm of the opinion that you can't really know anything until you give a promising prospect an extended look. The small and irregular sample size does not erase his performance by any means, but it obfuscates things quite a bit.

QUOTE (Cali @ Mar 2, 2013 -> 05:44 PM) THe leg kick for Viciedo seems to help him making contact so far this spring. He made solid contact in his first AB, even though he hit it right at the third basemen, now a nice looped single. Yeah, I concur with everything Melton said about it. It really did seem like the leg kick helped him stay back on the offspeed pitch he served into LF.

Spring Training Quintana looks a lot like regular Quintana

Wow, Sanchez really kept his hand in on that pitch. I didn't think there was any way he could get that past the infield

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 1, 2013 -> 08:12 PM) I just want know how a scout can be so f***ing wrong. They assess individual players so any projections about wins/losses are just barely more valid as yours or mine. But how the second scout got it so very wrong on individual players? Well, he's citing body language so it sounds like he's a meatball scout, if there is such a thing (and I sure think there is).

Haha I forgot to read the thread title and started reading the article. My first thought was "A scout says 100 losses....is that the same guy who said that last year? Didn't he learn his lesson?"

QUOTE (southside_hitman @ Mar 1, 2013 -> 08:41 AM) I am not stretching anything, bud. I do not respond to every comment by every anonymous poster, especially if they lack substance, do not appear to be from a genuine Sox fan or are otherwise rude or mean spirited. The fact is that Flowers has hit for a low average and that has not only been during September call-ups. Of course, teams that are out of the Division race call up minor league pitching so what information would a .200 average against that level of pitching tell you? You come off like I am the only Sox fan that is concerned that Flowers may not be able to cut down on his strike-outs, make contact and hit for a decent average given what we have seen from him over time. Or you like to pick straw man arguments with some anonymous "dude." Sorry, I'm not biting. Carry on. Flowers splits In what way is that a strawman argument? I am attacking the evidence YOU are providing to prove your point. Very directly. That's a regular-man argument. You are certainly not the only Sox fan concerned about Flowers, but your evidence is extremely flawed. You can't take his ~30 at bats from 2009 and 2010 out of the total -- that would be cherry-picking -- but you also can't characterize those unbelievably brief sniffs of the major leagues as "seasons". Every decent prospect in every organization gets the call in September, but you don't call them 3-year vets the first year they finally stick.

QUOTE (southside_hitman @ Mar 1, 2013 -> 05:39 AM) Yes he has hit .205 in those 273 at-bats. The 410 at-bat figure was obviously an error in reading the column at baseball reference, but subtracting 137 at-bats still leaves him hitting the same...exactly the same .205. Everyone who is a Sox fan wishes Tyler the best. However, many of us look at his numbers and are not buying into the notion that after 4 years in the big leagues, Flowers will start hitting. I am also concerned about his foibles on the base paths, and his conditioning. He needs to keep himself in the kind of shape that AJ did so he can be durable and dependable throughout the season. While his fate with the Sox plays out one way or another, I'd like to see more of Phegley at catcher. Dude. September call-ups don't count as seasons. That's been pointed out but you ignored it. You are really stretching it.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 1, 2013 -> 04:09 AM) He's doing this off guys that'll be bagging groceries in a few weeks. True. His swing is kinda pretty, though. That is my assessment after seeing two ABs.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 1, 2013 -> 02:22 AM) http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...11651--mlb.html About CLE Indians significantly lowering prices for concessions, souvenirs, parking, etc. 40% increase in attendance projected already from 2012....and Opening Day sold out in 6 minutes. It's an interesting idea, and one I hope catches on. I'm not sure the opening day sellout thing much different for most other clubs, is it? Opening day sells out no matter who you are. How fast did our opening day tickets go?

Tekkotte, that bum, goes down swinging to end the game. Now we just have to hope and pray that SD can come back against the Royals so we can tread water in the Cactus League.

Josh Bell with a CLUTCH late-inning bomb that apparently went extremely far.

Morel in at SS for those in the "Morel for Util" camp

QUOTE (flavum @ Feb 28, 2013 -> 05:12 PM) No team would want to put all of their chips at 3B with him. But there would be plenty of teams that would want him at 3B as a Plan B. I still think he has a chance to be an ok everyday 3B. I guess I just don't get it. What team has more 3B woes than we do? If it's true that teams want him as a plan B, shouldn't the SOX be the #1 team that wants him?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Feb 28, 2013 -> 04:30 PM) I thought that was pickle brine juice? That's why Moises Alou's pickles taste so awful. NEVER TRY ONE.

QUOTE (Cali @ Feb 28, 2013 -> 04:13 PM) Hey how bout that Conor Gillespie? No batting gloves, what's that about? Hawk is P*SSED (can I say that one without the asterisk?)