ScottyDo

I've never really understood the statistical significance of Aces facing Aces. If your #1 faces their #1, we'll just say for the sake of simplicity that you have a 50/50 shot of winning. If your #2 faces their #2 then you've got another 50/50 shot, and so on down the line. If your ace faces their worst, however, you've got a much greater chance of winning and they have the same advantage against you when their ace faces your worst. What I'm getting at, is that I don't particularly think it matters who faces whom unless you're talking about lefties vs. lefty-heavy lineups or righties vs. righty-heavy lineups. Or, mixing up lefties and righties in your rotation so the opposing teams don't see Buehrle and Danks in a row, for instance. Pitcher vs. pitcher is a non-issue to me, so set up your rotation however it makes sense vs. opposing HITTERS. **EDITED for clarity

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jan 29, 2010 -> 11:43 PM) have faith. I did like to see that Reinsdorf wants to get rid of the DH or at worst, adopt it for both leagues (never happen). It was a gimmick and it needs to go away. I say this after arguing in favor of it for years. Not that I want this to devolve into a DH/no-DH argument, but I'm VERY glad I got to see Jim Thome bat the last few years rather than Jose Contreras and the ilk. From a pure entertainment standpoint, I think the DH is great.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 10:50 PM) Lol this board has been crazy this offseason, we need the season to start already! aaaamen, sister! We've got some ridiculous off-season blues going on around here, and the only cure is April...and more cowbell.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this: What percentage of Span's leadoff ability is due to the ol' Metrodome infield singles? Is it an appreciable percent? How about the other speedsters in the lineup? Presumably, that conveyor belt of an infield is not going to benefit them any longer, unless they cut the new grass REAAAAAALLY short. I don't know how many runs these types of singles would lead to, and thus how many runs should be taken off the Minny board for next season, but I would think it would at least be appreciable. I mean, obviously they don't benefit Mauer, Morneau, or Cuddyer in terms of OBP but they DO drive up the OBP in front of them. Just a thought.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 04:13 AM) Mark Teahen is a complementary, bench player on most playoff teams. Maybe he could start for the Twins, but there aren't many upper division teams that would be giving him the starting job without any competition in Spring Training. Same thing with Juan Pierre, how many teams that are legit playoff contenders would go with him as their leadoff hitter? Even if he was playing for those teams, it would be as the 8th (NL) or 9th place hitter. As mentioned before, Jones and Kotsay wouldn't be part of a DH platoon for all but the 3-5 worst teams in the majors either...not even taking into consideration our home ballpark. Yes, the Rangers have a launching pad, but they also (have) had a stronger overall offense and there wasn't as much pressure on Jones to perform as there will be in Chicago in April and May. Then you have the Rios enigma...I'm really curious how many other GM's would have taken on that reclamation project at those numbers? Anyone besides KW? We could have put Rick Ankiel out in CF for 1/5th of the cost on a one-year contract, signed Vladimir Guerrero/N. Johnson/Matsui/Damon as our DH and had money left over to solidify the bullpen in the form of someone comparable to Dotel but with more of a history than Pena. Ankiel/Damon/Dotel (etc.) or Alex Rios??? That questionable decision is probably the biggest single factor preventing us from spending money right now on a legit DH. forcing us to do things on the cheap again (see Wise/Anderson/Owens 2009). There's one other factor here, too. Mitchell and Jordan Danks BOTH profile as better CFers than corner outfielders, the presence of Alex Rios in CF theoretically blocks both of those guys. I disagree with this assessment of Mark Teahen, as someone who has watched his career for a while now. Mark Teahen is a very talented player who has enjoyed only limited success in the losing environment of Kansas City. He has performed far below his abilities and I think is as prime a candidate as any to benefit enormously from a change of scenery. Of course, he would be a bench player in New York or Boston because they are loaded, but if you view Los Angeles (LAD or LAA) or Seattle or Texas or St. Louis as playoff-type teams, I don't think you put him in the "bench player" category. Personally, I think he will be a solid starter here.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 24, 2010 -> 03:59 PM) I believe is is saying to place your bets on 2008 being the fluke year, as his ISO is 2009 was too poor to be a fluke. Basically saying he will have another bad year and 2008 was just a lucky season. Oh. He's wrong, IMO. Successful rookie season, sophomore slump, successful career is not unheard of. In fact, it's how most good players develop. Meh.

Interesting read, but I really could not figure out what he was trying to say about Alexei Ramirez. I think he's saying that you shouldn't split the difference on his two seasons, you should project high or project low, but then his last sentence in that paragraph confuses me: "Place your bets on 2008; a .113 ISO in 2009 is too poor to be a fluke." Huh?

It's a display of athletic prowess, it doesn't matter who was running. Almost nobody could re-create that throw with any measure of accuracy.

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) Honestly, the concept of Joe Borchard is more disgusting and offensive to me than any bad 90's TV character, or bare ass could ever be. Joe Borchard = Matt Thornton in my mind, so bring on those pictures!

QUOTE (qwerty @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 08:25 AM) Play around with this... you will likely have a blast. \/\/007! Looks like he takes a lot low and inside. That certainly is an interesting resource, for sure. Here's a question: in the right-hand column where it lists the result percentages...what's the difference between a Line Out and a Lineout?

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 12:34 AM) Caption this photo! "I'll shower when I damn well feel like it!"

"He's like a [Juan] Uribe ... well, not really but, same type of thing..." Hahahaha! Bring Jim Uribe back!!!

QUOTE (flavum @ Jan 22, 2010 -> 11:31 PM) http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-c...67.photogallery Hahahaha the best part of those pictures is how semi-fashionable pretty much everyone is...except Coop. I love that guy, he is the most no-B.S. man in the organization by far. And this is an organization that contains one Oswaldo Guillen.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 14, 2010 -> 05:17 PM) I disagree that Ozzie would not DH Vizquel, he seems to be doing and saying everything possible to make sure we dont upgrade our weak offense, and indeed, everyting possible to waste this pitching staff. It's SABOTAGE! Dun dun DUUUUUN!!!! Ozzie's not playing Vizquel at DH, he was brought in for his defense. I know we all dislike what Ozzie's saying regarding the DH, and he's certainly made questionable moves at times, but come on...

I like the idea of Daniel Cabrera being signed to a minor league contract. I like that idea a lot, actually.

Is anybody else irritated that everyone talks about our pitching staff as though we have a reliable 5th starter?

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jan 13, 2010 -> 01:50 AM) I would have to agree. However, losing Getz was worth getting Teahan (I still wish we could have pulled some magic and get Gordon though, but that was just a pipe dream). I still think closing the door on Pods so soon and dealing for Pierre was a huge mistake. We bought high on Pierre and lost two quality pitching prospect. If we could have gotten Pods down to even 2 years, 7 million... I think it would have been wiser than getting Pierre. Still, the smartest move would have been to forget about both and go for Damon... but this team isnt that smart. Imagine yourself before last year began asking for Pods at 2 years, $7m. I know it's not last year anymore, but still...Pods at 2 years, $x is a bad signing. Pierre may be more expensive, but I trust his career over Podsednik's by a bunch.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 27, 2009 -> 05:09 PM) Does it really matter where TSN or Phil Rogers ranks them? No need to get worked up over it. No, it doesn't matter but it IS hilarious on Rogers' part. He is so smart, he is so smart, S-M-R-T.

javier vazquez makes the yankees better because joba/hughes would put up an ERA over 5

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 23, 2009 -> 12:37 PM) It will be Winn or Hinske, just because KW wants to drive us crazy putting together a team with Vizquel, Winn and Pierre at USCF. The Sox and the Giants sure like each other's "talent", don't they?

QUOTE (kwolf68 @ Dec 23, 2009 -> 12:47 PM) I realize Ely doesn't have electric stuff, but does Mark Buehrle? Not to compare the two, but what I understand is Ely was really studying hard to be a solid pitcher, his work ethic and devotion to his craft was turning him into a pretty damn good prospect. NO, he was never gonna be a front of the rotation starter, but just looking at raw stuff sometimes doesn't tell the tale. I mean...a guy with 'average' stuff that struck out the numbers he did while also giving up a paltry number of home runs makes you wanna keep tabs on this guy. It's over and done with, he's gone...probably won't be a huge loss, but I still think the character of the young man, his ability to grow, and work ethic, combined with a great understanding of how to pitch may find him pitching in the majors one day. Oh yea, Ely also grew up a Sox fan... Ely went to my high school (Homewood-Flossmoor). Good guy. I have no talent for baseball but one of my best friends hit a ground rule double off him in a summer league in high school. For that reason alone, I hope he makes it in the bigs! Just disappointed it won't be with us. /hijack

With all these names being thrown around (LaRoche, Thome, Huff, Delgado, et al.) how can people be panicking? We'll end up with a bargain-basement DH but with legitimate power. I said it in the Delgado thread, but I think it merits repeating: anyone remember Carl Everett? Same thing. Not perfection, but I didn't cry myself to sleep at night either.

Meh, I can handle Delgado. Remember when Jurassic Carl roamed the...uhhh...where do DH's roam? We'll just say Pangaea.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Dec 21, 2009 -> 11:11 PM) Even though I don't call the Sox tight with money, I think there's a valid argument some make that they refuse to do certain deals out of principle. Boras aside, they wont do what other clubs are doing in overpaying for talent. Is it a distaste for Boras in particular or for what he represents in a larger sense? The whole thing about not signing long term free agent pitchers.... It pains a bit to watch other teams do it and win championships. I think what we'd all like is this great farm system pumping out cheap talent... to cushion the blow for free agent overpays. But obviously it's easier said than done. Overall I agree with you.... the angry Sox fan should focus their argument on how the org spends the money...not claim that they dont spend it. That part is just wrong. Because the Albert Belle signing was such an anomaly for this franchise, it just seems like they're cheap. But that's not doing one's homework. ...and others are stuck with Barry Zito for the rest of time. The SF Giants could be a serious contender if they could spend that money elsewhere instead of pouring it into the gravitational singularity known as Zito's Wallet. This is why the Sox fall into the camp they do. I agree with the gist of your post though.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 14, 2009 -> 07:39 PM) Cowley may be to blame for Carrasco's departure. http://espn.go.com/chicago/columns/blog/_/...432/name/levine The Putz leak drove the price up by $500,000, and DJ and the team were reportedly only a couple hundred thousand apart. lol sure, he's a jerk, but that's a pretty huge scapegoat project