Dick Allen

Free Slurpees today 7/11

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 12:13 PM) If we improve at beating teams in our division, we will make the playoffs. If we continue to struggle beating teams in our division, we will not make the playoffs. It's as simple as that. That's the key. You can say the Sox suck but the basically have the same record as Detroit and KC while getting pantsed by them so far. I really doubt they don't beat them a little more often in the second half. Head to head vs. Cleveland will be key. Hopefully Hahn does something to the roster to make them better positioned to kick their ass.

QUOTE (captain54 @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 12:01 PM) Oh well, I tried.. I pointed out an inconsistency in your logic in the Robertson thread… My point earlier was that the BP #'s are skewed because of early positive numbers, you said Robertson's #'s are skewed because of negative numbers..but because my point leans more towards the negative, I'm wrong and you're right.. Difficult to have a discussion with someone who dances around the central point of debate, then manufactures the other person's POV to fit however narrative they wish to promote… So for that, I'm out . chief... Robertson's numbers are skewed because of a total of 1 inning in 36 pitched. That would be like saying the bullpen sucked this season based on 2 or 3 games. It's not even close to the same.

.197/.267/.300 Paul Konerko's first half in 2003. I know it's important to some to be the first to point out a guy sucks and will always suck. As much as people love to write thinking the Sox can make the playoffs is fools errand or fools gold, that is exactly what it is when you write off Jose Abreu.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 08:58 AM) They had Phil. We have Hoiberg now. =\ Exactly what I was thinking. Plus MJ and a team where if they didn't win a championship, it was a bad season. Maybe everything will be fine, but Gar is doing his buddy no favors.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ Jul 10, 2016 -> 07:16 PM) The Twins (of all teams) absolutely torched Rangers pitching this year Houston only 6.5 games back. Disgraceful. If Texas gets torched by Minnesota like that, they need to blow their team up.

This guy is a troll.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2016 -> 03:36 PM) Absolutely not true. Eaton jogs to first all the time on his routine groundouts He was told to do that. He has injured himself several times in the past.

QUOTE (SmashROT @ Jul 10, 2016 -> 11:10 AM) Let's go! Big outing for Shields before the break. Time to step up. Are you Chance the Rapper?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 10, 2016 -> 09:35 AM) Said all of those fans of Bobby Jenks at the end of his career, especially Greg. Just win baby, I remember quite clearly. Because he was the opposite of a sabre/advanced stats dream at the end of his Sox career. He was just barely surviving by the skin of his teeth, his physical health was deteriorating and his stuff was degrading over time as well. I don't think anyone would equate that with being a great closer. And that conveniently doesn't count the game Robertson blew on May 28th...because the lead he blew was SO freakin' large it didn't even qualify as a save opportunity...that's how bad it was, as you can't pitch your way into a save situation for yourself. You can count it as two, but it's three to the rest of Sox fans, a statistical oddity or anomaly of historical proportions that weekend. The Sox won both his blown save appearances, and his ERA was 0.96 when he had the disaster in KC.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 10, 2016 -> 09:28 AM) And we did end up packaging/trading Santiago, just not for a 3B....it was for Eaton. They did trade Addison Reed for a 3B (just not a good one). I don't think I gave it either praise or derision, it was more of a neutral statement...and Avi Garcia as the centerpiece wasn't exactly much of a return, because the Tigers/Dombrowski know what they're doing. They managed to bring back Fulmer, Norris and Boyd in one calendar year to replenish their rotation because DD understood their situation quite clearly last year, and traded Cespedes and Price. The Tigers ended up with the far better player (defensively alone, he's worth 2.0-2.5 WAR per year) in Jose Iglesias. Good news, in the sense that it seemed they were trying to make an effort to choose some type of direction...not really due to being 100% sold on Peavy himself as a starting pitcher going forward. Neutral? Nice try. It wasn't because they resigned Peavy that they traded for Eaton. Peavy was long gone. Maybe they should have traded Q for Headley. He was the big 3B at the time. And if we really made a stretch and said it was neutral, why do you remember it now as "ill advised"? In one post ip you said they had no clear direction, now this one says they were showing a direction. LOL. Whatever you do, you should stop complaining about trading Semien. In that thread, you mentioned it was a trade that HAD to be made. The Tigers certainly know what the are doing. They are all in, the Sox at the kiddie table and it shows, a record an entire half a game better.you weren't done I. The Peavy thread. This didn't appear "neutral " It's one of those cases of selective memory with Peavy. A lot of our gripes were about his record against the Tigers, particularly the 6-0 blown game, some of his starts down the stretch where he was "so-so" or okay instead of pitching like an ace. Of course, the counter-argument is that he's no longer the 2007 version, has diminished stuff, has had to adapt and learn to be a pitcher rather than just a thrower...THAT previous Cy Young glimmering version will never return again, any more (and I see some are still holding out hope that he'll bounce back into the mid 90's with his FB again). Statistically, there's no arguing with his stats, as an overall body of work, from 2012. And there's no arguing that if he put up those same numbers the next two years, the White Sox would have made a very sound investment. And then there will always be those who appreciate his "manning up" and coming back from a first of its kind surgery as quickly as he did, instead of packing it in and collecting a paycheck. The whole team just ran out of gas (Sale, Peavy, Quintana, the rookies), we had the injuries to deal with constantly throughout the 2nd half...most of us were not as angry as Greg about the "collapse" as it was pretty predictable to those who follow both the Tigers and Sox closely. (That said, I believed we would actually take it after winning the final Tigers game and then again when Dunn hit the homer to win another one in the following days).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 10, 2016 -> 09:22 AM) James Shields is one of the best starters in baseball if we just ignore 4-5 of his starts. Should we throw out all of his ER's because he only pitched like 3-4 innings total in them? The entire point of baseball for a pitcher is to record outs...therefore, when you don't succeed at that and keep allowing baserunners, of course the appearance/s will be limited, unless Ventura just left said pitcher in an unlimited amount of time. Do you blame Ventura, then, for those two appearances, moreso than Robertson? John Danks as well. Statistics don't lie...over the course of half a season, they paint a fairly decent picture. If we took all the blown saves away from each of those closers, wouldn't they all be close to elite? How many 1-2-3 innings has he had this year in closing situations, compared to the others? Or that's an unfair way to look at his job/responsibility as well...? 23/25 is all that really matters.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 27, 2016 -> 08:37 AM) Of course, the Peavy deal (contract extension) was not exactly met with universal praise, either. Seemed a bit ill-advised, like the club didn't have a clear direction. Same thing with the time when they extended Danks and turned around and traded their closer for scraps simultaneously. Still amazed that we got anything out of Peavy. Oh really? Here is what you had to post in the Peavy extension thread. Good news, not quite great, because you wonder about all the wear and tear that Robin and Cooper put him through, sometimes needlessly. On the other hand, it does afford us the luxury of packaging some guys like Quintana/Santiago (one of the two, probably), Thornton, Crain, Reed (possibly) to see what we can get back for 3B and possibly catcher. The biggest question marks are: 1) Does DeAza go back to CF? 90% chance, unless another starter is traded, like Rios, for a new CFer. 2) Who's the closer? 90% chance it's Reed, at least to start out. 3) AJ, Tyler or a new catcher not on the radar screen? 4) 3B

QUOTE (jeffro2525 @ Jul 10, 2016 -> 08:53 AM) I would settle for anyone who could throw some strikes. Everyone of these borderline guys mentioned above have the same problem...throwing strikes. Ynoa, Purke, Kahnle and Beck have all failed miserably getting ahead of hitters at the major league level. I concur.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 10, 2016 -> 08:32 AM) http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/sort/saves On this page of the top 40 saves leaders in major leagues, Robertson has a WHIP of 1.40, which really isn't that good and I hope isn't considered elite or worth one of the Top 3 salaries in baseball for a closer. He's ahead of only Ziegler, McGee, Rosenthal (deposed from closer's role), Tolleson (deposed from closer's role) and Arodys Vizcaino. Not exactly the best of company for his salary. You want to talk about WAR instead? There are 19 relievers on that same page ahead of Robertson's 0.9, which for a full year equates to less than a 2 WAR. Some of the relievers in that same category? K-Rod, Santiago Casilla, Jonathan Papelbon and Ryan Madson. Not exactly elite again. If he's not a problem, then he's certainly not one of the 3-5 best closers in baseball, which he's clearly being paid to be. Unless you want to go through this list and tell us all the closers that you would currently rank Robertson ahead of, all stats to the contrary, you'd be quite generous to put him in the top 50%. Certainly not based on output per contract dollar or ROI. His stats are out of whack because of 2 appearances covering a total of one inning. One it mattered, the other it didn't. He is one of the best closers in baseball. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Robertson was horrible vs KC and had another bad outing in a blowout loss to the Nats. Other than that 4 runs allowed in 35 innings. Reading about his demise is laughable.

Nice win. Win the series tomorrow and get some rest.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jul 9, 2016 -> 03:32 PM) we got guys unavailable the series before the break? Nah, it has to be that RV just is a f***ing moron. It's the simplest explanation. Why the f*** would Robertson or Jones not be available today? Jumping to conclusions makes you look foolish. It was rTher obvious something was going on when Albers came ion in the 8th.

I totally forgot about the trouble between Rondo and Wade. Wade supposedly injured Rondo on purpose and the next season Rondo clothselimed Wade in a game. Good luck with that Fred.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 8, 2016 -> 02:07 PM) Again, from a naked eye standpoint, the defense and defensive positioning is so much better this year. It is nice to see numbers that back that up. But advanced scouting is the worst in the business.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 8, 2016 -> 02:11 PM) Its funny that you have all of these hindsight opinions when the only thing you were worried about when he was signed was who was getting dropped from the roster. Not much about this profound lack of good baseball judgement a year ago It seemed the general consensus at the time was Rick Hahn and Soxtalk were on the same wavelength. Somehow those same moves became clear KW moves later. Now for some reason, Hahn is an idiot as well.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 8, 2016 -> 01:47 PM) I know the White Sox will be mentioned with Reddick, Bruce, etc in the coming weeks. If they miss out and even if they don't, Steve Pearce would be a great acquisition and probably won't cost a ton in return. He can play the OF and DH. He'd be the perfect platoon partner for Morneau. It's only 48 at-bats vs LHP but Pearce has 5 homers, a .514 wOBA, and a 233 wRC+. Overall, Pearce has a wRC+ of 153 with a .933 OPS. He'd be a great addition IMO. If there is nothing else, it wouldn't be bad, but I would be leery of a pretty big regression.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Jul 8, 2016 -> 11:36 AM) How can this have "so little impact" on an organization you always *claim* operates under very limited resources? If signing Bonifacio to a 1 year $3 million contract qualifies as one of Rick Hahn's worst moves ever, he will be doing pretty good. No question the $3 million turned into a gift to the Bonifacio family, but there are far worse moves made every season. Interesting to note, when Bonifacio signed, the reaction here wasn't exactly negative.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 7, 2016 -> 03:23 PM) Here we go. Knew this was coming .750 OPS away from Coors field in 2016; .758 in 2015. That's Rios. Hahn set that value: Leury Garcia. (really should be less considering that Rios made 60% of Cargo's money) Paying anything more than the value of a .758 OPS earning $20 million a year is wishcasting. That's all it is. If we want a Rockie, get Blackmon But Alex Rios has a WS ring. You've hero worshipped him plenty. Don't you want another one?

Vinnie Goodwill at CSN is the coolest Bulls beat guy. When they asked him about the Bulls plane being pushed back, he just laughed, but he acknowledged beforehand that if the Bulls and Miami had similar offers to Wade, he would take the Bulls offer because he will have felt disrespected by Miami. Looking at it from his angle, he obviously always wanted to play for the Bulls. He knows unless he joins Lebron or goes to GS on a minimum, he isn't winning anything no matter where he goes, so now is the time to get paid to play out the string. I don't know how much he has left. I would guess not a lot or someone would give him 3 years. The whole he will attract a max guy or two seems farfetched to me (of course I thought he becoming a Bull was farfetched). First off, why would Rondo recruit someone who is supposed to recruit someone to take Rondo's place? And if you want to play with DWade, you get to play with him when he's 36 and on the last year of his deal and the last leg of his career. Doesn't make much sense. They are going to be too good to be a bottom 3 or 4 team, so I hope they at least make the playoffs.