southsider2k5

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ May 6, 2015 -> 11:32 AM) I've been #TeamSanchez since the start, not because I think he's amazing, but just because I think that a contending team should value floor over ceiling with its role players. Carlos Sanchez's bat isn't going to win us many games, but Micah Johnson's defense sure might lose a bunch. No question Johnson is the better prospect, but that doesn't mean he's the best fit for the 2015 team. But again, this isn't about the role players, it's about the stars. I can't get worked up for Johnson right now because, while it's true that he's sucking, I can't make an argument that it's losing games. The studs have to produce before it gets to the point where Micah Johnson's failure becomes relevant. Also so incredibly accurate.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 6, 2015 -> 10:27 AM) I just can't help but think of how amazing it is to see Kane playing as well as he is. Dude missed 2 1/2 months, put on his skates and boom time to play Should have taken him 2 1/2 years... amirite?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 6, 2015 -> 11:12 AM) Reality is, no one should have reached any significant conclusions over the 100 AB's that either of them have gotten to date. Conclusions that have been reached should have been by top scouts (or people following the skillsets) saying, they either have or don't have the tools ready to succeed. If you think they have the tools, than you can't reach a conclusion (good or bad) over the course of 100 at bats. I've long said I like Johnson more than Sanchez because he has a tool that makes him more unique. All that said, I wouldn't say Sanchez couldn't be a league average 2B based upon what we know about him. I've long thought Johnson had more upside and what I can't envision would be Sanchez being a well above average 2B. This is exactly how I feel about this situation.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ May 6, 2015 -> 08:29 AM) No, it doesn't. A series win is just fine. It's May 6th, the Sox dont need to make up for that 5 game skid all at once. Just win these series' and they'll be right in the thick of it a month and a half from now. This is exactly the type of baseball they have been playing too often this year. Too impatient and trying to do too much at once.

QUOTE (Lillian @ May 6, 2015 -> 10:49 AM) No one should blame M. J. for this team´s poor start, and for my part, I´m not advocating ¨firing¨ him. The Sanchez vs. Johnson debate should focus more upon rewarding the player who is currently demonstrating that he deserves a chance. What Sanchez has done in his first 100 at bats, this season, has earned him the opportunity to play at the Major League Level, especially considering his defensive prowess. Sanchez did get 100 ABs at the major league level to prove himself last year. Micah Johnson has actually put up better offensive numbers in his ABs this year, vs what Sanchez did in the majors this year. Johnson has a higher OPS and OPS+, and he has less k/BB and more BB/PA. Last I knew he was also leading the team in pitches seen per AB, which the White Sox are very sorely lacking in.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2015 -> 10:10 AM) We dwarf the Twins, Indians and Royals as far as media rights fees. Pretty comparable to DET. Which was a city absolutely devastated in 2008, moreso than any Midwestern and/or Rust Belt city fwiw. Chicago metro population was estimated at 9.5 million after last census. Take the 1/3 of it that would apply to Sox, and you have about 3.2 million. Detroit metro is 4.3 million, not counting Canada at all. Minneapolis metro 3.8 million Cleveland metro 3.5 million KC 2.35 metro million

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2015 -> 10:08 AM) I meant in the middle or beginning of a season.... Because during the season it is physically impossible. What are you going to do, bring up your entire AAA team?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2015 -> 10:03 AM) Then why dont teams "fire" all their players instead of changing coaches or managers? Why did the 2012 team play so differently but for just one year? What does Soto have to do with Ventura rather than Hahn? Nobody thought he could be a capable defender. What were the expected or projected records for the Cubs and White Sox? The Cubs are losing to the team many consider one of the top three in baseball despite the loss of Wainright...whereas Minnesota was in the basement for every singgle prognosticator. The Cubs are still over .500, in second place and playing an exciting/interesting brand of baseball. The White Sox, even when they do win, it's often quite ugly with just a few exceptions. If you think about it, how many players did we "fire" this fall with all of the new signings we made? A large chunk of the roster was "fired", by being replaced. In a round about way, the White Sox "fired" about half their roster in 2014.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2015 -> 09:28 AM) The question is how many years without a playoff appearance when we are supposed to be the largest market team in the division with all the built-in advantages is acceptable? 10? 15? Should we just tip our caps to Illitch for spending more and having a better GM, to the Twins and to the Royals now for building much more solid foundations for sustainable success? What does Buddy Bell have to do to get fired, for example? What is he actually superior or even good at? The irony is with all the advanced statistics in the world, the subjective matter of judging coaches and front office personnel seems to be getting more and more difficult. We can quantify and assess players in a multitude of ways, why not coaches, too? This really isn't true. One you divide up the Chicago market with Cubs fans, a place like Detroit's market all by itself is probably bigger than what the Sox have to pull from. Sure we play in Chicago, but we are the clear minority player in Chicago.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 6, 2015 -> 08:07 AM) The Ducks have been put in charge of breaking the hearts of loyal, desperate, small town Canada. All 8 of them.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 5, 2015 -> 09:19 PM) Kind of hard to believe the Wild haven't scored yet. 11 minutes left to hang on Minnesota just doesn't match up well with the Hawks. To get to Chicago, you have to be an extremely physical team that takes the body. Minnesota plays great locational defense, they just aren't that physical.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 5, 2015 -> 08:46 PM) I don't know if he reads Soxtalk. When it comes to Derrick Rose, I don't know if he reads...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 5, 2015 -> 02:38 PM) D'Oh. And I would guess it would be tablet related.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 5, 2015 -> 02:38 PM) That's three in a row for Soto. As of Sunday, Flowers supposedly had the same bug that got to Eaton.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 5, 2015 -> 02:31 PM) Dude, seriously, WTF is with this spacing? *dudette

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 5, 2015 -> 02:20 PM) You know what annoys me? When I write 2k words and my argument gets reduced to an absurd straw man. What's the point of even posting? I've articulated an internally consistent argument and it gets reduced to "you think Carlos Sanchez will fix everything". That's not discourse, that's middle school level "nanannaana booooo boo" crap and for the 2nd day in a row I'm going to take a break. Cya guys tmr. Go Sox. Funny, but you did the same thing to me, the difference being I didn't throw a temper tantrum and stomp off for the second day in a row. That is some middle school crap. It is also worth mentioning that you were the one who just the post right before said that "Micah is a symbol for everything wrong...", yet we aren't supposed to believe you think the inverse? Come on man. Now that is "absurd". Maybe take this guys advice and toughen up? http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?s=...t&p=3151826

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 5, 2015 -> 02:05 PM) Not me. Last year I played the "it's early" game all season. It doesn't work when you have a team as poorly put together and poorly managed/coached as the White Sox. Something is wrong with the mentality of the franchise. It's an underachieving team and has been for a long time. There's obviously a comfort level there where the players all do their own thing. It's not a team at all. Anybody that isn't disgusted with this team after 0-3 in KC and worse yet 0-4 in Minnie makes me wonder how they can stomach what they are watching. Somebody deserves to be fired and fast. Example #1 of panic.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:52 PM) I'm looking at him because the decision to go with Micah is a symbol for everything wrong with how the Sox evaluate position players. You could replace Sanchez with any number of other names and I'd feel the exact same way. You cannot win in 2015 with horse s*** defense all over the diamond the margins have never been higher for defensive value, or at least not since the 70's. Offense is down, runs are clustered more, and defense is more important. The Sox are stuck in the wrong era and I will argue that this decision is the perfect test case for my thesis. You go with that. I will go with the fact that our lineups have all been significantly below last year in both the starting rotation, and the starting line up, except for one single player. That is 1 out of 14. But I am sure the problem is Carlos Sanchez.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:43 PM) If Rick Hahn found another GM as high on Carlos Sanchez as a few here, he would be insane not to trade him. A perfect example...Eduardo Escobar to the Twins. Very similar players and ceilings.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:42 PM) Hawkins, Courtney. And just for references sake, which I am sure you will ignore... I think you are way too high on Sanchez, and way too low on Johnson. Offensively they will pretty much end up being the same players, just like they have through their minor league careers. Sanchez playing a level for the third time should be getting it. Johnson is already putting up the numbers that Sanchez did, which should count for something as well. Honestly I think this is turning into the McCowning of Carlos Sanchez. He's a guy. He is not going to save this team. People are looking at him irrationally because he is hot in Charlotte, not because of anything in his tools set that will be some kind of plus tool in the majors.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:38 PM) Age is an over simplistic crutch? It's one of the most critical scouting tools. Sanchez gets punished for being 2 years younger than Micah and having more experience in pro baseball? I cannot, for the life of my, understand this argument. You don't get extra points for being raw at 24. In fact, you should get deducted for it because baseball players don't usually improve much at 24 as they do at 22 regardless of how much baseball they have played. Why in the world would you ding Sanchez for having more AAA experience at a younger age and putting up (for the most part) better numbers? It makes no sense. Having 3 fulls seasons in AAA before you turn 23 is a positive, not a drawback. When you're one of the youngest players in the league a 111 wRC+ is incredibly impressive for a glove first SS/2B. Hawkins, Courtney.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:26 PM) Are we genuinely sure about the bolded? IIRC Sanchez went down and immediately had a multi-error game. But I do agree with you, pretty much every other organization in baseball would have given Micah more time in the minors. The guy who comes to mind first is Billy Hamilton.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:21 PM) The difference is that Sanchez put up, in a full AAA season, a 111 wRC+ -- as one of the youngest players in the league. Micah Johnson, at 2 full year years ahead of Micah in age, struggled majorly in AAA at the dish. This doesn't even mention the huge defensive upgrade that Sanchez brings over Micah. Sanchez is two years younger than Micah. I'm really not sure why that hardly ever gets mentioned. It's a clear point in Sanchez' favor. I will ask this question: would any other org other than the Sox have promoted Micah this spring over Sanchez? I imagine the Royals wouldn't even have had a decision to make. The Sox don't value defense and they over value raw speed. It's been obvious for almost a decade. And despite all of that, Johnson is actually putting up better numbers, and nearly identical defensive numbers, to what Sanchez did in the majors. And looking deeper into the numbers, instead of just using age as an oversimplistic crutch, Sanchez actually is in his third stint at AAA. He has 1107 PA's in triple A alone. Johnson has 1391 PA's for his entire minor league career. Sanchez actually has about 2000 minor league PA's compared to Johnson's nearly 1400. So while Sanchez is young in terms of age, Johnson is actually younger in terms of actual professional experience. Even including Sanchez's insane start in his 3rd stint in AAA, his OPS is only about 20 points higher than what an injured Johnson put up in his short time at AAA last year (.684 vs .702) Now I know that this is Chicago and the fans love the back up quarterback more than the actual quarterback because of the unknown factor, but the reality is offensively there is going to be very little difference between Johnson and Sanchez. Johnson is going to get a plus because of his speed, Sanchez will because of his defense. Then again, Sanchez has 3 errors already at AAA, while Johnson has 1 in a similar amount of time in the majors.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:02 PM) On the Micah/Sanchez thing...this may be the last week for a lot of things. 22 games in, it would be a panic move to send down a rookie unless he's completely lost or an asshole. They're starting a 6-game homestand tonight that could decide some things. Let them play it out. Fans specialize in panic. The reality is that Micah Johnson means little. If the stars on this team don't start playing like stars, Carlos Sanchez could come up here and hit 1.000, and it won't matter. Though just for kicks... This is Sanchez's call up, versus Johnson's call up. Can you tell which is which? .246/.317/.263/.581 67 OPS+ -0.2 DWAR .250/.269/.300/.569 62 OPS+ -0.1 DWAR

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:01 PM) Micah Johnson is below replacement and made a critical error in the last ball game. He certainly isn't part of the solution. You have an above average defensive 2B that has done nothing but earn a spot on this 25 man roster and instead they handed it to a guy that hasn't done jack s*** above A ball. And they wonder why guys always under perform. Maybe make them prove something in AAA first. Oh wait, Sanchez is doing just that and can't get a roster spot. s*** is f***ed up and bulls*** man. Hey wait, you are back?