Dick Allen

With Tony LaRussa as his manager, the godfather of specialized relief pitcher usage, Tom Seaver threw 10 complete games in 1984 as a 39 year old, which didn't include pitching 1 inning of a previously suspended game and going 8 1/3 in the regular game right after the same evening. He also threw 6 complete games as a 40 year old under LaRussa. The old school pitchers where able to do this. The younger guys, not so much.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 10:36 AM) There's a big reason you didn't add in that is quite easily quantified why people are going fewer innings now. The average fastball velocity has climbed by more than 1 mph in just the last 5 years, league wide. If people are throwing 150 pitches, most of them won't be able to sustain that kind of velocity even if they don't get hurt. I did say pitchers were throwing harder these days. If you throw 90 MPH, you are a soft tosser, but power guys used to throw a lot more than 110 pitches back in the day. As I stated, those guys didn't also throw sliders or cutters. Or if they did throw a slider, it wasn't meant to be the wipeout pitch most want it to be today. The increase is a cumulative thing. There are more guys on the staff who throw hard and you have 7 or 8 relievers who probably average 93 or 94.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 10:11 AM) Not like Nolan Ryan, though. I think he might be a robot. I mean seriously, Nolan Ryan pitched in the MLB during mid-60's and also pitched in the MLB during the mid-90's. And he threw HARD. I think it's a pretty common consensus that pitchers of old simply did not throw as hard as the guys do today, partially due to strength and conditioning but just as much (if not more) to do with the fact that they simply held more back because they (1) knew they were expected to go the whole game and (2) they weren't expected to strike everyone out. Ryan was an exception to all of that. He pitched longer than almost anyone, more frequently than almost anyone, threw harder than anyone, and struck more guys out than anyone. He is made of carbon steel and can be repaired in a machine shop, so he cannot be used as an example of what can be expected from other pitchers. Yes, but 150 pitches thrown used to be not a big deal. Probably just about every starter up until the 5 and dive mentality hit, had done it several times. Who would have ever thought pitch counts on scoreboards would become a must have addition to a ballpark? Now it's called abuse. I don't think humans are made weaker, but collectively, you have more guys throwing 90+ these days, and certain pitches do put more strain on pitchers. Sliders weren't originally meant to do what pitchers want them to do today. The top power guys didn't throw sliders or cutters. TB won't even let their minor leaguers throw cutters IIRC. And speed guns everywhere I am sure makes some pitchers overthrow. I was also reading that many kids are becoming more sport specific these days, and some think that may help cause the rash of injuries. Back many years ago, kids played baseball during the summer, football during the fall and basketball or hockey during the winter, developing different muscles.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 09:30 AM) Nolan Ryan is an outlier There were a lot of outliers before pitch counts came into vogue.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Sep 1, 2014 -> 03:03 PM) Who, besides Randy Johnson in recent decades. Nolan Ryan in his 40s was throwing a ton of pitches in games. Supposedly earlier in his career, he went over 200 a few times. Pitch counts didn't used to be a big deal. Now when guys get to 100, everyone starts freaking out. That can be changed. One thing that is a lot different today, is guys are throwing harder. 90 is mediocre. Almost everyone throws 90. The other thing is, your harder throwers are also throwing a lot of sliders. Most power guys, used to throw curveballs. Guys are also trying to get a lot more out of sliders than they used to as well.

Roy Marble, Iowa's all time leading scorer and father of Devyn, diagnosed with cancer. He has had several issues with the law since his heyday, but this is sad. 3 tumors in his head and it has supposedly spread to other parts of his body. I think he is in his mid 40s.

One thing that would irritate me if Victor became a White Sox, is he takes forever to get in the box for each pitch.

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but with Torre's #6 retired, and Jeter"s #2 a certainty as well, all Yankee numbers between 1 and 9 will be retired.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 1, 2014 -> 03:51 PM) There are a few methods that people have used, some of them are choosing individual instances where exceptional hitters have had good and bad protection and trying to find differences. Among those, some studies have looked specifically at how the batters are pitched to rather than just at whether or not they hit better. Here's one: http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/...ection-myth-mlb Here's one regarding pitch type rather than in-zone pitches: http://crashburnalley.com/2011/09/20/the-m...ces-protection/ I do think it is overstated, but I also think it exists. Not every AB, situationally. But especially when the game is on the line, a menacing hitter on deck helps your cause.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 1, 2014 -> 03:18 PM) Again, there's no effect for it in any study. If you believe in lineup protection, show evidence that it makes a difference. People shouldn't trust claims made without any supporting evidence. I'm open to the idea of it making a difference, but no one's been able to find one. I don't know how you could accurately study this. It seems to me it would have to be over a several year period, and numbers can be affected by other reasons over that time. I would think asking pitchers if they pitch hitters differently if they have "protection" would probably give you an answer. But that might be too simple.

I don't think Garcia struggling lately means anything. The guy was out a long time. It is going to take a while to get back to normal.

Bo Porter fired. Didn't get along with the GM.

The Sox gave me a couple of free tickets and a free patio party to the Sept. 9th game. It will be interesting to see if the foam stops falling out of the people's mouths who b****ed at him every single time he made an out.

Dunn is calling it a career after this season.

Ausmus needs to be fired.

Wilkins walk up music is Freewill. He has my stamp of approval.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 31, 2014 -> 11:09 AM) That's what I'm hoping for. By the reports I've read he has the secondary stuff to do it. Supposedly health is the reason he is in the bullpen. I guess shoulder issues. If they can keep that from flaring up, it doesn't take much to be a bullpen upgrade for this team.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Aug 31, 2014 -> 11:02 AM) Also nice to see we got a potential RP prospect. It's a good thing we held onto this guy so long, no way we'd have gotten a haul like this in ST or last year. Reading up on this guy, at least when he was drafted a couple of years ago, he wasn't a bad prospect. I think he was ranked 12th coming into this season for Oakland. Does look like he is already a reliever, so who knows, but this is definitely a better prospect than the garbage that usually gets acquired in these types of trades.

They can add 2 without another trade. I don't think it means anything is imminent, maybe a just in case, or someone wasn't going to be playing today in AAA anyway, might as well come here now.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Aug 31, 2014 -> 10:30 AM) Oh come on now this is ridiculous. Your typical Adam Dunn slump (lasting weeks) was characterised by loafing and he spent 1 of his 4 years here doing nothing BUT loaf. Haha, I said butt loaf. Walking back to the dugout after fanning is not loafing, except in Little League. And speaking of Little League the Sox honored the JRW team last night. They gave them all White Sox backpacks with school supplies, a White Sox jersey with their number on it signed by the entire team, and introduced them one by one having them run around the bases with the White Sox lined up on the 3rd base line giving them all high fives. That had to be awesome for an 11-13 year old kid.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 31, 2014 -> 10:34 AM) Lineup protection is a myth. Eventually, it will become an idea left in the past. It may be overstated, but is certainly not a myth. A guy like Martinez behind Abreu keeps the bat in his hands in many situations. And if he is in front of him and on base, many pitchers tend to be not as effective in the stretch or with a little more pressure on them.

QUOTE (MAX @ Aug 31, 2014 -> 10:20 AM) Did he? He is one of the few White Sox I have never seen loaf.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Aug 31, 2014 -> 10:15 AM) Missed Dunn too, this V-Mart rumor is scaring me a little, but I'm not a fan of this FA class, just grab Masterson for cheap and I'll be thrilled, V-Mart is far passed his prime regardless of numbers, best years were in CLE He has been hitting better than ever. He put up better numbers in Boston and Detroit than Cleveland. You never know with a guy his age. He could be Torii Hunter and be fine or he could be Paulie, come up lame, and never be the same. The Sox need an impact bat. He definitely is one. I still think it is a longshot they land him, but it probably is better than trading several prospects for someone similar or hoping they can turn around a guy struggling.

He pretty much sucked, but he isn't an asshole and he always gave good effort. He also wasn't paid with my inheritance money, so while I was disappointed in the results, hating Adam Dunn isn't on my radar.

QUOTE (BaconOnAStick @ Aug 30, 2014 -> 08:50 PM) $10 says Abreu gets the old unintentional intentional walk. Isn't it an intentional unintentional?