Dick Allen

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 12:07 PM) Taking a look, his HR/FB% was basically at its lowest with the White Sox, too. So strange diagnosing him. The only thing that really jumps out at a glance is pretty low strand rates. I think it just boils down to Javy being an enigma nothing will ever be able to explain.

The Packers were running the ball, the Bears were airing it out, then ran the ball really well. We actually were able to tell Peppers and McClellin were in the game. It truly was bizarro night.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 11:22 AM) Well, surely that's the main reason they hired Terry Bevington and Ozzie Guillen. So why are we to believe Hahn's better qualified to be a GM because he went to Northwestern and Harvard Law? If I remember correctly, Jon Daniels went to Cornell. Epstein went to Yale. Jeff Luhnow went to Penn and then Kellogg for MBA. Chris Antonetti went to Georgetown/UMass-Amherst. DePodesta went to Harvard. Kim Ng, University of Chicago. AJ Hinch, Stanford. KW, Stanford. Cherington/Amherst. Hoyer/Wesleyan. Michael Hill (Marlins) Harvard. Beane would have gone to Stanford. Josh Byrnes/Haverford. Anthopolous (McMaster/Canada-ECON). JP Ricciardi from St. Leo University is an outlier. Or this guy, the front office member with the most interesting background in all of baseball, not to mention the fact that he's Indian-American.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sig_Mejdal J. Mozeliak, Univ of Arizona/Univ. of Colorado, Jack Z. (Austin Peay), Andrew Friedman (Tulane) Wouldn't 50-75% of the GM's be coming from "non-elite" or state university Sports Management programs? Back when I was going to graduate school, Ohio University, UMass, Ohio State and Georgia Southern University (where I went) were all among the top five graduate programs. Whether it's presidents or MLB GM's, people have an expectation that leaders should have attended elite educational institutions and possess higher IQ's/SAT scores, what have you. KW went to Stanford for 1 year. You mentioned Beane "would have" gone to Stanford. He didn't. This is baseball,not something that you can learn in a classroom at a University. I just think that some of these guys are from more highly thought of schools is just coincidence at this point. I don't really think there is anything at Cornell or Harvard or Yale or Stanford that actually better prepares you for a MLB GM job. The guys with the advanced degrees seem to have the same problems the GMs who barely made it out of HS have.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 11:40 AM) Which was the difficulty with ol' Javy Vazquez, correct? In each of his 3 Chris Sale-like fWAR seasons with the White Sox, Javy's ERA was higher on the road than at home.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 05:55 PM) Except that's only 1/2 the games...AND...you have the brutal weather in April and May. Plus you have to correct for how much the White Sox spent on their starting pitching/rotation compared to other teams. There are a LOT of other factors involved. According to my BP, USCF, while a homer haven, is slightly better than neutral for hitting overall. Last year, the 3 year factor was exactly neutral. So if the White Sox stay away from flyball pitchers, they usually fare pretty well at home.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 09:37 AM) AJ Pierzynski is not a long-term option, and signing a short-term option makes it harder to find a long-term option unless our goal is to field a competitive team in 2014. It really doesn't unless the long term solution is major league ready and in house, and what is wrong with trying to win in 2014? Granted, if every player plays at the level they did in 2013, there is zero chance, but I think there is a decent chance of improvement from a lot of people. A couple of offensive upgrades, a few less boneheaded decisions on the basepaths and in the field, the team could be very competitive. I don't think they will sign AJ myself, but I would much rather they signed him than anyone his price range or higher except for McCann. I also would look into the cheaper route. Someone has to catch. Flowers has shown he is a legit back up. Phegley is a hard guy to judge. Great offensive and defensive catchers are really hard to find. Maybe a placeholder is what is needed to buy some time to find one. Not all of Hahn's acquisitions are going to fit into a 4 or 5 year plan. That is impossible.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 06:33 AM) Salty had a bad week in WS defensively. Makes me wonder. His standard defensive numbers were almost identical to AJP in 2013. I think AJ caught 1 more inning. They both had the same number of passed balls, wild pitches when they were catching, and runners caught stealing. Salty had a few more errors, but unless you actually see the errors, catcher errors are often someone else's fault, or bad luck. There were 40 more SB against Salty than AJ, although Salty had a slightly better defensive WAR. Maybe he was framing pitches better or something, but if you didn't like AJP defensively, and think of the horror on this board coming into 2012 when the Sox owed him $6 million, I can't see how you are going to like Salty defensively.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 08:31 PM) I think that was a TD. The side judges should call anything close TDs so it's automatically reviewed. That makes way too much sense to actually happen.

McCown has been awesome.

If Rodgers isn't back by now, he must be out the rest of the game.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 06:41 PM) There is like a 5% chance that we go into 2014 with Phegley & Flowers as our major league catchers. Who knows how they view Salty, but it's clear that an upgrade at C will be a priority this offseason based on Hahn's comments. And quite frankly, it makes complete sense given how weak we are at the position throughout the organization. IMO, Salty would be a great get for us. I think his floor is a 2 WAR player, which would still be acceptable at $9 or $10M a year. However, if he truly took a step last year with the bat then that salary could be quite a bargain. Regardless, there's nothing wrong with paying market rate to fill a huge organizational need as long as the risk is minimal. I guess I don't see a lot of downside in signing Salty through his age 32 season, which is what a four year deal would require and the most I think he will get in free agency. How can his floor be a 2 WAR player when 2013 was the only year he was at least a 2 WAR player?

QUOTE (woods of ypres @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 03:08 PM) Does free agency start at midnight? Or is it an arbitrary start time like 6AM ET, or whatever? I think it starts at 11 pm tonight, but it isn't like the NFL where the big names sign quickly before teams run out of cap space.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 12:24 PM) I think I lean this way as well but I'm not privy to insider scouting reports. If Hahn is sitting there being told by every scout that Salty finally figured it out and might darn well get even better next year, and the same people are saying that Phegley and Flowers are complete lost causes and if you run them out there they'll be lucky to hit .200...what do you do? If the Sox don't think either of the guys they have are legit starting catchers...I can't say they'd be wrong based on what they showed at the big league level last year. I'd like them to get shots because I want to see us successfully develop some hitters, but if the organization thinks these guys can't cut it...they have no one obviously coming up in the next year+ who can fill the catcher's spot. That would leave this position a gaping hole unless a FA deal was made or Ricky pulled off a trade. Hopefully he's listening to someone other than those who talked to him about Keppinger. There are a lot of hit and misses, especially with catchers. I think the Sox are better off going after a guy like Soto if he's available and sticking with Flowers and/or Phegley and continuing their search for an everyday catcher, than locking themselves into Salty for several years.

Salty has red flags. He can't hit right handed. His OBP and batting average were significantly higher this year than the past 3 previous seasons. You would have to think a regression is likely. It's not the type of player I think the White Sox want to commit decent money towards for 4 years, if that is what it takes to get him. If you are going to spend money don't spend it on someone who is going to lead your fanbase into fire the hitting coach mode.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 11:52 AM) While all of your proposals are inherently silly, my favorite is ADD classes. Is there such a thing? Can you diagnose a mental health issue from watching a guy play baseball? I wonder what happened from '11-'12 to '13 that made ADA get an attention deficit disorder... Perhaps this type of thing is contagious Greg? Maybe our own '13 draft pick Nick Blount can pass over some of his amphetamines to De Aza now that he got busted? What do you think Greg? Whatever it was, there was something that we saw with De Aza last season we didn't see before. He didn't appear that dumb on the bases or in the field or it would have been brought up over and over again. Maybe it was just a bad year or maybe he just is a not so smart player who just got busted a ridiculous proportion last season, and got away with it previously. I wouldn't give him away either, but from what Stone said, it seems like the Sox would like to move on.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 11:56 AM) Another really awesome contribution to a discussion, brought to you by Dick Allen™ Interesting.

When is the pitching fwar title parade?

If the White Sox spend that much on Salty, it will soon be regrettable.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 3, 2013 -> 04:26 PM) That makes me come up with this one. Ricky did the #1 thing I wanted him to do already with Abreu. Now I want him to....surprise me. Come up with something I'm not expecting. One guy I would really like them to look at, and it opens the door for a couple of trades, is Franklin Gutierrez. He has been banged up for a few years and was at one time one of the best defensive players in baseball, and he has a lot of power. I think he could be a poor man's Jermaine Dye type of signing.

Explore trades, look at the middle tier free agents. It isn't like the Sox got ridiculously old overnight. If Abreu can give you 2012Paulie production, and Garcia, Viciedo and Beckham hit, ther is no reason to think they can't get back to middle of the pack in runs scored. They were 4th in 2012. I also think their defense will be better just by the law of averages. They do need a couple of players. One thing is for sure, this is going to be a much more fun winter for Sox fans than the past couple.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Nov 3, 2013 -> 01:29 PM) Able or willing? Big difference. These teams are always able for the most part, but some teams leave very little wiggle room to take on money during the season. Ownership wants its money.I am quite sure you can get just as good, and much better prospects for Ramirez than you could get for BJ Upton even if you ate $30 million of Upton's contract.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Nov 3, 2013 -> 12:58 PM) And the Cardinals disagreed with that price. It could also be the Cardinals were not able to pick up the money. Ramirez is worth his contract to the White Sox. My God, you are the guy saying pick up BJ Upton, eat half his contract, and see what kind of prospect you can get. You also want Uggla. Then say Ramirez's contract is a probelm? Your trolling has gotten out of hand. OTOH, I do find it funny a guy who a lot of posters seem to think has to go, they think is a great piece for other teams to acquire.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 3, 2013 -> 07:19 AM) Well his recruiting dipped at the end, which explains this roster. But I would definitely choose a front loaded roster over 70 MAC players that fit like a glove. His recruiting dipped because his job status was shaky. It is really hard for a football coach to overcome a couple of seasons of being on a hot seat. Your recruiting really suffers, and unlike basketball, freshman usually don't make as much of an impact, and it takes more than one or two to really get you off that hot seat. Everything snowballs. No one is going to coach that roster into the Rose Bowl. And he isn't responsible for that roster.But the question should be, can Beckman recruit and coach a roster that makes it to the Rose Bowl. Without really following him that much, I get all my Beckman complaints from my father and brother, I think just his job status problems alone are going to forever hinder his recruiting in Champaign. If I were a realtor down there, I would think about dropping my card in his mailbox. Guys take over football programs and struggle for a few years before turning it around pretty often,but rarely are people calling for their heads in year one or two. Whether it is fair or not Beckman's ship has sailed at Illinois.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 01:35 PM) Wasn't that because Ross was a personal catcher for one of their starters? He had a pretty miserable post-season, but unless the Red Sox can sign McCann...they're going to want to hold onto him. What other players out there would be a clear upgrade? Then you have the Rangers, the Yankees, the Braves, White Sox, there are quite a few teams out there looking for catching all circling around the same 2-3 guys. He played 2 of the 6 games, none of the last 3. I doubt they want to pay him very much.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 01:18 PM) Kenny Lofton and Tim Raines are decent comps to Ellsbury, imo, and I think they put up some nice seasons well into their 30's. Don't think the Sox will go that deep for another FA, though. Would jump on Salty at the right price and years. Do we still forfeit a draft pick with a signing at his level? Yes, but they weren't worth the money at 33 or 34, plus Ellsbury tends to get hurt a lot. You probably get at least a year or 2 of an excellent player, but after that, the countdown until his contact is off the books probably is pretty big. If the Red Sox don't give Salty a qualifying offer, there is no comp. of course we are talking about a guy they benched in the WS.