iamshack

QUOTE (Soxfest @ May 31, 2011 -> 09:58 PM) I was f***ing joking. Notice the wink...it was all in good fun, sir.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 31, 2011 -> 09:41 PM) I just wanted to point out that I've seen a lot of pitchers come around over the years, and plenty of guys with the makeup and stuff of Humber have had sustained success. He looks like a legit 3rd or 4th option. I think he can be a 2 actually. What do his peripherals suggest? I know he hasn't been striking out a lot of guys, but isn't his FIP pretty solid still?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 31, 2011 -> 08:28 PM) I've been pretty impressed so far. Do I think it will last? No. But Steve and others were talking about locking him up. Ok, ok, truce

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 31, 2011 -> 08:22 PM) Thank you. That's all I'm saying. I ain't getting that excited. Forget that. You weren't saying that at all, fibster! You were saying he's going to bust...I'm saying he is still a pre-arb player. Two different points.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ May 31, 2011 -> 08:18 PM) So he should be up to around .400 by September? Actually, I guess I had forgotten that he was that horrid early last year. Gotta love .241. He's been a very good second half player the last two seasons as well, so hopefully he will replicate that. I miss the doubles to the opposite field gap, but pitchers are just not going to throw him fastballs on the outer half until he proves he can turn on pitches on the inner half and lay off that letter-high fastball. This is encouraging though.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 31, 2011 -> 08:10 PM) He used to throw in the high 90s? I thought he was at best a mid 90s guy when he got drafted? Well the scouting report when he was drafted says comfort zone 91-93. So he's maybe lost 1-2 mph off of that? I'm not buying the stuff argument. His stuff looks pretty sharp to me.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ May 31, 2011 -> 08:07 PM) Sox win 2-0 starting game threads. Don't hurt your arm too much from patting yourself on the back so much...

QUOTE (Capn12 @ May 31, 2011 -> 08:01 PM) Wow, Chris Sale just skullf***ed Adrian Gonzalez..nice. Seems like AGon had a rough game...didn't Humber get him twice too?

What happened?

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 31, 2011 -> 07:51 PM) No, all the same rules apply, nothing changes for him. If he finishes the season with 2 years of service then he's ours for the next 4 years and can make $500K next year. There is absolutely no reason to think about locking him up. He's made 10 starts this season and is under team control for the next 4.5 years, there's plenty of time to let him sink or swim before committing to him. And yes, I worry about a starting pitcher with a 5.0 k/9, that's asking an awful lot of your defense. Thanks Kal. No reason to do anything other than keep throwing him out there then...

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 31, 2011 -> 07:48 PM) That was then. He doesn't have that type of stuff now. Look at his K-rate. It's borderline Buehrle. His BABIP is .210. That's grossly abnormal. Well he had TJ surgery, but I don't think it's really affected his stuff all that much. His curve is still devastating. What is his FIP?

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 31, 2011 -> 07:46 PM) Absolutely not. If we choose to keep him, he is under our control for 2 more pre-arb years, correct?

Before we all get ahead of ourselves, again, he only has 1 year of service time. Do we even have to worry about locking him up?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 31, 2011 -> 07:40 PM) So was Luke Hochaver or however you spell it. And his stuff is definitely not plus. Well here is the comment after he was drafted third overall in 2004 by the Mets: 3 PHILIP HUMBER RICE U RHP R/R 6'4" 220 1982-12-21 4YR 56K | 350K COMMENT: LARGE FRAME. BROAD, SLOPED SHOULDERS. STRONG, DURABLE, OVERALL BUILD. MORE DEVELOPED LOWER HALF. BODY TYPE SIMILAR TO KEVIN MILLWOOD. NO WINDUP, HIGH 3/4 DELIVERY. PLUS ARM STRENGTH. COMFORT ZONE 91-93 W/ RUN & SINK WHEN DOWN. CB, ML OUT PITCH W/ BIG, TIGHT, SHARP 11-5 BITE. CHANGEUP W/ SINK & DECEPTION. OTHER PITCH, SPLIT, W/ SHORT DOWN BREAK. BIG, STRONG, DURABLE WORKHORSE W/ PITCHABILITY & MOUND PRESENCE. STUFF FOR QUALITY RHS AT ML LEVEL.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 31, 2011 -> 07:37 PM) Sucks he doesn't get credit for a quality start, but those things even up at the end of the year. He'll get some cheap ones too. Hey, if anything, it means we'll have to pay him less

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 31, 2011 -> 08:36 PM) He's got a good curve. But his stuff is hardly plus at this point. He's on a hot streak. That's how I see it. I'm not looking at him as a future staple because he's pitched well for a couple months. You're so full of bologna...dude was a 1st round draft pick. Stuff has never been the issue with him.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 31, 2011 -> 08:34 PM) Look, Humber is not a sub 3.00 ERA pitcher. The comparisons I made were simply based on the Sox taking a project and getting a good year out of them. Humber is almost 29. I'm not buying that he's cured. Or that we should lock him up after two good months. lol. GMAB. No, but you're singing Matt Joyce's praises as an MVP candidate after 2 months...

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 31, 2011 -> 08:33 PM) So Humber's outing turns from good to meh. Sigh... Statistically, yes, but in reality, he pitched very well and sort of petered out in the end there. This really does very little to dampen my enthusiasm about Phil Humber.

I think he's under team control, is he not? He only has 1 year of service time, believe it or not. Now this is where things get a little cloudy for me...but is he still required to serve out his time under the service time rules, or does that get thrown out the window if you get released 3473593754 times? I would think he is our property for several more years now as long as we want him...

Our FO and field managers may be a bit slow at times, but no way Humber performs on this stage against both the Yankees and Red Sox now and dominates them both and goes to the pen. If there was ever anything that was recognized by our FO, it's big game, big stage, big time performances. This start has cemented Humber in the rotation until he pitches his way out of it.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 31, 2011 -> 03:13 PM) A lot of that is the same good young talent they've had for 5 years. It's not as young anymore. They have a pitching staff this year. That's one of the main reasons. Especially a bullpen. Last year they had one of the worst bullpens in major league history.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 31, 2011 -> 02:48 PM) I thought reckless meant "below market value"? I can see someone characterizing the Rios waiver claim and even the Peavy trades as reckless. I tend to think of them as calculated risks that have yet to pan out, but that is just me. For Rios in particular, I guess I just get peace of mind from having a solid defensive CF out there, especially with Q manning RF much of the time. Do we not all remember what a disaster CF has been for this franchise for much of the recent past? I firmly believe he will earn his paycheck for a few years of this contract. He will probably underperform a few years as well, but I don't believe his signing will end up being a complete bust.

Plyometrics in the books. Lord have mercy.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ May 31, 2011 -> 03:26 PM) Which if I recall, everyone was for. The Dunn contract was not "reckless." People need to learn the meaning of words like reckless before they start throwing them around.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 31, 2011 -> 12:00 AM) Rongey's basic point in the post-game was that if you go ahead and bench Dunn against all LH pitching and/or PH for him, that you end up perhaps winning the game but losing the overall war, in the sense that totally crippling Dunn psychologically and not letting him fight through this ongoing slump will end up costing the White Sox 10+ games in the future AND will end up creating a bigger issue with his future perforamance and contract. Dunn, I get. The example he used was the Red Sox not benching Ortiz when he struggled out of the gate so much in 2009 and 2010. But not giving Viciedo some at-bats over Pierre, not so much...we're done with Juan after this season. Of course, Pierre's actually playing "decently" (compared to previous results as one of the bottom 5 MLBers for overall play) and that's making it less and less likely they go to Viciedo. And the fact that there's no back-up or competent leadoff hitter lurking in the line-up. I think Ozzie remembers well enough what happened when he tried to force Swisher into that role and the adverse effect it had upon him. This was basically the ONLY justification I could think of for not pinch hitting for Dunn in the Saturday game with 1 out and a man on third. Instead, we waited til he popped out to second and then pinch hit Quentin for McPherson, and forced Omar Vizquel to play 1st base for the first time in his 700 year career. This is professional f***ing baseball. He has got to realize how much he is absolutely killing us right now. If he can't handle being replaced by someone who actually can hit until he gets his s*** straightened out, then he is a weak-minded loser who needs to go cry to his wife. He is making $14 million dollars a year. Is that not enough to make him understand? Just as Ozzie said the other day that we are in no position to be giving away games right now, that means we have to do what this team needs to win. Now. Not in August when we are 24 games back because Adam Dunn is 0-174 against lefties and he finally figures it out. If he wants to work on his s*** in batting practice and with Greg Walker and gradually starts improving, then he should get inserted into the lineup more and more. But if he is going to be an absolute black hole, I'm sorry, we just can't afford the luxury of catering to his psyche right now. And as for Ortiz, I highly doubt the Red Sox were 7 games under .500 while allowing Ortiz the option to fight through his woes.