Dick Allen

What are the odds this guy walks?

That was a sweet inning.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 07:20 PM) s***... he was doing well too 2nd time through the line up. Rienzo will ultimately be a relief pitcher.

The Sox have some crappy pitching in AAA.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 06:55 PM) Pineda on Yankees had stuff on side of neck pinetar and tossed in 2nd inning just now. So it is OK to have it on your hand, but the neck is a no no.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 06:52 PM) "LOL wtf are you doing stealing 3rd with Abreu batting" - paraphrased Detroit announcers With a flyout, it scores a run. He should have realized he had a horrid jump and forgot about it, but a steal there isn't so crazy.

Leury Garcia seems Joey Cora-like.

Supposedly the Bears are playing in Detroit on Thanksgiving.

There are a ton teams that are wondering why they didn't bid more for Abreu.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 04:40 PM) According to Wiki, the 1918 WS was in Comiskey because it had more seating capacity. Also, In 1935 they went 1-3. In 1945 they went 1-4. When my dad was a real little kid his older cousin took him to a game during the 1945 WS. They got tickets at the ticket window day of game.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 05:12 PM) If I understanding that tweet correctly, we have shifted more than any other team, therefore we have more outs recorded via the shift.....okay...isn't that to be expected? Wouldn't you also assume the team that shifts the LEAST has the most amount of "in zone" outs recorded? Does that correlation then mean that you should never shift? I'm just failing to see how this proves the shift does or doesn't work. It's like saying the team that bunts the most has the most sacrifice bunts, therefore sac bunting is always the right thing to do. Espn had a graphic the other night. The Sox were 4th in times with a shift. Houston has lapped the field.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 02:34 PM) Saw a few innings of Boston/New York last night. Kaat was saying basdeball has started to see a change this year where players are starting to hit against the shift. The Red Sox shifted on McCann as most teams do. But the stat they showed was that more than 50% of his hits this year are to left instead of right. On that play he flied to warning track in left. Kaat said some teams are starting to reconsider shifting for some players they normally shift on. I can see that, but with many of the better players, if they hit against your shift, they are doing you a favor.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 01:59 PM) We made 2 terrible shifts last night that lead to the Tigers big inning. With Leesman on the mound, playing the OFs in the bleachers would help.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 11:38 AM) Well, we're still in the part of the season where you have to qualify everything with "WARNING: SMALL SAMPLE SIZE", but the Sox have only had 2 (successful) sac bunts so far this year. Five AL teams have less than two, but on the other end of the spectrum Texas has 11. Sox are also 88% on SB, meaning that they are being smarter about when to run. The Sox attempted the fewest sac bunts in baseball last season. It was the 3rd lowest total of the past 10 years. Yet there were posts on Soxtalk how Robin like to give up outs.

There are a lot of DE that would look a lot worse than the before photo of Shea without a shirt on. The other thing to consider was Shea probably let himself go a little bit before hitting this program, so the photo was taken at the worst time.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 09:51 AM) I like the 11am games so I can wake up and watch them (well not so much anymore) but the fanbase at the game suffers and so does conference exposure. Many of the new coaches are pushing hard for night games and it appears to be paying off. Of course you need to have lights to get it done. ILL vs OSU is a primetime night game this year. The stadiums that don't have permanent lights have been using the temporaries for 30 years. They are fine. After all, late in the season, the 2:30 games need lights in the second half.

Apparently in Tampa last night, the umpires lost track of the count. They took it to the replay guys who got it wrong. Escobar walked, but then struck out.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 09:34 AM) You don't need to win your bet every time. If you go to Vegas and put $100k on a 5 to 1 option and win 4 out of 6 times, you'd be pretty happy. Put your money where your mouth is and do it. Put my money where my mouth is, go to Vegas bet $100k? Wow.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 09:32 AM) And then, De Aza being consigned to the bench because of early struggles would be a terrible result as well because that would make it even harder to trade him. Your defense is a terrible option as well! Not really, because then De Aza would have eventually received another opportunity. Injuries and slumps happen all the time. If you perform, the opportunities eventually come.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 09:31 AM) I gave you 5 to 1 because Marcus Semien was, at the time, hitting below .200, so expecting him to win successfully 4 out of 6 times is a pretty low chance, but it seems like it's one you'd take. But the alternatives weren't batting 1.000, making your math a bit off. The bottom line is, the results are in, dumb Robin was right.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 09:23 AM) Marcus Semien vs. LHP including that game (so he was much worse beforehand): .259/.286/.407/.693. If all 4 of his hits came against the lefty that day, he came into that game hitting no better than .143 against lefties. Better than Gillaspie. Again how do you come up with 5 to 1? Just explain that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 09:20 AM) So is your game just to never advocate for anything and just criticize when other people take a firm position or do you actually think Jordan Danks is a good leadoff hitter and we'd be better off with Viciedo as a platoon only player? For a guy who seems to know so much about my thoughts, you really should realize I have been one of Viciedo's biggest backers. You were freaking out because he wasn't in the line up the first couple games of the season. As I told you back then, he will get his chance, and an injury got him a chance. If Garcia doesn't go down, De Aza's struggles would have given him an opportunity. I also think Jordan Danks is a stiff, but for a game or two, he can get on base a couple times. There aren't a lot of candidates vs. RHP if Eaton goes down.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 09:14 AM) No, I actually listed everyone in the lineup other than Jordan Danks as a candidate to lead off. Thanks for the easy to shoot down lie. Jordan Danks, of course, then led off the next day. So you did list Conor Gillaspie? I asked you specifically who should lead off, and Gillaspie was the first name on your reply. The line up management was so terrible that day the Sox only scored 16. Robin needs to listen to you more often.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 09:04 AM) So because it worked, it was ok to do something silly and you think that's something you can brag about. Like I said, $100k on a 5 to 1 game a few times. Same setup and you can brag to me about the millions you bring home. After all, there's no downside to silly moves. Again, you are picking out odds randomly that even Caulfield couldn't come up with. They were facing a left handed pitcher. You wanted Gillaspie to lead off. Versus a left handed pitcher, how do you come up with 5 to 1 odds against that Semien would outperform Gillaspie? Conor Gillaspie vs. LHP .235/.263/.498. Sounds like the guy who wants to bet 100k on a 5 to 1 game a few times is you.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 08:57 AM) So you don't believe your own crap? Not willing to stick by your statements that .200 hitters batting leadoff is always a good thing? On that night, with the other options and short term, it was fine. It wasn't a permanent thing, and Semien was up to the task. Besides, you wanted Gillaspie leading off. I don't know how you can say it's 5 to 1 Gillaspie would perform better any particular game than Semien. Please explain.