scenario

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 21, 2008 -> 04:32 PM) His 2007 was pretty similar to Wes Whisler's 2008. Whisler did his in a AAA bandbox while Marquez was in AA. OMG... I don't BELIEVE you're attempting this comparison. Marquez is a power arm. He has a 94-95mph fastball and a 90-93mph power sinker. As pitchers go... Wes Whisler is a great hitter. Period.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 21, 2008 -> 12:35 PM) I got Moneyball and tried to read it, but was bored by the second chapter. Then you missed the best parts of the book. The first two chapters are simply an introduction. Michael Lewis is a great writer. If you read the entire book and still think it's boring, send me your email and I'll buy the book from you.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Dec 21, 2008 -> 11:49 AM) The only problem with doing that is not many teams, if any, are willing to deal during spring training. That's true during the early weeks. But there's always some movement late in spring training once teams figure out what they have and what they need. If somebody in a team's camp steps up... all of a sudden you have spare parts you can use to fill other needs. Anyway... that's what I'm figurin'...

With all the talk about going young... possibly having two young guys in the rotation... debating their pros and cons... etc... I still think the odds are pretty high that we acquire/sign a veteran back of the rotation type before the season starts to fill one of the two openings. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if we went into spring training with the guys we've got... to see how the young guys handle the pressure of competing for spots. There was an interesting article on mlb.com the other day quoting Danks saying how much that helped him and prepared him for the rigors of the regular season. Here's a quote... "Without a doubt, it helped me," said Danks of his 2007 spring pitch-off with Floyd. "It didn't just help me going into the season, but it kind of made me pitch at the big league level 1 1/2 months before I had to do it. Granted, we weren't very good in 2007, but I felt more pressure in Spring Training than I did all season. Those two months during Spring Training really helped me progress as a pitcher." I could see that same thinking being part of KW's plan... put the young guys on the spot to see what they've got, and use this opportunity to accelerate their development. If they step up... great. And if not, then do what's necessary to secure the back end of the rotation.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Dec 16, 2008 -> 09:30 AM) to be completely honest...Moneyball is a bit overrated...if you are somewhat familiar with it, you probably know a great deal of what is in there already, and some of it is already outdated (some of the stats/approaches to finding undervalued players) Hmmm... I really enjoyed it. (My daughter bought me a new copy last Christmas and I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading it.) It's not only an excellent baseball book... it's an excellent book. Extremely well written... great stories... both funny and touching. I also consider it one of the best business books of the last 10 years. (And I read alot of business books.) IMO, there are easily 100X more people who say they've read it than actually have... because it's absolutely amazing how often it is misquoted. It's not the final word in Sabermetrics, but it's a great start... and must reading in my book.

QUOTE (False Alarm @ Dec 20, 2008 -> 09:23 PM) there's no recent scouting report that indicates his stuff is good again now Really... What scouting reports have you read? QUOTE (False Alarm @ Dec 20, 2008 -> 09:23 PM) i have no idea why anyone would think he'd be decent at the major-league level in any role whatsoever in 2009.... with the info we have, it's unrealistic to expect a notable contribution out of him in the bigs this year. I guess KW didn't get the memo... "He absolutely can challenge for a spot," White Sox general manager Ken Williams said. "We have a good read as to who he is and what he brings to the table. He shows a fastball at 90-94 mph, with a lot of sink." Marquez entered 2008 ranked as the Yankees' No. 7 prospect but suffered through a disappointing season, limited to 19 starts because of a shoulder strain. Williams compares him to former White Sox righthander Jon Garland, whose sinker allowed him to be successful at hitter-friendly U.S. Cellular Park. "It's a similar style to Garland in our ballpark," Williams said. "In addition, he has a slider and curveball with depth, and a power change to both righthanded and lefthanded hitters. He also holds runners on well, something we have not been too successful with in the last couple of years, and he fields his position."

QUOTE (qwerty @ Dec 20, 2008 -> 03:31 PM) Dude, he just doesn't care what the stats say. Yeah, I know. I just couldn't help myself. It was like an itch I needed to scratch.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Dec 20, 2008 -> 03:13 PM) I don't give a s*** what the stats say, Jenks has become more hittable every single year. OK... so... if he's 'more hittable', I'm assuming that people would be getting more hits then right? Year - BAA - H/9 2005 - .225 - 7.78 2006 - .253 - 8.53 2007 - .198 - 6.23 2008 - .230 - 7.44 So... he has been LESS hittable (in terms of H/9) in the last two years than he was in his first two years... not more.

QUOTE (KevinM @ Dec 20, 2008 -> 02:33 PM) It is hardly cherry picking to cite his most recent stats at the highest level of the minor leagues. Your logic is flawed. Alright... let's play this in reverse. If he had a career minor league ERA in the mid 4's with no years in the 3's... except for one... which just happened to be the most recent season... How many people would be saying "the other 4 bad years don't count... projections should only be based on his most recent (good) year"? LOL. I think the answer is zero.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 20, 2008 -> 01:23 PM) Danks' ERA his rookie year was 5.50. Marquez is nowhere near Danks in ability. You'll be lucky to get that out of him in 2009. If you're going to rip what I have to post, go out on a limb and say Marquez will be just like Danks. I just find it more telling what a guy did in 2008 in AAA rather than what he did in 2007 in AA in projecting what he will do in 2009 if he's even at a higher level. Its just me. Besides, they are two very different styles. I suggest he's not any good because he's 1 of 3 guys traded for what I mentioned before, a strikeout machine who hit .219 and is owed $24 million. You usually don't pick up 3 stars for that. Ripped you? By suggesting that you cherry-picked one year of bad numbers to support your prediction that he would suck in the future, eh?? That's not called ripping... that's called exposing flaws in logic.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Dec 20, 2008 -> 12:49 PM) I am no less concerned about his velocity drop then I was before I read the article. It would be one thing if he lost velocity "on purpose" because he couldn't get people out a la Kyle Farnsworth when he threw near 100 MPH, but that's not the case. He did show late last season that he still has some extra velocity there when he needs it, but early in his career he showed he could locate and get people out when throwing in the high 90's to 100, so I'd rather see him throwing at that level then throwing 92-94. Fortunately, he's got people out no matter how hard he threw, and I hope that continues. He's not topping out at 94. Averaging 94 mph means he threw just as many 96 mph fastballs this year as he did 92mph fastballs. Averaging 94 mph is nothing to sneeze at. Is there anybody on the Sox staff other than Thornton who consistently throws that fast? That's top-end speed for either Danks or Floyd. At his peak in 2006 (in terms of speed), Bobby was throwing an average of 97mph. (In other words, he was throwing just as many 94-95 mph fastballs as he was 99-100). So the real difference between 2006 when he was throwing his hardest... and this year... is 3mph on his average fastball. But which Bobby was the better pitcher? The 2006 version 97mph version or the 2007/2008 94 mph version?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 20, 2008 -> 08:42 AM) I'm thinking his 6-7 record in AAA with a 4.69 ERA with a 1.45 WHIP with 2.7 BB/9 innings and 3.7 k/9 innings with 1.3 HR/9 innings all at the AAA level suggest something totally different than what you predict. You think he will do better in the AL than in AAA. I find that hard to believe. Danks had around a 5.00 ERA in AA; and a 4.33 ERA in AAA. Do you find it hard to believe that he is performing better than that in the AL? And Jeff Marquez had a 3.65 or lower ERA in 4 of his 5 minor league seasons. I'm not suggesting that Marquez is going to step up and pitch at that level, but why cherry pick his ONE sub-par year to try and suggest that he's not any good.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 19, 2008 -> 04:47 PM) That's terrible from a power pitcher ???????????? Why is an average 94mph fastball terrible? If you look at the good fastball pitchers in MLB, most are in the same ballpark. I think the problem is people thinking of Jenks as only a 'power pitcher'. I think it's time that people stopped calling Bobby a 'power pitcher' and just call him what he is... an excellent pitcher. Kyle Farnsworth is a power pitcher... who sucks. And there are lots of other good examples of guys who can fire the ball but can't pitch worth a damn. Bobby is dominant closer whose fastball averages about 94mph. And that ain't bad.

According to John Dewan, Bobby's average fastball in 2008 (over the entire season) was 93.8mph.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Dec 17, 2008 -> 12:13 PM) I, too, think Danks will be the better pitcher, he just seems more gritty Is that the pitching equivalent of grindy?

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Dec 17, 2008 -> 01:23 PM) Why not just target Juan Pierre then? Their career numbers are eerily similar: Pierre: .300 / .346 OBP / .371 SLG / .717 OPS Young: .300 / .346 OBP / .442 SLG / .788 OPS Clearly Young has more power (12-14 HRs per year the last 3 years), but Pierre has the stolen bases (40-64 per year the last 3 years). As bad as Pierre's contract is (10M, 10M, 8.5M from 2009 - 2011), Young's is far worse (16M per year until 2013) and two years longer. Neither player is particularly good defensively, though perhaps Young would be better at 2B as you suggest. Hard to blow off the difference in those slugging numbers though... For comparison's sake, Young's career slugging % is similar to Crede's. And Pierre's is similar to Scotty Pods.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Dec 16, 2008 -> 07:01 PM) I'll skip ahead then to 2011. Most of this could be in place at end of 2010: Beckham 3B Getz 2B (or Lilli, Nix etc. depending on who steps up) Q RF Brandon Allen/Flowers 1B other could be DH Viciedo LF Jordan Danks CF Alexei SS Unknown DH Armstrong/Flowers C All starters under 30, Alexei 29, Q 28 Rotation: Danks Floyd Buehrle Poreda ? Only MB over 30 Could be potent, and affordable. As above with... Viciedo --> DH Shelby --> LF Ely --> 5th starter Brandon Allen --> 1B Flowers --> C

Furcal may not be Atlanta bound Looks like some gamesmanship being played in the Furcal camp.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 16, 2008 -> 03:34 PM) Secondly, I wonder what happens with Andruw Jones. Undergoing surgery to remove all the forks Dodgers fans stuck in him.

Keep in mind this is the result of fans voting. I wonder how many phone calls he had to make to win it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 16, 2008 -> 12:17 PM) I know a lot of people would prefer Anderson as the everyday player, and I would probably agree with it, were it not for the fact that we don't have any leadoff hitter on the roster that's currently better suited for the position than Owens and possibly Lillibridge. The Cubs signing Gathright and dumping Pie eventually is further proof of the value of someone in that role. Except of course that the Cubs have no intention of having Gathright start in CF and lead off. He will be a bench/role player. (BTW - Don't count Chris Getz out as a leadoff hitter. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he comes out of spring training with the job.)

I don't think there is any question the Sox have legitimate concerns about advertising revenues for next year.

Link

Very touching story. Should be read by everyone, even people who aren't hockey fans.

One thing I really like about Richard... he's shown the willingness and ability to throw hard stuff inside to people and back them off the plate to set them up. Not something you often find in young pitchers who tend to nibble around the edges rather than get after people.