witesoxfan

I absolutely loathe the Kansas City Royals so I took no pleasure in seeing the one guy I wanted to find success and have an opportunity to do something get eliminated.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 02:18 AM) OH and by the way this was a victory for Hawk. Sabermetric Beane loses to old school, Mr. Bunt, Ned. Take that, Sabes. And 3 Red Sox World Series titles responds back

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 03:47 PM) Well first of all, I would have totally been worried that a combination of Charles and Gronk could combine for 42 points in a PPR league, but secondly, watch out for stat corrections, you never know when it's that close. QUOTE (TRU @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 04:02 PM) Yup, I lost week 1 155-151.. went back the next day and I had won 151-150 I had a week where after all our players had played, my opponent was up 89-88. It was corrected down to 88-87 the next day. The funny thing is that he trash talked me on Facebook after winning by 1 and then immediately felt like an idiot after the correction.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 01:12 PM) Robin gotta go....fire his ass today. Well that's not going to happen.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 12:25 PM) It's a big difference if your home park is Coors Field. Gonzalez has some of the most ridiculous splits in all of baseball. Home:.329/.387 /601/.988 Away:.258 /314/.437/.750 There is a difference of .238 between his home/away OPS. If you could find me a player who A.) doesn't play in Coors Field and B.) has a difference of > .238 in home/away OPS (minimum of a 1000 PAs), I will drive to North Dakota and buy you drinks until you keel over. How far can I go back? I'm guessing some of the guys from the Blake Street Bombers era were in that general area. Matt Holliday also had pretty disparate splits between home and away when he was in Colorado. Not sure it was quite that extreme, but I recall it being a major concern for people on his move to Oakland and then St. Louis. He ended up OK. Overall, I do worry more about his health than his ability to hit. Having had some time to think about it, that's probably what would drive me away from CarGo.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 12:11 PM) He seems so right until you look at his stats away from Coors Field. Good hitters will hit no matter what though, and players historically hit better at home than on the road. I'd mentioned him before and he's a guy I'd love the Sox to acquire, but the big thing with him, for me, is his injury history. You'd hope maybe getting him with a new trainer would work - because Tulowitzki's been injury prone too - but who really knows for sure.

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 12:01 PM) Not necessarily. Teams that don't have a lot of cash started doing that early with players. Rays locked up Longoria to a friendly deal after his rookie year and they've done the same with pitching and Pirates have done this with McCutchen, Marte and attempted to with Polanco. Not sure you're following exactly what I'm saying. I'm well aware of those examples of young players signing contracts, but if the Cubs approached Kris Bryant about signing away some possible future earnings for guaranteed payment and offered him, say, 7 years, $42 million, Bryant's agent could approach the club and say "We're OK with that, but if Kris is Super 2 eligible, we want that AAV increased respectively too." So if he is a Super 2 player, the total value of that deal may climb to 7 years, $52.5 mill or something like that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 11:28 AM) I am not trying to bait this, but if Greg pointed out his ERA and was upset the Sox let him go, you can bet these numbers would be used to slam him and you did say he was quite effective this year. I'd be upset if they let Guerra go. I would have been upset if they non-tendered Addison Reed if he put up the season he had with the Sox. I would be upset if they even non-tendered Nate Jones, and he might not even pitch in 2015. There's a difference between justifying a trade or why a move was made and simply releasing a fairly good player.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 11:21 AM) So you are saying middle relievers with a FIP at 3.95 and an xFIP at 4.44 are very effective out of the bullpen, and the type of guys the Sox should pay through arb years? I am saying that there is very little risk involved in bringing back a player who is Super 2 eligible for approximately $1-1.5 million after he pitched better than his peripheral numbers projected he would pitch this year. You must really be bored if you are trying to bait this hard.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 11:07 AM) No. It is. He clearly is not effective using the same numbers you use to tell us others suck. And he is hitting arbitration. I don't want Javy Guerra closing. I'd have no problem with Addison Reed, if he cost approximately $1.5 million and the Sox already had him under team control, in a middle relief or perhaps even set up role. I have never said Addison Reed is a bad pitcher, just that he is a bad or mediocre closer. Now, since we've cleared the air, drop the Addison Reed discussion as it is not relevant and IS detrimental to the discussion at hand. If you would like to continue the tire fire that is the discussion of Addison Reed on this site, please continue it here.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 10:40 AM) Wait a minute. You have been an Addison Reed is terrible guy all along. Check out Guerra's xFIP and FIP. This is not relevant to the discussion on hand, has been beaten to death, and bringing it up is unnecssary. There was no need for this.

Paulino will be declined or DFA'd once the need arises. That's the easiest call anyone in the front office has ever made.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 09:55 AM) The thing is, you can have a crap team with a good bullpen and compete for the playoffs. Just look at the Indians. Swisher was god awful. Kipnis was down. Bourne was hurt. Asdrubal and Masterson sent packing and bad. Yet they put together an almost entirely new bullpen that was nails and were in it until the last week or so. Brantley, Gomes, and Santana were all really good players for them though too. I think it would be hard to say they had a crap team, but probably a mediocre team. They also had Corey Kluber who was ridiculous this year too. It's hard to say exactly, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that a good bullpen would have gotten the Sox to .500 this year and I think that's the high end of that. Anything more than that - 83 wins or 85 wins - IS a stretch.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 09:37 AM) Will this get Guerra non tendered? I'd be surprised. He was quite effective out of the bullpen this year and he'll cost less than that of a guy like Belisario or a Downs. If he comes back next year and is ineffective, they can just get rid of him by whatever means is best.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 09:27 AM) The Pirates could have a use for Viciedo playing as a 1b/Part time, even platooning with Ike Davis there. I don't know if he's valuable enough for them to part with Lambo, but I could see them being willing to move Pedro Alvarez in something like that much more given the prices involved. They might well be ready to scrap-heap alvarez. I guess I could see use there, but do they want to pay a part time player up to $3-4 mill per year? Those are pretty limited at bats for a guy that they might be able to find for 1/3 of that cost.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 09:11 AM) The official rule states that “players are prohibited from engaging in any celebrations or demonstrations while on the ground", and I think that why the flag was thrown. However, I don't believe it's supposed to be a penalty if you go down on your knees to pray. I just wonder if the official didn't know he was praying, saw him go to the ground and threw the flag. I am guessing that's the case, and I think the NFL will issue a quick apology. It was a simple mistake. Fining him would be a big mistake.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 10:19 PM) Andrew Lambo. Somebody shoot me down. What would the Sox give the Pirates? That's a team that values its young assets very highly. He also strikes out a fair amount and he was banged up this year. It also took a few tries for him to find success in AAA. Frankly, I'm not sure how much of a better option he is than Jordan Danks or Andy Wilkins from the left side of the plate. Are you willing to give up Chris Beck or Tyler Danish for him? Because that's what it might cost. Partly playing devil's advocate, partly playing realist. I like Lambo but I'm not sure he is a guy that should be on the Sox radar. I would probably take him for Viciedo, but why would the Pirates want Viciedo?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 09:01 AM) And if that bump is what it took to get the deal done (why else would it be there, right?) all of the better. That contract will end up changing the game. I think you will see teams like Pittsburgh, Houston, and Tampa try and sign guys to long-term deals prior to or shortly after call up and those players' agents will say "let's increase his salary if he qualifies as a Super 2." George Springer reportedly turned down 7/$23 from the Astros. It's still a joke of an offer by them, but if they had offered him a boost in compensation if he reached Super 2 status - say 7/$33 - do you think he turns that down?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 06:06 PM) In regards to the Leyland comment, if he's given up smoking he's probably still young enough to manage the Sox five years or so, right? He'd be perfect for the South Side if Robin decides he's had enough. Q: If Ozzie signed a document saying he would pay a $1 million fine if he opens his mouth about any issue besides baseball would you accept him back on a one-year deal, to be renegotiated after each season he's with the Sox? This post feels like a boyfriend trying to rekindle a relationship with an ex after she's moved on and been with a different guy (and absolutely trashed that relationship too). Deep down greg, you know it's over. Remember what you two had together, think of the good moments fondly, remember why she left, and move on. You're a better person without her.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 06:22 PM) Well, in answer to your question, the team did improve by 10, but 99 to 89 does not thrill me. It is progress, though. I think my angry bullpen posts show that indeed I blamed Hahn heavily for that disaster. The Reed trade ... I think this is what bugs me the most. First and foremost, a 10 game improvement is a 10 game improvement no matter how you slice it. If they improve by another 10 games next year, they're above .500 and competing for a Wild Card spot and possibly division title all year. That's not chop suey. This team also included two guys - Paul Konerko and Leury Garcia - who had to be on the roster together because of what each of them brought. Those two combined for -2 WAR. Simply be removing those players are getting two guys in who can play their position(s) and hit a little bit, the Sox have improved their team already, and that's not including adding a starting pitcher, improving the bullpen, or finding a good LF. Also, if you know the team isn't going to be good going into the season, then spending a lot on a bullpen is a bit of a waste. A bullpen alone isn't going to make or break your season if the team behind it isn't that good, and this team wasn't. So you take a few chances on guys and try and find a diamond in the rough here or there and if they don't work out, you move on. The Sox moved on from Downs because it appeared he was done. They didn't from Belisario because you could see from him pitching that his stuff is still there and very real, but he has a tendency to miss with his pitches out over the plate, where they get hit very hard. Still, there are a few guys who should compete for a role in the bullpen that they found this year and then they'll got out and make a few moves. It's not totally unreasonable nor unheard of that a bullpen goes from crap to awesome in an offseason, but you want to get everything else in place before that time.

QUOTE (daggins @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 07:32 AM) I would post my grades but they don't vary significantly from what others have posted. So here are some fake grades - Hahn - F - He already graded himself! Who am I to argue? Are you smarter than Rick Hahn, boy genius? Steverson - F - He was the hitting coach, but he didn't hit once this year. Not. Even. Once. Joe McEwing - A+ My favorite windmill Robin Ventura - A - Look at this way - he had a lousy team with no hope of reinforcements, and he had to deal with Harold Baines, aka King Douche Harold Baines - F - What a douche Steve Stone - C - Branching out into PBP, trying to become a more fully rounded person, Stone is humanity itself. There's a little Steve Stone in all of us, trying to get out. A good contrast to... Hawkbot 2000 - 01101010 - DADGUMMIT YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE CAN OF CORN MATT ABATTACOLA BZZT MALFUNCTION CORE OVERHEATING Southpaw - Like, Groovy Man - Keep on truckin' This post has not gotten enough dap. This is awesome.

I don't like the idea of hitting guys in general, but if the opponent is essentially trying to cheat - as in, use something in their environment to their that the other team cannot use to their own advantage - something has to be done about it. If there's a guy in CF looking in, stealing signs, and signaling that to the hitters, then something needs to be done about it. The best course of action would have been for Sale to tell Ventura, who then could have informed the umpire what his player felt was going on. The ump could have simply done that, worked with security, and had the man removed from his spot. Perhaps Sale was looking out less for him - he was crusing, after all - and moreso for his teammates in the bullpen because he knew he didn't have much longer. Perhaps Sale noticed it early on. Say, for example, he'd throw a slider and know there was no way they could have guessed that pitch correctly but did so. Then he mixed up his signs with the catcher so that say changeup was 1, fastball was 2, fastball out of the zone was 3, and slider was 4 (or whatever) and upon doing that, saw guys not cheating but looking for his traditional pitches in those counts. Chris is a smart guy and can see what's going on. But his relievers don't have that opportunity. They come in and have to face about 3-5 guys at a time, so they just have to keep working with the signs they give him and it's a lot harder for them to switch up their signs on such notice like that. Come spring training, this will all be water under the bridge.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 04:15 PM) The real key was that 2014 was going to be a lost season anyway. If we dumped Viciedo for Dom Brown right now, would you have confidence that move makes us a playoff team next year? Since 2014 was a wasted season, we could take on someone else's chaff, give them the full season of at bats, and then decide whether they showed any improvement on our roster. Instead, we are up a creek. If we want to compete next year, we need to fill a corner OF spot with a competent, non-terrible player, but we're not very likely to get that by trading Viciedo, and even if we did, we're not going to know about that until sometime during the season, when it's way too late to decide on FAs. We can't stick Domonic Brown out in LF, have him put up a low .600's OPS, and compete for the AL central even if we blow a good amount of money on VMart, a pitcher, and a bullpen. Planning to play Brown or any other reclamation project full time in the big leagues next year is calling 2015 a busted season as well. I know Brown wouldn't have been available last year, but last year was the year to make that kind of move with Viciedo if we thought he was likely to continue being the same player. I honestly have no idea if the Sox will compete right now. I also don't know that I want Dominic Brown playing LF. It's just that sometimes, you have to take risks on guys and hope you can find something in their swing and turn them around. If not, the cost is still minimal overall. What we have seen is that Brown has a much lower floor than Viciedo but I think his ceiling is also much higher too. In this situation, you can give him a trial run for a bit and if you don't like it at any point, you can cut him or flip him to someone who is willing to give him another chance. I have my ideas as to what I think the Sox could do, and people would rip them to shreds just as people would endorse them, and other people think they know what the Sox to do while we rip those to shreds, but ultimately it's up to Hahn, other teams, and other players.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 03:57 PM) I get that. My statement last offseason was that it was all on Hahn. I wouldn't have been mad if they'd just let him go, but the only reason that they should continue to give him playing time is if they thought he could start taking solid steps forward. Instead, we saw a month long hot streak and a dive into continued mediocrity with seemingly the same clown show from him that we got in previous years. That was exactly what you didn't want to get from him, if he was going to keep that up it should have been somewhere else for whatever (even nil) return we could have gotten, that was an important decision that the FO missed. I would guess that their reasoning for not doing so is that they believe they will be able to get more in return for him in the offseason where more teams will be willing to take on chances like that as opposed to just seeing their own guys and having a decision to make. If you want to look at reclamation projects and trading a guy for a guy like that, Viciedo for Dominic Brown makes some sense.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 03:27 PM) You're making a strong assumption that Orton won't excel as the starter and become the Bills starting QB for the next 7-10 years. I think you are underselling the preservation qualities of Jack Daniels.